Mirah (924 Gilman, 19 December 2004)

This was a night where we were slated to attend two shows -- Mirah was playing a matinee show in the East Bay and Citizens Here and Abroad were playing later that night in the West Bay. Both shows were at atypical venues; no one in our group had been to Berkeley's 924 Gilman nor SF's 12 Galaxies. After seeing Mirah, however, it seemed proper to end the weekend in Berkeley.

We arrived at Gilman after a much needed detoxification session at the world's best vegan restaurant, Cha Ya. Gilman is an all-ages, non-alcoholic venue that doesn't support racism, homophobia, or music from major labels. Upon entry, we immediately felt the history behind the place that spawned Green Day and Rancid. The other thing we noticed was that we were old, older than everyone else by an average of ten years. It felt like we were at a junior high dance with no booze in the punch. On a side note, Randy fell in love.

The building felt like a converted warehouse. Large electrical contraptions cradled the arched joists on the ceiling, graffiti and stickers lined every vertical surface, and the stage occupied a small corner of the estate. Mirah and her band were selling merch to the side, including old Kool Moe Dee casettes and a kinky sex toy made of bicycle tires.

About fifteen minues upon our arrival, Dear Nora took the stage. She did her entire set in D. No, not in the key of D, but singing the D note throughout, including between-song-banter. We saw her play at Bottom of the Hill a few weeks earlier, and she seemed like she'd be an interesting person to discourse with, but the novelty of the D note wore off after a while. This, along with the lack of alcohol, led us across the street where we happily consumed a couple pitchers in record time.

We returned just as Mirah began her set. She played most of her songs from C'mon Miracle, her latest release, along with a few selections from You Think It's Lke This But It's Really Like This and Advisory Committee. Unfortunately, her set was extremely short. She was limited to playing no more than eight songs due to a sore throat. This illness, however, did not affect her amazing voice -- if anything, it made her sound even sexier, a la Chan Marshall from Cat Power. She ended the set with The Dogs of B.A. without an encore. The young crowd was not dissatisfied, as they were able to make it home by their curfew.

Ian once thought that Mirah was Mariah, and it has become an inside joke amongst us. She is, in fact, the anti-Mariah. She has the sweetest, most unassuming personality and always seems to wear a warm smile. Her soft voice is heard by a select few, but she's just as talented as any proclaimed diva. She'll never do a movie named Glitter, date Eminem (she likes ladies), or appear on MTV. And she's not a skanky ho.

Beer Rating: 3 beers