Jordan Cooper, Sidewalk Cafe 10-29-2002

Re-uploaded with improved stereo audio!

My 3rd Sidewalk Cafe show! This was more of me just dumping every song I had on people one show at a time (as opposed to building a consistent setlist to repeat over and over again.) For me shows were not about getting people to remember my songs, they were about showcasing as many of my songs as possible every month or so because at that time I was writing several songs a week and in love with most of them.

This show was really unique for a few reasons. My friend Daniel Matz played snare drum on a handful of songs. I don't remember how we picked which ones but I think they were his personal favorites. I played piano for a few songs. And my friend Dave Fox came on stage and we performed a weird song we had just written called Demon Human.

What a crazy setlist. Almost all debuting new songs, many of them never played again. In my opinion, I am starting to see my songwriting get better and more....mature? Complicated? As compared to songs played at my first show two months back. The more immature songs, for the most part, are already being stored away and forgotten about. Also, my singing voice is a bit rough and very different compared to what it would become (see shows I uploaded from 2005, etc.) This is partly because of huge huge huge tonsils that were blocking my throat and would be removed a few months after this.

Party in the Gardens, a song about Kew Gardens, is debuted. Give A Shit was a melodic favorite of mine but it always felt too long and the lyrics not quite worked out, and yet I'd consider it one of the best songs I've ever written. Online Creep was only played this one time and has a cool outside the box chord progression but cheesy lyrics (about an online creep) that I tried rewriting for about 10 years.

Halloween Song (coming up on my second album!) is debuted here, with a little pumpkin on the stool next to me as a warm token to Samhain himself. Bowtie Guy is premiered and would be played at countless shows to come. I'm Terrified with Daniel on drums is one of the only performances of this song that I feel very fond of but never had much confidence in. I whip out my old junior high school recorder to do a horrible unpleasant solo. We planned so much stuff like this for this show, I remember being unbelievably nervous beforehand.

Big House on the piano is a huge rarity, another moody favorite (similar in theme to my song All I Ever Wanted, about wanting to leave your house) but it's too damn hard to play and sing at the same time. CPU, a song about being online too much (back in 2002!) was eventually turned into "Don't Watch Too Much TV" for a children's album I made (which is available on my bandcamp.)

Worst Kind Of Everything is a very simple rare song about a plumber who hates his wife. You Say But You Don't Know from my first album Looking For Parking is debuted here. You Can't Even Speak is an ambitious, lengthy and complicated song about a bad party experience (same party as Bowtie Guy, actually), only played this one time ever but it will show up on my 3rd album Party Guy, hopefully out in 2021.

Wow...The Morning is a really sad song I wrote about my first break-up (that had JUST happened prior to this concert) and this is one out of two times ever played live. Back Of Your Mind is debuted and another favorite to play for a while, and very Violent Femmes influenced (and a true story.)

Demon Human is a cool song (full lyrics: When I woke up / coughed up blood / and other stuff / in a cup / it's so tough being a Demon Human), but I'm afraid doesn't quite come across strongly here. Then A Boy My Age and Settle Down are repeated from my first ever show (whose tape has gone missing) as these were clear audience favorites. You can hear my friend Sam yell out "nine times out of ten!" at 39 minutes in. Enjoy!

Setlist:
Party in the Gardens
Give A Shit
Online Creep
Halloween Song
BowTie Guy
Im Terrified
Big House
CPU
Worst Kind of Everything
You Say But You Don't Know
You Can't Even Speak
The Morning
Back of Your Mind
Demon Human
A Boy My Age
Settle Down

Видео Jordan Cooper, Sidewalk Cafe 10-29-2002 канала Jordan Cooper Stuff