( 12:45 AM )
Birthday
Just put on the Legacy Edition of the Live At Sin-e' shows by Jeff Buckley. It's always kind of sad listening to Jefferson, but it sounds really good so far. I'm just glad Sony finally released it. I was the producer's (Steve Berkowitz) assistant when the EP originally came out, and he was kind enough to hire me to go through the Buckley tapes he had in his office back in '98. I can't tell you how much fun it was doing that. I used to head up to his office after work, put the tapes on (record some of them!), and watch the Yankees play the year they won more games than any team in the history of baseball. I made some recommendations when I was done and of course one of them was to release the complete Sin-e' sessions. They didn't because there were duplicate songs from the shows, but they certainly gave you enough to get the feel for what went down those nights. They just should have done it sooner! Anyway - it sounds good and I hope people enjoy it.
Meanwhile - The Spitball show rocked! Friends and even strangers really seemed to enjoy it and I had a blast. I forgot how much fun it is living in the moment of the show - playing songs - being free to enjoy yourself as much as possible and maybe show off a little (if I had the chops!). Molly and Chris are fantastic musicians though and I love playing with them. We're all still pretty jazzed and we're hoping to do a show at the new Sin-e' sometime in November.
Not really tuned into or caring about the presidential debates. I still think Kerry has a chance, but I'm certainly not as optimistic as I was after the Dem convention. The crazy thing about these debates is the undecideds who will be watching will not be making their decision based on any policy pronouncements. For them it's all about which one they like. I'm not prone to liking arrogant liars (although that could probably apply to either candidate), so it's hard for me to understand how they'll make their determination. But whatever. I'll be at a going away party for a co-worker, so I'll be gettin' my drunk on while the Bonesmen duke it out.
And if I might pat myself on the back - playing fantasy sports might seem like a huge waste of time to some people. And I'm not one to argue that point. But football and baseball are my favorite sports, so it's nice to play along. And since I'm going to win one league, and I'm in a playoff championship in another (and working for 3rd place my 3rd league - what can I say - I'm a bit obsessive), it' s nice to know the effort will reap some small reward.
So that's the story - aaaaaiiight.
Oh yeah - and happy birthday dad - I love you.
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( 6:46 PM )
Nightclub Jitters
Alright - we're backstage at The Continental in New York City with Spitball bassist Mike Webb just before their reunion show - the first show in 8 years. Tell us Mr. Webb, how do you feel right now?
MW - Well Biff, I'm feeling a little excited, a little tired from the cold I've had all week, and a whole lot nervous?
Q - Nervous? You've never been one for being nervous?
MW - Well that's right Biff. I learned early on that something was bound to go wrong at the gigs - mistakes, equipment failures, the unexpected - so you just kind of went with the flow. But lately I've forgotten the notes to some of our oldest songs. So I'm hoping I don't have a brain fart on stage.
Q - What are the long term prospects for Spitball?
MW - Well who knows. I think it's fairly amazing that we got back together at all. So we'll just take it one gig at a time and see what happens. But it's been a lot of fun and I don't see any reason to not have fun.
Q - Aren't you a little old to be making a comeback?
MW - Age is just a number Biff. This isn't something I planned, it just kind of happened. So I don't worry about the numeric aspects of this.
Q - Aren't you really just doing this to get laid?
MW - Well, considering how often we got laid back in the day, I'm sure it won't be any different this time around.
Q - Ok if it's not for the chicks, then it's gotta be the money.
MW - Alright, you busted me. It's for the money - for the $25 and 2 free drinks we'll net at the end of the night.
And there you have it. Spitball - they're in it for the money.
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( 1:39 AM )
L. A. Woman
Ok - took a break from this blogging bit because I'm tired of bitching about the election. It's up to the political gods now and I'm beginning not to care what happens.
With that in mind - it's football season - let the rejoicing begin! Steelers won. Buckeyes won. And all of my fantasy football teams won too. Not bad. Of course, I lost the football pool, but that's to be expected.
The other good thing in life right now is we're starting the push for the Spitball show Thursday, September 23rd at 10pm at the Continental. Can't believe it's come this far and so easily. My favorite songs are a new one called "Rules of Love" (rule #2 is "I'm right and you're always wrong" - can't wait for my lefty political friends to hear the rest of the rules!) and our cover of the Door's "L. A. Woman" which I would normally cringe about, but we do it in half the time with lots of cool and even more energy.
However, there's something new that I've been leaving out of my Spitball missives and that's the fact that guitar player/singer Yvan has had a sex change. She's a woman now and our show will sort of be a coming out party for him, er, her in a way. Her vocals seem to be more confident and we've even toyed with changing keys for some songs to make them more in her range. I've known Yvan for so long that it's hard to rethink my concept of him being a man into her being a woman now. But she seems like the same person to me, so I'll probably call Yvan Yvan instead of whatever his new name will be (she's leaning toward Mullholland right now and maybe Molly for short. Seems appropro considering Spitball once had an instrumental surf song called "Mullholland Drive" named for the super curvy road in LA).
So if you're in the New York City area c'mon out. It will definitely be energetic and it should rock pretty well. Or as JR Taylor once wrote about us - not knowing that I was actually from Ohio - "if they were from Columbus, they'd be hailed as young geniuses."
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( 10:50 PM )
Get Up Stand Up
Ok - it seems I'm fairly alone in not seeing the Republicans as dressed up Barbie dolls, or yahoos, or as frightening people. Co-workers and other writers have been much more derisive than I was and I guess it's because I more or less saw what I expected to see (people-wise). These aren't only Republicans in a New York City landscape, they're conservative Republicans in the first to third most decadent city in America (New Orleans and Las Vegas - in whatever order you prefer). So of course these folks are going to be on the freakishly uptight side of things.
And though the speeches have been effective (if effective means bad for John Kerry), they're not exactly inspiring or honest. In fact they chose to highlight the craziest guy of all - Zell Miller - by giving him the keynote. This is a guy who just a few years ago praised Kerry as a hero, only to change his mind and tout him as a big wimp. Then in an interview he was upset at a question Chris Matthews asked him and wanted to challenge him to a duel. Do people really trust the words of a violent, angry, unstable man who obviously harbors some kind of personal ill will toward a former riend?
And listening to the spin Bush is laying down right now, my brain is skidding out of control. So it's time load Bessie Cu up, tune out, turn on and ease my mind. One love...
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( 1:12 AM )
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Day 3 of the Republican con in NYC and some co-workers convinced me that I had to go to the Garden and see the spectacle for myself. I kind of realized my pre-conceived notions had gotten the best of me, so it would only be fair to see what was going on first hand.
Getting to MSG via the subway was easy. Though streets are closed off, a short walk had us (me, Taya and Janine) entering the press center in the Farley Post office across from MSG in just a few minutes(#). We passed through the security gaunlet fairly quickly and headed to our seats in what were basically the middle section of the Garden, stage left. Logistically, the Republicans have been far superior to the Democrats, having organized housing, convention passes and even the staging much quicker and smarter than the Dems. For example, they have a 2nd stage for entertainers so that you don't have to switch equipment and slow down the pace of the "show." That's smart production. However, the media writing platforms (the big blue sections you see on TV) are behind the stage - giving me the impression the Republicans don't really care what the written outlets think. It's all about how it looks on TV babe, and forget you if you're writing and can't see the speakers.
Anyway, we headed to our seats and I looked around to get a feel for the conventioneers. There was an Asian woman, and one other black man among the sea of white faces. No crime, no diversity, but no surprise either.
Our timing was pretty bad in my mind as we got there just when the tribute to Ronald Reagan began. I've already ranted about Ronnie Raygun, so I'll skip taking another shot. Surprisingly, I behaved myself and didn't shout anything negative. All I wanted to do was to try and give away copies of our magazine (which titled our lead editorial "A Failed Presidency") to a few conventioneers to see what they'd say. But Taya wouldn't let me because if I'd done anything "inappropriate," our organization could have been booted from the convention. So luckily, Taya kind of served as my superego, preventing me from horrifiying her if I did anything smart alecky. So I behaved. (Although I have to confess to desperately wanting to scam one of the numerous "homemade" posters that said "I (heart) Bush." Yes, indeed I do, but I digress.)
In tempering my urge to be naughty, I realized I had a certain respect for the people there. Not because I agree with their politics, but because they were involved. These people took the time to get involved in the political process at some level and I salute their willingness to take a stand and do something about it.
No, I'm not getting soft on Republicans. I'm still opposed to the Bush agenda in every way, but I'm too tired to start ranting against them now. And I think their convention has been every bit as phony as the Democrats. Phony speeches about the necessity of war. Phony charges about Kerry being more of flip flopper than Bush (or any other politician for that matter). And Phony convention plants - like the hundreds of people wearing the same white cowboy hats, or the signs that were made to look as if they were homemade, but the color and style gave them away as R-Party made(*). And Laura Bush's contention that W wrestled with the decision to attack Iraq strikes me as quite disingenuous as the Iraq policy outline had been laid out during the Clinton Administration by the Project for a New American Century and White House chief of staff remarked about how to market the idea to the public as far back as summer 2002.
So no. I didn't get the heebee geebees like I thought I would (although, if I'd actually listened to the speeches, I'm sure I would have crawled out of my skin in five minutes). And no, the Republicans haven't brought me over the to dark side. Conventions are show biz - a way to disguise what you really believe in glitz and glamour(+) while hiding the substance of your agenda.
# - how is it that New York City can close down it's main post office and turn it into a media center without screwing up its mail delivery service? Oh, that's right. This is politics, the mail can wait.
* - ok, those last two are really small, nitpicky things. But they're annoying because they're spun as if these are truly folksy people.
+ - "glamour" is way over the top when describing Republicans. The only "celebrity" sightings I could muster were tight-assed conservatives like Bob Barr and Sean Hannity and a few TV reporters (like va-va voom Campbell Brown) and the lone sane man in the Garden, Rep. Charlie Rangel.
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