Sorry I didn't post this earlier. I just kept waiting for somebody else. Let this be a lesson to all of us. Or something.

And forgive me -- I've never done one of these before.

This Borders is like about every other Borders you'll ever go into, and the worst and best part about that is there was no stage. Great for those of us who got into the chairs that were set up, I'd guess less so for people who were standing draped over magazine racks. But there was a good-sized crowd -- I'd estimate 100 to 150 -- and loudly enthusiastic.

Set list (I know they did all these songs, and I'm copying this off Dave's set list. But as I type it, it seems that 'I Love My Boss' came after 'Authors.' I just don't remember):

Message (a capella)
Authors
Michigan Militia
Jockey
Boss (off mic, into crowd)
I Will Hold On
Pisco Bandito
Minnie the Moocher
Present Tense Tureen
Johnny Saucep'n
King of Spain/GEH
Darlington Darling
Love Potion No. 9

Notes: An animated Jian (celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving Day) jumped and cracked his knee square against my foot during 'Boss.' I had my legs crossed, and wasn't expecting the jump. He wasn't limping, thank goodness. I'd have had a lot of explaining to do.

'Minnie' included a Mark-McGwire-on-chemical-enhancements verse that had me laughing and many of the locals angry. "Just kidding!" Mike exclaimed.

Dave started to skip the second verse of 'Tureen,' caught himself halfway through the first line and started over.

Discovered during 'Boss' and made reference to throughout was a girl with blond hair and pink streaks (I'm sure there's some shorter way to explain this so everybody knows what I'm talking about, but I'm not up on my hair culture lingo). She was "Punk Heidi."

This is the third time I've seen the band in St. Louis in 11 months, and they appear to be building a following there as well. I hope next time they get paid for playing here.

--tc

From Christine:

A Visit With Moxy by Christine Besher

I finally paused, amidst the whirling haze, to try and determine what day of the week it was and what significant event was happening in mid- October. I called my dear friend, Jenny, (a Frühead of the ultimate kind) and in fact there was a concert Monday night. I picked up my daughter ( a Frühead in abstentia -- she is too young to get into the venues where Moxy typically performs) and we headed to, of all places, Borders Books. They had positioned chairs around a makeshift stage area to the right of the coffee bar. (Which made for quite a lot of whitty banter thoughout the evening.) We had seats in the second row where a few of my friends had already convened. (This was rather unusual. Most of the venues, for smaller concerts, either have you stand for the entire concert or you pull up a piece of the floor to have a seat.)

Moxy was scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m., so I decided to partake in some libation prior to the show, and purchased an iced coffee. To my surprise Murray was at the condiments bar when I went to get some cream and cinnamon. I told him I was glad to be there, and as he inquired, I relayed to him my grueling Film Festival schedule. A few minutes passed and the area seemed to be shrinking as more people, clambered to their seats.

Around 8:00 p.m. the boys came bounding out of the kitchen, (the make shift stage door) to a thundering round of applause, and immediately went into a brilliant version, of the a'capella piece, I've Got To Get A Message To You. They introduced the group and then sighted some recent events in the news including Mark McGuires home runs at which point the crowd went wild. Somewhere they had acquired a stand-up, cut out of Tom Cruise. Jian and Dave went into an entire routine of being sponsored by Tom Cruise Cut Out Stores of America which left the crowd roaring. At this point they began discussing books, Borders, the unique venue at which they were performing, and segued into My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors , Michigan Militia, and Fly. Next they decided to head into the audience, which had now grown to a tightly knit group of approximately 70 people. Upon greeting a young woman dressed as "Punk Heidi" (Jian's words), and encountering a "hometown" boy amoungst the audience members, they performed another a cappella song I Love My Boss followed by a wonderful new song I Will Hold You. Pisco Bandito, The Bandit Fish and a crowd pleasing, gravely, blues version of Minnie The Moocher followed. In true St. Louis tradition, along with it being the Canadian Thanks Giving, a young girl, Jessica, presented Jian with a four pack of vanilla pudding. They accepted this in their always gracious manner and, appropriately, lead into an energeticJohnny Saucep'n and King of Spain. They ended the show with Love Potion #9, and left the crowd wanting more. They signed CD's, concert posters, and T-shirts post concert where a group of Früheads presented them with an autographed copy of a Spiderman book.

All in all for a promo concert they performed almost an entire set, and the audience seemed to feel quite comfortable with these always enticing Canadians.

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

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