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BRIAN:
It's Christmas Time in the City.
Ding a ling.
Ning Ning Ning.
No, the Luna Lounge would never do something as hippie as having a Winter Solstace show. Then I thought I saw a small photo of Frank Zappa on the wall, which turned out to be Joey Ramone, and I thought, no way would the Luna have Frank Zappa on their wall. But Frank Zappa hated hippies, why do hippies love him? Is this what breeded the new "Mean Hippie" type, you know the ones. Oh, it's ugly. Why did the Monkees and Frank Zappa love each other so much? Why didn't the Velvet Underground and Warhol love the Monkees? They were plastic etc. And The Velvets hated Zappa and hippies. And the hippies hated the Monkees. Oh, it's ugly.
We took my new car, the '97 Mercury Tracer, equipped with oh so much. Comfort, convenience, a smooth ride, sounds good. We got a parking spot right outside the club. This means lots of people escaped NYC for the holiday. This means we are not their mother. Ken couldn't make it tonight, as another band (King Radio) was playing the Baystate. Gotta let that Baystate booking guy know when we need Ken.
So, the 4 of us, amps and hardware. Listened to The Beatles, The Police, Elvis Costello, The Monkees and Pete Townshend. Stopped at McDonalds, and I got a crispy chicken sandwich. Ning got a McNugget meal. Lord Russ got McCappucino. Joe got nothing. It took like 15 minutes.
We heard "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins on the radio. When it came on, I informed the guys that while he recorded the vocals for this song, he was doing something with a giraffe. I just can't bring myself to type what that something was. But it made listening to the song 100x better. And it will for you, too.
At the show, well, we met the opening band, Awek, and I stayed and listened to their soundcheck. During their set, Joe, Ning and I watched them on the TV in the bar. I thought they sounded like Built To Spill meets Portastatic. Local boys, I assumed, from the accents. They did well, and had a lot of friends.
Our set: OH!! Do I love a good drum monitor. I play 50 times better when I have one. It's like I said to Ning, you don't look in the mirror, you don't care what you sound like. You have a mirror in front of you, you're gonna fix yourself up all spiffy. I felt very in command, and played with a consistent energy throughout. It's easy when you have a nice even 45 minutes. Also, it was great to see that there were people digging it, because I thought it'd be just ex-Northamptonite Vanessa there.
SHAME: Joe's amp blew out 3 songs to the end. SILVER LINING: At least it was towards the end. AND the sound it was making actually fit quite well into "Beggars in LA". I was watching it all happen, Russ and Ning just thought Joe was getting all experimental on our ass ass . The way home: I was filled with energy, while Russ and Joe were drowsy from their bagels. So I stayed up front and stayed up and talked to Ning the whole time. We also heard a mutual "Most Hated Song". And got back to Noho at 2:30. Nice.
Addendum: (Extra items to consider) At McDonalds, we spotted a man I thought was Eddie Money, then John Cafferty. Joe said, "That's not John Cafferty, I played a couple gigs with him and The Beavs." The Beavs. On the way home, we heard "On the Dark Side", but Joe was sleeping. At the Luna, they were blasting The Strokes. Seemed a bit predictable. But then we heard "Denise" by The Fountains of Wayne. Who, by the way, are recording a new album.
HENNING: As brian was driving me to Andover yesterday for Christmas with my family, we agreed that we didn't have too much to say about our show there at the Luna. It is now 9:46 PM on December 25th and Brian dropped me off here at home. I cleaned my room a little, put on Lou Reed's "Transformer" and sat down to write this gig diary entry and I still have nothing much to say about the gig.
Christmas was pretty good. There were some little ones running around. There was some good food. There was cheer.
I had made a cd for my brothers of 150 of my top songs of all time. The songs are in MP3 format. It was a fun project. That's really not a lot of songs when you come down to it. I wonder how many songs I know? How many do you know?
On the way home Brian and I listened to a tape of him when he was just a tiny kid. He was singing Neil Diamond hits. It was sooo excellent! Look for it at your local Media Play (It'll be in the section called "recordings that we don't have".)
When we were in New York, I took a little walk on my own after we loaded in. I didn't see too much exciting. I saw a Cyclub poster that was entirely in Japanese. I went into a little store that sold fountains and what-not, I looked around in a small grocery. New York. Winter.
What's on your top 150 songs of all time? Send us your list? Maybe I'll post them.
BRIAN: Hey! I think I've discovered my favorite venue in Boston! It's kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's hip brother, who no longer attends Cheese family functions. As well he shouldn't. But he still has that Cheese family need for fun, games and pizza in his blood. Well, then, let's backtrack. (Hey, did you see Ning put the surprise party pictures up in the last entry?)
Yes, it has snowed once this December, but rain and 40+ degree weather has melted it all, so rejoice for now. On this day it was raining all day, but was not so cold. I did a bit of Xmas shopping. The house had been very quiet the last 24 hours because Lord Russ was out of town. Why? Well, boys and girls, you just may hear our Russy's voice next time you play a home computer game. Russ and Ning went to high school with a guy named Ian who, among other things, designs video game software in Lawrence, MA. He asked Lord Russ to come and do voice-overs for a new one. We'll let you know when it's out. Well, done, Mr. Lord Russ. Yes, yes, well done inDEED!
And Ken was already in Boston eating seafood with friends. Or something like that. So, 2 of us were already in the area. The rest, of us, well: Joe, Ning and ManagerDon came to my house and we packed up and lit out for parts East. In my kitchen, Don told me of his days as a landlord. I drove Joe, Ning drove Don. I borrowed Andrea's CD player. Joe and I listened to Nick Drake and The Clientele. We talked about random shit. Joe had 2 packets of peanuts: salted, and honey roasted, and wondered which to eat first. I said, well, if you're gonna have peanuts for dinner and dessert, the protocol is: salty then sweet. Wouldn't you agree? I think that's what he did. Salty to Boston, Honey back to Noho. Honey Back to Noho: that's gonna be my folk song about a striking train engineer during the 40's.
After a nearly missed turn, and a really missed turn, we got to JP unharmed and in time. We met Rick Berlin. He fronts the Shelley Winters Project, a new-ish, already legendary Boston band. Rick himself is a legend. See his website; he's been rocking since before most of us were born. And for someone with his experience, it's amazing, the love he still has for it all. He has, what Lord Russ would call, "steadfast resolve". He radiates fun and heart. Go to this link and prepare to have your mind blown: http://www.rickberlin.com/awful.html
I admit to having not heard any of Rick's work from the last 30 years (though I probably totally have, while listening to WBCN and WFNX obsessively in the late 80's early 90's--I definitely remember some of those band names), so I can only describe The Shelley Winters Project: 5 piece, with Rick up front on lead vocal and keyboard. Also there was a violinist, drummer (Nigel, who let me use his kit-thanks!!), bassist, and guitar/trombonist. Rick is a pop craftsman and a snappy dresser. He was wearing a bright red smoking jacket, and was drinking things with little umbrellas in them. He smiled at all the members of his band often and equally, almost like the hippest middle school band teacher you'll ever have. He was the Elton John you could call your friend. The whole band exuded a warmth and friendliness.
But stuff happened before all that: like, we had pizza (peppers, onion and mushroom), there was a flamenco dancer, there was a guy who sang in French, and, the Milky Way has bowling lanes!! It's great! Also, I spoke with Darren Ray, who I know from my Butterfield daze at UMass. He was in Synaethesia. Darren was bartending. His brother BJ also works there and was talking with Don for a while. Other members of that band work there too. Brought back lots of holes in my memory. 1992-3.
There were a lot of hip looking folks at the show, and we were very glad they didn't leave before we started. In fact, from song one we had people up and dancing. There was a kid who looked a lot like Andy Dick who was dancing with cute girls. Oh, we'd like to thank Glenn Severance and Helene for hooking us up w/ this show. And Rick for being open-minded enough (and if Rick isn't open minded, who is?) for taking us on. Plans for a rematch were being made when we were leaving, and so hopefully that'll happen. Rick showed us, in a caravan of cars, back out of the maze that is JP.
The way home, I drove Russ and Joe. We listened to The Cure. Joe told me of his 2 months touring/recording in France back in '91. Sounded SWEET!!
HENNING: “Where are you going? The Milky Way?” asked the woman behind the counter of the liquor store. I was in there asking directions, ManagerDon was out in the car, doing whatever it is he does with his time.
“Yes, the Milky Way.” I replied.
“What’s going on there tonight?”
“My band is playing.” I answered.
“YOU are playing?!?!? Wow, what kind of music?!?!”
“Rock and Roll.”
“COOL!!!!!”
And so it was. We sped away, keeping an eye out for the “oval bridge” which meant we had gone too far. Rainy and dark.
The Milky Way is down there under the wet streets. An underground funhouse of Clockwork Orange proportions. There are cool lights everywhere but it’s still very dark. A lithe man in a long red robe glides over the floor from patron to patron smiling a Birthday-sized smile, a patriarch attending to all his guests – his extended family. A pizza arrived with fresh vegetables and wet crust. A set list was made with fresh songs and wet ink. I huddled in a corner and watched this enigmatic performance by The Shelley Winters Project. The Crash Test Dummies, Smiths, They Might Be Giants, and the house band at Moulin Rouge intertwined, comfortable, and grinning. The song Christmas Face stands out. A beautiful one, that, lovingly arranged and delightfully performed. There were tongues and cheeks but they weren’t necessarily concerned with which was where and what they were doing. A lone spot light on the floor gave life to a spinning disco ball in front of the stage. The windows to the dark bowling lanes gave me the sensation of being in a fish tank, where the ceiling and floor are not important and the subtle lighting of a major-city-aquarium denies the existence of an outside world.
It was a weekend of multi-cultural dancing. Tonight there was Flamenco, the next night Salsa. For me dancing is a mystery so it’s a good time seeing people do it. It’s one of my favorite things about being in The Aloha Steamtrain, actually.
On the way home, Ken, Don, and I stopped at the brand new rest-area on the Masspike. It was a Disney World of greasy comestibles. We listened to Julie Cruise and Beck and ate French fries and pies while the car took us over the hills and through the woods.
BRIAN: Ning likes how I'm very non discriminate when it comes to punctuation. Dashes, semi colons, and yes, one should expect more from an English major. But, most of my U Mass instructors liked my creative, interchangeable use of them. I'm having to tear myself away from the Rolling Stone commemorative George Harrison edition. Russ got it for me for my birthday, along with a gift certificate for a haircut. Just you wait, I'm gonna make the world wish he didn't give me that. Ning got a haircut. Anyway, after spending the last 2 hours reading the magazine, I kind of feel George's presence in the room. It's nice. He's petting my cat Marianne.
So, yes. Live album. Who here owns Live Bullet by Bob Seger? I don't. Frampton Comes Alive? I don't. Cheap Trick at Buddokon? I don't. Probably never will. I do own Get Your Ya Ya's Out (Stones) and Live at Leeds (The Who). But my favorite live albums are XTC in London, 1980 and KISS ALIVE 2. And soon, "Chuggs the Mole, Chuggs the Train" by the Aloha Steamtrain.
This night was a bit like an old train, getting a slow, coughing start, and ending by crashing, at 300 miles an hour, to a fiery, glorious death. But we didn't die. We only got invited to a party by Natalie and Ulla, winners of the 2001 Miss Brattleboro contest. They would "cry desperately" if I didn't show up. This is what they told me. I didn't show up. Always leave them wanting more.
I must explain. After a 3 set show, I have given just about all I can mentally and physically give. I try hard to have nothing left beyond the energy to pack up and split. It's not very rock star of me, I'm sorry. So either we stop playing 3 set shows or I don't go to parties hosted by VT's finest. I'd be staring blankly, lifeless at these parties.
Bruce Tull, fresh off performing at Lo Fine's CD release show the night before (couldn't make it, sorry) was doing sound and assisting the amazing Dan Richardson, who was recording the show on his digital 24 track thingy. Joe missed the first set, due to a prior commitment, but arrived for the power-packed second and third sets. Perhaps the third set was best, at least for me. There is a strangeness of recording a live album. It must be like doing a porn movie. You're doing something so free and spontaneous and enjoyable, yet somehow there's a concept of doing it "right". By the third set, I completely stopped caring that it was being recorded, and started just staring at the flashing lights on Dan's recorder, and at the dancers. It was a great, great, fun crowd.
Nelina and Miriam Steamhead came from 2 states away. A guy kept calling for La Bamba. He dug us anyway, and was fun to watch. During "My Life" there was a guy who reminded me of my Dad dancing like my Dad would dance. Then I saw him accidentally bump heads with another guy dancing. Let's hope he's OK. There was another mishap on the dance floor, which I didn't see happen. All I saw was spilled beer and much shattered glass, and 3 people cleaning it up hurriedly.
What else can I say? A great night. Let's hope the live album happens--it's be kind of cool, no? We're bringing back the Live Album!! It's a concept which was huge in the 60's-80's, but now people could care less, unless you're a jam band, because so much crap is sequenced and prerecorded. We're all gonna put out stand-up comedy records next.
HENNING: My car (The Blue Turnip) was sad today and refused to go out. Luckily, Ken (The busiest man in the world) offered to drive. And drive he did. We spoke of important things and followed a blue pick-up truck all the way to the Mole’s Eye parking lot. (Could be that that parking lot is a dream…ask M.) The Pick-up Truck had nothing to do with anything. It just happened to be going the same way as us. Or did it?
Inside the warmth of the Mole’s Eye, Dan and Bruce were in a bustle. I immediately started setting up our lights. There was a Christmas tree in the corner and that plus all of our new bits made for a very festive glow. Wee, I love a light.
The end of Happiness Waits and Beggars were high points for me tonight. I can’t wait to hear the recordings.
It was a real treat to see some Steamheads way up north, and the Mole’s Eye was eventually stuffed full of good people, three of them celebrating birthdays. Happy Birthday, Three. And it was at a birthday party that Russ, Bruce, and I found ourselves. And what a party.
A huge minimilistic room lit by candles and green spotlights - contrasting the stark black-and-white of Dr. Strangelove glaring out silently from a large screened HDTV. The windows were open to the shiny city streets and the dark rushing river. A lone lit tree looming high, high above on a mountain that is nearly as tall as it was.
I slumped in a sofa – exhausted from our show and watched the most lovely salsa dancing. Two guys there were teaching all of the ladies and they learned instantly. It was such a wonderful, comfortable place to be. I spoke at ease with many a wonderful person. Learned some amazing ping-pong facts about Ulla, listened to and somehow understood a Spanish conversation about freedom tattoos, delighted in watching Bruce tear up the dance floor, and filmed a little bit with my camcorder feeling like I somehow had to try and capture the mood of the evening. We left reluctantly at 3 or 3:30 and I felt like I was leaving a movie theater, except I had been sitting in the screen. We all need more nights like this one.
BRIAN: As I write this, I am recovering from a strange bout of stomach flu/fever/migraine which came upon me late this morning. And Russ and Ning are in Manchester, CT, playing an acoustic duo show at the Equator, opening for some Dave Matthew's Band member's side project. I'll let Ning tell you everything.
I've been in bed all day. It's 8pm, and I just ate for the first time. In any case, I usually don't usually talk about illnesses, but when one misses one's first ever show in a 14 year career of performing, one feels the need to explain. I've played with fevers, strep throat, flu, but this renedered me unwilling, unable. I'm sorry.
But let's backtrack 24 hours, when I was fine, and celebrating MY BIRTHDAY. I got home from a long day and Andrea wished me a happy birthday, and totally succeeded in bumming me out with her lack of enthusiasm and lack of wanting to do anything to celebrate. All we had planned was hot tubs (you get a free hot tub on your birthday at East Heaven) So I said "I'm taking a nap" and lied there, feeling old and sorry. I gathered some pride, and said, "No, let's go out and eat, and I'm getting dressed up, I don't care what you say. And then I'm gonna call people to meet us at a bar later on". Andrea went along with my plan, and a few times apologized for being such a bad girlfriend and explained she'd been too wrapped up in other things to get any plans together. I could understand, I've blown off people's birthdays for the same reason. It's karma, I thought.
After dinner, there was hot tubs and free ice cream (two places give you a free ice cream on your birthday, and I was determined to hit both of them, one for me and the extra for Andrea). I'd mentioned weeks back how for 10 years I've wanted a banana cream pie on my birthday, and no one's ever come through. Andrea apologized for forgetting about that too. Fine, I was cool with free ice cream, and some drinks at the bar, if anyone bothered to show up.
We came home, the lights were out, which was weird. "Russ and Amanda must not be home", Andrea said. I said, "Whatever. Let's get down to business", meaning, let's eat our awesome ice cream. I turned on the kitchen light, and was about to go to the other room to check email/voicemail. But I didn't get that far. "SURPRISE!!" And, oh my god, was I genuinely surprised, and moved. So many people! This had all been orchestrated by Andrea. My first ever surprise party. There was banana cream pie, lots of beer, Russ put on "Rio" by Michael Nesmith, and I got lots of presents! I was pretty darn dumbfounded. I even got 3 phone calls: my mom, Chris from California (whose wedding we're playing at next spring) and Matthew Zapruder. I felt like I'd won the Super Bowl.
My presents included records and CDs (The Remains from Amanda, Scott Walker--and Wendy's gift certificates--from Ken, SOLEX from Waugh, a couple of "fantasy CDs" from Tony Westcott (The Beatles '73, for example--the best of their 1973 solo stuff, compiled like a real Beatles album), a compilation of The Beatles Christmas recordings and some wine (Philip+Debbie), a book by Greil Marcus (Thane), Newbury Comics certificates (Dave+Kelsea), a crazy framed photo (Ning). I think that may cover it, and there were other guest stars too: Trace, Greenberg and oh, man, it was intense. How did I get to feeling so bad the next day? I thought it was hangover, but I took it pretty easy at the party. No idea. I'm beginning to see the light now, though. I want some banana cream pie.
HENNING: I'm glad you had a good birthday, my brother, it was a fun time for the folks involved waiting in the dark room, getting excited by any approaching headlights and what. Let me now fill you in on what you missed while you were an invalid.
Russ and I began our adventure at Guitar Center in Manchester, CT. They have an incredible deal on microphones which I just happen to need for my new super-cool studio. Guitar Center was a journey through time. The place is enormous and confusing and an assault on all the senses. When I was in high-school I used to occasionally go to Daddy's Junky Music Store in Salem, NH (This is back when there were only two Daddys' around.) I used to go and look at the stuff that I would never own and shudder at the nonstop attack of heavy metal solos screeching from the guitar section. Well, I swear those same weird-ass-long-haired-freaks are hanging out at Guitar Center now. They haven't aged. They haven't changed clothes. And they are still playing the same Randi Rhodes licks over and over again. There were five kids each soloing as loud as possible to different songs in different keys all at the same time. The store was filled with the sound of high-hopes and lonely teens. It was 20% delightful and 80% inconceivable.
Russ and I arrived at The Equator just in time to find Al coming out of the front door. There is nobody else out there quite like Al (Owner of the club). He told us a few stories about some lowbrow bands that have played in his club. We eventually went in and had a beverage (Russ-Spring Water, Me-Snapple).
We took the stage, just the two of us, and nobody counted in the first song....uh oh..maybe this is going to be harder than it seems.
But it was fine. We did a nice almost hour long set, cracked a few jokes, sang a few ditties. You know the score. It was a good time.
After us was the semi-famous guy that everybody was all excited about. He played a crazy-ass instrument Stanley Jordan style. It was like a huge 10 string whatnot. He started with a Beatles tribute acknowledging our sound and then apologized to us that he didn't know any XTC. Pretty observant guy, if you ask me. We didn't play any or mention anything about XTC but he still picked up on an influence there - and that was WITHOUT Bri. Cool.
Then we drove home and everybody lived happily ever after. The end...go to bed.
(George Harrison, we'll miss you greatly. Stay tuned, readers, for a tribute)
BRIAN: This was a concert set up by Miriam of the Steamheads Local Chapter 881. It was funded by the Drug-Free Student Alliance. Yes. Ok, audience, settle down now, or the show won't go on. In any case, we were very excited to play at the college, and had no idea what kind of crowd to expect. But let's backtrack.
We were gonna do the show as a trio, but Ken realized he could take time out from his tour with New Radiant Storm King to play this show. We rode down in a 3 car caravan. The Sable is no longer, welcome the era of the Tracer. My new car, Ning's car and Bruce's car pretty much kept together all the way down. Amazing. Ken and I listened to Of Montreal and discussed my impending solo album. Yes. My upcoming solo album. Look for it next spring/summer. George Harrison once said "ANYBODY can write a song, really". See? (That's not the tribute. Keep reading.)
It was incredibly warm, we all noted, when we finally found where to park and set about loading in. 60 degrees at 7:30 pm on Nov 30 in New England. And it's snowing in Oklahoma. It's nature's way of telling you something's wrong.
Utilizing the help of the Steamheads, elevators, dollies, pulleys, bossies, weights and measures, checks and balances we all successfully arrives in room 378 of the Student Union. Bruce, Ning and I ate pizza from Papa Ginos downstairs (thanks, Miriam!) and Ken got something from the fries place.
We began at 9:15 and there was a good crowd. Hmm, no smoke in the air, no free beer, and young, fresh faces in the audience. Wow! It filled me with an incredible energy. An innocence, like I was playing the Red Barn in North Andover. I maintained an energy and focus throughout the 2 sets. Kind of groovy for a change. We played 2- 50 minute sets, which featured lots of skits, bits and lovely rock. We played Happy Birthday to Miriam, did parts of new songs and Russ shook lots of booty. We remembered George with "All Things Must Pass". There was a big dry-erase board that we assigned Ken to write the set list on. Oh, yes. Fun, noise, college.
We were invited to a party afterwards and Nelina and Coreen's. I spent most of it playing with a kitten. A guy talked to me and said "Good show, but you guys should jam more. Don't play so many songs. I don't like songs. I like when bands prove that they can really play. You guys should do that instead of playing so many songs." Settle down people. I know. I know.
Lovely party, I had a delicious Madras (I think--orange vodka and cranberry juice?). Just one, then Ken and I hit the road, with Russ and Ning not far behind.
BRIAN: GEORGE HARRISON: How can I not write a tribute? Friday was a warm, but otherwise dark, dismal rainy day, and I was greeted by the inevitable news. The lines he wrote in All Things Must Pass, which had given me guidance in the past, now meant even more, had more immediacy: "It's not always gonna be this gray. All things must pass".
Up in heaven, John Lennon must be thrilled at the new arrival. Down here, it's going to take some getting used to: one less Beatle breathing the same air as we are. One more immortal god, one less member of the living legend club.
The Steamtrain paid tribute to him by playing "All Things Must Pass". Since I've lived with Russ, my intake of George Harrison has doubled. He's prone to long phases of listening to solo 70's George. Ain't no shame in it.
WAMH paid tribute by playing, in chronological order, many George songs. Andrea and I danced in our kitchen to the last few songs. For You Blue, Something, What is Life, All Things Must Pass. This is when it hit me, and I definitely choked up a bit. I got myself together and we went out for a walk in the sunny, warm day afterwards, and it was not nearly as gray as it been. If anyone is going to be welcome in the next world, it will be the ultra-cosmic philosopher George. What follows is what his name brings to mind:
--the most low key, least show-biz Beatle. The one who could give a shit whether you idolized him or not. He preached love, but never cried "Love Me!!". For that, he may have been the least understood.
--Radiated the most coolness in all the Beatle movies. Dancing, flirting and being a charming wise-ass in Hard Day's Night. My sister and I used to love saying his lines "That's not your grandfather..I've seen your grandfather, he lives in your house!".
--Looking totally cool and singing "I Need You" in Help!. Telling the annoying Paul where to stick it, in George's gentle, biting way, in Let It Be. And his lime green pants on the roof concert.
--Maintained the most level head, and healthiest sense of humor of the Beatles. He was the only one to participate in Saturday Night Live's attempted Beatle Reunion gag. And he took part in the Rutles, and later incorporated parts of the (Monty Python) Rutles' story in with the Beatles'. Example: "Before the Beatles met Elvis, we had a couple of cups of tea in the limo to calm our nerves". Translation, they got high.
--Watch the Anthology series and/or It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, and George's interview personality is magnetic. He's alternately wise man and comedian, and very quotable.
--Post Beatles highlights: Blow Away, Give Me Love, Crackerbox Palace, You, This Is Love, Handle With Care, most of sides 1-4 of All Things Must Pass: unaffected expressions of pure light and joy.
--So many times throughout my life I just could not help myself saying "George is so fuckin' cool!" So, perhaps tonight, you can have a cup of tea, or "a cup of tea", or some Preludin washed down with a Scotch and Coke and a Marlboro Red, or visit the Frenchman and do some wife swapping, all the while listening to "Long Long Long", "Blue Jay Way", "I Want To Tell You", "It's All Too Much", "If I Needed Someone", "The Inner Light" and Anthology 3's demo versions of "Something" and "All Things Must Pass". Say a few "Om"s, and several "Hare Krishna"s. Shed a tear or two, and thank the heavens for giving us George Harrison. WE LOVE YOU, GEORGE.
HENNING: Later that night I had a dream. I was sitting in a restaurant booth (I prefer the booths) with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. George harrison and John Lennon were with us, too, but were not at the table at the moment. A guitar was being passed around. It skipped me (thank god! I had yet to think of an appropriate song to impress them all - these heroes of mine) and went to Art who started to play Bridge Over Troubled Water. Art played the guitar and Paul sang - and it was the most beautiful thing and I couldn't believe it was happening. But it was.
The Steamheads as always were most gracious and kind and cute. The room was dark and lit like a high school church dance. I spilled water everywhere after Bruce threw a bottle to me and it smashed into my stomach.
Ken played the Alf theme.
I sang some Talking Heads.
BRIAN: Could this be it? Our last ever Baystate show? It's been sold, you know, and will be a restaurant and condos by January 2002. We may be able to play our New Year's Eve show there, but don't count on it. We'll keep you up to date. Oh well. If this was the last one, it was a good one.
Where to start. The previous night I'd seen adopted "hometown heroes" Sonic Youth at the Calvin Theater, with native hometown hero J Mascis open. Ah, gee. Talkin' about my generation. We're all getting old. But SY played some extremely great minimalist noise jam pop. Take that description, critics.
Before this show, I pleased myself immensely by making myself a Monte Cristo sandwich. Oh, yum. Lord Russ helped me with some of the finer points, so he gets a shout out, yo. Props to my homey LR. I then read a DH Lawrence short story.
At the Baystate we were greeted by a woman who wanted to buy a Girl Planet. So Ning called headquarters and arranged for her to procure one. The plot thickens.
I had a new cymbal stand bag which I was psyched about. $20 at the Army Surplus. I credit Joe Boyle for finally convincing me to do it. Actually, all he said was "you really should get a bag for those stands". Many have told me before, but coming from Joe, it all made sense. I really hope he never tells me to commit murder. I also had new top and bottom heads for my snare drum to put on, so this kept me busy most of the next half hour.
Meanwhile, Cyclub was setting up equipment and merch. Ning had an awesome loop of light to put around my bass drum. As well as lots of other colorful lights. Created a funhouse atmosphere, compounded by the music that was blasting: Dukes Of Stratosphere. Every Steamtrain fan would absolutely adore The Dukes. Seek it out. It's in some ways the best thing XTC has done.
I ventured into the bar to get a beer, and had some nice conversation. One woman told me how much she loved the Gig Diary. And Zip Cody told me he drew me and titled it after a song on the first Status Quo album--an album which plays a big part in me and Russ' history. He had no idea.
I watched most of Cyclub, who are just freakin' great. Junko rocks like no one. She feels it, she lives it, she means it. And the rest of the band is great too. I'd love to see them achieve some greater success. "This is better than Sonic Youth", said my friend Matt Waugh. In some ways he was right. It injected me right up with punk energy. Loved it.
I was very proud to be wearing my brand new shirt from Roz's Place. It was our turn. We had no Ken tonight. We had a 14 song setlist, which included one long lost cover: "Rain" by the Beatles. We decided to come out of "Beggars" with that. The Beggars jam, for me, was influenced a bit by the Sonic Youth show. It's always had that feel, but I usually felt more Nick Mason than Steve Shelley. The show ended up with 2 more long lost covers, both actual requests: "I'll Be Your Mirror" (Velvet Underground) and "White Rabbit", our Gypsy Punk version, which we literally haven't done in 3 years, and which was invented by Russ and his pal Mark back in the 80's in Andover. That actually was very cool. Folks dug it.
We kept the tradition of not stopping between songs, of keeping the groove going. Most of the time. Well, god damn, what else? Oh, more role playing by Russ and Henning. Russ was the Turtle from Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" and Ning was a curious onlooker, asking him questions. "Mr. Turtle, why do you.."
A raucous "Juices" and it was over. Perhaps forever. I was told that I was "The Richard Simmons of Northampton", because my drums are so danceable. Um, I'll take the drumming dancing part, I'll graciously decline the Richard Simmons part. And Ning, don't bring up that photo from last New Year's.
HENNING: Was this really our penultimate Baystate Show? Is that possible? Do things REALLY change? Is time actually moving us? I'm not so sure. Today seems and awful lot like yesterday and I'm sure tomorrow will, too.
I cleaned my room. It's something I sometimes do. It takes a really really long time because I am what some people call a Pack-Rat. My room is crowded and overflowing with little projects. Whilst cleaning this time, I found a white plastic tube and a string of colored lights. I tied an ordinary thread to one end of the lights. Then I tied a pen, for weight, to the other end of the thread. I dropped the pen into the tube thus pulling the thread all the way through. I could now pull the lights through the tube. Success. I connected the two open ends of the tube together with the power cord sticking out creating a ring of lights the same exact diameter as Brian's kick drum. Viola! A new stage thingy.
Look for it at a show near you.
To continue Brian's plot thickening mystery about our Girl Planet CD...at the end of the show, Don had brung two Girl Planets with him (our last two) and I placed them on the little shelf thingy just inches away from where I was standing talking to a few folks after the show. After a couple of minutes, I turned around and there was only one cd there. Somehow, someone had snuck by me and horked one of the cds. Now, I am well aware that people steal our cds off and on at shows, and my take on it is..if you want one of our cds enough to risk the embarrassment of getting caught stealing from a struggling band then power to you. But, this time, I just could not figure out how it was done. It still haunts me...I was standing RIGHT there...
I'm Sorry, somehow the photos have vanished. Thank god for Zip Cody and his fancy drawrings.
BRIAN: We have a circuit. You may have noticed that by now. A ring of venues we are continually invited back to play. It's nice. The Mole's Eye is one of these places.
There was no Ken at this gig, so we were the 4 piece, and we took 2 cars. Russ and I were delayed a bit when dumb-ass me took 91 south. There's no turning around for 10 miles in that situation. Ooh, did I hate myself for those 10 miles. But then we put on the oldies station and talked about recording an album with that spooky, reverby sound that early 60's records had.
I was worried I wouldn't have time to eat at the Mole's Eye, but orders were being taken the moment I walked in there. "Chicken Burrito!" I bellowed. We brought in our stuff, and I realized I coulda gotten the salmon burger, a special for the night. Ning said "that's what I got" and I became jealous. Wow. Rage and jealousy and the show hadn't even started. The food came, and I realized I loved that chicken burrito more than anything else in this terrible world. I looked at Ning's violated sea creature, shaped into a patty, between a bun and laughed. I was fit now for a stay at Brattleboro Retreat. Speaking of which, I think we encountered one of its escapees during our first break. A large woman with a smoker's laugh said Ning looked like John Sebastian (why don't you sing us "Welcome Bach Sebastian", said she) and Russ looked like Beck. She said her name was Matilda and sang us a country song. She said she'd been up for 2 days and 2 nights. Someone she knew walked by and called her Robin. This made Ning theorize that it was Robin Williams, because her hyperactive, semi-sensical shtick was definitely Robin Williams-esque.
At times during this semi-attended show, it felt like we were playing a party for divorcees. I think we may have even witnessed a love connection or two. I was given an awesome, awesome gift by our fan and friend Jessica. BUBBLE MONKEY SOAP!! Made in Pittsfield, made to look like it was made in Japan, with poor grammar written all over the packaging: "Focus the nostrils to monkey fun holes for pleased flavor flaring" "Yes, you are so shiny. Clean underpants welcome you" "When the fish say hello, it's time to have the best. THE BEST". Making fun of those not native to the USA? Perhaps. Perhaps I should feel guilty that I'm laughing. But there are many native to the USA, with college education who barely have a grip on English. Knowumsayin'?
Hmm, was there music played this evening? Well, yeah. The last set was the best. Finally the big dance party started, and we developed a new thing, which is part Dead, part Stars on 45. Bridging all the songs with either a beat, bassline, guitar riff or any combo, so that the dancing is not allowed to stop. Also, less drinking gets done by the band, so that's good.
What else? Dr. Loren Landis was there with a foxy lady. Ulla said she'd come to the Baystate show and bring people. A man mentioned booking us some national shows. And a line of 6 girls formed to kiss Lord Russ on the lips. I didn't see it, just heard about it.
HENNING: I didn't even hear about it. I'm out of the loop. Loop de loop. Loop-de-freakin'-loop. Loop.
My doctor told me I should eat more fish. He doesn't know how many fish I eat. Maybe I eat 19 a day. He doesn't know. But, he says I should eat more of them. I don't know how the fish feel about it but my guess would be it makes them nervous. Nervous and shiny. So, I ordered the salmon burger special. It was good. Strange but good.
Now, I'm listening to Lloyd Cole's Don't Get Weird On Me, Babe. It's a day off for the veterans' sake. I just went through editing all the pictures for this gig diary. Sometimes, I take a picture and later when I load them into the computer, the picture is no longer there. This happened with the sweet group photo that I took after our show. Too bad. If anyone wants to buy me a better life please feel free.
Two dead deer on the way home made me nervous of things running out on the road. Brian's headlights are brutal in the rear view mirror. No wonder people always try to run us off the road when we're in the Sable.
Last night I saw Jane Siberry with Ken, El Bezo, Emily and Rebecca. Great show. Heart-breaking.
I can't wait. I just can't wait.
BRIAN: The Luna Lounge is my favorite of all clubs I can remember playing in NYC. We had a particularly wild ride to NYC that would make Mr. Toad go have tea at the Tiki Room. We rented a van that became smaller somewhere between the reservation and the acquisition. And we had 6 folks going: the full 5 piece and manager Don. On the way there, I sat in the way back, which was good in that a) if I wanted to, I could tune everything out and b) if I had something to say, I had to yell it to be heard by everyone.
We did some fun 4-part harmony things, which Ken said he did on his way to NYC the previous week. He played in front of 700 people at the Bowery Ballroom. He plays drums for TW Walsh.
We played nothing on the CD player for the first 2 hours. There was just your basic story telling, skits, and imitations. We stopped at the regular McDonalds. McShaker Chefs Salad, me. My compliments to the chef, who Ning informed me was named A3205567D.
After McDonalds, the ride got wilder. Russ got promoted to a middle seat (I was the only one who stayed in the way back both ways, I had the sore neck and legs to prove it. Bastards.) Anyway, Henning joined me in the way back, and for about 30 minutes I was teaching him how to do a certain voice I do. Russ joined in, and it became madness. "You guys are UNHINGED!", exclaimed Ken.
The combo of McDonalds and Don's driving brought us all to the limits of car sickness. Ken had a CD of Coke commercials done by 60's bands. I tell you: the Bee Gees, Moody Blues and Left Banke all did a series of ads that were as wonderful as any of their album tracks of the time (1966-67). Sell out, shmell out. According to these songs, the best ever spiritual experience you could ever have is nothing compared to drinking a coke. And Petula Clarke and Tom Jones let us know that the clinking of ice in a glass of coke is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Suddenly the skyline of NYC was visible. I got a bit nervous and zoned out for a bit, while I tried to put all the obvious thoughts in perspective. Actually, there was really no way. It was all too real, too big. Too weird, too sad, too confusing. "I'm here to play in a club with my rock band", I told myself. No need to psych myself out while contemplating world issues. Anyway, we arrived, parked, packed in. The second band, The Keatons, soundchecked while we met up with friends. You know, I didn't even think of asking anyone anything about 9/11. We're here to be happy, to imbibe, to rock out.
Who did we see? Ari Vais and special guest, Marie, direct from London! Old pal Merritt Arndt, who I haven't seen in a year. It was great to catch up with her. She brought along some friends, including Lori of Galvanized, and her husband. Jodi Porter, Fountains of Wayne/Astrojet rock star and scenester managed to be omnipresent and yet still miss our show. Amy Fairchild, always a comforting presence.
Right. Our show. A pretty good crowd. A pretty great performance. On the way, I suggested giving NYC a Northampton-type performance. I.E. the noise, the nudity. So, there was a little of that. The previous weekend, I'd left my snare drum (and stand) at Sully's. So, I was using one I borrowed from Henning. The snare broke on it towards the end of the set. So we got all tribal on their asses.
The Keatons played some very well structured, tight rock, which will some day sound good in an arena. Packing up, I discovered a girl was sleeping where I'd put my jacket. I kept stalling, not knowing how to wake her. Thankfully, she awoke.
After the show, more socializing. More drinking. I got a bit tired of it, and took a walk around the neighborhood. Got a slice. Saw old friend from UMass/Noho, Ben Lawrence. He was on his way to see Nitin Mukul DJ at a bar nearby. Nitin used to live with Russ and Ning. Small ass world.
The way home, as I mentioned. I was in the back, sleeping uncomfortably. But who am I to complain? I'm just a small noise. A small cat. Nothing. I'm nothing.
I woke up to "Taking My Time" by Boston, followed by "Faithfully" by Journey. Henning announced that we had heard the holy trinity. I don't know what the other one was. I was Joe Boyle's pillow.
HENNING: November 2nd, and I'm eating a mozzarella, tomato, basil pizza slice on the sidewalk in NYC at midnight in a T-shirt. It seems like we are always in New York on unseasonably warm days.
Ken and I were strolling past the fries place and Ken was saying something to me and he said the word, "literally" in his sentence. A man dressed in a yellow dog costume walked by, looked at us and said, "literally".
We saw a taxi blocking an entire street of traffic. The cars behind it had their horns blaring. A man leaned on his horn, stuck his head out the window, and screamed.... something extreme. Ken and I looked at each other and acknowledged the Hollywood New York moment.
Inside the club, I slid around on the blue plastic couches, caught up with Ari, and wrote up a setlist to fit Brian's idea of playing a big time rock show.
It was nice to see Lori again, she looked great. Marriage has treated her well. She gave me the link again to her band's website: getgalvanized.com, they have some really cool pictures.
BRIAN: Tired, tired I was all this day. Had an always awesome dinner at India House. Took a nap, listening to Syd Barrett, woke up in a state of mind I could live with.
Again, the 5 piece. Hmm. You never know with Amherst. Well, our last show was a huge success, this was definitely not. Small crowd. But it was happy to be there.
I lost a button on my shirt, and so me, Ning and Ken, with some additions by Russ and Joe made up an impromptu torch song called "If You Find a Button on the Floor". It was like a cross between Robert Goulet and Magnetic Fields. I wanted it to go on forever.
It was Aron's (of Emily and Aron) birthday. They are a couple of groovy new fans we have. They are very nice and have a cute, cute puppy. Ken has befriended them. They are new to the area, from NYC. We played a bit of Happy B-Day to them.
Ken and I played some Hawaii 5-0 Theme while Russ was changing a string on the guitar he'd borrowed from Model Rocket's Amanda. Diana Riddle danced enough for 150 people, which was awesome. Some crazy-ass dances she does. I think she and Amanda should dance together at some show.
Russ played 2 different characters, which ended up being skits between him and Henning. In one, he was the King of Hawaii and Henning was Greg. In the other, he was Jesus California and Henning was Derek or something. Joe played some 12 string guitar, which was pretty.
We jammed and experimented, which we could afford to do. And other stuff I'm totally forgetting. Gee what else?
Oh, it was funny. We had 3 sets planned, but the first two were too long, so out last set was 2 songs long. Ha ha. Isn't that funny? Hah aha hah hahahahhahhahhaahahahahahahahahha. Ningningningningningningningningning.
Oh, it should be noted that as I write this, Lord Russ is leading a sing-along in a screening of Mary Poppins at Northampton's Acadamy of Music. Thus realizing his most wild rock and roll dream.
HENNING: I saw They Might Be Giant last night with Ken and El Bezo. I've seen them a bunch of times before, and usually I try to avoid seeing shows at Pearl Street, but I loved it. It was the last show of the tour and they had so much energy. The sound was, as always at Pearl Street, really harsh and hard to handle, but since I knew all the songs so well, my brain translated it to what it SHOULD have sounded like. It was the first show I've been to in a long time where I felt like the band really loved what they were doing AND went all-out in doing it. I guess mostly I see local bands, and the gap between those performances and this one was enormous. Of course, it helps to have incredible lights and confetti cannons and a huge adoring crowd who will cheer no matter what you do. College music.
Every student in college dreads parent's weekend and now so do I. The manager at The Amherst Brewing Company suggested that that may have been the reason that there was hardly anybody out that night, it was parent's weekend.
We had a small but lovely crowd.
On the way home Ken had a tape he made in the early 90's and it may as well have just been a direct wire into the early 90's memory bank in my brain. It was trip down melody lane. Replacements, REM, Camper Van Beethoven, Suzanne Vega... College music
BRIAN: Walking up to the stage I whispered to Russ, "ask them if Hartford is the Rock and Roll capital of the world". He did, and got about 4 or 5 "wooo"s in response. Ning then said, "well, is it the capital of Hartford?" This about sums up the goofy nature of this very long show.
All 5 Aloha Steamtrain members were present and ready for duty. We had a long night ahead. We didn't really plan much of a costume thing, except for wearing orange. I wore my J Crew orange turtleneck that I've owned since 1990. Ning wore a shirt with a Jack-O-Lantern face.
Special guests included El Bezo, and Head of Security, Seth Tripp, who will soon be running his special task force out of the northern most tip of Maine, from a secret, shark infested location.
I ordered my first beer at the bar, after setting up, and learned we still had an hour until starting. This was good, in that it gave the place a chance to fill up, and gave us all a chance to socialize and loosen up. Ah, gee, what happened? I'm in a list mood. Sorry.
--Joan Holliday and Neville were there. They were lookin' great. You know, Joan has been around her share of the rock scene, and it's an honor to count her as a fan.
--A birthday girl requested the Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun", which Russ said, "sorry, we don't know it", but then we proceeded to play 90 seconds of it. They don't write 'em like that anymore.
--Something was making me wanna throw drumsticks at Seth Tripp. I think throughout the show I threw 3 or 4 at him. At the end, he threw one back.
--Russ serenaded a man in a Beetlejuice costume with "What's New Pussycat".
--Beetlejuice walked in with a "Marilyn Monroe", so we made up a song called "Marilyn Monroe and Beetlejuice"
--Before the show even started, we had mishaps. A keyboard stand punched Russ in the eye in the car, and a drum stool pinched/cut my thumb while setting up in the club.
--A mishap was avoided when my cymbal stand fell over, where Joe was normally standing, but his guardian angel told him to fix something on his amp at that second, so he was out of harm's way.
--My bass drum pedal broke during "Juices", making it sound odd. Luckily it was the last song.
--Russ was not talking about Smith College, whatever that means. I think he was talking more Smith Voc.
--It was all very wacky.
--Happy Halloween. And peace. Love, The Aloha Spooktrain. Spoofy.
HENNING: It's Sunday now. All weekend since our show I have been exhausted. My arms and my hands feel limp and powerless. Brian said he, too, was beat. I have a theory that we played extra hard because it seemed a little bit like we just weren't reaching the crowd. To me, the club seemed a little bit exhausted itself. Our Steamheads and other fans and friends were up front and smiling. The rest of the crowd for the most part was glassy eyed staring at the TVs.
It got better as the night went on and, of course, the end of the last set was huge with folks dancing and what-not. And now when I look back with rose colored glasses and I see the pictures, I see how many great folks came out that night to see us play. There were a ton. I guess it was me who was lifeless and glassy-eyed, projecting my own worthlessness on the crowd. I apologize. Forgive me please.
Sully himself ran the sound board tonight which was great, and I believe he made a recording of the show as well. Sully's, the club, is really musician friendly. They have a bunch of equipment for the bands to use, they pay well, they often offer food to the band, the sound system is great. It's really a nice place to play. We appreciate it everytime.
McDonalds on the way home and jokes of stopping by at The Erotic Empire etc. But it was late and we were tired. In Brian's car were Brian, El Bezo, Seth Tripp (Head of Security) and myself. The smell of french fries filled the cockpit and the fumes of Bic Macs drifted beneath our wheels lifting us gently and dropping us in Northampton in the middle of the autumn night.
BRIAN: THE HAPPY CLUB with Joan Holliday. And Happy it was!! You know, in these parts, come Halloween time, a 76 degree day is not something one comes to expect. And yet, today, it happened. To be in a t-shirt, and surrounded by bright orange/red/yellow leaves, well, it can put a guy in a good mood. And to be in a car with two of my favorite people, going to a live radio performance, well, it's too much.
It was just the core 3 of the band today, in Ning's car, with acoustic guitars and assorted percussion, and absolutely NO plan, except to tell people of our upcoming show at Sully's.
We got there, met Neville, and soon we were on. Song-wise, we did "Listen" and "Here We Go", "Joanne" (because she wanted to know all about the Michael Nesmith tribute CD on Dren Records that we're on) and I requested she play "Tiny Blue Dress" off the CD, since I feel it to be sadly underrated.
Talk-wise, what DIDN'T we do? There were funny voices, crazy sounds, much laughter, etc etc. There were raisin cookies which I don't like. But R+H do like. Soon they had become "Truth Cookies", so Russ was talking about all sorts of wacky stuff which may land him on the FBI's most wanted list.
We duly hyped the Sully's show, and Joan let us loose in the record room to pick out some stuff. In the meantime, she played some stuff off the new McCartney tribute CD (and, hey, I will go on record as saying I really dig the new Paul McCartney single.) Then she played our picks: Donovan and Roxy Music for Russ. Elvis Costello and the Housemartins for Henning; Blur for me. I was too spazzy to pick a second one. It would have been by Television off Marquee Moon. Because that's what I'm listening to now.
Then there was Bonnie, the classical DJ, coming in for her show, amid all sorts of whooping and hollering, and Russ' lewd remarks. There were a couple other folks there, a male and female, who were quite nice, but I regretfully can't remember their names. BONNIE!!
Once again, we didn't make any sort of (not even a half assed) attempt at taping the show. Any bootlegs out there? We bid our good-byes (and hey, Neville is a funny guy! I hope I'm spelling his name right) and walked out into the still warm day and took a bunch of pictures. On the way home we hit a traffic jam on 91, so I became bored and fell asleep. Bonnie's classical music lulling me. I'm like a hyper active kid: all spastic in the back of a car one minute, sound asleep the next. I woke up to Pink Floyd's "Breath", somewhere near the Easthampton/Holyoke exit.
We went to go see Scott C. at CMC Music Room to pick up the CDR of our recent NMF show. Hey, it's Angry Johnny in the store! You know Angry Johnny.. folks worldwide own his artwork. Got a Dinosaur Jr record? Chances are he did the artwork. So, that's that. I hope you all enjoyed the warmth. By the time you read this, it's probably back to Autumn. Unless, of course it's 100 years from now, and it's summer. Or unless it's now, but you happen to be in the southern hemisphere. Thanks Joan!
HENNING: There is a teeny kid dressed up like a lion running around outside my window. Further back, thick yellow and black smoke is billowing from The Mt. Holyoke Range thanks to a forest fire that authorities say will not be controlled today and should crest the top of the mountains this evening. It is currently raging in the Notch in South Hadley but may make it's way down to Hadley. Fire!
Bonnie! When we were walking from the Sable to the station on the Autumn campus, a maintenance working asked us "how many key signatures in C?". I yelled out "one" not pointing out the fact that the question didn't actually make any sense. You see folks, the key signature for the key of C involves no sharped or flat notes, each key only has one "key signature" just like every person only has one "signature" or every dog only has one "day".
I quietly sat down with him beneath a stunning orange and yellow tree and explained some of the fundamentals of music theory. He was a good student, attentive and respectful, and after about an hour he had a firm grasp on the basics...and I had a firm grasp on the string of a kite that I call spreading knowledge. Open your wings my friends, the owl of self improvement has taken flight!
After a sad and warm salute the Maintenance worker strolled back to his truck whistling Aeolian Scales and we in The Steamtrain continued our journey to the airwaves of America.
Joan was bemused by the idea of a band arriving early and immediately smacked each of us in the stomach. I don't blame her, in fact, we all reveled in the celebration of senseless violence. With determined resolve we immediately started singing hymns of utmost importance, only to be shushed by an Australia man wearing an enormous pink sombrero. It's good to be home.
With a microphone shoved deep into our lungs we vomitted up a few acoustic renditions of Barry Manilow's Lowest Hits and crammed cookies down our dry and flaky throats. Joan radiated like a nuclear bomb at her mixing console and her pet wallabies sat still and quiet, leaning against a cliff of Parker Posie albums, in the back of the studio (or as the sign on the door called it "The Great Glass Bull Horn").
It was fun to be presented a room-sized wine list and we took advantage of the wonderful selection of shiny diaries and cardboard platters. Madam Joan was kind enough to broil us a song or three and we couldn't stop screaming useless limericks into the day sky...but even the angels didn't seem to mind too much.
Later we all shared one roller skate and like a giant six-armed atrocity we rolled disco-style back to North-shmamp-what.
BRIAN: The "Where's YOUR Flag, Faggot?" Tour, 2001. Folks, don't take offense at the title. I mean none. As the pro and anti war sides become clearer, I'd be not surprised at all to see a sticker or a T-shirt with the above sentiment in the near future. I'm just preparing you all. I live across the street from a family, who, between their house and their pickup truck, display 4 American flags. When I walk by the house and truck, I just hear a voice calling out to me, saying the above. Or maybe it's that taco I had last night. But lately it also seems, the bigger the flag on your car, the more recklessly you can drive. For the more scientifically minded, this can be called the "Where's YOUR flag, Zygote?"
BRIAN: Aahh. Toad is back on the list of the most friendly places. Tonight was a take no prisoners kind of night, whatever that means. All I know is that it was destined to be a night of serious sweaty, loud rock for a few reasons:
1) the previous night, Lord Russ and I had a shared out of body/out of mind experience while listening to "The Who Sell Out" CD. We also came up with a concept known as the Anthrax Sniffing Postal Monkey. They are being bred and trained as we speak. We also put a cat collar on a large dust bunny and christened it "Robyn".
2) On this particular night, I, Ken and Henning, unbeknownst to each other, each made statements to the effect of "Cambridge is not going to know what hit them". So, there's your fate. Later, Russ changed this statement to "we're going to dance Cambridge a new asshole". We don't know what that means, but it's funny.
3) It was "International Night" at TOAD. Or it wasn't until we got there and said it was.
4) We had the gall to show up as a 5-piece at the club that only holds 60, with the stage that only holds 3.
On with the story. Ning, Russ, Ken and I left Noho at 6:30, in my car. Joe, Don and Bruce were gonna meet us there, as they were having dinner at Stephen Desaulnias' and Kerry's place in Brighton. Apparently, they ate lots of pork and drank some wine.
Upon arriving (barely--the Sable was a bit angry for the final stretch. A problem which mysteriously did not happen on the way home), we unloaded and ordered some food. Veggie burger and fries, me. Nachos, Ken. Chicken Caesar Salad, Ning. Russ had made his own dinner earlier. Something meaty and delicious smelling.
We watched the end of the first band (can't remember the name, but there were Tom Petty covers and a guitarist who resembled David Crosby). Ning's been getting much usage out of his new cell phone. For example, we were wondering just when Joe and co. were gonna show. We didn't know. So we called. They showed up minutes before start time.
How to deal with the tiny stage? Well, Ning, Lord Russ and I on the stage, Joe standing in front of the stage, Ken at a table in front of the stage.
Hey!! So many friendly faces. The place was packed!! There's Josh and Sarah, formerly of Northampton. There are Ning and Russ' friends from high school! There are lots of people we don't know, but who know our songs!
Well. 3 sets. Bruce Tull, during one of the breaks said that we were completely "unashamed" tonight. Well, there was no holding back. Musically, or humor-wise. We did several little music-comedy interludes regarding it being International Night. Russ was getting money shoved in his pants for doing Tom Jones stuff. The end of the show was unbelievably loud and frenzied. People were screaming for more, but we cannot get any crazier.
After the show, Joe was getting a head and ear massage by a fan. It seemed like a tender moment (and we know what Billy J. says about THOSE), so we ran across the street to Dunkin Donuts where we found only sweet bagels and jelly donuts. Slim pickins. I think everyone fell asleep on the way home, but I woke up for the last half hour and talked a bunch with Henning to keep him from falling asleep. It was 4:30am. And FREEZING! Upon entering Noho, we heard Big Star on the radio. I can't recall which tune.
HENNING: While strolling through the streets of Northampton today I overheard a woman remark about a noisy car, “They got a loud muffler!” I thought that was pretty good. Not only because she was trying to point out something that was incredibly obvious, but because she was completely wrong in her observation. Saying a car has a loud muffler is like opening the door to a small Cambridge club, being overwhelmed by the volume of a rock band inside, and commenting on how loud the door is. It’s blaming the meow for the cat.
Hey, a guy who looks like me just walked passed the window. Man, what a goon!
We were embraced by Cambridge, my friend. I can only hope that Cambridge felt us return the sentiment. Toad was crammed full of everything. We had members of the Scud Mountain Boys, a president of a huge software corporation, and a pair of what I can only refer to as sex kittens. There were folks from Sydney and Great Britain, a bartender who once lived in the same dorm as Brian, Russ, and I. There was a middle-aged Asian man with a smile as big as an origami sunset. There were some former Pioneer Valley fans and an onslaught of unfamiliar bobbing heads. It was international night, we proclaimed, and we commenced to whip-up an instant theme song, “The International Rag.”
This was our first time as a 5 piece at Toad and although we were crammed into the corner like nerds in a Star Trek shoebox, we had the greatest time that anybody has ever had anywhere.
The Sable was bucking violently in disgust as Russ and I found a parking space 19 miles away from the club, but she purred like a pinup when the night was over.
All the folks at Toad were so kind and so loud in their screaming and whooping, we are internally grateful. Next east coast stop,-The Milky Way. Hope to see you there, bring a friend or 30.
BRIAN: Ten years ago, I began listening to WAMH. I first heard New Radiant Storm King and Sebadoh and knew I was in the right town. I heard a lot of other things too, which got me excited to be in college and to meet other musicians. Ten years later, I still get excited when school starts, so I can tune in and be told what's hip.
I've been on WAMH twice before: in 1995 with Sourpuss (with a young Ken Maiuri) and in 1997 or 98 with The Figments (and I believe Lord Russ was there too). Back then, you had to squeeze into a 2x2 foot area and rock. Now the studio is relocated, and has a good size performance space, large enough for all our equipment. Every Sunday night during the school, WAMH has a local band play for an hour. This week it was our turn. I'd had a taco dinner at Veracruzana which ended up not sitting so well, delicious as it was. I was craving Antonio's Pizza, so I don't know why I disobeyed my instincts. Oh well. I dropped into Dewberry Comics for 3 minutes, then met the fellas on the Amherst Campus.
We met Jill, the host, inside the studio. Turns out I'd met her, or at least seen her around at shows previously. On the wall of the performance space is a who's who of local and international indie rock: Sebadoh, Luna, Sonic Youth, Kahoots, Hospital, Drunk Stuntmen, Blonde Redhead, The Mitchells, Yo La Tengo, are all represented by photos and/or autographs. So we of course added to it.
After a soundcheck and a false start (technical mix up), we began our 12 song set, interspersed with some questions by Jill. It was a well played show. I felt quite relaxed. Russ' voice showed a bit of wear from the 3 loud sets in Cambridge the previous night, but the vibe was right on. Funny things were said. I haven't heard the tape yet, but Jill will be making CDRs of it. Perhaps we'll offer a song as a download. I don't know.
Afterwards, in the parking lot, we played a bit of Frisbee. Everyone had a little trick. Joe can spin one on his finger quite well, and said how when he was younger the cool thing was to spray a bit of silicon on the bottom, then you can spin it like a crazy ass bastard. Speaking of which, Ning, why no photos?
HENNING: Connolly may have said that the cell phone is the security blanket of the solitarily challenged, but I say I love it! We met in the front corner of Amherst College and I called the radio station from the car for directions to the station. Sweet.
I used to come to Amherst College all the time and hang out in the campus center. I’d play pool and listen to the free jukebox. It was nice to be back and see all the healthy looking students studying and having dorm residence meetings. I love college.
The route to the radio station was a trek with all the instruments but it was well worth it. Jill was super sweet and quietly put up with all of our idiocy. We set up quickly and three minutes later were on the air. It was a different kind of show, one that lived inside headphones. It was pleasant to hear Ken’s keyboards so well. I haven’t yet heard a tape of our performance but I hope it came across well.
WAMH is one of my favorite stations in the area. It’s a college station and they just play good music without worrying about playing only things that nobody wants to hear. So, it was nice to be a part of their programming. I also got the chance to drop off a copy of School for the Dead and on the way home Ken and I heard them play a track off of it. Thanks, WAMH.
I forgot the camera.
BRIAN: Donal B Rooke: Manager. Organizer. Booking Guy. Renaissance Man. Dancin' Fool. Yes, folks, it happened again. The Northampton Music Festival swept through our fair city like the most insane carnival you could ever imagine. You know, without its population of rock musicians, Northampton would be just another quaint college artsy town. Its musicians, I think, give it its soul, its ego, its sadness, its hope. Its reality.
At the end of this, I'll go over my favorite memories of the 4 day weekend, but for now, here's strictly the Steamtrain experience. Ning will have to tell you about anything Steamtrain related that happened before midnight. Earlier that day I was at a wedding in Lincoln, MA, where I was reunited with Steve, Nick and Glenn, formerly of my high school band, The Mean Wyoming. Nick's wedding. I came home, had a nap, woke up, had a Power Bar and a Red Bull energy drink. Suddenly I was superman.
I played with the Figments at 9:00, The Potatoes at 10:00, rested at 11:00, then came midnight, the witching hour, the hour of our invasion into people's hearts, minds and loins. Parts of this show were professionally videotaped for reasons known only to us. A crew with 4 cameras, smoke machines, and many hot lights. And the crowd was packed up front, happy, loud and dancing.
We'd packed Harry's once again (300?). And the 5-piece played a stellar, forceful, perfect in all areas-show. I'd largely avoided alcohol throughout the night, knowing I had to be perfect for 3 bands. It was the only way to maintain the energy. We had a great set list. KUDOS to whoever made it, and congratulations, you now have the job of making every set list from now on.
Oh boy, I've never sweated more. The entire show I alternated between smiling and bobbing around like a madman, glaring out at the crowd, wondering what they were all doing there, feeling like a spirit was inhabiting me; and looking around, wondering if I was on the verge of passing out from heat exhaustion. But it was like climbing a mountain or swimming way far out--just don't look down/look back. Just be here now, and do the job that needs to be done and do it the best you possibly can.
So, yeah. We let the crowd know when they were being filmed, and everyone looked so sexy and so darn happy dancing. Lord Russ looked out at his subjects and saw that it was good. Like an eclair. Rock and Roll hairdresser Rosa (props to Glamourama, yo) was in front posing with her partner in Model Rocket, Amanda. Should look good in the video. As will Dancing Don. Max Germer: another good dancer. Sigh. I just don't know how to express my love for all the people dancing, singing, grooving along to our music. It makes our lives worth living. Otherwise, we all dread our very existences. You think I'm kidding? Ning, am I kidding?
After the show came heaps of praise and a hug from Don. A Mobius Band member said "you guys kicked more ass than I could ever imagine". Compare that to Frank Marsh's comment after last year's NMF. After the show, I broke a tradition and didn't abandon the rest of the band, leaving them with nowhere to put equipment, in pursuit of some happy ending. No, tonight I was good, helpful and still had a happy ending. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this festival thing.
My ears were ringing for 36 hours.
FAVORITE FESTIVAL MOMENTS:
--During the breakdown of Misty Paradise, Henning pointing to various people in bands (Ware River Club, Figments, Drunk Stuntmen, Maggies etc) and sang snippets of one of their songs. That was a real celebration of the geniuses who walk among us.
--Fields of Gaffney doing "Stars for Eyes" or whatever the real title is. That is one of his (Eric Gaffney) tunes off Sebadoh 3--one of the major soundtracks to my first year at UMass.
--Connolly Ryan's INSANE intro to The Strippers' set, over the intro to their first song and being pushed off the mic by the singer. I walked into Harry's in the middle of it, and it made me laugh.
--Treefort's version of "Immigrants Song"
--Joe O'Rourke wiping his sweaty face on the big American flag by the side of the stage at the Eagle's Club--which is like a VFW. He seemed surprised that some folks were slightly offended.
--The Figments' Trace Meek playing bass for Marc Mulcahey's set. It sounded perfect.
--The Figments' Matthew Zapruder transforming into the spawn of Bob Mould and the Tasmanian Devil during one song of the Figments set.
--Joe Boyle tossing his pick into the crowd, rock star style, during the Steamtrain's final song (All My Juices).
--Watching Spanish For Hitchhiking and seeing they're a really great band. They gotta make a CD.
--Ditto The Moebius Band
--Playing big rock shows with The Figments and The (Gay) Potatoes (Chris Collingwood's first live appearance since the Fountains of Wayne on the Conan O'Brien show 2 weeks ago)
--Playing the more low key but equally satisfying gigs with The Greenbergs, Ribbon Candy and Henning's School For The Dead
--And a special thank you to Kevin, Steve Westfield's Slow Band drummer, Dave Hower of Spanish For Hitchhiking and JJ OConnell from Kahoots and Superkart for letting me use their drums and making this whole "6 Bands in 24 hours" thing a lot easier and smooth than it could have been. We love you.
HENNING: What can I say that the butterflies haven't already said summer after summer? I'll skip straight to my favorite moments, not having the ability to express the experiences experienced.
--Picking up my weekend passes envelope from the three lovely ladies behind the Northampton Music Festival, feeling, as always, like a little boy in Toughskins at a Manhatten fashion show.
--MIngling in a crowd of friends to the NOW sounds of The Mobius Band.
--Running a song writing workshop with Thane in the sunny Baystate.
--Seeing Jose, of Spouse, sheepishly sing "Give Me Three Steps" with The Ware River Club.
--Playing stage manager at Harry's Saturday night. Getting cell phone calls from Philip rushing to make his own Maggies show and then admiring the way they played as though there was no previous panic.
--Standing on stage with The Potatoes wondering if Brian was going to make it and then seeing that little curly head walk in the door.
--The entire Steamtrain show start to finish and everyone who was there. The lights, the faces, like a movie.
--Another morning at the Baystate at the promotion workshop wondering where Don was, talking to Sean and Jay and Lesa.
--Arriving at the Baystate for the Greenbergs, 3 minutes before take-off, after spending the afternoon in the poshness of The Lord Jeffrey Inn at my good friend Jim Astbury's wedding (Congratulations, Jim, nice work). Playing the first few notes of Bettie Page and immediately falling into the groove.
--A surprise performance of a Monkees song with Ribboncandy. Also, stepping on a distortion pedal while playing my new electric guitar with that same band.
--A night walk to Grampy's with Ken and Tony. Introducing Ken to the Harvest Bar.
--My entire School for the Dead show. Everything was absolutely perfect. Perfect.
--Missing the next two days of work, due to overexertion.
BRIAN: Weddings!! Oh, was it great to play a lovely indoor wedding, surrounded by art and groovy people. Particularly on a day which brought the start of bombing overseas and a bummer of a cold front to western Mass.
Mark is behind all the groovy things at State St. and Cooper's Corner. He's also a great drummer and knows all the best music. For this he asked if we could learn a coupla Tom Jones, some Love and a Beatles tune we never played. Done, done and done.
5 piece. 2 sets. 75% covers. 100% fun. We had a backstage-like area which also served as the place where we told people that the bathrooms were unisex. There was good food, and lots of wine, champagne and Sam Adams. I apologize to the young man who I mistook for a young woman. He's going to be famous someday, having learned so many instruments at such a young age. I just know it. And I'll be that loser drummer in the wedding band who though he was a girl. Well, I've been called "Miss" as recent as last month, by people who saw me only from behind. It's that wiggle in my walk.
During the break in Misty P., Ning and Russ began singing Treefort's "Parking Valet" as a tribute to Paul Hansbury, who was there. And, oh my god, is his baby the cutest ever ? I will let Ning tell the tale of the balloon snack despenser kid. There were many couples dancing, young and old, which once again made me think, "I gotta learn to dance". And, well, the owner of the place, Jackie, who, years ago, gave dance lessons to our own Lord Russ, was there, and she was dancing up a storm. I spent some time talking with Phil from The River, WRSI. We were discussing the difference between various NPR stations.
Afterwards, Ning, Ken and I met Manager Don Rooke at WRNX in Holyoke, to help hype the upcoming Northampton Music Festival, which I KNOW ALL OF YOU WILL ATTEND. Or some of you may think of attending. Or drive by, look in, see what's going on, maybe that cute chick you saw last weekend is there. HEY! Who's that chump she's talking to?!? Aw jeeze, you better go and do something about that! No, no, no, can't get in without a ticket. Well, this band playing sounds pretty good, maybe you'll check 'em out. Exactly. Now where's that chick?
Then I witnessed the Altamont of Open Mics at the Baystate. Dueling "Needle and the Damage Done"s. Then a "Rockin In the Free World" duet with Ware River Club's Matt Hebert and Spouse's Jose Ayerve. It was weird. There was a dark force in the room--war. drugs. Neil. Dewer's on the rocks. Manson. Why oh why, Ning?
HENNING: I was at The Who's Next Deli this morning trying to warm-up and wake-up by getting myself a nice big cup of assam breakfast tea with honey (rock star, right?) There was one woman up at the counter placing her order and then there was anothewr woman waiting. Atleast, from what I could gather she was waiting, for this tight white turtle necking wearing young woman was standing at a very far distance from the counter. It was very hard to tell if she was in line or if she was just standing there. It was as though she took the ATM rule of privacy and applied it to a coffee ordering environment, as if there were some secret codes or personal revelations involved. She was atleast 10 feet behind the woman ordering.
I was taken aback and uncomfortable. I didn't know where to stand. If I stood the same distance back from the strange woman in white it would be ludicrous, as this line of three would stretch clear across the restaurant. But, if I stood up-close to her it would seem strange as well, almost like we were there together. So I just kind of stood off to the side and tried to breathe regularly. I was disturbed by how this woman was comfusing me in an otherwise perfectly relaxed and ordinary situation.
Why was she standing so far back? Was it completely unconcious? Was she part of a pro-elbow room coalition? Did she have germ-phobia? The deli prides itself in being "New York Style". There was nothing New Yorkish about the wide open space being created...as big as a boat show.
Foibles. We all have foibles. Or not necessarily foibles, as that suggests a flaw but something like foibles, something that sets us a part from the rest of us. We all have a monkey wrench to toss in. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad.
In an unrelated-way here are the directions for a do-it-yourself (DIY) kit. If the kid who designed this brilliant convayance had any foibles I don't know what they may have been, they certainly weren't appearent here.
The floating hors d'oeuvres tray.
1. Gather about 10 helium filled
balloons of various colors.
2. Tie two paper cups to the strings of the balloons so that they are up right.
3. Fill the cups with various snack items, (Sugg. Grapes, Mini-Muffins, Small
Fruit Filled Cookies, Doritoes) being careful to balance the weight of the
filled cups with the lift of the balloons.
4. Gently float the server around the crowded wedding reception.
5. Upon nearing a guest say, "Excuse me, do you want something?"
6. When the cups are nearing the empty level, quickly refill them with more
refreshments to keep the server air-born.
7. Enjoy.
BRIAN: Happy Harvest Moon. Dr. Who with Tom Baker. A coffee milkshake with Frangelico. Maybe get a new pair of pants. Brian's Picks for the fall.
It's getting chilly. It's even more chilly in Vermont. Time to wear cool clothes and hide your ugly legs. Up in Brattleboro Martha's gone, that's for sure, but the rock lives on. Ken and I got different variations on a chicken sandwich. There were burritos (Joe and Bruce) and Ning got...Ning got, a beer battered lobster bisque flame broiled sundae melt??
We realized they always have the same mix tape going before we play. It's got Alvin and The Chipmunks, Elvis Presley, and other novelty acts. The night before, before a Figments show, I'd gotten a Scotch on the rocks, so I decided to continue the tradition. You know, there are phases. I think the scotch on the rocks idea came from my reading about a Hollywood party. Before you ever had Scotch, what did you imagine it to taste like? I imagined like butterscotch, and I couldn't wait to be an adult and try it. It finally happened at the age of 20 something. Hey kids, don't try it--it's gross, just like kissing and vegetables.
Ooh La was there with a mixed crowd, who were all dancing like there was a band playing. I met a Sean Lennon look alike in cowboy boots. Much of the show, my eyes were fixed on the dance floor, because most of what I could see were go-go boots, tights and mini skirts. And then I'd look at Joe Boyle, because he was playing some great stuff, and we were interplaying a bit. We had a good "For Your Love" jam. Jeff Beck and Jim McCarty on whatever JFK would get shot up with before his speeches.
There was a blonde guy dancing with such glee, it was a shame to see him not smiling. We met a couple of guys from NYC who report that "people are just going out and having a good time". That's great to hear and begins to relieve any of us from guilt. Like here we are in tobacco and milk country and we can see the stars and are having good times.
Last night we were at a Steamtrain and heard "Now You Know" on the radio. Today I was on the phone with Ning, and he heard "Before I Come" on the radio. Smith College--the college that keeps on giving. Soon, we'll be doing a concert on Amherst College radio, on a Sunday Night, and Ning will give you their webcast details, so you can listen, even if you're on the Island of Malta. Where malted milk balls grow on trazees. Was there a show I was talking about? Who ever heard of a show?
HENNING: I wrote my name and address at least 25 times on this day. It was Easthampton's Fall Festival / Trade Show and I was entering as many free raffles as possible. Small town fun with Pbup, Db, and El Bezo. It was a lovely warm day and as the town brass ensemble played Winter Wonderland we scanned through throws of paperback books. I ended up purchasing Art Linkletter's "Kid's Say The Darndest Things" with illustrations by Charles M. Schultz. Cool. But, the big purchase was my new Cell Phone for now I can be reached everywhere at all times by anybody (the secret select few who have that number) and more importantly I can reach all of you from anywhere anytime. It's going to come in very handy when we are driving around looking for our venues.......assuming we ever play again. At the Festival El Bezo and I had our picture taken. It was later discovered to be in the Hampshire Gazette. Oh, Lady Fame, you found me again. It seems everytime I go anywhere I end up in the paper! . One time it was just because it was rainy outside.
It wasn't rainy in the Mole's Eye. It was a blizzard of excitement as our Vermont friends tore it up Fall Guy style on the dance floor. What a night of decadent delights beneath the whirring fan. "It's your night, Brattleboro!" Lord Russ exclaimed and boy was he ever on the money. Seriously, he was standing on my money. Dude, move over, I need that.
In between sets on the steps behind the Mole's Eye like my memories of the smoking section at highschool would be had I ever actually gone out there and risked sharing a moment with the hoods. Lots of hand shaking and I can see my breath it is so cold out.
Back inside the Eye, the Pin Ball Bruce Jenner Jim Carrey guy has vanished, but everyone else was bouncing off the walls. The dancing Brattleboro ladies oozed an allure and the men seethed goofily - its easy to see who runs this town.
It's a pleasure to play with the likes of Brian, Ken, Joe, and Russ. I can't describe how easy it is with this combo, and when the people in the crowd are as amazing as on this night, not a thought needs to go into anything. The music and the performance take care of themselves. And the time, like a weightless stealth skater, glides by silently and swiftly and there couldn't possibly be a better way to spend it.
A BIG STEAMTRAIN THANK YOU FOR THE DRUNK STUNTMEN'S STEVE SANDERSON (pause
for applause) FOR PUTTING ALL THIS TOGETHER!!!
BRIAN: Ok, well, basically, this was in part a benefit, and in part an excuse to get 5 of the area's best acts in one beautiful setting on a beautiful late summer afternoon, surrounded by friends and family.
It began at 1:30 PM, with the Ray Mason Band. Oh, did they rock! They did the hits, the rockin' hits, some old favorites. Mike Flood was standing next to me and remarked how Ray's obvious love of playing music is so life affirming. I've thought the same thing. In between acts, Mike Flood played acoustic songs and chatted with the audience. OK. If you have never seen Mike Flood, well, he's about as funny and strange and loveable as a person can get. Sebadoh even wrote a song about him ("Flood", on, I believe, Bubble and Scrape). Flood told me he'd recently done his first stand up comedy act, and in attendance was the Vonnegut family, minus Kurt. I know no more of the circumstances. So Flood came across as funny, confident, and his songs are unbelievable and indescribable. I told him I'd forgotten how much I loved his voice. Apparently, Mike reunited with his band Playtopia at the post show party. I missed it. Anyway, there's my paragraph on Flood, who did his schtick between each of the bands.
Ware River Club was next. They do really well at these outdoor things. Their Taste of Noho thing was great a couple weeks ago. And this was equally as good. During most of their set I was gearing up for our show, walking among the crowd, and putting a new snare head on.
While we were setting up, all set to go on as a Joe-less 4 piece, Flood sang a very strange song: "Poodoo, it's a station" or something equally as fucked up. 20 seconds away from beginning, and Don comes to the edge of the stage to tell us, "Joe Boyle is here and about to go on stage". WOW. We thought he just couldn't make it. But here he was, ready to rock. And rock we did. It was my favorite ever outdoor show. The weather was perfect, the crowd was pleasant. My parents were supposed to be there, but didn't walk in until the last song. Held up in traffic. I felt bad.
But anyway, Henning's begun to do a great thing during the "dream sequence" (Ray Mason coined that) in Misty Paradise, which signals the end. Think Ric Okasik as a little bee with sunglasses. I love it.
Everyone's favorite 5 year old, Gigi Raccine, was dancing topless on the edge of the stage. A sheepish Thane was sent to retrieve her. Oh, gee. What else? Well, segues was the name of the game. Misty P. into "Saturday in the Park" (because it WAS Saturday and we WERE in the park, "Beggars" into Billy Joel's "My Life", because it IS my life. We also did "Better Things" by the Kinks because it was a perfect sentiment.
After our bit, I spent time taking it all in. Talking with my parents, talking with Andrea's parents, playing catch (sort of) with Don's boy Moe, eating the always delicious noodles with peanut sauce from Amber Waves (one of a few restaurants in the house), and watching the last two bands rock the Pines: Drunk Stuntmen and The Stone Coyotes. For a little while, Kim Gordon was there with J Mascis. Anyway, there was a post-show party at the Haydenville American Legion, which none of us could attend, because we had other plans.
HENNING: I heard the Haydenville party was great Brian. I spoke with your parents too. I told them a few secrets, I apologize.Anyway, they know al