Walked early, then Jessica Maros came over and we made a demo of our song “Hold Back the Night.” I think it came out well, and it was fun playing electric guitars. I made us lunch, salad Niciosse. Then she took the invitations to the birthday party and mailed ‘em out. Laid low, watched more “Weeds”.
Walked early and watched more “To the Manor Born,” and I like to watch TV in the mornings. Like from 8:30 to 10. Went to Troy and Jessica’s to help finish some of the massive steaks from the night before, and we had steak and eggs. Worked on some more invitations to our birthday parties. Home and took a decadent Sunday nap, read some of the NYT. Went to Liz’s school and helped her organize a bit, and we put up bulletin boards, etc. She let me borrow a copy of “The Great Gatsby”, and i’m excited about it. Home and decided to make navy beans, and watched some of “Weeds” (from Netflix accidentally) and the verdict is in: LOVE IT!
Walked early and went back to bed for an hour. Watched some of “To The Manor Born”, and it was okay. McClean was there, and she was doing Yoga. Was going to watch “Coupling” but Netflix sent me the wrong DVD. It was “Weeds” instead. Went with Troy Verges to the Ruckus Room to hear a mix of one of his new songs, and it was really great. I’m sure it’ll be a big hit. We went to Harris Teeter and got steaks to grill out, and salad and corn, and we kind of had a cookout. Angelo called and he was going to Hillary’s birthday party, but I just felt like staying close to the home-front. Brandi and Terri were having a party at the house, so I changed some light-bulbs for them. We grilled steaks a Troy and Jessica’s and ate on the deck. Nicole Hart came over, and we had a fun conversation. She and Jason are working on a reality show about Emily West. I guess Dave Yonkman is maybe going to work on it too, which would be cool. I went back to the house and Brian Siskind was there, and people were chilling on the porch. Brian said he had been dating someone, and had applied to Hunter College. He seemed really great. Saw Trip Aldredge, and he said he was reading about me in some magazine at Davis Kidd lately, but couldn’t remember which one. I went to bed at 11:55, and I felt like Proust, listening to a party in my house, from upstairs.
Walked and Liz came with us again. Went to the studio and mixed a song with Jason Lehning. He’s gotten so good at mixing, it’s amazing. I guess when you do something enough, you get really good. He accentuated all the right frequencies. I made him lunch at home, and he said it was hot, so I turned on the AC. We’ve been leaving it off downstairs. Leslie called: “Why don’t you do yourself a favor, and drive my car for a few days.” I thanked her, but declined. Organized some bits of paper into song genres: country, pop, jazzy/uke, silver seas, co-writes. I organized like tons of stuff, and threw away a lot. Made some pasta for dinner, then to Club Roar to see Vic Thrill and the circus of enlightenment, which I guess Marc Pisapia had organized. It was a scene. Quite different. Very cool, kind of Talking Heads-ish, and Katie Cook ate fire! This girl came up to me and said: “I know you from somewhere.” I said, “I’m a musician, you’ve probably seen me around.” she said: “No! I know where! Jody Spence played me your short film! I almost peed in my pants it was so funny!” Well, she said exactly the right thing, because from then on, I liked her immediately. Unicorn played. With Reeves Gabrels, Audley Freed, Hags and Marc and Joe Pisapia on steel. I don’t know what the hell kind of music it is. It’s like Black Sabbath crossed with the Grateful Dead down at the Crossroads. I saw Warren Pash and Renee French, and Jon and Kat came. Leigh Nash came, and Megan and Ian Fitchuk. I like Ian. He’s talented. Megan said: “Want to go over to Leigh’s and play Wii?” Talked to Roger Moutenot and Angelo and Eulene, and talked to Barbara about the house a bit. Home by 11:55
Had to finish a song because tomorrow Jason is going to mix it for me. Walked and Liz came. Hot. Home and invited Grimey over for lunch. He was very supportive. “Dude! Perfect!” But we got into an interesting conversation about music, how, when we were kids, we would wait around all day for a certain song to come on, with the cassette recorder ready. Entire summers were spent by the radio, me and my brother, waiting to hear “Valley Girl” or “The Boy From New York City” by the Manhattan Transfer. Also Devo. Now, all you have to do is go to the band’s myspace page and you can hear everything. You don’t have to wait through hours of commercials, which I guess is a good thing, but there’s something bittersweet about it. It made it kind of precious and special having to wait for it. And if you got the record, forget about it. You just sat and listened to it all day. Grimey left, and Carey Ott came by. He has a new EP on Dualtone: “I Know What You’re Thinking”. We listened to it and it’s good. Kind of Kinks-ish. His manager was in town, and he had some work to do. Took a short nap, then went to the Basement for the XM radio “Next Big Nashville” thing. Jason Moon Wilkins has put this thing together, and it’s really cool. Gabe Dixon hosted, and Courtney Tidwell, Jeremy Lister and Carey Ott played. Carl and Karl came. Had 2 vodka tonics and had to sit down. To Bosco’s with Mindy and Mike and I had a beer and we saw somebody get fired, I think. I have no idea why. Home by 11:30. That’s my new thing: I have to be asleep by 12.
Liz was up early and out of the house, but I had a sodium hangover and my eyes were practically swollen shut. Walked, then to Harris Teeter ($147) and did a massive shop. I’ve decided i’m tired of eating out for a while. Home and did some organizing of the fridge, and there were some amazing artifacts in there. Cooked a bunch of stuff immediately: black beans, black eyed peas. Mainly black stuff. Worked in the studio for a while.
Didn’t walk, but got a haircut at 9, then went to pick Posh up at Hopkins. Home and Thad Cockrell came over, and we finished a song, and worked on a demo. We had a demo singer come over, but after she left, we realized the arrangement should be changed, as well as the key, so, back to the d.b. But we were both happy with how it came out. Worked til 7, with short break to Kalamata’s for lunch ($9.10) then to dinner at Hopkins- grilled salmon. Home, and Troy Verges came over and we worked on our Ukulele project, and finished our first song: “For No Reason”. It was a lot of fun, but I had to really force myself to not pick the guitar up, because i’m somewhat out of practice on the uke, so it was tough. Liz came home and she didn’t feel good, from the plane, but she said she had a great trip and she was up in Watch Hill with Layng and they were having fun. Had some Ramen noodles and went to b.
95 degrees at 8:40. Walked early, then J. Maros came over and we write a cool pop song: “Hold Back The Night”. We went to lunch at International Mkt. and she said the first time she went there it was terrible so she’d never been back, but I convinced her to give it another try, and she said it was alright! We were going to make a demo, but we couldn’t figure out the right key, so we made a plan to do it next week. To Hopkins with Posh, and the dogs played. Then to Jon Wright’s birthday party at Siam Cafe. Very good meal, Tsing Tao beer. Jonathan Trebing was there and he was funny. He said he and Hags were laughing because the song “Law of Attraction” with Melissa is such a rip-off of “He’s So Shy” and I was telling him how the melody was different, and he was just laughing. I told him I thought it would hold up in court if we were ever sued. John’s sister Shannon came, and Kat, Shalene and Jason. James DiGiralamo, who else…I think I saw Brian Siskind across the restaurant but I didn’t want to bother him. Went to Mercy Lounge for 8 off 8th and it was packed and so hot. The compressor went out on the AC, John Bruton said. He bought me a chilled shot of Don Julio to take the edge off. Man it was hot in there. Everybody was sweating and the bartenders were shooting each other with the soda guns. John said he should have a wet t-shirt contest and call it “Sweaty Mondays!” where they turn off the air conditioning (laughs). It was like being in a club in New Orleans or something. Marc Pisapia was there. Devon, Neal Dahlgren, Mechanical Birds played. They sounded good. Had a couple beers and Marc said maybe beer is 200 calories each. So now I want to quit drinking beer. Home at 12:30,
My dad’s birthday, and he was in a good mood. Walked to the post office, and there was a new Jaguar coupe there, friend of my dad’s. Home and read for a while, took a fantastic Sunday nap, and woke up about 12:30. Troy texted and they wanted to go to El Mariachi. So they picked me up at 1 and we rolled down there. Lots of people. Mark Deaderick and Jen Masselli, Kate and Jeff, Neal Dahlgren and Lisa. Katherine and Melissa Mathes, Kat and Bill, Aaron Winters, Mike and Mindy. Lots of fun and about 5 beers and a ton of food later, we were on our way. To Davis Kidd and I wanted to get Peanuts for dad. They didn’t have 50’s but they had 60’s, so I got them. To Hopkins, then to dinner at Anatolia and I had salad with grilled shrimp. Aunt Joy came in town and she was talking about the recent blogger’s convention in Chicago (which she attended) and what a winning smile Barack Obama has. She said Hillary was not her number one candidate. I got a Turkish coffee and went home, but I couldn’t sleep, so I worked on the computer for a while. I was thinking about the air filters at Clayton. God knows why.
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