Stuart Davis just played at Schuba’s on Saturday night, and damn was it a great show. A little shorter than most of the times I’ve seen him, since he was on at 7:30 and there was a guy coming on at 10, but it was still a solid 90 minutes with a great mix of new stuff that I hadn’t heard, somewhat older songs that many people knew, and a few that were quite a bit older that only a few of us knew. Schuba’s is really a great venue. The sound was fantastic – enough so, in fact, that Stu asked the crowd to applaud the sound guy (whose name escapes me at the moment) near the end of the show. He said something to the effect of, "I’ve never had bad sound when I’ve played here. And the sound usually sucks everywhere else I play, so this is a perfect inversion." I’m not going to remember all the songs, but the show in my mind was anchored by the following:
1. Opening with Doppelganger Body Donor. Hearing a good number of people in a packed house practically shouting, "It’s my word against that whore’s!" was fabulous.
2. Ending with Swim, which Stuart described simply as, "A song about being human." This is the song that made me fall in love with his music six years ago, and it hits me in the gut every time I hear it live.
3. About 1/3 of the way in, he said, "Now it’s time for one of the hits! Wait, do I have a hit?" As the crowd laughed and several of us shouted, "No!" he shrugged and continued, "But if I DID have one…" and launched into Rock Stars & Models, which is just fabulous cheese. My favorite lines in this one include, "You put snowballs up your nose/And fingers down your throat/That’s why your skin glows/And you weigh less than your coat." Hee!
4. "Are there any drummers in the room? I could use a drummer." Naturally, some dude in the back volunteered and started coming up to the stage. Stu stopped for a minute and said, "I should have been more clear. Are there any good drummers in the room?" Once the guy assured him that he knew what he was doing, Stuart shouted, "Yes! The band is back together for the first time years!" "What’s your name, again?" Heh. Anyway, the dude found himself on stage playing the bongos along with Universe Communion. He was pretty damn good, too.
5. Some new song about Parker Posey that’s just…man, it’s weird. This was one of probably 5 songs I didn’t know at ALL, which just illustrates that Stu needs to come to Chicago (or the midwest in general) more often. Even in the absence of a new album, I’ve usually seen him recently enough that I’ve at least heard everything at some point. It was cool to hear some of them for the first time, though.
6. Atavistic Viking, from his album Nomen Est Numen. This was very cool, because while it’s from the same album Universe Communion is on, he very rarely plays it in concert. In fact, at the dozen or so times I’ve seen him, this is one I’ve often heard shouted out as a request (or shouted out myself), only to see it completely ignored. 
It’s a highly funny song, and you could tell that about 95% of the crowd was hearing it for the first time. So while a few of us looked around at each other and mouthed the words along with the song, the rest of the room was reacting to hearing it for the first time, laughing at the appropriate bits and cheering wildly when it was over. It was kind of like hearing it for the first time myself – I’ve always really liked the song, but seeing other people first get into it is a lot of fun.
He really brought the funny this time, particularly when he was pimping his new two-volume DVD. Someone asked what songs were on it, and he replied, "All the ones you like. Those shitty ones you don’t like? I left those off, man. They’re nowhere to be found." He also cracked the room up when he said, "My wife is at home in the fetal position over the complete narcissism that has taken over there. There are 3,000 copies of a DVD all about ME in our garage and I’ve…I’ve never been happier. I almost don’t want to sell them!"
One other thing that stood out was how CROWDED the place was. The last time I saw him at Schuba’s, there were maybe three people who had to stand at the back, but last night the whole room was absolutely packed to the gills – all the seats were filled, obviously, and it was shoulder-to-shoulder standing in the back. The guy at the door seemed a bit baffled by the whole thing, and apparently had asked Stuart just before the show, "Who are all these people?" Excellent. It’s also fun to see the kind of crowd he attracts. A bunch of college-aged kids, certainly, a whole chunk of us in the "I’m not yet ready to admit that I’m that much older than the college-aged kids" category, and a surprising number of middle-aged fans interspersed in the crowd, singing along and cheering just as loudly for their favorites as everyone else.
Stu remains the most sincere musician I’ve seen in concert. When he was wrapping up, he thanked everyone for coming by saying, "Thanks for making this a night that reminds me why I do this." There aren’t many people who could say that without irony, but he does it. His concerts are always entertaining, but the energy in the room last night was so overwhelmingly positive and open that it outpaced most of the other times I’ve seen him. Chatting with him for a few minutes back at the merchandise table afterward and collecting one of the hugs he was distributing to everyone who came up to talk to him was most excellent.
We are remaining firmly skeptical about this, but there are some binaural sounds you can play through earphones that supposedly hack your brain, making you feel like you’ve had too much coffee, feel relaxed, or can even allegedly simulate sex. These 
These Pimpstar rims are programmable using a Wi-Fi equipped laptop and can display images as you roll down the street. The LEDs are full color so there is no limit to what you can display on them, and the software allows you to rotate through a series of six different images per wheel. The wheels are carwash-safe and run from the car’s power to spare you the embarrassment of running out of battery in the middle of your flashing light display. The wireless technology begs to be hacked and since these are destined to go on the uber-SUVs, we recommend replacing "Low Ridah" with images that say "Losah."