When we arrived I picked up a copy of his poetry collection, Slanky, from the merchandise table with the intent of having Mike sign it after the show. A few minutes later he was behind the merch table and I approached him with the book, miming for a signing. He was in pre-show rush mode so he asked if I could wait till the end when he'd come out and sign stuff, all the while making his way for the back stage area. I said sure and asked if he remembered doing a phone interview for WickedInfo and he did. Once again in dork mode, I said, "I'm the doofus who did the interview." He was very nice and said, "Oh, hey, great to meet you," and shook my hand and was once again on his way. He didn't call me an asshole, which is good. He didn't punch me, which is better. But there was no embrace and no exclamation that I had changed his life and boosted his career forever, either.
The show was great. He's on another Question Jar Tour which is just Mike and Andrew "Scrap" Livingston on cello and sometimes electric guitar. These two guys put out a pretty remarkable amount of sound. Scrap plays a lot of pizzicato finger-style lines and he's very melodic. I think Mike often employs a drop-D tuning which gives him a lot of bottom end. I was really pleased with the set list. He opened with "Ossining," which was unexpected. He sprinkled, as you would expect, quite a few cuts from the new album, Sad Man Happy Man, throughout the set. There were only two songs that I would have really liked to hear that he didn't play, but I hadn't really expected to hear them, either. These were "The Only Answer," one of my favorite Doughty tunes, and "Looks," a cover from some long-forgotton New York band from the 70s called The Student Teachers.
I suppose I should give some explanation of a question jar show. Prior to the show Andrew sets a gallon pickle jar on a table in front of the stage along with a stack of scrap paper and several pens. The idea is for the audience to fill the jar with questions that Andrew will read and Mike will answer throughout the show. This is usually done as a place holder while Mike tunes or re-tunes his guitar, etc. Sometimes it just seems like a good time for a question. Mike likes the weird off the wall questions more than the straightforward ones about his songs and the like. His answers sometimes indicate that--Yes, next question. No, next question. Seven, next question. He seemed to like one of my questions (If the universe is ever-expanding, what's it expanding into???) but his answer was ruined by self-proclaimed Math Girl when she started going on about how the universe isn't ever-expanding, blah, blah, blah. Damn you, Math Girl!
After the show I stood in line for what seemed a ridiculous length of time to purchase a few of the buttons they had put together for Haitian relief (a buck apiece with 100% of the money going to Haiti). Then I got in line for the signing. I opted for the usual "great set" line, got my book signed, we exchanged thank yous, and I wandered out to the lobby to find Joan (she had long abandoned me to escape the throng).
I've never felt comfortable approaching "celebrities" and talking to them. I mean, beyond "great show" what are you going to say? They're busy and have to have the same conversation a hundred times or more a night. And even though I've gotten a few of them over the years, I'm never really sure of the purpose of an autograph. I mean, I suppose it's a personal confirmation that, yea, I went to that show. For some I'm sure it's a hobby or even a business, but I don't get that, either. In the end it's just one more reason not to get rid of something somewhere down the line. "Well, I can't get rid of that copy, it's autographed." Not that we packrats need justification.
All in all the Doughty show was a great show. I highly recommend checking him out.
