First: The Music

Yes, Bobby Yang is the best violinist ever. Yes, he's a diva, violinists just are. We're conditioned into that very early on in life. I'm pretty sure every song they played was a cover of a hard rock, metal, or other genre song. Essentially, the show looked like a group of friends (who happen to be KICK ASS talented musicians) rockin' out to their favorite songs. The guys sometimes sang along the words, but never into a mic. I recognized almost all of the songs, but I could only name one. And the pick up he used was so cool. Re-verb on a violin is awesome! I've amplified my violin before, but all we did was attach a clip-on mic to my bridge. I was nervous it would scratch my violin, and it wasn't the best sound. But it worked. I played an electric once. It was fun. I agree with Bobby Yang, though, it's not the same quality of sound and action. It was hard to tell what he was using exactly, but he talked about it a little. It looked like he had the pick up strapped into his F-hole with a rubberband. And of course, he was wireless.

The Brilliant Inventions: as always, a light mood, highly entertaining, super music. I'd say the appeal of a TBI show is about 75% musical talent, 15% relaxed, comedic, and improvisational stage personality with audience participation, and 10% adorable crushability (I kept my swooning to a minimum seeing as I was on a date:)). Eliot's new haircut (or lack thereof) makes him look like Ringo Star. Most of Josh's songs and presentation are cutely and sadly bitter about relationships gone bad.

They never fail to look like a couple preppy boys who try their damnedest to not be as pathetically clean cut as they appear to be. I missed hearing the new band sound that they tried out back at the Five Spot in February. That was a sad show b/c the sound guy didn't get their sound out very well at all. So the coolness of expanding to a full band on a good chunk of songs was lost in the whacky loudness of the drummer.

I was seriously fascinated by the poor representation of TBI fans. I mean, it was Eddie's Attic, which is definitely "their venue" so to speak. It was a packed house, and they certainly had their typical lively banter with the audience and plenty of people requested songs. So the fans weren't MIA. But Bobby Yang really owned the crowd. I didn't figure it out 'til he came on, but it made total sense. It's the first TBI show EVER where the crowd didn't demand an encore. And Eddie's almost always attracts crowds that respect the music and don't fuckin' talk. But not this one. Some guy at the bar even stood up toward the end of TBI and said, "Shut up!! I hate to be that guy who stands up and yells, but SHUT UP!!" :) And it only worked for a few songs. In a way, it seemed like the two bands were too different b/c the Bobby Yangers couldn't respect TBI and listen. But oddly enough, the bathroom talk disproved that theory. Everyone in there had come to see Bobby Yang, but they also said they were thoroughly impressed with TBI.

So.....while I am totally enthralled with Bobby Yang's talent and majorly high energy, my loyalties lie with TBI. They're local, and they're growing. I always root for the underdog, and that's how they seem b/c they're trying so hard to make it in a near impossible field. And I appreciate the value of getting in front of new audiences, but that's all this show was for TBI. It's hard being exposed, and having to re-prove yourself and gauge an audience EVERY time you perform. I missed hearing my favorite song, but it totally didn't fit with the evening. I even requested it, lol, Eliot said OK, and other chick/bitch from the audience said NO. Whatever.