Reasons tonight's Hold Steady show rocked:

1. Craig Finn invited the whole audience to come out for a drink with the band afterwards. Said please, even, and repeated the address of the bar at the end of the show. I hope no one takes him up on the five-dollar haircut offer, though.

2. The sheer joy radiating from the band. The sheer joy radiating from the crowd for the band. Two sold-out nights headlining in a hometown venue where in April they were the opening band -- that must feel damn good.

3. The resultant insane musicianship. Finn looked and sang like he was going to explode. The guitar solos were jaw-dropping even for a non-guitar-solo-fan like me. And even the quieter numbers like "Certain Songs," they threw their hearts into, and you could tell. One of the people I went with was like, "The last time I saw them, they were so great. And this time they were, somehow, even better!"

All the chatter I heard in the bar beforehand was about editors and word counts -- my friend Maura said she wanted to print up Rock Critic Bingo cards for these sorts of gigs. This was also the first show I've been to where an mp3 blog got a shoutout from the stage (among the dedicatees of the last song was "the people teaching the indie kids to dance again. Have you seen how indie kids dance? It's not pretty.") But don't let the scenesters scare you off -- the band themselves come off as totally unaffected, and you know, the thing about rock critics is sometimes they know good music when they hear it.

(Theholdsteady.com has mp3s if you haven't heard them -- imagine a smaller version of the E Street Band, made up of English majors. Also, Sasha Frere-Jones's review of the current album, here. .)

Cecil Taylor.

Crud, that's what I meant to say. Brain spasm of my own.

Crud, that's what I meant to say.

No credit for you! t /soup nazi

That's okay. I had to look it up on All Music. I did the styles search for Free Jazz and - of course - he was listed in the blurb as a major artist in the genre. When I read the Voice regularly it seemed like there was something about Cecil about twice a month, so he's kind of slipped from my brain as my Voice reading has gotten irregular.

I was actually listening to Ayler last night, which I guess is why my brain thought "Cecil Taylor" but my fingers typed "Albert Ayler." I've only listened to Taylor himself a wee bit in my life, but his name always seems to come up as a vast influence on free jazz-noise skronk guys.

I'm sitting in the Asheville, NC airport after spending an amazing long weekend at the Ethermusic theremin festival. It was four days of workshops, performances, and networking. Some highlights:

• Seeing four great thereminists perform separately, and in various ensembles. Two of them -- Barbara Buchholtz and Wilco (his real name) Botermans -- I'd never seen before. Barbara is great at combining theatricality with musicality (most thereminists do one of the other). Wilco is a master of using effects on the theremin and using the theremin as a controller for other sounds. I've seen Pamelia Kurstin and Lydia Kavina on several occasions, but there's something about playing in front of your peers (in this case over twenty other thereminists) that brings out the best in a performance.

• Meeting Herb Deutsch, who along with Bob Moog (who is ailing and could not attend), is one of the fathers of electronic music. Just an incrediblly friendly and welcoming personality.

• Playing "Rainbow Connection" and "Video Killed the Radio Star" during an open mic, and having Lydia come up on stage to compliment my playing. Lydia is most definitely

More later, including details of my sidetrip to Athens to see the Olivia Tremor Control and the Tall Dwarfs play in a forest on Saturday. Gotta catch my flight outta here!

Reasons tonight's Hold Steady show rocked:

I was there via cellphone! My friend A called me during "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" because I had sent him a mix with that song on it the week before. He first tried to convince me that he was in Chicago and would be at my apt. in 5 minutes and then held the phone up for me to hear the song. I've explained to him a dozen times that that never works, and it just sounds like fuzz, but he persists.

The Hold Steady album has grown on me much more than I thought it would. I saw their performance at Intonation but I had just gotten there and it was like 3 pm and 98 degrees - not the ideal situation, but they were still fun.

More later, including details of my sidetrip to Athens to see the Olivia Tremor Control and the Tall Dwarfs play in a forest on Saturday. Gotta catch my flight outta here!

I take it that the published rumors that Jeff Mangum might make a surprise appearance proved untrue?

I take it that the published rumors that Jeff Mangum might make a surprise appearance proved untrue?

You read that he showed up with OTC at their show in NYC last week, right?

Yep, indeed.

Which was in the same venue as the Hold Steady show, leaving my friends who had been at both shows awed at their excellent streak at the place.