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This Sunday night will be absolutely gorgeous. You will no doubt be out and about, enjoying the cool evening breeze and the slowly-setting August sun.

So, as the summer sun sets, stroll yourself on over to Uncommon Ground at Clark & Grace St., where I’ll be playing some summer-themed acoustic tunes fit for such an ideal evening. Some dear old pals of mine from Boston, the Brendan Boogie Band, are passing through town this weekend and have obliged to play some of their tunes at 7pm. Then, as the sun dips out of view at precisely 7:58pm, I’ll serenade you — lit only by the lights of the Cubs-Cards game going on across the street.

This Sunday, August 10
Uncommon Ground on Grace & Clark
3800 N. Clark St., 773 929-3680
FREE, All Ages

7pm - Brendan Boogie Band
7:58pm - Gordon Wright

As much as I love busking down in the subway, I hardly feel as authentic and entitled as some of the other guys who play down there.

Phil, Norm & Joe are some great guys who play down there seemingly at all hours. Indeed, someone saw fit to give them their rightful place on the YouTube stage.

You guys are awesome. But lord, find a new band name.

I love this shot I took of Evan the other night at our Schubas show. He’s playing Shakira. On a Guitar Hero controller.

Wow.

I’m still coming off the high from last night’s show at Schubas.

But it got me thinking about my boys back in Boston. Not just the fellas from Fooled By April, but also our rock brethren in Scamper, who this weekend are saying sayonara with a huge blow-out show at the Middle East Downstairs.

We’ve all come a looong way since I met Keith & Nate at the Kendall Cafe oh-so-many years ago playing as the Puzzlebusters. And our two bands seemed to mirror each other’s ups and downs over the years. The break-ups, the make-ups, the weddings, the births (although, fortunately, they never proved that was actually Jordan’s kid… :), and a bunch of solid, fun-as-hell rock shows.

Sadly, I’m missing the final one this weekend. There were even early rumors of an FXA reunion appearance, but alas. Fittingly, I’ll simply say my goodbye and good luck in my online diary.

Keith, Nate, Mike & Brendan, you’re some of the best friends, fans and rockers a band could have in this troubled biz. Rock on, boys.

The other night we stopped by Pete Miller’s to see my pal and drummer, Jeffrey Lien, play some jazz. As much magic as he makes with my tunes, his real chops are in the jazz world. Which I totally dig. In fact, I pretty much only listen to jazz these days. I don’t see that much live music, frankly, and when I do, well, it’s usually jazz. Hell, right now I have jazz playing in the background.

Admittedly, this is a bit strange for someone who expends most of his creative energy writing pop songs. And maybe it’s just because I sort of OD’ed on the pop/rock sound. But jazz — though it can often be cheesy… or tedious… or even nauseating — is ever-versatile. High art becomes background noise, and vice-versa.

This duplicity used to frustrate me. How could I reconcile blandly tuning out musical masterworks over dinner with the devoted attention I paid to every improvised note of a Coltrane or Evans? Is it right to buy a Rothko simply because it matches your color scheme?

I’ll explore this a bit more tomorrow…