Chapter 17: Dear Diary :) About last nights show…

Posted by admin on April 30th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

It was fucking awesome that’s all I’m going to say.  The sound at Sullivan Hall, at least on stage was phenomenal.  It was our first gig together as a FULL band with Keesha and Sally singing.  Obviously a first gig in terms of being shaky in spots, but now we are excited to let the music marinate and get into our blood.

We tried a couple experiments costume wise.  The band was dressed in slick black DKNY shirts, cufflinks and silk purple patterned ascots around their neck.  I haven’t seen the pictures yet so I’m wondering if they look bad ass or not.  Anybody in the audience, your comments are welcomed.  Ascots or no ascots? The lady’s on the other hand were wearing these very cool feather veil hats that Sally designed…I don’t have to ask because I already know that they looked super bad ass.

It was a short set, just five songs but we will be back there for an hour long set at the end of June or beginning of July so stay tuned.

In other news…I threw a bit of a tantrum on wednesday…it wasn’t an obvious tantrum to anybody else (except my girlfriend…sorry Sally) but more like a mental or internal tantrum about how overwhelmed I was at the whole business side of the music business.  I was feeling resentful of the fact that right now, I have to do all of it myself, including booking which is my least favorite part.  I was bitching about how clubs don’t give musicians the courtesy of calling you back, even if they want to book you, and how NACA will take your money even if you don’t get a showcase.  They want you to have been in the college circuit for 2 years it seems and yet they ARE the college circuit so it feels like a Catch 22.  I was pissed off and wanted somebody else to come and save me and do the hard dirty work for me.  I’m over it now.  These tantrums are healthy I think to a certain extent because when I come out the other side of them I realize that this is part of paying my dues and that the means justify the ends to a certain extent.  They build character…balls, integrity, perseverance and self-confidence.  Even though it sucks sometimes I’m grateful because I know that when the time is right, and I have built a certain amount of success on my own, then the right team of people will come to take it to the next level and I can truly call the product mine…with all my fingerprints all over it.  I love this business.

Is it Lame To Get Teary Watching “How The Grinch Stole Christmas?”

Posted by admin on December 9th, 2009 | No Comments »

Because I just did.

The old cartoon version that is.

I read a book a while ago by renowned playwright David Mamet called “The Three Uses of the Knife.”  He said something about how the purpose of art is to “inspire cleansing awe.”  That’s not a direct quote, but I remember that phrase, “cleansing awe.”

And I have just been cleansingly awed so to speak by the Grinch and how his tiny heart…three sizes too small, grew three sizes larger with the spirit of christmast.

So what is it about this timeless piece of art that resonates so deeply with people?  I watched it with a five year old and a seven year old and we equally awed by the end…and when I was 7 years old myself I loved it just as much as I do now.

I think it stricks a chord in so many people because I believe we all yearn for deep connection with the infinite well that lies within our heart…and we all, especially new yorkers who are caught so deeply in the hustle and bussle of going and going and going, have a tendancy to be slightly grinchy, slightly closed down in that area of our lives.  And great art…amazing art can blast through our layers of resistance and remind us of something that lies deeper within.  Thats what the Grinch just did to me.  So thank you Dr. Suess and Chuck Jones.