Blender at CMJ 08: Friday and Saturday

It was here and now, it's gone. Another year, another CMJ. What really is the point of CMJ? Once, it was a week to get together in New York and network the old-fashioned way. Once, such an event was a necessity. Before the internet, it wasn't so easy to hear every band currently making a buzz. You had to buy the album, or 7", or wait til the artist came through town. Now, you can hear several songs by an artist within seconds of hearing their name for the first time.

So is it all worth it? Yes, it is. It may not be as necessary as it once was, but people still like to schmooze, people still like to see bands, and people still like to run around town and be social. So yeah, CMJ's nice. In fact, it's the unofficial day parties that have emerged as the true gems of the festival. Free shows, many with free drinks, that feature one artist after the other, often varying wildly in genre, have become the must-see events. The paid, official nighttime shows are still worthy, of course, but having fun in the daytime is easier. And cheaper. And less crowded.

In fact, these shows often provide the opportunity to see "big" bands play relatively small places to intimate crowds. An example of this was Saturday's Delta Spirit show at the Knitting Factory's Old Office. The Knitting Factory is a downtown space that contains three separate performance spaces, a large Main Space and two smaller areas. Delta Spirit, a California band that applies modern pop sensibilities to an Americana sound, took the stage at the Old Office, one of the smaller places, playing a short-ish set (though they all seem to be short-ish at CMJ) in a cramped-in-a-good-way venue to a boisterous 100 person crowd.

(MORE)