Smoke and Smoke? Yeah, I missed them the first time because their show wasn't in my neighborhood. But I did pack plenty of earplugs for the show at Chop Suey a week later, and if you noticed a woman parked right in front of the stage, wearing a grin that wouldn't stop and given to sudden outbursts of laughter because she was so damn happy to see and hear godheadSilo's Mike Kunka and Dan Brubeck again--yep, that was me. There was no four-foot-long floor tom on the kit this time, but still, the shit was loud and that's just the way I like my drum-and-bass combos. It's weird, but heavy is the only kind of loud I adore, earplugs notwithstanding. That night there was lots of knob-fiddling and crazy feedback from Mike, unbelievably forceful drumming from Dan, and so much inventiveness that no one quite knew when the songs were finished. (Chop Suey's done a nice job putting a blanket over the silly mirror behind the soundboard, and it made a huge difference in the sound there, but it would've been loud anyway during Smoke and Smoke's set.) My favorite part of singer Spencer Moody's antics actually ended in a tie for best moment: There was the long stint when he sat singing in his franticly nonchalant way while sitting on top of some huge stacks; then there was the bit where he was singing a song dedicated to his friend Barry, during which he really wasn't paying attention to what obstacles lay behind him and did a fabulous backflip right over the monitor. He recovered the same way he did whenever he suffered some similar kind of stage mishap during his Murder City days: He just lay on the floor and kept singing, no matter that he was ass over teakettle. The look I saw Barry give afterward was, shall we say, rich. (And for the record, I fell twice before I even got into the damn club, so the flop phenomenon has begun to reach further than just the band.)

Each of the three band members were sporting the most massive beards, and while I'm used to Spencer's (my dad gave Spencer some of his private stash of wax, even though Pops once threw a gigantic hissy when Oregon's Bi-Mart threatened to stop carrying it because they claimed he was the only one who bought the outdated product. Pops and I, we can throw damn good hissies, and let's just say that even though he's the only one buying it, Bi-Mart still carries it. Go Daddy-o.), I think it will take a while for me to accept, especially Dan with the Sluggo look.

SPIDeRBITeS, Ryan Davidson's new band, is playing at the Comet this coming Saturday night, March 20, and because he knows I've never been to the place since I moved here nine years ago--except once to use the restroom--he gave me one of the most charming invitations to a show I've ever seen and I damn near wept a bit. Sealed inside a white envelope was three dollars in quarters, so I'd have no excuse not to see my first show in the infamous Pike Street landmark. Sadly, and I do mean that, I realized that most likely when the band hits the stage, the members of Cobra High and I will be gambling our asses off during our lengthy layover in Vegas. I'll be on my way back from El Paso, where I'll conclude nearly a week on the road with Modest Mouse, and Cobra High'll be working off one of those SXSW hangovers. I won't say anything more, because of the jinx factor in Vegas.

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More good news: I hear that Jenn Ghetto's excellent new album under the moniker S is soon to come out on Suicide Squeeze. I've heard bits and pieces, and it's miles away from Sadstyle, but great in a whole other way.

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Also, don't forget to visit Evening Magazine's website and vote for your favorite Posie Jon Auer and his fiancée, who are one of the four finalist couples in the "Wedding of Your Dreams" contest. Auer wrote to me about the big news from Memphis, where the Posies are at Ardent Studios--hanging with Big Star--and making a new album to come out on Ryko.

kathleen@thestranger.com