If you're into swooning over attractive male guitarists who reminisce about lost loves, in-between eliciting laughs like stand up acts and cursing like sailors, then the patio of Usdan on Wednesday night was the place to be. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Stephen Kellogg was opening the evening of music, since I had enjoyed seeing him this past summer at the Gathering of the Vibes. This performance was much mellower, as he displayed his songwriting talents while still maintaining his personable, smile-inducing edge.Kellogg's mini-set consisted mainly of "story 'bout a girl" songs that exhibited enjoyable chord progressions, plus an added bonus of a little harmonica in the first song. His songs had messages along the lines of "you have the choice to change, but it's a difficult process." For instance, the lines "She's got a sun kissed smile that the winter won't go near," and "She takes my heart away," showed Kellogg's ability to bring out universal emotions in his lyrics. He peaked in his penultimate song where he would send his voice rocketing falsetto as he added an extra syllable to "beautiful." Kellogg capped his performance with a ballad style cover of the Spin Doctors' "Two Princes" that included an audience sing-a-long of the chorus while he crooned reworked lyrics that meshed wonderfully.

At setbreak it dawned on me that this is the most packed acoustic caf I had ever attended. The patio was crammed as far as the eye could see, and there were even a bunch of crafty ones who had made their way up to the second floor patio for the showcase, Matt Nathanson. Nathanson, even more than Kellogg, knew how to work the ladies. And, he was not afraid to show it, to the point where I think he just liked to hear himself talk. The way he made out with the microphone and was continually deep-thrusting (from his toes all the way to his eyes) complemented his self-proclaimed theme of the evening, which was music as a sexual journey.

Nathanson possessed a set of full, slightly raspy, very sexy vocals. He put them to use right away, and added intricate chord progression and eye-opening lyrics to create "Pretty The World." On "More Than This" Nathanson played brilliantly, as though he were playing two guitars simultaneously in harmony. This same style would follow, but even more melodically, later on with "Wings."

Then came, according to Nathanson, the "nipple hardening part of the evening," which he introduced with a pretty enjoyable, albeit mocking, impersonation of BBMak. After a couple more woe-is-me, why-can't-she-be-mine, can't-get-her-out-of-my-head type songs, Nathanson orchestrated a fun sing-a-long to Prince's "Starfish and Coffee." As he did all night long, Nathanson stopped midsong to make a wisecrack; this one was directed at a pretty girl not joining in the singing who shall remain nameless.

"Chickentastick" allowed for some isolated, hard strumming and "Continue Dreaming" was the vehicle for some higher than normal vocals by Nathanson. It was at this point of the show that I felt it dragging on a little too much. Maybe he was spurred on by the hordes of females in the audience to keep playing slow ballads or maybe that's all he has in his repertoire, but either way the set was in need of a boost of some sort at this point.

Nathanson picked up on this vibe three or four songs later than I would have liked, and then got just plain silly. He did a very raw version of Journey's "Faithfully" and stood on an amp in his crowning glory. Kellogg joined him on the amp stage left and the rest of the song played out more as a comedy routine than a musical performance, considering Kellogg's fear of heights and their lack of the necessary soloing to fit the song. Regardless, it was good entertainment.

A farcical Bon Jovi medley of "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" followed, and they even added a Guns N' Roses "Paradise City" tease.

Back to the real music. "Answering Machine" again showed how the audience can actively help to create touching music, as Nathanson wove his flowing lyrics through the crowd's chorus.

He closed the set with a whisperingly warm first verse of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" that segued into his largely requested "Little Victories." The night ended on a soft smiling note that represented well the two plus hours of sweet melodies and reflective lyrics that filled the cool, end of summer, New England night air.