The final day. We left Philly on the late side after a slow start. We arrived in NYC, parked near the venue (Arlene’s) and scooted over to the East Village, where I dragged everyone for a couple of quick vegan eats (though the place also had non-vegan food). It was probably the biggest quanity of food I had eaten in a few days, which made me a little sluggish feeling.
My sister Rachel arranged a meeting with her friend Darren, a fellow who has some knowledge and connections in music business areas that we could greatly benefit from. Both Rachel and Darren rushed downtown from work to meet with us in the limited window we had before we played an early set at 7 PM, which was very awesome of them both. It was a very helpful discussion, which we are thankful for. It’s really nice to get that kind of help from people and makes us feel very good.
After, we zoomed over to Arlene’s and loaded on stage. I always use my amp on stage as my monitor for the acoustic guitar. The sound guy forcefully convinced me that I could put it off to the side and I would be able to hear without a problem. I knew this wouldn’t be true, but I went for it anyway, which resulted in me not being able to hear what I was doing very well. I don’t blame the sound guy really, because it’s almost impossible to get the monitor situation to be okay for the acoustic, which is why I use the amp as my monitor. This is particularly hard with a quick line check. Anyway, I felt off the whole set and couldn’t really get settled into singing in tune because I just couldn’t pick up any of my guitar and the room is boxy enough that the bass just sounded like a toneless rumble to me. I do wish I were better at singing in tune without cue; like having absolute pitch or something. Anyway, I am lucky at this point that I can ever sing a note in tune, so I guess I have to work with what I’ve got. I had fun playing, though I felt off the whole time. People generally responded all right. We intended to leave soon after our set, but ended up staying a while to talk to all of our friends that had come, many of whom we had not seen in some time. It was nice to stick around and relax to end the journey. We busted out close to midnight and drove back to Boston, weary and worn, but we had a fun time.
I always get a bit of a booster shot for working on band things after we go on tour, even when it’s a mix of successed and failures. Something about being immersed in the experience reminds me how much of it is cool and fun and takes me away from the constant business, Internet, and bookkeeping side I spend too much time in normally.
We’re looking forward to working hard competing in the Phoenix poll and the WBCN Rumble, writing and recording new songs, and touring again. Thanks to everyone on the road and at home for the support and for making this band possible. Sometimes it feels like quite a vain, self-indulgent project, and you all help to make us feel a little more like there is a real side to it besides fulfilling our little-boy dreams of being rock stars. Rock on and see you all soon!