September 19, 2002 - Valentine's - Albany, NY
BRIAN: And how did we play at Valentine's? Really freakin' good! I could hear Max's bass better than ever, and I feel we finally established true, distinctive, rhythm section bond. The telepathy and/or attentive listening thing was there. And should just get better. Ning, remember in the early AST days when things were a struggle, rhythm section wise? Also, I could hear Ken's crazy-ass keys. The Pick A Gripe playing was phenominal. I do question doing the sample-sounds live (can't remember which song), unless we have an established thing. It may come off as too goofy. The other thing I learned last night was that Tony and a similarly-devilish friend once played The Doors "The End" 3 times in a row at a Papa Gino's. Brian Marchese says: I think the best thing I learned last night was that a 10 year old Ken Maiuri once wrote to the folks who produce "Stars on 45" records, to complain that the quality was going downhill. Just think about that. It's like something a character in the next Wes Andersen filn should do. In the car, it was also a trip to hear again Ken's 1995 interview withArthur Lee, like days before his arrest. And to test out the phone tap, Ken called me at Stop and Shop. Funny to hear us talking about the dairy department briefly. TONY: They had a great CD jukebox there. Only Brian from our gang partook, though, spinning a tune each by The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Jam. Still, I'd never seen a CD jukebox with a Husker Du album in it, much less two. Among the other cool albums on tap: The Pixies, Marvin Gaye, NRBQ, Patsy Cline, and The Velvet Underground. And although I was tempted, I didn't put in a buck to play VU's "Sister Ray." Strange, Henning seemed to forget our late-night conversation also veered into the area of the rich variety of sexual fetishes folks have. I admit it, I was the one who pushed the topic of conversation in that direction, which got there as a result of discussing the internet (what else?). One last tidbit- a member of the audience who liked us a lot kept referring to Henning as "Hennepin." HENNING: Last night we played at Valentine's in Albany. It was pretty good. All the folks who saw us at the Fuze Box came out a again and they brought along a bunch of friends. Valentine's itself was already pretty happening when we showed up at 8:00. This was all for some kind of benefit called PLOAD. Protecting Loved Ones Against Danger. I had thought it might be Poodles Leaping Off A Dam because the benefit was to raise money needed to build a fence in front of a dangerous wall that appearantly some animlas and maybe a person or two have fallen off of. So, we played downstairs which is the smaller of the two rooms at Valentine's. The soundguy was named Tim and he did a great job. We started playing at around 9:30, half an hour after we had planned, and we did a good job. It was a bit more rock and roll than other shows. I think that was because our amps weren't mic'd so we had to have them up pretty loud. People seemed to dig it and I left a CD for Howie the owner who I had been told liked us and wanted to have us back on a Friday or Saturday night. At least that's what Scott, the guy who put this show together had told me. When we first got to Valentine's, things were a bit sketchy. Sure, there were a lot of people there, considering the hour, but they didn't really look like the kind of people who cared if a band was playing. The route we had to take to bring in our stuff cut right through the danger zone of the dart board, so a few times I would have to stand there holding a heavy amp while waiting for someone to finished their throws. The house music was really loud and very angry but eventually it changed over to the juke box and things were a little more inviting. We set up and then stood around, not really feeling like we fit in. But, eventually the gang that we had met at the Fuze Box came in and changed that all around. Yee. Tony and I were in my car while Max, Ken, and Brian were in Brian's car. On the way home Tony and I had a nice flowing conversation that touched on music, religion, medicine, the great wall of china, urban legends, and much more. We stopped at the Lee Plaza and I talked to my Czechoslovakian friend who I met after the Fuze Box show. He works at McDonalds. KEN: MAX:	Pick A Gripe Uncomfortable Everybody Loves Martha The New You V-66 Wichita Train Whistle Sitcom Theme Rock & Roll Camper Omnivore One Lady Dancing 1,000 Times The Screen Door