Rockumentary | Tour | Music | Pictures | Gig Diary | Press | The Boys | Chain CD | Store | Press Kit |

Henning says:
Thank you everyone who came out to the Basement in Northampton, MA on Saturday. I'm sure there will be gig diary entries coming soon. Max, is your hand ok? Tony, any idea on how many songs we DID get to play? Brian, someone told me that the dark bands on your drum stick-rods are unevenly lined-up. Personally, I had an excellent time. It was far better than I had imagined all around. Thank you.

Brian says:
The elastic bands on my drum stick rods were unevenly lined up?
Who notices these things?
Have you (attentive person) also noticed the slight asymmetry of my eyebrows? Or the loose thread protruding from the top button of my jacket?

Now that I think of it, I semiconsciously play with those bands while the rest of the band tunes up. Next show maybe I'll remove one and make it an uneven number and see who in the crowd abruptly shouts "NO!!"

Anyway, to the show...

If I could have been sure that the OrbiTone drums at the Basement were to my liking, I could have leapt off my front steps and done the 100 yard dash to the Basement in under 45 seconds*#
*bear in mind the direction and velocity of the wind that night.
# plus I was wearing fancy clothes and there was ice on the ground

However, I did bring the Gretsch kit to supplement the OrbiTones. Just snare and cymbals/stands and pedal.
(for this Saturday's Lo Fine show there, I'm instructed to use all my stuff)

It was weird using a 5 piece kit--though I used to be a 5 piece guy, I've been a 4 piecer since 2000. Less is more, more or less.

BRIAN, YOU'RE BORING US WITH MUSIC TALK.

Sorry.
I've likened playing at the Basement to what I imagine the NYC jazz clubs of the 50's-60's to be like. Low ceilings, tables and all. Thus, the atmosphere provoked a lighter, er, jazzy touch in my playing.
Though when it's real crowded it also reminds me of a college-era kegger.
I got a Sierra Nevada had a nice chat with Rick after finishing my set up, and while Ning tinkered with the sound.
I saw an unexpected library figure, which kind of threw me for a loop. I don't like when my worlds collide. Thus, I seldom discuss music while at work. Everything goes under the generic mysterious umbrella "the band". And when someone sees me in the paper it's like my cover's blown. But she and her friends were on their way out.
At the same time it's good to see people learn that I know how to do more than help facilitate their interlibrary loan requests. I mean drive a van.

The show got off to a great start. It felt really nice and relaxed, and Tony almost immediately was up to his wandering antics. "There goes ol' crazy T", sez I. "Ain't NO ONE stoppin' him now!" Then I spat into a spitoon and lit my pipe ,remembering how ol' Bessy used to kick in the stalls.

Bezo came up for "Stranger" and Lord Russ for the long forgotten "Bagel Song".
Russ was fresh from a scissors mishap, so let's all wish him a speedy recovery. Or else St. Patriots Day will be RUINED!!

Sometimes I get a little panicky when I feel I'm in a situation where there's no way I can just get up and leave without being noticed (classrooms, meetings, church). Then I fixate on it, making it worse.
For some reason the faintest hint of this feeling kicked in when I realized Henning was serious about not wanting to take a break.
Who are we, Phish?
But I want another beer. And maybe a water. And maybe I gotta use the restroom. And maybe I wanna see what my friend in the corner is doing later. And maybe this fancy outfit's getting hot and I need some air. And maybe my ears are starting to feel funny and I need some silence. For the love of god and the union, I demand a 15 minute break!
Phew.
The second half was awesome--though shorter than the first half.
Singing Familiar Old Sugar, I realized I've lost a little off the top of my range. I did that embarrassing thing where you're not sure if you should go falsetto or go for the real thing--and end up Peter Bradying.

I thought maybe by the end of What Is Life, the ghost of George would have cut the electricity. But, remember---he was an honorary Monty Python so he was probably laughing and appreciating the gesture.

Two awesome telepathic moments:

1) during Tony's "Something European", Ning and I both launched into the "pickpocket in the subway" chorus in harmony. If you closed your eyes, you'd think that we were two formally trained female R&B vocalists.
2) During the finale "Omnivore", Dennis Crommett sauntered? plowed? his way to the stage, threw all the jackets off the piano and started playing along.
At the last verse "But you're durable" usually Tony and Henning stop, leaving the bassline and me doing random accents. But this time, we all stopped, leaving Henning accompanied only by Dennis playing the 2 chords like they were "All Tomorrows Parties".

Henning says:
It took me three trips down the three flights of stairs and across the snowy driveway to load the car. My arms were burdened with equipment and ecoutremonts and I couldn't help thinking how nice it was that I wasn't going to have as far to carry things to the car in the near future. My ostrich will do it for me. (I don't really have an ostrich.) (..or do I?)

As I was driving to the Basement, I was getting a bit bummed out by the snow and wind. The streets were white with it. "Nobody's gonna come out to the show," I thought to myself. I pulled into the parking spot and entered the seemingly dark pub.

Inside, I was relieved and delighted to see Naight and Jay and friends setting up microphones for taping and ordering beers. Yee. Somebody IS gonna be here.

I set about setting up our stuff in the teeny corner of the room and as I did, band members and patrons wandered in one by one. Max, Brian, Tony. We set up and squoze in as best we could and took a slight breather before starting our show.

At 10:07 we began. I apologized for our tardiness and we played a lovely smooth version of 1,000 Times. Tony had made a nice large list of 39 songs for us to pick from and Brian kept it at his side and called out the songs all night long.

It was a real pleasure to play. The audience was cozy and nice and seemed to be intently listening. I could hear everyone in the band very well since we were playing at a nice respectable volume - well-done Brian. It ain't easy to drum quite, you know. We're lucky we got one of the ones who can...and will.

We played a lot of golden oldies. Songs like "Sitcom Theme" and "Overs" felt to me almost like they were someone else's songs and we were covering them.

We played two songs by Brian ("Familiar Old Sugar" and "Vegas Youth") and three by Tony ("How To Swim", "I Wouldn't Know", and "Something European" - during that last one, Max handed the bass over to me and set about dancing all over the room and outside around the building while shaking his maracas.) These "covers" all came out wonderfully. They are great songs to start with so it wasn't hard...but I was glad we could do them justice.

Welcome To Jeopardy
Answer: George Harrison composition that pop-rock band School for the Dead should never again attempt to play.
Question: What is "What Is Life?

Yes, we didn't do that song justice, but we did do it with good spirits. Happy Birthday anyway, George.

The rest of our set went very well. One stand out was "Map" which just sounded excellent to me. Well done, boys.

We ended up playing only 34 songs, even though we had hoped for 40. It was probably a good thing that Brian called a break for us, at least for Max, who was having some problems with his hands. Mostly, in that one of them was refusing to move.

This was an excellent gig. It felt very musical to me, like we were there for a reason. I was so utterly flattered by all the people who came and sat and listened to us for such an extended amount of time. Thank you so much.

Posters

It was hand-made, I have no scan.

Set List

Uncomfortable
Everybody Loves Martha
Omnivore
Photobooth Curtain
Campground Daughter
Something’s Taking Over/ She’s Getting Anxious
Thug
Overs
Ayla
The New You
The Wichita Train Whistle Sings
Candy Cane
Don’t be A Stranger w/ Lesa Bezo
The Bagel Song w/ Lord Russ
Soup of The Moment
V-66
Day Job
1,000 Times
Sitcom Theme
The Screen Door
Disgruntled Lover
Periscope
Thinking Of A Time
This Time It Looks Good
Journal Of Lies
Map
Back To School
What Is Life (George Harrison)
Familiar Old Sugar
Vegas Youth
Something European
How To Swim
I Wouldn’t Know

Pictures

no.