I've been reading The New Yorker for about five years. It started as a gift subscription, but I was quickly hooked, and continued to buy it for myself. For most of that time, I spent very little time in the front section that detailed goings on in the city, since I wasn't here. I glanced at it, looked at pictures, wanted to know about new artists and such, and sometimes I might be visiting, but really it wasn't for me. Well, now it is. I read it not as carefully as I could, but a lot more carefully than in the past. It got me to The Rolling Stones photography exhibit, and lots of stuff for a blog that is not exclusively about music. Trailing off last night, I noticed the first entry in "Goings On About Town" is about a 17yo singer-songwriter named Laura Marling. Calm down about the links; they'll be provided shortly. Four shows this week, it said. Similar to Joni Mitchell, a woman very much on my mind having watched her just a few minutes before I picked up the magazine. When describing the venues two pages later, she was compared to other young singers from England, like Amy and Lily, and said she "stands out for a couple of reasons." Hmmm. Oh and one of the venues is at 6th and A? Wait, that crappy restaurant I went to once last summer? Where is she even going to play? Well, still, all this clearly meant one thing: I needed to be there. I didn't bother to go to her myspace page to listen to her beforehand; nor did I know she was written up in The Wall Street Journal. We got there at 8ish to see Kelsey Bennett, who was ok. Then it just got crazy packed. Like, dangerous fire hazard packed. It may have been the WSJ mention or The New Yorker mention. Most probably it was that people had bothered to listen to her sing in advance. Because:

Wow.

We're very fortunate to be in New York. This is the first time she's left England, and she's only playing here. She appeared genuinely nervous, so nervous that she made a few mistakes and apologized profusely. But it was so charming you didn't mind in the slightest. She tried some banter that included British slang that no one knew, so she had to explain it. When they passed around a hollowed-out mandolin to collect money for her since there was no cover charge, it went around too quickly for some people to put money in, and they were calling out to get it back so they could pay. Her voice was not that of a 17yo. Her lyrics were not that of a 17yo. Shake-your-head-in-disbelief impressive. She had one additional musician with her, who contributed minimally. It was basically her up there, singing and playing acoustic. She'll probably play the same set list later this week, and you know what? I plan to be there.

Laura Marling. You will hear more about her.