For reasons of a sadness unrelated to this show, I'm not able to write an account of this gig. Instead, I'll just share some quick notes.

First, this was a toy drive to benefit Hope House. It's an important organization. And Revolution doing this yearly toy drive is righteous. No sadness there.

Deco Auto kicked off the show right at 7. Bless you. Their set was big on the power pop. It was also big on matching red flannel and festive attire. Tracy bounced a lot, especially during a cover of "United States of Whatever," which tickled her to no end. No other new songs, but they're coming. Is there anyone who hasn't seen and loved this band?

Approach followed. But his keyboard with programmed beats and backing tracks wouldn't behave, so he free-styled a few acapella. Then Brian from Major Matt Mason USA came up and played some funky drums while Approach improvised a few more, riffing on the night, the room, and the records he saw in the store. Always on a positive tip.

Major Matt Mason USA then had its turn. The set moved nicely from breezy and anti-folk at the start, to loud and hefty indie by the end. Every song has a hook. Every song says something real. Matt might be the most honest and sincere dude in the scene.

Collidescope was back to its core duo for this set. Madison gave us plenty of ugly noise from a rack of gear, and plenty of pretty guitar lines shaped by a giant pedal board. Hadiza's crystalline voice was often soured and clipped by the house PA. We all agreed that it was somehow fitting for the experimental genre-less band. New album coming soon.

AKAMFDM's portion of the night was like an after party. Tim sat on the floor with his midi grid controller holding court and bringing up friends and collaborators for unplanned compositions. There was BMC2K with a sample pad, a poet, a singer, and remix of Snoop's "Affirmations."

That's all I have to say, about that.