Day 63 - May 13th 2009
The secret word of the day is stress.
I’m very nervous about this show at Lickety Split tonight. I’ve got a bunch of bands that I’ve done little to no work with in the past playing, and I was texted by the people there that a new band Tunnel from South Jersey would be added to the bill, with Sarah Flynn now out they’re gonna fit right in with the rest of the agenda.
I need to take my mind off things so I throw my jogging clothes on, grab my dad’s ipod and I run. I forgot how centered I felt when I was jogging every day. The simple act of running from one point to another helped me gain perspective, just me and the concrete as it were. I also forgot how bad running on concrete can be for your body. My legs have been killing me for the past two days and I’ll probably need to take a break, which I’ll probably get for a few days once I hit NYC. I do feel like I’m in better shape than I’d been in the past week or so which will serve me well this weekend.
I’m thinking more and more about Bang Camaro as these dates approach. I’m even nervous about it. It took quite a bit to get used to performing with them and it seems like the last show at the Viper Room was a lifetime ago. I wonder with all this other stuff on my mind (Booking the shows, the big show I have coming up, my own band) if I’m going to be able to find my feet quickly enough for this to make sense. Sean called, he sent me a picture of fat Kelly Clarkson, twas hilarious, I called hik back but the phone kept clicking off.
I was pretty stoked to find out that you can download comic books off Pirate bay. I was able to catch up on Batman: Battle for the cowl, had I known that I would have been keeping up while on the road. I generally don’t dig on batman stores that hard but this one is interesting.
I turned on the TV and the science channel was airing this special about a space mission to mars. The part that really fascinated me was the part about how Russia and The US are puttign together teams with a new kind of astronaut, one that would have to be mentally tough enough to survive 1000 days in space, in a small environment, isolated, with a bunch of people on top of you. They show how the isolation of space can drive you crazy, how they purify their own urine to drink, and how they are working on developing Artificial Intelligence companions for each of the Astronauts when human interaction gets to be too much.
The doorbell rings and it’s Funkharp and Steve on the other side. Both respected members of the Philly music scene and in their own fantastic bands are serving as my horn section for the show on May 24th. The parts are written for tenor but since Steve is playing alto he (with Funkharp’s help) had to transpose the parts. After they were done we ran through the tunes that had horns on them. They were a little rough. But I think with the addition of Nick on Tenor and a week of practice on their own the horns will be tight. With the absence of strings for Leavin (so far anyway) they’ll need to be.
After a nap I get a call from my good friend Claire. She’s coming to town tomorrow and wants to play at an open mic in North Philly. I quickly agree as I throw on some clothes headed out to be at my show at Lickety Split.
I get there around 7:30 and Dani Mari has a shot of Vodka on the bar that she’s trying to pass off. It’s called Sweet Carolina, a sweet tea flavored vodka that tickles my fancy. With no 8PM musician the bar was empty so I headed to showcase comics to see what I could find. I turned around and came back shortly after.
Ami Verrill loads in and plays first. We’ve been friends since I was in college, she shared an apartment with a really good college buddy of mine and was the first guest ever on Jukebox (the Music TV show I hosted and ran at Temple) I’m sort of acting as her booking agent, I was able to get her on a show at the Tin Angel while I was away on tour, but it’s been months since I’ve seen her. Her fans filed in and it was good to see them too, she was as amazing as ever.
Emerson B an acoustic hip hop artist was up next. The dude has got a chill vibe and a great stage presence, this guy should be killing it on the college circuit. He strummed, rhymed, sang, and beat boxed his way into the hearts of the crowd. It’s amazing to see people start at Philly Rising then I’m able to book them at a show and watch them rock it.
Tunnel from South Jersey would be up next and they were sweet. They Indy Rocked it like it was 1999, I look forward to booking them again sometime soon. They reminded me of a lot of the bands I see on MTV2.
By the time my Closers Ugly As Sinn hit the stage there were so many people in the bar I had to leave and take a walk. I liked those kids a lot, they were a little loud for my (and everyone else’s) taste but they did a good job. Nice kids too, I look forward to finding a way to work with them.
It’s safe to say tonight was a success, I’m not under the pretense that every night will be this good but it’s a good place to start.
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