We went to a fantastic show last night - several local bands and musicians playing songs from The Magnetic Fields' triple album 69 Love Songs as a "pre-Valentine's Day bash". This was a great show for so many reasons!

69 Love Songs rules!! Duh!

It was great to see so many artists in one night. We got really into a few of the bands and have already started downloading some of their albums from eMusic.

The show was clearly a labor of love, organized by local music scenesters and co-sponsored by local record labels & local radio (KEXP), and it felt like a great big crazy silly party. Lyrics were occasionally flubbed, hastily set-up instruments were occasionally finicky, everyone was having a blast, and the emcee/host was a riot.  

When we got home I tried to recall the setlist & band order, which follows approximately below. Highlights of the evening were probably too numerous to cope with, but are colored blue below.

• Piglét, France's greatest porcine illusionist -- a man actually dressed in a pig suit and speaking with a phony French accent -- How Fucking Romantic
• The Transmissionary Six -- the find of the night; turns out I'm now nuts about them. While most of the night's bands essenially stuck to the original arranements, Transmissionary Six completely OWNED their songs as if they were their own -- The Way You Say Good-Night, The Things We Did And Didn't Do, A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off  
• Saeta (featuring Lesli Wood of Ms. Led. She's got a fantastic voice when she's not shouting. Who knew? Although the shouting's fun too) -- Grand Canyon, All My Little Words (a duet with her sister... awwww!)
• Tullycraft -- Nothing Matters When We're Dancing (hilarious - 4 band members held hands and swayed while doing backup vocals; the lead singer strummed a little ukelale and kept his eyes clamped shut as his only defense against busting up laughing), Papa Was a Rodeo, Yeah! Oh Yeah! (excellent audience participation)
• Rocky Votolato and Sonny Vototalo {Slender Means} -- Rocky was on backup vocals and totally stole the show from his brother, WOW WOW WOW -- The Book of Love
• Math and Physics Club -- They did kind of look like a Math and Physics club stereotype, with nerdy sweaters and glasses, and darn adorable -- I Think I Need A New Heart(?), Abigail Belle Of Kilronan, When My Boy Walks Down The Street, Meaningless  
• Rachel Flotard {Visqueen} -- this chick was a real ass-kicker! All the female vocalists & the organizers of the event joined her on stage for backing vocals on "Washington DC", which was sweet! -- I Don't Want To Get Over You, (Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy, Washington DC
• Breno Dakota {featuring members of Daylight Basement} -- Reno Dakota
• For Better Or For Awesome featuring Andrew Moore {Kane Hodder} and Alissabeth Newton {ex-The Catch} -- super high energy, raucous and rocking. I preferred his vocals to hers; she didn't appear completely able to drum and sing simultaneously :-)  -- I Don't Believe In The Sun, Come Back From San Francisco, Sweet-Lovin' Man, The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side, Punk Love  
• Zach Davidson {Sony Records' Vendetta Red) and Sameer Shukla -- these two were really funny, they screwed up both their songs and performed with abandon. I really liked the Vendetta Red dude's attitude -- Absolutely Cuckoo, A Pretty Girl Is Like
• Fork and Spoon, featuring Eric Corson {of The Long Winters} and Anna Lange {The Dutch Elms} -- these two were TERRIBLE, their voices didn't harmonize at all, although to be fair it was supposedly their first public performance -- Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, Fido Your Leash is Too Long, No One Will Ever Love You(?)
• Sean Nelson and His Mortal Enemies {Harvey Danger} -- I'm starting to think Sean Nelson can do no wrong (other than his dancing...). The man sings like a freakin' angel. Every song was a highlight, really. Experimental Music Love, The Night You Can't Remember, Underwear (he prevously solicited a guy and a girl from the audience to dance onstage with their pants off... How do you top that?), The Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure, (and yet he topped it! This was probably my favorite of the night), Acoustic Guitar, Busby Berkeley Dreams

And thanks to the new smoking ban, no 2am shower was required and the clothes I wore to the Crocodile could easily have been worn again today.