J. R. Taylor

There are two good reasons why I don't bother getting on the list for tonight's show. One is that it's kind of pathetic to beat a suggested donation of $5. Also, I try to keep a low profile around Dave Driver. He's just one of NYC's more talented-and therefore under heard-pop guys, but he makes me nervous. I've never even introduced myself to him, since I can't get out a sentence without feeling unwelcomed.

Typical encounter: I see Dave outside a place he's about to play, and he's wearing aluminum pants. "Christ," I say, "did Rufus Wainwright have a sidewalk sale?"

Driver looks at me like I'm his high-school tormentor still going for laughs at the 20-year reunion. He's right, too. The guy's wearing aluminum pants. How would I top that?

Anyway, Driver and Austin singer/songwriter Gretchen Phillips once put out a great album called Togetherness. Two original songs and a batch of brilliant covers that now litter the cheap bins of St. Marks. They're showing up together on the same bill at some place in Williamsburg called the Glass House Gallery.

Phillips started out in an '80s college-rock duo called Two Nice Girls, and her audience isn't getting any younger. Or more likable. Typical overheard patter involves aging dames trying to get their cut of $125 million in arts funds that just came up for grabs, while another announces that she's just finished writing her anti-marriage manifesto.

The venue's equally depressing. They're playing the (actually pretty good) debut album by The Motels before the show. That's appropriate, since the entire gallery could've been lifted straight out of 1979 Los Angeles. It's full of bad post-Apocalyptic art using cool stuff that deserved a better fate. Our Mad Max future also seemingly involves towers of crap that will obscure performers on stage.

No complaints about the music, though. Phillips does a short set, then it's Phillips & Driver, and then Driver with his self-described gay cabaret act The Lotus Eaters. Phillips improves on Sonic Youth, Driver improves on Death Cab For Cutie, they close valiantly by trying to improve on the perfection of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way." It's a great show, even if the setting leads to karaoke hi-jinks. Hopefully, we'll get to see The Lotus Eaters in a more serious setting. I'd gladly pay to avoid Driver outside of Joe's Pub.