Friday

Excitement tonight: The Larch is playing at the Laila Lounge . 10pm. No cover. The promise of tightly rendered new and newish songs The Larch has been recording. I've noticed this page has turned into more of a weekly-wrap-up than a day-to-day diary lately. That's just because so much is getting done. Here's the last week in review: Last Saturday we were at the 'bat laying down the last two basic tracks for our third album. "Smug Ugly" took a few takes for us to settle in and be happy with the transition between the swampy rock-riffin' feel of the main part of the song into the prog-ish bridge section, but we definitely did it. After a dinner break we tackled our slow song "Take Us to the Stars." After months of joking about should we all drink cough syrup to record this song, or stay up until 5 in the morning, we actually got there the second time through, just listening to each other and the quiet spaces between the beats. Then we drank some jack. That was a nice session. Sunday was our show at Kenny's, and wow it was a blast. My Mom came to town to see the show (How often do we play at 7pm? How family friendly is that?) and things worked out to where I was driving her car from Brooklyn to Bleecker street so as not to stress her with the city driving. Except who knew it was Chinese New Year? So instead I was completely red in the head sitting in traffic at 10 to 7. And I had to pee... I actually drove up on the sidewalk (just a little) but I got us to Crosby Street and we made it to Kenny's around 7:05 (5 minutes before the sound man who as it turns out was also sitting in traffic except on a city bus). Our previously mentioned crackerjack video team of James & Elisa were already there and setting up some flattering lighting for us (obviously I did something good in some former life to deserve those friends!), and the 5 minute pre-sound man interval was just enough to down a double-Jamesons as I decided to make it a devil may care kinda night (knowing Mom would leave at a reasonable hour and find her way back to Brooklyn - I just didn't want to send her on her own going to a place she'd never been). So there was steam to be blown and blow it we did. I can't remember ever having more fun on stage, just really feeling relaxed and free to be ourselves. It turned out to be a very well documented show (including the in-house Kenny cam there were 3 video cameras...) so images etc. will be forthcoming. Meanwhile the set we played was: Meet the Animal (MEET THE ANIMAL) After Last Night (UNRELEASED) Learning Lessons (UNRELEASED) Where Is My Robot Maid? (UNRELEASED) P-E-T-R-O-L-E-U-M (UNRELEASED) Straight to the Body (UNRELEASED) Smug Ugly (UNRELEASED) The Hats (UNRELEASED) Take Us to the Stars (UNRELEASED) No Exceptions (UNRELEASED) Eddie Come Down (MEET THE ANMAL) --- Glam Jacket (AND THE WONDERWHEELS) What I do for Payday (MEET THE ANIMAL) Belle Michelle, who inspired Straight to the Body one night when we were hanging at the Continental (back when that bar used to be a music venue... remember that?) was there and heard her song for the first time. For the record, she started it with all that "I wish someone would write a song for me," and now we're both quite happy with the song she got. This entry grows long, the hour late and still more happened last week: Manitoba's got burned with a bullshit noise complaint fine and stopped the whopping 120 minutes of live music they were booking once a week on Monday evenings, and so another East Village tradition bites the dust. There's a rant to be written here about the lack of foresight in people who move to Ave. B and expect quiet nights, however since the live music there used to stop at 10pm anyway, let's all just say the new neighbors who moved in and complained totally suck and have accrued the bad karma of scuttling any number of fine band performances - including the one we had scheduled there for March 26. You'll see it's now off the calendar . Meanwhile the Brooklyn Library - a public institution that receives funding from Target Corp. and has solicited funding from no less than the greedy Rat-man Ratner himself - is being accused of artistic censorship! Read all about the Footprint fracas here . And guess who got to cover the opening of the "Salon des Refusés de la Bibliothèque de Brooklyn" show of the refused art at Freddy's for the Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse TV show? That's right! I love interviewing for that show. I met all the artists and man those were some cool people. Speaking of cool people, our new pal Eartaste has done the following: 1) Posted a review of track 8 from MEET THE ANIMAL, We Are the Media . 2) Put We Are the Media on his February 16 taster podcast . 3) And even found time to acclaim our X-mas 2006 single "G-L-O-R-I-A" on his message board .

Leave a comment