Bodies of Water - the musical group

6.29.08 - Families are expanding! Some are getting smaller (a lot of them) but several of those closest to us are absorbing and creating new members. Jessie was wed a couple of weeks ago to a guy named Dave R. Congratulations to them! They went on a trip to Mexico to celebrate. Noah (who many of you have seen and heard playing his drums with us) and Audrey had a little baby a couple of days ago. His name is Abel, and he is healthy and quiet. We saw them at the hospital and brought her some vitamin water! When we stopped at the liquor store in Arcadia to pick it up, there was a grizzled Cambodian guy in a big flannel jacket standing outside the store smoking like I have never seen anyone smoke before. It was as if he had learned to chain smoke by watching cartoons about chain smoking. He took a little puff of the cigarette about once every .75 seconds. He would bring his cig hand about halfway down his chest and then back up to his mouth each time. He had a really long cherry on the end of it that I couldn't believe hadn't fallen off because of the urgency with which he moved the cigarette to and fro. It was the same motion every time - hand to the mouth, lips pursed, a little draw and then fast back down. It was barely on his lips for long enough to suck anything out of it. What was he hoping to accomplish? While we were in there buying the vitamin water he came in and bought another pack (Dorals), and when we left he was walking across the parking lot with another cigarette, holding it but NOT smoking.
6.22.08 - This is neat. I love Ligeti's music in '2001.' It is my favorite movie - a genuinely exciting experience, especially the last twenty minutes. Have you heard that the Pink Floyd song 'Echoes' synchs up with the end of the movie? A guy made a video of them together - it is 24 minutes long. Is it better than the original? Not really, but it is a fun trick. Have you seen Barry Lyndon? Watch it again! Did you know that they only used candles and sunshine for light? They had to make special accomodations for this. I need to watch both of those again. I will put them on my netflix queue. THANKS.
6.22.08 - We are going around the US and Canada in August and September. The shows are listed over on the right. Do you see them? We are playing some shows with Port O'Briend and some with Karl Blau and some with 'Throw Me the Statue.' Alright! We guarantee these performances.
6.20.08 - Futility Music...
5.31.08 - Starock use a projection TV set as another band member. The Rockafire Explosion comes at a similar concept from a different angle. As you can see, both methods WORK.
5.21.08 - There's a new mp3 up in the 'songs' section of this site. It is called 'Under the Pines,' and is on 'A Certain Feeling,' our record that comes out in July.
5.20.08 - A few things I came across recently: pictures from the far north, demographic maps of the USA (all sorts!), "untooned" cartoons 1, 2, 3, and a Tay Zonday tattoo (his video is here). This interests me as well. If you know any of these people, please tell me what is happening here. Oh, and this is my favorite. Make sure to refresh the image to see a few of them.
5.13.08 - Here are some photos that Laura took of us recording 'A Certain Feeling.' The record has been finished for a while, but will be out and about on July 22nd.
5.12.08 - Wow it has a been a while. My computer died and it wasn't until the last few days that I got everything up and running again. There will be some new stuff here soon, in the meantime, look at this.
4.7.08 - So we have returned from touring around the country. It went alright. Here's what it was like in the different places we were in:
- Austin, TX - South by Southwest is like a big drunken talent show that is simultaneously frenzied and listless. Our best times were had when it was listless. If you are like us, and enjoy drinking inexpensive beer in a casual restaurant environment, this is the city to be in. Also, Meredith and I saw our God-baby and she has a lot of energy. She's the sort of baby that keeps bucking around all the time and you cannot figure out why. What is in it for her?
- Atlanta, GA - We played the day after a tornado tore the city apart and so not many people showed up. There were huge trees laying across smashed roofs all over the place. Nature hates you, Atlanta. Be careful.
- Carrboro, NC - Carrboro is basically the same thing as Chapel Hill (sorry Carrborians) and I didn't know this until we showed up there. We used a little tom tom computer to get from town to town and it is some of the best money we ever spent. There were like 30 people at this show, but it ended up being the best one of the tour. Also, I got some free chocolate soy milk and they let us sleep in the parking lot that night. We drove around in a Toyota Dolphin and slept on the street or in parking lots most nights, so it was nice to not have to search for a good one, but to just camp out there. The Dolphin worked out pretty well.
- Washington DC - I love playing at this place the Black Cat. The people who work there really make it nice for a musical group. This was a nice show. The band we played with (Ra Ra Rasputin) is popular in Washington and their people came expecting to dance. It was nice to see people moving about, so often there are more slack jaws and bodies while we play. They let us sleep in the alley behind the place. It was okay, but a trash truck almost hit us real early in the morning.
- Brooklyn, NY - We got to spend some time in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn because we played in its namesake Music Hall (and we slept on the street in front of the place). There was a grocery store that had a non-(or at least minimally) climate controlled half, and a refrigerated half. The whole big room was a refrigerator, and the milk and sour cream and fish were all just out on shelves. It blew my mind. Do any of you shop there? Did it blow your mind to pull your milk off of a wire shelf in the middle of the room? The Dolphin has a refrigerator, sink, stove, shower, etc, etc, ETC. We were able to make meals and eat them as we headed down the highway! Buy an RV!
- Manhattan, NY - I was WORRIED about the parking situation in NY city, but it turned out to be fine. We have the rv, which is 21 feet, plus a little trailer that adds another 8 or 9 to the back. Where can you find two parking spots in NY city right next to each other where you don't have to parallel park? You can't parallel park if you have a trailer. We found good parking. The people in both of the places helped us get spots right in front. The downside is that the roads in NY city are the worst in the nation, HANDS DOWN. In that RV you can feel every little bump, and we thought the whole thing was going to be jolted to pieces as we drove around NY city. There were violent potholes everywhere. It is another reason that you don't see many RVs in NY city. Other bad roads: Michigan outside of Detroit, Massaschusetts, most places with cold weather. I guess the pavement is always expanding and contracting and the movement breaks it. B-O-R-I-N-G.
- Philadelphia, PA - This is always a nice town to come to and it was because our friends Danielle and Brian hosted us the RIGHT way. We slept in the street in front of Danielle's house in "Fishtown." She told us not to be concerned because only one bad thing had ever happened to a car on that street. It was this: Some friends were also on tour and they left their van with the gear in it parked on the street for the night. When they came out in the morning, someone had painted "Big Dick Larry" on the side of it. This is a true story. We went to the pretzel factory after the show, and they were great BUT we got there at 1 am instead of right at midnight, and so they were just a little less fresh. The deal is that you run into this factory as it opens at midnite and buy big doughy pretzels immediately as they come out of the oven on a conveyor belt. It is an industrial building, this is not a consumer-oriented operation. The pretzels are CHEAP, too. I don't know where it is or what the name is, but ask someone in Philadelphia because they all know about it. The best dancing was in Philadelphia. 'Philadelphia Freedom' has it's basis in truth. They know how to get free over there. Also, there was a lady visiting our friend's house who gave Meredith the haircut that Demi Moore has in Ghost. She did a good job, it looks just like the Ghost-cut.
- Boston, MA - This show was a little rough. The sound was sketchy and people seemed confused. We were stuck in traffic and arrived just before the show and just could not get our bearings. Despite the circumstances, there was one young man who was real focusedly singing along with the songs, and then he was singing along with songs that are on the new record that has not come out yet! Why and how did he do this? My apologies to the mystery man - we have played twice in Boston and they have both been terrible shows. NOTE: the young man was not Kyle, it was a guy in the audience.
- Montreal, Quebec - The theatre we played in was upstairs from a Tapas restaurant, and we all got free tapas. It was the best meal of the trip. I had squid and fried goat cheese and some balls of fried potato mash. I was so relaxed after that meal. It really sat well with all of us. Daver from Sons & Daughters turned us on to the best tapas...thanks Daver! I should say something here about how much we enjoyed the company of the Sons & Daughters band. They are great rock and rollers, and I enjoyed watching them each night. I heard about a lot of interesting Scottish things. "Beasting" and "docking," for example. I heard about how the street gangs in Glasgow can't get guns and so they use knives and swords. Scott told of a guys chasing each other down the street with a samurai swords and hacking chunks from one another. I also heard about Orval beer and Daver bought me one. It is great tasting (Trappist) beer. Anyhow, all four of them are dear.
- Toronto, ON - Canada feels like a mixture of America and Europe. At our shows in Canada, people were different. You couldn't really tell if they were interested in what was happening or not, but then afterwards people were very complimentary and they bought a lot of our wares. Maybe that's just because of the weak US dollar. 10 canadian dollars is CHEAP for a CD (for them). Wait until they got home and realized that our record is terrible. Looks like we got the last laugh, suckers. Thanks for the weird Canadian money.
- Chicago, IL - We got a good meal in the restaurant next to Schuba's. Chicago is one of those most distinctive of American cities. I had never been there before, and though we only could stay for a few hours I was left with a pleasant taste of it in me. Kyle was terribly sick in Chicago. It was an infection. Also, I had been emailing a mysterious guy in Chicago named Francis a couple of months ago, and I saw someone who I thought might be Francis in the crowd so I pointed at him and said "Are you the guy?" He said that he was, indeed, the guy. After the show I found out that he wasn't the guy - I don't know why he said he was! This new guy was pretty good, though. I think his name was Matt.
- Bloomington, IN - We came here and played at a place called the art hospital. We met the guys from Secretly Canadian and they bought us not only dinner but lunch as well. We had Indian food, and that Indiana Indian food was far better than the NY city Indian food that we ate in NY city. It was no contest. Meredith had gotten sick by the time we were in Bloomington and she didn't have much of a voice, so we had to perform our softer and more David-centric numbers. It went pretty good considering. We again played with Throw Me the Statue in Bloomington, and were struck by what quality guys they were. Aaron Goldman from that band is a professional scientist (no joke) and he had to leave their tour to go back and present some of his findings on the shape of certain amino acids. SPOILER ALERT: he thinks they are corkscrew shaped.
- Lawrence, KS - We saw a little bit of downtown Lawrence in the afternoon. There was a good used bookstore, and a thrift store that this guy's mom ran. We met him at the bar and he told us to go to her store and we did. I bought a "Who Would Jesus Bomb" button (I haven't pinned it on yet). Meredith's voice was totally gone by the time for the show came around, and so we cancelled and left the place. It was unfortunate, but what could we do? Half hour guitar solo? It would have been really nice, but nobody else was into it. My guitar was having problems by then anyhow, and was difficult to play. It needs to get re-fretted or something. I built that guitar myself! If you see me playing some janky duct-taped guitar that is falling apart, it is the one that I built. We slept in a Best Buy parking lot or someplace like that. We slept in a lot of big box store parking lots. Kansas is kind of hilly in the east, which I didn't expect, but once you get a little west of Lawrence you feel like you are in some kind of wheat field/silo feedback loop.
- Denver, CO - It was nice to actually get into the west again. It seems more familiar to us. Denver is an interesting city. It doesn't really look like any other city. Contrary to what everyone pridefully believes about their town, a lot of cities look the same. Denver isn't really one of those. This show was okay - everybody was kind of sick (physically and otherwise) but what can you do? We met a few nice people and had a free meal at the restaurant next door. We slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot. There was some hoar frost that settled on the rv during the night. Kyle told me about it and I thought it was some sort of joke but this is what the stuff is called.
- Tucson, AZ - RIGHT when we pulled up to the Solar Culture Gallery the RV battery died. It was the only mechanical problem we had with it all tour long. There were some men that lived in the warehouses by the railroad tracks there that all had opinions about what the problem was. One guy said that there wasn't enough water in the battery, one guy said it was the thermostat, one guy said the alternator. We charged the battery and left after the show and it died again on the freeway off-ramp. A cop came by and gave us a bunch of flares to put behind the car so that nobody smashed us. I kept the extras, and now I have about 7 flares in the car! We got a jump and drove to Wal-Mart, slept there, and got a new battery in the morning. Everything's fine now. It just needed that new battery. This is so boring. At the Tucson show, I lost my voice. Also, something was wrong with Kyle. He had that thousand -yard POW-MIA stare. I don't know who he was looking at or through. It was eerie. It was up to Meredith to carry us through and I guess she did. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. Anyhow, after we got the battery we drove back to LA and here we are.
- Los Angeles, CA - Before we left Meredith put a sticker on the door of the trailer with the shape of the USA on it, and each time we visited a state we put the state sticker onto the US sticker. Guess how many states we filled in? 26. We drove through 28, but we never got around to filling in Kansas and Colorado. See you later.
4.6.08 - NOTE: Why is Selena always referred to as a "slain Tejano star?" She is always "slain," and never "killed" or "shot" or "murdered" or any of the scads of other synonyms for "slain." They all say that she was "slain." Is this just a glimpse into the collective subconscious? That we accept, nay PARROT, whatever it is we have heard several times? Is it just reporters that do this? I certainly don't refer to her as "slain," although I rarely refer to her, and have never written about her before now. Who cares...sorry to waste your time.
3.6.08 - Kyle was telling me about a Peanuts cartoon that he read the other day. Lucy is leaning on Schroeder's piano, and the thought bubble above her head reads "Life is like music, isn't it? Or is it?
We finished our new record (for the most part; we're mastering it today). It's called 'A Certain Feeling.' It won't come out for another couple of months, but maybe we'll put up an mp3 here before too long. There are nine songs on the record. It's a little different than the last record. I won't get into the details, but where 'ears will pop...' was more aggressive, this one is more passive-aggressive. Aggression figures heavily into the record, though. Maybe not. Let's just forget about this and enjoy a real roller-coaster ride of a Democratic primary. Hang on to your hats!
3.3.08 - We were driving home from San Francisco after playing up there a few days ago and all the almond trees are in bloom along the 5 freeway. There are boxes of bees stacked up in all the orchards. I started thinking about bee colony collapse, and jellyfish population explosion, and all the kids being born autistic. Nobody knows how what people make affects the world and our bodies, and it seems like all canaries in the coal mine are keeling over. On the up-side, I got a free haircut while I was in San Francisco, which I feel okay about.
2.24.08 - He strikes again...
2.18.08 - I saw a couple of these projected onto a wall in Pasadena the other day and really enjoyed it. I couldn't figure out why memphis had so much air traffic (especially in the morning) until Adam told me that it is where FedEx's hub is. Even if they ship a package from LA to San Francisco, it goes through Memphis.
2.3.08 - So we're still in the midst of recording. We have turned our house into a studio. There are things strewn all over. It is very cluttered.
1.21.08 - So as of today you can find our record in stores all over the nation. Music stores...Record stores. Ask for it by name! As I type we are in the midst of recording the next one. Things are going smoothly so far EXCEPT we found out our new organ (a Baldwin Interlude with Fun Machine) is very sharp, and we cannot figure out how to tune it. If you know anything about matters such as this, please contact us. Thank you.
1.16.08 - The mp3s are back up on the songs page.
1.8.08 - We are officially going on a tour in March and April with a band called Sons and Daughters. Look down and to the right (not that far) to see where and when. We are also going to Canadia. Look out Canadia!
1.3.08 - I can't believe it is 2008! Where did this decade go? I have a feeling that 2008 will be slightly better than 2007. Just a little better. My wish for 2008 is that my country quits torturing people. Keep your fingers crossed, everybody....
1.3.08 - Rolling Stone dot com wrote a little about us. We are 'breaking.' A couple of the facts got a little muddled with this one, but the general ideas are noble.
12.29.07 - Only in the eleventh hour was his gratitude able to congeal.
12.27.07 - Look at these mouths for eyes.
12.25.07 - So a few days ago I wrote a post about popular and seemingly unassailable bands (Rush, Steely Dan, Wilco, the Police, etc) whose music I don't get and apparently I have walked into a real hornet's nest! Meredith and others have since compelled me to not use this site for my drunken ranting (that's why the post isn't up anymore), and to actually look into these people's music before making any grandpa-like sweeping generalizations.
Please keep in mind that I wasn't speaking for the rest of BoW - Meredith likes Joni Mitchell. She and Kyle both like Rush. Jessie likes Jeff Buckley and Wilco. Kyle is into Steely Dan ('Reeling in the Years' is his standard karaoke jam).
What a crappy Christmas; our cat's ear got all mangled, our friend's dog we were watching while she's in kentucky ran away (it's ok - she was found tonight), and now everyone is spewing rage at me. I guess I was asking for it, but only from the 10 people that I thought look at our site (who I assume agree with everything I say).
I guess I can't understand why anyone cares what I think about this. Why does nobody listen when I spout off these sorts of things at a party, with my breath reeking of charles shaw, but when I type it here there's an UPROAR?
-D
12.23.07 - So I have been very negative over the last few days, but THIS has cheered me - the greatest video Nirvana never made.
Here is another one - doesn't this guy have anything better to do? You're wasting your life away, DUDE.
12.13.07 - David did a 'holiday interview' on MOKB. Also, our record is now to be found in some independent record stores across the nation. I'm not sure which ones, I guess you can call them and ask if they have it in stock. It is a great stocking stuffer for dads!
12.12.07 - A new 'I Heard It Sound' video here.
12.5.07 - This is the season for year-end lists, and so I have compiled one:
10 - Saucony courageous tennis shoes - They are very similar to those fancy new balance kind (991s?) but one-third the price! At least they were when I bought them. They cost me 40 dollars.
9 - Rigid Foam Insulation - It takes a long time (a very long time) to put it in, but it works so well! It is dramatic stuff, and it smells like hairspray when you saw it.
8 - Seymour Duncan SH-55 humbucking pickup. Ha-ha. I looked up sh-55 and found this picture. Do you think that the guy's daughter and her friend did this because they were forced? Do you think they did it ironically? I don't think so. I think they did it because it seemed like it would be fun.
7 - Spending a little more money to have things done right the first time! The cheap pay twice.
6 - I really value Sherman Friedland's point of view on clarinet related matters.
5 - Dispensationalism is on the wane!
4 - The increasing availability of free-range meat.
3 - BibliOdyssey
2 - These little animated loops people are making. Here's one. I bet this one gets used in a lot of powerpoint presentations about corporate innovation. This one is a REAL TRIP. IT IS CRAZY!!!
1 - Honesty
11.27.07 - Here are a couple poems by R.M. Rilke that I have enjoyed recently:

On Hearing of a Death
We lack all knowledge of this parting. Death
does not deal with us. We have no reason
to show death admiration, love or hate;
his mask of feigned tragic lament gives us

a false impression. The world's stage is still
filled with roles which we play. While we worry
that our performances may not please,
death also performs, although to no applause.

But as you left us, there broke upon this stage
a glimpse of reality, shown through the slight
opening through which you dissapeared: green,
evergreen, bathed in sunlight, actual woods.

We keep on playing, still anxious, our difficult roles
declaiming, accompanied by matching gestures
as required. But your presence so suddenly
removed from our midst and from our play, at times

overcomes us like a sense of that other
reality: yours, that we are so overwhelmed
and play our actual lives instead of the performance,
forgetting altogehter the applause.
In the Beginning

Ever since those wondrous days of Creation
our Lord God sleeps: we are His sleep.
And He accepted this in His indulgence,
resigned to rest among the distant stars.
Our actions stopped Him from reacting,
for His fist-tight hand is numbed by sleep,
and the times brought in the age of heroes
during which our dark hearts plundered Him.

Sometimes He appears as if tormented,
and His body jerks as if plagued by pain;
but these spells are always outweighed by the
number of His countless other worlds.

WHAT A LOSER THIS GUY IS!!!
11.19.07 - Bodies of Water is now working with the record label 'Secretly Canadian.' Some of you may wonder why this label has that name. In the words of co-founder C. Swanson, it came from "trying to pinpoint exactly what characteristics Canadians shared that made them quintessentially Canadian. What wily and ill-descript lines connected the dots between Neil Young, David Cronenberg and Leonard Cohen? Ben & I grew up in Fargo, ND, so we had a lot of time to wonder such things." This new partnership means that as of the middle of December, SC will make our record widely available in music stores across the nation and as of January or February it will be in stores in Europe. Dang. I just spilled juice on my keyboard. I am eating fruit from the fruit cart man outside the Highland Park post office, and the pineapple I pulled out of the bag dripped on the keys. I just licked the juice off of the keyboard. I don't remember what else I was going to say about this. I guess you should look into some of the music that the Secretly Canadian company has put out. They are from Bloomington, Indiana, which means they have a "mid-western" sensibility, which means they are very "salt-of-the-earth" and "rootsy," which means they have rejected the arbitrary pretensions of "civilized" society, which means that they use coarse, vulgar language, and like fistfights and rough lovemaking. They are savages, these people...proud, beautiful savages.

11.16.07 - We made a 'take-away show.' It is a video of us walking around on Olvera Street and then Chinatown singing and playing. It is here. Nate Chan and Aaron Miller (who do cameraphonic) came down from SF to make this. We enjoyed walking around the city and singing, there is a lot of talk (amongst ourselves) in regards to doing more of this. Busking is where the real money's at.
11.13.07 - Hi. We have returned from touring the east coast of the USA with the band Phosphorescent. There were some good shows and we got to meet some neat people. We also had fun seeing other parts of the country. Here we are in Murfreesboro, TN after our show there. We stopped at Taco Bell for a little dinner. Contrary to what you may think, Taco Bell restaurants are different in different parts of the country. My favorite Taco Bell was in Bend, Oregon.
10.28.07 - Look at this amazing finish. It happened just the other day.
10.23.07 - We are back in our homes after a whirlwind jaunt down the western side of the US with the Go! Team. It was pretty fun. We rented a minivan. The show in San Francisco was our favorite because they gave us a vegetable platter (and dip), a small bucket of candy, a bottle of Maker's Mark whisky, hand towels, Peroni beer, Corona beer, hummus, etc, etc, ETC. Here is Meredith at the show in Seattle. There are some videos on youtube of the last show (at the echoplex in L.A.). Here is one and here is another.
10.23.07 - There were some problems with the store part of this site and some people mentioned it and that is all fixed now. Shop with abandon. Meredith also made some more dish towels and you can have one (or several).
10.8.07 - ALRIGHT. We are leaving next week to play some shows with the Go! Team on the west coast, and then we're going to the east coast (and bits of the south) with Phosphorescent. If you live outside of southern california, this is your big chance!
10.4.07 - The Eagle Rock Music Festival is this weekend. There are a lot of good musical groups in our neighborhood (Highland Park) that will be playing there. Look at the list over on the right. Eagle Rock is sort of HP's bourgy cousin to the north BUT remains charming in many ways. Walk it's streets and listen to some songs! It is FREE! We play at 7 on the main stage. I think that's on argus street or something. Ask someone who works there.
10.3.07 - Tonight David and Kyle from BoW will play with some guys from No Little Kindness at Mr T's Bowl - 5612 and 1/2 North Figueroa.
10.2.07 - Oh, we have some buttons now. If you buy a cd or shirt or something from us here, we'll give include a button. Think JUSA/AYSO - they are perfect for pinning on to the belt of your fanny pack or camcorder case.
10.2.07 - My favorite songs right now:
-Tainted Love - Gloria Jones
-Diane - Comus
-Music for 18 Musicians - Steve Reich (The whole piece is basically one long song, don't worry about it)
- Tonto - Battles
- Knights in White Satin - The Moody Blues
9.18.07 - Here are some pictures that Alex Takeshi Thiessen took at the Lobsterfest.
9.17.07 - The shows last week were real nice - it was such a joy to play with Karl Blau. He is one of our nation's unsung musical treasures. ALSO the Lobsterfest was amazing. It was one of our favorite shows ever; playing next to the ocean and looking out at the sailboats while a cool breeze swept in from off the water, then filling our guts with beer and lobster as we sat in the grass. It was delightful, yes. We will put a link up soon to some pictures of us feasting on lobster.
9.17.07 - L.A. Record has put up a nice review of the show at the Troubadour last week.
9.11.07 - We are selling some new kinds of shirts in this section of our site. If you don't buy a shirt from us, the terrorists will have already won.
9.11.07 - Watch this video - most people that are "cool" are not actually cool, but these guys are both. Ege Bamyasi is the best Can record. Don't bother writing to me to talk about Tago Mago - it is not the best. If you think Tago Mago is the best Can record, then the terrorists have already won.
Ed. note - Andy B opened my eyes to "cool" people.
9.4.07 - John Kricfalusi writes a little bit about Ed Benedict, who designed many of the great Hanna-Barbera characters from the 50's.
8.27.07 - Watch this salt on a vibrating table.
8.27.07 - Cameraphonic posted some videos of our show in Pershing Square one month ago.
8.13.07 - So here are some interesting new things about us in the news. The people at Pitchfork, Spin, and Spoilt Victorian Child have written about the record, and they were generally very laudatory.
8.7.07 - There are a few things Mark Strand wrote here, here, here, here, and here. Watch out for the poem about the baby! It is nuts.
7.30.07 - Tonight there is a show on little radio (littleradio.com) called GTFU and we will be their guests. We'll play a few songs. I think that the show starts at 9, but I'm not exactly sure what time we will get into the act.
7.30.07 - That show in Pershing Square was interesting. There were a lot of rambunctious street people dancing, shouting, throwing their fists in the air and generally nvolving themselves in the performance to a much greater degree than is customary for the shows that we are normally a part of. It was a nice change. So few people in the rock clubs actually stand in front of the stage and conduct the music as we play. It was great to have that guy keeping everybody together - a Karajan of the park-bench set. His uncommon (and admittedly unexpected) expertise truly shaped us ragtag bunch of hacks into a well-oiled orchestral machine. Que lastima that he was only able to arrive prior to our last song. What heights we'd have scaled had he graced the square a mere hour sooner!
7.23.07 - Our first record 'Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink' is available now. You can buy it directly from us here, or from insound or snocap or at stores in the Los Angeles area. It will be up on iTunes shortly as well.
7.13.07 - While in Italy, I was reminded of an encounter I had with an Italian man several years ago. At the time, I was working at the Adventure 16 store selling tents and hiking boots and that sort of thing. I was re-stocking some backpacks when a very tall, very tan shirtless man rollerbladed through the front door across the store to where I was. He was wearing some drastically cut off jean shorts, a fanny pack, and a pair of Oakley Blades. He said "guhnuh" to me several times. As soon as it was apparent that I didn't know what "guhnuh" meant, he pulled a little computer translator out of his fanny pack and typed on it. He held it out to me and its little robot voice said "I...need...a...gun" and then he smiled and started saying "guhnuh, guhnuh..." I told him "There is no gun here" and moved my arms back and forth to make it obvious. I said "Grant Brothers down the street" and pointed. "Grant Brothers. Guns over there." He smiled and turned from me, then rollerbladed back out of the store. Did he end up finding the right gun? I hope so!!! Sometimes I imagine him rollerblading out of Grant Bros and down the streets of Newport Beach cradling some type of shotgun, and I can't truly sum up what an intensely satisfying image it is for me.
7.9.07 - The city government of Sao Paulo has banned outdoor advertising. Tony De Marco lives in Sao Paulo and took a lot of pictures around town after this happened. What a welcome respite.
6.30.07 - I just found out about giant rabbits being bred in Europe. There is one in Germany named 'Herman' that has become a minor celebrity. Here he is. And here and here. I would have named this rabbit 'Bonzo,' had the privelege of christening him fallen to me.
6.30.07 - There have been some music blogs that have reecently taken pains in describing our music and what our deal seems to be and these musings may interest some of you. If not, maybe THIS will strike your fancy.
6.20.07 - The reason there has been no news for a couple of weeks is because David and Meredith have been on a trip to Italy. They visited Rome, Naples, Procida, Atrani, and Positano. The best of these places are Procida and Naples. An interesting thing about Italy is that it seems to be the realm of man-babies. What I mean is that all of the male babies have the faces of men. In my art history classes, I always looked with amusement on old (usually Italian) altarpieces that pictured the virgin and child because the child so often was painted as a small man with a small head and wizened features. It is only now that I realize that this is not poor craftsmanship or an attempt to show the prescience of the Christ-child. They are painted that way because the babies of Italy actually look this way. IF you think I am lying, go to Italy and see for yourself. See the way that you are surrounded by man-babies.
6.1.07 - There are some new photos in the photos section. They are photos of us playing that show at the Echo last week. Go to 'photos & drawings' and then 'playing music' and there you will find them. Aaaargh....this is so boring. Just click this orange link to go STRAIGHT THERE. Our friend Laura took these pictures with her new camera, and it is a nice one and she undertands how to use it.
5.29.07 - There are some new mp3s in the 'songs' section of this site. It is FREE MUSIC you guys. They are all songs that are on our record. The name of the record is 'Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink' and it is available to the public on july 24th. Mark your day runners.
5.29.07 - Those shows at the Echo are over now. The last one was a little different. We played some new songs, one went well and one DID NOT. My left eyelid was swollen up as we played and it ached when I blinked. It was grotesque. The swelling has subsided since then. Perhaps it was a blocked tear duct.
5.20.07 - We are in the midst of these shows at the Echo this month and we all have a general feeling of satisfaction with the way they have been playing themselves out to this point. There were receptive strangers at the last show, and we have since become acquainted with some of them. Most of them are really worth getting to know. Keep your eyes and ears open at tomorrow's show and perhaps you will make a friend. This brings to mind an interesting question; is it possible to have too many friends? The answer is yes, although the solution is not to stop being friends with anyone you are already friends with, but to internally demote a few of them to the level of acquaintances and make spending time with them far less of a priority. I don't think this is a rude thing to do. You don't need to let them know that you did it, either. Just make a mental note of it. See you tomorrow.
5.8.07 - The first of the residency shows at the Echo was enjoyable for us, and hopefully for all of you that were able to come to it. We'll be doing a free show there every Monday night throughout the month of May. We were performing as a ten-piece last night, and we'll have 8 or 9 people for the rest of these Mnoday night shows. Also, we'll play some new songs at some point. We haven't learned them in their entirety yet, but when we do then we'll play them. That's usually how we go about that sort of thing. Come to one of these shows (OR SEVERAL).
3.30.07 - Hey. Our trip to Texas was fun. We saw some of our friends out there and had some crazy shows. They were "hit or miss" shows. Anyhow, we saw Donovan play, which was fun. He is old, but he delivered big emotional action. The weather was nice in Austin, Veggie Heaven was good food, and we went to some worldy shops looking for a Guatemalan backpack for Meredith. If anyone knows where to find this type of backpack in LA, please contact us.
NOTE: it has to have pads on the shoulder straps. We need pads on those straps...No strap pads - no deal!
3.20.07 - We are leaving soon to go to Austin, TX and are going to be playing some music out there. While in Austin we will also be: celebrating our friend Wren's second birthday, posing for photographs on the back of a horse, recording a song for the Moticos project, eating at a restaurant called 'Veggie Heaven' that everyone keeps raving about, and walking around. IF you will be in town, come to one of these shows at which we are playing and say hello.
2.24.07 - There is a big show this Friday at the Echo. Friday March 2nd. It is free to come in, and everyone over 18 can come. It is probably our last show as a "full" band (with all 8 people) until May. Details are over there on the right. It is the best place in Southern California to spend that evening.
1.29.07 - So we are going to the South by Southwest Music Festival and maybe we will see you there. We don't have much planned, yet, but would like to play as much as possible, so if you or one of your friends would like to involve us in the festivities, let us know.
1.19.07 - Hey. So we are playing a couple of shows in the coming weeks, one of which is a tribute show to the band Love. All of the groups in the show will play a couple of Love songs. We're going to play 'Little Red Book' and another one that we haven't decided on yet.
1.10.07 - We have been playing recently with four additional musicians. They are:
-Heather Lockie - viola
-Noah Smith - Drums
-Joe Tepperman - Trombone
-David Dominique - Trombone
These gang shows have been real extravaganzas, and the eight of us are coming to your town soon! (If you live in L.A.)
1.5.07 - Our show at the Pershing Square ice skating rink was cancelled because it began to rain as we were setting up our instruments. It was the only rain we've had for a very long time, and it only occured for two hours right when we would have otherwise been playing. It is almost suspicious. We are trying to arrange some other type of ice (or roller) skating show - XANADU style. Bring your gold lame fedora.
1.3.07 - That new year's show was nice and it was good to celebrate the holiday with our neighbors. They are kind of rowdy! I must say that I think the mormons are a really great punker band. As far as punker bands go these days, they are one of the best around. It is almost a pity that they dress as mormons, because it means that fewer people take them seriously. They are serious, though. They are FOR REAL.
12.22.06 - I hope you enjoy your Christmas time. At Mr T's Bowl on the 31st, there will be a sort of neighborhood New Year's Party - all the groups that are playing that evening live and lurk in Highland Park. People from all parts of the Los Angeles Metro Area are invited to attend. I know one person from the District of Columbia that will be there!
12.22.06 - The news is: That show at Spaceland ended up being good. It was nice to have a gang of people playing our songs with us. We'll try to do some more shows with all of these people in the future.
12.7.06 - The news is: That show at Spaceland next week (the 14th) will be fun. We are still selling ep's, but now it is a different ep; it has three songs on it from our forthcoming full-length record. It costs 3 dollars. In other news, I seem to temporarily lose hearing in one of my ears from time to time. In other news, have you heard the story of Clive Wearing?
12.6.06 - Have you ever seen the Eurovision song contest? It is a real extravaganza. I have mixed feelings about it.
11.17.06 - Hi. How's it going? It's going okay. So on December 14th at Spaceland there is going to be a big performance. There are no shows between now and then because we have to make preparations. We will be performing as an eight-piece group. Our friends David, Laura, Heather and Joseph will be joining us to play horns and strings. We will also be performing a song that none of you have ever heard before. We will also sing a Christmas song or something. Anyhow it's a big deal.
11.7.06 - We made this new site. We are not "wacky" like some other musical groups you may have come across. This is a serious web site.
Today is the first day this site is alive. It will
keep on changing.