The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Well, Leslie gets back today. Somebody said they never see us anywhere together. Oh, it was Frank. I told him that was one of our secrets of success (laughs)! Walked the big walk with the dogs and the coolest Henry Mancini song came on my ipod, but I don’t know what it was. Also, sometimes Elliot Smith is so dour. He’s like a not-funny Oscar Wilde. I guess he was like that. Waited for Vicky to give me a ride to take the caddy home but she didn’t show up, so I just went over there and waited and she came about 2 o’clock. Made migas and went to Krogers with my grandma ($47) and we got some chicken and i’m going to make barbecued chicken, then of course tomorrow, barbecued chicken salad! Worked for about 2 hrs in the afternoon, then called Bob and Lynn and invited them for dinner, and it was going to be great, but the Weber had no propane left, but I didn’t know it! So the chicken was cooking for like half an hour and it still was raw! It was so disgusting! I couldn’t believe how bad it was. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die, I was so embarrassed, but I tried to remember that thing Julia Child said about never show your disappointment, but it wasn’t working. Leslie arrived, and she had already eaten, but she brought some rum and vanilla ice cream to make bananas foster, and luckily the dessert made up for the dinner. Talked to Leslie a little about her trip, and she stopped at Ikea and found some cool stuff and she wants to remodel the upstairs. I think we should. Probably sooner as opposed to later. Leslie and I took the dogs around and it was misty and nice. Went to bed about 11.

My grandma left me a note that said: “Gone to an all day choir rehearsal” with a smiley face on it, but the thing was, it was next week. So she was confused. But she appeared and said: “What day is this?” when she found nobody at the church. But we went out to lunch at Athens, and it can be kind of boring hanging out with her because she asks the same questions over and over, but i’ve developed a new technique! Read the paper! She likes this too, because she doesn’t feel required to make conversation, which is why she does all that asking of questions. It’s to entertain me! So she doesn’t mind at all, and we read the NY Times and she had Spanicopita and I had chicken Souvlaki. We saw Heather and Jason Lehning, and Devon from Jessica’s band. I guess that’s the place to be on Sundays. Came home and worked on the Reggae stuff and took a nap, and then Angelo called and he was having a barbecue and I went over there and the food was delicious and Frank Swart was there with his whole family and his son Izzy is a trip. That kid wanted to jam from the moment he walked in the door. But it’s funny because a kid wanting to jam with musician parents is like asking a postman if he wants to go for a walk. Then I met Mel and Vicki and took my gran to Chinatown. Went home and watched some TV and Good As it Gets was on again and I love that movie.

Tried to walk and my legs were killing me! Much worse today! I only made it around the block, and that took unbelievable resolve. I mean, I have really aged. It used to be overdoing it would put me out of commission for a day or 2, but it’s been like 3 days! I really need to drink more water. Leslie called from Florida, and she’s having fun with her sister and Mary, and they went to Lowe’s and got some paints and I guess they’re doing home improvements. Jeremy Lister called and he needed to borrow a guitar. I met him at the house and told him I would come to the gig later. Then, when I went down there, they had the street blocked off, and it was like an outdoor concert and there was nowhere to park! I hate parking around there anyway, with all the bums and stuff. I’m afraid of them. I always walk really fast from the car to the Mercy so I don’t get mugged. And the worst thing is if i’m with Leslie and she’s wallking really slow. So I went back home and went to bed.

Woke up and my body still was so sore, especially my legs. I did the long walk, but I probably shouldn’t have. I watched some TV and took a short nap. Then worked on this Reggae project a little bit. Me and gran and Megan Thompson went to dinner at Pei Wei, and that place is crowded on Fridays. She said she might record “My Mockingbird” on a new E.P. she’s doing.

Woke up absurdly early, and took Posh over to mom’s to babysit. Then I went on a hike at Radnor with Angelo and Eulene and Troy and Jessica. They had been doing them for a while, but it was my first time and I kind of got overzealous a little bit. But it was an adventure, and I was trying to crack everbody up. I haven’t been that exhausted from walking for about 8 years. They’ve had to refund people’s money for parking at Radnor lake. I wish I had saved my reciepts from all the times I had to pay. I would be rich! Went home and Leslie was getting ready to go to Florida. She took lots of cd’s and jut got in the car and left. I took a nap and went to Joe Glazer’s and I saw Dave and I gave Joe a copy of my dad’s book. He was flipping through the book and he said: “So, did anything ever become of these ‘Beatles’ ?” (Laughs) But they are going to fix the P-Bass. Took a nap and I went to Hopkins for dinner and then Grimey called and he was at the mirror with a bunch of people so I went there, and Jen Rouse and Pat Sansone were there. Also Heidi Ross and Natalie Cox Mead, and she said she and David are thinking of moving to New York. Marna Taylor was there and Jason White and Andrea showed up. Marna told me Robert Reynolds and Paul Deacon found a real Hank Williams notebook of lyrics at a yard sale dated from 194? Is that possible? I hope they give it to Wilco. They did a great job with that Woody Guthrie stuff. Better than Woody would’ve. Went home about 11:30.

Walked and had cereal, and Leslie went back to class. I walked both dogs by myself and listened to my ipod. Worked on a new song and took a nap, and worked on it some more. Then I met Jason Gray at Pei Wei and he said he had been offered a gig in Cuba, at Guantanamo. Wow. The wonton soup is my new favorite thing, though. It has a nice almost “smoky” flavor. Went home and Liz called. Also, Matt is trying to put me in touch with Randy Newman. Then somebody called from Nickelodeon and wanted to license the song “How Can You Be So Sure”, which was totally out of the blue, and I wonder if Drake Bell had something to do with that. We were supposed to write, and I gave them some dates, but nobody called me back about it. Went to sound check at the Mercy Lounge, and John Bruton was there, and he gave me a Dos Perros. I told Sara Beck she needed to turn the volume on her website down. It almost blew my ears off. But the sound check was good, and I like playing with Joey, the drummer of De Novo Dahl, and there is a nice piece on them in the Nashville Scene this week, and they are all wearing the same clothes. That Serai girl is so pretty, but she’s dyed her hair. Went to Baja Burrito ($9) and went home and put some clothes in the dryer and went back down to Mercy. The set was short, but really fun, and the Eric Lehning (Jason’s brother) and his band “Lazerman and the Non-Commissioned Officers” played, and they’re really terrific. I was talking to Kyle Lehning for a while and he was cracking me up! He was talking about the basketball team he plays on, and how it’s the Y, so nobody can be kicked off the team! It was so funny I was dying laughing. I saw Butterfly Boucher, and she said the best thing ever: “I got your email, I just didn’t respond!” Ha ha! But she said she had a good time in England but was happy to be back. “I realize I like my life.”, she said. Nicole Hart was there, and she told me Leslie “Smells Like Heaven” and i’m going to make a song out of that. Is that already a song? Natalie Cox Mead asked me if I had seen any results from “the secret” and I was glad to report that I had! The Nickelodeon song thing! Also, the parking spaces. Heidi Ross said a great thing, she said she had started to “wish smarter”. Grimey was there for a while, and Angelo and Eulene and I think I will walk with them tomorrow. Emily West brought her sister, and she said she had vodka again, and she’s always trying to get me buzzed! Oh, and I fogot, Marna came over earlier and brought her dog, Ollie, and he had a great time playing with Posh. Posh got to be the big dog for once, and it was hilarious.

Walked early and Leslie went to class. Took stuff to the post office ($3.65) and went to the bank. Took a nap and woke up and it was so hot! Leslie had put the thermostat on 85 and it was literally 85 degrees in the bedroom! She got home about 5 and we went to Siam Cafe and it’s pretty good. Went home and did some laundry and watched some TV. Oh, there was a bullet hole in the side of someone’s car at the Thai restaurant.

I woke up at 4:30 and went over to Bob’s and drove him to Memphis. There’s not much between Nashville and Memphis. It all kind of looks the same. But we had a nice time and I took him to the Marriott and he gave a 15 minute speech to the Re-ed (re-education) society. He was remembering his friend, mentor and inventor of “Re-ed”, Nicholas Hobbs. We had lunch there, and drove back. Bob got really tired when we got back, but I know he was glad he went. I was happy to get home, and that nothing went wrong. I would hate to get stuck in Memphis. Picked up Posh and talked to my dad about his trip to LA. He said that he had lunch with a close friend of John Lennon’s, and that before he died, Lennon told him he wanted to start a band with the energy of The Remains! That was pretty impressive to me. Went home and fed Posh and took a shower and I ate some left-overs. Leslie had a real tough day with some serious emergency procedures, so she was going to be a while. Lex Price texted me and told me he was playing at the Mercy Lounge, and I remembered it was 8 off 8th, so I went down there and there were tons of people I knew. Troy and Jessica Verges, and John Bruton bought me a shot. Emerson was there and we had the same clothes on, kind of. Park Chissolm and Sara Beck, and Jessica played, and she was good, but the sound was iffy. Then Emily West showed up and she had a bottle of vodka in her purse and we were all drinking some of it, but I didn’t want to get too buzzed, so I went home after Kyle Andrews and Lex played. And Lex is a very good bass player. I mean, I knew he would be. Had a bowl of cereal and went to bed.

Leslie worked again and I went and walked the dogs with my mom, and it was really foggy. We walked the opposite way because we looked down the street and Tommy’s dog Wink was down there, and he’s senile and he might charge us, you never know. So we walked the opposite way. Came home and fell back to sleep for a while and when I got up and I went to the store for some Snapple and some paper towels. Cleaned the kitchen and made tomato sauce and bean salad. Also made some new salad dressing and ate some “Smart Food”. Although, I looked on the side, and one bag of Smartfood had 33 percent of a day’s worth of fat, so I don’t know how smart it really is. Grimey called and he said he and Pat and John from Wilco were going to El Mariachi and so I went over there and met them, and Kat was there, and “Unpaid” Bill. I have to stop calling him that, but I love it! Brad Jones was there, and he was doing strings with Chris Carmicheal for the new “Autumn Defense” record. I talked to Pat Sansone and he said he made up all the string arrangements. There was a nice young band there that were friends of Ashley’s and one of them told me he was freaking out because Wilco was his favorite band ever. Hung out for a while, then Brad and John and Pat and Chris left and the party pretty much disintegrated after that. Oh, and I almost forgot, my DJ moniker: “DJ SNAFU!” (Laughs)
Also, my interview/journalist psuedonym: “Clifford Schnell” Went home and did some internet and Leslie came home and I made pasta to go with the pasta sauce and we had dinner together and it was nice, then I got in bed and “Grumpy Old Men” came on and I love that stupid movie! Like when pop says: “Looks like he’s takin’ old one-eye to the Optometrist!” (Laughs) or, even just to hear Walter Matthau sing! “We’re havin a heat wave, a tropical heat-wave!” Went to bed pretty early because tomorrow I take Bob to Memphis and I have to get up at 4:30. I think I get up earlier than anyone I know besides Leslie.

Woke up and walked, and Leslie worked and I came back home and went back to work on the studio. I took everything out of the drawers of the little desk, and it was all in the middle of the floor, then I took the desk out and put it in Leslie’s office. Then I stared at all the stuff on the floor for a while, and I realized there was nowhere to put it without the desk, so I dragged it back in from Leslie’s office. Then I cleaned out the writing desk and threw away a lot of junk. I found my copy of theOblique Stategies, and the card that was on top said “Tidy Up” so that’s what i was doing. They are a great tool that I had forgotten about, but very useful when working. Talked to Leslie on the phone and she didn’t have any patients. Not patience, patients! So we talked for a while and it was kind of a nice, rainy, overcast day, and the heat finally broke. The studio feels so much better with nothing in it, and I started listening to some Portuguese music, and Leslie speaks Portuguese, and it just sings so much better than Spanish. I feel really inspired now that the space is getting more organized. I thrive on organization. Then I took the dogs to the library with my mom, and she found a garden tool on the ground and gave it to me. One of those weed-puller things that looks like a snake’s tongue. Then Leslie called and we agreed to meet for Lasagna at Piza Perfect and it was a good dinner. Leslie was wondering about whether or not people who didn’t know how to read or write, and had been doing manual labor since they were 4 years old could benefit from watching “the secret”. Who knows? But she did order a couple copies and Jessica said she wanted to watch it, so maybe we will have another party soon. Oh and I forgot, I wrote some interview questions for Jessica, and she came by and picked them up, for that “Stalking the Muse” site. Went home and we watched an On-Demand episode of “Coupling”, the BBC show, and it’s funny.