If you could be a fly on the wall at our practices, you'd see something like this: I arrive 5 minutes late to find Ryan hanging out listening to something esoteric on his car stereo. We unlock the place, turn everything on & chat for about 20 minutes. Then, either Joe or Chris shows up. Another 15 minutes of chatting. Then the last person shows up. Final adjustments are made to the bass tone & Joe complains about how shitty his snare sounds (mind you, he hasn't changed his head since we recorded Yesterday Night.)

On our 1st practice for the holiday extravaganza, Paul arrived before Ryan. By our 3rd practice, Paul was arriving in synch with the last straggler. Smart Boy! Also, Paul would show up prepared. Like, he knew how to play the songs, and he brought chord charts & lyrics. Chris looked at the chord charts and said-hey, there's no # on my bass! Ryan said-my keyboard doesn't go to "m". Paul was very patient with us. He smiled indulgently as I messed up the lyrics to Guy Fawks day & hit terrible notes trying to do harmonies on Kyle Quit The Band. On our last practice, we scrapped plans to cover "That Thing You Do" because there were too many m's & #'s. I was pissed cause it was the only song that I could actually do the harmonies on.

The day of the show, weaklazyliar scrambled to fit in a practice so we could go over our own stuff, which we've forgotten over the course of the last several months. We packed up all our gear cause it was our last practice at our current rehearsal space. (My Boss rented it to a tenant for actual $$, the bastard.) We got to Eddies early and Paul surprised us with presents! I got Belle & Sebastian & Rufus Wainright CDs. And Sarah (Paul's squeeze) gave us all keychain boardgames. Mine was Operation! The nose really lights up with you hit the guts trying to extract the funny bone! Things of Chi. Thanks Paul & Sarah!

The show went GREAT. Thanks everyone for coming out & I hope you had as much fun as we did. We sucked all over the place, but it was superfun. For the aficionado, the cover songs we did were:

1. Guy Fawks Day (Paul's Song, but I sang it & only messed up the lyrics a bit at the end.)

2. Cracking (Suzanne Vega-our version could use a little polish, but what an amazing song!)

3. Again (our song, but Paul sang awesome harmonies; it sounded better than our recorded version.)

4. Don't Dream It's Over (Crowded House-Chris, Joe & Ryan backed Paul up. Chris nailed the little noodly bass intro, which was about the only thing any of them nailed about the rest of the song!! Sorry Paul.)

5. Kyle Quit The Band (Tenacious D!! Paul was JB. Since I can't even fake a guitar solo, I rapped "Beatstreet" over the end. Tremendous!)

6. American Girl (Tom Petty. Paul & I traded verses.)

7. Winter Wonderland (This was something I threw in for fun. We invited Gina & Cate on stage to do harmonies & the whole audience sang along.)

8. Silent Night (Gotta do that one. Paul did great harmonies & we rocked it up a little. Everyone sang along with us)

9. Please Come Home For Christmas (Paul sang & I did the worst doo-wops in the history of the world.)

Other highlights of the evening were Paul's solo covers of "Xanudu" & "Brickhouse." Gina gave away Multitask Music koozies to the 1st 100 people. And Paul gave away a Fender acoustic/electric guitar with a hardshell case to a lucky raffle winner.

I hope Paul invites us over to play again sometime! He's awesome.

Go visit www.paulmelancon.com THANKS EVERYONE!

We probably record the same way most bands on a budget do: We track bass, guitar, drums & scratch vocals together, but in different rooms (we wear headphones so we can hear each other.) We keep just about everything from the original tracking except for the vocal. We overdub the bass and guitar mistakes. And then add more instrument parts and percussion.

Tracking Yesterday Night was interesting because Joe hadn't been in the band very long. I remember singing 'New York' and shouting out "CHORUS" and "SOFT PART" so that Joe would know what to play. Joe is amazing, the way he can sit down and play a song that he barely knows, and it sounds great. Thanks to Joe, we tracked the whole record in 2 days (though we spent several more days doing overdubs and mixing. I think we spent 10 days total.) The only song he had any trouble with was 'Again.' He had a block on the timing of the hits that follow the vocals near the end "ON-LY IN LOVE" We actually ended up punching in the drums on that part. Jeep splayed his fingers out over all 6 drum tracks and forced Joe to do that part over and over. In the end, Joe was so pissed, he smashed out those 4 hits as hard as he could. And that's the take we kept. You can hear the fury, if you listen.

We tried several different drum beats on Monster and never found one we truly liked. There was a military, drum-roll beat. And then this skippy sort of beat. And a doubletime beat. Finally we settled on a Half-Time thing. Boring, but effective. Chris then had to change his whole bass part around to follow the kick drum, and he kept messing up. Jeep made him do it over & over, the same way he pushed Joe on those 4 hits in 'Again.' Chris was really frustrated, but he kept going until it was perfect. Of all the songs on the record, Monster is
the only one that made Jeep dance behind the mixing board. Gina won't even listen to it because she hates the backing vocals we made her put on over the end. I don't hear anything wrong with them, do you? Still, none of us like Monster. I think Chris' super-crunchy guitar part is the only thing that redeems the song. That & I like that the lyrics have the word "decapitated" in them.

My Jeep-moment, of him pushing me and me getting pissed off, came when we were overdubbing the guitar-harmonics on Gravity. Its this bit that has like 8 notes and I wanted to just play the bit a couple times & have Jeep sample it over the rest of the song. But Jeep insisted that I play "live" over the whole song. Only it's hard because my fingers have to sort of dance between the 12th & 7th frets, and I kept fucking up. And Jeep and Chris were standing over me being encouraging until I felt like I couldn't breathe. And after the millionth try, I smashed my guitar over my knees several times STUPIDSTUPIDSTUPID, until Jeep made me stop. And then I left and walked around the parking lot for a ½ hour. When I came back, Jeep had sampled the rest of it. I've always felt really mad at myself in retrospect for giving up. Of the 3 of us, I was the only one who buckled under the pressure.

But anyway, I can't wait to get back into the studio. I hope we can work with Jeep again. He closed down Crash! so he would have the freedom to do his own projects, but I think he's still got his equipment, and hopefully he'll be available to work with us in the spring. He really pushes us to play the best we can when its important, and he helps us experiment with our own ideas (like putting the traffic noise over New York and playing a chord backwards as the intro to Forgive.) And if he has an idea (like putting E-bow on 'Again') he suggests it & then helps us figure out how to work it out.

I have a feeling that our next studio experience is going to be crazy, because we'll all be pushing ourselves so hard. We'll get all crabby at each other but then Chris will say, "Tubby Bitch, its all good." Anyway, I know It'll be okay cause I'm in a band with the greatest peoplein the world.

NOOTCH.

The Red Light Cafe is one of those long, narrow, brick-walled cafe/pubs that exist in every urban environment. Little round, wooden tables. Guinness on tap. Marginal sound system. Multi-colored Christmas Lights strung up around the stage. The Red Light is in a strip mall, but fortunately, you forget about that once you're inside.

As often happens, there was some confusion about if there was a soundcheck & which band was headlining. When we arrived at the designated time, no one was there, so (having been told we were the opening act) we just started setting up our stuff on stage. By the time the other band arrived (a sort of country/new age fusion band called Mad Kate,) we were all set up & ready to go. Of course, the other band thought they were playing first and had a mild freak out over whether their crowd would stay an extra 45 minutes if they had to go on 2nd. But everything got resolved fairly quickly. The lead singer asked politely if we'd keep our set short to accommodate their bass player, who was only filling in & had other places to be. Whatever.

Practice the night before didn't go too well. Joe was tired. I was still depressed over the Love & Sex debacle. We kept detouring off into these protracted jam sessions. Chris and Joe and Ryan came up with some really cool new grooves, but I couldn't find any kind of good melody to sing over them. All told, we only "practiced" about 4 songs in the 2 hours we hung out.

But, the show went pretty well. Chris & Joe & Ryan started playing the Barney Miller theme while I was tuning my guitar back to standard after "Empress of New York." When I got through, I said "Shaft" into the microphone, which cracked me up. But no one else seemed to notice. The majority of the people in the club had come to see Mad Kate. When I started playing "Snow" I let the last note before I sing hang a really long time so that everyone could enjoy the cacophony coming from the Mad Kate fans who seemed to not give a f&*% about us. When I started singing, a bunch of you joined me & we drowned out the crowd . Which
further cracked me up. YOU GUYS RULE!!!

Chris took some pictures of all our stuff set up on the stage, under the Christmas lights and red spots. We've been wanting to change the main page art ever since Ryan started playing with us. He's got really cool Rhodes piano & Hammond digital organ that demand feature placement. By the way, for those of you wondering why we never keep any pictures on the website...I guess it just feels really lame and arrogant to have a bunch of pictures of ourselves up. Plus, we're all really ugly. :) But I don't know, we'll put some up sooner or later. If we ever find any we like.

Anyway, we had fun at the show. It served its purpose, which was to a) allow Joe to rock a bit and b) help us get over the disappointment of having our song cut out of Love & Sex. This is our last (scheduled) show for a while. We may try to play with the Gentle Readers in October at the Earl. And, I'm playing in the middle of Paul's Border Books show on 11/18. And we're playing shows at Borders & Eddie's in December. But mostly, we're going to tuck into the new songs. We've got 2 written so far, and pieces of 2 or 3 others. With any luck,
we'll be done writing the majority of the new songs by early next year. One of us will post new album updates whenever we have things to say. Hopefully, it'll be Chris or Joe. I already talk too much.

When I played my very first show, ever, I took the entire day off work and practiced until my fingers were so sore I couldn't play anymore. I remember wondering if I'd always be that compulsive, or if shows would become so old hat that I would be able to blow off practice entirely. In weaklazyliar, I've always insisted that we rehearse before every show. But, as I said before, we're all sick of the songs. So, when I called Joe about practice, I asked, "are we practicing tonight or just meeting at the club before the show?" --knowing full well that his answer would be "meet at the club, if that's cool."

The day of the show, I intended to at least run through some songs on my own. Instead, I spent the day in the practice space with the four track, trying to figure out a harmony part to this new song we're working on. I think, subliminally, I wanted to be like Chris & Joe-perfectly capable of doing a show with zero practice.

Anyway, we get to the club and listen to the first act, Michelle Martin. She auctioned off the last remaining CASSETTE of her old band Boink-Dee-Deek for FIFTY BUCKS!! Impressive.

We played next. I was so nervous I had to keep my eyes closed all through the first two songs. I messed up "Beautiful" a little, but I don't think it was too awful. We played "Tuesday" without any mistakes, but Chris leaned over afterward and whispered, "Relax." I thought I was okay, but I guess I must have been standing there, rigid, trying to focus all my concentration on not screwing up. I opened my eyes and there was this sea of people in the club, bright lights blinding me. I had no idea what to say. I was a nervous wreck!! In the end,
I only messed up a few times...and nothing as catastrophic as dropping my pick or striking a resounding wrong chord...but it wasn't a show I went away feeling great about.

What's worse is that, afterwards, I was so wound up that, when I saw Uncle Mark out on the patio, I automatically said, "Thanks." He looked at me kind of funny and I realized I'd just thanked this famous, talented man when he hadn't congratulated me on anything! Idiot! In a classic attempt to try and cover my mistake, I said, "For being here. Out on the PATIO." He looked at me again, very oddly, then patted my hand. Dooh!!!!

I went back inside to hear Kristen Hall play. I LOVE Kristen Hall. I worship her music. She's the very first Atlanta singer/songwriter I ever heard play--back in the early 90's when she still had that giant white dreadnaught. Some of her songs, like "Howie" and "Its allright" and the "I-gave-you-a-boat" song STILL kill me. For this show, she did mostly newer stuff that I hadn't heard-including a couple incredible songs from her new CD "August 2000 Demos." She's got a great new haircut, and she said she was nervous. SHE was nervous??!!??!!

After Kristen, Uncle Mark & Ashley played. We've played with Uncle Mark on several occasions, but I'd never heard him with Asley before. WOW!! They kept cracking each other up. When they did "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" they divided the audience into good pirates and bad pirates and had everyone sing along. They ended their show with a medley that started off as the Merle Haggard song, "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" and segued into the Donny Osmond song "Go Away Little Girl." Everyone in the audience was
howling. THAT is the way an acoustic show should be done!

After Mark played, I gathered my courage and went out to the patio to find Kristen Hall. She was sitting at the counter with Eddie Owen. I went up to her and said, "Your new songs are AWESOME." If I could've thrown a "dude" in there, it might have been marginally more embarrassing. I have a mental picture of myself holding up both my hands in the uplifted pinky-index-thumb "Rock & Roll" gesture. I'm not sure I actually did that, but from now until the end of time, that's how I'll remember it. Me: "AWESOME" (R&R hands), Kristen Hall:
"Uh, thanks..."

I slinked off to pack up my guitar and stuff.

Lessons Learned: 1) Always practice 2) Never, Ever, Open My Mouth Again.

This show differed SHARPLY from the raucous rock-n-roll experience of our last MP3.Com show. For one thing, this time MP3 sponsored shows at a couple different venues--a "Rock" venue (Cotton Club) and an "Acoustic" venue (Eddie's). Radio only advertised the "Rock" show. There was no MP3 rep. present at the acoustic venue, no banner, no tour bus, no special sound geniuses… In fact, even the girl who organized the
event was nowhere to be found (she & her band were busy getting ready to play the CottonClub show.)

We got to Eddie's and unloaded our stuff just before a massive rainstorm hit Atlanta. Out on the deck in the blustery weather, watching the trees bend, we met some of the people in the other bands. SUCH TOTALLY NICE, DOWN-TO-EARTH FOLKS!!!! These people are truly some of the nicest Atlanta bands we've ever played with. Greta Lee, a charming person who says she can "channel" Merle Haggert, played the first slot. I didn't get to talk to her, but she seemed really cool on stage. Salamander Tales reunited for the night to fill the second slot. Their singer Nanette has a great voice & the lead guitar guy (who Nan says writes a lot of their songs) has amazing style. No Wanking. Their bass player played this gigantic acoustic bass with a rubber "feedback buster" taped over the sound hole & their drummer (Linda? -She also plays for Gentle Readers) did a solid job. I enjoyed their set & it's a bummer that they don't plan to play together anymore. I hope they turn up again in one gestation or another. We played 3rd, but I'll talk about that in a second. The last band of the evening was 'Nillah. As in Vanilla Wafer. They're really cool. I wish Paul Melancon could've stuck around
to see them, because I think he may have found some kindred spirits. They did covers of "Pretty In Pink" and "Rain" (Beatles). I dug the harmonies and their drummer was really loose. They kept encouraging everyone to come see them play "For Real" at their Electric shows, but I thought they were great acoustic. With any luck, we'll do shows with them in the future.

Our set was the most fun we've had on stage in a while. For the last couple months, we've been REALLY SICK of all our songs. "Yesterday Night" has only been out a year, but we've been playing most of the songs for at least 2, and in some cases, 3 years. UG. We're working on new stuff, but it isn't ready to be unveiled. So, shows lately-at least for me-have been sort of agonizing at worst. Boring at best. We're sick of playing acoustic all the time-blahblahwhine. I expected this show to be the same way. But, everyone was ~so~ nice,
the storm was spectacular, Chris told "Yo Mama" jokes, and the energy at Eddie's was great. We had a blast. The sound was good. We even did a cover version of Tom Petty's "American Girl" that we had whipped into shape in our boredom at practice the day before. We dedicated it to Kristen & Julie, our 2 fans who have 8/24 birthdays. As soon as everyone figured out what song we were playing, there was this roar of clapping from all the American girls in the audience. I guess everyone can identify with Tom Petty: "God Its so painful/when Something So Close/is Still-So-Far out of reach"

I find myself disillusioned and sick of it all.

There’s an urban legend in Atlanta that Shawn Mullins wrote his hit “Lullaby” backstage at Genghis Cohen. So, in my head, I pictured this club as gritty & teeming with hipsters, celebrities & undiscovered genuises. My contract for the show (which contained several stupid & intimidating “rules”--Don’t schedule any other shows within 10 days, If an accompaniest plays on only a few songs, he/she has to pay to get in, etc...) did nothing to contradict my precoceptions.

In reality, Genghis Cohen is in a strip mall, bordered on one side by a billboard advertising treatment for Syphilis and on the other by a store that sells children’s clothing. It had been described to me as “a low-key kind of place,” and “a bar that serves Chinese food.” But, when I walked in, I didn’t see any kind of stage or sound system, only U-Shaped booths tended by people in bright quilted jackets. Eventually, Terry, one of the nicest sound guys I’ve ever had occasion to meet, pointed me to the music room, just right of the restaurant
proper. Picture the schoolhouse set in Little House On The Prarie decked out with red walls and black lacquer trim. There was a tiny toy disco ball hanging 2 inches from the ceiling & I took a seat in one of the converted church pews and waited for the first act, Mare Winningham, to begin.

I was excited about getting to meet Mare, since she’s a celebrity and all. (She’s the one that hooked up with Rob Lowe in “St. Elmo’s Fire”) To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from Mare, but I ended up enjoying her show. I would describe her stuff asJjoni Mitchell folk from a modern perspective (i.e.: she used profanity to great effect & did a cover of “All Apologies” by Nirvana on her Dulcimer.) It was standing-room only in the tiny club & her audience was absolutely reverent-completely hushed during the songs & then clapping wildly
at their conclusions. Mare, with her blonde hair that kept falling down over her face, looked for all the world like the definition of “folksinger.” Her voice is lulling & hypnotic and I found myself enjoying her show. When she finished (with a cover of Petula Clark’s hit “Downtown”-also on Dulcimer,) she exited out the backstage door & I never saw her again.

The second act, Renee Stahl, is repped, like us, to movies & TV by Music For The Masses (founded by Julie D’Angelo, a former partner in Sugaroo.) Gina had trouble booking this gig for me. JT, the booking guy, was reluctant to schedule me since I clearly wouldn’t be packing the house. To ensure a good crowd, Julie arranged to have Renee booked as well. (Honestly, the booking of the gig was so time consuming & convoluted, you would’ve thought the parties were negotiating the f*&%ing Mid-East Peace Talks.) Mare’s crowd left when Mare did--making room for Renee’s crowd to eddy in, filling up the cracks. Again, the audience was incredibly appreciative and attentive, hooting & hollering & making me miss Adam
Knezevich (who is credited with hooping & hollering on our CDs.) Renee has a gorgeous voice & she’s beautiful. She could easily front a huge MTV band like Garbage. A bunch of her friends played with her, giving her set a loose sort of fun vibe.

After Renee finished, a lot of people took off, and a few people stayed to hear me play. Paul M. & Sarah were there (Paul is in the midst of a west coast tour.) Julie D’Angelo came (Nice to finally meet you and YOU ARE OUR HERO for getting “Monster” into the movies.) Some of Gina’s LA contacts showed up, and a few Mare/Renee stragglers stuck around to see me. I took the stage at about 11 (2AM EST), feeling like Miss Beetle in front of her Walnut Grove Class. I think I played pretty well. I didn’t mess anything up. It was a mostly mellow set, focusing on the newer stuff that Julie hadn’t heard before-Secondhand, Charlotte
& The Elevator Song (the one I wrote for my niece Sarah.)

It was a cool experience, playing in LA. But just like a lot of things, my “West Coast Debut” turned out to be not as big a deal as it seemed in my head. Not that I expected David Geffin to turn up at my show, but I guess I pictured LA as the-place-where-River-Phoenix-died-on-a-sidewalk, but its also this bizarre land of Strip
Malls and fast food franchise wannabes (Donut King, Barbeque Galore...) So far, I’ve seen the place where OJ “didn’t” murder Nicole, the place where Biggie got shot, & the bathroom where George Michael got caught jacking off in front of a cop, and every one of these legendary sites is flanked by the likes of “WeinerSchnitzel” and “El Indio.” I desperately wish Chris & Joe were here. They would appreciate the humor in coming all the way to LA to play in the annexed wing of a Chinese restaurant.

On one hand, this was a great show. Matt from 99X (who turned out to be tall & cute) gave out a bunch of T-shirts & concert tickets. A lot of people showed up & we got 3 pages of names on the mailing list. Paul Melancon filled in the gap between our sets, which is always a blast. And Kelly, our #1 Florida Fan, drove all the way to Atlanta to see us. On the other hand, it was a crappy show. I was getting over a cold & I had to swig Robitussin in between songs. Chris, Joe & Ryan all played splendidly, but I forgot the words
to Elvis and Elaine & then forgot to sing the by-myself part in Too Much TV (not to mention messing up the guitar part.)

The show picked up toward the end, THANK GOD, when Joe put away his magic brushes (for playing softly at bookstores & coffeehouses) and whipped out his magic sticks (sticks made of several little dowels bound together with red tape, for playing louder at bookstores & coffeehouses).

I think part of my problem was that we've been working on some new songs & my head is all wrapped around them. I've heard it said that the best songs come out quickly & whole, but that's not always true for us. For instance, "Secondhand" began as a slighly country/folkified guitar part (the intro) that Chris had hanging around since his Funmud days. He gave it to me to put words to sometime in 1996 & I forgot about it until about the time Jeff Frazier quit the band (spring 1998.) Then the narrative idea came, followed by the first line, "today i feel secondhand." The rest of the verses & chorus came slowly during the fall of 1998. The bridge
didn't arrive until just before Christmas, 2000 during a heated argument between Chris & me (while Joe kept saying, "I'm staying out of it.) We compromised & in the process worked our way over a major hump involving switching between 3/3 & 4/4 time. We're a better band because of that song & its a better song because we all contributed pieces to it over a long time. Anyway, we're following the same process with the new stuff, and we're really excited about it. Its all we can think about.

So. I was all set to have this show suck because a) I was playing solo & b) I played so badly at the last show. But thankfully, it turned out to be a lot of fun. The place was full for a Wednesday and, despite the sound (which people said was a little screechy in the high register,) everyone seemed to be having a good time. (At least, they laughed at our lame jokes.) You've all heard me extol Paul before, so all I'll say about him is that he was GREAT. He's got this new alternate-tuning (D-A-D-G-A-F#) song that we all call "the California song." What a great tune. At least as good as "Slumberland" & "Forget the Forget," which are my other Paul-faves.

Jennifer Daniels was also a treat. Of course I'd seen her posters & heard of her, but I'd never seen her play. She's got an incredible voice. She's little, sort of like Nancy Griffith, but her voice is huge. At times, she reminded me of Sinnead O'Conner. Like, if Sinnead grew up in a small town & wrote acoustic songs. Anyway, if you get the chance, check her out. This guy, Jeff, played guitar & mandolin with her & he was great too.

One cool moment in the show arose when Paul played "the California song." He asked if Chris was in the audience because Chris loves that song & he always somehow manages to miss it. After we discovered that he hadn't shown up, I dissed Chris & called him lame (in a friendly, mocking way.) But then I started to feel bad about it cause (aw shucks) Chris is really great & not lame at all.

So, when it came time to play "Shari's Listening," I told the story of the song, which is personal & not something we've ever talked about before. See, Shari is Chris' older sister who died in an accident several years ago. Chris took me once to Blairsville, where her grave sits in a tiny little churchyard that backs up to a field. Afterwards, I wrote "Shari's Listening" for him, about her. That song means a lot to us. In fact, our bank account & our publishing company are also named "Shari's Listening." To me, it's a reminder of what's important. Being in a band is really a lot like being the guy in Henderson The Rain King who walks around
saying I WANT I WANT I WANT... Its good to be able to say (to ourselves & whoever might be listening) that "[we're] going to be okay...a few good things have come [our] way."

Amy from the Attic called a couple days after our June 11 Eddie's show (the one that only 5 people attended) & asked if we'd fill in on the 30th for a group that had cancelled. I felt like Eddie was giving us a second chance to prove that we were worthy-of-headlining-on-a-weekend. Which is why I LOVE EDDIE OWEN. He truly supports the artists that play his club, which is not something I'd say about other club owners
in this town. Because I was determined not to disappoint him, I reprimanded, begged & bribed our entire
mailing list to attend this show. (note: sorry about that everyone...you guys are all INCREDIBLE. We appreciate your support more than you'll ever know.) All the bribery paid off because the house was packed. THANK YOU.

When we started playing our first song (Tuesday,) I was really nervous for the first time in a while. My mouth was all dry & I had to keep my eyes closed really tight to try and block out my paralyzing stage fright. During the best of times, when I'm singing, I don't think about anything but the groove of Chris & Joe behind me, and you guys smiling out in front of me. But when I'm nervous, this dialogue will start in my head and I'll say to myself, "You're nervous. Think about your laundry. Think about breakfast. Think about-wait, am I singing the
right words? Damnit, I'm screwing up!! I wanted this show to be fun & now I've messed it all up-" and then the song will end & I'll be on stage trying to grin, feeling all the time like I just want to run far, far away.

I had a mild case of stage fright during all of our first six or seven songs. But every time things would threaten to go downhill in my head, I'd hear you guys cheering, or I'd open up my eyes and see someone singing along-and that's THE BEST feeling in the world. It helped to play the Weeble Song & hear all of you stomping out the We-Will-Rock-You beat. And it also helped to pick on Chris, which I did all through the show. (sorry, Chris) I think he understands my nervousness, though, and my sort of discomfort with having to say witty and
entertaining things while I'm re-tuning my guitar between songs. The only witty & entertaining things I can ever think of happen to involve picking on Chris...Maybe you guys should email me between-song-banter suggestions!

Toward the end of our set, our special guest Angie Goodale came out & played a tune. She suffered through a little mishap involving a malfunctioning guitar cable, and then, like a pro, she played a great song. You'll be hearing more about her in the future; I think she's going to play a Border's Bookstore show with us sometime soon.

Ryan (the keyboard wonder-god) joined us for our last 3 songs. Ryan played the Hammond organ he scored off Ebay a few weeks ago. Chris, Joe & I have been falling over with glee at practice every time he strikes a chord on that thing. My nervousness disappeared & we finished out our set with an slow, acoustic arrangement of "Bright Yellow Bucket" that Chris starts off on his bass. We've played this arrangement before, with mixed results, but it finally sounded just like we've always wanted it to with Ryan on the organ.

And then to top off an excellent show, you guys kept applauding and we got to do an encore (only the second encore we've ever played!!) Shows don't get much better than this.

The brand spanking new MP3.Com Tour Bus parked outside the Echo Lounge was our first clue that this was not going to be a normal show. Inside the club, several shirtless men were roaming around plugging equipment in and yelling back & forth to each other. We loaded all our stuff against a wall and sat back to behold the most elaborate soundcheck we've ever witnessed.

The MP3.Com national headlining artist, Emily Richards, was apparently holed up in the air-conditioned tour bus (it was hot as hell in the club.) Her band did most of the soundcheck without her, even tested her vocal mic & piano for her. Emily emerged after about an hour to sing a few lines. She seemed nice enough, but sort of tired, and she had an Australian accent.

Our first hint that the Echo people & the MP3 people weren't getting along came when we were informed that our timeslot was being bumped up by ½ an hour. Apparently, the local headlining band, Hanging Francis, was playing (even though they aren't on MP3.Com) because the Echo had insisted on having them (to ensure a good crowd). HF thought their timeslot was earlier & when they found out they weren't going on until midnight, they were irritated & threatened to not play-which meant bumping everyone else's slot up. We were
only allowed a ½ hour set which meant that people who came to see us at the time we'd told them to show up were doomed to miss us entirely.

Still, we were dead excited. There were actual security guards running around and tickets printed with our name on them and a sound guy who referred to the monitors as "mons." At some point during our soundcheck, another tiff broke out between the Echo & MP3, something about how much free beer the club was supposed to give out to the bands. I guess the Echo conceded giving away something in the end. We felt like we had hit the big time, lounging around backstage enjoying one free beer each.

Our show was great. Thanks to Lance, Sound Man & Tour Manager Extraordinaire, sound couldn't have been better. Ryan was playing keys with us for the first time and even though we're still working out the arrangements, the sound was fuller than it has been. Also, Chris, Joe & I are really tight all of a sudden-maybe from all the practice with Ryan, or from having to concentrate on a new element. We've developed this psychic karma or something. We got all sweaty and I couldn't stop grinning. A bunch of people showed up to see us. THANK YOU.

Tom's House, the regional touring band, played next. They're the nicest guys, and very good too. They have great harmonies and they've quit their day jobs to tour around the college circuit. I especially enjoyed Billy, their singer, whose regular speaking voice is sexily reminiscent of Harry Connick Jr. While Tom's House played, we walked around and apologized to everyone who missed our show because we had to play early.

Emily Richards, the star of MP3.Com, whose songs perpetually hover at #1 or #2 on the MP3 pop charts played next. From her MP3 clips, I expected her to be a sort of diva-type vocalist. But she rocked out Tori Amos style, gyrating on her piano bench and putting on a bona fide show. Her band was really good too, though the cute guitar player had an excess of guitars, including one double neck. One weird thing: On stage, Emily's Australian accent totally disappeared. It was eerie. Also, Emily told us we were great even though I swear she never left the tour bus until 5 minutes before her own show time. Chris hypothesized that
maybe the bus was linked to the club via walkie talkie our something. Honestly, my favorite thing about Emily (since I didn't get to talk to her much) was her totally sincere and unpretentious assistant Andrea, who enthusiastically requested (and received) one of our CD's. Autographed.

Chris, Ryan & I sat backstage with the guys from Tom's House and their fans during the last half of Emily's show (Joe was schmoozing with the chicks up front.) Joints were being passed around and everyone was wasted, just like in Spinal Tap. We declined to smoke, not out of any prudishness or anything, just because we wanted to watch the scene develop without the benefit of mind-altering substances. And what a scene it was! This one girl exposed her tits, the pool table kept threatening to tip over from all the people crowded on to it, and a rather inebriated guy offered me his heartfelt congratulations on our apparently unparalleled
performance. He sounded quite sincere. (I'll absolutely die if my parents ever read this.)

Toward the end of Emily's set, 4 very tall, thin rock-star types appeared backstage in their leather pants. Hanging Francis! Chris, Ryan & I all hurried out to see their set. We were startled to find that the club had become slightly more crowded. Hanging Francis turned out to be rocking, and exceedingly tight. Their songs were very Marvelous 3-esque, or probably, its the other way around. In any case, they were definitely good.

Toward the end of their set, more fights broke out between MP3 & the Echo Lounge. The Echo has started charging a $340 "production fee," that they take off the top of the sales from the door. Since MP3 gave away a bunch of free tickets to the show (and apparently, the Echo guy went white with horror when he found out about the free tickets), the take from the door was less than the production fee. The Echo expected MP3 to cough up the difference. MP3, who had provided its own sound guy to do production, begged to differ. Much
screaming into cell phones ensued. Then Hanging Francis got pissed when they found out that they were only getting paid the same $100 "local band" fee that we were getting. In the end, HF's manager (she introduced herself as "Crazy Allison") offered to slip cash to the MP3 tour manager to give HF as "additional" payment. (Hey Gina! How come you don't do that for US?????)

By the end of the night, tensions between the Echo & MP3 were so high that both parties were pulling Gina aside to try and get "the real story." Gina, being the professional she is, remained Switzerland and refused to participate in or fuel the feud. Frankly, we loved it. The whole night was a total rock & roll experience. All the more "important" bands were pissed, either at each other or the venue or the MP3 Tour. We were the only ones having any fun.

We got to see the Tour Bus (from the outside at least.) We have souvenir tickets with our name printed on them. We finally got to play at the Echo Lounge (where apparently we're too "super pop" to play under normal circumstances.) We played a great show (even if we weren't as slick as the other bands.) We saw the tits of a Tom's House fan. AND, we got paid a hundred bucks.

ROCK & ROLL!!!!

we played a great show-too bad only 5 people showed up to see it!! props to Mark Duplass (from Austin) and Kit Rodgers (from TN) who had crowds of 4 & 6 respectively. (i wish you could see me right now, sitting at my desk cracking up hysterically over my use of the word "crowd.")

anyway, i won't say much about the show itself. what i want to talk about happened the night after our show-at the Eddie's Attic weekly open mic. something magic emerges from the cacophony every week at these open mic events. this week, magic was a girl named Claire. imagine Lisa Loeb with a Pippi Longstocking hairdo and a Billie Holiday voice. her songs were like little Carson McCullers' stories accompanied by occasional careless plucking...and then she extracted a kazoo from her hair...

if Chris & Gina & I had been judges, the finalists would have been 1) our friend, whom we had come to see 2) Naya, a spoken word artist who made up amazing rhymes ON THE SPOT, accompanied by a Neil-a bassist he'd never met before and 3) Claire Campbell, of course. but, we weren't the judges & that wasn't the outcome-although Claire at least made it into the finals.

i sat in the club as the night wore on, watching Eddie Owen wander around humming John Mayer tunes, giggling at Gina singing the harmony parts to Eagles tunes on the jukebox, catching chris sneaking looks at Claire (he was totally smitten- i'm sure its because of the slight resemblance to Lisa Loeb)...i totally love Eddie's Attic. i owe the place a debt--the open mic event in particular, because it's the first place i ever played. scared shitless, with crappy songs... and when i compare then to now, i feel humbled. and i realize that, crowd or no crowd, i am completely lucky.

Adam's CD Release Party gets a mediocre rating only because of how i felt about having to play it alone. the show itself was cool. Adam's all grown up suddenly, which is bizarre & he's just as talented as he was back when Chris & I knew him in our Barnes & Noble past. he filled up the room for 2 shows--something we've never done!

I went on stage after guest #1,Tammy Fowler, & played "secondhand" and "new york." i felt kind of nervous & i blew a couple chords, but not in any catastrophic way. Joe had a work thing that kept him away at the last minute & i probably wouldn't have had to play alone...except i was a huge bitch to Chris when he expressed a slight reservation about playing without Joe. sorry Chris. (editor's note: that is only the third time Gerlinda had
ever apologized to Chris) I'd really like to say more about these kinds of things--the whole reason for this show diary is so you guys get to know us...but I don't feel right bitching freely about our fights. for one thing, its only my opinion.

Anyway, the cabbagetown festival was great! it was defiitely one of those weird shows where you just say screw it & do whatever comes to mind. Pete Knapp had arranged for 3 stages to be placed within 1/2 blocks of each other, so the sound from everyone's set bled into everyone else's. we played in this vacant lot & the band playing on the roof up the street was some sort of chainsaw-metal band. they were LOUD. so, we'd play a song, la-la-la, and at the end, there would be this roaring from stage right, guitars from hell. we were laughing our asses off. because it would've been stupid to even try & play any of our slow, contemplative tunes, we played several louder songs, "levitate me," "monster," and "elaine" that we haven't practiced in MONTHS. and, except for levitate me, we didn't screw anything up too much. several people watched us & clapped & seemed to understand how hilarious it all was. i was having a lot of fun. i looked over at Chris a few times & even though we barely spoke to each other that day, i could tell we both felt the same way about the show--that it was totally fun, which is how you always hope it will be.

and in the end, we sold 7 CDs and got a bunch of entries for the mailing list...we're less than $2000 in debt from "yesterday night" now...

We were all nervous because Jeep (former owner & guru of the now-defunct Crash!Bang!Wallop! studios, where we recorded "Yesterday Night) was there. Not that Jeep is intimidating in any way...we just all really respect him & we didn't want to suck in front of him. Alas, our whole first set was sort of blah, though it picked up toward the end when we did "Rocketpop."

Sonya Vetra (www.sonyavetra.com), accompanied by Jeep, did a set in between our 2 sets. She was witty & sexy as always and everyone loved it when she played "The Best Revenge." And of course, Jeep put me to shame on the guitar! But I got him back by announcing it was his birthday & bringing him a flaming cinnamon bun.

Our second set started with "Empress of New York," & it went much better than the first. I even made one or two people laugh when I told the story of how Gina dreamed she was forced to wear a prosthetic bread-leg. "Elvis" was on the set list & we haven't played it in forever. Chris leaned over to Joe & said, "Just Wing It," and Joe, Mr. Amazing, played it (& everything else) perfectly. Chris was pretty good too. :) Every time I worked up the nerve to look at people, they seemed to be listening and enjoying themselves (my measure of a good
show.) A girl, who shall remain nameless, found out that Chris & Joe are both recently single & she hit on them simultaneously (Chris & Joe's measure of a good show.)

i gave this show an extra point since Joe played even though he was deathly sick with some sort of influenza. Paul Melancon opened the show & he was great as always, despite the echoing room. then we played... what a disaster. i don't know. i guess it wasn't that bad. the High Museum is definitely the most beautiful place we've ever played in. there were just a few horrid things that happened...like i dropped my guitar pick in the middle of "Too Much TV" & it took me a whole section to find it on the floor...then i screwed up the up-the-neck guitar part in "Rocketpop..." and for the whole show i had the disconcerting feeling that i was way
off time from joe & chris...but maybe it was the echo...or the roar of conversation from the crowd of people who weren't paying any attention to us. the worst thing that happened was that Jeff Clark, atlanta's most cruel rock critic, happened to show up...which made me come close to wetting my pants in terror. somehow, we've managed to escape unscathed by him so far. but, now that he's seen us in person, i know we're in for it.

Five Eight played after us. i loved them! they were this great cross between Paul Simon & Sonic Youth. in fact, i said that to the bass player afterward & he seemed kind of irked. he said, "I like to think we aren't like anyone..." whatever. i could tell he hated us. just thing#zillion why this show sucked.

i went outside while Five Eight was playing & crossed the commons to sit on a concrete bench. i turned my head a little, watching the mist drizzle down through a spotlight, and for the first time in my whole life, it occurred to me that i might not "make it." which made me realize that, despite being self-deprecating & chronically depressed, i've always sort of blindly believed that i would "make it." and by "making it," i don't mean being famous or anything...i mean more like the woman in the Adrienne Rich poem, "Transcendental Etude" who sits quietly in a room in the world, sewing or something. i guess i just want my own place in the
world to sit quietly in. a place in the world that's like the place inside me where the songs come from. do you know what i mean?

when i looked up, i saw Chris across the commons, standing against the wall smoking a cigarette. i watched him like he was a stranger, and i thought he looked lonely too.

this show automatically got a point for effort since it took us 5 hours to drive to Guilford College & it got another extra point because there were a few people in attendance who actually knew who we were, specifically jane & brooke from WQFS who play our songs on their radio program (actually brooke couldn't come cause she had to do the radio show, but still.) the show itself was a solid 6. the (very nice) sound guy did the best he could with the PA he rented off a high school kid for $20. the band that played right before us was an excellent punk band called Blitzkid from Bluefield, WV. they had several very enthusiastic slam dancing fans in attendance. our little acoustic band sheepishly took the stage around 9pm & did the best we could. it was a pretty good show. joe & chris rocked. gina played bass on "bucket" & "monster" again & i didn't mess up too much, except for forgetting to sing the chorus twice at the end of "rocketpop." the guys from blitzkid stood in front of the stage & cheered us on (they're really cool) and it was great to meet Jane (who has extraordinary orange hair!).

we got back on the road to head home at around 10:30pm, gina licking a McDonald's ice cream cone & chris, joe & i with our salty #3 combinations. we drove an uneventful 5 hours home, until at 3:30AM, we pulled onto I-285 & were confronted by a horrible car wreck that must have happened seconds before. gina was pumping the brakes, trying to slow down without tipping over our borrowed (thanks Rama) Jeep Cherokee. she swerved right to avoid a darkened smashed car in one of the left lanes & then immediately had to swerve left to avoid THE BODY that had been ejected from the car & was lying face down on the interstate. through some sort of miracle, we squeezed between the smashed car & the body without hitting either one. the first thing i noticed when it was all over was a Filter song playing on the radio:

"will you take my picture? 'cause i won't remember..."

this may have been the best show we've ever had the privilege to play.

there have been other stand outs-like our CD release party @ Smith's last year (the release party at Eddie's Attic stands out as one of the worst since chris, joe & i were fighting at the time & i had to play ALONE) & the Eddie's Attic show last November where we showcased for a record label, but i think maybe this show was even better than those.

first off, Paul is a great guy. in fact, stop reading this & go look at his website (www.paulmelancon.com). his record "Slumberland" sounds amazing & we're all just as proud of him as we can be. second, since it was really Paul's show, not ours, we were all totally relaxed. third, Paul's audience is great! they yelled & screamed & made us feel good. fourth, we didn't mess up much. joe rocked, even though he couldn't hear anything (there was no monitor near him.) chris broke a 3 year stage silence & actually talked. it shocked me so much that i don't even remember what he said. usually he just stares at the ceiling. gina made an appearance on bass & played "bucket" & "monster" with us. & i played a new song (i'm calling it "Charlotte Gets New Eyes" for now) and didn't screw it up too much. if you weren't there, i can't really explain it to you. it just felt great. and afterwards, we got to chill out & listen to Paul play. He sounded amazing solo & then even more amazing when Rob Gal & Michael Lorant got on stage to play bass & drums with him. what a cool night.

we got a call on tuesday from a guy named mark who needed someone to fill the opening slot for a show scheduled wednesday with his band (hundred dollar day) & trinket @ the somber reptile. on any normal day, being basically lazy, we would've just said no. but, the night before, at practice, chris, joe & i had this conversation and we decided we should quit practicing so much & just play shows every week. i remember being happy about it because i thought maybe gina would start thinking of us as hardworking, instead of the weaklazyliars that we are. anyway, what happened was, we each told gina "i'll do it if X & X will do it,"
fully expecting that the other band members would say "no." in a sort of Three's Company-style comedy-of-errors, our little acoustic band ended up with a show at the somber reptile---a club that mostly features heavy-rocking type bands. we figured, whatever...we're opening up for trinket & they have A RECORD DEAL, so it can't be all bad...

wrong. trinket & hundred dollar day are cool bands. they're all scruffy & beautiful the way MTV bands are. hundred dollar day's bass player even remembered chris' old band funmud. the sound guy was cool too, very accommodating, but, our show SUCKED. i couldn't hit the right chords to save my life. chris & joe played pretty well, but i'm the one stuck out front & this time, they couldn't save me. there were lots of people at the club, waiting for trinket to play. they all stood in neat rows as far away from the stage as possible & talked their way through our entire show. at least they didn't throw anything at us.

afterwards, as we were scurrying to get our stuff off the stage & into our cars, i kept wishing i had the guts to quit participating in life all together, to let myself & everyone else down & just fucking give up. instead, i went home & re-read a Harry Potter book to make myself feel better.

then yesterday night, chris & i had this conversation where he basically said he went home feeling the same way, that there was just no place for us in this city. he said, face it, we're not like anyone else. it's not bad. it just means that the place we fit into hasn't been carved out yet.

we've got another show tonight, at a borders bookstore. sometimes, there's this little girl who comes to our border's shows. she's about 4 years old & she tries to sit in my lap as i'm playing. i think about her sometimes. i think about what she'll remember of us when she's my age.

i always talk about how, the first time i ever played a show, i sat on my couch beforehand and closed my eyes and told myself that no matter what happened, the things i had written were honest, and the place that they came from was real. even now, i believe that.

but god this is hard sometimes.

The thing about first times is, they carry this weight with them...and every first time also feels like the last. At band practice on the night before our 1st record label showcase, Chris is being cool, saying "XXX? Who's ever heard of that label?" Joe is existential, sitting with his arms crossed across his chest, looking at some point of light no one else can see. I'm talking too much, making 800 knots in my guitar cable.

The next day, we meet up at Eddies Attic for the soundcheck, which doesn't go well. There is a very nice person I don't recognize running sound & for the 1st time ever, at Eddies Attic, the stage sound is less than perfect. All we hear are guitar & vocals. I'm overpowering Joe! In the end, we decide there's nothing to be done about it. We have a drink & wait.

showtime. Lots of people have come to see us (THANK YOU!) I try not to think about the fact that somewhere in the crowd is the guy from the record label. Our first 2 songs are sort of shaky. I blow a couple notes. Chris says later that he screwed up the whole 1st song; thankfully, no one could tell since the bass was inaudible. Maybe the sound person knew what he/she was doing after all! By the time we get halfway through our set list, I recover enough to do one of my idiotic impromptu ramblings. Chris leans over to Joe after a while &
mouths "save us." Joe launches into a drum intro & we move on. I would say more about the songs & how it felt to play them, but this show, like all shows for me, blows by in a whirlwind of nervous energy. We leave the stage. People are screaming. I wait about 10 seconds & then head back onstage for an encore. Chris asks "already?" But it's our 1st encore & I'm not going to let the opportunity pass me by.

Once it's all over, I feel giddy. After much handshaking and confessing my nervousness to anyone who would listen, we sit down on the patio & confirm that Gina, our manager, did in fact meet the A&R guy. The verdict is, they want to hear more stuff. What the hell does that mean? This story should end here, but it doesn't.

We have a show the next night at Tasty World in Athens. We should be excited about it (Saturday in a college town,) but everything feels anticlimactic after investing so much into our showcase the night before. I walk on stage irritable & grouchy, thinking (for the billionth time) when is my life going to change? We play our set. I forget half the words to "Empress of New York" & everyone in the club is talking so loud I feel like I could just sing watermelonwatermelon over & over & no one would even notice. Times like these, I feel like everything is futile. Just once, I'd like our performance pierce through somebody's apathy, make somebody shut up. I stalk off the stage like an idiot, beating myself up for lacking some sort of Adam Duritz quality that would enable me to silence a room. Joe & Chris are cracking up, kicking their cups of water over. they know we sucked, but it doesn't effect them.

Joe & I walk outside with Chris while he smokes a cigarette and somehow, everything is better just standing on the street with them. It's around midnight. Some hiphop band is loading equipment into the club next door. You can hear cars on the next block and sometimes, girls laughing. This whole thing is a journey. I don't know where it'll take us. It's easy to get ambitious, jealous of better bands, and bitter about working so hard and still having to get up in the morning to go to stupid day jobs we despise. When I'm bitching about wanting my life to change, I have to remind myself that I only started writing songs in the first place because I wanted to say things as beautifully as I could. All I can be is who I am, a girl standing on the street after an incredibly long and disappointing weekend, with 2 people who get it.