The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Rainy day. No way to walk. A thunderstorm came up in the middle of the night…lightning, everything. Amazing that there’s thunderstorms in December. Went shopping at West Elm with my mom, then we went to Whole Foods for lunch. I had a fish sandwich at the grill. Julia, from Family Wash was there, she works there now. Home, and Posh was just crazy because she didn’t get to walk. It cleared up a bit by 4, so I took her down the street. Got some new music on itunes. “Parachutes” by Coldplay. That’s a great record. Great vocal sound. “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates. “Dress You Up” by Madonna.  I don’t know, I kind of like being able to buy any single songs, but if I like the whole record, like “Parachutes”, then I can buy that. It’s more democratic. But do people always know what they want? I think it takes certain influential mavens (like Grimey) to sort of show people what’s good. I also like the song “Vultures” by John Mayer. I sing that song to myself sometimes: “the world keeps testing me, testing me”. Talked to KJ on the phone quite a bit and she’s coming on Sunday. I have to say i’m excited to see her. “We have to have her for dinner…” my mom says. Went to dinner with David and Liz and Harriet and we were talking about the actor Randall Tex Cobb, who I used to see at Perkins and the Mapco all the time. He was in “Raising Arizona” and “Ace Ventura Pet Detective”. We went to J. Alexanders and I had the Thai Chicken Salad, and we had Key Lime Pie for dessert. I saw Melissa Mathes and she said she was performing with her boyfriend at the Long Player’s Zeppelin thing. I should really go. Grimey called and said it was his birthday and I should come celebrate with him. He and Mindy gave me such a lovely gift, I have to get something. Jon Wright came over and we watched one episode of “Alan Partridge” and it was funny. In bed by 11:30

Cloudy and lovely day, 47 degrees. Walked the long walk, then home and did some chores. Read the first chapter of Tina Brown’s “The Diana Chronicles”. She can write. Wrote some thank you cards and had tea. Spoke to KJ on the phone and we were laughing. Watched “Superbad” and I heard dad’s song in it. That’s a great film. So funny. Worked on a new song for a bit, and went through a lot of 2007 papers. Getting organized for the new year. Met Layng for lunch at Chinatown, which was delicious, but probably had lots of MSG because I immediately fell into a 2 hr. coma. Got up and walked Posh down Belmont, then home and worked some more. To Kroger for groceries ($59) and i’m going to make black-eyed-peas. Had some wine and made a couple organic hamburgers and watched “Alan Partridge” and he’s so funny, Steve Coogan. He might be the funniest ever. Talked to KJ more on the phone and now i’m using my roll-over minutes. Tomorrow more Feng Shui and I must chart songs for GP New Years.

Well we decided to celebrate Christmas early because Carl and Karl were moving to New York, so we celebrated Wednesday morning. I got some great stuff. I mean, I must admit I’m somewhat spoiled. I got a black cashmere sweater (well, half-cashmere) and my dad paid my bill at the music store, which was amazing. I also got some other clothes and my gran gave me a check. Karl and Carl got my parents a Dyson vacuum. That’s a funny present, although awesome. The gift that keeps on sucking, no matter what. (laughs) Wednesday night was the last night of the Silver Seas residency, and I hung out with KJ afterwards. Then she left Thursday AM, and I was sad to see her go. But I made her some mix CDs and we made plans to see each other again soon. Thursday night to Greta’s party and there were lots of interesting people there. Carter Little and his wife and Betty and Anna Fernandez and Raul Malo and Sheryl Crow came, and she said she might want to sing with Guilty Pleasures sometime. She was going to do it new years but she’s out of town. I called Kim Carnes and asked her if she wanted to sing Bette Davis Eyes, but she said the same thing as last year: Thanks, but no thanks. I suppose it never hurts to ask. I love that song, though. Craig Krampf is going to play drums on it. I got a new bass from Ernie Ball and it’s amazing. Carl and I bought several bottles of Champagne, but we didn’t get a chance to drink it because they were too busy moving. Christmas was lovely: cold, bright day. Uncle Dee called: “How do you get the discipline to write everyday?” Answer: “I Don’t!” Picked up Bob and it seems like his medication is working better. I think Layng and Liz broke up. Will they get back together again? We had a New Zealand leg of lamb with Spanish pickle and potatoes and salad, and my dad made a delicious trifle for dessert, and I felt so fat we had to walk a really long walk to atone. Talking to KJ on the phone a lot. She’s got a great mix of all the right personalities. She’s funny, smart, interesting, etc. I’m smitten. Worked on a couple new song ideas, but I was too distracted by life, and I think I needed to take a few days off. Haven’t kept up with the blog as much as I should these last few days, but so what? I’m sure i’ll be better about it next year. Guilty Pleasures is already sold out and that’s a huge relief because I was starting to wonder if the demand was decreasing? Obviously not. KJ is coming to the show which is exciting.

christmas-time-at-last.mp3

Well I was going to go to Chris Lindsey and Aimee Mayo’s Christmas party, but I got drafted to be in this “Beatles VS. Stones” thing that Mike Grimes was putting together. So I started texting some people and got a band together. It was Jonathan Trebing on bass, Nick Buda on drums, Dave Harrison on percussion, Adam Landry on guitar, James DiGiralamo on keys, and Tommy Keenum on sax. What a great band. There weren’t as many bands as last night. We played “Waiting on a Friend” for like 20 minutes, which, in hindsight, may have been a bit much, but the band sounded so good I didn’t want it to end. To PM with KJ and had fun chatting. Then we foolishly decided to do Karaoke in the middle of the night and woke up my roommate and she was livid because her face was allergic to this derm-abrasion thingy she had done. All she could hear was “Borderline” coming through the floor, and it just sent her over the edge. I don’t blame her. Hilarious and fun night, though.

It was an early morning and we drove to Louisville. We played the lunch show on WFPK. They were really nice, and it was a good sounding studio. The only drag was the host talked about my hair, which was annoying. I mean, can’t you think of anything more interesting? Jason said he wished he had a squirt gun. But the band sounded good, and we had a fun road trip. We went to this cool restaurant in Louisville called “Ramsi’s” and the food was good. We got a CD of our performance so we listened to it. The drive home seemed long as hell. Made it about dinner time. Back to the Basement to see this “Beatles vs. Stones” charity thing Mike was doing. There were some great people. Jeremy Lister did “Eleanor Rigby” with a string quartet and Sam Ashworth did a great “8 Days a Week” Also, some great band did a version of some Stones tune. Oh yeah, that guy from My Morning Jacket, Carl Broemel was good. I was kind of wishing I was playing the Friday instead of tomorrow. Saw Kelly Jones and I like her. She has good energy. Home about 1.

Well my mom told me she had a dream and there was a 7 in it and it had something to do with me…Grimey called and was very sweet and said that we sounded good. Went to the Mercedes dealership with Troy and we picked up his car, then we went to lunch at J. Alexanders and they have something really good there: it’s like an Asian chicken salad. I had a glass of wine and we ate at the bar, which was nice. To the studio and I was suddenly really tired and it was hard to do vocals. Brett was there and he was working with Jessica Simpson last week. We talked for a while and he was talking about hanging out with all these rock stars and I guess he runs with that crowd. I mean, I do too, to a certain extent, but certainly not as much as he does. Did what we could of the vocals, and I was exhausted. Home and took a tub and hit the rack, but I couldn’t sleep. Wound up going to the Basement, and Tommy and the Whale were playing. They have a cool Bowie-ish sound. I was immediately jealous because the place was packed to the gills. Cheek by Jowl as my gran says. I guess we just played so many times, people start to think “Well, I’ll just see them next Wednesday, so why bother?” But I think when you have a more “rock” sound, people have more fun, because they can drink and talk to their friends and that’s what they really want to do anyway. Music is just a backdrop. I mean, I realize there are people who hang on every word and every note and God bless them, but I think most people (especially in Nashville) go out for the best time. There were a lot of attractive people there. That’s one of the most important things- having attractive fans. But I was feeling sort of like…I don’t know…old, I guess. I mean, I’m not a kid anymore. I’m 33. I have to sort of pick my battles so to speak. I can’t play kid games anymore. But it was good to get out of the house and see some nice faces. Talked to Chris Grainger for a bit and Leigh Nash and Kate York and Thompson and who else? I don’t know…Home about 1.

This was the 3rd Wednesday of our residency at the Basement. I was kind of looking forward to it because it was fun last week. But will anyone come? Have we somewhat saturated the market? To rehearsal and the boys are quick studies. We added this kind of punk-ish song called “Unsentimental” and it’s just a little diddy. I have to say I really like being in a band as opposed to being a solo artist. “Bathing is a lonely business!” as the butler in “Arthur” says. Dinner at Hopkins and it was a marvelous bean soup. To the Basement, and Kelly Jones was there. My parents came and my brother and Karl and they sat in the front ,which was kind of nice, because there weren’t very many people there. I was really wishing there would be tons, but what can you do? But more people came and it was fun. We sounded pretty good, and Freedy Johnston and Leigh Nash and and Kate York were there. Hung out on the patio with those guys after the show and drank some beers. Home at 2.

Met Matt and Leigh of Sixpence at Bongo Java. Matt is very nice and he came up with a good idea about an E.P. we could do together. I’m excited about the idea of working with them, possibly with the S.S. as a backing band. Saw Sam Ashworth there and I like him. Who else? That guy Pino and some of his friends and he’s opening a new club call “Motivo” I guess.  We were talking about visiting people’s graves and I was talking about going to Pere L’aChaise and seeing Jim Morrison’s.  Victor Hugo is also there. Went to Int. Mkt. and had more soup. Met Simon Bruce there, and he’s started a new band called “The Inevitables” and I think Peter Collins’ son is in the band. Simon has a cool look now. He has those kind of glasses that John Lennon wore in the 80’s (sort of transparent-half-sunglasses) and he has a beard.  Called Jason and was feeling a bit peaked. We were maybe going to write but I just took it easy.