There are all different types of bands out there in this marvelous world. There are country bands, rock bands, folk bands, pop bands, jazz bands, worship bands, hardcore bands, and rap bands ers. One of my favorite pastimes is going to listen to bands (or solo artists, I don’t discriminate) live in concert. There are some bands that great on an album, but their live performance is a let down. I can only think of a handful in this category, with the most recent being Mae – love their CDs, hated the concert. Then there are bands that have great albums and are equally as good live. Some of my favorites that I would put in this category are Weezer, Switchfoot, and Jimmy Eat World. I have seen all three several times and they never disappoint. Then, there is a third category of bands. Bands that have good albums, but are just flat out amazing on stage. In this category I would put bands like Radiohead and The Black Keys – I love their studio recordings but the digital audio pales in comparison to experiencing them live.

I am happy to say, I discovered another artist last night that fits firmly in the third category. His name is Sufjan Stevens, and his music is… well… basically… very different. But very cool. I’ve been a fan of his folk-rock style and his mad banjo picking skills for quite some time and have been looking forward to this show for a while. The opening band was an interesting act called My Brightest Diamond consisting of a girl on guitar and singing, accompanied by four violins and a cello. Overall, not the best opening band I’ve ever heard, but far from the worst, with a few pretty cool songs. Then, during the stage change we see Danny DeVito walking up our aisle. That’s right, the same short bald guy that starred opposite our governor in the 1988 classic Twins. Jeff totally nailed the normally awkward celebrity interaction. As he was walking back to his seat, Jeff nonchalantly yells out, “Hey Danny!” and we both casually wave. He totally waved right back as if he thought he knew us. This had the makings of a great evening.

Then the lights dimmed and the main event got under way. No less than 15 band members walked out on stage wearing matching butterfly wings and masks. Then Sufjan came out and sat behind the piano wearing his own set of giant bird wings and a feather mask. So great. I didn’t think it was possible for it to get any more random. Then two different times during the show they threw out a bunch of inflated toys into the crowd: first inflatable supermen on the song The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts, then inflatable Santa Clauses (or is it Santa Clausi?) during a yet to be released Christmas song, joyfully entitled The Worst Christmas Ever. The entire set was amazing. The band sounded incredible and Sufjan’s creativity and songwriting came alive with these really cool video clips they had playing behind them, and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “what is going on inside that guy’s head?”. I can’t speak to that, but I do know that Sufjan is a Christian in a demographic where probably 95% of his fanbase doesn’t share his faith. It was really encouraging to hear his songs communicate Christ, like The Transfiguration and Chicago. Interesting to hear the hip LA crowd sing along to lines like “You came to take us, to recreate us” and probably not realize what’s being talked about.

Anyway, I say all that to say this – if you’ve never heard of Sufjan Stevens, I highly recommend you check him out. His last four albums are all fantastic and he’s supposedly releasing a 5 disc Christmas album in November. On top of that, if you ever get the chance to see he and his friends perform – don’t miss it. It’s a unique experience that you won’t forget. I promise.

In honor of the Vernal Equinox last week, the new blog is now fully functional. I hope you, all my faithful readers, find it pleasing to the eyes. I’d like to take this opportunity to point out some of the new, possibly confusing, features of PowellBlog 2.0. First, comments are still available, although it’s not overly obvious how they are handled. If you would like to post a comment, and I know you would, just click on either the title of the post or the number that shows to the right of the date in the header. This will bring up the page for each individual post, and the comments will show up on the right hand column. The race is now on to see who will be the best commenter with the new format.

Also, I’ve added a few other pages to the site that are in various stages of completion. See that little tag that says “pull” above? You can actually click it and a whole new menu comes alive for you and your mouse pointer to explore. So far I’ve put the most work into the photos page, and hopefully it will be updated often, so check it out and let me know what you think.

As for those concert reviews I mentioned earlier, they’re still forthcoming. Life has been somewhat crazy the last couple of weeks, and my free time has been sparse. Early tomorrow morning I’m headed off to the land of grits, guns and NASCAR – that’s right, my old sweet home of Alabama. If there’s time, and if I can find internet access, I’ll do my best to write another post while I’m there. I’m sure there will be plenty of thoughts rolling around my head that’ll need to find an outlet over the next four days.

Over the next couple of days there will be some fairly major changes to powellblog.com.  I’m in the process of changing hosts so that I can have full control of my wordpress account.  I could get into the nerdspeak of how and why, but I won’t.  At least not right now.  Suffice it to say that hopefully this time next week the site will look and work better.  Also keep an eye out for some upcoming concert and movie reviews after the changeover.