Mighty Couldy

Last night, it was raining. I was planning on getting a little work done, but had heard been listening to NPR. Three member of Might Could were performing in Bethesda at the East Coast Music Production Camp. As I was to learn, this is similar to the set up fro The Paul Green School of Rock Music though possibly lacking Paul's lashing personality (seen in the documentary Rock School).

I had to look up this information at the band's website, although I could have found them via the NPR segment they did on the local Metro Connection.

Although I knew the location of the performance was on St. Elmo Avenue in Bethesda, and I had heard of the road, I had no idea exactly where it was.

Let me back up some. I wanted to try out this Indian restaurant called Cafe Spice. I find, these days, I'm more up to find new restaurants than I was, say, ten years ago. I'm sure the web has as much to do with that as anything. Once information became widely available and once good online maps were available, I didn't have to read maps or even have maps anymore. This was something I avoided, for some reason, and leads many people to simply memorize key roads to everywhere.

Fortunately, Cafe Spice was located at the Rio in a complex I've eaten at several times. The Rio houses restaurants, a movie theater, a gym. The two restaurants I'd been to were Hamburger Hamlet and Tara Thai. I knew Cafe Spice was buried somewhere in this complex, but had no idea where. I eventually passed by Tara Thai, left the dry confines of the building, walked outside in the rain, and then to the restaurant next door.

The restaurant looks fancy enough. The ceilings have lamps with shades in bright red or yellow cubes of cloth. The menu was a bit pricey. I ordered a mango mojito, mulligatawny soup (each Indian restaurant seems to have their own variation), and Goan fish curry, which was good. However, the entire tab ran nearly forty bucks, tip included.

I had arrived around 6:30, and knew I had barely an hour to eat. Even though I left just after 7:20, I had to get to Bethesda, park, and then find this East Coast Music Production Camp, which has an awful name to remember. And it was raining too.

I parked near where I usually park, the parking lot near the Ourisman Honda. This turned out to be a mistake because this was not that close to the location I was supposed to be. It was just short of 8 PM when I arrived, and I had less than five minutes to get to the concert. And I had to wizz. So I went to the men's room on the top floor at Barnes and Noble. It was in use, and a guy who arrived just ahead of me wanted to use it too (only one person at a time).

I went downstairs, and at least that restroom can handle more than one person at a time.

Once done, I started walking what I assumed was west. One block, then two, then three. I passed by one parking garage, then another, and realized that I should have parked at the Woodmont Triangle garage. I must have crossed about 6-7 blocks, past the Caribou Coffee, before I finally spotted the place. I went in, and they told me to circle around to the back.

I passed what appeared to be small classrooms along the way, and arrived in a room that looked like it could only seat maybe 50 people tops. They were seated on IKEA like benches, and some people had brought those collapsable seats that people bring when they go to football games to tailgate. I had to sit on the floor. The band had already started.

Fortunately, they would play for almost another hour.

Might Could has two acoustic guitar players (the two physicists) and an electic guitar player (the chemist). They don't sing, and therefore it sounds more like a small chamber orchestra than a typical band, as each player plays off one another. They use traditional methods of amplification to make their sounds resonate even more (they're no Segovia-like traditionalist, eschewing amplifiers).

They were followed by Ephemeral Sun, which are five people: Laurie Ann Haus on vocals, a redhead who has a haunting voice, Charles Gore on bass, John Battema on keyboards, Tim Miller on drums and Brian O'Neill on guitar. I was mostly seated where I could see the keyboard, singer, and the bassist. They seemed friendly with one another, but boy were they loud. It's a small venue, yet it was loud for the kind of music they play.

I remember being at the 9:30 clib listening to Doves which seems like a pretty low-key band, but live, they are ear-shatteringly loud. I don't get the need to have to wear earplugs just to listen to the band. I suppose it's typical to have to feel the band as the sound shakes your internal organs. At least, Might Could weren't that loud.

In between the performances, I talked to the various band members, though mostly to Tim McCaskey since he was the guy doing most of the talking. He is studying physics education. I told him a housemate of mine was studying computer science education. I suppose that's where it sounds funny. When you're the one studying education in your own field, it makes some sense, but hearing it about another field makes it sound strange.

I also asked Andy Tillotson where the name Might Could came from. Apparently, he's from South Carolina, and there, they use the phrase "might could" as in "I might could get that done". I suppose he still used that when he came to Maryland and people made fun of it (you can't really hear a southern accent in his voice though). They had explained it during the interview, but it got cut out. He does his research in computational plasma physics, and in the NPR interview, mentioned he was heading to Chicago to live with his fiancee (something similar happened to an ex co-worker of mine).

I have a CD from Eric Wollo called Guitar Nova
which I bought in November of 2000 (I had to dig this up through my Amazon account) which these guys remind me of, although their tunes are more complex (since there are three of them, and only one of Wollo). Alas, Might Could is difficult to describe. Some people have likened it to heavy metal, but it doesn't sound nearly as aggressive. The band members do seem interested in heavy metal, and there are some influences, but the acoustic guitars isn't nearly as edgy.

I bought a CD from Might Could for ten bucks. I'm listening to it as I write this. I'd recommend you order it as it costs less than most new CDs, though certainly, it's not free.

So give them a try.

You might could like it.