A Brooklyn Beat: Hold Steady

Just last week, I was wondering about Warsaw's preparedness for hosting electronic music, and now, the most gloriously dingy of recent dingy rock bands is playing there Friday night. Of course,  I have tickets (4 bucks  via Theater Mania...but still) to go see some symphony thingee with the boyfriend at Lincoln Center. Last year the Hold Steady, in my  grungy little opinion, released the most persuasive recent argument that guitar-based rock still has a right to exist. Separation Sunday is a vaguely conceptish album about Catholicism, Minneapolis, tweakers, redemption, and Stevie Nicks. No other album got me as high last year about the power of a good lyric ("There are strings attached to every single lover") or just a dumb and dirty power chord. Fans always reference the Replacements, but to me it's got just enough Springsteen in it to make it feel kind of epic, without feeling like you've been on an overblown date, say, to Lincoln Center (kidding, boyfriend!). Tickets, unbelievably, are still available.