Last night the "poets of our time" were up against the Yankees, and they didn't stand a chance.

In their defense, there was more than a little uncertainty helping the Yankees in this battle. I'd had a conversation a few weeks ago with Monsters of Folk's publicist about that Conor interview that never happened. At the time, the publicist said she was putting me on "the list" for the show, but it was spoken almost as an aside. I emailed her yesterday morning asking for confirmation, but never heard back.

Late in the afternoon I stopped down to the Holland Box office to see if I was on the guest list, but they said they wouldn't know until an hour before the show, and that I could call down and find out. But when I did, the grunt on the other end of the phone said the only way I was going to find out was to drive downtown. A side note: I've had three bad experiences with The Holland box office. Every time I've gone down there they've treated me like shit. Good thing I rarely attend shows there.

Anyway, while I was on hold with The Holland, the World Series had already begun. So: Do I drive downtown and possibly get turned away at the Will Call window, or do I stay home and watch the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series?

It didn't take long to decide. The Monsters of Folk record is somewhat boring. The thought of sitting in Holland's pine-box seating for three hours listening to yawn-inducing singer-songwriter fare just wasn't appealing -- that is, if I got inside the concert hall at all. But even had I made it in, I probably would have been glued to my iPhone the whole time keeping track of the score, and hoping they'd just wrap it up so I could at least catch the last inning. And that wouldn't be fair to Conor and his pals.

Probably the only other person down at the Holland who gave a damn about the game was drummer Will Johnson. Johnson, who also fronts Centro-matic, is a huge baseball fan. We talked baseball before he played a solo set at The Ranch Bowl back in 2004. Johnson described sneaking into baseball parks after hours and running around the bases. One of his other talents is painting baseball stars from the past. You can check out some of his work at http://www.willjohnsonart.com/ You won't find any Yankees in his collection, however.

The Yankees lost, by the way. They (probably) won't be keeping me from seeing Little Black Stereo (who I've yet to hear) and Lawrence band Cowboy Indian Bear at The Sydney tonight. The show is $5 and starts at 9.

There's also a big show going on at Slowdown tonight featuring Oh Possum, Carl Weathers Co-Operative, Conchance, & Sam Martin (Capgun Coup) with Sean Pratt. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Broken Truth plays at The Barley St. with Mitch Gettman. $5, 9 p.m. ; and Platte River Rain plays O'Leaver's with Theodore and The Travelling Mercies. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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