Kristeen Young at The Blank Club, San Jose, CA, 5/19/09

Why is it that a venue would set the starting time for a show at 10pm on a Tuesday night?  Matt's bus got into San Jose and a little after 7pm, meaning that we had nearly 3 hours to kill before the show.  Eating burritos at Muchos killed a little time, although the burritos weren't as good as either of us remembered.  They still had their famed wall of hot sauce though.  I chose a sauce called Hot Hand, and an orange one with a creamy consistency.  Both very good, but this isn't a hot sauce review, so that's all I'll say.

The Blank Club might as well have been called the Empty Club.  The disco ball sent red reflections spinning across the vacant floor.  The staff stood at the ready.  We waited.

After awhile, we got up and introduced ourselves to Kristeen Young, (Mice Pace page here) who was standing at the bar.  Our friend Howard helps design her cd covers and concert posters and whatnot.  It was through him that we'd been made aware of her in the first place.  Of course, it was through Current 93 that we'd originally met Howard.  The older I get, the more I become aware that most of my personal connections with people come about through music.  I like that. 

A few people filtered in, and eventually 10pm rolled around.  Kristeen and her drummer got up and launched into their set, which was mostly comprised of songs from her new cd.  I hadn't yet purchased said cd, so they were mostly new to me (I bought two cds for a mere $15 after her set, which, if you add in the $5 entrance fee, means I only paid $20 for 2 cds and a live show!)

Kristeen proceeded to assault her keyboard for 45 minutes.  One would think she bore the poor piece of equipment a grudge.  Her voice is powerful and quirky, and the backing drums catapaulted everything to a new level - hard to describe really - maybe I'd call it synth-punk.  Her attire (self-designed, I believe) made her look sort of like a new wave flapper, a look perhaps enhanced by cheesy tinsel backdrop to the stage area and the omnipresent red lighting.  About midway through the set, they launched into an inspired cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song.  Strange, but cool.  Towards the end, she unveiled a cardboard stand-up of one of the Jonas Brothers and sang a duet with it.  Neato.  At that point, I had to get to work and Matt had to get home, so we left before headliners Killola hit the stage. 

Afterwards, we chased the last bus to the station and Matt managed to climb aboard just before it left for its long journey back to the wilds of Felton.  I got to work to find that I'd missed the chance to kick a bunch of wayward third graders off of our field.  The exciting stuff always happens to the sub.