Oct 31, 06 02:53 PM
Anybody Coming to Tonight's Halloween Gig in Burlington, Please Bring Wigs or Something (We Neglected to Buy Costumes).
Scrap had the lovely idea of each of us getting a pumpkin to carve, and placing it in front of us to depict our particular unique Halloween personalities. Needless to say, we neglected to buy pumpkins, too.
"Fireman" Will Cotter.
Our sound guy on this BNL tour, subbing for Chuck while he's out with the Rapture (this BNL gig came rather unexpectedly).
Posted by Mike at 2:50 PMOct 28, 06 11:39 PM
Cleveland: Wolstein Arena.
Photos by Esra Yagan.
Oct 27, 06 11:57 AM
Scrap Said: "I've Got You Covered Like Swaddling Clothes."
Backstage in Rochester, NY.
I Am Seeing Faces in the Ceiling of the Van.
Oct 25, 06 04:34 PM
Van Living Is the Life for Me.
Going Down the Road Doing German
Oct 23, 06 11:59 PM
Manchester, New Hampshire: Verizon Wireless Arena.
Soundchecking on BNL's Stately Stage Set.
There Was a Mighty-Haired Man in the Autograph Line.
Backstage in New Hampshire: Scrap Looking Like a Godard Character.
And the Band Got in the Van.
Goodbye Brooklyn; Hello, six weeks on tour, opening for BNL in enormodomes across the land.
Oct 21, 06 01:47 PM
Swimmingly.
(another by Alex Lewis)
Rehearse is good. Nice relax-y. Good vibey. Time to make rocky rocky. Also: rolly.
Posted by Mike at 1:47 PMKarmic Pizza Jackpot.
(another pic by Gloryglorycatchacory)
As we always do when the band has convened in New York for rehearsals, we all took the Q train out to Midwood for pizza at DiFara's. I describe it every time we go there: ancient shabby place, now famous to all New Yorkers; there's always a crowd three deep around the counter, behind which a shuffling old guy named Dominic, the only guy that's ever made pizza there, putters about making the pies, removing them from the oven with bare hands; his hands look like catchers' mitts. The pizza is, no exaggeration, the best any of us have ever had.
We usually go in the evening on a weekday, thinking that might lessen the wait time, which on a lucky night is around an hour and a half, and can be up to three hours. This time we thought we'd try a new strategy; I live the nearest to Midwood, so I showed up at 11:30 am, when the place was still closed, to put in an order by the time the other guys showed up. There were three other guys in line when I got there.
There's a tense vibe in the place, what with the crowd, and everybody trying to get the attention of this old man to place an order. Everyone that's actually eating their pizza enjoys a serene camaraderie based on collective pleasure, but the atmosphere around the counter is pure angst.
There's five of us coming. I order two round pies, two squares. (believe me, we can finish that easy, and take a slice or two--and that's it--home for girlfriends) I'm delirious with joy that I've ordered seven minutes after entering the store. It usually takes an hour! And right after that, the store is packed, as usual, three deep against the counter.
Still: I wait. Dom's got a few pies coming out, but they're slice pies, he's cutting them up and distributing them among the people waiting. Quelling a riot? Perhaps not. There are never enough slices, and half the throng ends up grumbling.
Everybody in my party shows up. I give Pete the rundown on who was ahead of me in line: that guy in the drawstring jacket, that guy in the denim shirt, the tall blonde dude. This is vital to know, as we need to be on the lookout for pie poachers. I am so serious. I am serious as a busted leg.
And Dominic's not exactly an organized guy, either. Who knows who gets what first? Who knows who will be favored? Despite the aggro scene among the hoi polloi, everybody treats Dom like Louis the Sun King.
So I go stand in front of the counter. There's two older gentlemen that look like trouble to me. The guy in the drawstring jacket is a few steps behind me, eyeing me like I eye them. We all wait together.
Suddenly pies are coming out of the oven. "Two squares, two round pies," Dominic creaks.
Somebody must've ordered the same thing as me. I don't say anything.
"Two squares, two rounds? For here?"
Unbelievable. "I ordered two mushrooms," says the guy in the denim shirt, who was the first in line, and I overheard was here a half hour before me.
"That's my order," I say, "but I wasn't first in line."
Dominic blinks at me. The two gentlemen turn and look at me, bemused.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll take them," I say, "but I wasn't first in line."
"Maybe there's method to his madness," says the drawstring jacket guy, very gently.
I am stunned at my luck. To compound this--and I am completely not messing with you--just as the first square pie hits the serving pan on the counter, an aria comes on the radio, and a huge triumphant voice belts out a note.
And then Scrap walks in the door. And I give him a wide-eyes look. And he sees the pie. And he realizes that he is walking in and he is going to eat pizza at DiFara's with absolutely no wait. We have this moment of mutual astonishment and bliss.
Pete, who loves DiFara's so much that when he's out here from L.A. he sometimes eats two meals a day there, and whose cellphone wallpaper is a pic of Dom's square pie, is just staring stoically at the table. I'm a little weirded out that he's not displaying any intense emotion. He tells me later that he thought it would be wrong to cause the waiting throng so much anguish.
A guy actually came over and bought one of our slices. We tried to just give it to him, but he left two bucks on the table.
I don't know what happened. I've never had luck like that. I got pie-poached last time, and though seething with rage, didn't confront the poacher, half because of Scrap's soothing platitudes of zen peacefulness, and half because I didn't want to get kicked out before dinner. But Scrap suggested it was Karmic payback for letting the poacher be.
You pay on the way out; you tell Dominic what you ordered, how many sodas, etc., and he rings you up. It would be easy to ditch, but who would want to risk his ire? A posse of customers would probably form to lynch the man in the hopes of an artichoke slice.
Most leaving customers offer gushing, ultra-deferential thanks, on the order of, like, "Praise be to you, oh gifted one, for your most magnificent mercies." He deserves the praise, but most of us are hoping to maybe gain a little favor for next time.
An important lesson: showing up an hour before opening will not get you your pie early. The denim shirt guy, first man in line at 11 am, an hour before opening, was still waiting for his two mushroom pies when we left at 1:30. No strategy dodges the mysteries of Dominic.
Posted by Mike at 1:27 PMOct 19, 06 10:08 AM
Packing.
(foto de Alex Lewis)
Scrap coming over imminently to pick up his obese bass amp! Guitars stacked in the foyer! T minus four days to six-week BNL tour! Rehearsals starting tomorrow!
Posted by Mike at 10:08 AMOct 16, 06 10:09 PM
In Union Square.
(pic by listener Alex Lewis)
I'm walking through Union Square en route to meet Scrap, and there's a Japanese girl sitting at a card table with a sign: "Give Me Your STRESS for My ART."
I stop. How do I give you my stress?
She pushes a card and a pencil towards me and tells me to write down what's stressing me out. I write Judgement of my music.
She draws the outline of a bird-fish over my handwriting, and then fills in the space around it with blue; paints the bird-fish yellow; gently flicks white paint over the picture; affixes a little heart sticker over the word music, the faint outline of which is the only word left visible.
She hands me the card. Do I owe you something?
"I accept donations."
I get ten bucks out of my wallet.
"That's too much," she says.
No, that's OK, it's not so much for me.
She smiles and thanks me. "You don't take it home," she says.
I'm confused.
"You take the art home, but leave the stress."
Posted by Mike at 10:09 PMOct 15, 06 11:47 AM
Chicago Gig.
(Pix by listener Tony Jordan)
We played at the Chicago Historical Society, which was trippy and great; in an upstairs sort of events room with columns and stained glass windows, a stone's throw from the exhibit containing an original bunny costume from the Playboy mansion, and the actual Sifl and Olly puppets.
Posted by Mike at 11:47 AMUniversity of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.
That's a lot of saints for one subject line.
Fantastic show. There was a grand piano, so Kirby played that, and it was beautiful; I just love the bejesus out of the guy's playing.
Twin citizens are probably just hearing about it, because it was closed to St. Thomas students.
I had to shut people up, of course, which is just par for the course for quiet shows. And, as is also par for the course, I got a million MySpace mails the next day apologizing for the awful terribleness of the crowd, which just wasn't the case. I pretty much have to shut up any crowd at a Rockmusikkonzert if I want to do it quiet and intimate style. I'm not offended! I'm a veteran of this by now.
The crowd in fact, was great; one of my all-time fave duo shows.
Rockity Tattoo, Chicago.
The Backstage World of the Brave Youngster.
The glamour never stops if you're John C. Kirby. Or his orange hat.
Yeah, At Last I Bought a New Cam.
So no more suffering thru endless pix of Africa.
Be prepared for six straight weeks of backstage hockey arena ennui shots from the MD's B BNL tour.
By then I will have found the auto-focus button, as well.
Oct 11, 06 08:53 AM
Yesterday in My German Lesson I Learned to Conjugate the Verb To Google.
(pic, again, ganked from listener Nillazilla)
Ich google; du googlst; sie googlt; wir googln; ihr googlt; Sie googln.
Posted by Mike at 8:53 AMJesus = Not Exactly My Thing, But He Does Come Highly Recommended By Sam Cooke.
(Yes, this too from listener Nillazilla)
Quote sent this morning from listener Smiling Emily: Mark 2:17: "It's not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick, I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners."
Oct 9, 06 06:28 PM
Science of Sleep.
(Photo by Misha Vladimirsky)
It's kind of amazing how Gael Garcia Bernal can be so winning and vulnerable and yet so inhumanly gorgeous.
Posted by Mike at 6:28 PMOct 2, 06 11:08 AM
Brooklyn.
(photo by Nillazilla)
Driving back into Brooklyn with a friend I joke about the Welcome to New York sign: "The picture of Niagara Falls is actually a gushing waterfall of anxiety. And the Statue of Liberty? She holds up the torch of worry."
This week I plan to nap. I have nothing to do but interview a few German teachers, one of whom I picked out because her ad said Learn GERMAN from a GOTH GIRL.
Posted by Mike at 11:08 AMLet Us Revel in the Splendor of John Kirby.
(Pic by GloryGloryCatchaCory)
He sounds fantastic on the stuff we just recorded.
Posted by Mike at 11:01 AM
