The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Got up early because Leslie was working, and I was going to walk but it was pouring down rain. What a terrible night’s sleep! No pillow! I had to get up and sleep on the couch because it was so hot! I finally turned on the AC about 3 and got a couple hours sleep, so after Leslie left, I laid down on the couch and took a serious nap. Then I decided to get the home kit for the XM radio, so I went to Electronic Express ($54), then I went to Green Hills mall to get a new pillow, and the one I wanted was $119, but I had a $50 gift certificate, so I got it for $60. I tried to pay with those Cingular reward cards and they crashed the computer, so I just paid for it with cash. But any price would have been worth avoiding another night like last night. My whole body was sore all day. It’s amazing how much a pillow matters, and you don’t realize until it’s gone. Went home and plugged in the radio and it still won’t catch the satellite signal, or authorize or whatever it needs to do, but Leslie said to leave it on for 24 hours, and that should do it, so I hope that works because I’d hate to have to bug anyone about it. But I will because I don’t care and I want XM radio! My mom called and said she needed someone to watch my Grandma on Monday and Wednesday and that’s when I’m supposed to rehearse with Butterfly, so I will have to call her. I’m not worried, I think with one more rehearsal with the whole band we will be good. She will probably be bummed, though. I’m lucky, I guess. I never want people to rehearse. I just expect that they will play it right, and usually, they do. Chatted with J. Rouse on ichat for a while. He said he was in Barcelona for radio promo, and it was nice. We talked about Freedy Johnston, and how he has such good songs, but sometimes he tries to “rock” too hard and it doesn’t sound good. I sent him some of the demos I did with Fognode, and I listened to them and they sounded pretty good. Maybe I will make some more to go with them and put them out. Here is one, called “When There’s Magic”, and here is one called “It Happens All the Time”. Fognode did a good job, it would be awesome to finish with him, I just should probably do it in my own studio for financial reasons. But it’s nice working with someone else because you have a deadline, and you really are forced to get things finished. Went to my folks house at 6 and Bob and Lynn were there, and my Grandpa and Vicki, and we had Paella. It was excellent. Then we were talking about strange coincidences, and I brought up this record I bought in New York, and how my dad knew the person it used to belong to! It was a fun conversation, and I like those little weird coincidences. I also like talking about them. Went for a long walk after dinner, and Leslie came over and had some Paella, and we went to WIld Oats and got lots of expensive treats ($87) and the Cingular cards worked! Went home and got out my new pillow, and it’s just right. But I still called about the other one. You can’t have too many good pillows. Read some of Alec Guiness’s “A Positively Final Appearance” and he’s so funny! I was reading some of it aloud to Leslie, and we were both howling! What a funny man.

I was happy to be home, and I got an email late last night that said Butterfly’s rehearsal was happening so I was unpacking and doing laundry and listening to our rehearsal tape from last time, and I guess I’m getting better, because it seemed easier this time. Angelo called and said could I come play drums on a track for Eulene’s album at Roger Moutenot’s later and I said I would be happy to. Went to Alex the Great about 1ish and Butterfly called and said she was running late, and I had my thermos, so I just sat on the porch and had some tea and was having my own practice. Then David Mead and Butterfly showed up and we rehearsed for 3 hours and I thought we were sounding pretty good! She’s such a good bass player, I love playing with her. But things came back to me easier than I thought they would, so I was happy. Went home and fed Posh and took her to Hopkins, heated some Mac and Cheese from J. Alexander’s and went to Roger’s studio. He got a new drum set and they sounded good, so we didn’t need any of my drums. Finished that, then went to Angelo’s house for a minute and he got a nice new (old) SG from ebay. Oh, and Leslie Barr from Gibson called and said I could stop by on Monday and maybe get some guitars! Went to dinner at Chinatown with Leslie and it was fantastic. I had Orange Peel Beef and it was spicy. Went home and it was so hard getting to sleep without my pillow! I tossed and turned for like 3 hours! Never again! “It’s like you don’t ever learn!” said Leslie. Maybe she’s right, but what can I do?

Woke up about 11:30 and took a shower and all my ennui from the day before seemed to have disappeared. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and I had an egg sandwich. They sang happy birthday to a guy next to us, then this funny waitress came out and said: “Is it any of y’all’s birthday? I want to sing again!” I mean, she may have been mildly retarded. We had a long drive ahead of us, but for some reason, everybody wanted to look at R.V.s, so we went across the street to this R.V. superstore and looked at a few, and then I was getting kind of anxious to leave so I said “C’mon, let’s go!” so we left. I drove for a while and we switched off and drove for 900 miles basically and got back to Nashville about 2AM.

David snored again and somebody else can room with him tomorrow. But the bed was really comfortable. I woke up about 9 and went downsatirs and had some breakfast, then I went back to bed until 12 and took a shower and we drove into the city. As soon as we were on the bridge I remembered: “My pillow!” Damn! That was a good one, with egyptian pillow case as well. Leslie is going to kill me. “Do you want to go back?” asked John, who had just steeled himself emotionally, to drive into the city. “Nah.” I said, flippantly. After sitting behind a double-parked truck for 10 minutes, we finally arrived at the Living Room and found a great parking space right in front of the club. The only thing was it was a 1-hour meter, so I volunteered to feed it and everybody gave me quarters and went off to do various things. Jason had a meeting, although he wouldn’t say with whom. John and I went to a great restaurant called “Rice” and I had a delicious wild rice and beef dish. Then Liz called and said she fed the meter so we didn’t have to race back. Looked around in some various shops and took some pictures, saw Matt Dillon in a restaurant, got a slice of Pizza and eventually went back to the club. Then, after we set up, it was pretty much time to play. We went on about 7, and the room was pretty full. Nini Camps was there, and her publisher Brooke. Jen Cohen came in sort of breathless like she’d been running and said “Sorry! I missed it!” but I didn’t care. Hung out after the show and met Jason’s brother Ryan, who was an interesting guy. All the Lehnings are bright, and different. We went to a mexican restaurant that was okay. Then John said Randy Flowers was coming, so we waited for him, then went to get a beer at a neighborhood bar with him. He said he’s been rehearsing until his eyes bleed on this Meatloaf thing. We were supposed to meet the van at midnight, so we did, and Jason texted me and said he was running a little late, so John and I were just hanging out on the street by the club, and there’s so many beautiful, stylish people in New York. But these kids at “The Piano Bar” or whatever moby’s club is called were obviously on some kind of pills because they were screaming and yelling and just being obnoxious and probably they were on meth or something. One kid threw a fire extinguisher into the street and that was not only stupid but dangerous. We got underway about 12:30, and the night was beautiful and clear, and we could see the city and the bridges and the Chrysler building and it’s weird to see these things I used to see when I was a kid and they seemed so huge. I mean, they’re still huge, but they’re just buildings. I felt a strange sort of melancholy after the gig was over and we were leaving New York. I don’t know why. I was just feeling kind of old and fat and not very cool. But we drove to Bethlehem, PA, and after 3 tries, we found a room at the Super 8 hotel. John was my roommate, and “Wedding Crashers” was on, and it seemed pretty funny.

Woke up about 9 and had the continental breakfast in the hotel. Then we drove into D.C. to go to XM radio, and we drove past the Pentagon, and we saw the Washington monument. We got stuck on this one street for about an hour, but we finally got there. Kate Bradley met us when we got there, and she’s an attractive and friendly blonde. We played an hour set in their studio, and it sounded good to me. We had a little trouble on “Country Life”, but I don’t think anyone will notice. Then Kate gave us some sandwiches, and a tour of XM, and it’s a pretty complex complex. Then she gave us some T-shirts and an XM radio, and that was really nice, and we gave her a Bees T-shirt and some CDs. Then we had to get out of there, because P- Diddy was coming in, so we got going and headed to Philly. John Deaderick brought his GPS (affectionately dubbed “Glenda”) and it calculated a neat backroads way to get to Philly from D.C. and the drive was beautiful. I stuck my head out the window and it smelled like Connecticut, like Darien or Westport. We got to World Cafe studios about sundown and loaded in our stuff and set up. Then we had dinner and Kyle Andrews and his girlfriend showed up and I ate with them. We played for about 75 minutes to a small but appreciative audience, then I talked with some of the audience afterwards. A few people said they found out about us through Josh Rouse somehow, so that was cool. Then we packed up and drove to Secaucus New Jersey. There was a little confusion at the check in. They didn’t want us to use Liz’s credit card without her being there, and Jason was saying “But I own this company!” and the guy still wasn’t having it, so Jason just got money out of an ATM and we payed cash ($328) and went to bed.

We had to pick up the van, so I finished packing and went to Jason’s and picked him up and we went to Armada van rentals. Liz met us there, and she showed me the budget and expenses for the bees tour. It’s definitely not a money-making endeavor, which is sort of too bad. But she was saying “You have to sell merch!” but I don’t really know when we will have the opportunity, except in Philly. Went home and I made John and Jason and myself hot dogs. John parked his Element in the driveway. Went to Jason’s studio and picked up David and we all went to Baja Burrito for lunch. Then we finally got on the road about 2. Got to the Holiday Inn Manassas about 2am. It was me and David, and he was snoring quite a bit.

Spent the day doing laundry and getting organized for the bees tour. Not much happened. I was going to watch the Titans but I forgot.

Took my parents to the airport at 6:30 and went home and walked the dogs. Found a yard sale but I didn’t have any money. One of these days i’ve got to get some cash together. There was a copy of Dudley Moore’s “Music Without Words” and it was only $1 and I wanted it, but I just didn’t want to be that person that says “I just live a couple blocks away and i’ll be right back” or something like that so I left it there. Went to Belmont grocery and got some biscuits with sausage and eggs. I ate 2 of them and I wasn’t hungry for 6 hours. Did some laundry and some internet. I love my new shoes, the New Balance 992s. That’s pretty much the top of the line for New Balance, and they sort of make you feel like you’re walking a little taller for some reason. Washed some dishes and did some laundry. Went to Jason’s studio and picked up my stuff and we were talking about how the steel player from Rascal Flatts took Jonathan Trebing’s website and puts different stuff up there to make Jonathan mad. That’s pretty lowdown. We went to the basement to soundcheck and Berhon had to adjust the monitors so I went upstairs to Grimey’s and got a GREAT Horace SIlver record for $6.99. We soundchecked and practiced the Police covers a little bit, then we went to Baja Burrrito, and Tyler James and Pasty were there. Then I went home and put on the Horace Silver record and took a shower. Man. I’ve found a new hobby that I really love. Collecting Jazz LPs. It’s perfect because they go up in value. It seems like nobody cares about vinyl in Nashville. I mean, i’m sure there are people who do, but not many of my friends even have record players besides Hags. So I was happy about that. And it gives you something to do when you travel, which is the mark of a good hobby. The Bees gig went pretty well. I sold a couple T-shirts and Jerry Dale bought a CD and a shirt. Then we sat around outside at the basement and I was talking to Natalie Cox Mead and Butterfly Boucher and she just had eye surgery. I was trying to convince Natalie she needed to check out the art of Henry Darger. Maybe I will get that movie “In The Realms of The Unreal”. The best would be to Netflix that mug. Went home and Leslie was sleeping and I crept in and was asleep in about 30 seconds.

John Deaderick called early and he said could we make the Bees rehearsal at noon and that was fine with me. Posh was going crazy because it’s cooler now, and she got a haircut, so she gets so keyed up. I have to remember to email some people about the NYC Bees gig or else nobody will be there! I got on ichat and Josh came on and I sent him some guitars. Then it was time to go to Jason’s but I was hungry so I went by Sub Stop and got a salami and cheese heated with a fountain Pepsi ($5.45). It was very good. We worked on Police covers in rehearsal and those songs are so simple but so good! It was really fun. Then we went to Vanderbilt WRVU and went to Annie’s(?) show to do some promotion for the Bees gigh tomorrow night. She was a very bright girl with a very quick wit and the ability to keep the energy going on the radio. We had a good time with her. Then we went back to Jason’s studio and rehearsed some more and then Leslie called and we decided to go to PM. When we got there someone had their dog and I felt bad for leaving Posh home. I almost went to go get her, but decided not to. We had beer and soup and sushi and it was good but expensive and there were lots of flies bothering us and it made us tired. We went to the mall to get some new tennis shoes and at first I didn’t want to, but I plunked down the cash for some New Balance 992s ($121) and they feel great. When I got home I was happy that I got them. Leslie got some too. Went to the Mac store and they have a lot of neat stuff in there, but I don’t really need anything. Got home and watched a show on CBS about why balck atheletes are so much better than white ones, but it didn’t really tell you why except about the shape of Ghanan’s legs and how they’re long and thin, and that makes for good marathon runners. Then we watched some David Chappelle and part of it is, his voice just sounds funny. Leslie said she was cold and that the house was always cold so I turned off the AC.