The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

So I decided to do this barbecue thing for Butterfly and Dawson and bands, etc. and there was a lot to do, and I tried to get up with Leslie, but that Oatmeal Cookie thing had me sort of green around the gills. Leslie dropped posh and her new backpack off on her way to work, and I got to sleep in, which was nice, but sort of haunted by the fact that there was a ton of things to do when I did wake up. Watched some of “Psycho” with Anthony Perkins, and the way they shot the murder scenes is truly terrifying. Woke back up about 9:30, took a shower and my Uncle Dee called and said they were out driving around and wanted to stop by, but I had too much to do, and things were kind of disorganized, so they said maybe another time. Went to pick up Posh and had breakfast with my parents and I was kind of chatty. I was in the mood to talk and I even told the whole plot of a Chekhov story to everyone. My grandmother said she loves keeping a diary, she kept one for years and finds it fascinating to read now. Took Posh home and she’s been taking things off the counter, so I set a dog trap, and waited, and she fell for the bait and I scolded her. Then I went to Kroger and got stuff for the Barbecue ($97) and came home and tidied up a bit and started cooking food, and I made home made ice cream starter. I had already grilled a lot of stuff by the time people started showing up, and at first it was just me and Charlotte and Mack and we were sort of staring at each other, but Charlotte got the ice cream machine going, and pretty soon, people were showing up, and there was about 20 people in all. L.T. came, who works for Gillian and Dave, and she’s interesting. And Leslie went to the liquor store because not everybody wanted beer, and I tried to sell people on Campari, and I don’t think they liked it. All the more for me! Grimey and Jason White and Andrea showed up later, and they brought Maddie, so the dogs were playing and Posh was ecstatic to see another dog. So everybody had fun, and Leslie was great, getting the music going. There was a lull, and she put on Shuggie Otis, and the party was saved. She got out these party lights from Thailand, and everybody was putting them together and it was fun. I played some ideas for Butterfly, and she seemed like she liked at least one or two, but I really need to make some more, just for this project specifically, but all in all, everyone had fun and at the end of the night Marc and Grimey were still here and I had to say “Get out!” and they left and we went to bed.

Walked early and answered some emails. Played the Butterfly rehearsal CD and it’s kind of underwhelming. I’m off like half the time. Made some notes and practiced a little bit. Leslie and I picked up my Uncle Dee and my grandma and went to Sitar for lunch. We got there early and ate too much. Dee was saying about how we had to start saving some money, because who knows if social security will be around when we’re old? I was getting indigestion, but the strange thing is, some people like to talk about finances over meals and it makes them even enjoy the meal more! I would like to be one of those people one day. In other words, successful. Took a nap with Leslie and woke up changed guitar strings and packed up my stuff and went to The Basement for soundcheck. That place sounds good, in general. The band sounded really tight. Angelo called, and he said come over because he was grilling out. Got to Angelo and Eulene’s and called Leslie and she said she would come over. Had a burger and some Brauts and Angelo hooked me up with a cool blue suit and some black “Beatle Boots” for the gig. I realized when I got home I was minus a pair of sunglasses and I wanted to hang myself. Melissa Mathes texted me and said did I have guest list power for the Butterfly show? and I told her I would put her on. She’s like me. She always wants to be on the guest list and she’s just not afraid to ask, unlike me. Went to the gig and Charlotte Avant was there, and Steve and Jill Walsh, and Kristy West and Jason and Heather Lehning, and they told me they are DJ’ing this Thursday at Layla. Also saw Curt Perkins and he’s moving out of his old house, and I guess he and Kristen are on the rocks. Haggs was there and he got a haircut and I told him it looked good. Then I told Curt he should get a haircut, and he said he’s tried it many times, but his ears were too big. Haggs said it looked like my hair wasn’t as thin as it was the last time he saw me, so maybe the thermal fusion is working? Saw Caroline Hagan and she’s funny. She gave me a piece of gum and was watching me chew it. Then she said “Now we’re all going ‘chomp chomp chomp’ ” and it was funny. Roger and Barbara Moutenot were there, but one of the kids called and they had to go. Same with Will and Jessica Kimbrough. They get the call, and they have to go. Dawson’s band played and it was his record release party, and they were all wearing these cool suits. Leslie came, and she looked so beautiful. She hung out for a while, but went home because she had to work in the morning. Then we went on about 11 and my monitor was off, and then when it came back on it was super loud, and it was hot, but overall, we were having fun, and Butterfly’s songs are really fun to play. It seemed like it was over kind of fast, and I think that’s good. If you play too long, you lose mystique. Not that I really had any, but she might. I kind of complained to Grimey about the technical problems and he said “Don’t make me feel guilty about that! I’ve already got enough guilt.” and then he was kind of sad-looking, and I felt bad for yelling at him, because it was partly my fault, we should have checked all the lines before we started, but what can you do? Bobby Bare Jr. was there, and he and Megan just had a baby and he asked me if I went to Hillsboro and I said yes, and he said that everybody that went there, went to rehab, and he asked if I ever went to rehab (laughs). He said pot always made him throw up. I like him alot, he’s a funny guy. Eric Dale was laughing and threw a beer can at someone. Jaren Johnson and one other guy from Bang Bang Bang were there and they said they liked my DJ set. They said they met Liz Norris that night, but were too hammered to remember. We are supposed to write. Kate York was there and she said everybody she knows is writing with me. She asked me if I had a publishing deal, and she wants to hook me up with “her guy”. She’s nice. Dawson was funny, saying “I’m home, take me drunk!” and stuff like that. Carrie Pisapia was there and I told her and Katie Cook and Mellissa and Kristy West that we should start an “improv” troupe and Carrie said she studied with one of the masters of improv, and she liked the idea. I stuck around for a while after the gig and talked to a few people and had a horrible shot called an “Oatmeal Cookie” which I hated. Went home about 2AM and went to bed. Still mad at myself about my sunglasses.

Walked early and had Breakfast with my Uncle Dee. He has been some interesting places lately, like Egypt and Peru, and he was telling us about them. Went home and tidied up because Jeremy Lister was coming over. Met him for lunch at Calypso, and he said his wife does “Hydro-Colon Therapy.” and I said I was a big believer in that. So we came back to my house and I played him some “Reason” ideas, which turned out to be a good thing to do, because he fixated on one of them, and I think I will do that more often because it made the whole process easier, to have a jumping off point. We finished a song called “Hostage” and it’s pretty good, I think. Kind of radiohead-ish. That would be funny to have a band called “Stereoface” (laughs). Leslie made a salad and we took a six pack of Miller Lite over to my parents and had dinner with my uncle and he grilled up a grill “medley” of Pork Chops, Steak, and Chicken, and it was all excellent. I must get the recipe for his marinade. We watched some slides from his trip “Around the Horn” and it was interesting. He was lecturing me, really trying to convince me that I needed to travel more, and I was saying I couldn’t afford it, and he was saying, well, that’s for you to figure out. So, we had a nice dinner, and we basically went home and went straight to bed.

Walked early and practiced Butterfly for a couple hours, and called David Mead, and he said he didn’t need a ride, and my brain was tired, so I took a nap for a couple hours, then drove to east nashville to Marc’s and I tried to go the way David showed me but I got lost, so I had to re-trace my steps and I finally found it. I was the first one there and I replaced my batteries and strings ($38) and Feng Shuied my pedals. I was determined to be all business in this rehearsal. But still, I made some errors, but we sounded pretty good. Tried to meet Leslie at Las Cazuelas, but it was closed, and so was Olive Garden, and so we drove all over the place and finally wound up at Sunset Grill and we split a Ceasar Salad and a Sunset Burger ($18) and went home and went to bed.

Tidied up because Natalie was coming over, but she didn’t show up and so I called her, and she said she was sorry, but her husband’s sister had died really un-expectedly, so she had to cancel, which was fine, so I worked on butterfly some more, and made some various vegetable dishes. I got a wild idea to Feng Shui the bedroom, and Leslie was at work, so I thought why not? Turned on some VH1 Classics and started folding clothes, and it took a few hours, but it made the room feel a lot better, and instead of being my least favorite room, now it’s my favorite, and it was a nice suprise for Leslie, who was coming off 5 days work in a row, so she was happy. We watched some TV and had some Pasta and went to bed.

Walked early and Posh was being a pest. Leslie worked again for the 4th day in a row. Cleaned up a little and Melissa called to say she forgot she had to work, and my dad came over and fixed the lawn mower. He showed me how to “re-hab” a spark plug. Interesting. Then I had to tell the lawn people: “false alarm”, because I got the mower going, and then I had no choice but to mow the lawn. Finished and took a shower and changed clothes and had a personal pizza. Then Jessica Verges came over and we worked on a demo and it was coming out cool but I was sort of distracted because I was thinking about butterfly songs. Picked up David Mead and Butterfly and went to East Nashville, to Marc’s, and the old songs sounded good. Then we practiced the whole set, and I think it’s going to be a good show, but there’s definitely a lot to remember. At one point my guitar was too loud, and butterfly said the feedback was hurting her teeth. But besides me, the band is really good. Took everybody to Cabana where they have a 2 for one Pizza and Margarita deal. I was telling John Deaderick jokes in the car and not giving him any credit again. Dropped them off and went home and had a salad and Leslie said it was another tough one, and I watched some Rachel Ray, and she was in Denver, sampling ales. Went to bed.

Walked early and Posh was so excited because it wasn’t as hot. Finished watching Wimbledon and I was kind of depressed when it was over. But there’s always the next thing. It was so predictable this year, though. No upsets whatsoever. Cleaned the kitchen and made some calls. I made some eggs for egg salad. Went to drop off some bees cds for Frank at PureMusic. Went to visit my friend Bill and he is building a Pagoda for his cars to live under. Called Leslie and told her I was in the mood for Pei Wei. I think Pei Wei would be a good stock to buy. We met at my parents house and went out there. We sat outside and talked about trips and both Leslie and I remarked that the first night on her friend’s eco-tour in Gautemala was unbelievable! Then we got sick and it started raining. But my dad said next time go with an “established” tour guide. Then we went to Publix and got a few things ($12.97). Everybody wants to start conversations in there. The deli guys, the cashiers. I like it. Got home and watched some of “Bounce” with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck and she’s really good. So believable. Went to bed about 11.

Walked early and only got 3 hours sleep, so I had to go back to bed, and when I woke up about noon I was really out of it. Made myself a sandwich and watched some TV and I was watching this marathon of the show “Intervention” on A&E, and man, what a show. What I like about it, is there’s no narration, so the action speaks for itself: there’s no voice on there, saying dumb things like “But Cheryl was about to slip on the razor sharp slope of Heroin addiction”, or some bullshit like that. But it occurred to me that some of these people sort of peak too early, they’re too talented, or everbody loves them too much. They feel like they can’t live up to people’s expectations of who they should be, so they just say “screw it.” They also happen to fall in with the wrong crowd. But I thought about my friend Coleman, who was so talented, like WAY more talented than any of us other kids, but he became a heroin addict, and that gets expensive, so he had to steal things, and now he’s in jail. So sometimes I think it’s good to not peak too early, and for parents to not tell their children that they are “perfect beautiful angels” and stuff like that, because nobody’s perfect. Went to Bill Demain’s video party, and it was cool because I was in the mood to watch TV, but I ate so much junk food, it was shameful. I met a friend of Butterfly’s called Heidi Ross, and Frank from Pure Music was there and he wants to review the bees. Everybody was saying sorry for not being at the Bees show, and Brad and Carrie were there, and Jen Cohen, and she knows lots of Jewish jokes and she’s always telling them and making puns, like “it wouldn’t be jew-dicious” and stuff like that. There was some great footage of Marvin Gaye from some outdoor concert, and I think he’s the greatest singer I’ve ever heard, period. Also, some cool sixties movies, like “The Knack, and How to Get it”, which was some kind of psychedelic mysoginistic period piece, faintly reminiscent of “The Apartment” from what I could tell. It was nice, but it was kind of long, and It felt like there was no actual oxygen left in the room by the time it was over. Leslie came halfway through and was rolling her eyes at me the whole time like: “I’m SOOOO tired” and I kind of felt like well why did you come? But she said well maybe I won’t come to parties when I’m tired, and I said well, maybe you shouldn’t, and she said well then you probably won’t see very much of me, as in, well, i’m pretty much always tired. But she looked beautiful, and she can be very social when she wants to be. But typically, if I feel really tired, I won’t go out, because it takes so much energy to be nice to people, and I don’t want to go out and be in a bad mood. Went to bed around 12:30.

Walked early and Leslie worked, but I was so sleepy I had to go back to bed. I had really strange dreams, and woke up and watched some TV. The whole DJ thing really blew my mind, and I needed some time to process things. Talked on the phone and answered some emails. Then got ready for the Bees soundcheck and changed strings and stuff. Got dressed for the gig because I took a shower, and got to soundcheck about 7ish. Robert Ellis Oral’s son’s band was doing an in-store upstairs at Grimey’s so we couldn’t really sound check for an hour. Then there were all these pesky frequencies in the guitar and Grimey’s not really passionate about EQ, so Jason worked on it for a while. Went home and Leslie made steak and potatoes and salad, and she had a long day, so she said was it alright if she didn’t come and I said sure. Went back down there, and Jason’s brother Eric’s band played and they were really good. “Make-Out with Violence is a film they’re working on, and it looks really good. The band is called “Lazerman and the non-comissioned officers” and it was cool to watch them. The Bees got off to a slow start due to technical difficulties, but after we got going, things were good, and Angelo and Eulene came, and Kristy West was in the back, where I like to look when I sing, and she was singing along with all the words and it was cool. Also, Ian and Meg were there on the front row, and Meg is pregnant, so Ian got her a chair to sit on, and he’s chivalrous like that. People enjoyed the show, and I talked to Delaney Gill for a while, and Mike’s friend Kate, and Jon Wright and Jason Gray were there, and everybody was having fun. Viktor hung around and was talking shop with Marty Krutchfield, and that’s a great name, “Marty”. He’s the only Marty I know. Talked to Mary Breen and she said one of her hobbies was cooking, so I went into one of my schpeals about the evils of non-stick cookware, and she seemed kind of disappointed, then she told me she just spent tons of money on all-new non-stick cookware and I felt stupid, and I was back-pedaling, saying “Well, it’s great for this and that and blah blah” and I can really be such a phony sometimes. Went home about 3 and crawled into bed.

Walked early and spent most of the day working on Butterfly’s music. And it’s complicated stuff. Each song will typically have a key change or two, and several split bars, and at least 3 different sections. It’s good for me, though. Went to rehearse at Marc Pisapia’s house and lucky for me, David Mead is really on top of what he’s doing. She was very thorough and serious about the rehearsals, and would often tell Marc to place the kick drum here as opposed to there. It was interesting, and it reminded me of how I used to be with Jay Joyce, and trying to get him to play a guitar line exactly the way I played it on the demo. He never would (laughs), but he would usually come up with something better than I had to begin with. Left rehearsal about 9:30 and went to this new club called “Lay’la” and it was nice. I was supposed to DJ for 30 to 45 minutes and I brought my ipod and I was really excited about it. Emily West was there and Tommy Keenum and Leslie came. Heather and Jason Lehning came and also David and Natalie. Liz was there too. Emily West went on before me, and she played that great Gnarls Barkley song that spooks the tar out of me every time I hear it. I was nervous that I wouldn’t play stuff that was cool, and so was Deanna Bruton, who got me the gig, but I went on and played my songs and everybody danced and it was great! Deanna told Leslie that she wondered if I would want to DJ on a Friday or a Saturday night and I don’t know if she was serious, but I would love to! They gave me a $100 dollar tab, and I saw Leigh Nash, and she said definitely call her, so I will. Leslie had to work, so she left after my set, but I stayed for a while and danced and hung out with Liz and David and Natalie. Left about 2:30 and went right to bed.