The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Woke about 9 and that was really late. Did laps, then we all went to Shelter Island, and poked around out there. I ate a crabcake sandwich and it was good, but it made my stomach hurt. But the ferry was cool. Home and took a little swim, and Helen’s friend Matthew came over, and he was married to a Guiness, and designed the Soho House in London, and knew Isabella Blow and all the interesting people. Malcolm McClaren. He held court for a bit, then I figured it was my last night, so Lillie and I went out in Sag Harbor, and everybody told us to try this restaurant called “Sen”, so we went, but they told us it was a 2 hour wait, so we just went to the back of the restaurant, and there was a bar, so we just sat down and ordered sushi and drank strawberry mojitos. Then we went to the American hotel and drank Lemoncello and talked a bit more, but these 2 obnoxious cows from city kept trying to work themselves into our conversation, so we had to leave.

Woke up about 8, went to a coffee shop with Lillie, Maisie and Barrett. They saw some kids they knew from school, then Maisie went to see her friend Kate and and I took her to Kate’s house. For dinner, I made a beach picnic for everyone. We built a fire and grilled hot dogs and drank lemonade. A woman walked by with a “breaking bad” sweatshirt on and I asked her if she worked for AMC, and she said she did, and I said that one of my songs was on the show and she said which one. I told her and she said she didn’t know it. The sun went down and everything was bathed in this beautiful peachy light and it was really an amazing evening. The smell of the wood fire and the beach was burned into my mind. Home and we watched the worst movie I think i’ve ever seen: “Because I said So”. This movie offended all my sensibilities at once. Diane Keaton totally lost my respect, and Mandy Moore, and the whole thing was like, really atrocious! Then I watched the end of “The Patriot” with Lillie, and that was better.

Up early and finished packing and I was being nonchalant about getting to the airport, and my mom was like: “Why I are you being late?” and I was like “Chill!” But it turned out I had about 2 minutes before the plane took off after I got on. Beautiful day, high clouds. Arrived in the Hamptons about 2. Maisie and Barrett and Helen and Lillie met me, and we went to the beach. They wanted to take me to the beach. I swam in the ocean and it was pretty amazing. Georgica beach. Then we drove by Grey Gardens, and I was impressed. I wanted to take a photo essay of “Hedges of the Hamptons” because they are so beautiful. Weather amazing and the ocean, I discovered again, has its own rhythm. Went home and I did some laps in the pool and we had dinner, and watched some of the Tudors, and it’s pretty racy. Lots of medieval bonking. Got in bed and I could still feel the rhythm of the waves.

Woke up and bounced out of bed at 6:30, then I told myself, this is crazy. I went back to bed til 9:30, then had breakfast with my dad for father’s day. Answered some emails, then Carey Ott came over and we were going to work here, but there was a yoga class going on, so we had to go to his place, but we came up with a cool song: “What if it isn’t Out There” and Carey made a cool demo of it. I want to do it with the Silver Seas. He said he heard that Feist and Ron Sexsmith wrote a new song, and they’re both going to do it. I like that, cause it’s kind of like the 60′s, when lots of people would cut songs. I would like (in all my spare time) to make a covers record. To Hopkins for dinner, and my grandfather was there, and we played a game of Backgammon. He must be feeling a bit better with his new pills, which i’m happy about. Walked the dogs and came home, and Paige and her friend were home from Bonaroo, and they said My Morning Jacket played at midnight last night for 4 hours in the rain, and it was amazing, and I have to get their new record. Noticed they had a great write up in the Times, and Joe Chicarelli was quoted in there today. Talked to Kelly Jones and she said she was having her photo shoot this week. Home and David Mead and Rachel Huesenstamm came over and I had a glass of wine and some cheese and went to bed. My flip flops smelled bad so I poured rubbing alcohol on them in the bathtub.

Walked early, then to the pool. Then to Whole foods, and I got some fun stuff for dad for father’s day. Then to J. Crew because they were having a shorts sale. I’m not typically a shorts man, but these aren’t so bad. Kind of preppie I guess, but what the hell. They put my grandfather on uppers to see if he feels better, and today is the first day he’s on them. I joked with my dad that he would probably call up at 10 a.m. and say “Let’s go bowling!” (Laugh) Went to the car rental place to pick up a van because today was the day Guilty Pleasures goes to Birmingham for a wedding. I said I wouldn’t drink and I could drive back. I hate driving for hours in the middle of the night, but for some reason I agreed to do it. I haven’t been drinking coffee so I figured I would drink some and I would really wake up. We arrived to a lovely horse-farm kind of place, and the sound was amazing.  Outdoor thing. Lot’s of people. About 800. We played until about 12, and the neighbors made us quit. But everybody was dancing and they loved it. Packed up and got back on the road and made it to Nashville at about 4. I drank a cup of tea and 2 red bulls on the way back. Also listened to the whole CD of “Ram” and it’s so quirky and kind of weird. Slightly self-indulgent, but you know, some lovely moments, “Ram On” and “Heart of The Country” etc. I also listened to the entire John Mayer Continuum record, which was good, but sometimes the lyrics would be kind of funny. Then again, though, so are mine. I was suprised by the Jimi Hendrix cover on there. Such a weird cover. The drum sounds are nice and dark. I guess it’s that Steve Jordan guy. Nice bass, too. We listened to the radio for a while, and WPLN was playing Aaron Copeland. Elegant.

Well I was sort of late getting to Hopkins, but I did manage to walk the dogs, then to the pool. Then got home and had to go to bed for a minute…Woke up and Posh’s hairdresser said she had an opening, so into the bath she went, then over to the salon and I was there for about an hour and a half. Emailed Marc, and Ferraby called. Kelly Jones called, and I spoke to Carla at BYD and she wants to hook me up to write with Mindy Smith, which i’d love. Exchanged emails about the set list for London, and I want to lean on newer songs, but Jason feels it’s our obligation to perform the older “hits” (heh heh) and he’s probably right. Then it was time to go back to the pool, then Angelo came over, and he showed me his new bike and it’s pretty cool. It’s called a “townie” and I rode it around a bit. Then to PM with Liz and we saw a bunch of people over there. Home and she was going to go to 3rd and Lindsley for some reason, but I was tired and played some guitar and h.t.s.

Had to sleep in because I stayed at Marc’s so late. Posh was so grumpy because she didn’t get to walk, so when David Mead opened the front door, she escaped out to Belmont Blvd, which was scary because I don’t know if she’s really conscious of the cars. Thankfully she came back after a minute, but that’s a bad habit, that darting out through the door stuff. Went to Alex the Great and worked on a record for Felicity Urquhart. I played some acoustic guitar and some synthesizer. Doug Lancio was there, and Will Kimbrough. Mickey Grimm was playing drums, and Brad Jones on the bass. Felicity is very talented and kind, from Australia. We all went to lunch at La Hacienda, which was delicious, but made me sleepy it was so fattening. We recorded one more song, then I went to the pool to swim and picked up Posh. Did some emailing and H.T.S.

Walked early and went to the pool. Then Carey Ott came over and we wrote a cool song. He’s great, he played me a new song from his myspace called “Sparkling Cyanide” that he just wrote. We wrote an awesome song that I want to do with The Silver Seas called “Never Gonna Walk Those Streets” and it has electric guitar on it. We went to Chinatown restaurant and wrote the lyrics. I think the verses sound a bit like Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, which was a big early influence for me. Went back to the pool, then to Marc Pisapia’s studio in East Nashville: “The Archie Bunker” and we made a quick demo of “Never Gonna Walk Those Streets” and he got this really reverb-y sort of My Morning Jacket-ish vocal sound. Then to Joe P’s new pad over there, and man, he has a great spot. Lots of land and a huge sort of barn thing in the back he’s going to put a studio in. Home about 1 and w.r.t.s.