Tracy Island: News

Not going to list all the Larch & the WonderWheels set lists. Had a nice easy break-in show at Freddy's on Saturday with a couple of Philly bands preceding us. They were visiting Brooklyn, now we're visiting England, all part of the connected hopefullness of traveling musicians.

Check the shows page to see exactly where we are. We're bringing my cell phone, Tom's laptop and of course I'll have my camera.

Cheers!

Hey, look what I found... This video of Larch & the WonderWheels rendered Larch song "Return of the Chimera" was shot in Owslebury in Hampshire, England, August 2006 by Andy Blakemore.

So if all goes according to plan, this time next week we'll be in England...!

Another article was written about us in the Hampshire Chronicle. Here's the link to the internet article . Hopefully it was published with a photo like last time and we can get a copy while we're over there.

Please note our calendar has changed a little bit and the Thursday 10/25 show at the Talking Heads was cancelled and replaced by a date on Sunday 10/21 at the King and Queen in Hamble. Our shows page has all the current info and links to venue websites.

We'll be kicking off the tour this Saturday night with our only US show at Freddy's , and we'll have a nice big box of the limited edition 2007 tour LP ANTI-GRAVITY GARAGE by Larch & the WonderWheels - come get one while they're fresh!

Last weekend's show at the Parkside was fun. Love Camp 7 played an excellent set. I didn't realize we'd be last, at 11pm. I thought our set was well played - even better than the time we played there in May, but I was feeling nostalgic for Old New York after a walk through the LES to get to the club, seeing the monied youth that have taken over downtown. Our chummy crowd boosted my spirits, but then after one round after our set the club closed down the back room music area and we found ourselves in a sleepy bar playing Mazzy Star around 1:30 in the fucking morning on Saturday night/Sunday morning in New York City. People... what is happening?

It was great playing with Joe on drums, appreciating his unique contribution to the Wheels, his singular way of approaching drumming with our music. Now it's all LarchWheels, which might not seem that different to some as it's still me & Ian upfront, but it is different to me combining both our songs and having Tom on drums. The Amazing Andy Mattina is the other lynch-pin in all these shenanigans. This time next week in England... whee!

Tom shot some really excellent pictures of us at the Parkside. Realistically...look for a lot of new images & photos and things to be put up sometime in November. I have had some very entertaining haircuts.

Here was our set from 10/6/07:
Song About a Pigeon (MEET THE ANIMAL)
After Last Night (UNRELEASED)
Learning Lessons (UNRELEASED)
American Push (AND THE WONDERWHEELS)
Where's My Robot Maid? (UNRELEASED)
Playing Checkers (UNRELEASED) - into - P-E-T-R-O-L-E-U-M (UNRELEASED)
The Point System (AND THE WONDERWHEELS)
Meet the Animal (MEET THE ANIMAL)
Midnight Lightening (UNRELEASED)
No Exceptions (UNRELEASED)

Look Ma: No Eddie! Also 2 songs from the first album, and possibly our first ever un-pre-meditated segue.

Lucid Culture's write up of tomorrow's show: Sat Oct 6 amazingly authentic 60s psychedelic throwbacks Love Camp 7 play the  Parkside , 10 PM, hot on the heels of their best-ever album. Dave Campbell – arguably the best rock drummer out there right now – swings the band around him while the guitar and bass swirl and mingle and take all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. Devious, sirenesque, politically charged, guitarishly excellent 80s throwbacks Liza & the WonderWheels headline at 11.

See you there!

Thank you Dan Herman and Radio Crystal Blue for playing two of our songs on last Sunday's 9/30 broadcast. Dan captured a live field recording of our set at the Parkside Lounge last May, and has been leaking this unreleased material little by little. This week he aired "Straight to the Body" and "The Hats." Cha!

As most of you know (and a quick glance at our shows page will elaborate) we here at Liza & the WonderWheels central are preparing for the second annual transformation into our England-touring incarnation " Larch & the WonderWheels." Our slogan for 2007: Psychedelic pub rock for glamour loving people!

Both bands are set to release new full-length albums early in 2008, so specially for this tour we created a limited edition sneak peak preview CD which we're calling "ANTI-GRAVITY GARAGE." This record will not be sold online - only at live shows, and we only pressed 300 so we figure if they're not gone by the time we get back, they'll certainly disappear by Thanksgiving. So, for all you complete-ists out there, I recommend you either catch the only state-side Larch & the WonderWheels show at Freddy's next Saturday the 13th, or shoot me an e-mail so I can reserve you a copy.

The record contains early release mixes of four new WonderWheels songs, four new Larch songs, one old out-of-print Larch tune from 1997 and the 2006 WonderWheels single for the Penny For the Guy Records X-mas compilation that is now also out-of print. Talented Tom Pope whipped up the graphics, and the discs - which just arrived this week - look fantastic.

I found a copy of the set we played 8-23-07 @ Kenny's. So for the record...
Money Changes Everything (COVER)
No Exceptions (UNRELEASED)
Where's My Robot Maid? (UNRELEASED)
After Last Night (UNRELEASED)
Learning Lessons (UNRELEASED)
Straight to the Body (UNRELEASED)
P-E-T-R-O-L-E-U-M (UNRELEASED)
Midnight Lightening (UNRELEASED)
Eddie Come Down (MEET THE ANIMAL)

If our set hadn't been truncated we woulda played "Hush Now Sweet Pea" in between "Midnight Lightening" and "Eddie" and we would've ended with "Song About a Pigeon" (both from MEET THE ANIMAL).

Sorry (no I'm not!) if the recitation of set lists is boring... it would be boring reading to me too, but I didn't even think I had a copy of that set until I came across some notes, and who knows it may be info we want to refer back to someday to make sense of a review or write another set list or something.

However, speaking of sets, the set we rehearsed yesterday for Saturday's show at the Parkside Lounge (two days to double bill with Love Camp 7 !) seems really good and balanced to me. We're resuscitating a song from our first record, and it was really nice to re-discover a piece of my own material and feel so good about it. Saturday's gonna rock!

Yes, we played at Kenny's on Aug. 23... It feels like long ago!

What I'll remember about that show is that we had some management hassles - some guy appointed to get in the middle of everything weeks after the night was organized by our chums in the band Skelter. There were e-mails from this guy and calls... just time wasting really and then there this guy is on the night of the show berating me for not bringing enough people 10 minutes before we play, telling me he's not even going to bother to introduce us... as if you can measure the evening's turn-out at 7:50pm, and what's with this stranger giving us a hard time? We certainly know what the deal is by now... and as far as I'm concerned this was essentially a large, sweaty field of bad energy taking $5 out of $6 of the cover charge.

Fortunately we knew the most important people - the owner, the sound man and the bartender - and of course when all was said and done with us + Skelter + System Noise it was totally a rocking night.

The hassling made me mad, but it was a good kind of mad like when you're tired but not too tired - it just added fuel to my fire, so I was very polite to the large, sweaty field of bad energy, and I waited patiently while he gave the young solo artist (think Asian Jewel from NYU summer school) on before us two encores - totally eating into our time. Then we went up there and burned through our favorite cover of the season (I especially enjoyed the lead singer point on the "you don't know a thing" line) before diving into a high energy set of our current tunes.

The show was reviewed by Lucid Culture. The nice things about us have been posted to our press page , or you can read the whole review here for a pretty pointed dissing of the club and of the semi-celebrity who caught our set and complimented me with: "I really like the way you play guitar, Mama"

Despite this diss I'd still castaway again at Kenny's. If only it weren't an age of rules and closed upper balconies...

Our next show is this Saturday and I expect a much MUCH MUCHO cooler vibe downtown at the Parkside Lounge . Plus we're playing on a bill with Love Camp 7 - one of the best BEST BESTEST band around. 10pm. $5.

Just updated our shows page. Exciting times lie ahead!

Come see us play at Kenny's tomorrow. 8pm.

We have not slowed down this summer! Not one Walt Whit. I'm writing in a steno pad on my lunch hour for later transcription. Seriously.

The next full Liza & the WonderWheels set will be played at Kenny's Castaways on Bleecker St. We'll be kicking off a night of great music at 8, opening up for our pals Skelter at 9 as they celebrate their Five Year Anniversaray of rawk! Then we'll be joined by Brooklyn's new-new wavers System Noise at 10. I jammed wee hours improv piano with the guitar player from that band months ago at the legendary bacchanal that was Paula's birthday party. I predict Fun Times!

Then it looks like we'll be focusing on wrapping up recording and mixing our third record in September - more on that in a bit. (I can't rule out playing entirely as we are suckers for the last minute invitation, but) we have nothing planned right now between this big show next Thursday Aug. 23 and what's shaping up to be a tremendous bill at the Parkside on Sat. Oct. 6. More on that when all is confirmed, and stay tuned for Even Further Excitement as we'll be announcing the dates for the Oct. 2007 Larch & the WonderWheels UK tour shortly.

Speaking of the Parkside , you may recall Dan Herman from Radio Crystal Blue field recorded our first show there on May 30, 2007... he played the live version of our song 'Learning Lessons' (UNRELEASED) that he captured then on his radio show this last Sunday Aug. 12. Very cool! That guy sure knows how to keep his long play format fresh and interesting, and I'm super-pleased at the formation of these kind of Wheels Rarities. Cheers!

The Cat Baby is Dead! Long Live the Cat Baby!

I miss our kitty. At the end the most likely diagnosis was lung cancer and even the world's most confident cat couldn't vanquish that. Everybody at the vet's was really nice to us. After, they sent us a little piece of mushy clay with his paw print in it. A package in the mail. We baked it last night in the toaster oven. Only pictures, and the other skittish cat now a lonely sidekick. And the hope that one day we'll have a pet like you again. RIP Chinaski.

Major Change, speaking of you: I've got another new haircut, shorter than ever and mucho fun. High-fashion Heart hooked me up with the perfect look of my own. I brought in a picture, but she created a shape which has been called: glamorous, elvish, a mullet, not a mullet, a she-hawk and flattering. Once I get my hijacked camera back (long story involving a ransom and a vocational training program) there will be pictures. I had the new hair for the last three shows which all took place within the last week.

The next time we're playing will be this Saturday Aug. 11th at Freddy's . A Plastic Beef Variety Show:
7:30 Plastic Beef 8:10 Pocket Monster 8:45 LIZA & THE WONDERWHEELS
9:20 The Puppetheads 9:55 John Sharples Band with Erica Smith 10:30 The Larch 11:05 4x4
11:30 The Saudi Agenda 12:10 Plastic Beef

That's equal helpings of surf, jam + rock with the guarantee of numerous clever covers, pithy original tunes, and the occasional English accent. It's also Roger's birthday.

New show next Monday: time for the annual sighting of that rare animal - me solo acoustic (although Ian will also be part of this songwriters-in-the-round evening, so expect some duo-sity and a few stripped down versions of Larch songs). Also playing: the fantastic John Pinamonti , Dan Sallitt (former songwriter/frontman Blow This Nightclub , promises to debut two songs co-written with Love Camp 7's Dann Baker), and wild card finger picker Bob Prince. The action starts around 8:30 at Bar on A - Avenue A @ 11th St. No cover/minimum. There is a kitchen. What could be better than end of July bar snacks, weeknight cocktails and inventive music?

The next Liza & the WonderWheels show will be 10:30 Saturday Aug. 4th at Freddy's .

Meanwhile, as Plastic Beef we played a private party in New Jersey over the weekend along with our psychedelic pals the Puppetheads . Beautiful weather, friendly family. Alan and James played with us - guitar mostly and some theremin. Diane sang with us which I enjoyed, and between us we covered the B 52's, Janis, Grace Slick, Cyndi and with Andy loads of harmony on everything from the Talking Heads to the Grateful Dead. It was a really nice day.

Although also in a way everything is kind of in the shit right now because of our poor dear sick cat. You might have met him actually: there is a photo of Chinaski the WonderCat in the disk tray of our second record MEET THE ANIMAL. He was always such a robust little man in an all black cat suit. A big ole Tom, a twenty pounder, Mister Gorilla. We'd come home to find him sprawled out on top of the refrigerator at Ian's old place. And he was one of those cats who mostly felt like coming over when you called and was so warm and furry and purry, with such a cute belly.

You get the picture. I am extremely in love with this cat, and although we pulled through the diabetes/shooting him up with insulin 2x a day period of two months ago, the last 10 days have been extremely grim and I'm afraid he's not getting any better. The poor thing is struggling to breathe and the vet told us several things it's not and two things it could be so we're dosing him on steroids and anti-biotics, but as yet to produce a turn-around... it's not looking good. The prospect of losing my Noodle Soup Cat-Baby casts a sad and unsettled pall.

So here are more good things:
- Had a good day recording harmony vocals for the new Larch record which is shaping up to be one amazing set of tunes. Best one yet.
- This keeps me on my toes, and I scheduled time to finish the third Wheels album in August.
- Thinking Larch & the WonderWheels compilation from some of this new material to come with us on...
- October 2007 Larch & the WonderWheels UK tour - our best booked yet, and shaping up to be another fantastic time.

Congratulations to KW & MK who recently tied the knot. I wish you a long life of making happy music together.

Thanks to Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blue for playing "After Last Night" and "Where Is My Robot Maid?" on his July 8 show. These were field recordings of unreleased songs captured live at the Parkside Lounge show. Very cool!

Tuesday - walking by the sea between my mother and my sister, we saw five dolphins in the Atlantic water. Right there! So close. The tide was in. They were fishing just past the breakers. Leaping and fishing... I've never seen dolphins in the wild like that, although years ago I knew a girl from Hawaii who described that kind of thing, and there it was in New Jersey! The water was fine. The sun not too strong. Came back, back to the New York Mood by 4th of July.

Prior to that... congratulations to ERM and thanks for a very nice time at your graduation party.

The Beef is together again for a summer party tour 07/07. I predict a comprehensively good time!

Ran into Normal on Prince Street in SoHo. Ended up going over to The Pit just to hang as well as we had some good rehearsals before leaving off a little for 07/07. I really should record something as third record's lacking only overdubs and mixing plus one re-do. I think I'm ready for that last step in taking the interior music out, and externally the timing would be good for a Larch & the WonderWheels compilation on our tour this October to the UK.

Going back... we played at the Tom Pope birthday shaboo on Sat. June 23. Very fun. There was definitely something in the air as I thought some top-notch sets were played by all the bands. Ours included "Hush Now Sweet Pea" and "Song About a Pigeon" (MEET THE ANIMAL) as well as "No Exceptions," "Where Is My Robot Maid?" and "Midnight Lightening" (UNRELEASED).

What we did on the summer solstice: went with some of the Aires Party Gang to the concert now known as The Great Richard Thompson Rainout at the Brooklyn Bandshell . I thought it was good soggy fun, personally. A big communal shower experience... if only we'd all been eight years old and free of grownup-ly concerns like sheltering the school work in our bags and dry clean only trousers.

Added information to the lyrics of Dead Man Talking (AND THE WONDERWHEELS) - the last words of Shaka Sankofa as I first found them transcribed on the Internet - what inspired me to write the song.

And wrapping up this round-up... on Sat. June 16 we played the MFA VII benefit at The Hook.

Our set: "No Exceptions," "After Last Night," "Learning Lessons," "Where Is My Robot Maid?" "P-E-T-R-O-L-E-U-M," (all UNRELEASED) "Song About a Pigeon," (MEET THE AMIMAL) "Midnight Lightening" (UNRELEASED), "Glam Jacket" (AND THE WONDERWHEELS) and "Eddie Come Down" (MEET THE ANIMAL).

The unblinking creative eye of our Video Man James Dean documented this crazy-fun Beef set from around 1:30 in the morning with special guests too numerous to mention.

Playing at The Hook tomorrow night. Oh yeah, doo dah, hot cha...!

Alan Young published a concert review of the Paula Carino + Liza & the WonderWheels double bill at the Parkside that you might enjoy reading. It's on Lucid Culture and has also been added to our own press page.

Yesterday we were featured on the 6/10/07 edition of Dan Herman's Radio Crystal Blue. He played "Formerly Caroline" and "Eddie Come Down," the last 2 tracks on MEET THE ANIMAL as the second stage featured airplay. You can check out the broadcast, as well as his live field recording of "No Exceptions" (UNRELEASED) from the Parkside show (and live recordings of other bands including a nice and crazy live "Cell Phone or Schizo" by The Larch) on the RCB archive page .

Got something started that I think could be really cool by updating our listening page with a "Hall of Eds" link that currently contains live versions of "Eddie Come Down" from 1) our last show at the Parkside 2) a private party we played in Owslesbury (Hants, England, UK) on our tour last summer, and 3) a show we played in January '07 at Freddy's. I picked the tracks for quality of the jams more than quality of recording, so the quiet beginning can't always be clearly heard, but all three of these versions have great sentimental value and capture some of the more interesting and diverse terrain we've explored in the improvised instrumental.

Our reviewer over at Eartaste once commented that the number of tracks we have online for free streaming and download is very generous to our fans, and to that I would say not at all. It's an honor to share our music. I hope this opens the way for our concert-goers to e-mail me mp3's of bootlegs they've made of us at shows for posting. That would be so interactive & incredible!

Also interactive & incredible is the music video in the works for one of the singles from our upcoming record. We had a Robot-Maid-Music-Video-Brainstorming-and-Pizza-party with all 4 Wheels plus James Dean and Elisa of Greenhead Media that lasted deep into last Saturday night at the creative Greenhead HQ loft space up in Hastings-on-Hudson, and we're all feeling really excited about the project. As you'll see by the stylish design of their web site, the surreal and animated ideas we tossed around are going to wind up looking really cool. We are truly fortunate to have them working with us.

While we were together, they played us a copy of the Grateful Dead 5/8/77 - 30th Anniversary show which I have neglected to mention. It happened on Friday, May 11 and was brain child of our friend Alan "Biggie T" Bigelow. Our bass player Andy was asked to do a couple numbers during the first act of this evening in tribute to a specifically great GD show that took place on 5/8/77 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Then, after their first choice dropped out, Andy asked me to sing the Donna female harmony vocals on "Dancing in the Streets." I knew the Bowie/Jagger version, so I listened to a concert recording and practiced the GD way with Andy a few times, and said sure why not.

I didn't think going to a show and getting up to sing harmony vocals on one song was really worth mentioning... until I got to the Triad Theatre on 72nd street and realized I had vastly under-estimated the eternal appeal of the Grateful Dead. The two-story theatre with balcony was sold out, and the anonymously named Band 5 that I sang with was completely all-star. If you're so inclined you can check out the details and see pictures at Dahdang Productions . Ian got roped in to playing guitar on a few songs literally the night before to replace the missing guitar player from another band.

For the record, getting up in the middle of this red-hot, sold-out show was like an out-of-body experience for me. The extended jam left a lot of time for me & Andy to dance around and hit things percussively, and although my vocals on the playback were like 100x louder than what we heard on stage (we all thought Andy was singing lead, but I guess the sound person didn't...?) I think I sound good and tough doing my hippie-motown impersonation.

[Don't forget our version of Kimberley Rew's song for Katrina and the Waves "Machine Gun Smith" was posted to The Covers Project . If people could go to their site and highly rate us and if you want post a comment, that would be cool.]

Also, check out our freshly updated shows page for details on our summer's activities. We're especially looking forward to two big shows this month:
1) the big MFA VII @ the Hook, Sat. 6/16 - we've got a primo 9:30 spot
2) the big Pope-a-palooza Birthday Party for Tom Pope on Sat. 6/23 at Freddy's

Last Wednesday's show at the Parkside was really something. Like Saturday on a Wednesday, with such great people in attendance. Even when we went back to the Parkside on real Saturday to see the Love Camp 7 + Saudi Agenda double bill people were still giving complements about our set. So eventually we gave up all modest protesting and had to agree that with such a fantastic audience, and an inspiring opening set from the Paula Carino band, and in the quality back room of the Parkside well yes, okay I guess we are pretty fabulous.

Dan Herman from Radio Crystal Blue did attend and tape the set for posterity and his radio station, and in record time he's already added us to his field recordings page so you can hear us play "No Exceptions" from the show, as well as live recordings from other great local bands like The Sprinkle Genies and The Voyces on his web site here .

Our whole set list was:
After Last Night (UNRELEASED)
Where Is My Robot Maid? (UNRELEASED)
Learning Lessons (UNRELEASED)
P-E-T-R-O-L-E-U-M (UNRELEASED)
Straight to the Body (UNRELEASED)
The Hats (UNRELEASED)
Midnight Lightening (UNRELEASED)
Glam Jacket (AND THE WONDERWHEELS)
We Are the Media (MEET THE ANIMAL)
No Exceptions (UNRELEASED)
Eddie Come Down (MEET THE ANIMAL)

Then an impromptu moment closed the show when Paula requested we cover "Walking on Sunshine" and I said okay but only if you sing too.

You must remember this: Liza & the WonderWheels are playing at the Parkside Lounge tomorrow, Wednesday May 30 with the fascinating and talented Paula Carino on before us at 9pm. No cover.

Interest has been expressed by Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blue that he'd like to come and tape the show. Exciting! We'll be playing new songs and smelling our best.

Our version of Kimberley Rew's song for Katrina and the Waves "Machine Gun Smith" was posted to The Covers Project on April 12, 2007. If we get many votes on their rating system our song can be featured in their top story box. That would be cool.

The last time I was in the studio recording for the third Wheels record was a month ago - Monday April 30. I redid lead vocals on "After Last Night" and "Learning Lessons" and was glad in both cases that I did. The former is more confident, the latter more present than what was possible on the day we recorded the first and now scratched lead vocal takes. Ian also added a bit of 12-string on "Straight to the Body." I love it when he pulls out his handsome Rickenbacker .

I'm on the table with this record... fully formed and well dilated, just taking a bit of a breather before the final push out.

I was in Wombat yesterday, tracking keyboards and harmony vocals for the new record from The Larch . Lots of sounds man, with the Nord-Nerd in full effect. The powerful intelli-pop of this Brit-led band has been through many dimensional shifts in a lengthy discography, but as we approach the 10 year anniversary of The Larch (with accompanying LarchFest to be held Saturday, Sept. 15 at - where else? - Freddy's) Ian's art has never been surer. There are, however, no Larch shows scheduled until the above 10-year blow-out (although Liza & the WonderWheels could potentially pull out an I.Roure cover at some point over the summer), so come roll along with the Wheels tomorrow night at the Parkside . People say we monkey around.

Have you heard that we're playing next Wednesday May 30 at the Parkside Lounge in the East Village? (With the savvy and talented Paula Carino on before us. 9pm.) It's true...

... I should really let some people know about it by sending out the e-mail show announcement. Man, I am really just not feeling the 'blog right now. It's cause I'm up to something, but I don't want to reveal yet. I'm gonna hog it to myself just like the name of our third record which I listened to on a car trip (BBQ in NJ) this weekend. We're in progress - I like to listen a lot before going back with the finishing touches, corrections, mixing.

Had to listen to "No Exceptions" back at our place. The song was skipping in the car, but I had the Wombat make us each a copy of the album-in-progress and it was just that disc that had a flaw. The double drums sound great! I did lead vocals the last week of April, and there's Ian harmony. We did some double tracking and it all sounds really full.

Right, so I told you that our next show will be Wednesday May 30 at the Parkside Lounge in the East Village. (With the savvy and talented Paula Carino on before us. 9pm.) Now how would you like to hear some tales from our recent shows? Indeed...

Saturday April 21 we played the closing slot at Freddy's . It's always a good time at our favorite, endangered, Brooklyn local hotspot. I can't tell you what we played because I didn't bring home any set lists - they all got taken - but I know it was mostly songs we're recording for our new (third) record. And we debuted "Midnight Lightening," the first of the triple entendre songs, getting off possibly the best version ever so far because although we'd rehearsed it really quite a lot, what was needed to get it into shape was playing it live. I remember the crowd was high quality, and I wore a Develop Don't Destroy shirt.

The next Saturday, April 28 we played music as Plastic Beef . (4 out of 5 members are the same as Liza & the WonderWheels, the difference is the Wheels play 95% my songs and we do the more original music venues, while Plastic Beef plays maybe 80% covers, 20% my songs, has additional musicians, and we go to cover band bars and private parties where people want to dance to familiar tunes, that kind of thing.)

It was a surprise birthday party night for our bass player. The surprise being that while Andy thought he was just showing up for Plastic Beef playing over on 5th Avenue, he was in fact showing up to a night of Plastic Beef playing with food, cake, an appearance by Apple recording artist Brute Force and an intermission set from our poppy pals in Pocket Monster .

I've been too busy to cook lately... I miss it, but here in the city you can live quite well on take-out and snacking, so being too busy to bring food I volunteered to bring party decorations, and the night before found myself in an odd, dusty party supply shop directly across the street from the bar. It was the kind of place a Scooby Doo villain would buy their mask from, and I couldn't resist purchasing a couple of cheap - but in a fabulously fake way oddly attractive - acrylic wigs. I was told after the fact by one usually reliable, but also imbibing source that the Happy Birthday centerpiece I brought actually said Happy 50th Birthday, but I feel like at least the Party Moms setting up the buffet table would've noticed if that were true. I do know the adorable plastic-silver Sheriff's stars were a big hit. I was even forced to surrender one to the annoyingly sexy lady guest bartender with the astonishingly low-slung trousers, but hey what can you do.

That was the first show we did with new Beef vocalist Diane who'll be coming with to a couple of private party gigs in July that are looking to be potentially outrageous. She's smashing! I think you'll like her.

[I'm not going out for entertainment tonight, but if I were, I'd be going to Freddy's to see Rebecca and John .]

Oh dear diary, yes I almost forgot I had one what with all my life that's been going on. But it's only communication if it's shared people, so how about I try for more consistent updates here until our now-ish news & views have been dribbled out...?

Now doesn't that sound lovely?

We haven't played a show in what for us is quite a while. The next chance to see Liza & the WonderWheels will be Wednesday May 30 at the Parkside Lounge in the East Village. With the savvy and talented Paula Carino on before us. 9pm.

I have the results from the Radio Crystal Blue airplay vote 2007: 100 artists were selected by station founder Dan Herman to compete for 31 airplay features. We won Second Stage status which means we will receive featured airplay in the June 10th show. Cool. Thanks everyone for voting! We were informed of our final tally, but honestly I can't remember exactly... we had over 150, but not as many as 200 votes.

Still, seems to me like quite a posse.

We're playing at Freddy's tonight. 11pm. Everybody's having a good day. See you there!

The Radio Crystal Blue annual airplay vote carries on until April 25 and a blue ribbon for us is far from assured. Only you can help! Please vote for us (in bracket #12) you can vote as often as once a day. Thanks!

Rest In Peace: Kurt Vonnegut . His unique way of finding humor in life's tragically ironic situations made his writing both entertaining and inspiring. Slapstick is one of those novels I can read again and again. I was a production assistant one time at the 92nd Street Y and in the green room hanging amongst the head shots of classical musicians and broadway actors, his Einstein-ian visage was the most impressive to me. I never saw him read or lecture, but I would sometimes give his picture a nod when I hustled past delivering copies and bagels to very important people. He was one of those authors that the fact they exist comforts you: the smartness, the perspective. Yet, he pulled no punches. Reading him is both fun and good for you.

And another Beefstock came and went. Beefstock the 6th. Kristie Lee has posted pictures . Ah... family!

Been mixing some tracks for the new record, and on Monday laid down my lead vocals for "Smug Ugly." I'll modestly say it was a knockout session. Really happy with the performance I got on that one. Here we are the third time around and I do think - with the assistance of Engineer Wombat - I'm getting the hang of how to do this recording thing. Ian recorded his harmony vocals Monday night and then the team shifted just that smoothly into tracking a guitar solo for the next The Larch record, because we are just immersed and prolific like that. Ta-da!

Still making the ILR charts. At last update "Song About a Pigeon" was down to #35 from a high of #6, while "Meet the Animal" is up to #10.

And we're playing this Saturday at Freddy's . I like it!

Even though we are kicking ass in Radio Crystal Blue's annual airplay vote it would be great if y'all could continue to vote for us (as you can every day through April 25) because it's not just about winning bracket #12... it's about total and complete popularity contest domination. Bwa ha ha ha, etc.

If you're wondering where everybody from Brooklyn went, it's Beefstock this weekend. I personally have a commitment here in the daytime tomorrow so compelling that I'm missing way too much of the action and just getting up to Full Moon for Saturday evening and our set around 10pm. In fact, I'm so heroically over-booked, that I called upon the Co-President of our Fan Club for assistance as my driver racing up from the city to the Catskills. That's right: Mom. Everyone else is upstate already, bundled in their Easter wool-sweaters and just getting into the roster of 25+ bands.

Since my last updating, Ian has recorded his guitars for "No Exceptions" and "Smug Ugly." I love the semi-muted way he plays his riff in No E, and unsurprisingly Smugly is a masterpiece of nuvo-swamp Tele-visionary sound-effect guitar talking. We're at the stage where all four of us have "progress report" CDs of the entire third record, although one track is still just basic tracking day and two others also don't have vocal tracks. 6 songs are well-near finished: mixing, keys, percussion and go.

Still, recently I've been thinking about maybe releasing a limited edition ep for the UK tour this October. Maybe 2-3 tracks of the new, plus our X-mas '06 single, and one or some live Eddies. Part oddball, part preview. I think I'd like that. Then the full record winter '08.

The other week we had the pleasure of seeing a kicking Robyn Hitchcock with the Venus 3 show . It was a tremendous set, and the best Robyn sound outside the Soft Boys that I've heard. I also had fun watching several friends and compatriots enjoy the show down below from our perspective in the balcony of the Knitting Factory.

We spotted bass player Scott McCaughey having dinner before the show at South's , but with uncharacteristic restraint we didn't interrupt him. Ian ran into guitarist and R.E.Member Peter Buck on a trip to the Men's room, and they got to talking about their shared love of the jangles, and how 12-strings are really barely enough strings really if you think about it, so that was the umpteenth celebish CD hand-off which always feels nice, especially if seem intrigued and sincere that they want to listen to it (or at least the Kim Cover).

Last Saturday there was a little incident in the form of a monumental Paula Carino birthday party. Held at Wombat's, with entertainment by Crash Course Karaoke the bash was of epic proportions. At the height, I finally fulfilled a wish to sing with Steve Goulding on drums. He's quite a basher! Word is our "White Rabbit" stole the show, which is actually humbling to hear as I'd never want to usurp another super star's party. Although I know all is square, I'm still adapting to get my mind around how good we've all actually become. I guess it's inevitable if you have the natural seed to drive you to practice and dream and be it all the time for these last years and years. Crazy to be able to influence people so strongly through performance, yet it's what we work towards. Oh well, at least I wasn't the person passed out, sick blocking all over the upstairs bathroom. Or the guy making the same use of the sink. Told you, it was *quite* a party.

Excitement tonight: The Larch - Ian's songs with Liza on keys & harmony, Tom Pope's smashing drumming and Ross Bonadonna, a.k.a. the Wombat, holding down the low end with his masterful bass playing - at the Laila Lounge .

[Please continue to vote for us in Radio Crystal Blue's annual airplay vote we're in bracket #12 and you can actually go back and vote for us once every day through April 25, if you feel like it. Thanks!]

Info has been added to our shows page: our schedule for late April, May & June.

James Dean, in the process of creating a video for our song "Where Is My Robot Maid?" posted a 'bot 'blog that includes video he shot at our Laila Lounge show on Feb. 3. The sound's not the greatest: we had a cranky-crackly stage monitor to work with that night, and what you'll hear posted is what was picked up on the video camera's microphone (not designed to record music). We had Andy's DAT taping that night also, but ultimately James' video will have our finished recorded version of the song as sound, and a compilation of footage from several shows with some separately made imagery. I like this video though to enjoy as a moment of time, and if you haven't been to a show in a while you can at least hear the song which will be on our upcoming third album slated for release in the U.S. in early 2008.

And speaking of new songs to hear, two fabulous new albums have been released in the past two weeks from bands we play with and most heartily endorse:

Love Camp 7's Sometimes, Always, Never documents the gorgeous, smart, harmonic, psychedelically gift-wrapped songs the band used to play before their current engrossment with the very exciting alt.Beatle-Baker project - which I hear they are recording now. Remember the moving and unique water trilogy? The happy Mr. Elephant? Or Barbara Lee (who is having no trouble sleeping)? Buy the album and take this genus band's Wonka-rock trip anytime you want to.

Sketler, I mean Skelter's Sip o' Tea for the Devil is clever in an entirely different way as the Skelts return with more of their great sounding, thick-guitar, unabashed and in-your-face RAWK. Enhanced by a "live" format interwoven with 'Leaving Las Venus' narrator Trent McSwain's um... McSwain-ery, the boys return another set of new-classics with increasing assurance and new niceties such as a Greg-singing-lead song ("Die Happy") and Michael's Beck-onversational "32 Pints" to go along with the the Blur-influenced rockers ("Hello Hello Hello") and attitude condemnation scathers ("Dawn Marie") that make their live shows such enthusiastic head-nodding events. Now if their audiences were just a little less hip, I dare say that head-nodding might even ratchet up to banging, but with another gorgeous art-presentation, Skelter hits the mark of making songs that feel like guilty pleasures you cannot be ashamed of.

Ok, so our record... how is the new WonderWheels record going?

I recently had a great day adding lead vocals and doing a rhythm guitar track. I had the time and space to adequately prepare with a few things I think are essential turning in a really great vocal performance in the studio: enough sleep, good healthy food, hydration, a little yoga and about 25 min. of the barre workout of vocal training - the good old me me me and scales etc.

So STTB came out easy in a confidential, conversational flow with the nuances and flexibility there to show the emotions that run through the narrator's story.

For Robot Maid we had some fun with double and triple tracking my voice, and I was able to duplicate on demand and get both the robotics in the verses and the tough feel on the bridge and the held notes of the choruses and it was a good day in the vocal booth which can feel like quite a torture chamber if things aren't going right.

Since that great day I actually cancelled a session which the Wombat was great about, very understanding. I haven't done that before, but I just knew it wasn't a good day and it wouldn't live up to the day with the good vocals, so why go in and spend money when you think you just might be floundering about? And that was a day when circumstances had intervened and I didn't get my adequate body-preparation, so I think it was a good call.

I've also tracked my guitars on "Smug Ugly," breaking the part up into two tracks in what I think is a pretty innovative way that allowed us to maintain a really solid groove and also get greater sustain to have some droning notes that wouldn't have been possible on one track without compromising the timing of the part.

On Thursday we opened for Skelter at their CD release for their new album. It was our second time at Otto's Shrunken Head, but our show there last May was the only time we Wheels have played as a three-piece without Joe on drums so this show was our first time there in full force. Unlike the microscope of recording, for a night-time east village rock performance I was carrying just the right amount of sleep deprivation to feel really free and present at the same time. I balanced on this incline thing that was on the stage see-sawing up and down and making like the neck of the guitar was a tommy gun. Don't know where I got that from. We got good sound and enjoyed playing a cracking gig.

We mostly played the new album.
The set was:
Eddie (short jam) (MEET THE ANIMAL)
After Last Night (UNRELEASED)
Learning Lessons (UNRELEASED)
Where Is My Robot Maid (UNRELEASED)
Straight to the Body (UNRELEASED)
Smug Ugly (UNRELEASED)
P-E-T-R-O-L-E-U-M (UNRELEASED)
Take Us to the Stars (UNRELEASED)
No Exceptions (UNRELEASED)

Oh and shout out to a new-ish band Karate Monkey Death Car who opened the evening and had much more intricately constructed and interesting melodic material to augment the silly novelty song that's the only track they have posted at their MySpace. I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I heard in between getting ready for our set was very interesting.

Entertainment tonight: Love Camp 7 at the Parkside Lounge . Their shows are hotly anticipated events even when they're not releasing a CD, but tonight they are - at 11pm - and with Rebecca Turner opening up for them at 9 too.

Hey, from today through April 25 you can vote for us in Radio Crystal Blue's annual airplay vote we're in bracket #12 and you can actually go back and vote for us once every day if you feel like it. Thanks!

Although MEET THE ANIMAL has been available stateside since Jan. 06 and in the UK since July 06 it was only released to Australia in Feb. 07. Since then we've been getting considerable airplay so thanks to:

Kaz at Joy 94.9 FM in Melbourne for leading the charge, and ISON live radio for picking up two of our songs for Pacific Rim syndication. In just two weeks "Meet the Animal" has gone from #23 to #21 and "Song About a Pigeon" is flying up from #39 to #6. Can we replicate our 2003 triumph when "On the Bridge," the first track on our first record, saw over 10 solid weeks at #1 down under? Aussie or not, feel free to check out ISON and request one of our songs .

A little random, but completely delicious: vegan tapas .

Work on our third record continues apace. I haven't listened to the rough mixes since yesterday, so let me do that and compose a show e-mail for next Thursday March 15 when we're opening for Skelter's CD release at Otto's Shrunken Head and get back to you...