Saturday night I went with Kathy and Ricky to The Delancey to check out Annie’s band Last Known Settlers who were scheduled to go on from 8-9p. We got there by 8, but Annie did not. She was stuck in traffic because she didn’t know there was a street fair going on, conveniently situated between her place and The Delancey. Nice. Since we had some time to kill, we went upstairs to check out the rooftop and have a drink up there. Rick and Kat had never been there before but had seen it many times when driving back from Brooklyn because the roof deck is directly facing the offramp of the Williamsburgh bridge. So apparently if you’re driving home from the Willy-B at night if you look to your right you would see the cozy roof deck nestled between two taller buildings, all inviting, or as Kat put it “looking like a little slice of heaven”. Looks can be deceiving though because actually sitting there, especially while there was still daylight, was just ok; definitely not heavenly. Particularly disconcerting was the cloud of gnats swarming overhead, resembling the dogfight at the end of Top Gun. Engage, dammit! Maverick won’t engage!

Since the gnats were bugging Kat (haha), we decided to take our $9 drinks back down to the basement and stare at the empty stage until Annie and Heather showed up. When they finally did, Annie whizzed by and set up her keyboard and bells in a bit of a frenzy but looked more or less composed if not somewhat amused considering the circumstances. It was really dark down there and Heather needed some help getting on and off the stage without tripping over anything, which made it even more remarkable that Annie was able to get everything set up so quickly without electrocuting herself or something.

Then they got down to the business of rocking, and they put on a good show. The crowd loved them, but I suspect that was in part because most of them were friends of the band, but still, they had a really good sound. You don’t hear too many bands with bells, you know. Annie showed some skills playing keys with her left hand and the bells with her right. That can’t be easy, but then again, we all know that Annie’s brain is wired a little differently then most, haha. As LL Cool J would say, Annie rocked the bells. Jeff the drummer was rockin an old skool headband and was particularly impressive handling his business on the skins back there. They totally look like a Brooklyn band, well, because they pretty much are, and they rocked it in a short but fun set with a really laid back vibe.

Not nearly as laid back as the band that followed them though. Silence The Bird also had a great sound, but was very mellow, almost soothing in a folksy easy-listening sort of way. Kat loved that the lead singer looked so nerdy, like someone you’d ask to help configure your router if he wasn’t busy jamming at The Delancey. Ricky thought he looked like Bill Gates, which isn’t a stretch, but with the way he played the guitar and sang, he totally reminded me of John Sebastian. You kids who are too young to know who he is will just have to Google him. Damn I’m old.

Speaking of old, one last random comment- If you didn’t know why Paul Pierce jumped up on his chair and started dancing in the 4th quarter of the NBA Finals, it’s because the Celtics now have a home ritual of showing an old American Bandstand clip from the 70’s on the Jumbotron towards the end of games where the crowd goes nuts and cheers “Gino!” for one of the dancers wearing a Gino Vanelli t-shirt. Yes, Gino Vanelli. If that name triggers both memories and a twinge of embarrassment, then you too must be pretty damn old.