The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

My mom came back from the face-reading seminar in California and I was afraid she was going to see through my face to some horrible part of my soul but she didn’t. We walked the dogs, then I made omelets for Leslie and we had breakfast on the porch and it was such a beautiful day! I killed my beloved plant shiffy. I can’t believe I spent all summer rehabilitating this damn thing only to kill it in one careless night where I didn’t think it would frost but then it did. ArGG! But the day was beautiful and THIS was the day Sara Beck was coming over to write so I tidied up a little, and when she arrived she told me she almost had to cancel because her grandpa died. I told her I was sorry and did she want to take the day off and she said no it was okay, so we wrote what (the more I think about it) is a pretty good song! After she left Leslie and I went to Baja Burrito and we saw Eric from “Hurts to Laugh” and he was raving about myspace. I came up with a parody of myspace called “micespace” which i thought was brilliant but when Liz went to go register the domain, somebody already had it. DAMN! a little bit late once again. It’s alright. One of these days I’ll hit it. Then we walked and went to K&S market and looked at all the rice cookers and bought some groceries.($47) It was really hard to choose which dumplings to get because they have like literally 75 kinds! So there were some Japanese people there so I asked them, and they pointed at some and said “these are good.” so I got those, but when I looked in their cart, they had a different kind! What the hell?!! When we got home, Leslie bought her ticket to Bangkok online and I watched Iron Chef and made some vegetables in the wok and some brown rice.

Walked early with Bob and he told me he once had lunch with someone from “Beyond The Fringe” which was impressive. I told him the gag I heard about “The Mime Who Never Shuts Up”. I can’t remember where I heard it but this mime comes out on stage and basically never stops talking! I thought Sara Beck was coming over but I had the wrong day, but before I figured it out I had cleaned the entire house! Meg Thompson called about a benefit concert at the belcourt and I met her and James Digiralamo at Portland Brew. I was thinking about what Jack Silverman said about how they are real Christian there, and they’re closed on Sunday. I don’t mind that. They have good coffee but I already had some so we sat there and talked and I don’t know about these cattle-call type benefit things. It seems like you end up waiting around forever backstage and then you finally go on at 1:30 in the morning to play for 12 people and nobody ever thanks you. So we’ll see. I like Meg, but I don’t know. Then James and I went to Chinatown and we made a deal to help each other solve the other’s respective dilemmas. Mine was could I afford to buy this rice cooker I’ve been looking at. His was also financial, he was trying to decide if he should buy this nord lead keyboard he’s been wanting. We told each other to buy what we wanted! Sometimes you need someone else to give you permission to do what you know you want to do anyway. Dropped James at his car then took a short nap, and when I woke up it was time to walk Posh, so we went to the library, and I decided to make Thai Beef Red Curry! This dish turned out well, and it was punctuated by a VERY funny John Stewart on CNN. He said that he lost respect for Bill Frist when he “Diagnosed Terry Shiavo from 5 seconds of video tape” as being “A couple pilates classes away from joining the Rockettes!” and it seemed like he made it up on the spot! It was so funny. He had Larry King cracking up the whole time. Leslie had another rough day at work and somebody with road-rage cut her off on the way home which sent her over the edge. I gave her a beer and some thai food and she chilled out. I was happy about the dish, it came out well, and the Jasmine rice was good too. Then we watched that great french film “To Be and To Have.” what a winner. Leslie special-ordered it at tower so we could own it; and it’s one of those movies you want to have. So is “The Seven Samurai” by the way and it’s never in! I may just break down and buy it, but the only one is the Criterion which is great but almost 40 bucks! Leslie got a charlie horse in the middle of the night and I’m so glad I don’t get those because they seem horrible.

Walked early with the dogs, then made an omelet and read a new yorker article about omelet chefs. Leslie got called in to work so I dozed on the couch for a minute, until Jack Silverman called and we went to the Golden Coast chinese buffett. They had so many things to eat! We both kind of overdid it. Before I realized what was happening, I was pitching Jack on a column…”Daniel Tashian’s Nashville”, sort of based on that idea that Peter Cook had but never did, called “Peter Cook’s London” where it’s all about stuff that happens between his front door and his mailbox! Jack said he has no power at the paper which is a nice way of saying he didn’t think it was a good idea. It’s like an A&R guy telling you they can’t sign anything. I said “bullshit! yes you do!” he laughed and he finally said “write a sample of it.” Now I have to figure out what to write. I told my dad about it and he said “That’s not a very good name. Daniel Tashian doesn’t sound like a Nashville-type name. ‘Peter Cook’ sounds so English…” He didn’t think it was a good idea. “There goes your free time.”
I should run things by my dad that I DON’T want to do, and he could just re-inforce and validate those feelings. Then he told me all the people who came to his high school to perform for the kids:
Thelonius Monk, Andre Segovia, Bo Diddley, Marcel Marceau! He said they were famous then, but not yet icons. I told him we had Garth Brooks. When I got home I got the idea to organize the kitchen which I didn’t want to do at first but there were a lot of things that needed to be tossed. I threw out like 75 pounds of stuff. Then I made some basmati rice in the rice cooker. Leslie called her parents and her sister and I called Greta Gaines. She said she’s producing a movie and wants me to be a consultant. I said sure. Garrsion Star called and asked me to go on the road and I was flattered because she’s a fabulous singer but I don’t think I can go. We watched some of Etre tu Avoir about that french school teacher and fell asleep.

Decided to sleep in almost out of spite more than anything else, but it sort of backfired because posh was anxious all day, as if saying “Why the deviation from the routine? What’s going to happen?” I was telling her to get out of the trash every five seconds! Went to Krogers and they gave me a free bag of carrots, and bought some groceries. ($19) but when I went to check out I went to the express lane and there was a woman with about 57 items. I decided to say something. “Oh…I’m sorry. I thought this was the express lane, for people with 15 items or less.” Then I looked at her with mock confusion. She mumbled something, and I said “Excuse me?” and she said: “I was talking to him.”, gesturing to the cashier. I know i’m a jerk and an annoying whistle blower but I don’t care! It was fun to bust her! Then came home and made some eggs and toast. Then Leslie took posh on a walk while I tested this barbecued chicken recipe. It was quite good. Then went for a walk with my dad to the library and I wanted to find a book on desserts, so dad waited in the lobby with the dogs and I could hear them barking from all the way in the back of the library which was bad, and to make things worse, my cell phone rings RIGHT as the librarian comes around the corner and she busts me and tells me to get out.
So the buster and bustee in one day. But it was Lex Price calling and he told me we would resume making Mindy Smith’s record this coming week which i’m excited about, and Lex said Viktor Kraus would be on some of the sessions which is great because he’s fabulous! But I wonder if that means I won’t get to play the bass. Then me and my gran and my dad went to the interasian market which was amazing! They have all this great stuff and it’s so cheap. Got some Baby bok choy and some condiments and thought about getting a rice cooker, but my dad convinced me not to. He doesn’t like to see me spend money. “You don’t need a rice cooker.” The groceries were $17 and I pulled out the $20 bill I had- “There goes your 20.” he says. He would provide commentary to every dime I spent if possible but sometimes he’s right, you can get some things for cheaper. For instance I started researching these rice cookers and there is a lot of price difference, but they pretty much all do the same thing.
Made some bok choy for leslie and then we decided to go to the new Target in brentwood, which was nice but they funnel you from the front door RIGHT into the ladies clothes department, which i’m sure is annoying for all the guys because you go there thinking: “right. paper towels, dishwashing detergent…” then immediately it becomes: “does this make me look fat?” so we ended up spending about an hour in there to get four or five things. There’s some good stuff but mostly junk. I tried on some hats, but the one I liked best was too small. Came home then went to bed. I was so itchy from this awful patagonia underwear that I almost couldn’t fall asleep but I did.

Walked the dogs early then tried to tidy up the place. I went to Chinatown for lunch and Andy said “Where your family?” I told him Leslie was working and I thought I might see my dad or Bob there. “Want to call them?” He asked. Then I went home and put a reel of songs together for a meeting with Carla at Big Yellow Dog. Then I got the mail and there was a check so I wanted to go to the bank first but there was too much traffic so I changed my mind, but then I ended up being late and I was out of breath and Carla was laughing. The meeting went well, I thought. She played me a Rod Stewart song and said “I play this for everybody. This is how demos should sound.” She told me she really liked the 12 string, and I thought this was good because the Bees has lots of 12 string. Then went to the bank with Bob and Lynn and dad and the dogs. Lynn just got back from Washington reviewing grant proposals. She said everything is geared toward getting people to change their behavior and be more healthy. But the people who most need to change are the ones who are the most set in there ways. I think you have to just count all the people who are overweight and smoke and in their 40’s and 50’s as a lost cause, and start working on the kids. Then I went out to Lynn Howard’s farm to see Helen Bransford and Maisie and Barrett. Maisie wasn’t there but Barrett was and he looked cool with long hair. Helen kept begging me to pull out a guitar so I did and I ended up teaching John Clifton and Barrett a White Stripes song. John’s attention span was longer so he picked it up better, but Barrett was good too. Helen told me Jimmy Buffett is doing the pig book with her and he’s working on film deals and I had my chance. I guess I missed that one. He’s a clever guy, Jimmy Buffett. I love Margaritaville. So Barrett seemed a little melancholy, having moved away from all his friends, but he’ll be allright. I talked to Jay McInerney on the phone, I told him I would come to his booksigning next week at Davis Kidd. Helen said Paris Hilton’s parents were throwing the party for him in LA. Mildred Bell was there and she said her cookbook would be out in July. Cissy Akers was also there, as well as Nancy Belzer. I dished the dirt with the girls for a while while Barrett played with his friends, and then Posh was tired so we went home. Watched some of Broken Flowers which had some nice lighting but Bill Murray was so deadpan. I don’t know. They said it was a comedy, but it didn’t seem like the dialogue was very funny.

Went to the office in the morning to meet Grey, who has doubled our myspace friends in like 2 weeks. I haven’t gone on to myspace as much as I probably should. I had a Red Bull and so I got kind of hyper and then I was cracking everybody up telling them about how Leslie once told me she pictured herself with someone larger. Then I went home and crashed after the red bull wore off. When I woke up it was almost dark so I took posh to the library and then started to make dinner. Leslie went to a brazillian dance concert and I went to bed.

Leslie had a cold so I took the dog around, then went to Athens greek restaurant for a Bees meeting. Jason said he wanted to start a band called “The Internet”, kind of like “Interpol” or something. Then I came home and decided to make a chicken soup for Les, but I couldn’t make it without ginger and there was no ginger so I scratched that, then we took a long nap and watched some food network. I called Carl and he said he was wanted to make a website related to food. Then we went to Hecht’s and I found the frying pan of my dreams! ($110) and we got home and I wanted to cook something in it but I couldn’t think of anything and Leslie said she wanted something sweet so we had ice cream and watched “The Aristocrats”. Gilbert Godfrey is hilarious.

Had an interesting meeting with Kyle Lehning. He said he wanted to do more gigs with his B3 band, he said they would even play at a “manhole dedication”! He was helpful at evaluating some songs, and he seemed to like one of the songs I brought him. Then I came home and watched some VH1, and K.T. Tunstall is getting some airplay, and that’s good because I like her. There’s a lot of bands out right now. I don’t think a lot of them are very good. Then I went to the library just in time to see Brad Jones speeding off on his motorbike. His scarf was blowing in the wind behind him, he looked so debonair. Then I was supposed to get together with Mindy Smith and write and so I called her but she said she was in a bad mood because she had just quit smoking and she really associated writing with smoking and I know how that goes. She said she was just playing her PSP alot and trying not to think about it. She said “please don’t be mad at me”, but I wasn’t at all. Then Brad Jones called and he said he was playing with the Autumn Defense tonight at the Basement and that I should come because they really were doing some great 3-part harmonies. I told him I wanted him to teach me some Jamerson bass riffs and he said sure! That’s my new thing: Ask people to teach me things.

Adrian Bahan came by for lunch and he brought me some mix cds. He’s like John Cusack in that movie where he’s always making mixes. I thought he was going to come at noon and I made some soup but he didn’t show up til 2 o’clock and the soup was cold so he asked me to heat it up. The mix cds had a lot of more punkish stuff on them, like “You’ll Never Be Famous” by the Clutters and “I Predict a Riot” by the Kaiser Chiefs. He should really be an A&R guy because he knows all the young bands that the kids are listening to. I told him he could turn people on to new bands, “That’s grimey’s job. ” he said. “I like being a teacher.” It was cool to see Kyle Andrews on there, because he is playing my NSAI round with me in March. Lex Price said he’s got it all, the looks, the songs, the musicianship. I can’t wait to hear him. I’ll probably get depressed and want to kill myself because he’s so good. Then Adrian told me about the guy Eric in east nashville who got shot, and that HE WAS THE GUY who FOUND HIM! He looked really traumatized by this and I told him I had no idea! He said he heard screaming and then went outside and found this guy had been shot and there was nobody there, none of the neighbors would come outside and he had to call the police. How horrible! I said that would make me want to move, he said no way, it made the neighborhood really rally together and now if someone even looks suspicious the police are right there. Still the whole thing really freaked me out. Then he left and I started watching the food network and I’m going to get fat as hell if I keep watching that because it makes me want to cook more, so they were making 30minute bolognese sauce with Rachel Ray which I had to make, so I went to Kroger for some groceries ($14). Then James Digiralamo came by and had a beer with me. He said Holly Williams was calling him to work but he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. He played me a good song that he and Jody Spence had written. Something about a bluebird.