It’s always great to get back together with old friends. Since the College Perk coffeehouse died, there’s been less cross-pollination and general jamming. Heather and I invited a couple of friends to join us at the newly reincarnated Old Bowie Town Grille open mic (in Bowie, MD) on Tuesday night and it was really good to see Ashraf Dawod (freshly returned from California, see the tan?) playing with Dan Zimmerman, just like the old days… of a year ago. It was crazy to realize that it was the first time I was watching Dan perform with his wedding ring on – an interesting addition to the profile of his hand. Watching friends adapt their playing to the presence of these chunks of metal has been weird. Brennan’s actually added pads to parts of his principal instruments so as not to damage the body with his whackatas.
We drove into the sun to get here and now have the sun in our rearview as we rapidly depart. Frederick is apparently where the sun Lives. Heather and I are headed to Westmoreland Community College to do a show for their lunch series where we might have to play a couple of children’s songs for the daycare centre. We’re ill-armed for it, with naught but Puff the Magic Dragon, Asparagus and a couple of other tunes primed to go off if / when we have to play for children. I’m slightly worried about that. My experience with kids recently has definitely soured me on the little creatures.
And what better way to commemorate being together again than with feets? My flaming boots are obvious, but we’ve also got Dan, Heather and Mark Glass.
Last night we played Brewer’s Alley at one of those few shows that felt truly “real”. Not from the size of the venue or the sound system or anything, but because as the MC was announcing the acts for the night, it became clear that the majority of the room was there to see us. A number of the other artists had even booked the night specifically to see us – and that’s about as flattering as it gets.
Sharif laying down bass tracks in his banker’s costume in the studios at UMBC in Catonsville, MD. Below – One of the weirder cautions in the world. An oddity from the studio.
The show went pretty well, though as has been the case with most of our shows recently, I was still ready to play another couple of tunes – we’d even received a standing ovation, but the host just didn’t give any additional time to give us (he’d already given us 10 minutes over what most features receive).
As a random note, one of the other performers was Jimbow who used to host the Berwyn Cafe’s open mic where Alfred and I first tried our chops out together in public.
Western Maryland is unfolding ahead of us in purple and gold as the sun races to catch up with us and we have a long way to go before we play our first of two shows today. We had to be out of our friend’s house by 7.30am which is an unkindness we don’t plan to repeat anytime soon. I theoretically get to sleep in the car but I think I’d feel a little bit guilty about that… though guilt might subside just long enough for me to snooooooze.
A gigantic vulture of some sort. I spotted him as I was driving through the Beltsville Agricultural Research Centre in Beltsville, MD. At first it had it’s wings spread hugely, apparently trying to warn off the passing cars, but he hunkered down a bit when I pulled over to say hello. These huge birds seem to be becoming more and more common in the area, I don’t remember ANYTHING like them while I was growing up, and if anything – you’d think my memories would include such beesties as having been even bigger creatures. Later in the week I was driving south on I-95, passing an 18-wheeler when a gigantic hawk came screeching out of the sky right over my hood to land on the guardrail in the median. Scared the Hell out of me but for a moment, this beautiful creature was wings-splayed and claws-extended less than 10 feet from my windshield,. Amazing.
Andy Luttrell performing at Java Mammas in Reisterstown, MD. Andy is actually a creature from my own college coffeehouse days – he taught me to play Little Wing among other things. A devotee of the Grateful Dead, it’s cool to see how he’s developed as an artist from the Missing Doghead and Andy and Jonny days. Powerful and passionate, I’m glad he’s not diminished from the years when Audrey and I idolized him.
Saturday off? Let’s take a day trip up to Philadelphia to draw and sketch in the Mütter Museum’s galleries of medical oddities.
Amy Law sketching creatures and bones. It was good to have an artsy trip rather than a musical trip, and we gorged our eyeballs (rather than the angstier gouging).
Ahh, art. In all it’s forms. Here’s an elf presumably saying “please sir, can i have s’more?” outside a bar in the heart of Philadelphia, PA.
A dazzling mural in Philadelphia. I DO think I’d be creeped out though, to come outside to find a gigantic child staring at my car.
From a letter to a friend…
Okay, as I’m sitting here painting (and just got a Saltine crumb in my paint, which means a lot of cautious time with a knife and a brush!) I’m in a college cafeteria, killing time and there’s a couple of very sorority-type blondes sitting a couple of tables down from us. A couple of minutes ago a big guy came in and sat down at the next table, struck up a short conversation with the blondes which promptly turned into a minor altercation, which he just as promptly lost. Something about asking one of the blondes out, something about his not having any balls… said in that friendly tone that you keep when you’re trying to save face and pretend like you were just joking in the first place.
He’s joined by HIS friend. They’re both big beefy guys, the kind that often THINK they look like big macho males but in truth just look kind of overweight and definitely too old to be hitting on their 18-year-old co-eds.
In any case, once his friend joined him, Guy A starts nonchalantly talking about the girl he theoretically IS involved with, making sure he’s talking loud enough to be overheard… talking about how she didn’t ask for it or anything but you know, he did all the important Valentine’s Day stuff, the roses, the candy… “Man, before I knew it I spent like 200 dollars!” He pauses for a sec and then says “and actually, it was probably more like 400!” He proceeds to throw out a bunch more random purchases, making sure to nonchalantly mention the price tag on each… I’m assuming this is all for the blonde’s benefit to let her know that he’s one Hell of a catch….
In any case, the blondes have left and now there’s a lot of “hoooo” sounds and guy B said “damn, that’s a lot of cash” and guy A says “eh, she actually hates it when I spend money on her so I got her a card – that’s about it”.
Suspicions CONFIRMED!
S h u d d e r.
The blondes came back. One flipped her hair and said something to Guy A while leaning very close and now appears to be copying his homework.
Stereotype CONFIRMED!
S i g h.
Follow up to this as I’m sitting and painting? The revelation that “our sorority song is ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me'”. Oh my.
We played twice today. Once at the Westmoreland County Community College (where we got away withOUT playing kids songs… apparently they only come see the musicians when they’ve been GOOD) and then at Sach’s and O’s – a reference that I don’t entirely (at all) understand. Both shows were something of an anomoly.
The first gig was theoretically a small community college 45 minutes east of Pittsburgh. For anyone who doesn’t know, there’s an expression that goes “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and a whole lot of Kentucky in the middle” – and that’s pretty accurate. And though we’ve had great success in Louisville, that’s NOT the part of
In short, we’re in what SHOULD’VE been the middle of nowhere, and the map confirmed it. However, this community college had a wealth of interested, friendly students, treated us very, very well, and was crazy busy because Bernice King, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s youngest daughter, was speaking there this evening.
In short, we’re in what SHOULD’VE been the middle of nowhere, and the map confirmed it. However, this community college had a wealth of interested, friendly students, treated us very, very well, and was crazy busy because Bernice King, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s youngest daughter, was speaking there this evening.
Funnily enough – a small town in Missouri is where we ran across Obama….
IN any case, a great show. Friendly people, a good time – and overheard conversations the likes of which I’ve already reported. We had spare time, I painted.
The second show was half an hour East, theoretically even MORE in the middle of nowhere at a surprisingly large bar called Sach’s and O’s. It was pretty empty when we came in, pretty packed as we were headed out (had to leave early to meet up with bass player Keren Lee!) and though the audience was pretty unresponsive, the house band really Loved us. All of the above I’d count as relatively normal… but the sound system…
Oh God… the SOUND SYSTEM.
Anyone who’s come to our open mic or followed it on www.ustream.tv/ilyaimy on Thursday night’s knows Artem of We’re Going To Hell For This. He’s not a small mammal. He’s tall and could probably throw me through a wall if his ire were roused.
Well… imagine him bloated out into a gigantic speaker. And then multiply him by six or so…. and set that on ONE side of the stage… and then double that and place another six on the OTHER side of the stage. A 48 channel board, dedicated soundguy… this venue had the gear for a major rock show. No wonder the bar’s sequestered out in the forests of western Pennsylvania. I imagine the power of the subwoofers alone could make the local area uninhabitable.
In any case, the house band Half Lit were a solid cover band with occassional originals thrown in – and spectacular guitar solos from their lead guitarist. I want to eat his fingers… in a good way.
