SNTB, Gramercy Arms, The Grammys

On Friday night I played a show with Sitting Next To Brian at The Elevens in Northampton, MA. When I arrived at the club I found a parking space right in front of the door. That was convenient for me, but it's always a bad sign as far as attendance goes. Sitting Next To Brian was scheduled to go on second but since the first act arrived so late to the show we were pushed to first. Suddenly, I found myself on stage. I wasn't quite in the zone yet mentally but I think we played a good show. People seemed to dig it and I felt like we sounded good. When we were finished, I said to Thane (Keyboardist), "Ok, I'm ready to play now."

On Saturday, Lesa and I were just about to head down to the movie theater to see Slumdog Millionaire when we instead got the idea that maybe we should try and connect the rear speakers of our surround sound system. Since this would entail drilling holes in walls and running cable and other manly things, we begged her brother to help us and he luckily agreed. Many hours of multiple trips into the totally unfinished and tight-squeeze of an attic, we now have speakers mounted way up high. I put on the Classic Rock Radio Station to try it out and I hit the jackpot with a string of Pink Floyd songs.

That night Lesa and I headed back to The Elevens to see a great show featuring Lloyd Cole, Mary Kate O'Neil, and Gramercy Arms. We sat on the floor in front of the stage for Lloyd's solo performance. It was nice to see him play again, it had been a while. Then during Mary Kate's set I enjoyed our very own Ken, playing a fancy synthesizer that had a sound that perfectly mimicked a melodica. We were tired and said to a few friends that we were just going to stay for a couple of songs by Gramercy Arms, but we stayed for their whole show. They were that good. It was nice to see a band of such seasoned musicians play simple, subtle, and no-gimmick pop rock songs. On this night, the band featured members of Luna, Fuzzy, and The Dam Builders and maybe more fancy people, too.

I recommend checking them out live. I can't vouch for any recording since I haven't heard any. www.myspace.com/gramercyarms

On Sunday night, the music continued as we decided to watch The Grammys on TV. In general, The Grammys, leave me cold and feeling miserable about the state of popular music. This night wasn't so different although there were a few good performances. Mostly though, it was just kind of depressing, with all the back-up musicians and backing tapes and constantly-yelling singers. "Stop yelling at me!" I kept saying. Worst of all was this band Sugarland. The female singer just would not stop yelling. The mute button never sounded so sweet.

Radiohead came out and pretty much took over the whole show with a crazy yet powerful performance. You can see it right here right now: