The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Read the Times. Got Starbucks. My Barista was kind of cold. She didn’t ask me how I was. Home, and worked for a while. Still working on the Kennerley songs. To Hopkins for lunch, then called Grimey, and he was on his way back from his HS reunion. He said let’s meet at El Mariachi, so we did, and K. West came. We had lots of food, and there were some good laughs. Home and went to the library. Found (miraculously) the Final Cut, the last of the Ian Richardson trilogy, so I watched that and had some bourbon and hit the h.

Walked the long walk with my mom, and I told her I had recorded Kennerley’s “Love Match.” She was sort of like “What for?-Why not write your own?”, but I was determined to not be discouraged. Gave Posh a bath, and took her to Hopkins, and my mom gave her a haircut. She was so happy to have it sheared off. She was like, eternally grateful. It must have been torture for her, running around with that thick coat on in 100 degree weather. Had lunch at Hopkins, and went back to work for a couple hours, then to Starbucks. Stayed home, and watched SNL, and they were making fun of “The Secret” and now it’s this thing nobody likes, and it’s very un-cool, because it’s gotten so huge, and it’s very fashionable to make fun of it, but I still love it.  It must be the Scientologist in me.

Jason Lehning came over, and we worked on a new song “Nevermind the Bastards”, and i’m excited about it. We went to lunch at Sitar, and I can’t get enough Indian lately. Jason left, and I continued watching “To Play The King” with Ian Richardson. Arron Winters was at the Family Wash, and I talked to some people about going, but when the time came, I chickened out. Still not 100%. Stayed in and watched the end of the series and hit the hay.

Walked the long walk, and i’m happy to have almost shaken this rummy cold. Home and watched more Ian Richardson. I can’t get enough of this guy. He’s so funny. There was a scene in an Indian restaurant, and they were naming all these Indian dishes, and I absolutely had to have Indian, so I texted around to see if anyone wanted to go, but no takers, so I went solo, to Sitar($9). I took along Vanity Fair and read Dominick Dunne on Phil Spector, and to me, that bastard is guilty as hell. I don’t get rice anymore, which, while slightly sad, is the key to not eating too much. To the barber shop, and Carson said he did what he could to get some rain happening: “I washed my car, ” he said, “Well, I had it washed.” And it’s true, it’s so dry. To Hopkins for dinner, and it was grilled chicken, salad. Home and deliberated for a long time about what to wear, and the truth is, I don’t have too many summer clothes. Went with a long sleeve white-ish shirt and jeans. To city hall for the Eric Volz benefit concert, and there were a lot of people there I hadn’t seen in a long time. I saw Emily West, and she said her record was done, and my song wasn’t on it. I saw Mindy Smith, and she said she’s been riding her bike 13 miles a day. We came up with a funny band name: “The Puzzles” (laughs). The Bees ( The Seas) went on about 11 and played for 1/2 hour or so, and Hags did a great job on the bass. The sound was ok. Saw Cynthia (P. Kennerly’s girlfriend) and I’m glad she said hello. Let’s see, who else? Kevin Rhoades, and Griffin House, and he’s really good, Griffin. Katie Herzig, and who else? That guy Cayson who’s really nice. Fun evening. Home by 12, read some PG, and hit the h.

Woke up feeling slightly better. Walked to the P.O. with my dad. He was talking about how my grandma used to take him into the basement of the M.O.M.A. when he was 14 or 15, and they would watch, like, French New Wave films, or Russian Cinema. Speaking of F.N.W., I saw “A Tout de Suite” with Isild De Besco  , and wow. She is just so fascinating to watch. I could watch her for hours.  Also watched some of Ian Richardson in “House of Cards”. He’s a great actor, too. So slimy, you really hate him. A Slimy Limey. To lunch with Amy at Athens, Greek salad with g. shrimp. Excellent. It rained while we ate, but when I got home, it hadn’t rained on my street. What a bummer. That means I have to water. We desperately need a good soak. I heard on the news we are 12 inches under the average for this time of year. Yikes! So much work to do, but no energy, with this stupid cold, although I feel much better than yesterday. Cereal and toast for dinner. Watched more “House of Cards” and hit the hay. No phone calls all day long.

Still really under the weather. Dang. Didn’t take any medicine til 3, then had a meeting with Leslie and mom re: the house at 4. Nice meeting, good to see Leslie. She’s sort of dating this musician guy now, which I’m happy for her. She took me to the library after the meeting to get some movies, and I got “Swimming Pool” and “Wedding Crashers”, and a couple others. Home, and ate some leftover I.M. and went to East Nashville and took pictures of Naomi Sommers’ potential apartment for her. Emailed them, and watched “Swimming Pool” and it was amazingly good. What a movie! To bed at 10.

Walked, and did a few errand in the AM, but dang! Still feeling like i’m underwater. Chris Grainger and Jeff Coffin came over for dinner, and Liz cooked a great meal, and I was drinking hot toddies. Jeff was funny: “I’m looking for something.” he said; “But i’m not sure what it is.” Chris said that no words could describe the thing with his parents, and I could only imagine. We listened to some music in my studio, the 3 of us. Jeff said he would play the sax solo on my cover of “Waiting on a friend”, which is great news…he’s a terrific musician. I sort of fizzled out around 10, but I think they watched a movie. Restless night, hard to sleep. I think NyQuil makes it harder to sleep. Can’t wait til this bullshit cold is gone.

Cleaned the house with Liz, and went to El Mariachi to meet Grimey but I forgot to take my phone, and the time had changed, so they never showed up. So I just had the spinach enchiladas and went home. Still miserable with this cold. Sleeping all the time.

Woke up, and yup: I’ve got a miserable cold. Which is a shame because there are so many things i’d rather be doing then sniffling away, watching “Ellen”. Like: Recording more cover versions of songs, finishing my own songs, fooling with this MPC, etc. Went to International Mkt. for some Tom Yum soup, then took another nap. Reading McCullough’s “John Adams”. Finished the Almodovar, and it wasn’t exactly uplifting, but very good. Boring day, feeling too miserable to do anything. Back to PM for more soup, then watched Saturday Night Live. Re-run with J. Timberlake.

Went down to Troy’s building on the row, and it’s really neat. A very old-fashioned sort of 1800′s type of place. You could almost imagine the carriages coming in. Amazing gardens. It was overcast, and kind of cool, so we swept up some leaves and sort of cleaned up a bit. Then I was messing with Troy’s MPC 1000, and he said I could borrow it for a while, which was nice. I told him the last drum machine he loaned me was the inspiration for “The Lovetest”.  Then we went to Fido for breakfast and I had the Bubba Burrito.  Home and relaxed, and watched another installment of Almodovar, messed with the MPC. I talked to our Bio writer, Micheal Hill for an hour, then to Hopkins for dinner. Took a short nap, or tried to, then to the Basement to see Curt Perkins and Arron Winters, and they were both great. Reeves Gabrels was playing some great guitar. A couple of people came up to me and said “Are you that guy from the bees?” which was, of course, flattering to the old ego. Stayed as late as I could, and caught most of Arron’s set. “I’m single, and ready to mingle!” he said. (Laughs)