And by Arizona I mean Brooklyn (Simpsons reference? Anyone?). I went in to the “city” last night to jam with these guys I found on craigslist. “KEYBOARDIST FROM MARS WANTED” the ad said, so I had to check it out.
After a rousing rooftop photo session with Glint, from which I’m sure you’ll see pictures soon, I hopped into my car and headed to Brooklyn to meet Johnny Mox, a drummer who wanted to jam on some original “soul/punk” music. There was a guitarist as well, whose name I don’t remember, as well as a singer. The music I had heard on Johnny’s myspace reminded me a bit of Bootyjuice, a Boston/NYC band that I saw open for Soulive years ago and fell in love with. I would describe the music as predominantly instrumental, bizarre, and frenetic. Creepy at times. Unison bass/guitar lines… funky yet rocking… fun to play. The guitarist and I locked in on a few choice riffs he and Johnny had written. Johnny is returning to Italy for a couple months but the guitarist and I may get together to jam at some point again while he’s gone. The rehearsal space was cool, a little room on the ground floor of a brownstone.
Friday at work… things are crazy at the end of the month here. Ready to start the weekend. The “crew” may hit an Octoberfest tomorrow a little ways north of here.
Yom Kippur Sunday night and Monday. Back down to Montclair with the extended fams.
…
Friday, September 29, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Autumn in New York
At one point I considered trying to name every post after a jazz standard, but I realized I wouldn’t get too far before resorting to titles like “Upper Manhattan Medical Group” or “General Mojo’s Well-Laid Plan.” Whether that meant I had actually run out of pertinent song names or I was just trying to weird out any readers. Heh.
Changes at the apartment… two of our guys are moving next door. This will be a good thing.
More antics with the guys from next door… Sunday night Dylan, Rob, and I really wanted to throw the frisbee around but unfortunately said frisbee was nowhere to be found. In desperation, Rob approached me with 10 or so paper plates stacked on top of each other… 5 minutes and some carefully applied duct tape later, we had our very own homemade novelty flying disc that worked so well, none of us believed it. We must have played for 45 minutes. No joke.
Anyways, the Vertigo show Friday went well… what a –crazy- venue! I can see why some residents of Nyack are “scared” of it…it really looks like it was designed by someone on drugs. I am not apt enough with architectural terminology to describe it, but I’ll say this… if Lewis Carroll were to design a restaurant, this is what it would look like. Weird ambiance aside, we sounded pretty good. The stage was wide and not deep, much to Mateus’ dismay, but we managed a decent 4-across setup. There was some –sweet- lighting. And we had a real nice crowd, a lot of people came out, including some old familiar Nyack faces… Michelle V., Tara… even some of Russell Crowe’s(!) “people” showed up (but not Russell himself), since he lives around town, and even partied with us afterwards. Adam had seen them at Wasabi (the Japanese restaurant where he works) earlier that afternoon and invited them to the show.
Raging party afterwards at our place, per usual… 200(!) jell-o shots, among other things… my original plan was to go right to sleep so I could get up at 7:30 to go to Rosh Hashanah services, but I decided to party just for a little while. I’m glad I did, and getting up the next morning proved to be no problem… it was a bit of a trip, walking around in my towel, getting ready for my day while people were still up and partying that early/late, heh…
(There’s currently one jell-o shot left over from the weekend in our fridge… I can’t help but think of the Lorax and truffula trees… “the very last of the jell-o shots…” –sniff-)
Services were really nice. I joined my Uncle Sam and cousin Josh at their temple in Montclair. I was raised going to a reform temple and this was a conservative one, but I was familiar with most of the service. I liked the rabbi… pretty straight-ahead with just enough joking around. The theme of his sermon was “is it possible to love a stranger?” really in reference to American Jews and learning to love and accept the “stranger” land of Israel, using the relationship with his adopted Indian son as a personal example. And the cantor was outstanding. That can really make or break a service and she made it. I did miss the high holiday melodies sung at my temple in Concord though, and harmonizing with dad and Jeff. Anyways, afterwards, uncle, aunt, 3 cousins and Phil all hit brunch, followed by the cousins beating me at ping-pong… again. Apparently there are household rankings, with cousin Ben as the number one seeded player, his brothers and some of his friends beneath him… I was informed I am “unranked.” Heh.
Saturday was a bit of a lost day… Sunday was the most satisfying clean-up day I’ve experienced in a while. The whole damn apartment. Granted, there were jell-o stains everywhere, so something had to be done. Call me a nerd, say what you will, but it just feels so damn good to –clean- like that, have the laundry done, reorganize the room a bit…
Wikipedia… love it. Pointless musing #135… how much does an average Wikipedia browsing “session” look like a Phish setlist? With all the inevitable clicks on links to related articles? For example…
Flat tax, Max Weinberg, Peter Gabriel -> Genesis -> Phil Collins…
(…Wilson, David Bowie, Mike’s Song -> I Am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove…)
…you get the idea. Did you know that the same team of 9 core animators, colloquially referred to by Walt Disney as the “Nine Old Men,” worked on twentysomething animated features in a row? From “Snow White” to “The Rescuers,” spanning almost 40 years?
And last night I discovered you can download sheet music from Amazon.com. I had been wanting to try my classical chops at Chopin’s Nocturne in Eb and had been fooling around with what I could pick out by ear for a while, so I figured, what the hell. $2.75, 6 pages, in .pdf format available for immediate download, printed on neon green paper from Adam’s printer, now sitting on my desk in my room, waiting to be attempted.
Blah blah… bye!
Changes at the apartment… two of our guys are moving next door. This will be a good thing.
More antics with the guys from next door… Sunday night Dylan, Rob, and I really wanted to throw the frisbee around but unfortunately said frisbee was nowhere to be found. In desperation, Rob approached me with 10 or so paper plates stacked on top of each other… 5 minutes and some carefully applied duct tape later, we had our very own homemade novelty flying disc that worked so well, none of us believed it. We must have played for 45 minutes. No joke.
Anyways, the Vertigo show Friday went well… what a –crazy- venue! I can see why some residents of Nyack are “scared” of it…it really looks like it was designed by someone on drugs. I am not apt enough with architectural terminology to describe it, but I’ll say this… if Lewis Carroll were to design a restaurant, this is what it would look like. Weird ambiance aside, we sounded pretty good. The stage was wide and not deep, much to Mateus’ dismay, but we managed a decent 4-across setup. There was some –sweet- lighting. And we had a real nice crowd, a lot of people came out, including some old familiar Nyack faces… Michelle V., Tara… even some of Russell Crowe’s(!) “people” showed up (but not Russell himself), since he lives around town, and even partied with us afterwards. Adam had seen them at Wasabi (the Japanese restaurant where he works) earlier that afternoon and invited them to the show.
Raging party afterwards at our place, per usual… 200(!) jell-o shots, among other things… my original plan was to go right to sleep so I could get up at 7:30 to go to Rosh Hashanah services, but I decided to party just for a little while. I’m glad I did, and getting up the next morning proved to be no problem… it was a bit of a trip, walking around in my towel, getting ready for my day while people were still up and partying that early/late, heh…
(There’s currently one jell-o shot left over from the weekend in our fridge… I can’t help but think of the Lorax and truffula trees… “the very last of the jell-o shots…” –sniff-)
Services were really nice. I joined my Uncle Sam and cousin Josh at their temple in Montclair. I was raised going to a reform temple and this was a conservative one, but I was familiar with most of the service. I liked the rabbi… pretty straight-ahead with just enough joking around. The theme of his sermon was “is it possible to love a stranger?” really in reference to American Jews and learning to love and accept the “stranger” land of Israel, using the relationship with his adopted Indian son as a personal example. And the cantor was outstanding. That can really make or break a service and she made it. I did miss the high holiday melodies sung at my temple in Concord though, and harmonizing with dad and Jeff. Anyways, afterwards, uncle, aunt, 3 cousins and Phil all hit brunch, followed by the cousins beating me at ping-pong… again. Apparently there are household rankings, with cousin Ben as the number one seeded player, his brothers and some of his friends beneath him… I was informed I am “unranked.” Heh.
Saturday was a bit of a lost day… Sunday was the most satisfying clean-up day I’ve experienced in a while. The whole damn apartment. Granted, there were jell-o stains everywhere, so something had to be done. Call me a nerd, say what you will, but it just feels so damn good to –clean- like that, have the laundry done, reorganize the room a bit…
Wikipedia… love it. Pointless musing #135… how much does an average Wikipedia browsing “session” look like a Phish setlist? With all the inevitable clicks on links to related articles? For example…
Flat tax, Max Weinberg, Peter Gabriel -> Genesis -> Phil Collins…
(…Wilson, David Bowie, Mike’s Song -> I Am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove…)
…you get the idea. Did you know that the same team of 9 core animators, colloquially referred to by Walt Disney as the “Nine Old Men,” worked on twentysomething animated features in a row? From “Snow White” to “The Rescuers,” spanning almost 40 years?
And last night I discovered you can download sheet music from Amazon.com. I had been wanting to try my classical chops at Chopin’s Nocturne in Eb and had been fooling around with what I could pick out by ear for a while, so I figured, what the hell. $2.75, 6 pages, in .pdf format available for immediate download, printed on neon green paper from Adam’s printer, now sitting on my desk in my room, waiting to be attempted.
Blah blah… bye!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
80% Jewish
Well, I scored an 8 out of 10 on MSN.com's "Jewish holiday quiz." I didn't know the traditional food to eat on Shavuot or that Xerxes 1 had anything to do with Purim. Hm. What are you going to do. Well, at least I passed, I needed a %70 or better to qualify for High Holiday services this year. Phew!
Practices of late have been leaving my ears -ringing.- In an effort to curtail this I tried wearing cover-the-ear headphones last night and it totally worked. Practice was fine (er, except for the out-of-this-world ending jam on Don't Leave Me, which was beyond "fine") and although the headphones were a little tight and made me look like an air traffic controller, I now may not go deaf when I'm 24. Which would be swell.
...Glint @ VERTIGO tomorrow night! 9/22. Main Street in Nyack. 10:00 PM. $10 unless you're cool enough.
Practices of late have been leaving my ears -ringing.- In an effort to curtail this I tried wearing cover-the-ear headphones last night and it totally worked. Practice was fine (er, except for the out-of-this-world ending jam on Don't Leave Me, which was beyond "fine") and although the headphones were a little tight and made me look like an air traffic controller, I now may not go deaf when I'm 24. Which would be swell.
...Glint @ VERTIGO tomorrow night! 9/22. Main Street in Nyack. 10:00 PM. $10 unless you're cool enough.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The Jew and the Ex-Vegetarian Cook Sausage
...and if I do say so myself they came out pretty damn well. Rob next door is a writer for a local paper and, in addition to doing music reviews, does food reviews, and gets to go to all these food tasting event-thingys, so after attending a Food Network-sponsored shindig, meeting Emeril, getting free shit, and having risotto cooked for him... he decided he was going to cook (risotto) for us. I volunteered to be his sous-chef, but in a last-minute lineup change, due to the fact that I had cooked before at all, Rob was demoted to sous-chef and I stepped into the spotlight as lead cheftarist. Together in our "e-kitchen of the future" (read: with Rob's laptop set up on the counter so we could google things like "how do you cook sausage?"), we rocked both the risotto -and- the sausage. And since we had/shredded way too much cheese, we ended up having an impromptu wine and (shredded) cheese party while we were cooking. Classy. Except for the shredded part. All this after an exhilarating bike ride to and around the nearby Hook Mountain Park with Mateus. Reclaimed Sunday #455.
"The Jew and the Ex-Vegetarian..." sounds like an Aesop fable... heh...
Man, it would have been a great weekend for camping up in Mohonk... I doubt we'll get to do it now.
The Olive's show was alright. Lots of technical difficulties, but we actually still put on a pretty good show. Decent crowd given that it was raining a lot prior to show time. We've got Vertigo this Friday night, which should be better in the sound equipment field at the very least. The gear there is top-notch. It?s a cool venue... 3 stories high, with only a ceiling on the very top, with the stage jutting out from the 2nd story. It should be quite a party actually... drinks and hors d'oeuvres (seriously)... the kicker is that I'm heading down to Montclair, NJ the next morning, getting up around 7:00(!) to join my Uncle, Aunt, and three cousins for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) services. I'll be tired. But it'll be good to spend the holiday with the (extended) fams. Phil (uses) too many (parentheses).
Yael bought a live Pink Floyd DVD yesterday at Target, "Pulse," I think from a show in 1987, and we watched some of it last night on our big screen/wall... man. Tom used to call them the "perfect band." I see where he's coming from... everyone gets a say. David Gilmour fucking -kills- on his solos but the drums and thumping bass on "Another Brick" kill as well. And don't get me started on the keyboards. My point (and Tom's) is that it's very much an ensemble cast, performance-wise. They can shred, they can take it slow... they always move you. Pink Floyd. I was just, taken in last night, as I'm sure the other guys were. Nodding my head in disbelief. Maybe some of it was because I hadn't listened to Floyd in a while... you know how that happens, you give that one band or song a little time, then you revisit it and, whoa! I love it! This concert is ridiculous, though... huuuuge stage setup, lights and lasers, backup singers... and none of the band members are showmen. They're making this ridiculous music without breaking a sweat, completely matching the size of the venue, crowd, and show with their sound. Creating something much larger than the sum of the band's parts. The music just speaks for itself. "Shiiiiiiiine on you craaaazy diaaamond..." anyways. Every now and then something hits you.
Being without a cell phone for two weeks... yes, it's been a pain in the ass at times, asking for Dylan's phone to call home or check my messages or order something for dinner... but at the same time, I want to say it's made work a little more tolerable...? When I have my phone next to me on the desk, I'm constantly, constantly checking it for the slight possibility that I may have missed a call or text message or something, even though I know damn well in the back of my mind that I would have heard it vibrate or ring! Without the phone, my hopes rise and fall less.
Fall is coming... there's so much I want to do while the weather's nice. Apple/pumpkin picking, frisbee at Hook Mountain, or soccer, or a picnic... other stuff I can't remember... I like this time of year.
Before I go, some quick product placement: the new french toast Pop Tarts are pretty damn good.
-Phil "New England Slim"
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Hi-ho...
We had a super good practice last night... one of the best I remember. Kro sounded excellent, In This World was real tight... and the jam at the end of Don't Leave Me -killed-. It's hard to have everything "just right" for a good practice like that... the two biggest factors, I would say, are a) attitude and b) being able to hear everything well. That last one may sound like a throw-away statement but it's almost more important than mood and attitude: it has to be there -first-. If everything sounds good, clear and not too loud, nothing wrong with any cables or anything like that, that -allows- a good practice based on a good attitude and focus. If the attitude and focus are there to begin with but the room sounds bad, the latter trumps the former.
Quick weekend update (last weekend)... got into the city with Mateus, Rob, and Kevin. There was a pub crawl in the Village. Fun stuff. I really like those guys from next door. Not to go off on a tangent but I really appreciate them as (guy) friends that I didn't meet through music. I hardly have any of those anymore.
Anyways, yeah... Kevin wanted to watch the Notre Dame/PSU (my school!) game so we hung out at this one bar for a while and nailed some $4 cheeseburgers. I also swung a free Sam Adams and some chicken fingers, so my day was complete. There were 15 bars we could hit and I'd say we hit 6 or 7. Multiple rousing renditions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing..." a visit to the 80's throwback bar Culture Club... putting our bags down at Alibi and, just -dancing-... heh. Anyways.
Sunday night Jase and Caroline hosted a dinner party at the castle Caroline lives at in Piermont. Yes, a castle. She and her dad live downstairs; an older couple owns the castle and live upstairs. By castle standards it's not that old, about 150 years, but still...! Said couple was gone for a few weeks, so, we took over for a night. This place was... ridiculous. So many damn rooms. It was a bit of a surreal evening. I suppose the surreal cooking had something to do with it.
For those that don't know: gig this Friday at Olive's; gig next Friday at Vertigo.
Staying busy. Bye!
Quick weekend update (last weekend)... got into the city with Mateus, Rob, and Kevin. There was a pub crawl in the Village. Fun stuff. I really like those guys from next door. Not to go off on a tangent but I really appreciate them as (guy) friends that I didn't meet through music. I hardly have any of those anymore.
Anyways, yeah... Kevin wanted to watch the Notre Dame/PSU (my school!) game so we hung out at this one bar for a while and nailed some $4 cheeseburgers. I also swung a free Sam Adams and some chicken fingers, so my day was complete. There were 15 bars we could hit and I'd say we hit 6 or 7. Multiple rousing renditions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing..." a visit to the 80's throwback bar Culture Club... putting our bags down at Alibi and, just -dancing-... heh. Anyways.
Sunday night Jase and Caroline hosted a dinner party at the castle Caroline lives at in Piermont. Yes, a castle. She and her dad live downstairs; an older couple owns the castle and live upstairs. By castle standards it's not that old, about 150 years, but still...! Said couple was gone for a few weeks, so, we took over for a night. This place was... ridiculous. So many damn rooms. It was a bit of a surreal evening. I suppose the surreal cooking had something to do with it.
For those that don't know: gig this Friday at Olive's; gig next Friday at Vertigo.
Staying busy. Bye!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
List #1: Significant Songs of the Past Year
…and my associations with them. Why I’m calling them memorable.
Note: Pretty literally “of the past year:” I started staying at Hogan’s place in Boston September of 2005. I’m calling that a good starting point. Effectively moving out of NH.
In no particular order:
Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears
See last entry.
Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits
Worcester and being downstairs in our lounge at the firehouse; the bar in Nashville; saving me from the mind-numbing oldies at work.
Black Betty – Ram Jam
Being ridiculous with Rob from next door; watching Blow way too many times.
Hollow – Glint (hey, I’m entitled to a little self-indulgence, right?)
A great opening track. Hearing those backgroundish tremolo guitars being recorded on the first part of the song was a real turning point for me. I thought, “wow, we have the potential to record some really moving stuff.”
Now I Know – Glint (so sue me)
I think it’s just my favorite song we currently play.
Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
Walking around a cold, wintery Boston at night… Hogan’s place by Kenmore Square.
Trouble Man – Marvin Gaye
That disturbing movie “Four Brothers” I saw on the plane ride to France; the power of music in a film. I just love the bluesy, slow, soulful feel to this tune.
Kids With Guns – Gorillaz
It’s been with me the whole year.
Glosoli – Sigur Ros
Nailing that interview at EMC. Such a powerful damn tune.
Over Now - Alice in Chains
Moving out of the Boston studio with Glint, laughing about the “yeah we pay our debts sometime” line since we were bailing on the last month’s rent.
Ain’t No Love – Paul Carrack
Am I really putting this one here? One of the many muzak-songs they play at work. I walked in on my first day and heard this song… “they play music over the intercom here? Huh?” Just, the cheesy “come on, let’s go to work!” feeling-high, get-motivated nature of it. Just to be clear: I do -not- like this song. But I am calling it significant.
So that's it. My personal soundtrack for the past year. Sweet.
Note: Pretty literally “of the past year:” I started staying at Hogan’s place in Boston September of 2005. I’m calling that a good starting point. Effectively moving out of NH.
In no particular order:
Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears
See last entry.
Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits
Worcester and being downstairs in our lounge at the firehouse; the bar in Nashville; saving me from the mind-numbing oldies at work.
Black Betty – Ram Jam
Being ridiculous with Rob from next door; watching Blow way too many times.
Hollow – Glint (hey, I’m entitled to a little self-indulgence, right?)
A great opening track. Hearing those backgroundish tremolo guitars being recorded on the first part of the song was a real turning point for me. I thought, “wow, we have the potential to record some really moving stuff.”
Now I Know – Glint (so sue me)
I think it’s just my favorite song we currently play.
Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
Walking around a cold, wintery Boston at night… Hogan’s place by Kenmore Square.
Trouble Man – Marvin Gaye
That disturbing movie “Four Brothers” I saw on the plane ride to France; the power of music in a film. I just love the bluesy, slow, soulful feel to this tune.
Kids With Guns – Gorillaz
It’s been with me the whole year.
Glosoli – Sigur Ros
Nailing that interview at EMC. Such a powerful damn tune.
Over Now - Alice in Chains
Moving out of the Boston studio with Glint, laughing about the “yeah we pay our debts sometime” line since we were bailing on the last month’s rent.
Ain’t No Love – Paul Carrack
Am I really putting this one here? One of the many muzak-songs they play at work. I walked in on my first day and heard this song… “they play music over the intercom here? Huh?” Just, the cheesy “come on, let’s go to work!” feeling-high, get-motivated nature of it. Just to be clear: I do -not- like this song. But I am calling it significant.
So that's it. My personal soundtrack for the past year. Sweet.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Everybody wants to rule the world
:) Oh, this song. It just came on (at work). I've had quite a history with this song.
To me it just, epitomizes the image I have of the 80's and 80's-ness. The "mood" of the song just, saddened me, I remember, when I was little. It had such a specific feeling to it. Emotional, new wave. Suffice to say, I didn't like it.
Sometime in the past year I just wanted to hear that song again. So I downloaded it, liked it, and had my "phase" with it. Looked up the lyrics. Been caught playing it on the piano. I had reclaimed the song.
Then this past spring I was driving to work from Worcester one rainy morning and crashed my car just as this song was ending on my stereo. Needless to say, a bit of a negative association with the song followed, again, albeit a very different kind. I definitely avoided listening to it for a while and even now still avoid it when I'm driving.
And now it comes on KMSR Konica-Minolta Shlock Radio on a rainy Friday morning after a painful and introspective past couple of days and, still taking into account the context in which I'm hearing it (buried amongst what I'll simply call old dumb pop), it's just nice to hear. A song I'm familiar with, a song I've been through a lot with.
Things that will be with me through anything: music, and my family. No matter what.
To me it just, epitomizes the image I have of the 80's and 80's-ness. The "mood" of the song just, saddened me, I remember, when I was little. It had such a specific feeling to it. Emotional, new wave. Suffice to say, I didn't like it.
Sometime in the past year I just wanted to hear that song again. So I downloaded it, liked it, and had my "phase" with it. Looked up the lyrics. Been caught playing it on the piano. I had reclaimed the song.
Then this past spring I was driving to work from Worcester one rainy morning and crashed my car just as this song was ending on my stereo. Needless to say, a bit of a negative association with the song followed, again, albeit a very different kind. I definitely avoided listening to it for a while and even now still avoid it when I'm driving.
And now it comes on KMSR Konica-Minolta Shlock Radio on a rainy Friday morning after a painful and introspective past couple of days and, still taking into account the context in which I'm hearing it (buried amongst what I'll simply call old dumb pop), it's just nice to hear. A song I'm familiar with, a song I've been through a lot with.
Things that will be with me through anything: music, and my family. No matter what.
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