This is probably a surprise to nobody, but owning a nightclub tends to suck right out of you any desire to go out to clubs other than your own. Those other clubs all start to look like "work" after a while, except you can't go in back and check your email when you get bored. So, despite that, I dragged my ass out to Du Nord tonight.

An illusion of which I have now been disabused: "Hey, the opening act is a puppet show, that might be entertaining." Unless by "entertaining" you mean "intolerably tedious." The second act was some godawful a capella off-key caterwauling that -- I swear -- might actually have been worse than Apocalypse Theatre.

So I was seriously starting to rethink the wisdom of this "leaving the bunker" plan.

But the headliner, The Dresden Dolls, were absolutely fantastic, and even made it worth suffering through the puppet show. They were two of them (drums and piano+vocals) and they played this agressive cabaret kind of thing. She has a great voice, the music was really complex, and they were very tight; lots of changes within a song and stop-on-a-dime silent bits. Very entertaining lyrics too: "Coin Operated Boy" was especially funny.

They have CDs for sale on their web site; as your attorney in this matter, I advise you to purchase them.