Because the day is coming up, from a night of holding nothing back

My mom used to make lots of arts and crafts, and every couple of months, she would sell the stuff that she made at craft fairs. I hated having to go to these fairs, since crafts aren't exactly the most exciting things in the world. Not to mention that these fairs would always be on Saturdays, we'd have to get up super early to set up, and they'd last all day. And if it wasn't really hot outside, then it was really cold. So basically, these fairs were never much fun for me. But I had to go to them to help my mom and what not.

One Saturday a few years ago, my mom had a fair at the park in Hapeville. It was especially cold that day, and I was especially tired and annoyed having to be there. I hadn't gotten that much sleep the night before, so once I finished helping my mom set up her stuff. I went back into the car to sleep. I woke up maybe an hour or two later, kind of dazed and not sure where I was. I heard some music coming from outside. I figured that the live music must've started or something. But as I listened, I heard Jeff Buckley's song Lover You Should've Come Over. Then I was just plain confused. At first I thought someone was playing the song really loud on their stereo. But when I sat up in the car and looked out the window, I saw a guy on stage with long dreads playing guitar and singing into a microphone. Excited by the fact that someone was on stage singing the hell out of my favorite Jeff Buckley song, I quickly got out of the car and ran towards the music. I finished listening to his amazing rendition of the song, and watched the rest of his set. I later found out that his name was Jeffrey Butts, and he was the lead singer for the Atlanta based band Modern Hero. I bought a copy of their cd, Threedom in Stereo, after Jeffrey's performance. That's not something that I would normally do after only a few listens, but I was really impressed with Jeffrey, so I figured his band was worth checking out.

Modern Hero was a band that could've easily found a home on modern rock radio. I used to imagine them playing shows with bands like Collective Soul and Better Than Ezra. The thing with Modern Hero, though, is that there will be a part in almost every song that makes you love them. Whether it's a really great line like, "My way, twisted decay, from the day we collided drowning in my bedroom," or the pleading sound of the guitar in Insomniac when Jeffrey sings "Can't sleep, can't be, can't see without you." And before Bloc Party's This Modern Love, Jeffrey was singing, "It's this modern love that drives us insane."

Modern Hero has since broken up. I have no idea what Jeffrey is up to these days. But I hope he's still writing songs, even if he's no longer doing the music thing professionally. If he is, maybe one of these days he'll put out an acoustic solo record or something and play all the stuff he played when I saw him that day, includinig Lover, You Should've Come Over. I'd definitely buy that cd too.

I never got the chance to see Modern Hero live, but heard good things about their live shows. And while Jeffrey is a bad ass on the guitar, I must say I like the mellow songs more. Here are my top picks from their 2000 release.

(from Threedom in Stereo)

Modern Hero- Insomniac
Modern Hero- All You Want to Know
Modern Hero- The Way
Modern Hero- Higher