cigarettes and speed for livin, sleeping pills to feel forgiven

in 2003, on the strength of a glowing review, i picked up ted leo/pharmacists' hearts of oak. much like my experience with neko case, the album didn't catch me and i put it away. fast forward to february of last year. i had driven down to los angeles to hang out with a few friends. we were looking for an inexpensive gig to check out, and ted leo happened to be playing at the el rey theater. you guessed it, he and the pharmacists pretty much wowed us while rocking the goddamn house. i went back to hearts of oak and loved it. i picked up a couple more albums (the tyranny of distance, tell balgeary that balgury is dead) and was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was coming to san francisco at the end of the summer. when that show finally rolled around, me and cc went, we had a blast and we picked up a copy of shake the sheets at the show. the guy just flat out rocks, period. the melodies are catchy, the lyrics are thoughtful, he updates his website...what else do you need? there are a couple more albums i need to get, the ones pictured here are the ones that i have.

hearts of oak: where have all the rude boys gone?, bridges squares, 2nd ave 11am

the tyranny of distance: under the hedge, timorous me, the gold finch and the red oak tree
shake the sheets: me and mia, counting down the hours, bleeding powers

tell balgeary, balgury is dead: ghosts, dirty old town, loyal to my sorrowful country

links links links
http://www.tedleo.com (lotsa mp3s available for you to check out)
ted leo/pharmacists@lookout records (buy cd's here, dirt cheap)
http://www.timorousme.org/ (semi official community)