So – the Star Wars app is kind of absolutely AWESOME. I recommend you download it and get up to no good IMMEDIATELY. (above is Princess Zach Parkman!)Greetings from a beautiful mantis upon my front step! What a beeeyoootiful beast!!!The second to last open mic at The Board and Brew – Joey’s brought his kickass sunglasses and I tried them on… Krsten said they were hot. So I’d better buy some!
playing at Parallel Wine Bistro in Broadlands, VA, somewhere during our second set THIS appeared. We thought it was a pinecone or something, but when we got too close it TWITCHED. It turns out BAGWORMS had built this chrysalis behind us while we weren’t looking. It made us itchy for the rest of the night.
It’s hot. I mean, not as hot as it was, and actually in the grand scheme of things it’s quite temperate – I just happen to be in the sunshine and I’m in the back seat of the Weaselmobile and I’m dancing around politics and I’m wearing tight black jeans and all of these things combined create an environment in which everyone around is me is quite comfortable, but I’m really, really hot.
It’s been a while since I last wrote – and I’m hard-pressed to catch you all up. A lot’s happened. I’ve recorded the first three songs on the new album I hope to put out early in 2016. Heather’s done the same. I’ve been in a minor car accident. My Board and Brew open mic has ceased and I’ve gotten offers for three others. I’ve played out 9 times. I’ve witnessed mass carnage both out the window and in my basement and we’re now back on the road, hurtling through Connecticut on our way to a carbon fiber cello builder.
Exciting times. Exciting summer. Too hot though.
Believe it or not I spend an awful lot of time watching my mouth. On stage, off stage – whether for politics, niceties, Golden Rules, relationships – as I’ve grown older I feel my fuse getting shorter all the time and my absolute frustration with the world around me just grows and grows and grows. At some level it feels like the kindnesses done from one person to another simply become repetitions and it is only in our cruelties that we continue to be creatively original. We’re simply way more interested in coming up with new ways to say “FUCK YOU” than ways to say “thank you”. And yeah, my temper is getting more cantankerous.
It is extremely possible that I’m getting old and bitter.
The Glimpses opening for ilyAIMY at the Durant Arts Center in Alexandria, VA on Friday, July 17th, 2015.Thanks to Debbie Annen of folk duo DeJohn for taking this shot of Heather and I at the Bowie Town Green in Bowie, MD. T’was a beautifully shaded moment amongst a weekend of 100+ degree temperatures!
In the grand scheme of things who really cares – but above is the wounding caused by a guy backing into me in the parking lot of my local Kinkos. After backing into me, after having to get his insurance card faxed to him since he didn’t have it on him, then he proceeds to ask me if I was planning to take responsibility for hitting him. I refrained from saying “HELL NO!!!” and sure enough, after 4 hours of deliberation, our insurance companies determined the other guy to be at fault – unfortunately he’s also one of the regular employees that I pick up ALL MY PRINTING from at Kinkos and I now dread our future interactions.
I sincerely hope not. Leaves and twigs, hummingbirds, World War II vets in the back of the room shouting “BEAUTIFUL!!! BEAUUUTIFUL!!!!” after our songs in small venues that smell deliciously of locally grown farm-fresh foods (All-American Valley General Store runs their farmer’s market in baskets on the porch till evening, then they bring all those peaches and tomatoes and cucumbers inside and stink up the place with AWESOME) – we’re headed to a marvelous folk festival in the next week and the forecast (knock on wood) continues to firm up towards dryer, cooler, more beautifully temperate weather – my Life actually consists of miraculous things, spinning from finery to finery – and yet it seems the rest of the world just sees this as a greater challenge to overcome, sending greater unpleasantness to surround me on all sides, and my skin seems to simply get thinner and thinner.
Bunnies! For the last walk to the Board and Brew open mic night I was greeted by my peoples. I’ve seen a couple of good beesties there in College Park, lizards and rabbits and turtles… but I grabbed on to this as a good farewell omen.Picking up another printing of Another Life / Another Live from the Disc Makers factory in Pennsauken, NJ! Now… to fit them all in the car….Our first night out was pretty much just a travel day. We dropped into Disk Makers to pick up a reprint of 2013’s Another Life / Another Live and then continued north to Pleasantville, NY where Kristen’s sister Lives. We got in in time for a delicious dinner and some quality social time and then I got some quality man time with Kristen’s brother-in-law Other Rob. Quality man time has, in the past, involved video games and computer talk – this time around is was rewiring audio. You find your bliss where you make it. In other news : rob legs! Pleasantville indeed!
Friday afternoon we made SURE to roll in a bit early because Seymour, CT just looked to have some neat antique and resale shops. Well, shoppes, really. Unfortunately, traffic really kicked our ass and we only had about 45 minutes to explore the town, but it was quite productive nonetheless. If we had room in the car on this trip we might well have filled it with such treasures as Clash of the Titans lunchboxes and eel spears.
I used to fantasize about running away. I think everyone does. Just vanish. There’s the added daydream now of stalking friends on Facebook and trying to see if your presence ever mattered – how quickly the vanishing vanishes – to see if your ripples multiply or degrade, to see if you are remembered. It’s the fake-your-own-death-and-spy-on-your-funeral fantasy. Strangely, in our modern world of overcrowding and privacy controls, it’s probably easier to disappear from your friends’ and family’s collective radar than from your supermarket’s.
Well, I’m booked through January at least and it’s not like me to miss a gig, so let’s move on.
It’s a Saturday afternoon and I’m sure my good boarbristle hair brush is around here SOMEWHERE. I want to be glossy and beautiful for the show tonight, because Kristen and Heather have been responding well to the sunshine each in their own way and Stoughton House of Brews tends to be filled with beautiful people. A day in a hot car may leave me wilted, even as the carbon fiber instruments thrive. Excited for the show tonight. On stage – the last decade and a half hasn’t changed that – on stage I feel completely and fully alive.
ilyAIMY sound checking at the All-American Valley General Store in Seymour, CT. Unfortunately, we’re competing with the fact that not only is Kansas doing a huge FREE show tonight, but one of the central figures of the local music scene is opening for them. We have an enthusiastic but teeny audience. Still – the food was delicious, and the people that WERE there deemed us mightier than Kansas…Our audience was small, but at least in part quite illustrious. Anyone who’s been to the Maryland Renaissance Festival (or for that matter, most any renaissance faire across the country – or even across the world) at some point or another has probably encountered the incredible Johnny Fox – sword-swallower and fire eater extraordinaire – very flattered to have the tables turn and have HIM watching US for a change!
Saturday found us viiting Luis & Clark, designers of fine carbon fiber string instruments like cellos and classical guitars at their home base just outside of Boston, MA. Kristen’s definitely interested, but with a $7k pricetag, we needed to check them out first. So we made an appointment and met up with Luis and his wife who design and showroom them out of their incredible house. The guitars? Well – I’m spoiled by my CA – but the cellos were pretty great. Full-bodied in tone, beautiful sound and, like my OX, completely impervious to changes in temperature or humidity. Despite that, there was a wide variety in texture and tone out of them – presumably mostly caused by differences in the strings, the wooden bridges and the wooden sound post that runs from front to back inside the cello (or violin, or viola). Now, I’d sort of assumed these were purely structural, keeping the instrument from collapsing, and since they’re sort of the bane of our existence in the shop (the moment you take the strings off a violin, these things are in danger of falling over and then you’ve got to get a special person, a special tool – or in the case of Scott Morgan, a REALLY special person and a twisty tie – to put the damned thing back in) I’d ALSO assumed they’d have been eliminated. But apparently there’s a reason they’re called SOUND posts and not “anti-violin-crushing posts” and they’re pretty integral in the transmission of sound from the front to the back of the beest – and being the one other part of the instrument that’s made out of wood, variable in grain and thickness, it’s probably the source of at least some of the tonal variation. In ANY case (enough about cellos, I KNOW!!) Kristen and I were really impressed and if we can figure out the money, the timing and the space – this might be the newest member of the family!
Snert. I WAS going to try to invite Obama over for dinner, but I knew his schedule was quite full. So I made a cardboard cutout of a gun and put it under my pillow, knowing he’d eventually sneak in and try to take it from me, and we could hang out then!
Sigh. Just went under a bridge on which “infowars” was being advertised. Rumour can go around the world before truth has laced up its boots. Thanks internet. Google? Get yer damn veracity filter up and running. Public schools? Get yer wiggle on. The loudest people will believe anything and the smart ones nod and smile non-confrontationally.
It’s a damned shame. Must be what’s making me old and bitter.
Anywho – just left the home of Luis & Clark : makers of fine carbon fiber bowed instruments outside of Boston, MA. Partially inspired by the awesome of my own CA OX, partially goaded on by playing outdoor weddings, Kristen’s been shopping and she’s heard these are the best, and so we took some time to make an appointment. We dropped in today to what is a stunning house in which, lit by the late-afternoon sun, five carbon fiber cellos were laid out waiting to be played. We went down the line, first Kristen playing each, then Luis taking them through their paces and I’ve got to admit, both Kristen and I were pretty impressed. Gorgeous tone, impressive volume – the pizzicato sounds were a little metallic, but bowed these things really, really shine.
Even though my open mic at the Board and Brew has ended, I can’t escape board games! This beautiful chess set accompanied our cello explorations and made me want to remember how to bloody well “castle”.Sometimes I think to myself “you know what I REALLY need is a giant inflatable minion all my own to squeeze and also to do my bidding and yet be a danger to me through the desire to stab me with pointy objects”. Fortunately I found just that on stage at the Stoughton House of Brews in Stoughton, MA.
Well, I like to call this place SHOB, and the day that we played, the two year anniversary, I like to call THAT SHOB Day, but I don’t think anyone else does, and I don’t think anyone else really enjoys my propensity towards calling venues names that make me think of Elder Gods, but fortunately, it’s MY DAMNED JOURNAL. And SO – we played the Stoughton House of Brews (SHOB) in Stoughton, MA on Saturday, July 25th, forever known as SHOB DAY. And it was good. We ate mightily and smote the earballs of those around us with great ferocity and verily did we feast upon the flesh of their most-delicious hamburgers.
One of the more fascinating things about them is that though they definitely have a sonic “back” to them (and it’s kind of bassy and muddy) they don’t really have a sonic “front” per se. Like the full 180 degree forward face of the instrument sounds shockingly similar. Normally you hunt around to find the sweetest spot to record – getting up close to the instruments actually the tone kind of fell off a little bit and wasn’t quite as nice, but starting about 4’ or so from the front of the cello it really blossomed, and was steady no matter where you stood in the room in front of it. It was kind of… dumbfounding.
Well, research and finances have to be explored, but I have the suspicion we might well have a new addition to the family coming soon. I for one welcome our coming carbon fiber overlords. But you knew that already.
