Where Do I Go On Thursday?

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Let's all hope for nice weather on Thursday so we can play outside. Many people have been asking me just where in Florence, MA this show is. Here's a map. Does that help? Pretty fancy, huh?

The concert starts right at 6:30 and it runs until 8:00. In order of appearance the bands are: The Fawns, Group DeVille, and School for the Dead. It's completely free, of course, and there will be pop corn and beverages sold. If it does rain, we move inside I believe. Which will be an adventure, too. I hope you can come and join us. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket or a kiddie pool.

Hitchcock, Bowling, and Tigers

I had a long weekend. It began with recording vocals with Brian for the new Sitting Next To Brian E.P. Jason and Brian came over to Rub Wrongways Studio and we spent the afternoon working on this great new project. Brian sang like a champ.

When they left, I flipped on the TV and scrolled through a few channels until I suddenly saw Robyn Hitchcock's face burst onto the screen. There's a new concert/interview special on the Sundance Channel of his recent I Often Dream Of Trains performance in NYC. I Often Dream Of Trains is a great old Hitchcock album and is the record that first introduced me to his music. It was a surprise to see him there on the screen.

Later that night, Lesa and I hit the road and skipped the light fantastic down to Mohegan Sun Casino. Our path was lit by the glow of one of the most intense and long-lasting rainbows that I've ever seen. Turns out that Mohegan was not the pot of gold which the 'bow had promised, but it did provide some good times.

On Saturday night we headed to Palmer, MA to play a show with the Jason Bourgeois Band. Ryan couldn't make it, so the band was just Jason, Brian, and I. But friends, Lesa, Debbie, Karen, Emily, and Mark all came along. We ate at a crazy place in Palmer called Steaming Tender, an old train station converted into a family restaurant. It came complete with actual trains whizzing by the windows and an inexplicable lack of knives.

Our gig was at Diamond Junction, a downstairs bowling alley in the center of Palmer. If you want to find out more about it, look up the word "quaint" in any dictionary. The place was small and colorful and run by the nicest people ever. It was an instant step into my childhood with it's candlepin smell and Brunswick decor.

Our gig was short and sweet and very enjoyable and all-ages. The bowling was great fun for me, though some others that I played with were more accustomed to the lumbering big bowling balls and were somewhat bewildered by the smallness of the candlepin adventure. Also there was a plastic dog vending machine.

On Sunday night, I found myself at Tigers on Tigers, a day-long party/celebration/exhibition to please the great tiger in our midst. I played a few songs during nap-time along with Ella Longpre, JP, Sylphid and more. The music ranged from electronica trance-like experimental to acoustic guitar and voice. I just brought along my little old nylon string guitar and sat on the edge of a sofa and played "The Center Of Time", "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", "Young Lucy Lavalier and the Lifeless Crispies", "Night is a Blanket", "Don't Know If I've Got What It Takes", and a singalong version of "Stephanie Says".

After the nap-time concert, a friend was blown-up in a suit made of buckets and fireworks. I fled the scene and spent the rest of the evening with Lesa and an old friend outside at the Northampton Brewery Deck.

Summer is here for real.

Mark Mulcahy Tribute Album

Looks like the word has hit the street today about "Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy".

School for the Dead recorded the song "I Just Shot Myself In The Foot Again" for this tribute album. The release will feature a CD of 21 songs and then downloads of about 20 more. We'll be one of those 20 more. It's an honor to be included and to have had to the opportunity to be involved in this awesome collection of music.

Over the past years, I've played shows with Mark in the Rosenbach Company and also as part of his band at various venues. We've also recorded a bunch of songs together at my Rub Wrongways Studios. Coincidentally, while some were original Mulcahy compositions, many were for other tribute albums (The Beatles and Peter Case). We're planning on working together in the studio soon on some of his newer songs.

It's amazing to see an album like this put out for a friend.

Here's the press release as Pitchfork published it:

Musical visionary types take care of their own. Mark Mulcahy was the frontman for the 1980s Connecticut-based alt-rock band Miracle Legion, who released a few hard-to-find albums of R.E.M.-esque college rock jangle before breaking up in the mid-90s. He also led Polaris, the band who did the music for the beloved Nickelodeon kids' show "The Adventures of Pete & Pete". Since then, he's released three solo albums.

Late last year, Mulcahy's wife Melissa died unexpectedly, leaving him to take care of his three-year-old twin daughters. If Mulcahy is going to keep making music, he'll need help. And fortunately, he's getting it.

On September 29, Shout! Factory will release Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy, a tribute album to Mulcahy that will also serve as a benefit for him. An amazingly stacked lineup of indie rock greats have contributed their versions of Mulcahy songs. Thom Yorke takes on "All for the Best", Michael Stipe turns in his version of "Everything's Coming Undone", and the National handle "Ashamed of the Story I Told". Dinosaur Jr., Mercury Rev, and Frank Black also contribute songs.

Tracklist below.

Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy:

01 Thom Yorke: "All for the Best"
02 The National: "Ashamed of the Story I Told"
03 Michael Stipe: "Everything’s Coming Undone"
04 David Berkeley: "Love's the Only Thing That Shuts Me Up"
05 Dinosaur Jr.: "The Backyard"
06 Chris Harford and Mr. Ray Neal: "Micon the Icon"
07 Frank Black: "Bill Jocko"
08 Vic Chesnutt: "Little Man"
09 Unbelievable Truth: "Ciao My Shining Star"
10 Butterflies of Love: "I Have Patience"
11 Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne: "Cookie Jar"
12 Frank Turner: "The Quiet One"
13 Rocket From the Tombs: "In Pursuit of Your Happiness"
14 Ben Kweller: "Wake Up Whispering"
15 Josh Rouse: "I Woke Up in the Mayflower"
16 Autumn Defense: "Paradise"
17 Hayden: "Happy Birthday Yesterday"
18 Juliana Hatfield: "We're Not in Charleston Anymore"
19 Mercury Rev: "Sailors and Animals"
20 Elvis Perkins: "She Watches Over Me"
21 Sean Watkins: "A World Away From This One"

And then the twenty more downloads (including little old us).

New George Harrison Album

"A batch of unheard songs by late Beatle George Harrison are set to be made into a new album.

Several previously unheard songs by George Harrison are set to be released.

The late former Beatle had a large batch of unfinished tracks at the time of his death in 2001 and they will now be worked on by musician Jeff Lynne - who was a member of 80s super-group The Traveling Wilburys along with George.

A source said: "George half-finished loads of songs and often just forgot about them. There is probably an album's worth of material.

"Jeff and George were very close and worked together a lot in the later period of George's life. He's the right man to work on the material."

Only recently, Harrison's widow Olivia revealed she wanted to do something with her husband's incomplete songs.

She said: "There are lots of tracks. Some are closer to completion than others and with those I'd ask for help."

This will not be the first time Lynne - who is best known as the frontman of the Electric Light Orchestra - has worked on new material by a Beatle.

The 61-year-old guitarist produced The Beatles' 1995 single 'Free As A Bird' - which featured the vocals of the late John Lennon taken from a demo he had written and recorded in 1977.

It is also believed Harrison's son Dhani will work with Lynne on the material. The pair finished off Harrison's final studio album 'Brainwashed', released in 2002, after his untimely passing at the age of 58."

What do y'all think about this? I hope Lynne get's Ringo and Paul to play on it. You think he will? Or do you think the whole thing is a bad idea?

Jason Bourgeois Tonight

Rub Wrongways Recording Artist Jason Bourgeois is bringing his band to The Elevens in Northampton, MA tonight. The wonderful band Spouse has been doing an early show residency there every Tuesday. For tonight's show they have invited J Johnson (National Carpet), Jason Bourgeois, and The Brass, to play with them. The show starts at 7:00PM and is free. Jason's band consists of me, Brian Marchese, and Ryan Quinn (Los Hijos Unicos). Hope you can make it.

Rub Wrongways Caravan - Black Moon - Recap

It is a lengthy and curvy road that leads to Belchertown, Massachusetts. It's been a month of rainy, muggy days. We're all turning into mushrooms, but the road was lined with the lush greeness of a tropical rain forest as the Rub Wrongways Caravan sped through the evening towards a new venue.

The Black Moon is a great secret room in an unassuming spot. Pull in to a strip mall with a Dunkin Donuts, a Pizza Shop, and more and you'll see the big white half moon on the black brick wall. There's a small door that opens to a steep staircase that leads to a comfortable room with a corner stage, friendly staff, and tables and chairs. Yes, even the tables and chairs are friendly.

Ryan, Lesa, and I set up the stage to our liking, moving the upright piano here and there to get everything to fit just right, and gradually people started arriving. The stage was set, the audience was in place and at exactly nine o'clock Ari Vais took the stage. He had agreed to play half a set in the beginning and half later on. Here was the line-up:

1. Ari Vais
2. Tony Westcott
3. Lo Fine
4. Jason Bourgeois Band
5. Sitting Next To Brian
6. Ari Vais
7. Lo Fine
8. The Fawns
9. School for the Dead

Wait. What? Did I say Lo Fine? Yes. I did. Kevin O'Rourke was in town and I ran into him the night before and invited him to do a few songs with Thane and Brian. He agreed. They hadn't played a show for over three years but they sounded really great. Kevin's still got it.

The show ran from nine until just after twelve and the audience was awesome the whole time. It was about a thousand degrees in the room and so muggy that the walls seemed to be sweating, but people toughed it out. The windows were open behind the stage and out there in the dark was a small swampy area filled with the loudest frogs you've ever heard. They sang along all night and you could clearly hear them above the music. It was pretty great.

Special thanks to some of our audience: Dave, Rick, Chris, Debbie, Benjamin, Tim, Alex, Jody, Sarah, Joanne, Emily, Carl, Kevin, and the people who I am overlooking at the moment. I don't know why I write things like that last sentence because now I am going to spend the rest of the day worrying about leaving someone out.

Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who came. You saved the night again. When I asked how many people were there for the first time, I would say 85% of the audience raised their hands. That means we had no built in crowd to rely on. That means that you really, really did save the day. Thanks for being part of the caravan.

Bourgeois Heroes Website

Hey. Bourgeois Heroes have a new website! bourgeoisheroes.com

Freedy Johnston and My Guitar

Here's a list of some of my top songwriting influences (no order):

1. Simon
2. Lennon / McCartney / Harrison / Starr
3. Stipe / Buck / Mills / Barry
4. Linnell / Flansburg
5. Johnston
6. Hitchcock
7. Siberry
9. Waters / Barrett / Gilmour / Wright
10. Vega
11. Wang / Thomsen / Brooks / Westcott / Vais / Armenti / Padellero
12. Schlesinger / Collingwood
13. Dylan
14. Costello
15. Partridge / Moulding
16. Knopfler

Last night I went to a concert by one of them, Freedy Johnston. I've seen Freedy a bazillion times. I even opened the show for him once and hung out with him afterward. Even helped him up from a spill on the icy streets of my little town. Last night, I lent him my guitar. That makes three times I've lent guitars to people whose songs I have grown up listening to and learning to play. I brought my acoustics down to The Iron Horse last night for Freedy and he chose my good ole Guild. That's the one you see me always playing. The red one. In previous years I lent my Telecaster to both Robyn Hitchcock and Jane Siberry. In all cases, I could tell the artists not to worry. My guitars were already used to playing their music.

The show last night was another classic Freedy show. At first I thought maybe my guitar was giving him trouble but then I remembered in previous concerts how he gets all scattered and tunes constantly between songs. He played a really nice rounded set of old favorites and some songs from his upcoming album (due out in the fall). It seemed like you could tell which of his songs he had the most respect for. He sort of rushed his way through his biggest hits, Evie's Tears and Bad Reputation, switching up the melody and sometimes even speaking lines. But on others, which felt like he held them in greater esteem, he slowed down and carefully, emotively played them. Songs like The Mortician's Daughter and Emily and the new one about Central Station were just perfect.

He also played three covers. He always plays covers and it always seems funny to me, him being such a wonderful songwriter, but then again, the covers are always welcome and he sings them in that way that only he can. Last night he played songs by Marshall Crenshaw, Todd Rundgrun, and Matthew Sweet. Not bad.

Freedy's playing tonight in Brooklyn, maybe if you are around there you can drop by with a guitar. His was just destroyed in air travel. Maybe he should have driven. Just like the song says.

The Black Moon and Rub Wrongways Caravan Of Stars

The Black Moon, Belchertown. We've got this big Rub Wrongways Caravan Of Stars show this Saturday at The Black Moon in Belchertown, MA. I've never been there before. In fact, I don't think any of us have. It's always exciting to play a new place, to meet new people, to go on adventures. I've been sneaking around the internet though, trying to find some more info on the venue. I located the picture you see there on their myspace page. It looks like a comfortable performance space. I'm hoping to play that piano at some point. Maybe, I'll try to relearn my old song, "Player Piano" which I don't believe I've ever dared to play live.

This is how they describe themselves on their page:
Quality music, Tasty Micro Brews, Fine Wine and Liquor and Good People.
Preserving live music one shown at a time, 7 nights a week.
OPEN 7:00pm Nightly
Finally, a place for the music lover in you!!!!!

That's five exclamation points! You better be there.

And to make things crazier, not only will School for the Dead, The Fawns, Sitting Next To Brian, and The Jason Bourgeois Band be playing but Tony Westcott and Ari Vais, coming up all the way from NYC, will each be playing a set! Do I smell a Humbert reunion? I don't know. I smell something.

Will we be playing individual sets or will we be doing things in a round robin way? I just don't know yet. We'll find out when we arrive, I guess.

Rub Wrongways Caravan of Stars (Belchertown, MA)

ALSO WITH PERFORMANCES BY ARI VAIS AND TONY WESTCOTT

Sitting Next To Brian Tonight!

Sitting Next To Brian
Tonight at The Elevens in Northampton, MA.
(as copied and pasted from Marchese's event post)

9:00--Matthew Loiacono--he was in Kamakaze Hearts. You loved them, remember? You loved them because you loved HIM.

9:45--Sitting Next to Brian--yet another slight lineup change. I'm becoming the Mark E. Smith of Northampton. Uh.

10:30--The Luckless Pedestrian--the genius Gwen Thomas (former Seattle, future Amsterdam, current Northampton) has played on Fleet Foxes album, sung on a European Honda ad...and will bring a string section and 3 piece band (Johnson/Maiuri/Marchese) to compliment her Judee Sill meets Steely Dan songs.

11:15--Los Hijos Unicos--gimme a pint of Bob Willis and a shot of Willie Nelson. Oh a basket of Michael Nesmith with some guac too. Thanks.

Midnight--go to bed.

New Song Time

I'm pretty excited about this new song that I started writing yesterday. It's one of those songs that are my favorite kinds to write. It's what I call a "list" song. That means that each verse is a unit on a list in my head. Hmmm.. That's not very clear is it?

It starts with a general premise. This one came up the other night, when I was hanging out at The Sierra Grille (a local establishment here in Northampton, Mass.). My friend, Ed, walked in and when I told him it was Max's birthday, he replied that Max looks exactly the same as the first time he'd seen him many years ago. I pointed out that Ed looks the same to me as he did ten years ago. I said, "People you see regularly never grow old".

So now, I'm working on this new song and it's a list song in the same format that Bob Dylan employed to make his list songs. Each verse ends with the line, ""People you see regularly never grow old". That means that the line before that one ends with a word that rhymes with "old". There are a lot: bold, cold, fold, gold, hold, mold, polled, rolled, sold, told etc. Preceding those two lines are two lines that rhyme with each other. So now all I have to do is think up a bunch of couplets. This is a prime activity for walking. When I'm walking around outside, I seem able to come up with clever word play better than when I am sitting with my guitar and a pen. I jotted down a few quick ideas but now they have to be molded into lines with good rhythm and fun word-use and proper pronunciation, and vivid imagery. This process, which involves sliding words around here and there, flipping sentences backwards, and searching for a fluid combination of meaning, sounds, and rhyme, is best done while I'm walking around.

Here's an example of one stanza in it's somewhat infant form. It was rougher before I took a walk to get a sandwich. Now it's a bit better, but it's still not j-j-j-just right.

It's strange to see you in a place so out of place.
I'm looking for you beneath your grown-up face.
Wouldn't have known it was you if I hadn't been told.
People you hang out with never grow old.
People you see regularly never grow old.

Now I'll spend the next few weeks with this song flitting around in my head. I'll be trimming and adding and trying to mold it. I can't wait.

Phone Etiquette

It drives me nuts when I answer the phone and the person asks who they are speaking to.

It feels like some kind of weird power play.

Rock Show Recap

We recently had a rock show. We had booked it months ago with School for the Dead and The Fawns. At the time that we confirmed the date we had assumed it'd be a regular three band set at our local rock venue. As the date neared, and we began the promotion process, we discovered on the club's website that there were five bands on the bill.

When you are playing in a independent band and you are doing shows at little clubs you learn pretty quickly that you have to just try to go with the flow. We had intended the night to be one where we could finally stretch out a little and play nice relaxed sets of a normal length, but instead it was going to be one of those marathon nights of loudness and chaos.

Often when we have a show coming up, people ask me what the order of the bands is. Amazingly, lots of times, I just honestly do not know. This was one of those shows. It wasn't until fifteen minutes before show time that we finally worked out an order. I know this makes it very difficult for people to schedule their evenings. Just because someone wants to see a band or two, it doesn't necessarily mean that they want to spend four and a half hours in a rock club. I wish things were more organized in this underground world of rock shows, but over the years, I've come to expect just the opposite.

Sometimes, a venue doesn't want to make an order of bands in an attempt to trick people into coming out early and staying the whole night, therefore providing a larger audience and selling more drinks. I don't think that is the case for this venue necessarily. I don't think there is anything nefarious going on.

Anyway, the night went fairly well. It was long and there were dazed blank faces in the audience as The Fawns took the stage. The room was really loud and after being there for a few hours in the loudness, it's hard to not play a loud show yourself. So we played a rock set. Actually, that is what we had rehearsed for. We wanted to play the power pop that night and that's what we did. It was a really solid set I think. People clapped along to High School Party!

By the time School for the Dead took the stage, ears had been numbed. We tried to start off with a nice quiet Dayjob to ease into things but by the end of our set we were pretty crazy loud, too. We did manage to debut two new songs and they sounded better than I imagined. What a band. These guys pick things up so fast and play them so tastefully. The songs were "Somebody Else's Problem" and "I Don't Know About Anyone Else But".

What the crowd lacked in size it more than made up for in quality. The people there were engaged and encouraging and seemed to be having a good time. There was a little dancing, a lot of clapping and laughing and we even sold some merchandise.

Local shows are by far the most difficult shows on the ego. You'd think it'd be the opposite but we always get the greatest response from people who don't know us. In a couple of weeks we'll be at The Black Moon in Belchertown. I imagine a partially local crowd and a partially new crowd. I'm pretty excited to see how that goes down. I hope you can come out to it.

Happy Birthday, Max

Happy birthday to Max Germer, musician, artist, photographer, father, husband, friend, and all around bouncy guy.

Lesa and Henning Perform Song By Jason

A little while ago on Jason Bourgeois' birthday, Lesa and I performed a cover of the Bourgeois Heroes song "Bavarian Baby". Here's proof:

Tomorrow Night and Tonight, Too

This evening School for the Dead is heading out to Hardwick, MA to play a private concert. Max, Brian, and I will all be traveling together in one car, hopefully, through the winding lush roads of the Quabbin Reservoir Valley. We'll arrive at our destination and, depending on the weather will play a long multiple set show. That means we'll be fully ready for tomorrow night's rock and roll extravaganza at The Elevens. We had a great practice this week, at least three of us did, and we're planning on bringing a couple new songs to the stage.

Hopefully we can work the kinks out of them at the show today. I don't mean work out the influence of The Kinks. Why would anyone want to do that? I mean by tomorrow's show, these songs should be finely crafted works of glistening art.

What songs? Well, I'm hoping for: "Somebody Else's Problem" and "I Don't Know About Anyone Else But". Both of those I debuted in a solo show but neither has been full band yet I don't think. We'll also keep on with the other pretty new songs: "The Infinite Kitchen" and "Turn It Down". I smell a new record on the horizon.

I just found out that Saturday's big concert at The Elevens, here in Northampton, MA, starts at 9:30 with Son Cats, from Montana. The evening will close with De Osos from Boston. Somewhere in between, when it's not too early and it's not too late, you'll find School for the Dead, The Fawns, and Whistle Jacket.

I can't wait. It seems like forever since we've played a full band rock show.

School for the Dead - Photobooth Curtain

School for the Dead - Photobooth Curtain

Shared via AddThis

This post exists because I am playing around with Blip.fm. A social networking DJing song tweeting site. And I'm just trying it out and using Photobooth Curtain as a guinea pig.

Are you on blip? Look for me. I'm called rubwrongways.

Throwing Muses and Mix Tapes

I completely forgot that I used to have a tape of the Throwing Muses album "The Real Ramona" and I used to listen to it all the time. For someone reason, this morning when I opened Rhapsody, I just search for Throwing Muses. I can't say why. Now I'm listening to this album which I haven't heard probably since the early nineties. Some of the songs are incredibly familiar but I feel like I've never even heard a few of them. Although, I know I have since I used to listen to it all the time. I guess it didn't make that much of an impact on me that way.

For some reason, I think I have seen Throwing Muses maybe three or four times in concert. I think maybe they were a sort of all around opening band for a while there. Maybe they were on the college concert circuit and I managed to catch them for free. They are from Rhode Island so they are local-ish. I don't really remember anything much about them live, I just seem to recall that I've seen them. I guess they didn't make that much of an impact on me that way.

Throwing Muses, huh. I don't know if I like them or if I thought I was supposed to like them. NO. I DO like them. I say that because "Not Too Soon" just came on and it's a pretty awesome song isn't it? You know that song? It's a Tanya Donnelly song. I think she wrote the poppier ones. She went on to form Belly. Remember them? Sure you do.

Here is a live version. Not as good as the recorded but it's all I could find in five seconds of looking: Throwing Muses - Not Too Soon

I think "Not Too Soon" was on a mix tape my friend Dave made for me. We used to make mix tapes all the time with covers and titles, like Dennis was talking about in the comments section of my last post. We also used to include "inserts", which were little snippets of TV and Movies in between songs. This was done all on cassette, of course, and the inserts actually became some of my favorite parts of the tapes. When you listen to one of these mixes in the car over and over again, the little inserts almost became part of the song. It's kind of like on Beatles albums, you know, where John yells When Doris Gets Her Oats. These little snippets get pounded into your head. Eventually, it's strange to hear one of the songs without the little clip after it.

Maybe Dennis is right, maybe we should be making more mix CDs. The problem is, I subsist almost entirely on shuffle these days, nature's mix tape. If I had a car and if I drove it a lot, I would love the mix tape, but walking around listening to my iPhone, it doesn't really work.

I think that we will have another Rub Wrongways Night Great Mix-CD Mix-Up again in the near future, though. So look forward to that and start thinking of songs and inserts and fancy artwork for the cover. In the meantime, I'm gonna look through my boxes of cassettes to try to locate some of my old mix tapes.Throw

Amazing Amazon Facts and How Do You Discover New Music?

Here's something counter-intuitive. There are two ways to sell an album on Amazon.com. The traditional way is that someone orders a CD, the newer way is that someone downloads the mp3s. When someone downloads our latest album, "A Telephone Built For Two" from Amazon it costs them $8.99. When someone orders the CD it costs them $11.97 plus $2.98 for shipping which equals $14.95 total. That makes sense, I guess, since it should cost more to get a real three dimensional product that it should to get mp3s. Here's the weird part, though.

When someone buys the MP3s for $8.99, we take home $5.915.
When someone buys the CD for $14.95, we take home $3.71.

Crazy, right? How does that make sense?

When we sell a CD on their site, Amazon makes much more money than we do. What's up with that? Why do we sell them there then? Well, Amazon has its customers who just buy all their stuff there. It's easy, they know they can rely on it and they just browse around and buy there only. Because of Amazon, lots of people have bought our albums who otherwise never would have. Even though we reap little profit from it, it still is always a pleasure to have new people hear our music.

You could buy it from our website for ten dollars, with shipping included, and we would take home $7.73 for each. But people prefer shopping at Amazon for the ease of use and they don't mind playing an extra five bucks. Or they never explore any other avenues to discover that they COULD pay less. The same goes with iTunes. There are plenty of places where you can get our song downloads for less than the iTunes cost (what is it? 99 cents?). There a bunch of free mp3s on our site and other sites. AmieStreet.com has the whole CD download for $2.53. There are plenty of cheaper options, but iTunes is really easy for people who are used to it, so they just get the stuff there. The entire ChainCD is free on our website but that doesn't mean a number of people haven't paid for it on iTunes.

Everybody has there own shopping habits and ways of thinking about money. It's my job as Record Label Guy to make sure that our albums are available in as many places as possible. We're pretty easy to find on the web. Now I have to figure out how to make people WANT to find us. I feel like "A Telephone Built For Two" is a good album that people would enjoy if only they knew about it.

READER: What paths lead YOU to new music? Please let me know by leaving a comment. Think of your last five music purchases and, if you have second, explain how they came about. Thank you, in advance. I think it'll be interesting to read. If you'd rather email me than leave a comment, that's OK, too. henning@schoolforthedead.com

School for the Dead and The Fawns This Saturday!

Mocha Maya's a Recap

Oh, dear readers. I've been away for a week or so. Did you miss me? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Where did we leave off? Ah yes, yes. Shelburne Falls and my solo show. Well, let me tell you, thanks to a group of great friends and supporters it turned out to be a perfect evening. I drove up early with Lesa and Jason Bourgeois and we enjoyed a nice dinner before giving Jason a brief tour of the little town. He seemed enchanted as we gazed over the glacial pot holes and promenaded over the bridge of flowers. Enchanted, that is, until I shoved him over the railing and into the icy waters below.

Ok. I didn't really do that. But if I had, I would have.

When it seemed like a good time, we dragged my equipment into Mocha Maya's and I set up in the little window stage. It was a very leisurely and relaxed process. I put up two microphones and plugged in both my guitars just in case somebody came up and joined me on a song or two. It turned out that that never happened.

Most of the time that I was getting ready, the cafe housed only the three of us, the employee behind the counter, and three friends of hers. But as the time of my show approached, familiar faces started ambling in. Ray Mason (Ray Mason Band, Lonesome Brothers) showed up with a smile and a list of songs to request. Dave (from the Winterpills) and Kelsey, our friends Debbie and CJ and Debbie's twin Sarah from NYC, Scott (Levelette) and friends, Rick and Fred (Group DeVille), all came in, as well as some folks that I didn't know. I think at one point there was an Andrea there as well. It's all a bit of a blur now. I believe there were twenty two people there, and only twenty seats.

I had an excellent time performing. Instead of a traditional set-list (list of songs to play), I created a random song generator by cutting out teeny strips of paper with song names on them and handing them around in a little box for people to draw from. The box was passed around from person to person and between each song a new one was chosen. This was a little disconcerting and frightening for me but it was fun and it kept me on my toes. It also forced me to play a few songs that I otherwise would not have.

I also created a MadLib for the night and between songs I asked members of the audience for words. At the end of the night I read it back and it turned out to be a really great one. I had to stop at one point due to laughter. Perhaps, I'll try to find it and post it here for y'all to read.

I played for an hour and a half, but it felt to me like fifteen minutes. The audience was spectacular and listened and sang along and played along and laughed along with me. They made my night.