magic monday @ local 506, originally uploaded by minervacat.

you’re gonna fail every single day
but all the things you need can’t be bought here anyway
— jason kutchma, “used guitars”

Michael Casey, one of my favorite human beings on the planet, is collaborating with Glenn Boothe, who runs the Local 506 (one of my favorite venues on the planet), to run Magic Mondays once a month this fall, featuring Michael’s spectacular close-up magic and local musicians that he digs. BJ (the frontman of my beloved American Aquarium) and Jason (of my slightly less but still beloved Red Collar) — plus Matthew Schwartz of Pacifico — played solo sets last night.

“Used Guitars”, off Red Collar’s stellar 2009 release Pilgrim, has basically been my anthem this year. Jason closed with a solo acoustic version of it that just about broke my heart, the crowd finishing it off a cappella with the line we can’t be everything we wanted to be in this gorgeous moment of yes i am here yes i will survive that’s the reason I go see live music.

BJ, on the other hand, has lately taken to covering the Boss’s “Highway Patrolman”, which kicks ass in a totally different way.

In unrelated news, there’s a new Mountain Goats album out in October and the Avetts recorded a kick-ass session for Daytrotter back during SXSW that features a previously unreleased track.