Great God Pan

At The Smell last night, Will Oldham introduced the song "Lion Liar" by joking, "This song reminds me of North Korea."

The show was just super. Will was bleeding from the mouth all over his western shirt. I thought at first it was food stains, like he set out his costume for the evening, and purposefully applied taco sauce on the front as some sort of fashion gesture. But later, Tracy showed me pictures she took of him on her camera-phone, pointing out the blood dripping from his mouth. Was it a Halloween gag or did he hit his face with the microphone? He had on even more eyeliner than the last time I saw him, which combined with the taco sauce/blood and the hiking boots made for a very understated trans-gender experience. The melancholy tone of the set was smoothed out by the ghost of Jerry Garcia brought forth by the solo guitarist. Quite amusing! The best experience was the very young red-headed drummer. He just filled out every song completely, with his eyes closed, making faces. I could only see glimpses of him because the tallest person in the room was standing right in front of me (no, not Jens), but I could still appreciate his nuanced accents on the finer points of guitar and vocals. After the tallest person in the room left, I had a clear view of the drummer: he removed his red gingham shirt, button by button, to reveal that not only was he incredibly skilled, but that he was also completely hairless. Brilliant.

—submitted by Gabie Strong

While on the subject, watch Neil Hamburger get pissed at BPB.