This week's been not so great. The Hot Steppers shows went well over the weekend. We got four sets on tape, and for the most part the band played well and the recording quality's pretty good. I did rough mixes of the three shows and am handing them over to Bill for dissemination. We're hoping to find a few tracks worthy of further work. I'm nearing completion on another project, that of the Fink Squad CDs. The Indecision disc mastering is done. The artwork's not ready yet, though. The Fink Squad is looking good. I'm still tweaking the Buy This You Cheap Bastard! mixes, but I should be ready to start mastering this weekend. That will make me ecstatically happy, as I should be able to spend some time working on the third project I'm supposed to be doing, the "Pat Project."

Also on the weekend was the Murder Squad T.O. show in Bingo. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that The Others were also playing the show, as was Phrank Mart!an's new band, the name of which I did catch. I missed the beginning of the show as I was rather late due to my running the aforementioned rough mixes all day. Phrank's group was pretty good. It's not too far from the stuff he's done previously (The Mart!ans, Fist Her Face 55), but slower and bit more melodic. The Others sounded a little more metal than previous times I've seen them. I actually spent most of their set out back because the sound was horrendous. It sounded better outside because the low-end blat of the PA didn't travel out there. Following The Others' set, Abalienation did a short 8-song or so set with The Others' drummer. It was pretty sloppy, mostly due to Big Jim's layoff from playing and the fact that the drummer didn't actually know the songs. It was good to see the boys back in action, though. They played 88 Hate, Shoot Cops Not Dope, Dead Cops on Parade, Lick My Crack, Are You a Nazi? and a few others that escape me. Following this was the Murder Squad T.O.. They were fast, tight and loud. Mike has got to stop loving the Swedish hardcore so much. It was a little like seeing a Samhain show in that the band was playing songs from the singer's last band. I do have to say that it was quite enjoyable.

Unfortunately, their merch didn't make it into the country with them. The border guards took exception to the copies of the Abalienation/Dirty Bird 'Fuck Borders!' split CD (which, I feel compelled to mention, I worked on - details can be found on my recording page) they were carrying and wouldn't let them bring any of the stuff into the US. This CD, of course, features an American band and has been available here for about six years. So, nice one guys! Thanks for keeping dangerous art out of the United States. This meant that I was unable to purchase a copy of their newest CD and I'm going to have to mail order it after all.

Upon my return from the show, I found that our power was out. This was rather unfortunate, but luckily I was planning on going straight to bed anyway. However, the massive thunderstorms kept me awake for much of the night and I have yet to fully recover from three nights of little sleep. Oh, how it sucks to get old.

- posted by John @ 9:44 PM (0) comments

 
Here's a good one from last weekend, told to me by one of my coworkers.

Last Sunday was the Law School graduation. My coworker was working at the graduation handing out and collecting rental caps and gowns at the commencement ceremony. One of the law graduates was complaining about returning the cap and gown she had "bought" a couple of days earlier at the student center. One of the people working showed her a copy of the rental agreement she had signed. Her response was that she hadn't read it. Pat's response was incredulity that she was now a lawyer who didn't read things before she signed them. Apparently somewhere in the exchange was her saying she wanted to buy the whole assortment and getting even more upset on being told that just the hood alone was $195.

And one from Monday:

A student wanted to purchase her books at the textbook counter. The only sales rung at our counter are special account transactions (mail orders, books for students on athletic scholarships or with special funding, department purchases, etc.). Everyone else has to go through the main registers in the general book or art supply departments. One of my coworkers told the student if she didn't have a special account purchase she would need to go to one of those registers. The student told her that she "only ha[d] a library account."

- posted by John @ 10:40 PM (0) comments

 
I'd love to be ablt to tell the story of how I met David Byrne in Rumble Seat Music, but instead I'll have to tell the story of how I was looking at guitars in Rumble Seat Music and it took me a minute to realize that the tall, silver-haired man standing next to me was David Byrne and before I could work up the nerve to say something to him the store guy brought him whatever it was he was waiting for and he left. My 90 seconds with DB: the first two-thirds I didn't know he was there and the last third I was working out what exactly it is one says to David Byrne when one is a random stranger who happens to be standing next to him looking at Paul Reed Smith guitars.

In any case, the show last night at the State Theatre in Ithaca was brilliant. The evening began with an attempted introduction by Byrne of Juana Molino, the singer who was to perform before David and his group. He was greeted with an immense amount of cheering which went on for a couple of minutes. He smiled and looked around, eventually looking back at someone backstage and shrugging a bit. Eventually, everyone quieted down and he introduced Juana, saying that he first heard of her when buying a Sigur Ros CD on Amazon.com. She was listed in the "if you like this, you might also like..." section. "Sometimes they're wrong, horribly wrong, but this time they were right." She played for about 45 minutes. The songs were mostly in Spanish, and accompanied by her acoustic guitar and the guitar and keyboard playing of another fellow whose name I didn't quite catch. The songs were mostly slower with lots of odd keyboard pads in the background. She was quite good and Liz popped down at the break to pick up a copy of her CD.

After a quick break, David Byrne came back out with the band, but they didn't start playing right away. First was a huge audience sing-along wishing David a happy birthday. Following this was the Scrabble Challenge. This weekend was Ithaca College's graduation, so he decided to test a couple members of the audience. Paul and Mauro pulled seven volunteers out of the audience. Each had to randomly grab a letter out of a box (the letters being the ones for the marquee) and hold it. Two contestants had to try to make the higher scoring word from those letters. Seeing as the letters were K, O, E, P, E, G and Q, it was a bit difficult. The Tosca Strings cobbled a quick versions of the Jeopardy theme together and Contestant One made "keep" and Contestant Two made "gopee". The prize was a pair of women's underpants signed by the band and a commemorative graduation plate that can be autographed by one's relatives, plate not included.

"From here on in," Byrne announced, "everything is going to be really serious." He introduced the first song, "Glass, Concrete and Steel" and the show proper was underway. It seemed kind of an odd choice for opener as it's a quiet piece, but that didn't last for long. "The next song is a Talking Heads song set to a poem by Hugo Ball." A hopped up version of the Heads' classic "I Zimbra" was followed up by a few newer songs that I did not know and a drum heavy version of "The Great Intoxication" from Look Into the Eyeball, which he introduced as having been written about someone who works in his office and his girlfriend at the time, only they didn't know it was about them. The rest of the show was a blur, but highlights included an excellent version of "Once in a Lifetime," a pair of Eyeball tracks, "U.B. Jesus" and "Like Humans Do," and "What a Day That Was" from The Catherine Wheel.

The band left the stage following "Blind" to thunderous applause and returned to play "Desconocido Soy" and "Life During Wartime." Again huge applause and Byrne returned with an acoustic guitar to sing "Heaven" and then the band returned to play "Lazy," the live version of the remix, that is. This show is one of the best I've seen, ever, and it was probably the most enthusiastic crowd I've seen since The Great Went. People were going completely crazy. That shouldn't be a surprise. This is the town where I saw Stop Making Sense get a standing ovation when Cornell Cinema played it a few years back.

We finished the night by heading down to the Mate Cafe, which is little forest coffee bar in the Commons. It's a little weird, but was a nice place to grab a bagel and coffee after the show, particularly since we were already parked and thus wouldn't have to fight the collegetown finals week crowds at the other late night places in town. Liz's (much shorter) review was, "I came into the show a casual fan, but now I think I'm in love with him."

- posted by John @ 5:13 PM (0) comments

 
This evening is David Byrne in Ithaca. Unfortunately, this means I have to miss the Flyers game, but some things are more important than hockey. I'm anticipating an excellent show. It's a pity the same can't be said for the weather. I had hoped to spend the day wandering around Ithaca, but it looks like we'll be doing that in the rain.

The week was mostly uneventful, save some small bits of excitement, mostly regarding the ever-broken air conditioner and our starting a tally logging the boss's personal phone calls. The Fink Squad/Indecision discs are almost done (thank Cthulu!) Not much else going on. Show review tomorrow.
- posted by John @ 11:40 AM (0) comments

 
It's a sunny day here in Boston. I'm waiting for Liz to get out of the shower so we can get breakfast, then I'm off to shop for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. I'm hoping to track down a new turntable mat and a weight, a pair of black shoes (or maybe new Docs) and some cool records. Then I'm off in search of a bar showing the Flyers game. The Hot Steppers vocal session didn't happen. Hopefully next week. If not, then this thing probably won't be done until the end of the month. A shame, that.

We had dinner last night at The Good Life. The margaritas weren't so hot, but the food was decent, the atmos is good and the chocolate martinis rock.
- posted by John @ 10:16 AM

 
The Hot Steppers recording is coming along nicely. On Tuesday we did some guitar overdubs and this evening we'll be re-recording the vocals. Hopefully, we'll get some mix sessions in over next week (in between playoff games, of course). The whole thing should be ready for prime-time in about two weeks. Their string of club dates starts in another week, so we'll be getting some live recordings as well. I'm working on convincing Bill to take the live multitracks and spiff them up rather than get the whole band in the studio again. It seems an easier solution to the scheduling problems and red light fever.

Look for still more web site changes over the next two weeks as well. I'll be away over the weekend, but next week we go to Summer hours at work and my schedule will be a bit more open.
- posted by John @ 9:28 AM

 
Today is swear at the car day. Woohoo! This week we had one of the cars die. I tried to go to get bagels last weekend and the Lebaron wouldn't start. I think it's probably because the battery, battery cables, distributor cap, plugs and plug wires all need to be replaced. And if it's not that, then the coil probably needs to be replaced as well. In any case, this means that I need to get the Ford back on the road ASAP. I got an insurance quote that was reasonable from Geico and then they doubled it later in the day because of my wife's speeding tickets. Seeing as she has her own insurance and is afraid of my car, I thought that was ridiculous and went back to Progressive even though I think the rate increase they put on me when I moved is ridiculous. In any case, this means I need to find a tail light cover to replace the one that some random person thoughtfully smashed out for me so I can get the thing inspected. Ah, the joys of auto ownership.

If you look closely you may notice some changes in the writing section. I have started to post PDF versions of the papers for easier printing (and better online readability). I will not take down the HTML versions that are already posted, but I have not yet decided if I will create HTML formatted versions of my newer pieces.
There will be other improvements soon. I am working on updating the Fink Squad page and I would like to update the photos page. The main obstacle there is my current lack of a scanner. That is, however, next on the computer purchase list, so those updates may not be too far in the future.
- posted by John @ 10:27 AM