The Hotel Lights show at the Flying Anvil (Greensboro, NC) was truly fantastic...I'm a bit ticked that I didn't have my indie radar better in tune to realize that Hotel Lights isn't just Darren Jesse from BFF, but also members of Sparklehorse, Fountains of Wayne, and Archers of Loaf. But Hotel Lights were awesome. Darren is so reserved as a front-man, but the songs were so well orchestrated for the team on stage that it left room for flourish. Hotel Lights border an interesting line between the familiar and the poignant and you almost feel like you know the sentiment immediately, even though you haven't finished translating the words. I have a hunch this band may become very, very big... And if they don't become big, I wish more on them a measured success that they fully deserve so that they are encouraged to create more. Catch them if you can.http://www.hotellights.netThis was the first date of a pretty ambitious job through the south in just 7 days with Jennifer O'Conner.Opener Jennifer O'Conner was very good- playing acoustic and without a backing band her songs were very much a well-wrapped surprise that in my mind conjured a more rock-inspired Kasey Chambers.d