Butch Walker and the End of Rocktober

Tuesday night, I saw Rocktober out with style.  My friend Diane and I went to TLA to see Butch Walker.  I was still giddy from Saturday night's Jesse Malin show, and it felt like a real indulgence--it probably was one--to see another show before the endorphins from the previous show had even ebbed.

This was my second time seeing Butch.  He's a great musician and a versatile singer, and he's written some amazing songs, but I can't write honestly about him without starting from a single basic fact: his charisma.  No, that's not strong enough.  His magnetism.  I can't take my eyes off the guy.  He throws himself wholeheartedly into his shows--a trait that's a whole lot rarer than it should be--and hits all the emotional stops from sorrow to elation. 

Diane and I got to the venue early so we could get in the front row, which turns out to be a fantastic place to see a Butch Walker show--I know, big surprise!--because he's so interactive with his audience...again, a trait that's less common among performers than you might expect.  

There's a whole lot more I could say about Butch Walker.  His new material is moving, fueled by the recent death of his beloved father.  He's got a high-powered other career producing a long list of artists you've heard of; he used to be in the heavy metal band South Gang and the nineties band Marvelous 3, and he's even written a pretty fascinating memoir about his life in the music biz.   But I'll let Butch speak for himself: