DINNER: Saturday, May 10, 2003

Tonight, we headed north to Dayton Ohio to hear Peter Mulvey play at Canal Street Tavern (which is located, inexplicably, on First Street).

We headed up toward Dayton early to make sure we could get tickets for the show. We stopped at Cafe Boulevard for dinner.

We split an order of their crab cakes, and Wendy ordered a scallop pasta dish that she really enjoyed, and I got a puff-pastry-wrapped steak with lobster and (oddly) cheese. Both dishes were very tasty and we enjoyed the meal very much.

Then it was to Canal Street for Peter Mulvey. We got to the venue about 30 minutes before the doors opened so we perched on the steps with Over the Rhine listee Megan and her friend Derek. Soon, Scott and Mike showed up and we had a nice conversation in the pleasant evening weather. When the venue doors were opened (not actually opened, mind you — just unlocked), we went in and got very nice seats in front of the stage.

The opening act was Maery Lanahan who was good (if unpolished). We decided that if she hired a songwriter to help her sophomoric songs, her voice could be very marketable.

Peter Mulvey took the stage with his travelling buddy, David "Goody" Goodrich and played two 45-or-so minute sets. It was great to see Peter again (it had been four years since Drew had seen him, and Wendy had only heard his CDs), but the concert was different because the majority of the songs were off the yet-to-be-recorded next album, so very few of us in the audience knew most of the songs. I would rather have heard Peter play the older songs, but it was fun nonetheless. The bummer is that the NEXT album will be recorded in June, and is scheduled for release in March of 2004. Yikes.