Song of the Week 1/9/09

Okkervil River - "Pop Lie"

So the band that supplied my number-one album and number-one single of last year were in town this week. (Well, frontman Will Sheff lives in Brooklyn now, so I guess he's usually in town when not on the road.) To warm up for their appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman Wednesday night the band booked a Tuesday night show at The Bell House, a great venue that just happens to be owned and managed by some friends of mine. The show was fabulous and the best of the three I have seen on The Stand Ins tour. After "Pop Lie" Will Sheff talked about how they would take the love of the Bell House crowd to the "cold studio filled with tourists." And they most certainly did, as WOW, they were fantastic on the Late Show. They took all the energy of a typical Okkervil River show and packed it into three minutes. Alas, my DVR cut out the last 10 seconds of the song. I would have loved to seen Dave talk about them. But during their intro he did talk about the how great the BBQ was in Austin, and he was trying to come up with the name of the place and one of the people in the band yells, "The Salt Lick?" And sure enough, that was it. Good to know Dave and I have the same taste in BBQ.

BONUS: And now, from my new Xmas gift to myself, here's an excerpt of the band playing "Pop Lie" at the Bell House.