If ever there was a distinct voice to come out of the nineties, one that surely comes to mind belongs to Soul Coughing lead singer/songwriter Mike Doughty. With his sharp witted lyrics and half spoken vocals, he paved the way for freaky beatniks with jazzy sensibilities all throughout a decade laden with grunge, bad pop and practically un-listenable rock and roll. Tonight, armed with his frequent collaborator, Andy “Scrap” Livingston, he brought tears of laughter, tore through solo songs, and dropped a few songs from his previous work with Soul Coughing.
Touring under the guise of “The Question Jar Show”, Doughty and Livingston blew through the evening by alternately playing songs, and answering questions from a jar on-stage, which earlier in the evening, attendees put questions for them into. These questions varied throughout the night; from the monotony of song requests (mostly Soul Coughing), to the personal (What made you get clean? “I was really fucked up!”), and the absurd (Who would win in a fight, Jack Bauer or Vic Mackey? “Vic Mackey’s bald, right? VIC MACKEY!”). All this had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand with good reason.
If anyone thinks that this show was at like seeing/hearing Soul Coughing, you couldn’t be more wrong. That part of Mike Doughty is dead, at least for now. Playing acoustically, and cherry picking mostly from his solo material, the night was clearly all about him. In all honesty I can’t tell you what was more entertaining, hearing songs like “Madeline and Nine”, “Navigating By the Stars at Night”, and “Put it Down”, or the hilarity that ensued between songs. From the aforementioned questions, to banter and crowd interaction, the night was a hoot. It reminded me a bit like seeing a hilarious film, and then participating in a Q&A with it’s creator afterwords. Except, you know, with great live music.
A good majority of the evening also included introductions to newer songs from an upcoming, “maybe recorded”, “maybe not” album, which “might” come out next year. The songs all sounded very reminiscent to the direction that he’s been going in these past few years, which is one that’s bathed in what Doughty does best, songwriting. Aside from his well formulated lyricism, “Scrap” Livingston, splitting the time between lead guitar and cello duties, helped usher the introduction of newer songs to what they “might” sound like on the album, as well as take the older tunes to great levels of textured melodies.
As for Soul Coughing songs, tonight, they were few and far between, “True Dreams of Wichita” and “Circles” were played – sounding great, but not true to their original incarnations. That’s not to say that the crowd didn’t try they’re asses off by requesting what had to have been most of the catalog. Which Doughty in turn dismissed with short quips, like “NO!”, “Never!”, and “Fuck off!”. The crowd loved every bit of it. Of course, most of them were in their late-twenties to early fifties – this made the night worthwhile because everyone got the point that was coming across – and that was pretty much fuck Soul Coughing, I’m Mike Doughty.
