www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8GmcDYJeWQ

I got to Houseasaurus Co-op around 9 PM.   I went inside, introduced myself and starting bringing in gear.  On the bill with me was a band from Cambridge, MA called Lion Cub.  Home keeps following me as I go across the country!  The show was a relaxed affair and things kicked off with an anarchist folk-punk solo act.  The guy’s name was Chris and I know he used to live at Houseasaurus but I didn’t get much of a chance to find out more about him before he headed off after the show.  Next up was Lion Cub.  They reminded me of Math the Band if they turned down the Andrew W.K. knob and chilled out a bit.  I closed out the show with a set featuring mostly songs with drums.  Here is the streaming audio:

Download audio file (070710.mp3)

After the show we sat around and chatted for a while.  The Houseasaurus folks started a fire in their pit in the backyard. As other residents and friends came by, groups of people and the conversation fluctuated.  Topics ranged from dumpster diving to music (Jimmy compared me to two bands I’d never heard of before; Russian Circles and La Otracina).   I also spoke with Mary (who had booked the show) for a while about life experiences shaping who we are today.  The final conversation of the night involved Mary, a student in Penn State’s literature program and myself. The literature student (I’m sorry to have forgotten his name) was bemoaning having to write poems and stories to placate his teachers, even if they ran contrary to his own literary style and tastes.  Mary and I both agreed that it was important to have some structure introduced into your life, something that forced you to work outside of your normal confines, even if it you ultimately abandoned it.  I thought of all the composers who embraced previous styles only to denounce them as they found their own voice (which sometimes involved returning to those older styles in their later years).  This conversation melded perfectly with the book I’ve been reading on tour, Alex Ross’ The Rest Is Noise. Finally around 4 am, I made my way to bed where this poster greeted me.

Mary and I had discussed going dumpster diving and shopping for food so we     could make breakfast in the morning.  She inexplicably woke up around quarter  of seven and couldn’t get back to sleep.   She decided to prep all of her breakfast ingredients, chopping, wrapping and refrigerating onions, potatoes and peppers.  I woke up closer to 11 and made my way downstairs where she was already over the stove cooking.   I was a little annoyed that I had missed my chance to put on my chef’s hat but realized that a good night’s sleep was welcome as well.  Mary made some wonderful vegan pancakes (with apple sauce and oats), some sautéed potatoes (with rosemary, i.e. one of my favorite potato seasonings!) and an omelet.  Chelsey and Chad of Lion Cub joined us for breakfast, as did several other denizens of Houseasaurus.  Again, good conversation was had, this time revolving around regional accents, the Zapatista movement, religion and music education.  Around 3 PM I opted to say goodbye and make my way to Baltimore.

For anyone looking for a place to play in Pennsylvania, I highly recommend contacting Houseasaurus.  They are generous and kind and you’ll never be bored with the conversation.  Thanks Houseasaurus!

I arrived, went in to say hello to Vent, introduce myself to the sound guy and figure out what was the plan.   It turned out that there were six bands scheduled to perform because the back room show was being combined with our front room show (worries about noise complaints from neighbors and drums).  Vent needed to head back to Boston for work in the morning so they went first. I told the sound guy I was flexible and would play whenever.  He assured me it wouldn’t be too late and that it could work in my favor as more people trickled in.  After Vent I got the chance to see BR & Timebomb, a funk quintet (with trumpet and violin) fronted by an MC.  Their trumpet player later complimented my drumming (a first for my solo project!).  After BR & Timebomb were Baltimore’s Soul Cannon, a mathy-jazz-funk group also fronted by an MC.  The sound guy told me I was next and in order to keep things moving I opted to do a quick set.  My apologies for the quality of the following recording; for some reason my recorder reset itself to record at 128 kbps MP3 (yuck!) but it still gives you an idea of what went down.

Download audio file (070110.mp3)

I stuck around for one more band, Swift Technique.  They were a tight funk band, once again with an MC and three horn players.  Their bass player was a pleasure to watch.  He had a solid R&B/funk style complete with vibrato, slapping and jazz-like soloing.   Oddly enough, both Swift Technique and BR & Timebomb had played the night before at Church in Boston with Goosepimp Orchestra.   Goosepimp’s sax player, Seth Bailin, was the drummer for the Sinbusters who are on the Friends compilation I put together for this tour.  My little musical world was starting to come together in strange ways.

Following the show, I met up with my friend Adam and his cousin at Enid’s in Greenpoint.   He bought a bottle of wine (which he referred to as the workingman’s fine red wine) for us to share while we played some Addam’s Family pinball (I got the lowest score).  After a few rounds, we headed back to his place and went to bed.

I woke up on Friday and watched my first World Cup game.  Adam wanted to catch the Spain and Holland game so I hung around while it was on.  Spain made one of those plays I love to see in sports where you are completely amazed at how it was physically possible.  For all the issues I have with the world of professional (and oftentimes amateur athletics), it’s nice to be reminded that athleticism at its finest is still a treat to see.  After the game we went to grab some bagels from a 24 hour bagel shop (!) in Williamsburg.  I had an everything bagel with scallion tofu topping.  I’m not saying New York bagels are better than bagels anywhere else BUT this was one of the best bagels I’ve ever had.

Adam headed off to work and we made plans to catch up later in the evening.  I stuck around the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area and caught up with my friend Rick Kwan for lunch.  We went to a burrito place called Papacitos that had a yummy vegan burrito.  After a couple of Negro Modelo’s, we took a walk down Franklin Ave. stopping at Permanent Records and Pentatonic Guitars.   I found a Psychic Paramount album at Permanent Records that I had been looking for since I used to play it on my radio show in college.  Not a bad find for $3.99!  Rick then took me to his mixing studio by the waterfront.  I was happy to see E.T. presiding over his mixing console as he had back in college.  Oh, the memories!

Rick and I parted ways and I made plans to catch up with Adam at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop exhibit.  Due to some issues with the Metro system (and my own ineptitude), I didn’t meet up with Adam until after the museum closed.  We headed to Alphabet City to grab some dinner.   The falafel sandwich at Mamoun’s was delicious and their hot sauce ripped my mouth apart (in a good way).  We also got a chance to chat with Brett Sanders Green, after he overheard us talking about Israel.  He was a fellow musician and Jew so the conversation was slanted towards those common “interests.”  After eating, Adam and I headed back to Williamsburg to Union Pool, a hipster bar to end all hipster bars.  The only Boston comparison I could think of was the Pill at Great Scott, although Union Pool had less of a dance party vibe and about 5 times as many people.  Their DJ did play the Wipers and Blonde Redhead in succession, so I was content.  I met a band from Sweden and gave them my contact info to help them with finding a show in Boston if they needed it.   I also saw what I can only assume was a professional dancer tear up the dance floor.  Adam and I lost track of each other (it’s a big bar with two indoor areas and a large outdoor area) and I ended up attempting to walk back to his place by my lonesome.   I got a little turned around considering I don’t know Brooklyn all that well and my phone was dead, so I hopped a cab and made my way to bed.

The next morning I woke up, grabbed a bagel from the same shop as the day before (I didn’t like their sun-dried tomato and basil tofu as much) and headed back to Massachusetts for the holiday weekend.   Next up, State College, PA and the Houseasaurus Co-Op!

I headed back over to the FYC and folks were milling about.  The show ended up starting around 7 and in typical punk fashion there were 6 bands on the bill (Pregnancy Pact, Abortion Pills, Water, Looks Realistic, Planned Parenthood and me).  3 of the bands were even playing their first show!  There was a good crowd out to see the show, A.D.D. T.V. was filming for their community access show and I had a great chat about noise music (I got a chance to hype the 119 Gallery’s XFest and there might be a new interested performer!).  Worcester definitely impressed me with their scene.  Thanks to K/Christina (kind of hard to spell when you only hear the name, isn’t it?) and Kara for letting me shack up on Lenox St. for the night after some post-show hanging.

Unfortunately something happened with my recorder and I didn’t notice it wasn’t recording until right before my last song, so here’s Beacon for you.

Download audio file (062810.mp3)

I went home for June 29 to wrap up some loose ends before I headed out for good.  I ran a little late to my gig at the Shop in Ithaca, NY and ended up pulling up, unpacking, performing and packing up.  It was my first completely improvised show of the tour and it was my first time collaborating with a DJ, SolarLions (aka Rylan Perry).  Rylan and his wife Jessica were kind enough to let me crash on their spare couch in the basement and feed me some yummy pineapple in the morning.  Thanks guys!

Here is the audio from the performance with SolarLions.

Download audio file (063010.mp3)

Off to Brooklyn!

Yesterday I took the almost 4 hour drive up to Burlington, VT to perform at Radio Bean.  The staff was very friendly and helpful, especially when I ordered some food and needed vegan options (I recommend the tostones and the majadra).  Some folks from Somerville happened to be there to witness the show.  They apologized if they were dashing my hopes for my first out of town gig.  I just said it was nice to see some faces from home (oddly enough they DID look kind of familiar).

After the gig I caught up with my friend Cindy who I hadn’t seen in a few years since she moved away from MA.  She took me on a stroll down Church St. through the drizzle.  She showed me some places to check out this morning, including Uncommon Grounds where I am right this minute.  All I can say is that walking into a place and hearing Philip Glass’ Dracula score is pretty awesome.

Next up, Worcester!  Here is streaming audio of my performance at Radio Bean.

Download audio file (062710.mp3)


The weather’s gorgeous and music is in the air!  Come on down to Jamaica Plain for some wonderful sounds and good company.  The Woodrow Wilsons, the Daredevil Christopher Wright, Hurricanes of Love (GA) and So So Death (also from GA) join me in this beautiful Tuesday romp!

This is the kick off event for a weekend of awesome Lowell happenings!  Be sure to also check out ARTHouse, a fundraiser for the 119 Gallery, at the Sock Hop on Saturday May 22 and scads of awesome bands on Sunday May 23 at the 119 Gallery.

A line-up to end all line-ups!  Diverse, interesting and full of rock bombast.  Plus, catch Mark (Vent), Jon (A Bit Much) and I fresh off our stint in the pit band for AMHS’s production of Cinderella.

In a rare meeting of both my professional lives, I will be directing and performing in the pit band for my school’s production of Cinderella.  Joining me are Mark Henderson of Vent (guitar) and Jon Glancy of A Bit Much (drums).  This production will be like no other Cinderella you’ve seen before (as stated above)!