every little step

every so often there comes a time when you recognize that you are hearing the best version of a particular song ever played. that unlikely event happened twice last night at the glen phillips show. for the tweens out there, glen fronted a righteous nineties alt band called toad the wet sprocket, and he has one of the most distinctive, pretty voices around. lightning struck first during the opening act, a singer/songwriter named jonathan kingham. although both rebecca and i agreed that his music was generic and college-y, he revealed a deftness at performing rhythm and blues. no joke, he covered bobby brown’s “every little step” to the delight of both myself and the rest of the audience. i can say with some certainty that it was better than any version bobby recorded, and i’m fairly sure i’ll never hear it played better in my lifetime. after jonathan it was on to glen. he played a lot of his solo stuff to the older crowd, but my favorite parts were the old toad songs. he played “all i want”, “walk on the ocean”, and at rebecca’s request, “nightingale song”. that song is great all by itself, but something about it last night etched into my memory. it was neary perfect. the best shows are the ones that entrance you so that forget that you’re holding two empty bottles for the longest time.