Prewar Yardsale's blog

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Debe Dalton - Lives in Brooklyn
Kale Records, 2012

A timeless album you will play over and over, good music for chilling in the afternoon or evening and good music for coming down in the morning. Stalwart Seeger and Newport treatments render a comfortable listen yet Dalton's activist wit and occasional pop flourish never let things get passive. Missed Opportunities, classic antifolk, chides the opportunism of the new folk revival. 52 Minutes comforts the doubt in the spiritual quest Seek and You Shall Find. Think Again recasts the Billy Bragg song of the same title from political to personal without losing any any urgency. (I Was) Quietly Playing Banjo (In the Park) sentiment and arrangement bite Kimya Dawson's Sorry Sometimes I'm Mean.

The Magic Trip
Directed by Alison Ellwood & Alex Gibney
History Channel Films, 2011 Read more »

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The first sentence of the Yardsale blog. So first things first, follow this link to download the Major Matt e.p. Gooodbye Southern Death Swing, http://yardsalerecords.bandcamp.com/ .So really first things first Yardsale is Dina's and I new record label, I recorded the songs at a sidewalk Cafe show and in Matt's living room on a Radio Shack Cassette Recorder, Nick Nace helped me clean up a really lofi recording and make it digital and Dina put it up on Yardsale Bandcamp, here is the link again http://yardsalerecords.bandcamp.com/ . The recording sounds authentic, and the songs are great. Some of the songs are songs Matt wrote and recorded a long time ago which I captured at the Postparade ramble. Drink the Blood is really great, and I mean a really great new song by Matt. I hope this is the only recording of it, I recorded a bunch of other new songs by Matt including Dolly, I couldn't add them to the ep because I haven't figured out how to control the tape speed and treble during playback. It would be cool if I could put out a bunch of lofi Matt eps. I've got a Kansas State Flower rehearsal tape edited down from 3 hours of rehearsal tape to about 45 minutes. Read more »

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So I'm in the used record store on 81st and Broadway looking at records. I like this store because everything is relatively cheap, especially the post 60's stuff, and there always a lot of Bob Dylan and Lou Reed records for completist fallback. So I'm in the store and I'm looking through records and another record buyer starts complaining that a budget copy of Abby Road costs 15 dollars. So I'm thinking to myself well were surrounded by a Starbucks, a Barnes and Noble, a Best Buy, and a McDonalds.... I mean I would pay more taxes to keep this store open or at least pay $15.00 for a copy of a budget Abby Road, I'm also thinking if you haven't listened to Abby Road 14 thousand times already you probably have very little interest in music let alone used records and if you were you would gladly pay $15 if you never listened to it before, because it's going to blow your mind, your gonna listen to it 14 thousand times, and your going to memorize every line, a bargain at $15. So then the used record complainer complains that he could get that in philadelphia for $10, and I'm thinking I'm getting tired of listening to this guy complain so thank god Jon walks into the store. Read more »

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One of my record collecting goals is to get every volume of the SYR series. I could listen to this stuff for hours and this is a long song (I could imagine the White Columns audience, some entranced, some looking around like when is this going to end). I wish I could write about this kind of music but I don't even know where to start, well maybe,...Glass, Cage...aaa...La Monte Young...and the guy who writes songs for guitar orchestras...Glenn Branca?...see what I mean. I was in Barnes and Noble in the 80's the other day and I was waiting in line at the register and an impulse buy book was a paperback guide to classical music. I seriously cannot listen to classical music, I totally don't get it, last time I was in a taxi I had to ask the driver to turn the classical music he was listening to off, it was driving me crazy. So I'm reading the classical music guide and it turns out classical music guides are just like rock record guides. They list and critique the recordings, the songwriters, the musicians, the production, and add some contextual stuff to tie it together. Read more »

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So it was the afternoon so I got a pint of Cherry Garcia and went home to listen to the radio and eat ice cream. I decided to be productive so I tuned into the New Afternoon Show. I love the New Afternoon Show. I wish it was the New 24 hours, 7 days a week show, so I wouldn't have to change the dial. I can't get WFMU uptown (what's up with that new transmitter?) so the only good music stations are CBS and The New Afternoon Show. The New Afternoon Show is challenging, they play all the new, most cred indie bands and labels in all the indie genres except hip-hop, hip hop has it's own show. I'm also prepared to hear a lot of new things when I listen because if I think I have an in depth ear to the world of indie rock, I quickly realize I'm only listening to the tip of the iceberg. I mean no joke the D.J.'s and program manager are indie music genius. The first band on sounds like Confusion is Sex Sonic Youth, then some new wave lite bands. I hear a commercial for another show and the narrator sounds like Werner Herzog. I love his jungle movies. I saw Grizzly Man on Sundance and it was awesome. Read more »

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The Dirtbombs are playing at the Bell House and I'm thinking of going. I've been a fan of The Dirtbombs since the White Stripes Detroit craze. I've seen them a couple of times and really enjoyed their shows. I have a bunch of their records and they're always a terrific listen. They have out a new triple 12 inch LP of detroit techno songs. ALthough they do a lot of original songs, The Dirtbombs are also musicologists, they also put out an LP of r&b and soul covers. So I call Matt to see if he wants to go. Matt tells me he's going to Brooklyn to see Christie's band play so I decided to go because I've never seen her band play before. Actually no one has seen her band play before because this is their first show, they've been rehearsing for a year and now they're doing a show. Matt and I get to the show and the band goes on and they're really good. Post rock, prog, instrumentals. I't always cool to hear some different styles of music you don' t usually listen to. The music was dramatic my senses were really heightened plus there was a film of protest marchers projected behind the band so it was extra dramatic. Read more »

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So I'm going out to Emandee Studio to meet Dina and Matt to record some new songs. Matt is starting to do some recordings at Emandee so we're going to record some Prewar songs so Matt can get aquainted with the workings of the studio. So we're supposed to chill out together, take our time, work out some new songs in a new studio for us. Of course I stayed up all night the night before to churn out a bunch of new Prewar songs. I have a few melodies with only slight variations between them and about 10 sets of lyrics to mix and match. I tried to write fun lyrics for partying and stressed out lyrics for coming down and I'm really trying to get everything uptempo. Speaking of stressed out, I am totally stressed out. I was up all night crunching lyrics and rewriting them all day and I'm all hopped up on caffeine and really grouchy. I'll be lucky if I don't ruin the session. It's a long walk from the train so I'm trying to keep it together till I get to Emandee where Dina and Matt will cheer me up. So I get there and Matt is inside, there's no buzzer so I call and he comes outside. He tells me Mark is going to come by to show us around the studio. Read more »

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On the train again out to Long Island again. It's Memorial Day I really have deep respect and empathy for those who have lost their lives fighting for our freedom and protecting our country, but do I have to sit around all day at a bbq far from the streets of my beautiful city? So I'm on the train and it is a long trip so it's a good time to go through a bunch of back issues of Deli Magazine. Deli Magazine doesn't come with a cassette sampler so it's good I have a computer with me because I can read about bands and then look up their music on myspace. Geezer on Diesel are new rock goth, updating Bauhaus, glam, Automatic, and Daydream.with a Strokesian finish. Best line " If you're looking for an answer try Satan". The live song out Out on the Lake ( recorded live at Glasslands) is hard rock fun. At Waking Lights.com I watched the video for The Waking Lights song Our Time Will Come (Clean), Our Time Will Come (Clean) is a commercial pop song, I can hear it on AM radio, the Strokesian break ( God how influential are those guys) mint the bubblegum content. This video is on Indiegogo, their motto is D.I.Y. or Die, they raised $2,860, and they have 0 time left. Read more »

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So I was teaching in a school in the Bronx and I was on a break, so I went over the Walgreens on Boston Road. It's residential there with a few stores and restaurants. I like going to Walgreens because they have a good selection of mainstream magazines so I can chill out and read the reviews in Rolling Stone and Spin, and grab some chips and a soda. So it's Bob Dylan's 70th birthday this year so he's been on the cover of a lot of magazines so I've been buying the ones I see on the newstand. I know it's an antifolk cliche and there's a lot of rewritten stuff but there's always some new arcane Bobby D. info someone uncovers. It's a cool excuse to buy different magazines that normally I just skim the reviews of and read the whole issue. So I'm at Walgreens and I buy the Rolling Stone and it features the 70 greatest Dylan songs. It's kind of a corny idea, but I guess it's always cool to read what Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Keith Richards think about Bob. The greatest Dylan song is surprisingly Like A Rolling Stone and the 70th greatest Dylan is To Ramona. Rolling Stone also put out a special collecters edition, The 100 Greatest Artists of all time. Read more »

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It's hot in more ways than one. It's 100 degrees out and I'm done with work and tomorrow we have to go out to Long Island for Mother's Day. So I get off the 6 at 125th and I'm not going to bus it west, make a cold drink, and settle in and see if Fox started their baseball coverage yet, instead I'm going to hoof it west and do my Mother's Day and late birthday shopping. Whenever I go out to the island I'm always shopping for some kind of late gift. I can never get things in the mail on time. So I pass Harlem Underground and there is a great Jimi Hendrix shirt in the window but I have a rule that when I"m shopping for gifts I don't buy anything for myself so I pass. I am thirsty though so I want to get a juice. The juice place is totally so crowded so I go to the health food store a few doors down and get in line to order a juice. So there is only one person ahead of me so I figure I can order soon. The juicer is really slow and soon there is a long line behind me and the juicer is still making this one juice so I leave and go a few doors down and make fruitpunch/lemonade at Subway. So I leave Subway and I have to get gifts. Read more »

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So I'm on the train going to Brooklyn Bowl. Dashan had texted me that he and Suz were going to see Johnny Corndog and that I should meet them there. I'm reading the new Uncut with Dylan on the cover. There were collectors choices for different covers, early sixties, mid sixties, seventies, and present. I picked the seventies cover. There is a great lost interview inside; classic, incoate, disoriented and incomprehensible. So I get off the train and text Dashan that I'm at Brooklyn Bowl. Dashan texts me that he and Suz were hungry so they are going to Blue Ribbon. So I had never been to Brooklyn Bowl and I did not know there was a Blue Ribbon there, so I was so pissed I turned off my phone because I thought Dashan and Suz had blown me off and went to Blue Ribbon for dinner. So I go into Brooklyn Bowl and I run into Dashan, Suz, and Kelly. Michael Hurley is the opener that night, so he starts and we decide to get something to eat after we watch his set. Michael Hurley is awesome. Unaccompanied on acoustic guitar, northeast hippie style, his songs are funny, friendly, and smart. Read more »

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That's what makes homeowners the strongest and most powerful people in the country. Like the actual prison population who are also the strongest and most powerful people in the country. The future of the country will be home owners and the prison population united as the nations two states. So anyway Dina, Harmon, and I reused a couple of Duane Reade shopping bags by filling them with books, clothes, and toys. The next day Harmon and I were going to donate them to the Salvation Army. We donated clothes that don't fit us anymore, Harmon grows taller and bigger, and I just grow bigger. It reminds me of a joke I heard on the David Letterman show: What do you do when you get so big that your pants don't fit anymore? Get a bigger pair of pants of course. So we took the bus down to 96th Street to the Salvation Army. I was proud of Harmon because he really does care about other people and he was carrying one of the shopping bags. So we dropped off the bags and Harmon looked at books while I looked at CDs. Harmon bought a cool travel book that comes with pencils, markers, and all different kinds of games and activities, it's amazing they can fit it all into a book. Read more »

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I can't believe it's already spring break. Harmon and I went downtown to visit the Brooklyn Bridge to complete his optional weekend exploration assignment. It was Monday so it was difficult to get him to go because he's really literal. Breakfast was from the coffee cart. Since we were on 125th Street we could buy breakfast and then shop for dvd's, we bought Hanna, Hop, and Rio. I saw the trailer for Hanna and that the Chemical Brothers did the soundtrack so I'm going to see it in the theater so this will be a good preview. The weather was great so we walked to the east side to get the 6. So we take the train to the stop and make it onto the bridge. The bridge was really crowded. It was a classic NYC mix of people. Being that it is one of the seven wonders of N.Y.C. There were tons of tourists ( it was spring break after all) and there were tons of New Yorkers peddling and hoofing it over the bridge on bike and foot. The New Yorkers are great. Some of them were getting upset at the tourists for blocking the way. I mean it is New York and there are places to go and things to do in a N.Y. minute. Read more »

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Thomas Patrick Maguire- S/T Like the hazy photograph ( reproduced color xerox) on the cover of Maguire at home near an open window guitar in hand, the songs are laid back and minimal like they were recorded in a living room or at a kitchen table. Leaving Now could be a demo for Em Are I. You Could go, You Could Stay has Maguire more indecisive over a lone snare that punctuates the indifference. Issues is a classic antifolk psych drama, similar to Phoebe Blue's Control Issues, not to mention countless issues of issues of antifolk in CDRs, zines, and open mics. Snare takes a prominent sound over Maguires vocal and guitar in the lofi pun underneath. Coin Toss continues the indecision, but the uptempo and for Maguire an almost sunny melody suggest an optimism regardless of the result of the toss. Christian Love gives the CDR religion making comparisons to John Wesley Harding obvious, except minus the bass, harmonica, and for the most part drums, so even more minimal, and clocking in at 70 minutes for 21 tracks it is a more rigorous antifolk listen. Nothing That Stitches Can't Sew is a classic lower east side punk healing anthem. Read more »

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So it was another Saturday afternoon I was wrapped up with another week of work so I called Matt to see what he was up to. Matt told me about two shows; the former a Steam Punk show, the second Rachel and Dan, The Fools and Kung Fu Crimewave at BTP. I was sure I wanted to go to BTP but I had never heard of Steam Punk before so I had to ask Matt to tell me about it. Matt told me Steam Punk is when people dress up in turn of the century ( 1899-1900 ) outfits, with turn of the century songs and instruments mixed in with more standard punk or postpunk outfits, songs and instruments. I was shocked because I'v heard of so many bands like that; Go-Go Bordello, Thomas Truax, and Arcade Fire. I felt like a lazy reader because I have read tons of articles about these artists and didn't remember the term Steam Punk. Anyway Kung Fu Crimewave have a sound I truly love ( shambling antifolk) so I knew we were going to BTP and we did. Read more »

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Major Matt Mason presents: Huggabroomstik - Alternative
Major Matt Mason narrates this rock opera/concept album. the rough outline is Time/Space/Sacrifice/Lesbians/Nuclear War/zombies, mutants, heroes, and villians. Huggabroomstik blast into outer space and befriend and are befriended by a community of outer space crusaders. Outerspace Huggabroomstik and the outerspace crusaders return to earth in order to defend earthlings from the injustices they have to endure. Multi-tracked chaotic and psychadelic alternative is absolutely the most dense record Huggabroomstik has yet recorded, chanting, very stoned guitar riffage, and prog keyboards submerge being mean means being mean into a pop morass sticky as a tar pit. Fear Foolish shows the bands folkier side harkening back to the luv-a-lot years with acoustic guitar, saw, kazoo, trumpet and tambourine with harmony vocals and uplifting lyrics proclaiming independence, freedom, and courage. THis is the part of the story when Huggabroomstik comes together and reaffirms themselves prior to their returning to earth from outerspace. Diamond Eyeballs opens stoned Read more »

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So Dashan and I were on the train going to brooklyn and he was interviewing me for O.J.'s new zine Elephant Shoe which was good because if I was being interviewed I felt I wouldn't have to do anything for it so i could be lazy. So Dashan gives me these index cards with questions on them and I'm supposed to write the answers on the index cards so this is really a lazy interview. So I start answering the questions and I'm almost done when I got a bright idea to make the interview more Prewar and only use one word answers. Needless to say I didn't finish the questions so I said I'd finish the questions on the way back. Needless to say I completely forgot about the questions till the next day. So anyway I told Dashan I'd bring them to him so he could bring the interview to Selena. Elephant Shoe went to print before Dashan got to Selena, he was up against a fast approaching deadline and my deliberations caused him to miss the deadline. So as a public service this is the Secret Salamander interviewing Prewar Yardsale Interview:
SS: What is a blog and when was the last time you saw one?
PY: At Home He's a Tourist, today.

SS: What do you think is the worst thing in the world? Read more »

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So Nick was having a birthday party at the Lucky Dog in Williamsburg, so I took the A train, transferred to the L train and got off at Bedford. Bedford Avenue is really hopping at night, there were so many people out and the sidewalk was busy and crowded. I knew the Lucky Dog was only a few blocks away from the Bedford stop, except I didn't exactly know where it was so I walked around trying to find it. I walked a six block radius a few times but I still couldn't find it. I had to call Dina to get the address and then I found it. I must have walked by it a bunch of times and not seen it. Bedford was so bustling that i must have missed it. So Nick is there and I wish him a happy birthday, I didn't have a gift, usually I give a mix tape as a gift, but I didn't have time to make one. I love making mix tapes as gifts because I can make artist/pirates dance tapes, I'm not exactly sure how much people like getting them but I love making them. I like to buy gifts too but I'm really particular so that can be difficult. Ben and Brian were there and I talked to Ben about Sidewalk. Read more »

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Instead since I was plugged in through the monitor with my fuzzbox on I decide to begin playing the intro of the first song over the between band music which was cool at first but soon got boring, so instead of putting my guitar down to take five I started to yell over to Dina to start playing. She looked at me like I was crazy, but she started playing even though she looked annoyed. So Dina and I are playing and I got a brilliant idea that we would just start the set with the between band music playing, to be unpredictable and experimental. So I thought Matt would catch on but he hadn't yet so I turned to prompt him. He was trying to tell me something but I couldn't hear him so I figure it could wait until later. It was weird though I couldn't hear his guitar even though Dina and I had fully begun to play the song and the in between music had been turned off. ASo the song sounded horrible, I couldn't hear Matt's guitar and I forgot most of the words because I was disoriented and stressed so I stopped the song about halfway through. SO that was a terrible beginning. So I'm like " Here we go again. Another horrible Prewar Yardsale show". Read more »

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So I got to BTP early which is a mistake for me because I get incredibly stressed out on the day of the show. I forgot to bring CD's so some of our fans will be disappointed and we'll make less money, oh well. So i go to the roof to look at Manhattan for awhile and then I go downstairs. I put my guitar backstage and I wish there was more room back there and a television. Then I could sit there quietly and get less stressed out. So Matt comes and I borrow his tuner and tune my guitar. Dina shows up a little later. I had already gone over the set list with Matt so then we all went over it together. I think we were all nervous and I was stressed out. I hate before the gig but during and after is fun so I guess it's worth it, and i love to write songs so it only makes sense to perform them. So I was too stressed out to remember who opened the show because I was hanging out in the hallway with Ben and Jon. When we play a show I'm a really bad fan because I'm too stressed to enjoy myself but I feel like I'm a really good fan when I don't play so I don't really worry about it. So the first set ends and I go inside to check in with Dina and Matt. Read more »

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PDX Pop Now Festival Portland virtual staycation part two I got up early and had a light breakfast of coffee and Berlin. Boy Eats Drum Machine was first and were a great mash up of 80's new wave pop, great dance music, very contemporary. It made me nostalgic for 80's when Sire ruled the new wave airwaves and dance floors. Speaking of breakfast, Breakfast Mountain was up next ( I'm so witty I thought they should play the breakfast show). Moody, brooding, and atmospheric sweeping through the desolate spaces between Joy Division and Depeche Mode. It was really dramatic I kept waiting for vocals so I was on the edge of my seat with preconception and when it wasn't met it was cool. As a jaded music writer it's fun to not understand music past the first four bars. Nick Jaina played next, I was really interested in his set because he's part of the Tender Loving Empire Store and label. I passed the store on my way to Powell's and went in to find tons of art, t-shirts, CD's, records, etc, etc, etc. There was a lot of stuff in the store so it was somewhat disorienting so I decided on Friends and Friends of Friends Vol. 3 as an introduction to this awesome space and artists. Read more »

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Dufus - Eth
The quiet psych-folk intro of Silence is brought back to mournful folk-rock Smiths style lament. Brass punctuates signature stacatto Dufus rhythms and choral for the hopeful and stirring Feed the Baby. A psych-folk mood permeates the record in cuts dastard, gracious host, life is empty, and old friends, ripple and reflect an early 70's drop songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Seth Fargolzia pipes are in form form hitting falsetto highs and Calvin lows with ease. Impeccable bass, drums and acoustic guitar set the record on understated solid ground for perfectly suited wind instruments, electronic effects (guitars?), brass, and backing vocals to embellish. Dufus brings community together to fight the emptyness of fashion with an anti-fashion belief in life, love, and family.

Portland virtual vacation Read more »

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So Dina and I were over at Matt's rehearsing for our upcoming show at BTP. We're putting in a lot of work and it's starting to sound pretty good. Matt and Dina are being stubborn about keeping our set set list. I think there are a few songs we should drop from the set because they're not very good but I guess it could be a good idea to keep them in the set because we practiced them and they sound pretty good? Matt is gong to start recording some of our songs at Emandee so at least I know which songs we are not going to record. I have to write some new songs, I have a good idea for a new batch of songs. I really wish we could warp up our M104 disc, it was so strange, I was asked to make a record and record a bunch of compilation tracks, so that was great because it seemed like people were really into Prewar and it woke me up from a writing slumber. I wrote a bunch of songs that are pretty good and got some good recordings of the songs. When we finished it was a coincidence with the economy crash, so I don't know if that was the reason or if everyone involved hated the recordings. Read more »

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When Dina, Harmon, and I moved from Manhattan to Manhattan it was the hardest button to button. At first it was, anyway, as I carefully packed away all my 7 inches, but when we arrived it was no longer the hardest button to button, it was now the missing Hardest Button to Button. For our old place in Manhattan Dina and I had gotten a car crusher machine. We saw it on television in a Chuck Norris movie. It's a space saver. You put 50 or so cars into the crusher and the cars get crushed into the size of a microwave. In our last Manhattan apartment we had 3 large closets. So we had a small kitchen, a small bathroom, and good sized living room and bedroom. Small by manhattan standards but in some parts of the world considered a large city. So we had the car compacter and we lived there for 20 years or so, so every month or so, we would pile a bunch of our stuff into the compactor, crush it down and throw it into the closet. It was a real space saver that car crusher. However when we moved from Manhattan to Manhattan we had to take all the compacts out of the closet and figure out what they were and whether we should take the stuff with us or not. Read more »

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There were two guys, I wasn't paying that close attention but they were doing songs in Spanish.

Billy Bragg - Talking with the Taxman about Poetry. The difficult third album. Like Lach's symbiotic 1980s twin in the U.K., Billy Bragg politicized like The Clash and Woody Guthrie, wailed about romance like Hank Wiliams, and rocked like The Clash, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams. On Talking with the Taxman, Bragg splits his time between being a helpless, albeit cynical, romantic, and a political firebrand. Johnny Marr and Kirsty McÇoll give Greetings to the New Brunette and the Warmest Room folk-rock style pop. A new development for Bragg. Despite his new found pleasantness Bragg gets political on Ideology, There is Power in a Union, and Help Save the Youth of America. Sometimes the sentiments seem overly didactic or empty sloganeering but when you think about how many musical artists never address things like this, you wonder why more don't, I mean people buy your records, and there's something awesome that Bragg, even if it is sometimes clumsy or heavy handed, remembers to remind the people they have rights as human beings and not to be afraid to demand and protect these rights. Read more »

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It was Saturday night and I had the place to myself, but event though I could have really slacked off I was being industrious. I was listening to V.U. and JMC to copy down some of the drum patterns they use. Dina's been asking me to write some drum patterns for her so she could change her drumming to be more on time. I keep telling her she should do it, but I guess she can't do it or she thinks I'll have fun doing it. It actually was fun. Bobby Gillespie and Mo Tucker are both really great drummers. And writing out their drum patterns is awesome. 4/4 and 8/8 with a lot of changes and combinations, very minimal but still very complex and the playing is really suited to the music. I went through 4 LPs and had a lot of great drum patterns. I was also getting a bit burnt out. JMC and VU are great bands, but their so rigorous listening to such challenging songs can really wear you out. Luckily for me Matt called me up to meet at a gallery on the lower east side for a concert with Phoebe, Julie, Julie and Dan playing. Matt had called me a few days ago but I spaced and never called him back. Read more »

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After a long weekend of doing a whole lot of stuff or after a long weekend doing a whole lot of nothing Sunday night is a good time to relax with some herbal tea and make a connection with the collective unconscious of the planet. So I turn on the television. Sunday is a great t.v. night because the Adventures of Electra Elf is on. I love that show. Nick Zedd is the television part and art stars are the cast and crew. Nick Zedd is a great film-maker. I don't understand all his ideas but I know that's o.k. because he's so ahead of the curve. I remember seeing a bunch of his films from the 1990's and other film/video people didn't start using those ideas until the 2000's and they were people that were the curve, so it was kind of fun to see them standing in the dust with their new dust. I think Reverend Jen and Zedd write the scripts. Reverend Jen plays the Electra Elf character and sometimes they use the special effect where the same person can be on the screen twice, so I think Jen plays two characters sometimes. Sometimes Jon King is on the show, sometimes he holds the boom mic. Read more »

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So Dina and I took the D train down to OJ Central to rehearse...So I switched out some of the songs, sped up the tempo, told Matt he had to play electric guitar on every song, and told Dina to start to work out some drum parts, which she did admirably on a chair. It sounded great. I wish it was our gig, then I could just be lazy for awhile. So we ran through the songs again and it was great. You should really come see our show at BTP because it is going to be awesome. Speaking of awesome, after rehearsal we went over to see Nan and the One Night Stands at Cakeshop. So a couple of months ago I saw Nan the One Night Stands at Sidewalk and of course it was awesome. Nan is talented beyond belief. You could really call her talent or an entertainer and it would be accurate. Nan solo used to be all about guitar and songs but she has really taken it up a notch. She'll still pick up a guitar for a song or two but the rest of the show is Las Vegas. She even does a great song about Elvis. Live beats, recorded beats, Mark on old school bass, Sam on staccato funk runs, a cast of many, Susan, Yoko, Angela, Julie, singing, dancing, and jamming. Read more »

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So I was meeting Dina and Matt at OJ Central to start rehearsals for our upcoming show at BTP. I think Brian is putting us on a bill with Kung Fu Crime wave. Brian told Dina he wasn't doing Mars Chronicles right now so they're not going to play. Oh well, maybe next time. I love that band. The rock show we were going to play got canceled when Sidewalk closed for renovation. Oh well, maybe next time, I feel bad for Bernard because he already paid us on our guarantee and now the show's not going to happen so he's going to be really in the red on this one. I guess I really should give him back the money. Oh well, maybe next time. So I bought a six pack of red stripe beer because it makes me remember how cool Jamaica is and I thought it would be cool to drink some beers during rehearsal. So I get to OJ Central and even thought it's still office hours the front door is locked. So I think O.K., it's Saturday, it must have been a slow day and Matt being a cool boss probably let the staff leave early. So I call him up. No answer. I call Dina. No answer. So I'm standing out in front of O.J. Central by myself with a six pack of red stripe. I decided to drink a red stripe while I waited. Read more »

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I was at home and I thought I was tired so I was lying on the sofa listening to the radio. I was about to get up and start an argument with Dina until...I stopped... I thought... I was bored. I remembered it was Olive Juice night at Sidewalk that night so I grabbed my coat, put on some shoes an ran out the door. I brought the Coby to listen to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid on the train. The tape started to warp! That's it! The Coby is for radio use only So I'm on the D train going amazingly slow with no Coby and no magazines. I was worried I was going to miss the show because I left kind of late. I was hoping I could still catch Schwervon! And then hang out for awhile at the chill out party Matt was going to D.J. at. The train was so slow, so when I got downtown it was exactly midnight and when I got to Sidewalk the show was over. I was somewhat surprised because it was the Antifolk Festival and sometimes the shows run late. I looked around for Herb because I knew he was covering the festival for American Songwriter but I couldn't find him. He must have disappeared right after the show. I listened to Matt D.J. from his laptop. He was playing alternative music. Read more »