this blue heaven

Meet This Blue Heaven: Aaron/KP

2010-07-29T11:32:00.002-04:00

me: there.

let me start over.

dun dun dun DUNNNNNNNNN

nervous?

Aaron: nah

me: you're ready set?

for our big interview?

(i'm stalling while i try to ingest more coffee)

Aaron: fire away!

me: mmm coffee.

okay let's start out easy.

what's the meaning of life?

just kidding.

who are you?

Aaron: I'm Aaron - son of Steve & Mimi

me: great! let's start with your childhood.

did you put on "shows" as a kid?

Aaron: not really

performed in recitals, concerts, events other people put on, but putting on shows is hard work

me: all business, eh?

your sister never made you sing grease or anything?

Aaron: ha! no!

me: why ha?

Aaron: I did learn a bunch of songs on the piano for her: American Pie, Total Eclipse of the Heart - you know, the classics

me: aww

'cause she just liked to hear them?

Aaron: right

but she wasn't the pushy type. just encouraged me. she's almost 4 years older....taught me to read, taught me almost everything

me: what's the best thing she taught you?

Aaron: always try and look at things from the other person's perspective

me: was that a direct lesson, or did it come from having to work through things as siblings?

Aaron: I remember it vividly actually. I was home with her....maybe a day off from school

and I think I called 6 or 7 friends to try and find someone to do something with....and when I got a "yes" from the 7th or 8th, I must've said something to him about how I'd tried & failed with all these other kids and I'm so glad you're home and wanna play

me: ha

Aaron: I got off the phone and Lisa pointed out that this friend probably didn't like that

being at the end of the list

me: man. older sisters rule.

;)

Aaron: yeah, I started piano lesson because of her :)

lessons

me: no way!

Aaron: used to follow her to Ms Bell's house, and after a while....

got my own lessons. I was 5

me: any memories from those early days when you were becoming acquainted with your instrument?

...

Aaron: loved picking out songs, figuring out the ones I heard on the radio, TV

that was the best! didn't practice the assigned music much, but I loved being at the piano. that was my way of getting out of cleaning up after meals

did I mention that my sister and my parents rule!?

me: HA!

does that work with mai?

Aaron: sometimes :)

she rules too!

me: your folks were so lovely to host us for thanksgiving when we went on tour. i especially liked the photo album and the story about you riffing on beethoven.

and the stuffing.

and the grapefruit.

Aaron: so glad we caught that all on video!

me: anyway, yes. improvising on the greats. do you think of yourself as a rebel?

Aaron: hmmm.....in what sense?

musically?

me: an anti-conformist?

Aaron: sure

me: in any way?

(by the way, either you haven't had enough 'spresso or you're behaving for the folks at home, but either way i can't believe you let that twss about your instrument go by.)

(it's like i don't even know you.)

Aaron: bwahahaha!

me: :)

okay so

describe the perfect audience in one word

Aaron: appreciative

me: describe the band dynamic in three words or less.

Aaron: family-like

me: we've talked about this over the years - who's in what "family" role. what do you think about that nowadays? are you still the mom?

Aaron: never thought I was, but I see that

me: oh, maybe that was me back when it was just the 3 of us and i was having flashbacks to my childhood.
you and stu forcing me to pick a side. "what key do YOU think it's in?"

Aaron: oh yeah -- good times
my friend eric says I'm a black woman trapped in a white man's body, so maybe there's something to that

me: i have no idea what that would mean, but let's move on.

Aaron: ok

me: besides your sister, who/what are some NON musical influences on your music?

Aaron: monet!

I love me some monet!

me: huh. i did not know that.

i can see monet in your preludes, though

maybe

okay

if you had time or another lifetime to start a whole new career path, what would you like to do?

bueller...

oh there you are!

where'd you go?

Aaron: darn wireless!

sorry about that

me: ns

now i'm listening to the new aloud song - to die at sea. this is so beautiful. their album's gonna be gorgeous. it has strings - you like strings!

Aaron: yeah, my good friend Matt Szemela played for them!

me: i love matt!

those szemelas are special.

Aaron: they are!

me: life glow

Aaron: totally!!! they've got it!

me: what is the life glow?

can you define it?

Aaron: hmmm....sort of an aura that shines effortlessly when you're living/loving life

me: dig it.

so did you get my alternate career question?

Aaron: no....don't think so

me: if you had time or another lifetime to start a whole new career path, what would you like to do?

Aaron: chef! definitely a chef!

me: that's great!

Aaron: I know the ex chef at oleana -- ana sortun -- and she started training as a teenager

I think she left seattle and went to study in france when was 17 or 18

me: what a life...

what kind of cuisine would you go for?

Aaron: fusion....some sort of fusion

me: hahahaha

okay

time machine.

Aaron: oh boy

me: would you go?

Aaron: here's my question: when I came back, is it like I never left? to the people here/now

me: so long as you get back at the right time!

Aaron: oh, tricky!

me: but do-able, i think.

Aaron: I don't know if I'd succeed....I'm often late

me: you'd have doctor who with you.

Aaron: oh, phew! then, YES

me: heh

so where/when in all of time and space would you want to go first?

Aaron: europe - pre WW1

me: uh oh

why come?

Aaron: bartok, stravinsky, schoenberg, debussy

so much great stuff going on artistically....and no cellphones yet!

me: ha!

'course you could still die from syphillis

Aaron: good point....I'd be faithful though

me: obviously

you've traveled to a lot of places in this era... where would you like to travel that you haven't yet?

Aaron: alaska!

sarah palin makes it seem so dreamy

me: i nearly lost my coffee on that one!

Aaron: doh!

me: haida's brother used to captain an alaskan cruise ship. maybe we could hook you up.

Aaron: perfect! I love haida!

me: just a few more questions for you

what do you believe in?

Aaron: the ability of people to change

the importance of music -- especially music education

the necessity of critical thinking

me: right on

what do you know for sure?

Aaron: oh, I also believe in love

forgot that one

me: good one

Aaron: very important

hmmm....what do I know?

I know I'm lucky to have found you & the gp, bp & dr

and I know it's harder to make music than it looks/sounds

oh, and I know that my daughter is growing up around some incredible music/musicians. this makes me very happy, I know

me: yeah - with her it's like... she's so lucky to be surrounded by such talent and to travel with you two - she has such a unique perspective of the world already. and at the same time, everyone who meets her is totally lucky as well. she's full of lifeglow.

Aaron: awwww

me: what's something you don't know but wish you did?

Aaron: I'd love to know what it's like experience a TBH show for the 1st time....I've heard all these songs so many times, written many of them, thought about them so much

what it's like to experience

me: that's a great one!

maybe we can ask newcomers at our ep release show next saturday

Aaron: great idea!

I'd love to know!

me: what're you most looking forward to about that show?

Aaron: oh, definitely the surprises!

I mean, they're not going to be surprises to me, but to most everyone else they will be, so I'm looking forward to people's reactions

and to slow dance slow especially!

me: me three

what do you think i should ask stu tomorrow?

Aaron: how close are we to making the music he's been wanting to make?

me: oh wow... do you want to give some context to that question?

Aaron: a friend of mine recently commented on how different Nova Love sounds from The Fair Enough's music

me: heh

yeah

Aaron: I told him about all the thought/time Stu and I (and then the 3 of us) put in during the TFE-TBH transition

it's hard to get what's in your head out

me: absolutely

i think qsg was good for that. getting those more transitiony songs down and done.

Aaron: for sure! for me As Ever As Always was the one

such great lyrics, unusual structure, great pop/rock riffs, killer collaborative effort!

me: you were quite in love with that song :)

Aaron: still am :)

me: for awhile there

well... do you want to ask me any questions?

Aaron: "look me in the eyes while they're still open!"

"while we've got this life, there is still time to hope!"

me: kinda macabre...

Aaron: I don't think so -- that's the truest sentiment you can give one you love

so powerful

anyway....questions for you? hmmm....

me: i read that now and it feels very heavy-handed, writing-wise. but that was one of my first cracks at lyric-writing (not counting the AWESOME compositions i came up with as a kid)

Aaron: ha!

ok, my question for you - how great are those fenway franks?!?

me: oh man. with all the work we've been doing to prepare for this show, i'm hardly even aware it's summer. the baseball season is passing me by!!! i hear we've won a few?

Aaron: yeah, I know what you mean

me: but yes. fenway is fun for lots of reasons, and one of them is that i always cheat on my vegetarian diet so that i can feel thoroughly a part of it and eat at least 2 franks per game.

there i said it.

Aaron: hip hip!

me: well thanks for chatting with me, kp.

Aaron: anytime!

me: and don't forget to thank mai for those blueberries.

Aaron: I did! we had pancakes w/ em this morning....handpicked yumminess

(twss)

me: i think that's as good a note as any to say bye-bye.

Aaron: :)

me: OH wait

we gotta get your myers-briggs type!

did you take the test yet?

Aaron: yeah

I think I'm an INTP, but I don't think things (with me at least) are so black/white

me: really!

curiouser and curiouser

and all introverts. you were my last hope for an E

Aaron: I am often

me: it does explain a lot.

Aaron: like I said, it's not so cut & dry

me: sure, nothing is.

Aaron: especially not people/personalities

me: we live in the gray.

Aaron: the curse of the gemini

me: quite

all righty... thanks for not cussing too durn much.

i like your style

Aaron: and I yours!

me: latah

Aaron: lyns

me: back atcha

later...

me:
did you REALLY take this test?
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
take it, it's 4 minutes.

Aaron:

Your Type is

ENFP*

ok, see this is why I don't believe in this stuff :)

some questions were hard to answer....others don't have anything to do with personality. like, I'm ok in crowds BECAUSE I'M TALL :)

me:

that sounds MUCH more like you

*ENFP: The Scientologist
The ENFP is a creative thinker who sees all humanity as connected to a cosmic whole, and gives of himself tirelessly to improve the condition of his fellow man.
Whether he's creating bizarre religions aimed at bringing us all back to our origins as immortal space aliens made of pure thought or conducting seminars and classes on alien abduction, the ENFP is always seeking the answers to the great mysteries of life, such as "Who are we?" and "How can I use two tin cans and a Radio Shack multimeter to bring enlightenment to the world?" and "What is it with UFOs and anal probing, anyway?"
RECREATION: The ENFP is gregarious, outgoing, and slightly silly; they often spend their leisure time engaged in role-playing games, having pillow fights that lead to wild, lustful lesbian orgies, or being abducted by space aliens.
COMPATIBILITY: ENFPs are happiest in relationships with Tom Cruise.
Famous ENFPs include anyone who has ever dated Tom Cruise.

Meet This Blue Heaven: Brandon/DR

2010-07-28T11:58:00.002-04:00

me: you got any time to chat with me today?

Brandon: hey there

how much time you need from me?

me: eh, it can be later.

tomorrow?

i'm doing bandmate interviews for the blog this week.

Brandon: today

can work for me

i need like 5 more mins and then can be yours for 30

until about 11

...

Brandon: i'm yours

well...

sort of =)

me: righto!

so this morning i've been trying to get people to play what i call "the favorite things game." it's a reference to the song from the sound of music, where maria distracts the kids from the thunderstorm by having them make up a song about nice things.

stu was reportedly too crabby (pre-coffee) and didn't last long.

then i called my mom and she did better.

wanna play?

Brandon: i'll give it a shot, sure

me: okay, so we just take turns listing our favorite things.

Brandon: (is this on the recird?)

me: yup.

Brandon: record*

great!

me: okay.

madonna's true blue album

Brandon: what about it?

me: that's mine.

your turn

Brandon: oh

moving pictures -rush

me: kelp

Brandon: using lubriderm as my prefered hair product

me: dogs on the beach

Brandon: basset hounds

me: yes! especially the puppies.

that trip over their ears.

Brandon: oh, zoe did that when she was apuppy

it's the reason i saved her from the pet store

was downright adorable

and could not leave her there even though it made no sense for me to get her

me: that's how they get you.

Brandon: well, that and she was just the best puppy and dog ever to exist

me: she could probably gallop along just fine without tripping on her ears, but she saw you and pulled out all the cute-stops.

Brandon: she was a manipulative little bitch

me: punny.

clever.

Brandon: and when i say bitch i really mean female dog

i don't use such crass language in reference to the better sex

me: ::snort::

no no, no sexism here

okay let's do 2 more favorite things and then i'll ask the tough questions

Brandon: ok

me: umm clean club bathrooms with big mirrors and decent lighting and doors that lock.

Brandon: my kids giggling and laughing and climbing all over me

me: aw!

the a being so pleased with stu pushing her on the swings that she just busting out with her version of twinkle twinkle.

*busted

that was the best.

Brandon: the e and a snuggling with papa in the morning before getting goin for the day

me: man. sounds like a good life.

Brandon: THAT is the best!

me: :)

Brandon: well, those are the good moments, for sure

me: quite.

all righty, let's dig in, shall we?

Brandon: oh

i thought we had one more good thing

me: oh!

sure

hit it.

Brandon: like laying down a super mean groove that gets asses shaking and people smiling

i like that

me: that's a good one.

and the perfect transition to my first question!

describe the perfect audience in one word.

Brandon: superkalifragisexydancing

me: cheater

okay

if a madman with a time machine landed in your proverbial backyard and asked you to come traveling all of space and time with him, would you go?

Brandon: sure, i like to travel

me: where/when in the universe would you want to go first?

Brandon: Tatooine

me: really? what would you do there?

Brandon: i'd meet luke and anakin and han solo and all the greats

maybe play a gig at that bar

sit in with the badass alien band

me: that would be a good gig

Brandon: seriously!

me: would you try to reason with anakin - save him from his fate or anything?

you are a trained professional...

Brandon: can't change the sand of time

me: maybe meds?

Brandon: it's too good a story

he doesn't need meds

he needed good therapy

to control his id rages and all

me: quite

but i guess we need id rages for stories, don't we.

Brandon: among other things, yes =)

me: what about van gogh?

Brandon: what about him?

me: (this was an actual doctor who episode this season)

Brandon: great painter and artist

me: if you found yourself visiting ol' vincent in the months before his suicide, would you try to give him meds or anything?

Brandon: tought to say

me: or analysis?

Brandon: i mean, sure, i think i'd try and help him out and all

me: okay ::SPOILER ALERT::

in the episode, they take him to the Louvre in the future and show him how beloved and famous he and his work are.

but

he still offs himself when they take him back.

Brandon: sure

can't change history

screws up the future

me: yeah

okay next question

Brandon: hit me

me: okay but then i'm going to ask another question.

Brandon: absolutely

me: if you had to choose a different genre of music to learn/perform, what would it be?

Brandon: well, i'd love to become more proficient and skilled in the whole latin music arena

all the poly-rhythms and things of that nature

me: really! huh

i would not have guessed that.

Brandon: good to know i can still surprise the FW

me: what's the strangest thing you've found yourself doing since playing in bands?

Brandon: being a father

me: i mean related to being in a band

Brandon: oh

right

sorry

me: heh

Brandon: well, i think that answer still stands

i mean, the balance between being in a band and being papa to the e and a...

kind of strange if you ask me

i guess i do not really find i do "strange" things playing since being in a band

i've been in bands since 9189

1989

me: talk about that balance - what's strange about it for you?

Brandon: well, not sure it's a balance, but there's the going out, playing music, socializing and being "single" on the scene

and then there is the responsible, must be a papa to little kids and set some sort of good example and not be too much of a f*ck up

me: does that mean you don't feel like you're being a good example when you're "on the scene"?

Brandon: well, let's just say i don't have the pull of responsibility, going home early, i can be more "adult"

but let's be honest here

hardly do i live a rock star existence, even when not with the kids...

like when recording

asleep early

ready to go in the morning

while the party rages around me...

maybe the road has offered me a chance to take more liberties in the past... =)

me: if by "rages" you mean the rest of us drunkenly videotape your snoring.

where is that recording, anyway....

Brandon: KP or BP have it i think

but i am sure it is out there, to be put up on the site to my great delight

me: ah. never to be seen again, probably.

i'll get on that.

Brandon: twss

me: okay describe the band dynamic in three words or less

Brandon: superkalifragisexydancing

GHA

ONE WORD!

me: a-ha.

what do you play?

(tell the folks at home what instrument you play)

Brandon: oh

right

well, i play percussion

a four piece, signia series premier set

me: when i first joined the band i got scolded for confusing "drums" with "percussion."

i was told "percussion" was like... rain sticks.

Brandon: well, aside from the drums (which are a percussion instrument) i also play cow bell, tambourine, train whistle, and anything else i can bang

wait...

me: good one.

Brandon: that may be interpreted in the wrong way

nevermind

me: do you think i've gotten better at dealing with your sense of humor over the years?

or have you just toned it down?

or both?

Brandon: you had a hard time with my sense of humor?

hmm...

yes, i think we've all grown

me: twss

Brandon: good one

me: okay so how'd you get into the drums?

were you given pots and spoons as a kid?

Brandon: i think i've been drumming all my life

i have a picture of me around 3 years old playing a mickey mouse drum set

and then in 4th grade, when we could pick out an instrument i went straight for the drums

so, at like 9 years old i was all over it

and it was great

everyone else had to carry instruments home

all i had were drumsticks!

then at like 11 or 12 i got my first drum set

i have a great video of me at 13 playing drums at my bar mitzvah

huey lewis and the news!

power of love

great stuff...

but i've always been rhythmically oriented

i remember playing air drums when i was a kid in my grandparents house, listening to 45s (yes 45s) of the beach boys and the beatles

i wanted to be ringo since i was like 5

in 4th grade my brother brought home rush and i was just astounded

it was sick to hear that you could do things like that on the drums

me: rush obviously sounds a bit different from tbh... do you feel like you still bring something of that influence to your playing?

Brandon: i think i bring a mishmash of all sorts of stuff

but yes, i think there is a "precision" or controlled nature to drumming that i've gotten from neil peart

it's about technique, and setting up the same, and knowing what to play and how to play it

but i've been influenced by many styles and many drummers

and i do think i have developed my own style, maybe not that special or unique, but certainly feel like i bring something of my own style that someone else would not bring to the music

playing jazz through high school and especially college i think helped influence me to not be so damn busy and be more musical in the approach

imho

me: i can see that

Brandon: i think nick mason (from pink floyd) said it best

"i get paid the same amount whether i play a lot of notes or a few"

me: ha - in this case, you pay the same amount.

Brandon: this was in response to why he's so laid back and not so "busy" when he plays

well, sure.

me: so far, anyway

Brandon: but it's not about the amount of notes, but what each note says

me: okay let's get into some more personal stuff

Brandon: great!

me: what do you believe in?

Brandon: superkalifragisexydancing

me: ...

Brandon: my kids

the power of music

me: what do you know for sure?

Brandon: one of these days i will die

me: what's one thing you don't know, but wish you did?

Brandon: how would i know?

me: knowing what you don't know... is like... wisdom. (that's socrates.)

Brandon: well sure

there are things i don't know, but can learn about

and then there are unknown unknowns

me: (it was a direct translation from the greek.)

so. what's one of those - that either you'd like to learn about or that you wish weren't beyond your ability to know?

Brandon: again

if it's beyond my ability to know, an unknown unknown, hard to say i want to know about it

as for the other things

me: but there are plenty of things you can't know.

that you're aware of.

Brandon: i accept i have limitations

me: i see.

as for the other things?

Brandon: maybe i'm just lazy

me: eh, maybe there's just enough to figure out as it is.

Brandon: i want to know why i'm not a super successful drummer (but i think i know the answer to that question)

me: really? what is it?

Brandon: see above

i'm lazy

and made different choices

and wasted my 20s in school

me: wasted :)

med school. what a waste of time.

i think that's their motto.

Brandon: it's all about perspective

me: like be all you can be.

for the army.

Brandon: something like that

me: okay. describe the perfect scene of solitude for you.

Brandon: beach type scene

comfy chair

good book

music i like

not too hot

me: nice

last question, since i just saw we're way over time.

Brandon: no worries about time

we can keep going

me: what's your myers-briggs type?

(i can send you the abridged quiz we've all been taking if it's been awhile)

Brandon: been a long time for me

me: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Brandon: istj*

me: all introverts so far!

not too surprising :)

Brandon: we're band geeks

of course

me: do you think of yourself as a geek?

Brandon: sure

i spend my time getting excited about things like specific parts of a song, a two bar phrase, listen to it over and over again

and then try and get others to be all excited about the same thing

me: got an example of that?

maybe we can send people off to listen.**

Brandon: drum fill at the end of "every little thing she does is magic"

me: brilliant.

do you want to ask me anything?

Brandon: stuart copeland plays the most perfect, awesomest fill EVER recorded

as for a question...

what is love?

me: (baby don't hurt me... don't hurt me... no more)

(love is watching someone die)

or (it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah)

Brandon: oh i watch people die...

i don't think that's love

me: that was a death cab reference.

Brandon: oh

oops

me: take it up with ben g.

let's see.

love between human (and maybe other) beings has lots and lots of various iterations, but i think essentially love is the antidote to or possibly just rebellion against the isolated nature of human consciousness. it's the drive to cross the impossible distances between us.

and maybe it's the times when we succeed at that.

Brandon: hmmm

i'll have to think on that

me: sweet.

Brandon: =)

me: thanks for taking time out to chat with me!

see you tonight

Brandon: my pleasure

and i will SEE you tonight!

* ISTJ: The Thought Police

ISTJs are characterized by loyalty, duty, and civic responsibility. As an ISTJ, you have a natural understanding of the value of civil harmony and order, and a deep-seated dislike of non-conformity, anarchy, and chaos.
For an ISTJ, work is very important to a sense of self-satisfaction. Happiness comes most easily for you when you have a job that allows you to express your ethic. Whether it's blasting traitorous rebel scum as a proud Imperial Stormtrooper or monitoring the population's cerebral implants searching for evidence of unauthorized thought patterns as one of the Thought Police, you're most satisfied when you are crushing the population beneath the iron boot heel of oppression on behalf of your masters.
RECREATION; ISTJs approach leisure with the same dedication they bring to spreading tyrrany and oppression. Common ISTJ pasttimes include cleaning their rifles, improving their marksmanship, betting on political dissidents in the Gladiator Arena, and macrame.
COMPATIBILITY: ISTJs are capable of stong emotional connections, bonding closely with the other ISTJs in their unit, platoon, or sector.
Famous ISTJs include TK-421, Torquemada, and Yuri Andropov.

**

Meet This Blue Heaven: Marko/BP

2010-07-27T15:23:00.002-04:00

me: hey big guy

Mark: Hey

What up?

me: i thought i'd do bandmate interviews for the blog this week. and you're first!

cool by you?

Mark: Ha, sure!

me: great.

let's see.

who are you?

Mark: I AM THAT I AM

me: whoa. does religion play a big role in your music?

Mark: I'd like to think we're engaged in a lot of the same questions.

But I think we come to some pretty different conclusions.

me: so, for example?

Mark: Hmm

Well, take Slow Dance Slow for example.

Its a very "here and now" song.

Its doesn't really reminate on the past, or what could happen in the future.

*ruminate

But, taking stock of what you have, and the best way to get the most enjoyment out of them.

Whereas most Religions are focused on interpreting your past (usually pointing out where you f*cked up), and your future.

me: fear about the future is quite powerful.

especially for mortals.

Mark: Hahahaha, I laugh at mere mortals.

me: and, i suppose, regret.

but we've written a fair amount about that.

Mark: That's true, but the songs seem to be more therapeutic.

me: last night i got asked what it's like to be in a band with a bunch of dudes.

Mark: Not alot of "woe is me" in the lyrics, at least.

Hahaha

me: so

what's it like for you to be in a band with 3 dudes and a lady?

(that's what one of chris' crew members called me. a lady. funny.)

Mark: Well, hey, he did just meet you.

Haha

me: point.

Mark: Well, its really weird being in a band with all people other than myself.

Its like, lol, sometimes they dress different and stuff.

me: indeed...

what do you play again?

Mark: Bassamaphone

me: oh right.

y'know, one rehearsal i had this epiphany that if i just listened to the bass lines and phrased all the vocal lines around them, well. all my problems would be solved.

maybe even the WORLD's problems.

but it only worked that one time.

Mark: Damn it.

Well, that's a pretty clutch moment though.

me: it was.

okay, what do you want the two people who read my blog to know about you?

besides you have a god complex.

Mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vR9n3TfaJQ

Hmmmm

me: and here i thought we were the first ones to write a song for slow dancing.

if i'd known, i guess i'd have given up the project before it began.

Mark: Seriously

I mean, it'd be pretty hard to top Lemmy.

me: twss

Mark: But, I'd say we got pretty damn close.

Haha.

And she'd be right!

me: mm

okay let's try short answer.

Mark: Haha

me: what's your favorite nickname?

Mark: Flounder

me: someone calls you that?

Mark: Oh, for me?

I guess Squid then.

me: oh

do you want to tell the folks at home about that one?

Mark: I was expecting your response to be "why". And the answer to that is "::belch:: WHY NOT?!"

Haha, it was from my Middle School football coach, who also taugh marine biology.

I really like cephalopods when I was a kid.

I guess I still do.

me: i'm tricky like that

they're smart.

Mark: Really smart!

An followed a completely different evolutionary path from humans.

me: and creepy.

what's not to like?

Mark: Its like parallel intelligence

me: probably if they had longer lifespans they could overthrow us.

Mark: 8 arms > 2 arms

Mastering fire will be difficult underwater, though.

me: true.

okay. describe the best possible audience in one word.

Mark: Naked

me: describe our band dynamic in three words.

less?

Mark: Hmmm

Enlightened Democracy

me: what's one thing you know for sure?

Mark: Showering outside is always preferable to showering inside.

me: nice.

what's something you don't know but wish you did?

Mark: How to get economically viable net energy output from a contained fission reaction.

I think that'd be useful.

me: what do you believe in?

Mark: I believe in the power of human potential.

me: what is one this blue heaven lyric?

Mark: Ummm...hmmm...errrrr.

One second.

Haha

Just kidding.

me: ha.

Mark: Is this one favorite?

me: you know enough to have a favorite!?

Mark: I like the chorus alliteration in Nova Love, "So why keep your world apart/a star bursting blast about to start"

It just rolls off the tongue

me: if you could open for any band in all of history, who would it be?

Mark: Ohhhhhh good question.

Talk Heads, I think.

*Talking

Errr, actually, scratch that.

Roxy Music.

I could watch Eno set up.

And they'd be a better fit for us.

haha

me: if you had another lifetime to start a whole new career, what would it be?

Mark: Nuclear engineer

me: if you could roadtrip with any Boston musician, who would it be?

Mark: Hmmmmm.

I feel like I'd get along really well with Henry from Aloud.

But then where would his wife be?

With us?

Calling him all the time?

I can't have that.

Hahaha

me: oh yeah. jen definitely seems like the needy type....

Mark: Hahaha, point taken.

me: let's see.

if doctor who showed up in the backyard with his tardis and wanted you to go with him, would you?

(that's a time machine)

Mark: Oh hell's yes.

me: (i guess space and time machine)

where/when in the universe would you go?

Mark: I'd be interested in exploring the multiverse.

Ohh, definitely the future.

Maybe 2350

me: for any particular reason?

Mark: Well, chances are I won't live that long, and I want to see how much better things will be then.

Assuming we don't have a Dark Ages-like collapse of society between now and then.

But I think that's a pretty small risk.

me: do you think of yourself as an optimist?

Mark: Yup

me: do you think of yourself as a nerd?

(i know the answer to that)

Mark: Yeah, its a yes.

me: what would you say is the nerdiest thing about you/

Mark: I like Anime, though I haven't watched a lot recently. I know a lot about comic books, and an ungodly amount of Star Trek trivia.

me: highly ungodly.

do you want to talk romance/dating at all?

Mark: Sure

me: since the ultimate goal of the band is to get you... y'know...

some action

Mark: Right

me: how's that going so far?

Mark: Hit and miss.

Got a date tonight so I can't complain.

me: as a band, what do you think we can do to get closer to this goal?

Mark: Hmmm

me: wait

Mark: Play more vestivals.

me: a date?

someone new?

Mark: People who go to festivals are cool.

Jah

me: like red coat girl?

Mark: Exactly.

And: I hate you.

me: sorry about that.

Mark: haha

me: anything you want to say about this date?

Mark: To be blogged about?

me: ...

Mark: We're going to see a film noir movie, and I hope its good.

I'd feel bad if I dragged her to a random terrible movie.

me: artsy, though. you should get points for that regardless.

do you think of yourself as artsy?

Mark: Hmmm, not really.

I like TV too much to really be artsy.

me: want to tell the two people who read my blog (one of them is aaron) how you met this woman?

Mark: The video shoot, of course!

me: OH!! which one?

Mark: _____

me: well done.

Mark: Haha

me: so you would have the band to thank if that goes well.

that's a relief.

Mark: Correct.

Its working!

me: we're doing SOMETHING right.

anything you want to ask me?

(that's always how you end interviews, right?)

(i've never done this.)

Mark: Are you asking these questions to everybody?

Also, what are the employee benefits?

me: maybe

Mark: Oh wait, wrong type of interview.

me: yyyyyeah... we've got some other candidates and um...

oh, one more thing before you go.

we have a strict policy of no shorts onstage. how do you feel about that?

Mark: I support the no-tolerance policy of shorts on stage. America has been troubled enough by artists uncovered legs!

For men, of course.

Dresses are ok.

me: okay. you're hired.

you start tomorrow night.

7pm

ish.

Mark: I can be there.

me: sweet.

have a great date!

Mark: Thanks!

me: i'm going to post this now. thanks for saving me having to think of something to write!

i'll take ____'s name out, though.

Mark: Nice!

Haha

Yeah, its just a first date!

me: not because of privacy, but because mystery is more fun.

Mark: Excellent

me: "oooooh who is it?"

try to keep it going through the ep release party, so maybe she'll show up, okay?

Mark: Hahaha

me: are we having an afterparty?

Mark: Oh, yeah!

Snap.

I'll get on that.

me: cool.

oh do you want to brag about ONB?

Mark: Yes I do.

Very much so.

me: ready go

Mark: I GOT INVITED TO ONE NIGHT BAND WOOOOT!

Its August 21st. Downstairs.

me: GOOD JOB!

sorry we'll be out of town :'(

Mark: Yeah I saw that.

They'll be some sort of write up on it, I hope.

me: congrats, though. that rules. way to represent!

Mark: I'll do us proud.

hopefully.

me: that oughta get you some ladies.

i know you will.

okay carry on!

Mark: Righto

Thanks1

me: no thank YOU

oh wait!

one more thing.

what's your myers-briggs type?

Mark: Oh right.

me: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Mark: INTP*

me: that is very interesting.

Mark: moderately expressed introvert
distinctively expressed intuitive personality
distinctively expressed thinking personality
slightly expressed perceiving personality

me: thanks!

Mark: Very welcome.

*INTP: The Egghead

The typical INTP is a logical, abstract thinker whose intellect is ideally suited to understanding pure mathematics, linguistics, formal logic theory, and other pursuits unsuited to making a real living. The INTP can often understand even the most subtle nuances of lattice quantum chromodynamics, but cannot perform more concrete tasks such as dressing himself, operating a motor vehicle, or opening a door. An INTP may be able to tell you how to construct a nuclear reactor from a coconut and two pieces of string, but may be completely incapable of fixing a hole in a boat.

The INTP is really only suited to two careers: college professor and game show contestant. Of these career choices, only one offers the financial rewards which allows him to suport himself; for that reason, INTPs often take the other path, and become tenured academics.

RECREATION: Surprisingly, INTPs are often the hit of the party--not for their sometimes annoying habit of turning every discussion into a debate about semantics nor for their fascinating stories about Pierre de Fermat's habit of writing things in the margins of his books, but for the fact that they often show up with their pants on backwards and that if you put a Post-It note reading "Kick Me" on an INTP's back, he won't notice it no matter how many people kick him. That kind of entertainment never gets old.

COMPATIBILITY: INTPs make ideal companions to INTJs, as neither of them notices they're in a relationship.

Famous INTPs include Pierre de Fermat and almost everyone who knows what Pierre de Fermat wrote in the margins of his book.

::Wordless Monday::

2010-07-26T11:09:00.001-04:00

A Serious Mistake: Part Two (A lesson)

2010-07-23T19:06:00.003-04:00

A Serious Mistake: Part One (A bedtime story)

2010-07-22T20:41:00.010-04:00

In case the video isn't, oh... coherent enough:

Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak

(who will hopefully not sue me.)

When Papa was away at sea,

and Mama in the arbor,

Ida played her wonder horn

to rock the baby still -

but never watched.

So the goblins came.

They pushed their way in

and pulled baby out,

leaving another all made of ice.

Poor Ida, never knowing, hugged the changeling

and she murmured: "How I love you."

The ice thing only dripped and stared,

and Ida mad new goblins had been there.

"They stole my sister away!" she cried

"To be a nasty goblin's bride!"

Now Ida in a hurry

snatched her Mama's yellow rain cloak,

tucked her horn safe in a pocket,

and made a serious mistake.

She climbed backwards out her window into outside over there.

Foolish Ida never looking

whirling by the robber caves

heard at last from off the sea

her Sailor Papa's song:

"If Ida backwards in the rain

would only turn around again

and catch those goblins with a tune

she'd spoil their kidnap honeymoon!"

So Ida tumbled right side round and found herself

smack in the middle of a wedding.

Oh, how those goblins hollered and kicked,

just babies like her sister!

"What a hubbub," said Ida sly,

and she charmed them with a captivating tune.

The goblins, all against their will, danced slowly at first,

then faster until they couldn't breathe.

"Terrible Ida," the goblins said,

"we're dancing sick and must to bed."

But Ida played a frenzied jig, a hornpipe

that makes sailors wild beneath the ocean moon.

Those goblins pranced so fierce, so fast, they quick churned into a dancing stream.

Except for one who lay cozy in an eggshell,

crooning and clapping as a baby should.

And that was Ida's sister.

Now Ida glad hugged baby tight

and she followed the stream that curled like a path along the broad meadow

and up the ringed-round hill to her Mama in the arbor with a letter from Papa, saying:

"I'll be home one day,

and my brave, bright little Ida

must watch the baby and her Mama

for her Papa, who loves her always."

Which is just what Ida did.

The INFP ...as rockstar?

2010-07-21T16:30:00.006-04:00

According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I'm an INFP. (Find out what type you are with this quick and painless version.)

That's Introverted, iNtuition, Feeling, Perceiving.

To give you a sketch, here are some bits of descriptions around the web that I especially identify with:

present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others

Yes. I'm not so much a fan of this one because distance is the exact opposite of what I believe in.

their great passion is to heal the conflicts that trouble individuals, or that divide groups, and thus to bring wholeness or health to themselves, their loved ones, and their community

Exactly.

INFPs never seem to lose their sense of wonder. One might say they see life through rose-colored glasses. It's as though they live at the edge of a looking-glassworld where mundane objects come to life, where flora and fauna take on near-human qualities.

Told you I talk to trees.

we must understand their idealism as almost boundless

which probably relates in some way to

a constant desire to be on a meaningful path

hence the near-constant anguish over the totally meaningless job and, um... possible overcompensation in the form of the TBH mission?

have a gift for interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in lyric, poetic fashion

I recently scoffed (internally, of course) at someone who told me not to use "flowery adjectives" and I foster a slow-burning hatred for the Boston University fiction program because they include the following note to applicants: "A hint: those who write in flowery prose or overly-subjectively–that is, about dreams, memories, thoughts, states of mind–or who dwell obsessively on sensitive children may find themselves at a disadvantage." Look, clean language is great, fiction isn't memoir, and obsession is unhealthy, but still. Be nice! Mean writers are the worst kind of meanie; their job is to facilitate empathy between reader and character! How can you do that if you can't actually experience empathy yourself?

flexible and laid-back, until one of their values is violated. In the face of their value system being threatened, INFPs can become aggressive defenders, fighting passionately for their cause

which, believe me, doesn't pair very well with

awkward and uncomfortable with expressing themselves verbally

because I can't ever seem to sputter out a reasonable defense for whatever I'm aggressively defending. If not for

a wonderful ability to define and express what they're feeling on paper

I'd probably be sunk.

They notice problems in a work group before anyone else. It doesn't help to tell them that they are imagining things.

I think all of my bandmates can attest to the latter, at least. Some more than others. ::ahem::

daydreams about people to maintain a sense of closeness

Wait... you don't?

and prone to dreaming about a rescuer

::dreamy sigh::

So. Good jobs for INFPs include writer, artist, humanities professor, web designer, philosopher, archaeologist, psychologist, counselor, social worker.

Musician is listed in some places, along with songwriter, which makes sense. (Yay lyrics!) But I wonder how many successful rockstars are INFPs. The only singer I could find listed among famous INFPs is Neil Diamond (I knew there was a reason I love him). But Neil was never in a band-band, was he? Band = group work with a lot of complex emotions involved... Rock = not always, shall we say, the kindest of genres... Fronting a band = the opposite of reserved...

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, exactly, just that... no matter how much I love and believe in my band (and I do), no matter how much I love and believe in the Boston rock scene (and I do), my personality is such that there truly are nights I would just as soon stay home and read. Some days I just long to do the chick with a guitar thing and write the most flowery folky lyrics about bittersweet love you can imagine to strange progressions of minor and seven chords with no one around to get their back up over it.

And some days, I just wanna live here.

P.S. From here:

INFP: The Idealist
The INFP is a dreamy, imaginitive, idealist, capable of finding the good in anything or anyone, even something as foul as Newark, New Jersey. INFPs are sometimes dangerous to the well-being of society as a whole, as they are prone to adopting subversive and destructive ideologies like "The world should be fair," "People should treat one another well," and "You know, 'Friends' is a really, really stupid television show."

These irrational thought patterns may sometimes cause INFPs to run off and join the circus, the Resistance, or the Rebellion, where they tend to do well in any position requiring excellent hand-eye coordination or mastery of the Force.

COMPATIBILITY: INFPs and ISTJs generally exhibit a natural predator/prey relationship, which, though it might appear harsh and cruel from the outside, is all part of the natural cycle of life. In fact, were it not for the predation of the ISTJ, the population of INFPs would soon grow to unsustainable levels, overwhelming the ability of their ecological niche to support them.

Famous idealists include that girl in your sixth-grade homeroom who got the teacher fired for saying that girls aren't good at math; that guy in the cubicle next to yours who got the manager fired for saying that women don't make good employees; and Anais Nin.

::Wordless Monday::

2010-07-19T10:13:00.001-04:00

Next best thing to being there

2010-07-16T11:28:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday, lovelies. Thanks to the inimitable Michael J. Epstein, our acoustic set at the Armory Cafe Wednesday is on YouTube! Good, perhaps, for passing an impatient Friday afternoon....

Home Tonight - for my family

Waltz 2 (XO) by Elliot Smith (I'm never gonna know you now, but I'm gonna love you anyhow = most heartshattering chorus ever.)

Straitjacket by The Luxury, performed with the most excellent Jason Dunn

Slow Dance Slow

EP release show poster!

2010-07-15T16:06:00.001-04:00

Boston is a stellar place to be a bohemian.

My friend Jessica Sun Lee of The Sun Lee Sunbeam made this poster.

She's also a writer.

MWAH!

What does this running cost our lives?

2010-07-14T15:08:00.000-04:00

Today I found myself skimming the blog entry of a poet.

The problem with skimming poetry...

Well, the problem with skimming poetry is the problem of living as if everything matters so much that nothing matters. Our precious time (no time no time no time!) matters so much that we spend it flipping through, glancing, checking in. Life blurs. We miss it.

I'm doing everything and missing it all.

Maybe you are, too.

The problem with skimming poetry is that you cannot hear the sound of the words in your head, cannot allow images to form, cannot linger long enough for the intricacies of meaning and association to connect and fall into place.

So for you, just one line. If you like, let time stop, let your shoulders drop, and let yourself follow it wherever it takes you. You have time.

The old steps live only in me: my feet and thighs remember them, and my hands feel their splinters.

~ from A Time Past, by Denise Levertov

Another good way to linger is by listening to people play acoustic music in a room with twinkly lights. I'm looking forward to being a part of that tonight at the Cafe at the Armory in Somerville. Hope to see you there, and please join us at Highland Kitchen after!

::Wordless Monday::

2010-07-12T09:13:00.003-04:00

A root-flame in the heart

2010-07-09T13:14:00.005-04:00

I just finished re-writing the band bio, in which I use the phrase "brazen innocence" to describe myself.

I'll be honest, I stole that phrase from this week's horoscope.

So today someone asked me whether self-proclaimed innocence can really be innocent. If you know you are, how can you be? It's a good question.

One that Annie Dillard answers in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek far better than I:

Innocence sees that this is it, and finds it world enough, and time. Innocence is not the prerogative of infants and puppies, and far less of mountains and fixed stars, which have no prerogatives at all. It is not lost to us; the world is a better place than that. Like any other of the spirit's good gifts, it is there if you want it, free for the asking, as has been stressed by stronger words than mine. It is possible to pursue innocence as hounds pursue hares: single-mindedly, driven by a kind of love, crashing over creeks, keening and lost in fields and forests, circling, vaulting over hedges and hills wide-eyed, giving loud tongue all unawares to the deepest, most incomprehensible longing, a root-flame in the heart, and that warbling chorus resounding back from the mountains, hurling itself from ridge to ridge over the valley, now faint, now clear, ringing the air through which the hounds tear, open-mouthed, the echoes of their own wails dimly knocking in their lungs.

What I call innocence is the spirit's unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. It is at once a receptiveness and total concentration.

Here's to a gorgeous weekend teeming with innocence. Don't let it get away from you.

The good things

2010-07-07T12:07:00.003-04:00

So I've become a little bit obsessed with the new series of Doctor Who. I won't go into why it is amazing, I'll just say that you should watch it and point you in that direction. (It's also airing on BBC America and available on iTunes, but note that though the British-run website has the entire season, the last few episodes haven't aired over here yet.)

The menace that persists over the arc of this season's narrative is a series of cracks in the fabric of the universe. The cracks are present in every era and locale, and anyone who goes through a crack (you can get sucked in if you go too close and yes I am going to ignore the Freudian implications, thank you) ceases to exist anymore in their rightful universe. To those remaining, it's as if that person had never been born. No memory of them remains, though the more sensitive characters experience an inexplicable grief.

Don't you think it would be fantastic if we could attribute all the losses in our lives to something as simple as cracks in the fabric of space and time?!

I mean, okay. One of the reasons this show resonates for me is that I identify with the character who walks around with significant people missing from her life, trying to get on with whatever task or adventure is at hand, and intermittently finding that she's crying and doesn't know why.

After loss, after time passes, that's what it's like, right? When you think you're over it. When you've found a way to conceive of your universe without the one you've lost? And then one morning you wake from a dream you can't quite remember and find yourself adrift on a wave of grief?

When those waves come for me, I don't feel what I feel because of the loss alone. I also rail against the reasons for the loss:

Heroin addiction and depression fueled by childhood abuse and terrors, which led to suicide.

Complex and dishonest circumstances that made secrecy the condition of friendship, which inevitably destroyed it.

Ancient insecurities and missing skills from dysfunctional upbringings that eroded trust, without which even an unconditional love could not function.

Distance and misunderstandings exacerbated by jealous, insecure or controlling partners.

Unwillingness or inability to meet the demands of an exceptionally rare kindredness.

Alcoholism.

See? Wouldn't cracks in the universe be awesome? Wouldn't it be tremendous if being human were so easy, so simple, that the worst thing that could happen to us came from something utterly beyond ourselves? Something wholly beyond our individual or collective control? (With the exception of the Doctor, of course.)

We are so frail. So twisted up in fear. Missing from my universe are extraordinary relationships with extraordinary human beings. These are among the best people I have known and I feel that's saying something because I have always sought friends and lovers with humongous hearts, ravenous curiosity, boundless capacity to experience beauty and joy, true compassion, creative fire, and more than a light dusting of magic.

The best of humanity. And look at us.

So how? How can I walk through my universe with all these magnificent, significant people missing, sucked through cracks of our own tragic terrible design, and still claim "this blue heaven?" How can I in good faith put on bright colors and sing about light in the darkness?

The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things; but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant.*

We have to work to add to the pile of good things. That's it. We have to work to see them, to let them have our full attention even for a moment. We have to fight for that because our frailty is so great and our power to destroy so very compelling. I don't deny the darkness. It is because I am aware of it, because I know how easily and inevitably the pile of bad things grows, that I insist on writing and singing about light.

Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world... that is -- until we evolve to the point that the worst threat we face is a bunch of pesky cracks in the universe -- the very best we can do.* So we must. I must. That's it.

*Quotations from Vincent and the Doctor

::Wordless Monday::

2010-07-05T20:27:00.000-04:00

Dance with us. On TV. July 24th.

2010-07-01T20:02:00.003-04:00

Details HERE.

The Blue Fairy's Lament

2010-06-30T23:43:00.003-04:00

To sense the longing for unity that brought you into being.
To wish on the stars for something you don't yet understand.
To try and fail to be good.
To feel the gaze of the one who sees your lies plain on your face.
To misplace your trust.
To curl on the floor around your broken heart.
To find another's heart in pieces in your hand.
To wish and sleep and wake and try and fail again to be good.
To hurl yourself after any passing pleasure.
To chase the next and the next and the next big thing.
To drown in your thrashing confusion.
To stare into the darkness of your isolation.
To love.
To try.
To fail.
To dream good dreams.
To be human.

Why I'm not a philosophy professor

2010-06-29T11:39:00.011-04:00

Once upon a time, I was going to be the next generation of Simone de Beauvoir scholar. I double majored in philosophy and women's studies. Early in my second year of college, I started studying de Beauvoir's philosophical writings in an independent research project that led to a conference presentation and the determination that I wanted to go on and get my PhD.

Then in the spring of my junior year, I went to Penn State for a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Second Sex, which turned out to revolve mostly around one quarrel and one consensus among the big guns (okay no one outside certain small circles of continental philosophers either knows or cares who these people are, but in those circles, they may as well be Madonna, Pat, Cyndi, and Tori).

The quarrel was over the extent and relevance of de Beauvoir's influence on the more widely read and respected philosophical work of Sartre and Merleau-Ponty.

I'll never forget overhearing an apology of sorts in the ladies room from one scholar to another, assuring no personal offense was intended in the heated discussion they'd just had in the conference room. Ahhhh women. The reply: "Oh no, it's an honor to argue with you." Ahhhh philosophers. It was awesome.

The turning point came on day three of the conference. The keynote speaker was a French woman, related (in some way I don't remember) to the Ecole Normale Superieure where Beauvoir and Sartre met as students. The woman had a thick accent and bifocals worn all the way at the end of her nose, and she was so short that resting her hands on the podium put her elbows up by her ears.

She started to read her paper and I couldn't understand a word of it and the whole scene was just so hilarious to me that I could barely contain myself, so I distracted myself and doodled instead of taking notes, and the minutes ticked by. When the words "so in conclusion" jutted out of the harsh jumble of sounds, I breathed a sigh of relief.

But then she kept going. Fifteen, twenty more minutes and there it was again, "so in conclusion." I held my breath.

But still she kept on. Half an hour, forty-five minutes more. After the third "so in conclusion," I started to get the giggles. Quaking, uncontrollable giggles. I glanced around, sure that I would at least catch someone's knowing eye roll, but every last one of those academics was sitting upright, straight faced, at attention.

I had to leave before I lost it. I hustled down the aisle and out into the lobby, released the laughter, and decided then and there that I could never, ever take philosophy - or myself - that seriously.

Furthermore, I scribbled in the margins of the doodle page, what GOOD did it do for all these people to sit in a conference room arguing amongst themselves about things that only actually matter to the extent that they affect or improve actual lives?

I wanted to find a way for the ideas I believed in to reach people. And not just people in colleges.

So I sabotaged my philosophy applications. Turned them all in way past the deadlines, much to the dismay of my college advisor, and thus began my winding journey into far reaches of the real world. And here we are. Heh.

Anyway. The consensus among all those scholars was that a new English translation of The Second Sex was urgent. The original translator was a zoologist, for eff's sake - an okay writer with absolutely no grasp of the philosophical definitions, contexts or implications of de Beauvoir's work. Anything complicated that he didn't understand, he simply cut from the text (which turned out to be around 15% of the 900+ page book). Everyone was on the rampage, but the book was still selling fine so the publishers saw no need for a new translation.

Well, apparently Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevalier were also in attendance at that conference. And as of this spring, sixty years later, they have finally published an accurate (if much more difficult) translation of the text! It's on its way to me in the mail now, and I might just have to start a spin-off blog as I make my way through that crazy book again.

'Cause, y'know. Everyone else is as excited about this as I am, right?!

p.s. That talk I walked out of went on for three hours, all told.

::Wordless Monday::

2010-06-28T09:36:00.002-04:00

(photo by Kelly Davidson)

When I am an old woman, I shall have accumulated an entire closet of purple sparkly stuff

2010-06-24T10:27:00.006-04:00

I often (very terribly often) lament (whine) that I don't enough have time to do normal grown-up things. Go to movies, cook dinner, match socks, refinish my desk. These things stay on the "I wanna" post-it list stuck up on the side of my brain, flitting around in the wind of all the things I really frantically have to remember to do.

Y'know like: Obtain illegal wheely fireworks for CD artwork and set them off late at night in my back yard.

Or like: Put my hair in curlers in my office bathroom after work hours and apply make-up for both myself and the boys & then break into another MIT building for a photo shoot with Boston's most amazing talented photographer, Kelly Davidson.

Or: Attend a (sweetly air conditioned) band listening party of TONIGHT's episode of Same Sky Radio (<--- podcasts there; also live on bunkradio.com 8-10pm) to hear our music alongside some of the country's best unsigned rock.

Or: Invite everyone to our show with The Wandas on the Cape this Friday and down to the South Shore beach house that night and then on to the beach the next day - to set off more illegal wheely fireworks.

Or: Make a Facebook event for the seasonal Women Rock Brunch my awesome gracious friends (who cook more than I do) have agreed to join me in launching next month.

Or: Confirm that my best friend in Austin is indeed gonna be coming up to sing and play guitar on a bill with me at the Armory Cafe July 14th.

Or: Invite everyone I know to dance in our Slow Dance Slow video on July 24th (ummm and confirm that date with our brilliant visionary director, Chris Gaines).

Or: Write to the five stellar kickass bands who are playing with us for our CD release show at the Middle East Upstairs on August 7th to plan a collaboration cover for the end of the night.

Ahem.

So as I dragged my tired bones out of bed after a late-night post-shoot band family dinner of pizza with beer in frosted glasses, as I dug through my drawer of unmatched socks for two that kinda sorta go together, I had one of those too rare moments when I stopped moaning and groaning and thought about the fact that when I look back at this time in my life, it is going to be punctuated with spinny shiny colorful fun. I will not be an old woman who wishes she'd lived life more fully.

So that's pretty rad.

(But also, if anyone has experience refinishing antiques, lemme know - I WILL get to the desk project.)

You're there

2010-06-22T10:25:00.002-04:00

Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.

- from Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

Why it took me so long to open this book, I don't know. I can't remember where (for shame!), but I read recently that we immerse ourselves in the books we do because they have something for us at that moment in our lives. We may later return to a book that once profoundly affected us and be totally unmoved, left wondering what the big deal was. Because the power of this book is to shake you from the grip of "A Roman named Status Quo," and because we always seem to be on our way back to that dull mean, I can't imagine a time in any lifetime when this book wouldn't matter. Still, I'm glad I read it now. This passage in particular was a well-timed gift: an affirmation. Thanks, Ray.

::Wordless Monday::

2010-06-21T12:46:00.004-04:00

Saturday Night Summer Lovefest at the Lizard Lounge :: This Blue Heaven

2010-06-17T14:43:00.028-04:00

Here, I'm really proud of this.

<a href="http://thisblueheaven.bandcamp.com/album/nova-love-single">Nova Love by This Blue Heaven</a>

Yes, this is in fact the first single off This Blue Heaven's new EP, Spinning and Shining! You may have already heard "Nova Love" spun on WFNX's New England Product or WMFO's The Dweezil Show, but this is the first time the tune is being released for web streaming! You are WELCOME!

The occasion for sharing it today, of course, is to get you as riled up as we are for our upcoming show this Saturday, June 19th at the Lizard Lounge. (ADVANCE TIX HERE!) After delving into the bands that will be a part of this line-up, I'm convinced This Blue Heaven will top the night off beautifully, pulling out all the indie pop stops and rocking your happy, love-drunk hearts off. And, while we started playing this song in the cold midwinter, now it finally IS summer (temps rise tomorrow! beach, beach, beach, beach!) and there really ARE fireflies in the sky! Perfect.

As for the recording, we have had such a fantastic and rewarding time working on this project with Paul Kolderie and his homeboys Adam Taylor, Alex Hartman, and John Northrop over at Camp Street Studios this year. Spinning and Shining features a total of 5 songs and will be released August 7th. More stories, gifts & prizes to come before then!

Saturday Night Summer Lovefest at the Lizard Lounge :: Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions

2010-06-16T16:56:00.005-04:00

I think I'll probably always remember when Brendan Boogie - in pink shirt and showtime grin - handed me The Sweet and The Brutal and said, "Here, I'm really proud of this." That got me. It impressed me. Something so simple as stating pride in his work as he gifted me with it was inspiring to me. It reminded me of all the best teachers I've ever had (Brendan, do you have teachers for parents?) who urged us always only to do work to which we would feel good signing our names. Those voices have returned to me as I've embarked on this music voyage of mine, so as soon as Brendan said that, I was reminded: that's what I want. I want to hand over my work knowing I've put myself into it. I want to say, "Here, I'm really proud of this."

Of course, the dude's got reason to be proud. Let's forget everything we already know about Brendan Boogie the man (self-proclaimed "benevolent dictator" behind the hugely successful Cover-Up series, anti-perfectionist, super sweetheart) for just a moment, 'cause it turns out he also actually MAKES music!

I have to say I'm in love with a bunch of the tunes on this release. They are the best of pop and rock, they are catchy, they are sweet and they are, well...brutal. (So, y'know, he's good with words, too.) But there's something about the juxtaposition of sweet and brutal in these tracks that is just so quintessentially Brendan. I don't care what he says in those rants against perfectionism, there is a perfect rightness to these songs. You can find him in them.

I'm describing this too philosophically/literarily now, aren't I?

Luckily I don't need words at all: just listen yourself! This is my favorite for today anyway, because I love the strings and I love that it's NOT February anymore (tra la la!) and again it's just a perfect example of heartache that pops. Oh, and did I mention this baby (the whole album) was recorded & produced by none other than The Luxury's frontman Jason Dunn? Talk about a coupla sweeties badasses!

<a href="http://brendanboogie.bandcamp.com/track/february">February by Brendan Boogie & the Best Intentions</a>

As for his upcoming performance (this Saturday, June 19th at the Lizard Lounge. ADVANCE TIX HERE!) - expect sparks to fly, tears to fall, and drinks to spill. Expect passion. Expect to rock.

Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions

Saturday Night Summer Lovefest at the Lizard Lounge :: Glenn Yoder

2010-06-15T16:34:00.006-04:00

Does the life I want even exist?
Did I leave it back behind me?
Was I closer to it then?

Oh, Glenn. You and I should have a beer on Saturday night. Or maybe bourbon is more up your alley? You name it. I have to tell you that I dig Okono Road the record (released in January 2009), and your lyrics from the title track are enough to make a person daydream of hitchhiking right outta this town - even if (I suspect) a person weren't already predisposed to that particular daydream. Maybe we can compare notes.

I've seen you play (as has any true lover of local music) in the Cassavettes, but after giving your solo tunes a good enough listen to feel a wheat-gold breeze lifting my hair, to recall all my heartbreak and longing for home, and to confirm that you've indeed earned your comparisons to all our Americana heroes; suffice it to say I am really looking forward to your set on Saturday.

Eavesdroppers: that's this Saturday, June 19th at the Lizard Lounge. (ADVANCE TIX HERE!)