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Hard to believe it's been so long since I updated our LiveJournal pages, but heck, we've been busy, which is a good thing, right? You can always check out our Myspace page, I tend to be more on the pulse on that one (www.myspace.com/beazleyphillipsband).
Pete, Nick and I were cranking right into June with our gig at Sizzle on Broadway/The Pumping Station for all you olde skoolers, but are fortunately enjoying a little time away for the next few weeks before we start kicking it back in during July with a couple performances.
I've been pretty busy with some solo performances, traveling to Atlanta a couple weeks ago for several days and then at Blu Water Grille for a couple private parties; getting back to my blues roots.
Pete's been closing out the end of the year for the kids down at Randolf Elementary (*where we both played about a month ago for a poetry night for all grades and their folks, which was a blast!) and taking off to Philly for a well deserved vacation and a big ride (*check out his Myspace page for his blogs, rants and raves at www.myspace.com/petenocito).
Nick's been kicking it out in the burbs, I hear Chili Peppers, Chevelle and Wolfmother have all been on the concert agenda.
Meanwhile I've been listening to loads of Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Ben Folds, Gavin Degraw, Erwin Helfer, Herbie Hancock and Rev. James Cleveland (*the old stuff!).
So this down time is good and you can expect some new and some songs I wrote some years back to be resurfacing in the next few months.
We're once again negotiating with a local record label and we're hoping to have a new record out by the year's end too for all of you wondering what's going on with that.
Peaceoout Kids!
bz |
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Mar. 17th, 2006 @ 01:16 pm
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Ok, we'd talked about taking off some time, but a good thing is too hard to keep from moving !
So it looks like we've got some cool shows coming up:
Wise Fool's Pub: Monday, April 3rd. I know it's a Monday kidz, so this'll be for our hard core listeners who like to party when everyone else is alseep!
Wise Fool's Pub: Friday, May 5! This is freaking Cinco De Mayo and I'm drinking and buying shots!
Sizzle On Broadway: Friday, June 2: This is gonna be our first time at this restaurant/bar/night spot, looks like it'll be a fun and warm, weekend night!
Current Mood: Chilly! Current Music: Ben Folds - Song for the Dumped |
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It's been very cool that we've been able to enjoy some great shows from Wise Fool's Pub, to Double Door, the Auto Show 2006, The Elbo Room and finally Betty's to close up our five month run!
We intentially left March through May unbooked so we can spend time working on our next record, which it looks like we'll be recording with Fabsound Records and while we've book our first summer gig in June, I'm hoping we will have our record well under-way by that point.
So I've just booked a studio for the month of April and plan on using it to setup a temporary shop from which to hold rehearsals, song writing sessions and general prep for going into the studio. I've got so many songs that getting them out to the band, arranged and rehearsed is a major buttload of work. I think it was Bob Dylan who said, "it would take a dump truck to unload my head!"
Thanks again for everyone who has made our last five months a great and fun ride and we look forward to coming back to you guys and some new listeners in the upcoming months.
I'll be sure to update our journal and Myspace sites as time allows, I've got a bunch of pictures to be adding too as we've been playing more and more shows with Pete!
Peace and Groove,
Beazley Phillips
Nick Ralph
Pete NocitoCurrent Mood: Chill Current Music: Imogen Heap Hide and Seek |
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Feb. 16th, 2006 @ 12:27 pm
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Busy week, doing most of that stuff that nobody likes to think about for bands, tax information, forms and receipts, plus revamping the band's press kit, updating photos page, planning for a live photo shoot at our show this Saturday at the Auto Show, updating journals, restocking the CDBaby.com website with more copies of the band's first record Shooting Ghosts, gathering information for our next media blitz with those aforementioned presskits, and trying, when I can to work on music.
The Myspace.com page is also up and running, nothing fancy yet, but I like the versatility and the number of pictures we can upload as well as music files! Check out the live version of Dreaming of Kate from the November Live 2005 CD's.
We've been working on some fun covers of late, Bruce Hornsby, Gavin Degraw, and I've also started on some cool Phish, Ben Folds and Keane tunes for our next full shows.
The new songs have also been on the back burner the past few weeks as all of the above coupled wiht a crazy day-job schedule have kept me running.
Hope everyone had a supercool Valentine's Day!Current Mood: Super Chill! Current Music: Keane Somewhere no one knows! |
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Man oh Man, 2006 is off and rolling for us!
We will be at the Wise Fools Pub again on Monday, January 30th. This club totally rocks and the sound and sound guy here make playing in the venue a real pleasure. I know it's a Monday and all, but come start the week right with us at Wise Fool's.
Then February 9th, we are joining FabSound Records showcase featuring six of Fabsound's artists, including us, cover is only $5 at the door and you can even get $2 off if you have one of the flyers for the show, which everyone in the band has and we'll be handing out at shows and in person, so get in touch with us!
Happy New Year everyone!Current Mood: Excited Current Music: Message in a Bottle The Police |
| » New Year's Wishes |
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2005 was a roller coaster ride, like Mercury was in retrograde or something like that, and for us it saw a lot of work and lots of kick-ass moments!
We started the year playing the two spots at the Chicago Auto Show, which was insanely fun as Detroit's auto companies spent some money to have a sweet setup and Chrysler's folks went out of there way to provide a top notch sound crew and support staff, then through the year we played at some small clubs, playing the alt night with Flesh Hungry Dog, playing Hoghead McDunna's, then there was our trip to Michigan this autumn, Lillies, The Elbo Room and finally at Wise Fool's Pub for a super fun night with Kurt Crandall and his Chicago blues band, and finally for New Year's Eve we each went our ways for a well-earned vacation.
We saw some changes this year in the band, my good friend and musical cohort of the last two years -- since deciding to record Shooting Ghosts, Eric decided he needed to focus on some other projects and was going to be officially retiring as a full timer with the band. That was a hard time for me, and I even thought of throwing in the towel for a bit, but it just seemed like we had something cool going on and so we just buckled down and sought-out someone to fill the percussion seat for us.
It's not so easy, finding a new player for us isn't like hiring a mechanic to fix the car; we are a three-piece and we're more than a collection of players or hired guns, Nick's a bit conservative, I'm total left-winger and with Eric's great sense of musicality, top notch drumming and being such a cool guy made us one of the best bands to play in period. So Eric leaving was hard, but we managed to get in touch with Philadelphia transplant, via an Indian Reservation teaching job in the Dakotas, Pete Nocito; he started jamming with us and not only was his rock style drumming solid and creative, he has great vocals and songs!
We played our first gig with Pete and his yellow drum kit (a sure fire tonic for any depression!) at Elbo Room and it's been steady going ever since. We all got a lot of positive feedback from our posse and by our second gig with Pete; he was part of the band. Eric and his wife Corinne were at both shows and told me that we'd made a good choice with Pete.
On top of some great shows, our listeners were very supportive and cool this year, coming out to see us on weekday evenings, we were very fortunate in the regard and as a result we worked hard and are doing our best to keep our shows intensely fun, fresh and on top of the game!
So we now go into 2006 with some new steam, our first gig is going to be with Fabsound Records artists at the Double Door on February 9th, we've been discussing a possible record for this year!
Jan. 6th, 2006 @ 06:29 am
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| » Dec. 19th, Wise Fools Pub, Pete Nocito and Free Live CD! |
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We're looking at our next gig at Wise Fools Pub on December 19th, it's a Monday so come out and start the week right with a cool show! We're opening for a blues band, the Kurt Crandall Band, and hopefully we'll have a super fun night, so get there early and have a drink with us!
So it's official, we're Welcoming Pete Nocito into the band as our new drummer, vocalist, and guitarist, it has been a real blast working with him and judging from the show at Elbo Room a couple weeks' back, listeners were turned on to the addition to the band, so stay tuned!
We hung out with our old drummer and my good friends, Eric Hill and his wife, (and my Yoga instructor) Corinne, who were at the Elbo Room show and had great things to say about Pete, we'll miss jamming with Eric after so many years playing together, but never say never, right? I hear he was jamming with our friend Lorna Vallings up in Toronto a couple weeks back, so keep an eye out for him; I'm looking for the CD compilation from Eric Hill on CDBaby!!
Free CD? What is that all about? Well...a free CD to the first 20 folks that come to Wise Fool's Pub on December 19th. We spent the day at FabSound a couple weeks back and managed to get some nice, live to disk recordings. These live recordings feature new songs (Dreaming of Kate, Straydog, Nine Feet, Czar and Vera) as well as some great new arrangements on some of the material from Shooting Ghosts, plus a cool Hendrix cover so get there early and ask me about the CD!
Nov. 30th, 2005 @ 01:44 pm
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| » Gig tonight! |
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Cool autumn day here in Chicago, moist air blew into my face as I sipped on my coffee!
The band will be playing tonight at the Elbo Room, should be a fun night. Sounds like there are several other folks going on before us and then we have the last spot.
It'll be our first gig with our new drummer, Pete Nocito, it has been fun working up all the old material with him and working on new arrangements on most of it as we're now adding his vocals to the mix. I'm sure we'll have a couple gaffs as we're still untested playing together, but we're all pretty psyched about it and I suspect it'll be a fun time. I'm hoping we have a couple folks showing up and I plan on drinking a huge pot of coffee with a solid shot sometime around six for a late afternoon boost!
Nov. 14th, 2005 @ 09:03 am
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| » Ben Folds totally Rocked Chicago |
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Last night's show at Chicago Theater was great.
I've seen Ben a million times over the past ten years, the last couple of shows I saw were pretty mellow and each one seemed to be more mellow than the one before it, I was so glad to see he'd upped his rock quota and had us on our feet nearly the whole show!
Loved the alt version of Jesusland and was so freaking happy he ended with Dwarf and a super energetic My Philosophy!
Renewed my faith in the man and his performances!!
Thanks Ben!
Oct. 28th, 2005 @ 12:57 pm
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| » CDBaby.com, ITUNES and others! |
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Funny how life can be so busy while at the same time you've got absolutely "zero" coming down.
CDBaby.com now has our CD, Shooting Ghosts, you can look for it there in it's entirety (all 30 minutes worth!) or start checking in the next few weeks on ITunes and mp3.com which are part of the distribution deal.
Ton's of stuff going: Lot's of corporate stuff going on with our company Zendogs, Inc. in terms of laying out taxes and setting up internal accounting structures (Thanks to Cathy F!).
Additionally, we've been working on new songs, get your ass ready kidz, there's gonna be some fun tunes on our next record.
There's lot's of intrigue and drama too...but you'll have to hold out for news on that until we get the roof back on at our home office!
Sep. 21st, 2005 @ 10:20 am
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| » Back to Chicago |
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Our show at Lakeshore Tavern, Muskegan, MI was a hefty haul across the southern tip of the Lake Michigan and then northward past Grand Rapids, through a small town called Holland (known for Tulips and Dutch themed architecture and business names, i.e. the Wooden Shoe Restaurant), through the smaller two/four lane 191.
We passed through some beautiful country getting up there, reminded me a lot of the Carolina's and I got somewhat homesick.
Listed to Umphrey's McGee, Lenny Kravitz and the Black Crowes (Southern Harmony...) during our drive.
My back was numb from a cortizone injection on Friday...but I was lucid, LOL, and mostly low on pain...which was cool, we were all worried.
Nick Ralph, our bassist, drove us up, only this will be the last time we only have one driver, I insisted on being added, but he was pretty stern about driving...he did a fine job too until the last hour on the way home...NEXT TIME I'm HELPING DUDE!!! :) I did my best to keep the chatter going and was all about stopping and getting a five A.M. Mountain Dew and walking about a bit.
The Lakeshore Tavern is located on the edge of a small inlet of the lake and we arrived around six-thirty or so, met up with a couple of the employees and loaded in without any problems.
It's a small local bar, sports on three TV's, a cool crowd of folks were in and out later in the afternoon, asked me to play some Jerry Lee while we were setting up, so I jammed on a couple bars of the King of Keyz circa 1958....it settled me in well.
We had a couple hours to kill, so I walked over to a locally owned coffee shop about a block away (gotta love independently owned stores ANYWHERE!) and I sat outside on the sidewalk in a folding chair, listening to a couple guys jamming on their guitars during an Open Mic Saturday jam. Totally fun, nice to get away for a bit and write, although when the guys showed up later, they were like: "Uh, Beaz, where the #$@ did you go?" Could've sworn I told em...but you know me...maybe not.
We hung out a bit together, but the temperatures were dropping and the guys were hungry, so we made it across the street to a little ice cream and burger place...Eric, our drummer ate a plate full of fries (don't tell his wife you read that here!) and Ralph did the burger and cheesefries (my first time with those I think...mmmm, definitely an acquired taste) and watched as many of the locals came in for ice cream. It was a lot of fun just hanging in the town.
The booking agent at the bar had suggested we come early and enjoy the beautiful beaches, but we were unfortunately tight on time and even forgot the time change...put that in our calendars for next time.
We hung out for awhile, the guy behind the bar, who's name I forget, was a cool dude and Ralph and chatted sports while he and i chatted about music. The place got busier around ten-thirty as he predicted. I'd guess there was eventually around fifty or so folks that filed in.
We met some really fun folks, several of them were particularly cool and apologized for not having more folks, but I can say, we were just damned happy to have such a receptive crowd of listeners and totally appreciated their energy!
We played three sets: (I'll list separately) mixed some originals and some classic rock.
We left around three, after breaking down, someone brought me a beer up, THANKS< I needed one at that point! We were home and in bed around seven, bushed but the good feelings were in my head as I collapsed after a microwaved Turkey Burrito.
Totally fun experience, hopefully we'll get back up that way sometime soon.
Bz
Sep. 6th, 2005 @ 12:11 pm
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| » Lakeshore Tavern: Muskegon, MI |
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Looks like we've booked a show at the Lakeshore Tavern in Muskegon.
Should be totally fun.
September 3rd, Saturday, show starts at 10:30 PM!
If any of you kidz are out that way, definitely drop in and check us out, plus we just purchased a new SE2 Power Amp for the vocals (and whatever else we wanna through those babies!), Ralph, our bassist, was the catalyst for the purchase being a lover of technology and music, he insisted that the crappy sound we were getting previously just wasn't cutting it. Hopefully we'll have it by next week's rehearsal.
Speaking of rehearsals, we are now rehearsing at our new space through Chicagosoundspace (www.Chicagosoundspace.com) and are pretty happy with the room. It's small for us, but we're managing well, sharing the space with another band and looking forward to having more freedom in our rehearsal time and hopefully more rehearsals.
Aug. 11th, 2005 @ 12:49 pm
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| » Dreaming of Kate ...working copy |
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Ok, I don't do this too often, but here is a working copy of the tune...still in it's baby stages, so lot's of gaff's, blunders and crap, but it'll give you an idea of where the song is going.
Peace,
Bz
Dreaming of Kate - beazleyphillips
Aug. 8th, 2005 @ 09:26 am
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| » Dreaming of Kate - beazley phillips |
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Dreaming of Kate
Franklin railed into my cycle
knocked us both back to the ground
Serious matters, over a beer or two,
After that explosion man, that’s that and thats is all I knew
Twenty-to-one, beat those odd’s
when I got back that night the party was over
When your soul takes, all it can take - when everything is - breaking down
Oh my heart aches, I’m dreaming of Kate
No I can’t wait, another storm delay, I’m coming over
Oh my heart aches, I’m dreaming of Kate
You’re always sweet to my eyes, college new,
I’m getting tired of this oversimplification
cuz some dogs bite and "they’ve" all lost touch,
when I just needed someone to hold onto,
I can see you, reckless young soul,
without you I just felt so ordinary
When your soul takes, all it can take, and everything is - breaking down
oh my heart aches, I’m dreaming of Kate
No I can’t take, another storm delay, I’m coming over
Oh my heart aches, I’m dreaming of Kate
Coffee hurricanes, you living with electric Blu
What I wouldn’t give for a telephone line to you
You’d been sleeping out there, through a storm or two
I know you’ve got your pride, baby but what’s it done for you?
It gets me down, holds me under
When I’m not looking, I can’t get out from under
Oh my heart takes, all it can take, and everything is - breaking down
oh my heart aches, I’m dreaming of Kate
No I can’t wait, another storm delay, I’m coming over
Oh my heart aches, I’m dreaming of Kate
I’m dreaming of Kate, just dreaming of Kate
I’m dreaming of Kate, just dreaming of Kate
I’m dreaming of Kate, just dreaming of Kate
Aug. 7th, 2005 @ 10:44 pm
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| » Direction |
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Another step onto some foggy butte and I've no idea where the edges are.
Life has been odd of late and I've felt pretty isolated and alone.
My time, up until two weeks ago, was consumed with music work, but now things are quiet; my job has numbly dead-ended, Fred's been busy and has had his mind on other things as he struggles to find his own direction, the band has had a series of near fatal blows and I'm feeling very out of place, adrift and unsure where I am or where I was going.
Yesterday I took myself to see a movie, it distracted me for a couple hours. I walked back into the burning July sun and stood at the hot, dry bus stop waiting for the Number 6666. I stood in the shade where I could and other riders returning from the same movie stood apace from me in the shade of the abandoned warehouse which stood like an abandoned ghost town along Asheland Avenue.
The bus finally appeared and galloped towards us, bouncing hard on over-worn shocks. It pulled it's sagging passenger-side towards me, it's black dirty door right up to my side. I entered the ghost town bus and paid my fare.
I removed my headphones and rode in silence within a cocoon of bustling rich tapestry of cacophony: Mexican families all talking loudly at once, several older black women swearing about the righteousness of a grassroots, passenger rights organization through their church, a white couple in hushed, animated conversation over a bag of groceries, no doubt a Volvo station wagon parked outside their urban condominium, another single passenger, clearly a tourist, was talking to the bus driver, a homeless man sat bobbing unnaturally and occassionally muttering to himself in mad fits. And I just sat back staring out the window feeling distant from everything around me, watching as life unfolded around me wondering where I fit in to all this.
My mind moved from a number of ranging topics as I stared out the dust-covered windowns, topics ranging from my own, unfocused state-of-being, to doing something about it, feeling a loss close to my heart and wondering what life the hell am I lamenting. I have been clinging to myself, remaining honest and true as I can be while my mind makes a cuckold on its own husband.
Jul. 17th, 2005 @ 11:41 am
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| » Saturday Gig at Belle Plaine Studios Chicago! |
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The band will be playing a benefit to help raise money for a great cause, Ameba Aerial Troupe this Saturday!
AMEBA Party & Benefit
Sat June 4 at 7:30pm, Admission $20
Belle Plaine Studio, 2014 W Belle Plaine, Chicago
Live Music - Featuring Stevie Doyle & the beazleyphillipsband (beazleyphillipsband.com)
Plus Free Food & Drink, Silent Auction, Prize Drawing and acrobatic & aerial entertainment & fun!
I've been pretty busy of late too, writing my butt off for a summer performance for Ameba and my good friend Beth Stare.
We've also been working hard, new songs for our upcoming record, tentatively titled August slated for studio work to begin at the end of August, 2005, if you come out this Saturday we're sure to play a couple for you.
Jun. 1st, 2005 @ 06:16 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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Busy weekend, lot's of music work on new tunes, ready to start teaching the band the new tunes!
May. 16th, 2005 @ 07:25 am
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| » Back to work |
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Well, after three weeks off, we met last night for rehearsal at the studio and played through about two hours worth of music. It was nice to sit back and play with the guys again, seems like the last three weeks haven't seen nearly enough music, but sometimes personal obligations prevent it. If anything, sitting down last night after a little time off, I was happy to rechord and reformat several tunes during our rehearsal.
I went pretty easy on my voice as I've been smoking way too much.
This morning I woke on time, but tired, four and a half hours of sleep isn't enough for anyone. I checked out the Double Door's Website, it's about three blocks from my apartment. The venue is exceptionally cool and while I've never played there, I love it. The updated Website is really great, this morning I looked at bio's from several artists from their websites to get some ideas for our bio which I'm updating and getting ready for a new printing.
We got paid last night for our first two gigs in a long while. Ralph, bassist and treasurer took the check for deposit. Boo'yah! New Mercerdes!
Tuesday Ralph and I will begin learning some new tunes for the upcoming record with Fabsounds in August. We're going in at the end of the summer, but that's nine new tunes we will need to burn through before then and now.
Our next gig isn't until June and that's fine, it'll give me plenty of time to work on the new tunes.
I'm tentatively calling the new record August.
May. 13th, 2005 @ 07:07 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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Somedays the weirdest things happen.
We had a business consultant in our office last week (I'm thinking Office Space although she was much more pleasant than Office Space's "the Bobs") and she asked me a bit about my personal life and music (as my schooling was on my resume) and so here it is, a week later, and she called me up this morning at the office to tell me that she and her husband really liked our "group."
It was pretty non sequitor and it took me a few minutes to realize that when she said "my group" she didn't mean my professional/work "group" which she had just evaluated, but that she meant the beazleyphillipsband "group."
We chatted for a minute and I thanked her; as I hung up the phone, a big smile crossed my face and I realized that I was happy to get such a flattering call.
Yeah, while the pay is often weak, sometimes realizing that you do something in which you put your heart into and that in some way, that work is appreciated, is seriously payment of an invaluable kind.
Rock on and happy Monday!
Apr. 25th, 2005 @ 11:42 am
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| » Hoghead Last Weekend and JackHammer Tonight |
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The band played at Hoghead McDunna on Saturday, we had a great crowd and it was very exciting to see us bring in so many folks. We had the best turnout of any of the bands. This was our first night performing a gig with the label that we signed a couple weeks ago. The night was good and we enjoyed a good performance, the music seemed pretty smokin' to me from stage at least and plenty a cats stayed by afterwards to share drinks and time with both me and the band. We also got news that it looks like we've picked up a gig in St. Louis in June too.
I also had my first meeting with my friend Beth, whom I'm writing a composition for her upcoming July Aerial performance piece. That promises to be challenging, but I'm looking forward to it.
The band plays again tonight with Flesh Hungry Dog at a bar called HammerJack or JackHammer on the northside. The shows with FHD are usually fun and pretty low maintenance for us. I doubt we'll get as good of a crowd as we had Saturday as we pushed that one pretty hard, but we're all looking forward to playing tonight. We go on first which is good too as I know I'll be tired after not having much sleep last night.
Apr. 20th, 2005 @ 06:48 am
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