The Living Rockumentary

The weather outside is crazy today. It felt like I was on vacation somewhere tropical as I walked to town this morning. I had my headphones on (I just got another nice pair after a horrible week of ear-buds) and I was listening to the old iWhat on shuffle. As I walked in the strangely mild air with the confused winter sun beating down on me, I started to notice some weird coincidences in the songs being played. A suspiciously odd amount seemed to have the word "happy" in them.

Had someone actually invented the iPod App that I mentioned a while back? You know, the one where the ipod interacts with the online weather feeds and caters the play-list to match the weather. Could this be possible? Was it just a coincidence? Had my iPhone reached a point of singularity? Was it taking on life?

When I had a moment to sit down and go back over the songs that had played, my heart started to skip a beat. Happy this, happy that. Then my logical brain parts burst the colorful balloons that my fun-time brain parts had been flying. Duh. The thing wasn't on shuffle. For some reason it was just playing alphabetically and was in the middle of the H's.

Anyway, here's what I heard. It was fun while the dream lasted.

We had an interesting practice last night. The Rub Wrongways Caravan was in the studio preparing for our Sssshhhhhh Show at Forbes Library next Wednesday. We added six songs to the Caravan catalog including a brand new School for the Dead song.

This concert is going to be an adventure for us. The room is wooden and historic and we have to be very quiet because, well, because it's in a library. It's in a library and the library will be open. People in other rooms will be reading and doing whatever it is that people do in libraries. Sucking on cough drops? Browsing the stacks? Eying each other suspiciously?

We will not be entirely acoustic and we will have a tiny PA set up but the volume will be way way down. Last night we played around with arrangements of these songs to see how they felt at low volumes. Here are some of the instruments that we plan on playing at the show:

We'll be playing songs by School for the Dead, The Fawns, Sitting Next To Brian, Bourgeois Heroes, and the Salvation Alley String Band. The show is set on shuffle. You never know which band you will get, who will sing, who will play what.

I hope you can make it. It's totally FREE and it's from 7:00 to 8:00, so it's nice and early on a weekday. It's all-ages. It's going to be a strange event and I think we'll need your help to make it a magical evening.

I watched the American Music Awards the other day. I didn't mean to, I just happened to see it there in the cable listings and when I turned it on it was all super hi-definition and sparkly and my eyes glued themselves to it like ants on a dropped lollipop. I pretty much watched the whole thing. I felt like I was in Vegas.

The performances were so packed full of stuff, it was like walking through a casino. There were colors and flashing lights and everything was IN-YOUR-FACE. I'm not sure, but I think most of the artists did little medleys of their current hits. It was one chorus after another surrounded by hundreds of crazy dancers. There was no breathing. There was no time for contemplation. It was ADDTV at its best.

Luckily there were commercials and I was able to mute the sound and think about the fact that my world of music was so different than the world that was on my screen. I created a fantasy in which I walked out onto that stage in between, say, the performances by Lady Gaga and Eminem, with my old red acoustic guitar and I stood there and sang Campground Daughter. There would be no flashing lights or screens, no dancers, no fire, explosions, or confetti. No screaming. It'd be just me with my warbly voice singing this little song.

What would the audience think? How would they react? Would they throw tomatoes at the old guy who didn't work-out for three hours a day. Would they storm the stage and try to put product in my hair? Would they sit and listen? Would they look around for somebody in charge to tell them how to react? Would they all start texting about the after party? What would happen? Would they all hush and tear up like they did when the cricket played its song in Times Square? Would Adam Lambert's eye-liner stream down his face? (Yes, I had to look up his name). Would people be able to last through an entire verse? Would I make it through the whole song without being pulled off the stage in exchange for a Taylor Swift PSP commercial? Would the whole event screech to a halt when everyone started realizing that, "hey, I'm not making any money out of this!"?

What do you think would have happened?


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(copy and paste it on your site) Blogs to Enjoy Local and Friends nohodome chowflap bikes and birds ari vais fearless by default dennis crommett duplex planet winterpills group deville sound check the winter pills jose ayerve greenland mark schwaber never heard of them spanish for hitchhiking a ribbon and a marshmallow Music and Pop Culture bedazzled Rhapsody Radish close your eyes said the gramaphone i love music sequential randomist chromewaves flux blog the church of me tiny mix tapes the rub rick critics no rock and roll fun josh blog pop shots Music Thing Find the New You at: Germany - Turbo Music Sweden - Delicious Goldfish Sweden - Songs I Wish Japan - Apple Crumble US - Indie Pages CD Baby Amazon ITunes Napster Sony Connect Best Buy Listen to The New You on Rhapsody The New You on Rhapsody Old Rockumentaries	Thursday, December 03, 2009 Happy Synchronicity or I Give My iPhone Too Much Credit Henning says: The weather outside is crazy today. It felt like I was on vacation somewhere tropical as I walked to town this morning. I had my headphones on (I just got another nice pair after a horrible week of ear-buds) and I was listening to the old iWhat on shuffle. As I walked in the strangely mild air with the confused winter sun beating down on me, I started to notice some weird coincidences in the songs being played. A suspiciously odd amount seemed to have the word "happy" in them. Had someone actually invented the iPod App that I mentioned a while back? You know, the one where the ipod interacts with the online weather feeds and caters the play-list to match the weather. Could this be possible? Was it just a coincidence? Had my iPhone reached a point of singularity? Was it taking on life? When I had a moment to sit down and go back over the songs that had played, my heart started to skip a beat. Happy this, happy that. Then my logical brain parts burst the colorful balloons that my fun-time brain parts had been flying. Duh. The thing wasn't on shuffle. For some reason it was just playing alphabetically and was in the middle of the H's. Anyway, here's what I heard. It was fun while the dream lasted. The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun The Aloha Steamtrain - Happiness Waits Mazzy Star - Happy Mark Mulcahy - Happy Birthday Yesterday Joe Jackson - Happy Ending The Figments - Happy Ever After The Who - Happy Jack Replacements - Happy Town (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 SShhhhhh... Preparing For The Rub Wrongways Caravan Library Show Henning says: We had an interesting practice last night. The Rub Wrongways Caravan was in the studio preparing for our Sssshhhhhh Show at Forbes Library next Wednesday. We added six songs to the Caravan catalog including a brand new School for the Dead song. This concert is going to be an adventure for us. The room is wooden and historic and we have to be very quiet because, well, because it's in a library. It's in a library and the library will be open. People in other rooms will be reading and doing whatever it is that people do in libraries. Sucking on cough drops? Browsing the stacks? Eying each other suspiciously? We will not be entirely acoustic and we will have a tiny PA set up but the volume will be way way down. Last night we played around with arrangements of these songs to see how they felt at low volumes. Here are some of the instruments that we plan on playing at the show: Acoustic guitar Ukulele Electric guitar Pedal steel guitar Wurlitzer Electric Piano Pared down drum set Banjo Glackenspiel Electric bass Harmonica Melodica Various percussion instruments We'll be playing songs by School for the Dead, The Fawns, Sitting Next To Brian, Bourgeois Heroes, and the Salvation Alley String Band. The show is set on shuffle. You never know which band you will get, who will sing, who will play what. I hope you can make it. It's totally FREE and it's from 7:00 to 8:00, so it's nice and early on a weekday. It's all-ages. It's going to be a strange event and I think we'll need your help to make it a magical evening. (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Monday, November 30, 2009 Max and Miles as Guest DJs on Spare The Rock, Spoil the Child Henning says: This past weekend Max and his son Miles were the guest DJs on "Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child", indie music for indie kids. You can hear them on demand whenever you want right here: WRSI Spoiler alert: it's precious. (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 My Performance On The American Music Awards Henning says: I watched the American Music Awards the other day. I didn't mean to, I just happened to see it there in the cable listings and when I turned it on it was all super hi-definition and sparkly and my eyes glued themselves to it like ants on a dropped lollipop. I pretty much watched the whole thing. I felt like I was in Vegas. The performances were so packed full of stuff, it was like walking through a casino. There were colors and flashing lights and everything was IN-YOUR-FACE. I'm not sure, but I think most of the artists did little medleys of their current hits. It was one chorus after another surrounded by hundreds of crazy dancers. There was no breathing. There was no time for contemplation. It was ADDTV at its best. Luckily there were commercials and I was able to mute the sound and think about the fact that my world of music was so different than the world that was on my screen. I created a fantasy in which I walked out onto that stage in between, say, the performances by Lady Gaga and Eminem, with my old red acoustic guitar and I stood there and sang Campground Daughter. There would be no flashing lights or screens, no dancers, no fire, explosions, or confetti. No screaming. It'd be just me with my warbly voice singing this little song. What would the audience think? How would they react? Would they throw tomatoes at the old guy who didn't work-out for three hours a day. Would they storm the stage and try to put product in my hair? Would they sit and listen? Would they look around for somebody in charge to tell them how to react? Would they all start texting about the after party? What would happen? Would they all hush and tear up like they did when the cricket played its song in Times Square? Would Adam Lambert's eye-liner stream down his face? (Yes, I had to look up his name). Would people be able to last through an entire verse? Would I make it through the whole song without being pulled off the stage in exchange for a Taylor Swift PSP commercial? Would the whole event screech to a halt when everyone started realizing that, "hey, I'm not making any money out of this!"? What do you think would have happened? (2) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Rub Wrongways Caravan of Stars at The Rendezvous, Turner's Falls, MA - 11/28/2009 Henning says: (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Monday, November 23, 2009 Next Blog Henning says: See that bar up on the top of this screen here? Yeah, the blue one. Well, there's a link there that says "Next Blog". It used to be that when you clicked it you were taken to a random blog. It could have been anything, even in a different language. Well, now Blogger tells me that when you click it you will be taken to another blog that you might enjoy based on this blog. So, I tried it. Did I come across another music site? Nope. I found one parenting blog after another. I guess they only take into consideration the most recent post. I wonder what will come up now. Blogs about the "Next Blog" button? (1) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Hey Ma! Henning says: A note to parents of young children. It's amazing and admirable that you have learned to ignore your child's constant "hey mommy! mommy! mommy! mommy? mommmmmmy! mom! hey mom!". I understand that you are having a conversation with your adult friend over coffee and you can't answer a question from your child every second. I understand that it is part of the survival of parenting that you are able to tune out the innocuous pleas of your child at times. I also understand that it is next to impossible for you to get out on your own and have adult conversations. Just keep in mind that the rest of us haven't learned to tune out the pleas. It's like the constant screeching of a loud alarm clock at the next table over or like a tied-up and desperate dog barking for help. Just keep it in mind. (Couldn't say it at the restaurant, so I said it here.) (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Lesa woke up and said, "Why do I smell like patchouli?". Henning says: On Sunday morning, Lesa woke up and said, "Why do I smell like patchouli?". We took a moment and replayed the events of the night before. We had attended two musical performances, had run into many old friends, shook hands, and hugged. Who do we know, we wondered, that wore patchouli? We revisited the hugs and the hand shakes, could so-and -so wear patchouli? It didn't seem likely. Lesa turned to check the time and noticed four one dollar bills on the night stand. She brought her face closer and declared, "It's the money!" It all fell together. Cut to the night before the last. Friday night, The Dark Star Orchestra comes to the Calvin Theater in Northampton. Droves of patchouli scented hippies crowd into the old historic theater. One such reveler purchases some refreshments from the concession stand. The money is placed in the register. Later that night it is counted out and collected by the Iron Horse Entertainment Group (owners of the Calvin). A day passes. The next day, The Iron Horse Music Hall opens for business and the bar register is stocked with cash from the previous evening's windfall. A show is performed from 7:00 to 9:00. At 10:30 Lesa and I arrive at The Iron Horse for the Fancy Trash CD Release Party. Lesa purchases a drink and receives change from the register. She wakes up the next day do the wafting odor of the hippie from two nights before. It's in the money, man! It's spreading like a virus. Lesa can't stand the smell and I take the bills from her and place them in my back pocket. Even my weak nose is insulted by the fragrance. Later that morning, we order breakfast at the Woodstar. Three of the dollars go into their register. The fourth is deposited in the tip jar. I wonder who has them now. Sorry, whoever you are. (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Friday, November 20, 2009 School for the Dead on Facebook Henning says: Are you on Facebook? Come on over and join us there too! We'll be your best friends. School for the Dead on Facebook (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Jason and Henning Brief Duet Set - The Rendezvous - Turner's Fall - Thursday Nov. 19. Henning says: (0) Comments \| Links to this post Permalink \| Del.icio.us \| Digg \| reddit \| Technorati \| Furl \| Blinklist \| Email this post to a friend: