Ben Gibbard

[miss pretentious]

well, i mean it makes sense. they do know each other - ben was tapped to play a small part in john krasinski's adaptation of 'brief interviews with hideous men.'
 
 and with their background like that, it makes it being awkward seem well...awkward.
 
 

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  you guys didn't miss anything.  the whole interaction was kinda awkweird... basically he came on stage with a guitar as if to do a duet, ben at first was confused, then asked him to leave and finally got him off the stage with a promise to "play him a song".  i couldn't tell if it was all scripted (and ben was a bad actor); or if it was real, i.e. he busted unannounced on to the stage and ben had to talk him into leaving.  the whole thing was over in a minute and a half.  it wasn't funny or even entertaining, really.
 
 and and i mis-named "title and registration" as "glove compartement" above, but was actually talking about "passenger seat"... it was late, i was tired, they're both car-related...
 
 great shows      

[miss pretentious]

from USA Today's Pop Candy Blog
 
 sidenote: i'm obviously fan girl Nicole Y. at the end. i'm so lame about this.
 
 Jim Halpert in the spotlight
 This morning my inbox has been flooded with tales of John Krasinski's appearance onstage with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club last night. According to you guys, Krasinski surprised the audience by grabbing a guitar and professing his love of ... Wilco?
 
 So what's the connection between The Office's Jim Halpert and the indie rocker? Gibbard has a role in Krasinski's upcoming adaptation of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. It seems they get along quite well.
 
 Some Pop reader stories about the evening:
 
 From Kelly K.: "A few songs in, I look up in the VIP balcony. ... I notice a guy who looks like Jim from The Office. A few songs later he disappears ... and materializes next to Ben Gibbard with a guitar! He banters with Ben and then sings a little bit of a song my friend identifies as a Wilco song. Then John asks Ben to play 'the song.' Ben Gibbard then launches into a Death Cab song.
 
 "Everyone had their cell phone cameras out. I think everyone was a little confused as to why he was there, because you know in D.C. we normally KNOW when and why celebrities are in town ...
 
 "Ben Gibbard + John Krasinski = BEST.NIGHT.EVER."
 
 From M.A.: "I work at the club, and when he jumped on stage in between songs, a few of the door staff thought he was some random guy from the crowd. We were really close to jumping on stage and kicking him out. It wasn't until Ben talked to him on stage and reciprocated his presence that we realized they were friends. I don't think anyone actually realized who was on stage with Ben until after the show since he was wearing a hat."
 
 From Nicole Y.: "Now, I was at the early show (which was amazing, especially the cover of All Apologies) and will absolutely flip out of this is true and I missed it, not to mention I was already slightly upset I had to miss The Office for the show to begin with. More importantly, WHO HAS PHOTOS?!?"
 
 You heard Nicole -- if you snapped a pic (or see one elsewhere), send it my way. And dang, I knew I should've gotten tickets to this!

[eltee]

Originally posted by Darth Ed:
  I realize that I'm probably in the minority here, considering the amount of applause he received at the club.

He received applause, but no one was really listening. I haven't seen the club that chatty in a long time. I guess everyone was just anticipating Ben at that point. (I'd like to see him at Jammin' Java or Iota...or the club again on a less chatty night.) I only saw two of his songs b/c it took me 2 hours to get to the club and I left work early. (I hate to join in on the complain parade, but the early / late set times killed me.)
 
 I missed Jonathan Rice, who I wished I had also seen. Since I see a lot of singer/songwriters, at first, Ben's set was a "normal" show for me. Then, it picked up, perhaps about the time he went to the piano. I enjoyed his banter, relaxed and positive energy. Also enjoyed that song about Los Angeles..and the other from his collaboration.  
 I could have gone w/o the Nirvana cover. (And the guy yelling "F yeah!" at a pivotal point of a song. That's like achieving too soon. Totally ruined the moment.)
 I just wish it had been longer. I guessed the second show might be better...he was getting into a groove. Wish I had known about NPR!

[eltee]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  you guys didn't miss anything.

Yeah, I didn't even notice.

[amnesiac]

Pretty good show. It was great hearing some Postal Service songs and the Styrofoam song, but for most of the DCFC songs, I found myself wishing the rest of the band was there. Kinda surprised (and disappointed) he didn't play "District"

[Bags]

Originally posted by Darth Ed:
  I was less than enthused with David Bazan. I didn't really care for either his singing or his songwriting. I really thought his set dragged, like it might go on forever. Ugh. I realize that I'm probably in the minority here, considering the amount of applause he received at the club.

I'm with you, though I think I disliked him more than you.  Really downbeat and down energy, and I don't know why he was doing that Stephen Wright monotone robot talk, but it bugged the hell out of me.  Yet he got really loud applause.  I'm not familiar with Pedro & The Lion, so I assumed the place was full of Pedro fans who would clap if he shat onstage.
 
 Another odd  bit to the evening was how incredibly long the food food line was!  During Bazan, it went all the way to mid-room!!  Very weird (though I guess due to the early show time), and made for a kind of stinky show with all that hot food around.
 
 Ben was great.  Better than I expected, though I wasn't sure really what to expect (I like The Postal Service more than DCFC, so I was in to the ability to hear some of those songs...)

[sonicdc77]

Early Show
 1. To Sing You Songs (Donovan)
 2. Brand New Colony (Postal Service)
 3. Title & Registration (DCFC)
 4. Crooked Teeth (DCFC)
 5. We Will Become Silhouettes (Postal Service)
 6. Photobooth (DCFC)
 7. Why you'd want to live here (DCFC)
 8. Passenger Seat (DCFC)
 9. Soul Meets Body (DCFC)
 10. Recycled Air (Postal Service)
 11. Farmer Chords (B.G. & Andrew Kinney)
 12. Couches in Alleys (Styrofoam & B.G.)
 13. Lack of Color (DCFC)
 14. The Sound of Settling (DCFC)
 15. Such Great Heights (Postal Service)
 
 Encore
 16. Blacking out the Friction (DCFC)
 17. All Apologies (Nirvana)
 18. I Will Follow You into the Dark (DCFC)

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sonicdc77:
  Early Show
 

Which of course can be downloaded here:
 
 http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/asclive/2007/05/20070510_asclive_gibbard.mp3
 
 Courtesy of NPR, PBR, Ben Gibbard and the 9:30 Club.

[Bags]

Yippee Kiyah, Smack.  THANKS for easy linkage.

[eilo97]

what wilco song did the guy from the office sing?

[shemptiness]

Originally posted by eilo97:
  what wilco song did the guy from the office sing?

Based on what I've read here - seemed to be 'Passenger Side'.

[eilo97]

Originally posted by Shemp:
   

Originally posted by eilo97:
  what wilco song did the guy from the office sing?

Based on what I've read here - seemed to be 'Passenger Side'. [/b]

love that song. that would have been interesting to see haha, although apparently it was too awkward to even be funny...

[Reod Dai]

I'm really, really glad that Ben decided to do this tour.  It was fantastic to hear some of those songs, songs that one would normally never hear.  I've never seen The Postal Service, so it was great to hear those.  And since I've seen Death Cab seven different times (five of them in Seattle), it was nice to hear Ben give some of their songs a different perspective.  I was at the early show, by the way, though I wouldn't have minded catching the late show.  It's just that I live nearly two hours away.  

[Vas Deferens]

DC did not get the cover of Mountain Goats' Palmcorder Yanja! Now, I don't feel so bad about missing the show      

[eltee]

Originally posted by Reod Dai:
  So I was rather looking forward to his set, and the crowd pretty much ruined it.
 
   

Originally posted by nonameface:
 (And the guy yelling "F yeah!" at a pivotal point of a song. That's like achieving too soon. Totally ruined the moment.)

It resulted in a pretty funny moment, though, when Ben got that really confused look on his face and then, quite casually and matter-of-factly, repeated "F*ck yeah." into the mic. [/b]

Couldn't agree with you more regarding the crowd.
 
 Yeah, Ben did turn it into a funny...I thought he responded in question form as if he thought the moment was slightly ruined as well.
 
 In the end, it was an enjoyable show and overall, the crowd was pretty tame and gracious.