Last night I went to the Ben Taylor/Bob Schneider show with my good buddy N, who I decided would probably get a kick out of Bob Schneider.

I'd seen Ben Taylor open for Dar Williams a few months back, at the Barrymore. I thought he was ok. Cute, and he had his dad's voice, but his song were a little ho-hum. Tonight I just found him annoying. His songs were still ho-hum, but the sound balance was off, so I couldn't make out any of the vocals. They came across as a mumble most of the time. Plus, I think he was more...chemically saturated...than at Dar's show. He was drinking a beer onstage, and may have smoked a little something before the show. Nothing too bad. He wasn't extremely out of it, by any standards, but he did come off as the one hot guy at a party who plays the guitar and is into organics and thinks he's hot shit because of these things, consequently coming off as a bit of a prick and an idiot. Mostly I just giggled and checked the clock until his set was done.

Bob Schneider was so much better, though not entirely what I expected. The songs of his that get radio play around here are the more mellow ones: "Big Blue Sea", "Metal and Steel", and "Bullets" (ok, "Bullets" is a little less mellow than the other two.) (I also seem to have gotten him mixed up with Todd Snider, because I was waiting for "Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" and "My Generation.") His set really rocked. Afterwards I described it to N as "Austin punk", while N said it made him think of early Bush (the band, not the politicians) with a red neck flavor. We both had fun, and N bought the Lonelyland CD.

Luther's, however, is still not my favorite venue.