Mike Doughty

Thanksgiving Eve I went to see Mike Doughty play at the Recher Theater in Towson with my husband and 4 friends. Traffic was a little hairy but other than that it was a pretty great night. I know most people are wondering "Who the hell is Mike Doughty?" Most of the people I know asked me the same question. In fact, we had two extra tickets and ended up eating one and giving the other away to someone we met at the door. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the guy but I swear he's good! He was the singer for a band called Soul Coughing in the 90's that is a little more recognizable.


The music was good and all, but people watching was the highlight. There were mountain man beards a plenty; which, as I've mentioned before, are a favorite of mine. Lots of really bad white-hippy-dancing (REALLY bad) and totally uncalled for white-hippy-dreadlocks. The most entertaining though was the tragic group of "friends" sitting in front of us. At first it was two 20-something girlfriends who showed up together and saved a seat for a third friend who would obviously joining them soon. That third friend ended up being a guy - and the awkwardness ensued. Mystery Man showed up for what he was clearly expecting to be a "date" with Girl #1 and looked just a bit disappointed to see Girl #2 there. But Girl #1 was clearly not into Mystery Man and in fact spent most of the evening pretending he wasn't there. This of course lead to much awkward small talk between Mystery Man and Girl #2 and an excess amount of obviously urgent business on his iphone. Once the music started they all at least had something to distract themselves. But a few songs in, he went for the hand-hold and Girl #1 wasn't having any of it. So sad. Poor Mystery Man. He clearly wasn't even a fan of Mike Doughty; the whole night he was preoccupied with this iphone and her hand until the encore when Doughty played one of his hits from Soul Coughing and suddenly Mystery Man was a singing - head-bobbing maniac. So tragic.