The Living Rockumentary

Brian, because of your absence at practice last night, we didn't really try to do too much. But you do have a little catching up to do. We ran through Jive Driving, which is a pretty easy song and also started work on Adam Greenberg's Teenage Summer, which I suggested we play at our next Thirsty Mind show, with guest Samara Loewenstein on guest vocals (it's one of the songs The Parents play). I asked the fellers if we could learn it and play it there so that Sam's son Ethan could see his mum sing in public. (The Parents don't play out very much and when we do, it's always at bars). Henning then suggested she also sing those female background parts in Jive Driving as well so we'll do two with her at that show.

Max, I know you're probably working up a poster for the Thirsty Mind but I wonder if you can do something for me. Can you print out a version of your last Thirsty Mind poster (the Lord Of The Rings one) with the new upcoming date substituted so that I can hang it up here at work? Reason I ask for the old version is because it has our faces on it and that might make a few coworkers connect that I play in the band and may come out to see us. It also would be eye-catching on our otherwise unassuming bulletin board here at Motherwear.

I didn't bother to spend much time on the net this weekend so I never did write a gig diary for this last weekend. But that's alright. Kenny provided the set list and Maxie and Bri-Bri also pretty much covered all that I was going to say. The set seemed to rush by in about 10 minutes and I hardly had a chance to look up from my tuner or guitar-playing fingers and it was all done. I did just happen to be looking behind me when Brian's snare drum fell and so was fortunate to witness the sight of Brian holding his snare in one hand as he picked it up and placed it back on its stand while still thumping it with his stick with the other hand so that not a beat was missed in Omnivore. Musical and athletic at the same time. I often end up wasting at least one of my drink tickets from shows- this time, I was happy to donate one to Brian who had unfortunately wasted both of his with his two accidental spills.

I admired Maggie Lowinsky/Nowinsky(?)'s confidence and stage presence and vocals but her songs aren't my cuppa tea. And whatever style she's going for, the songs are just far, far too long. There was one gem in the middle of the set that was more uptempo and brighter and more melodic than the others and I bet that's her hit. Supreme Dicks- I'm not sure I recall Mike Flood ever turning around and facing the audience once. Six folks onstage at one time, none of them playing bass. In fact, with Maggie's set, which sometimes featured Michelle on drums and the tinny CD player sound of the Pollinaire Rave, I think of four acts, Max was the lone bass sound of the entire night. I spent much of Supreme Dicks set just kinda antsy to go on and ended up spending much time over by the bar (which is rare for me) talking with Crom. After our set, I also had a nice chat with Anya. Lovely picture of her on the gig diary there. I'm familiar with Of Montreal- anyone who's been on the receiving end of a Maiuri Mix would be. And so although I don't have any of their albums or know them well, I've always been impressed with Kevin Barnes' writing and also his distinctive voice. But only in passing, ya know? I like the songs when they pop up on the mixes and I liked this performance but I'm still not so won over that I need to buy an album and dig into it. It's quite possible I'm missing something. Of Montreal's "Don't Ask Me To Explain" is about as perfect, timeless, and inspired a pop song as anyone could hope to write and last weekend's "Sad Love" was a pretty special gem as well but I'm just not ready to make a commitment, okay? Anyway, the Pollinaire Rave, umm, silly, half-assed skits and dialogue, too cutesy by half but some cool songs. I paid strict attention to the first 10 minutes or so and it was obvious it wasn't supposed to make a whole lot of sense and so I just sorta stared at the stage and let my mind wander through the bits until the next song came up.

My operation went fine yesterday. I'm actually more sore from the tetanus shot they squeezed in while I was there than I am from where the growth was removed. Although initially my doctor told me it was benign, when she got a second look at it, she decided to be safe and send it off to the lab to be analyzed. So I have a slight worry. I had a more serious growth removed when I was younger so I'll spend a week waiting for the lab results with the thought in the back of my mind that there's always a possibility that the concerns they had when I was younger were serious but the feeling I got from my doctor was that this particular growth is highly unlikely to yield any symptoms of cancer.

Shelly and I have been working on a new activity page that should be ready for all the budding artistes at that next Thirsty Mind show. She's handling all the fancy graphics and fonts and whatnot and doing it up on her computer. It will be two pages, either two-sided or two pages stapled together.