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I feel bad about how long it's been since my last post. Really, it's not that I've not been in the mood--it's just I'm so TIRED after work. You understand that I still love you, right?
Ha! I still got it! (didn't Ralph Malph used to say that a lot?)
So, what's been doing? No one wrote too much about recent SFTD gigs. Let's see if I can encapsulate...
Bellingham--a long day of driving followed by a long drive to and from a town none of us had been to. The few who witnessed the show were all very kind and gracious. What a stone drag that it rained. So we didn't even get a taste of what makes Bellingham the jewel of Norfolk County.
The Basement--umm...it was fun? I think it's stuck somewhere in transit between my short and long term memory. It had to have been fun. Why wouldn't it have been?
It's been a fun summer so far, actually. For the most part. The most summer-feeling summer in a long, long time. Personally speaking. I'm sorry if it hasn't been for you. I've had some crappy summers during which I'm sure you were dancing naked around a bonfire on the beach to Pyromania.
What else? Oh, the Elevens!! The Seven and Seven Is show.
That was huge fun. Everyone came out of their shells and realized it's okay to rock and look like you're having fun. It was loud and crazy. I also played with the Figments and the Fawns that night.
I've been getting ready to send out for copies of Sitting Next to Brian "Polite". Still deciding on the manufacturer and the quantity. I may play it conservative. But I just wrote a press release that I kind of like. I want to do this one right--unlike the first one which was like "hey, yeah, whatever, buy one, or not I don't care it's not really that great anyway, I mean it is good, but like I'm not trying to like... um bye"..
I've been writing a lot, actually. I just wrote a piece for western Mass library newsletter about how my job has inspired several song ideas in the past few years. It's true. Mockingbird? Agawam. Green and Fur? New Marlborough. And so on.
On Bikes and Birds you can see the album cover. Scroll a bit. Not sure if this is like the bride showing her face before the wedding, but too late now. You can see it on my myspace page too. And hear 2 of the songs.
What are your fave new bands? I saw The Jaguar Club the other week, opening for Spanish For Hitchhiking, and they were boss!
A music blog turned me on to the Modern Skirts. I'd like to hear more. But I dig 'em.
I'm buying a new guitar--an Epiphone G-400. Classic.
SNTB is doing a few songs at Lord Russ' Elvis night on August 17 at the Elevens, so I wanted to play guitar and sing for a change.
Lastly..what else? Oh, thanks to cheap Amazon vendors, I bought deluxe reissues of 2 of my all time fave albums:
Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation"--which has a vibe like nothing else. There is melody you can cut a pineapple with, and there is noise you can curl up and fall asleep on. In fact, I remember the first time ever hearing it--fall of 1990--and I fell asleep with headphones on, having the weirdest dreams, and waking up to my dad saying it was dinner time. In college it was one of my fave things to return to earth with. The bonus stuff includes cover versions of Neil Young, the Beatles and Captain Beefheart. And the remaster job is ace. It's walking around NYC at 3am, not really sure what's around the corner.
and
The Monkees' "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones".
It's the 40th anniversary of the summer of Love, and I feel this should be rated as one of the best albums of 1967. After "Headquarters", which was "we will show the world we can play every note on our albums", Pisces was a compromise. Mickey didn't wanna hold up the process by taking 20 takes to get his drum parts down, but Mike plays guitar and Peter plays keyboards throughout the album.
It was the first Monkees album I ever heard, in 8th grade, and back then--as now--I see it as every bit as repectable as any album of the era. Even more so now, when you realize that the songs therein are like sugar coated shots of the counterculture:
--Salesman: he's a drug dealer. Sailin' so high.
--She Hangs Out: she's way too young to be hanging with sleazy dudes
--Door into Summer: war profiteering
--Love is Only Sleeping: the woman is too clinically depressed to get with her man
--Cuddly Toy: innocent girl being treated like a sex toy by rough dudes.
--Pleasant Valley Sunday-- souless suburban seeking of status symbols
--Daily Nightly: an acid-soaked view of the riots on Sunset Strip
--Don't Call on Me--similar chords and message as "Femme Fatale" by VU.
--Star Collector: she's a groupie. Only aims to please young celebrities. I'll treat her like the trash she is.
--Goin'Down: drunk guy, heartbroken, jumps off a bridge ("floatin' on a river with a saturated liver...I bet she'll regret it when they find me in the morning..") and has too much time to question his action.
"I wish I had another drink, it wouldn't be so hard to sink...They give you 3, I've been down 9, I'm going down just one more time". And the funny observation "I can't believe they drink this stuff in town. This dirty brown.."
On that note, I have some new songs to demo.
Ok. That's all. Bye bye.
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