while work was good today (excellent sessions with both boys! score!) my life was just smashed to smitherines because of juliet.
first i drop her off. 2 days a week, andy drops her off. and i guess she just scampers away and plays. we drop her off about 1 hour or 45 minutes before actual school starts, and this unstructured time is just not good for her. anyway, today I dropped her off. and while at first she scampers away, once i'm out the door, she is hysterical crying. "where did my mommy go?" i hear her wailing. with heavy heart, i go to my first client.
a 2 year old boy.
it just kills me to spend time with these other kids while mine is crying in a suckfiled school.
so i go to pick her up and i'm about 10 minutes early...i walk through the doors...and she's sitting outside her classroom.
she's 2.
with the assistant teacher.
"Mommy!" she cries. excited. however, i know that this is not a good situation. "why are you out here?" i ask.
and she replies.
"i'm in time out."
she's 2.
apparently she ripped the buttons off some kid's snowman project. which is just dreadful, i know. but she's TWO YEARS OLD. she is probably bored out of her skull because she is so goddamned advanced; she probably thought she was helping the freakin' kid. but she doesn't even REALIZE what she did. the assistant teacher admits that she tends to do things out of some innate desire of exploration (okay, i made the fancy words up but she said she just seems drawn to doing these things). she does. she takes things apart. she disects things. and she opened the door to say goodbye to her teacher, and there they were, a bunch of 2 year olds (who don't really talk, walk, run, play) sitting in circle time.
silent.
behaving.
and i know juliet is NOT doing that. she is too curious. too wild. too intense.
and excuse me. i do NOT want a cookie cutter baby. my daughter is amazing. i encourage her to think and do and explore.
so why the hell am i allowing her to be stunted in this way?? i feel so trapped. as a teacher and therapist, i feel like crying whenever i think of all the time i spend helping other's children. giving parents reassurance. finding ways to make lessons and sessions more interesting to grab the kid.
yet my kid.
my freaking genius.
is stuck in time out.
at 2.
i need to find a way out of this.
Welcome to the Blog of Lady J. Explore the Depths of my Ramblings on everything from pop culture, education, feminism, raising 2 girls in this mad mixed-up world, mental illness, Bipolar Disorder, Autism and ADHD, books, music...and MORE!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
this is what just happened to me...
...i'm not lying...
...my eyes are still all red and my nose is stuffed...
...i didn't, however, say, "you did your best." i thought about it, and it made me stop crying...
...my eyes are still all red and my nose is stuffed...
...i didn't, however, say, "you did your best." i thought about it, and it made me stop crying...
The Wiggles...bad news!
i think that it is just hilarious that my brother in law e-mailed andy with the tragic news that greg wiggles may be leaving the band due to serious illness.
the band.
you know.
the wiggles.
and the heading of the e-mail was "OH NO!"
it's so crazy how juliet has totally warped all our minds into being concerned about the yellow wiggle. my favorite is murray. the red one.
ANYWAY.
then there was this long article about hipster baby music. which i enjoyed and would like to share with you. despite the fact that they left they might be giants off the list of cool kid musicians.
my only gripe is this: why don't you let your kids listen to the music you like? instead of getting the lullaby version of tool? i understand that there are undoubtedly some songs with dreadful lyrics that you immediately have to change if in the car with juliet (who knows the lyrics to system of a down, bad religion, less than jake and every cKy song ever)(and her favorite is anytime dico freestyles)(which is just ridiculous) but in all, i'm so glad that juliet likes and listens to this music. there was a whole "p" cd that i had to virtually skip every song (pussy liquor by rob zombie, pscyho by system...you know, those words are REALLY hard to explain your child overhearing to her nursery school teacher)but i know she has a decent, well rounded experience of music thanks to this. her favorite is still "let's go steady, freddy!"
anyway, here's the article (i especially thought steve might like this):
************************************************************
Rock 'n' Roll for Hipsters-in-Training
By TAMMY LA GORCE, The New York Times
(Nov. 26) - Casey Bonham Leto, age 5 months, wasn’t to blame. Neither were his parents. Right down to his rock ’n’ roll middle name — a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s drummer, John Bonham — everything had been done to bestow him with rock-kid credibility at the earliest possible age: On the floor of the puff-cheeked baby’s living room in Jersey City were toy guitars and a set of Metallica nesting dolls. On his powder-blue onesie pajamas, in gothic script, were the words “My crib rocks.”
Yet when his father recently unwrapped a new CD of ’80s British alternative rock reimagined expressly for babies, Casey was indifferent. As “Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of the Cure” played on the stereo, he kicked fitfully in his bouncy seat. He appeared not to recognize the wordless glockenspiel-and-vibraphone rendition of the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry.” Within seconds he spit up.
His parents, though, liked what they heard.
“This is hilarious,” said his mother, Pam Leto, a music publicist who works with bands like My Morning Jacket and Eagles of Death Metal.
“It’s actually really soothing,” said her husband, Dave Leto, the tattooed drummer for the indie rock band Rye Coalition.
It was the kind of reaction — hook the parents, never mind the kid — that Lisa Roth was looking for when she founded Baby Rock, the Los Angeles label behind the kiddie Cure album and lullaby tributes to Metallica , Radiohead , Pink Floyd , Nirvana , Led Zeppelin , the Beach Boys , Tool and Coldplay released this year.
Almost the reaction, anyway.
“I’d love for the parents to say, ‘Wow, this is really funny,’ and for the baby to fall asleep,” said Ms. Roth, 48. “It would also be great if it was like Rock 101 between parent and baby. A steppingstone.”
To be a parent in 2006 — especially a coastal, well-heeled, contemporary-minded one — is to be blasted by possibilities for nurturing impeccable musical taste in one’s offspring. The commercial successes, like Disney’s “Baby Einstein” series of albums, have been widely noted on the Billboard charts and in Wal-Mart shopping carts. But they overshadow a hipper niche of kid music that is encouraging a curious form of parental connoisseurship, where “High Fidelity” meets high chairs.
“Parents are looking at music as a gift you give your children, as something you discover with them,” said Kevin Salem, a rock record producer in Woodstock, N.Y. “Sharing it is a way of making sure music stays in good hands.”
With his wife, Kate Hyman, Mr. Salem formed Little Monster Records in part to guarantee that their 4-year-old daughter, Emily, is exposed to what her parents consider to be good music, like the label’s “All Together Now,” a Beatles tribute featuring Steve Conte of the New York Dolls, the Bangles and others that is being sold exclusively through Barnes & Noble. Its placement in time for the holidays is so far paying off: “All Together Now” landed at No. 84 on Barnes & Noble’s list of top sellers the day of its release.
“Sesame Street” can probably be credited with (or blamed for) helping to create the modern idea of kids’ music as a socially loaded part of a parent’s developmental tool kit. Pop science too. “Baby Einstein,” begun in 1997, prompted new parents to engage infants musically in the name of healthy brain building; based largely on word of mouth, sales figures reached the multimillions by 2001, when Disney bought the company. Fueling the trend are mass-media tie-ins like this year’s “Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film ‘Curious George’ ” (Brushfire/Universal), the Jack Johnson project that made its debut at the top of the Billboard album chart.
According to executives with a rash of new indie labels and children’s music blogs like the Lovely Mrs. Davis (lovelydavis.blogspot.com), this kind of music really took off in 2002, when Dan Zanes, formerly of the roots-rock band the Del Fuegos, reimagined what worthwhile children’s music could sound like. His CD “Rocket Ship Beach” (Festival Five), recorded in his Brooklyn basement with friends like Suzanne Vega, sneaked up on parents with likable, sharable songs and a homespun sensibility. Mr. Zanes clearly struck the right chord, and has created a kiddie-entertainment empire that includes videos, concerts and even a partnership with Starbucks for this year’s “Catch That Train!” (Festival Five).
Mr. Zanes has a lot of company these days. Ralph Covert, of the grown-up band Bad Examples and the family-friendly Ralph’s World, has built a cottage industry to rival that of Mr. Zanes. Other artists who have dipped into kiddie rock include the country-punk singer Jason Ringenberg, the all-girl band Luscious Jackson and members of the Mekons, who tried on alter egos in the band Wee Hairy Beasties, whose album “Animal Crackers” (Bloodshot Records) came out in October.
It is doubtful that they will all equal the success of Mr. Zanes, whose grass-roots Internet marketing and local parental support have helped “Catch That Train!” sell 125,000 copies. But their market sense isn’t unfounded.
Christopher Noxon, author of “Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up” (Crown), identifies an emerging demographic of 30-plus, forever-young-minded Lucky Charms eaters aiming to reset the boundaries of adulthood. He says it’s little wonder their children are being turned into rock fans, at least in their parents’ eyes.
“Their parents encourage it,” Mr. Noxon said. “They think it’s funny and that it sets them apart. Plus, if you listen to that music now, like I do way too often, you realize it’s kids’ music: three chords dressed up with all this distortion.”
Such parents can take credit for the success of this summer’s Kidzapalooza, the two-year-old arm of the Chicago-based rock festival Lollapalooza, which lured a crowd of 160,000, up from 2,000 in 2005. The attractions included a “rock ’n’ roll petting zoo,” where children could get behind a professional drum kit while parents rocked out on guitar or bass, and a hip-hop workshop where children still in strollers burned rap CDs with professional disc jockeys. Among the performers were Patti Smith and Perry Farrell, the former frontman of Jane’s Addiction and the founder of Lollapalooza.
“People in their 30s and 40s aren’t really grown up, and they don’t want to grow up,” said David Agnew, a vice president of the Buena Vista Music Group and the force behind this year’s “Devo 2.0,” which repurposed old Devo songs for 4- to 10-year-olds and their parents. (Next year Mr. Agnew and the Disney Sound label plan to introduce the Po-Go’s, a kiddie tribute to the girl band the Go-Go’s.)
“Because parents can now listen to 30 seconds of every recording on earth at iTunes, they get turned on to more music,” he added.
That helps explain why parents — including the 3,000 who monitor the poll of children’s music at the Lovely Mrs. Davis site each week — expect something like an intergenerational custom fit from the music they buy for their offspring. Little Monster’s Ms. Hyman, a flop-haired, youngish 49-year-old, said she recognized a need “to be catered to musically” among fellow parents.
“I wouldn’t feed my daughter McDonald’s every day,” she said. “Why would I want her listening to something of that same standard?”
But taken too far, such catering can raise complicated issues. For one thing, some acts that appeal to both parents and children, like Jack Black’s Tenacious D , do so more slyly and can present a special challenge. “That’s an incredibly good record,” Mr. Noxon said, but it “spews” profanity on nearly every track.
Hip earnestness is another problem. Many new discs lack the irony-free goofiness that made classics out of the “Sesame Street” song “Rubber Duckie” and Raffi’s “Bananaphone.”
The producers of hipster baby discs seem aware that they may be a mere toddler step away from heavy-handedness. “We’re undergoing a change in what it means to be a traditional parent,” said Mr. Salem. “But I read somewhere that the fastest way to turn your kid into a Republican is to dress him up in a Sex Pistols T-shirt. That’s probably true.”
That last aphorism actually belongs to Mr. Noxon, and its message about musical backfires is probably not lost on the generation of parents who insisted in the 1980s, despite the fierce protestations of their children, that hip-hop was a fad.
Hip-hop, of course, has evolved far beyond the expectations of even the most broad-minded parents of the ’80s. And then some. This month Mathew Knowles, father of Beyoncé, released the CD “Kid’s Rap Radio” (Music World Entertainment), featuring 8-year-olds behind the mike rapping deraunchified hits like Busta Rhymes’s “Touch It.” “Because it’s been such an important part of their lives, parents have a need for their kids to experience hip-hop,” said Mr. Knowles, who explained that he was inspired by his 2-year-old grandson, Jewlz.
Field observations confirm that the new breed of coolness-bestowing parent takes its music seriously. At an all-ages “Baby Loves Jazz” concert at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan in September, the air was thick with grown-up longing. Parents swayed, clapped and whistled, while their 2-year-olds fidgeted with the salt shakers on the tables.
“You could just see that parents are dying to get that awe back, the childlike awe you lose when you start forming opinions about what’s cool,” said John Medeski, of Medeski Martin and Wood, who played keyboards alongside the soul singer Sharon Jones at the show, and whose trio recently recorded a Little Monster disc for release in 2007.
“There’s been a void,” Mr. Medeski added, referring to parents. “The music becomes like medicine.”
If so, the market may be headed for an overdose. The sales gap between the kind of CDs many hip-minded parents consider pablum — the consistently chart-topping “Kidz Bop” series especially — and the indie releases they champion has never been wider. Unless the music gets television exposure or is associated with a brand like Disney, selling more than 20,000 copies is rare.
The wave of music that prompted Amy Davis of Bowling Green, Ohio, to create the Lovely Mrs. Davis site last year has become barely navigable. She and her two sons, ages 6 and 19 months, are drowning in it, she said.
“Next year is going to be really telling,” she said. “We’ll see whether this kind of music takes off and people other than hip urban parents or Net-savvy parents discover it, or if the tide turns and people find something else to get interested in.”
Count Tor Hyams, Kidzapalooza’s 37-year-old co-founder and the father of an infant and a 7-year-old, among the true believers.
“People want to live vicariously through their kids, to rediscover music with them,” he said. “They want to be more than a cog in the cultural wheel, and I salute them for it. If I ever stop being a kid with my kids, you can shoot me.”
the band.
you know.
the wiggles.
and the heading of the e-mail was "OH NO!"
it's so crazy how juliet has totally warped all our minds into being concerned about the yellow wiggle. my favorite is murray. the red one.
ANYWAY.
then there was this long article about hipster baby music. which i enjoyed and would like to share with you. despite the fact that they left they might be giants off the list of cool kid musicians.
my only gripe is this: why don't you let your kids listen to the music you like? instead of getting the lullaby version of tool? i understand that there are undoubtedly some songs with dreadful lyrics that you immediately have to change if in the car with juliet (who knows the lyrics to system of a down, bad religion, less than jake and every cKy song ever)(and her favorite is anytime dico freestyles)(which is just ridiculous) but in all, i'm so glad that juliet likes and listens to this music. there was a whole "p" cd that i had to virtually skip every song (pussy liquor by rob zombie, pscyho by system...you know, those words are REALLY hard to explain your child overhearing to her nursery school teacher)but i know she has a decent, well rounded experience of music thanks to this. her favorite is still "let's go steady, freddy!"
anyway, here's the article (i especially thought steve might like this):
************************************************************
Rock 'n' Roll for Hipsters-in-Training
By TAMMY LA GORCE, The New York Times
(Nov. 26) - Casey Bonham Leto, age 5 months, wasn’t to blame. Neither were his parents. Right down to his rock ’n’ roll middle name — a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s drummer, John Bonham — everything had been done to bestow him with rock-kid credibility at the earliest possible age: On the floor of the puff-cheeked baby’s living room in Jersey City were toy guitars and a set of Metallica nesting dolls. On his powder-blue onesie pajamas, in gothic script, were the words “My crib rocks.”
Yet when his father recently unwrapped a new CD of ’80s British alternative rock reimagined expressly for babies, Casey was indifferent. As “Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of the Cure” played on the stereo, he kicked fitfully in his bouncy seat. He appeared not to recognize the wordless glockenspiel-and-vibraphone rendition of the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry.” Within seconds he spit up.
His parents, though, liked what they heard.
“This is hilarious,” said his mother, Pam Leto, a music publicist who works with bands like My Morning Jacket and Eagles of Death Metal.
“It’s actually really soothing,” said her husband, Dave Leto, the tattooed drummer for the indie rock band Rye Coalition.
It was the kind of reaction — hook the parents, never mind the kid — that Lisa Roth was looking for when she founded Baby Rock, the Los Angeles label behind the kiddie Cure album and lullaby tributes to Metallica , Radiohead , Pink Floyd , Nirvana , Led Zeppelin , the Beach Boys , Tool and Coldplay released this year.
Almost the reaction, anyway.
“I’d love for the parents to say, ‘Wow, this is really funny,’ and for the baby to fall asleep,” said Ms. Roth, 48. “It would also be great if it was like Rock 101 between parent and baby. A steppingstone.”
To be a parent in 2006 — especially a coastal, well-heeled, contemporary-minded one — is to be blasted by possibilities for nurturing impeccable musical taste in one’s offspring. The commercial successes, like Disney’s “Baby Einstein” series of albums, have been widely noted on the Billboard charts and in Wal-Mart shopping carts. But they overshadow a hipper niche of kid music that is encouraging a curious form of parental connoisseurship, where “High Fidelity” meets high chairs.
“Parents are looking at music as a gift you give your children, as something you discover with them,” said Kevin Salem, a rock record producer in Woodstock, N.Y. “Sharing it is a way of making sure music stays in good hands.”
With his wife, Kate Hyman, Mr. Salem formed Little Monster Records in part to guarantee that their 4-year-old daughter, Emily, is exposed to what her parents consider to be good music, like the label’s “All Together Now,” a Beatles tribute featuring Steve Conte of the New York Dolls, the Bangles and others that is being sold exclusively through Barnes & Noble. Its placement in time for the holidays is so far paying off: “All Together Now” landed at No. 84 on Barnes & Noble’s list of top sellers the day of its release.
“Sesame Street” can probably be credited with (or blamed for) helping to create the modern idea of kids’ music as a socially loaded part of a parent’s developmental tool kit. Pop science too. “Baby Einstein,” begun in 1997, prompted new parents to engage infants musically in the name of healthy brain building; based largely on word of mouth, sales figures reached the multimillions by 2001, when Disney bought the company. Fueling the trend are mass-media tie-ins like this year’s “Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film ‘Curious George’ ” (Brushfire/Universal), the Jack Johnson project that made its debut at the top of the Billboard album chart.
According to executives with a rash of new indie labels and children’s music blogs like the Lovely Mrs. Davis (lovelydavis.blogspot.com), this kind of music really took off in 2002, when Dan Zanes, formerly of the roots-rock band the Del Fuegos, reimagined what worthwhile children’s music could sound like. His CD “Rocket Ship Beach” (Festival Five), recorded in his Brooklyn basement with friends like Suzanne Vega, sneaked up on parents with likable, sharable songs and a homespun sensibility. Mr. Zanes clearly struck the right chord, and has created a kiddie-entertainment empire that includes videos, concerts and even a partnership with Starbucks for this year’s “Catch That Train!” (Festival Five).
Mr. Zanes has a lot of company these days. Ralph Covert, of the grown-up band Bad Examples and the family-friendly Ralph’s World, has built a cottage industry to rival that of Mr. Zanes. Other artists who have dipped into kiddie rock include the country-punk singer Jason Ringenberg, the all-girl band Luscious Jackson and members of the Mekons, who tried on alter egos in the band Wee Hairy Beasties, whose album “Animal Crackers” (Bloodshot Records) came out in October.
It is doubtful that they will all equal the success of Mr. Zanes, whose grass-roots Internet marketing and local parental support have helped “Catch That Train!” sell 125,000 copies. But their market sense isn’t unfounded.
Christopher Noxon, author of “Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up” (Crown), identifies an emerging demographic of 30-plus, forever-young-minded Lucky Charms eaters aiming to reset the boundaries of adulthood. He says it’s little wonder their children are being turned into rock fans, at least in their parents’ eyes.
“Their parents encourage it,” Mr. Noxon said. “They think it’s funny and that it sets them apart. Plus, if you listen to that music now, like I do way too often, you realize it’s kids’ music: three chords dressed up with all this distortion.”
Such parents can take credit for the success of this summer’s Kidzapalooza, the two-year-old arm of the Chicago-based rock festival Lollapalooza, which lured a crowd of 160,000, up from 2,000 in 2005. The attractions included a “rock ’n’ roll petting zoo,” where children could get behind a professional drum kit while parents rocked out on guitar or bass, and a hip-hop workshop where children still in strollers burned rap CDs with professional disc jockeys. Among the performers were Patti Smith and Perry Farrell, the former frontman of Jane’s Addiction and the founder of Lollapalooza.
“People in their 30s and 40s aren’t really grown up, and they don’t want to grow up,” said David Agnew, a vice president of the Buena Vista Music Group and the force behind this year’s “Devo 2.0,” which repurposed old Devo songs for 4- to 10-year-olds and their parents. (Next year Mr. Agnew and the Disney Sound label plan to introduce the Po-Go’s, a kiddie tribute to the girl band the Go-Go’s.)
“Because parents can now listen to 30 seconds of every recording on earth at iTunes, they get turned on to more music,” he added.
That helps explain why parents — including the 3,000 who monitor the poll of children’s music at the Lovely Mrs. Davis site each week — expect something like an intergenerational custom fit from the music they buy for their offspring. Little Monster’s Ms. Hyman, a flop-haired, youngish 49-year-old, said she recognized a need “to be catered to musically” among fellow parents.
“I wouldn’t feed my daughter McDonald’s every day,” she said. “Why would I want her listening to something of that same standard?”
But taken too far, such catering can raise complicated issues. For one thing, some acts that appeal to both parents and children, like Jack Black’s Tenacious D , do so more slyly and can present a special challenge. “That’s an incredibly good record,” Mr. Noxon said, but it “spews” profanity on nearly every track.
Hip earnestness is another problem. Many new discs lack the irony-free goofiness that made classics out of the “Sesame Street” song “Rubber Duckie” and Raffi’s “Bananaphone.”
The producers of hipster baby discs seem aware that they may be a mere toddler step away from heavy-handedness. “We’re undergoing a change in what it means to be a traditional parent,” said Mr. Salem. “But I read somewhere that the fastest way to turn your kid into a Republican is to dress him up in a Sex Pistols T-shirt. That’s probably true.”
That last aphorism actually belongs to Mr. Noxon, and its message about musical backfires is probably not lost on the generation of parents who insisted in the 1980s, despite the fierce protestations of their children, that hip-hop was a fad.
Hip-hop, of course, has evolved far beyond the expectations of even the most broad-minded parents of the ’80s. And then some. This month Mathew Knowles, father of Beyoncé, released the CD “Kid’s Rap Radio” (Music World Entertainment), featuring 8-year-olds behind the mike rapping deraunchified hits like Busta Rhymes’s “Touch It.” “Because it’s been such an important part of their lives, parents have a need for their kids to experience hip-hop,” said Mr. Knowles, who explained that he was inspired by his 2-year-old grandson, Jewlz.
Field observations confirm that the new breed of coolness-bestowing parent takes its music seriously. At an all-ages “Baby Loves Jazz” concert at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan in September, the air was thick with grown-up longing. Parents swayed, clapped and whistled, while their 2-year-olds fidgeted with the salt shakers on the tables.
“You could just see that parents are dying to get that awe back, the childlike awe you lose when you start forming opinions about what’s cool,” said John Medeski, of Medeski Martin and Wood, who played keyboards alongside the soul singer Sharon Jones at the show, and whose trio recently recorded a Little Monster disc for release in 2007.
“There’s been a void,” Mr. Medeski added, referring to parents. “The music becomes like medicine.”
If so, the market may be headed for an overdose. The sales gap between the kind of CDs many hip-minded parents consider pablum — the consistently chart-topping “Kidz Bop” series especially — and the indie releases they champion has never been wider. Unless the music gets television exposure or is associated with a brand like Disney, selling more than 20,000 copies is rare.
The wave of music that prompted Amy Davis of Bowling Green, Ohio, to create the Lovely Mrs. Davis site last year has become barely navigable. She and her two sons, ages 6 and 19 months, are drowning in it, she said.
“Next year is going to be really telling,” she said. “We’ll see whether this kind of music takes off and people other than hip urban parents or Net-savvy parents discover it, or if the tide turns and people find something else to get interested in.”
Count Tor Hyams, Kidzapalooza’s 37-year-old co-founder and the father of an infant and a 7-year-old, among the true believers.
“People want to live vicariously through their kids, to rediscover music with them,” he said. “They want to be more than a cog in the cultural wheel, and I salute them for it. If I ever stop being a kid with my kids, you can shoot me.”
Echo Relations
Hello.
Just a few words.
First of all, if you are planning on buying anything from the E/S merch store, please wait. I am in the midst of talking to them and seeing if their merch could suck a bit less. One of our fans was NOT amused by the sucky shirt he paid upwards of $30 for, so we may be demolishing the site all together. Worry not, we have other ways to make better, cheaper tees. Stay tuned.
Second, Jason @ Product Shop NYC was FABULOUS enough to put a nice little advertisment on the blog's main page spreading the glory about the XXXMas Echo Station CD Release Party Extravaganzzzzzzzzzza @ Pianos on 12/23. Hurray! Go check it out and be so proud!
Just a few words.
First of all, if you are planning on buying anything from the E/S merch store, please wait. I am in the midst of talking to them and seeing if their merch could suck a bit less. One of our fans was NOT amused by the sucky shirt he paid upwards of $30 for, so we may be demolishing the site all together. Worry not, we have other ways to make better, cheaper tees. Stay tuned.
Second, Jason @ Product Shop NYC was FABULOUS enough to put a nice little advertisment on the blog's main page spreading the glory about the XXXMas Echo Station CD Release Party Extravaganzzzzzzzzzza @ Pianos on 12/23. Hurray! Go check it out and be so proud!
oh! holly JOLLY news!
I got a nice little Christmassy newsletter from Juliet's school today proclaiming that on December 15th, she will be having breakfast with Santa! How thrilling. Plus, we need to sneakily send in a wrapped gift with our child's name on it. From Santa. Nice. We pay millions of dollars to send her to this school and they can't even go to a dollar store and pick out little chintzy gifts? Alas.
I got a second newsletter that gave the parts to the Holiday Play. Juliet will be playing a doll! Her first play! I'm so excited I could die. Seriously. I know it sounds trite. Ridiculously so. However, when I was in St. Mary's in Katonah, I was the LEAD in a play, about the night before Christmas, and I WAS A RAG DOLL!!! I was fantastic. Or at least, I memorized A TON of lines. I always look back on that and wonder why they choose me. Probably because I was the best reader. Well, I was. I wonder if my grandfather has that play on video...
Anyway, imagine this play? Juliet on stage with her class...oh man, I guess we'll get a preview of the wedding...
I got a second newsletter that gave the parts to the Holiday Play. Juliet will be playing a doll! Her first play! I'm so excited I could die. Seriously. I know it sounds trite. Ridiculously so. However, when I was in St. Mary's in Katonah, I was the LEAD in a play, about the night before Christmas, and I WAS A RAG DOLL!!! I was fantastic. Or at least, I memorized A TON of lines. I always look back on that and wonder why they choose me. Probably because I was the best reader. Well, I was. I wonder if my grandfather has that play on video...
Anyway, imagine this play? Juliet on stage with her class...oh man, I guess we'll get a preview of the wedding...
Soy un perdedor
on myspace i just did a survey with like 1.2 million questions. why? who the hell knows. i'm so tired. i did 1/5 of my xxx-mas cards...which is thrilling i know. had a weird day. and my last kid cancelled and i was so relieved i almost cried. my medicine is making me so sick to my stomach, i think i might die soon. i spent $130 at a health food store getting pms remedies, vitamins to improve immunity, and a ton of witches brew teas that will help me sleep, get rid of my cold and also improve my bladder infections. i love health stores...i mean, they sell feverfew, which they blatantly use in books to protect people from vampires. how crazy is that??
however, i have fantastic news! i am NEARLY completed with my XXXmas shopping! i went on a rampage last night (my visa is still smokin'). i still need to get for the julester and my male cousins, but i'll do that @ the mall on 12/8 which is our XXXmas shopping expedition. plus andy and i are going to pallisades tomorrow in hopes of getting some julesgifts love santa as well as eating at chillis. he's obsessed. this year, i swore we were going to go easy on gifts. HA. at least i'm working now. thank the lord. not that i've seen a paycheck. oddly enough.
however, i have fantastic news! i am NEARLY completed with my XXXmas shopping! i went on a rampage last night (my visa is still smokin'). i still need to get for the julester and my male cousins, but i'll do that @ the mall on 12/8 which is our XXXmas shopping expedition. plus andy and i are going to pallisades tomorrow in hopes of getting some julesgifts love santa as well as eating at chillis. he's obsessed. this year, i swore we were going to go easy on gifts. HA. at least i'm working now. thank the lord. not that i've seen a paycheck. oddly enough.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
desolate and without purpose
having a wildly depressed night.
and life.
not sure what is up.
humbugging it all over the place.
this isn't me.
and life.
not sure what is up.
humbugging it all over the place.
this isn't me.
cool books i came across
i know that in my early childhood curriculum class we discussed having parents who were "different" from the norm of cookie cutter parents, which made me laugh as well as cringe because as we all know, andy and i are like these parents (tattoos, in bands, red hair, etc)and we were taught, as teachers, to be civilized and equal to all parents, bla bla bla.
i came across this cool shit today from my friend ilyssa's myspace page. i think phil is a friend of hers, and it is just something really cute that i thought you should check out:
*********************************************************
Hey everyone... Happy Holidays. As most of you probably know by now... I've just published my first two books. They're the first two "tattoo children's books." MOMMY HAS A TATTOO... and TATTOO COLORING BOOK #1...
Well... we just had a KICK ASS first month. MOMMY HAS A TATTOO is one of the most buzzed about children's books on the internet!!! It's been written up in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and blogs... we couldn't have asked for a more positive response from our peers. A publisher in Germany will be putting out a German version for sale in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria early in 2007... and possible Italian, Polski, and Portugese versions are in the works...
At the same time...TATTOO COLORING BOOK #1 is, for the time being, now an online exclusive. Nobody can find it in stores!!! In fact... nobody can find either book in stores (they're for sale now, but not slated to be in stores until Mother's Day 2007)... BUT... for a limited time, you can get it DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLISHER (me)... and check it out... ALL BOOKS SHIPPED FROM US FROM NOW THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS, WILL BE SIGNED/AUTOGRAPHED BY AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR PHIL PADWE (ummm... me again)... as our thanks for your support during this crucial time!
It's already a thoughtful and cute gift for any tattooed mother or expectant mommy, toddler, or child... and for a limited time... you can get them signed!
Get MOMMY HAS A TATTOO and
TATTOO COLORING BOOK #1 for that special tattooed someone!!! They make the perfect gift for ANYONE who loves tattoos... and right now, you save on shipping. All major credit cards are accepted (through paypal) and it'll be one less xmas gift you have to worry about later!!!
Thanks again for your support during this 1st month...
and don't forget to check us out online!
Love, Peace, and Turkey Grease -
Phil Padwe
http://www.mommyhastattoos.com
phil@mommyhastattoos.com
mommyhastattoos@gmail.com
i came across this cool shit today from my friend ilyssa's myspace page. i think phil is a friend of hers, and it is just something really cute that i thought you should check out:
*********************************************************
Hey everyone... Happy Holidays. As most of you probably know by now... I've just published my first two books. They're the first two "tattoo children's books." MOMMY HAS A TATTOO... and TATTOO COLORING BOOK #1...
Well... we just had a KICK ASS first month. MOMMY HAS A TATTOO is one of the most buzzed about children's books on the internet!!! It's been written up in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and blogs... we couldn't have asked for a more positive response from our peers. A publisher in Germany will be putting out a German version for sale in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria early in 2007... and possible Italian, Polski, and Portugese versions are in the works...
At the same time...TATTOO COLORING BOOK #1 is, for the time being, now an online exclusive. Nobody can find it in stores!!! In fact... nobody can find either book in stores (they're for sale now, but not slated to be in stores until Mother's Day 2007)... BUT... for a limited time, you can get it DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLISHER (me)... and check it out... ALL BOOKS SHIPPED FROM US FROM NOW THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS, WILL BE SIGNED/AUTOGRAPHED BY AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR PHIL PADWE (ummm... me again)... as our thanks for your support during this crucial time!
It's already a thoughtful and cute gift for any tattooed mother or expectant mommy, toddler, or child... and for a limited time... you can get them signed!
Get MOMMY HAS A TATTOO and
TATTOO COLORING BOOK #1 for that special tattooed someone!!! They make the perfect gift for ANYONE who loves tattoos... and right now, you save on shipping. All major credit cards are accepted (through paypal) and it'll be one less xmas gift you have to worry about later!!!
Thanks again for your support during this 1st month...
and don't forget to check us out online!
Love, Peace, and Turkey Grease -
Phil Padwe
http://www.mommyhastattoos.com
phil@mommyhastattoos.com
mommyhastattoos@gmail.com
Saturday, November 25, 2006
i'm dying! but i'm getting better...
so this morning i wake up and my face is just absolutely pounding and my teeth are seriously feeling as though they are about to fall out. i can barely turn my head, and i call my mother crying. she is mean and so is my sister cuz they can tell i'm calling to unload the baby as I AM DYING! so i wonder to myself, why isn't this prescription working? i call up my mother in law who works for an oral surgeon, and ask her, "what do you gander about 250 mgs of amoxicillin?" she laughs at the thought and says, "that's a CHILD'S prescription dosage!" so i am furious!!! i am NEVER going to my doctor again because he totally effed with me! he pretty much gave me a bullshit prescription. i am outraged and cursing the man out. i call my mother again, on the verge of tears, and she takes charge (finally!) and gets me an appointment with her ear, nose and throat guy.
well.
i have been avoiding this trip since i was in college (undergrad). due to fear, perhaps, or due to the probability that i would need some sort of "procedure" such as the "scraping of my sinuses." alas, i was in too much pain to protest.
so after waiting in the waiting room for an eternity with a bunch of weird, angry deaf people (one woman and man had to of course start talking to my mother, who will tell anyone her life story. the woman was OLD, you could tell, but absolutely beautiful. she must have been stunning in her youth. so my mother tells them i'm PUSHING 30. which i hated her for. they told me i look 18 and have a "very sweet face." my face is godforsaken and swollen and red. they must have been blind too!)so the doc sees me, and instantly sticks 2 large cotton balls doused in liquid cocaine up my nostrils. so i'm going numb, but the teeth that hurt still hurt, and the other ones feel like they're jutting out at ridiculous angles.
he comes back in and performs a lot of delicate and sinus filled excursions, such as sticking a light on the end of a looooooooooong tube up my nasal cavity and through my throat making me gag. then he sucks all the disease out, which was fucking amazing. i could BREATHE! and then he gives me 2 bottles of some sort of nasal spray and 2 prescriptions for REAL and STRONG meds. halleluiah.
i still feel like shit, but i am sure i'll be getting better now...i'm missing out on a fun filled day. i didn't go with amy and her bridal party to get fitted, so i have to do that next week, and i'm not going to the beets/dotcom house for cupcakes and beer tonight, and it makes me sad. if amy or mike read this "I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I'M SO SORRY I MISSED YOU BOTH TODAY!!! HAPPY BDAY AND HAPPY DRESS FITTING DAY!!!" love me!
the baby is in her crib shouting, "i took of my jamas!" so i think i have to go take care of that one.
also! i'm retarded and i'm reading this book by chuck klosterman who i assumed co-wrote a book with marc spitz (i was wrong. the book was "we got the neutron bomb: the untold story of l.a. punk" which was co-written with Brendan Mullen)which i mentioned to andy who said, "um, i think he judged THE CONTEST." which of course means the "let's go steady, debbie!" contest, which i'm about to check if its true... yes siree! it's true! so this guy, who i'm quite enjoying reading, could have quite possibly VOTED FOR ECHO STATION!! i am bursting with pride! oh p.s. READ THIS BOOK!
well.
i have been avoiding this trip since i was in college (undergrad). due to fear, perhaps, or due to the probability that i would need some sort of "procedure" such as the "scraping of my sinuses." alas, i was in too much pain to protest.
so after waiting in the waiting room for an eternity with a bunch of weird, angry deaf people (one woman and man had to of course start talking to my mother, who will tell anyone her life story. the woman was OLD, you could tell, but absolutely beautiful. she must have been stunning in her youth. so my mother tells them i'm PUSHING 30. which i hated her for. they told me i look 18 and have a "very sweet face." my face is godforsaken and swollen and red. they must have been blind too!)so the doc sees me, and instantly sticks 2 large cotton balls doused in liquid cocaine up my nostrils. so i'm going numb, but the teeth that hurt still hurt, and the other ones feel like they're jutting out at ridiculous angles.
he comes back in and performs a lot of delicate and sinus filled excursions, such as sticking a light on the end of a looooooooooong tube up my nasal cavity and through my throat making me gag. then he sucks all the disease out, which was fucking amazing. i could BREATHE! and then he gives me 2 bottles of some sort of nasal spray and 2 prescriptions for REAL and STRONG meds. halleluiah.
i still feel like shit, but i am sure i'll be getting better now...i'm missing out on a fun filled day. i didn't go with amy and her bridal party to get fitted, so i have to do that next week, and i'm not going to the beets/dotcom house for cupcakes and beer tonight, and it makes me sad. if amy or mike read this "I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I'M SO SORRY I MISSED YOU BOTH TODAY!!! HAPPY BDAY AND HAPPY DRESS FITTING DAY!!!" love me!
the baby is in her crib shouting, "i took of my jamas!" so i think i have to go take care of that one.
also! i'm retarded and i'm reading this book by chuck klosterman who i assumed co-wrote a book with marc spitz (i was wrong. the book was "we got the neutron bomb: the untold story of l.a. punk" which was co-written with Brendan Mullen)which i mentioned to andy who said, "um, i think he judged THE CONTEST." which of course means the "let's go steady, debbie!" contest, which i'm about to check if its true... yes siree! it's true! so this guy, who i'm quite enjoying reading, could have quite possibly VOTED FOR ECHO STATION!! i am bursting with pride! oh p.s. READ THIS BOOK!
Friday, November 24, 2006
kid a, my teeth, drooling and dry mouth
the newest part of my book "killing yourself to live" by chuck klosterman compares the entire radiohead cd kid a to the events which took place on september 11th in such an eerie and haunting way that i'm listening to it right now. despite the fact that i have such a bad sinus infection that my doc prescribed me amoxicillin and my fucking teeth hurt when i bite down and i cannot taste anything which for some reason makes me keep eating and eating and i just ate 1/2 a can of fat free (read: olestra) pringles and i'm worried that i may have anal leakage sometime soon. and so far this cd is tripping me out. but i'm pretty sure i'm gonna have to crash in bed soon.
tomorrow i'm going for a dress fitting! for amybeet's and mike moody.com's wedding! i am so excited, yet i'm so fat as i canNOT stop eating. reguardless of the fact that i'm only eating weight watchers stuff, i'm still eating a lot.
oh cutest echo station story. andy gave my cousin's copies of the cd yesterday @ thanksgiving, and my grandmother, who just HEARTS e/s after hearing them practice in my mom's basement over the summer, PUT THE CD RIGHT ON THE STEREO THEN AND THERE! and it was just so sweet and cute and she loved it and was like, "if i was younger, i'd get you famous!" and for some reason she thinks that the way for them to get famous is through regis. she's nuts.
tomorrow i'm going for a dress fitting! for amybeet's and mike moody.com's wedding! i am so excited, yet i'm so fat as i canNOT stop eating. reguardless of the fact that i'm only eating weight watchers stuff, i'm still eating a lot.
oh cutest echo station story. andy gave my cousin's copies of the cd yesterday @ thanksgiving, and my grandmother, who just HEARTS e/s after hearing them practice in my mom's basement over the summer, PUT THE CD RIGHT ON THE STEREO THEN AND THERE! and it was just so sweet and cute and she loved it and was like, "if i was younger, i'd get you famous!" and for some reason she thinks that the way for them to get famous is through regis. she's nuts.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
hello mr. turkey, how are you?
thanksgiving is over. i ate mostly appetizers @ my grandma's house because i cannot resist them. and like, no dessert since i left my delish pumpkin pudding at home. i'll eat it soon. i am tres sick with a sinus infection, and it certainly sucks. juliet didn't take a nap and was therefore satanic all day. don't believe me? see for yourself...
okay, i just have to include this video. marky searched high and low to find the $40 lindsey lohan barbie doll for juliet, and i suppose that i sometimes mention her unsavory nickname...just see for yourself.
okay, i just have to include this video. marky searched high and low to find the $40 lindsey lohan barbie doll for juliet, and i suppose that i sometimes mention her unsavory nickname...just see for yourself.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
worst day ever.
i went out to dinner w/my husband last night cuz i was craving our old favorite restraunt in port chester, pizza, pasta & things. so since i have a bad cough, i had a glass of wine. then another because it was good.
well.
i was sick all night long. bad sick. and all morning. puking. headache. death. andy thinks it may be some sort of food poisining since seriously, i didn't drink that much. it is ridiculous.
i cancelled my first kid, and my 2nd two families were kind enough to call and cancel themselves. all my kids are sick, which explains why i also have a sinus infection. and cough. and flu-like symptoms. and i feel like an idiot going to the doc again cuz i'm pretty sure he thinks i'm a hyperchondraic. i take vitamins, which include a lot of immune system boosters and anti oxidents, but NOTHING works. i guess working with kids for a few more years will build up my system. ugh.
juliet and i made mashed potatoes for dinner (i boiled them so the skin was easy for her to peel, then she cut them. and she husked the corn on the cob.) we had our own thanksgiving as a family, with lobster instead of turkey, which my mother said was how the first thanksgiving REALLY was. not sure of that accuracy, but i loved it.
so what are we thankful for this year? it's hard to think about thankfulness through the fog of death i have over me right now,(my under nose part of my face is so raw from blowing my nose...and my nose is running again...) but i am thankful. juliet made a leaf at school that reads "Juliet is thankful for___________" and what is the little psycho thankful for? MRS. FOSTER. her teacher. who she tortures every single day of her life. she is so funny! i remember in nursery school for mother's day we were saying why we love our mommies and i said it was cuz she bought me fruit roll-ups. shallow kid i was.
anyway.
thanksgiving.
giving thanks.
for my family and good friends (who are like family) who have supported me and us and the baby throughout the last few years...i have such an amazing support system. i don't know what i'd do without it.
for having a child who is wild yet so unbelievably talented and gifted and SMART.
for the wilson, of course.
and for my three boys, farb, tade and flav. i love them too.
i would say i'm grateful for my health too, since i'm pretty much healthy except for the bullshit, but the way i feel right now, fuck that.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
well.
i was sick all night long. bad sick. and all morning. puking. headache. death. andy thinks it may be some sort of food poisining since seriously, i didn't drink that much. it is ridiculous.
i cancelled my first kid, and my 2nd two families were kind enough to call and cancel themselves. all my kids are sick, which explains why i also have a sinus infection. and cough. and flu-like symptoms. and i feel like an idiot going to the doc again cuz i'm pretty sure he thinks i'm a hyperchondraic. i take vitamins, which include a lot of immune system boosters and anti oxidents, but NOTHING works. i guess working with kids for a few more years will build up my system. ugh.
juliet and i made mashed potatoes for dinner (i boiled them so the skin was easy for her to peel, then she cut them. and she husked the corn on the cob.) we had our own thanksgiving as a family, with lobster instead of turkey, which my mother said was how the first thanksgiving REALLY was. not sure of that accuracy, but i loved it.
so what are we thankful for this year? it's hard to think about thankfulness through the fog of death i have over me right now,(my under nose part of my face is so raw from blowing my nose...and my nose is running again...) but i am thankful. juliet made a leaf at school that reads "Juliet is thankful for___________" and what is the little psycho thankful for? MRS. FOSTER. her teacher. who she tortures every single day of her life. she is so funny! i remember in nursery school for mother's day we were saying why we love our mommies and i said it was cuz she bought me fruit roll-ups. shallow kid i was.
anyway.
thanksgiving.
giving thanks.
for my family and good friends (who are like family) who have supported me and us and the baby throughout the last few years...i have such an amazing support system. i don't know what i'd do without it.
for having a child who is wild yet so unbelievably talented and gifted and SMART.
for the wilson, of course.
and for my three boys, farb, tade and flav. i love them too.
i would say i'm grateful for my health too, since i'm pretty much healthy except for the bullshit, but the way i feel right now, fuck that.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
echo station update...this is WAY better than "concert tease"
wow. jason @ productshop nyc wrote a loverly article informing the world about the upcoming echo station cd release fiesta! click here to read the article... *** Very Important*** if the above link doesn't work, go to productshopnyc.com, and scroll a few blogs down...PLEASE be sure to leave comments too, my friends.
serious suckfest...
yea i feel like crap again. my throat is killing me. i am so extremely sick of feeling awful. i went to marshalls and home goods for the first time today (it is practically right behind my house) and it was kinda suckfest as well. everything today appears to be a suckfest. although i got a super pair of clogs. that i'm in love with.
hey fantastic news! echo station cds are available @ cdbaby.com. SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC.
hey fantastic news! echo station cds are available @ cdbaby.com. SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Melancholia
i had a weird vibe kinda day. sometimes, that just happens. so right now i'm feeling kinda strange.
i started reading chuck klosterman's "killing yourself to live" which claims to be 85% true life. my favorite part thus far (i'm on page 2) is where he says that everything in his personal life is as true as he can remember as he doesn't record personal conversations, etc. (ahem. fuck you oprah)(as in "a million little pieces." you mean, you don't remember vividly the time you were puking out bloody pieces of stomach in a urinal in rehab in such harsh, awful illuminating detail? no shit!) it seems to be about him, chuckie boy, who co-wrote a book with our boy marc spitz, going on a X-country road trip visiting all the places where our favorite music heroes and heroines died. i think i will like.
i got my christmas cards in the mail today and that made me supremely happy and excited.
oh if you want a copy of echo station's REVOLUTIONARY 5 song EP "Let's Go Steady, Debbie!" for absolutely NOTHING, just email me at my slinkster email addy which is ladyjadedblogger@gmail.com. it's my secret identity email, so that you cannot find me in real life. if you don't know me.
only 1 kiddie tomorrow, which is fabuloso. and he's my favorito kiddie too. he's the lowest functioning, and for some reason, just the best.
**note** the rob zombie version of blitzkrieg bop is truly awful. and i love me some rob zombie.
then it's suck-fest wednesday, where i have 3 kids and it lasts (for the last time praise gee whiz) til 5:30. SUCK-FEST.
then it's gobble gobble Bloody Massacre day. i fucking HATE thanksgiving. isn't that dreadful? but i truly, truly do. it is a BLOOD FEAST ISLAND MAN DAY!
and i don't hate it cuz i'm really that political, altho i do tell juliet all about the massacre and the pox and the devastation brought on the world by the white man (we are descended from a great race of indian warrior princesses i.e. princess heatherflower of the montauk indians. i don't believe this myself, but my family does have some pretty hard proof.) maybe i hate it cuz its just such a fake ass holiday impeding the gloriousness of candycane goodness that is christmas.
i started reading chuck klosterman's "killing yourself to live" which claims to be 85% true life. my favorite part thus far (i'm on page 2) is where he says that everything in his personal life is as true as he can remember as he doesn't record personal conversations, etc. (ahem. fuck you oprah)(as in "a million little pieces." you mean, you don't remember vividly the time you were puking out bloody pieces of stomach in a urinal in rehab in such harsh, awful illuminating detail? no shit!) it seems to be about him, chuckie boy, who co-wrote a book with our boy marc spitz, going on a X-country road trip visiting all the places where our favorite music heroes and heroines died. i think i will like.
i got my christmas cards in the mail today and that made me supremely happy and excited.
oh if you want a copy of echo station's REVOLUTIONARY 5 song EP "Let's Go Steady, Debbie!" for absolutely NOTHING, just email me at my slinkster email addy which is ladyjadedblogger@gmail.com. it's my secret identity email, so that you cannot find me in real life. if you don't know me.
only 1 kiddie tomorrow, which is fabuloso. and he's my favorito kiddie too. he's the lowest functioning, and for some reason, just the best.
**note** the rob zombie version of blitzkrieg bop is truly awful. and i love me some rob zombie.
then it's suck-fest wednesday, where i have 3 kids and it lasts (for the last time praise gee whiz) til 5:30. SUCK-FEST.
then it's gobble gobble Bloody Massacre day. i fucking HATE thanksgiving. isn't that dreadful? but i truly, truly do. it is a BLOOD FEAST ISLAND MAN DAY!
and i don't hate it cuz i'm really that political, altho i do tell juliet all about the massacre and the pox and the devastation brought on the world by the white man (we are descended from a great race of indian warrior princesses i.e. princess heatherflower of the montauk indians. i don't believe this myself, but my family does have some pretty hard proof.) maybe i hate it cuz its just such a fake ass holiday impeding the gloriousness of candycane goodness that is christmas.
It's Finally Here!!!
echo station's 5 song EP "let's go steady, debbie!" has finally arrived...it is just plain fantastic and i'm so happy to have it in my cd player!
if you want a copy, all you have to do is ask. or just make plans to come to the "let's go steady, debbie!" release party on 12/23/06 @ piano's nyc!
if you want a copy, all you have to do is ask. or just make plans to come to the "let's go steady, debbie!" release party on 12/23/06 @ piano's nyc!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
concert tease
oh my god.
i have never felt so embarassed in my life.
while cleaning out the living room closet, andy discovered this retarded fanzine that we created in 2001 (before i was even married! i was merely 22 years old! i was a baby!) all about echo station.
much like this blog is all about echo station.
but this was just so...DUMB!! i canNOT believe we handed it out. there were cute pictures in it tho that i'd like to find...
but mostly it was ramblings about how drunk we got at shows. like we were... oh wait, we WERE only 22. so i guess the drinking thing was still exciting and something to discuss. in fanzines. with weird cut out pictures of paul mccartney and a stupid version of mad libs.
oh my god.
i have never felt so embarassed in my life.
while cleaning out the living room closet, andy discovered this retarded fanzine that we created in 2001 (before i was even married! i was merely 22 years old! i was a baby!) all about echo station.
much like this blog is all about echo station.
but this was just so...DUMB!! i canNOT believe we handed it out. there were cute pictures in it tho that i'd like to find...
but mostly it was ramblings about how drunk we got at shows. like we were... oh wait, we WERE only 22. so i guess the drinking thing was still exciting and something to discuss. in fanzines. with weird cut out pictures of paul mccartney and a stupid version of mad libs.
oh my god.
Accepted
everyone liked "camp nowhere." remember, that crazy kids movie with christopher lloyd? and they go to a fake camp that they create.
well "accepted" is the exact same movie, only it's not summer camp, it's college. and mud is played by the funniest fatboy in the world, johah hill (remember him from "40 year old virgin"? he was in the "we sell your stuff on ebay" store and he wanted the platform boots with the goldfish in them? he is so fucking hilarious i seriously almost choked to death). and the other guy, the "cool" best friend, is played by justin "jeepers creepers" long. and christopher lloyd is lewis black, who also reigns supreme in the hilarity department, regardless of the fact that he must be quite difficult to work with.
i liked it. justin long is a lot funnier than he's ever been in a movie before (i.e. "waiting" which was also silly).
on that note, remember mud from "camp nowhere?" jonathan jackson? have you SEEN him lately?
well "accepted" is the exact same movie, only it's not summer camp, it's college. and mud is played by the funniest fatboy in the world, johah hill (remember him from "40 year old virgin"? he was in the "we sell your stuff on ebay" store and he wanted the platform boots with the goldfish in them? he is so fucking hilarious i seriously almost choked to death). and the other guy, the "cool" best friend, is played by justin "jeepers creepers" long. and christopher lloyd is lewis black, who also reigns supreme in the hilarity department, regardless of the fact that he must be quite difficult to work with.
i liked it. justin long is a lot funnier than he's ever been in a movie before (i.e. "waiting" which was also silly).
on that note, remember mud from "camp nowhere?" jonathan jackson? have you SEEN him lately?
did you need another reason not to drive drunk?
i was awoken last night at 5:30 a.m. by the sound of someone screaming in a way that led me to believe that the person screaming was a woman being skinned in my parking lot.
or raped.
i punched andy awake, scared out of my skull, and when he finally responded, we peeked out of the blinds.
alas, there was someone screaming.
but it was a boy.
a white-tee-shirt clad jock-looking frat boy. clenching his fists and screaming (like a woman) into the night/early morning.
what the hell?
he gets into his car. then he gets out. he's on the phone. he walks to the middle of the highway and ah ha! there's a tire. he kicks it, screaming some more. we notice that there's a guy with him, and a girl.
who's holding a dog that looks like to-to from the wizard of oz.
i say to andy, "oh, he must have lost his tire, and that's what's going on. they are drunk and don't want to call any one lest they get in trouble." i mean, its 5:30 a.m. of COURSE they're drunk.
suddenly, the girl (with her dog) stalks off out of the parking lot and down the highway. the asshole in the car gets in, and with a sound so ungodly that it actually drowned out the roar of the train, screaches and scrapes it's way out of our lot.
yes.
sans tire.
the girl is running up and down the side of the highway (with a dog) screaming and crying. i can only imagine how far those morons went on 3 tires before either crashing or getting pulled over.
i freaking hate people.
or raped.
i punched andy awake, scared out of my skull, and when he finally responded, we peeked out of the blinds.
alas, there was someone screaming.
but it was a boy.
a white-tee-shirt clad jock-looking frat boy. clenching his fists and screaming (like a woman) into the night/early morning.
what the hell?
he gets into his car. then he gets out. he's on the phone. he walks to the middle of the highway and ah ha! there's a tire. he kicks it, screaming some more. we notice that there's a guy with him, and a girl.
who's holding a dog that looks like to-to from the wizard of oz.
i say to andy, "oh, he must have lost his tire, and that's what's going on. they are drunk and don't want to call any one lest they get in trouble." i mean, its 5:30 a.m. of COURSE they're drunk.
suddenly, the girl (with her dog) stalks off out of the parking lot and down the highway. the asshole in the car gets in, and with a sound so ungodly that it actually drowned out the roar of the train, screaches and scrapes it's way out of our lot.
yes.
sans tire.
the girl is running up and down the side of the highway (with a dog) screaming and crying. i can only imagine how far those morons went on 3 tires before either crashing or getting pulled over.
i freaking hate people.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
We can't be silent cuz they might be giants and what are we gonna do unless they are?
holy effing shit.
the they might be giants show was unfuckingbelievable. it was spectacular. it was more than i could have asked for.
it took us about 3 days to get to south nyack, due to the fact that andy kept not paying attention (he blames juliet, despite the fact that he was on the phone each time he got onto the wrong highway) and the mapquest or yahoo! maps directions were, as usual, faulty. seriously, it said to make a right off the exit.
we drove for miles down a deserted winding road.
and finally turned around.
in real life, IT WAS A LEFT OFF THE EXIT.
so needless to say we were about 20 minutes late.
we walked in as they started to play "particle man!" i was transported back to 1994 when we used to discuss whether "particle man" was to be loved or hated. needless to say, i was stoked. some silly boy gave young jules a wonderful foam finger that proclaimed "THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS!" and she was like, coooool.
we were in the 5th row.
we were soooooooo close to john and john that i just sat there with this huuuuuuuge ass smile on my face. they were so great. the band is just awesome. they played "you're not the boss of me now" which was fun, but they didn't play "hot diggety dog" as i hoped, unless of course we missed it.
the best part of the show? oh, i was just getting to that.
so they have us all stand up. now, this is the same theater that we saw "rocky horror" in. not that that makes a difference in my tale. i just thought i'd mention that i'd been there before.
so we're standing and they play their "theme" which is "NO!" and everyone is dancing and having fun and then they go right into "clap your hands..." which is my FAVORITE of their kid's songs so me and juliet are jumping and down and so are all of the other parents around us. THEN!!!! they play "BIRDHOUSE IN MY SOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" which is my FAVORITE tmbg song of COURSE and reminds me so much of 10th grade and rollerblading at the crossroads and just a simpler, happy time. (not happier. but a lot simpler).
oh man. it was just fantabulous.
in front of us were a row of just plain old adults. tmbg nerds. no kids with them. i loved them the most. this one balding boy in front of me knew every damn word to every damn kid song, it was ridiculous.
but yea.
as we were leaving (and i got quite claustraphobic) i saw some awful, old mother saying "oh, that wasn't as kid friendly as i'd expected. it was so loouuud." so i pushed her down the aisle and she fell and a horde of people trampled her. oh no, i just gave her a dirty look and said, "Juliet, wasn't that just awesome?" to which she replied, "robot parade!" which was i guess her fave song of the show, despite the fact that it was her first time hearing it in awhile.
the they might be giants show was unfuckingbelievable. it was spectacular. it was more than i could have asked for.
it took us about 3 days to get to south nyack, due to the fact that andy kept not paying attention (he blames juliet, despite the fact that he was on the phone each time he got onto the wrong highway) and the mapquest or yahoo! maps directions were, as usual, faulty. seriously, it said to make a right off the exit.
we drove for miles down a deserted winding road.
and finally turned around.
in real life, IT WAS A LEFT OFF THE EXIT.
so needless to say we were about 20 minutes late.
we walked in as they started to play "particle man!" i was transported back to 1994 when we used to discuss whether "particle man" was to be loved or hated. needless to say, i was stoked. some silly boy gave young jules a wonderful foam finger that proclaimed "THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS!" and she was like, coooool.
we were in the 5th row.
we were soooooooo close to john and john that i just sat there with this huuuuuuuge ass smile on my face. they were so great. the band is just awesome. they played "you're not the boss of me now" which was fun, but they didn't play "hot diggety dog" as i hoped, unless of course we missed it.
the best part of the show? oh, i was just getting to that.
so they have us all stand up. now, this is the same theater that we saw "rocky horror" in. not that that makes a difference in my tale. i just thought i'd mention that i'd been there before.
so we're standing and they play their "theme" which is "NO!" and everyone is dancing and having fun and then they go right into "clap your hands..." which is my FAVORITE of their kid's songs so me and juliet are jumping and down and so are all of the other parents around us. THEN!!!! they play "BIRDHOUSE IN MY SOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" which is my FAVORITE tmbg song of COURSE and reminds me so much of 10th grade and rollerblading at the crossroads and just a simpler, happy time. (not happier. but a lot simpler).
oh man. it was just fantabulous.
in front of us were a row of just plain old adults. tmbg nerds. no kids with them. i loved them the most. this one balding boy in front of me knew every damn word to every damn kid song, it was ridiculous.
but yea.
as we were leaving (and i got quite claustraphobic) i saw some awful, old mother saying "oh, that wasn't as kid friendly as i'd expected. it was so loouuud." so i pushed her down the aisle and she fell and a horde of people trampled her. oh no, i just gave her a dirty look and said, "Juliet, wasn't that just awesome?" to which she replied, "robot parade!" which was i guess her fave song of the show, despite the fact that it was her first time hearing it in awhile.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
just a quickie...
i've been revamping the upcoming echo station live "let's go steady, debbie!" cd release poster, so i thought you might enjoy checking it out:
i'm so excited about the show...it will be such a good time, we'll be able to celebrate christmas together as a family of friends, which is rare, we'll be able to have a tiny taste of a XXX-mas fiesta (nearly annual.)(just not when preggo.)
today was niiiice. i was talking to one of my kids as though i was borat. i was like, "oh you very nice. i like you." he was just like, "orange square! very good." i had my longest day today, which was a whopping 3 kids. starting next week, my latest session is only til 3:30 how fucking sweeeet is that? i'm finally a teacher. i bow.
um. i'm getting sick again. sucks. alas. i have nothing else to say right now. adios.
i'm so excited about the show...it will be such a good time, we'll be able to celebrate christmas together as a family of friends, which is rare, we'll be able to have a tiny taste of a XXX-mas fiesta (nearly annual.)(just not when preggo.)
today was niiiice. i was talking to one of my kids as though i was borat. i was like, "oh you very nice. i like you." he was just like, "orange square! very good." i had my longest day today, which was a whopping 3 kids. starting next week, my latest session is only til 3:30 how fucking sweeeet is that? i'm finally a teacher. i bow.
um. i'm getting sick again. sucks. alas. i have nothing else to say right now. adios.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
i just don't get it
seriously, how are these godforsaken, whiny ass bands so popular? i was just reading this very popular girl bloggSTAR's blog, and she was swooning over my chemical romance.
now.
while i do tend to enjoy their remake of "all i want for christmas is you" i just don't fucking understand how bands like this become the object of desire.
and why that guy cut off his hair and dyed it blond.
why doesn't america swoon over deron miller or chad ginsburg? they are totally normal looking fellows, who when you look @ them you're not sidetracked by how long it took them to apply this pseudo-image that they are trying so hard to maintain. and they are so fucking talented you shrivel up inside while listening. (especially to the guitar on "disengage" seriously i can listen to that song, the one on vol.2 which is just the guitar, no vocals, over and over and over. oh, and i do.)
and they are so passionate about their music...and you can see it in their eyes that it's real, intense, i-was-born-to-do-this-it's-in-my-blood passion, as opposed to absofuckinglutely fake, puppy-dog eyes, whiney, emo bullSHIT!!!
perhaps this kinship to cKy is what makes echo station so wonderful. they shine through their music, not the fucking makeup they wear. oh, yes, you can wow people with your glitterly face and overly dramatic stage show, or you can be, i don't know, talented.
yes, i am talking about that other band. from that night. you know who i'm talking about. such hype. for nada.
i could maybe hate my chemical romance cuz the singer's voice is like nails on a chalkboard (xmas cheeriness aside) or cuz they sound like every other fucking whiny ballsack emo band that these people mooooon over. or it could be that he cut his hair. and dyed it blond.
on a totally non-music related note, i got my nails and toes done today. i was only going in to tame my godforsaken eyebrows, and alas, i thought, let me "treat" myself since i rule. so i am sitting there getting my pedicure when alas, i began reading a cosmopolitan magazine. i think that the people who write for this magazine should be stabbed in the ears. because what fucking horseshit they feed women.
"when talking to your man (gag), don't bore him with the minute details of your day. (fuuuuck you). instead, intice him with talk about what he likes: sports, work and him. (eat me)." seriously, then females read this and like, follow it's advice? how about eat a dick? seriously. there were other things, but i cannot recall them. what a dumb fucking magazine. no wonder women have no equality, there's this quasi-feminist magazine out there proclaiming that it's for "fun, fearless women" yet it's main objective is keeping women in the dark ages.
am i a feminazi?
who knew?
now.
while i do tend to enjoy their remake of "all i want for christmas is you" i just don't fucking understand how bands like this become the object of desire.
and why that guy cut off his hair and dyed it blond.
why doesn't america swoon over deron miller or chad ginsburg? they are totally normal looking fellows, who when you look @ them you're not sidetracked by how long it took them to apply this pseudo-image that they are trying so hard to maintain. and they are so fucking talented you shrivel up inside while listening. (especially to the guitar on "disengage" seriously i can listen to that song, the one on vol.2 which is just the guitar, no vocals, over and over and over. oh, and i do.)
and they are so passionate about their music...and you can see it in their eyes that it's real, intense, i-was-born-to-do-this-it's-in-my-blood passion, as opposed to absofuckinglutely fake, puppy-dog eyes, whiney, emo bullSHIT!!!
perhaps this kinship to cKy is what makes echo station so wonderful. they shine through their music, not the fucking makeup they wear. oh, yes, you can wow people with your glitterly face and overly dramatic stage show, or you can be, i don't know, talented.
yes, i am talking about that other band. from that night. you know who i'm talking about. such hype. for nada.
i could maybe hate my chemical romance cuz the singer's voice is like nails on a chalkboard (xmas cheeriness aside) or cuz they sound like every other fucking whiny ballsack emo band that these people mooooon over. or it could be that he cut his hair. and dyed it blond.
on a totally non-music related note, i got my nails and toes done today. i was only going in to tame my godforsaken eyebrows, and alas, i thought, let me "treat" myself since i rule. so i am sitting there getting my pedicure when alas, i began reading a cosmopolitan magazine. i think that the people who write for this magazine should be stabbed in the ears. because what fucking horseshit they feed women.
"when talking to your man (gag), don't bore him with the minute details of your day. (fuuuuck you). instead, intice him with talk about what he likes: sports, work and him. (eat me)." seriously, then females read this and like, follow it's advice? how about eat a dick? seriously. there were other things, but i cannot recall them. what a dumb fucking magazine. no wonder women have no equality, there's this quasi-feminist magazine out there proclaiming that it's for "fun, fearless women" yet it's main objective is keeping women in the dark ages.
am i a feminazi?
who knew?
Saturday, November 11, 2006
i love my sElf
tonite, whilst driving up to stone ridge to visit my friend's new fantastic extra large house, which i must interject and say that i am so jealous of cuz it is seriously a house of dreams, we were listening to wired all wrong, the new band containing the delicious matt mahaffey of self fame, and the dude from god lives underwater. i suggest listening cuz the songs are excellent, a perfect mix of self and gluw if you remember them. also listened to the new self cd, and i just must lament on how great self is. there is no one else who sounds like them. and they don't sound like every other bullshit band out there either. love!!!
so tonite was a wonderful night. andy and i and young juliet went up to visit my best friend since 3rd grade's new house. dude. the house is magical. it is very victorianish, with such detailed extraspecial additions...window seats everywhere! the most intricate and beautifully detailed windows! fireplaces! a magical and enchanting dungeon perfect for a small child's playroom! the upstairs literally took my breath away. it was a house that i can only hope to one day live in. i mean, one like. obviously not in the actual house. anyway. and it was a perfect night cuz juliet fell in love with christina...she hasn't seen her since her wedding, and it was so cute to see them running around together.
**next day**hello. it is sunday. last night was the WORST night of my life. juliet did NOT go to sleep. let me rephrase...she slept until 1am. then was up. opening and shutting her door. over and over. for hours. and turning the light on. and playing. i seriously think i slept from 7-7:30. and that's it. we just purchased a tent for her crib, yes, its a crib again, so that she can no longer escape. i think i might die soon.
so tonite was a wonderful night. andy and i and young juliet went up to visit my best friend since 3rd grade's new house. dude. the house is magical. it is very victorianish, with such detailed extraspecial additions...window seats everywhere! the most intricate and beautifully detailed windows! fireplaces! a magical and enchanting dungeon perfect for a small child's playroom! the upstairs literally took my breath away. it was a house that i can only hope to one day live in. i mean, one like. obviously not in the actual house. anyway. and it was a perfect night cuz juliet fell in love with christina...she hasn't seen her since her wedding, and it was so cute to see them running around together.
**next day**hello. it is sunday. last night was the WORST night of my life. juliet did NOT go to sleep. let me rephrase...she slept until 1am. then was up. opening and shutting her door. over and over. for hours. and turning the light on. and playing. i seriously think i slept from 7-7:30. and that's it. we just purchased a tent for her crib, yes, its a crib again, so that she can no longer escape. i think i might die soon.
seems to be the same, huh?
whoopie, i get to change the font and color. who cares? so far, this is not a fantastic update. perhaps i'll learn how to do other cool things.
i am stoked to announce that there will be an official Echo Station "Let's Go Steady, Debbie!" EP Release Party...@ Piano's on Ludlow St. in NYC...Saturday, December 23rd...it will be a fantastic show, and there are rumored to be a package deal of the CD and autographed copies of Marc Spitz's book that inspired the song!!! how fucking awesome is that???
i am stoked to announce that there will be an official Echo Station "Let's Go Steady, Debbie!" EP Release Party...@ Piano's on Ludlow St. in NYC...Saturday, December 23rd...it will be a fantastic show, and there are rumored to be a package deal of the CD and autographed copies of Marc Spitz's book that inspired the song!!! how fucking awesome is that???
Friday, November 10, 2006
boooooooooooooooored.
my night consisted on changing my flying daughter's crib into a bed and thus keeping her in it long enough to fall asleep, eating sushi and watching godforsaken lindsey lohan movies on disney. thanks mark.
so my friday nights are usually like this. andy out and about, and me typing into a computer. what a miserable existance. not really. i'm pretty damn beat. worked all day. shame i may be leaving this kid cuz he freakin' loves me.
oh and i applied at penn state for a postmaster's certificate in a.b.a. sounds exciting, ey? i agree. becky feels i did the whole penn state thing cuz of cKy. and she's right. but also it's an on-line/video certificate, and i only have to go there for a confrence which is also the last class. also, it was the closest campus. and cuz of cKy. i'm not lying, if i could do it all over again, i'd go to college in westchester, PA as she almost did. or ithaca. i love it up there.
so juliet donna james marcool marcad is finally asleep. i dread my future. it was so fucking hilarious, tho...we'd hear her door creeeeeeaking open...and we put a gate up so that she could not escape...so we'd hear her whisper to the cats, who are of course all standing guard outside her room..."guys...come here!" and there all in her room, miling about like idiots. god i love my guys.
went to glen island again. i will tell you here and now that i fucking LOVE glen island it is my happy place...it is MAGICAL. SERIOUSLY. especially right now with the leaves and the sundown and all...inSANITY. i shiver. with love.
so that's all folks. gonna hit the old sack. hahahah. i said sack.
so my friday nights are usually like this. andy out and about, and me typing into a computer. what a miserable existance. not really. i'm pretty damn beat. worked all day. shame i may be leaving this kid cuz he freakin' loves me.
oh and i applied at penn state for a postmaster's certificate in a.b.a. sounds exciting, ey? i agree. becky feels i did the whole penn state thing cuz of cKy. and she's right. but also it's an on-line/video certificate, and i only have to go there for a confrence which is also the last class. also, it was the closest campus. and cuz of cKy. i'm not lying, if i could do it all over again, i'd go to college in westchester, PA as she almost did. or ithaca. i love it up there.
so juliet donna james marcool marcad is finally asleep. i dread my future. it was so fucking hilarious, tho...we'd hear her door creeeeeeaking open...and we put a gate up so that she could not escape...so we'd hear her whisper to the cats, who are of course all standing guard outside her room..."guys...come here!" and there all in her room, miling about like idiots. god i love my guys.
went to glen island again. i will tell you here and now that i fucking LOVE glen island it is my happy place...it is MAGICAL. SERIOUSLY. especially right now with the leaves and the sundown and all...inSANITY. i shiver. with love.
so that's all folks. gonna hit the old sack. hahahah. i said sack.
...staring @ the sun with a popsicle everything is possible...
i was reminiscing about the horrors of high school while i was driving home from work today...i was such a disaster my freshman year. actually, both my freshman years were disasters that i would most like to forget completely about...i went to a very strict and overbearing catholic elementary school and inside i was a diehard metal head... all i wanted was to be able to let my true self shine through...which was quite impossible in a green plaid skirt and white peter pan colored blouse...oh, and a handsome crossing tie! how fucking gay is that? i will assure you tho that i wore my matching green knee socks scrunched down around my ankles, proudly REBELLING against the uniformity of st. columba...also, no nail polish or earrings below the lobe. ick. in 3rd grade, which was the most painful year of my adolescence, we had a nun (who was seriously more of a sister of satan than a bride of christ) with a paralyzed middle finger who also made it a rule (law) that girls had to have their hair Above The Neck. as in, if you had hair longer than your shirt collar, you had to have it in a pony tail. nazi tactics. so this stifling environment was wreaking havoc on my poison and skid row loving personality. oh, when i said i was a metal head, i meant it in the cheesiest and most fashionable way possible. anyway, i get to high school, and i'm riding the cusp of the end of the eighties now, it's 1992, and there are still some handsome metal boys that i of course fall in love with (seriously, i was so fucking lame. i loved this boy, who was so stereotypically metal, with his crazy mullet, but with nice bangs like? and big brown eyes...so he was my true type, but ever so skinny and with black jeans and metallica t-shirts. sigh.) (i'm pretty sure i wrote him a note and like, had a friend slip it to him. imagine what a geek i was?) i couldn't IMAGINE why he didn't instantly fall in love... christ.
alas, a metal boy DID fall in love with me.
i was 14.
he was a senior and i think 18.
and while he was indeed ever so metal, he was really not as beauteous as the first mulleted metal boy i mentioned...he had long hair, check, but he had these awful feathery bangs that once in awhile were just a bit too short. so this kid somehow tells me he "likes" me...and somehow gets my phone number...i will now assume that jess the retarded freshman gave it to him...and one day he calls me!!! and asks me to go to the mall! what the fuck would a big, senior, metal boy want with a small, skinny, total douche bag of a 14 year old?? i'll tell you what...DATE RAPE!! how fucking retarded is that??? and then, my sister and best friend and i went to see oliver twist at jay (which was um, so god awful that we left at intermission) and he was there!!! with his godforsaken friend who we called "where's waldo?" cuz he looked like "where's waldo" obviously...anyway, i think i remembered this all rather painfully driving home cuz gn'r's "estranged" was on and that's the song i was listening to when he called and tried to seduce me.
songs immediately transport me to other dimensions....
anyway, that's it for me reminiscing right now...juliet learned how to climb out of her crib today (fuck me) and therefore my life is over. she is up, and i best go get her before she flies out...
oh and by the by...
Echo Station XXX-Mas Show...December 23rd...Piano's NYC...our fave spot...9ish!!!!
alas, a metal boy DID fall in love with me.
i was 14.
he was a senior and i think 18.
and while he was indeed ever so metal, he was really not as beauteous as the first mulleted metal boy i mentioned...he had long hair, check, but he had these awful feathery bangs that once in awhile were just a bit too short. so this kid somehow tells me he "likes" me...and somehow gets my phone number...i will now assume that jess the retarded freshman gave it to him...and one day he calls me!!! and asks me to go to the mall! what the fuck would a big, senior, metal boy want with a small, skinny, total douche bag of a 14 year old?? i'll tell you what...DATE RAPE!! how fucking retarded is that??? and then, my sister and best friend and i went to see oliver twist at jay (which was um, so god awful that we left at intermission) and he was there!!! with his godforsaken friend who we called "where's waldo?" cuz he looked like "where's waldo" obviously...anyway, i think i remembered this all rather painfully driving home cuz gn'r's "estranged" was on and that's the song i was listening to when he called and tried to seduce me.
songs immediately transport me to other dimensions....
anyway, that's it for me reminiscing right now...juliet learned how to climb out of her crib today (fuck me) and therefore my life is over. she is up, and i best go get her before she flies out...
oh and by the by...
Echo Station XXX-Mas Show...December 23rd...Piano's NYC...our fave spot...9ish!!!!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Get. A. Life.
opt online is down right now and i'm pretty sure i have gotten a migraine because of it. cuz i know that there is some vital information sitting in my inbox AS WE SPEAK and i just cannot get a hold of it. like, my professor writing me back and letting me know of my fate. have i mentioned that i'm pretty sure i'm screwed in the student teaching dept. oh, the migraine pulsates.
oh a happier note, i've designed the invitation to my father's 50th birthday party. which took all of 4 seconds and was the most exciting thing i've done in weeks. i love planning parties. it completes me.
on a totally different note...i found one of my old friends on myspace (what a surprise, i know) and he has a very cool band called marigold so if you're bored or in the mood for some new music, go take a listen.
oh a happier note, i've designed the invitation to my father's 50th birthday party. which took all of 4 seconds and was the most exciting thing i've done in weeks. i love planning parties. it completes me.
on a totally different note...i found one of my old friends on myspace (what a surprise, i know) and he has a very cool band called marigold so if you're bored or in the mood for some new music, go take a listen.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
more handsome reviews...
all i seem to think about these days is echo station...luckily, there are people out there who are feeding into my obsession! check out jason @ product shop's sexy party pictures from last week!
width="240" height="180"i'm so happy cuz today i found my friends (they're in my head)
i'm listening to nirvana "nevermind" which i haven't listened to in YEARS and i'm just in such a high school mode...like i hung out w/my bestest john jay friend on friday night, and we're having dinner w/my best friend from 3rd grade on saturday... and i'll be honest, while listening to this cd, all i can think is "thank god for the internet..." cuz seriously, what the fuck are the lyrics to these songs? i remember arguing w/andy over the words to verse chorus verse or sappy or whatever the name of it is, and i was just listening to "breed" and wondering what the hell was happening? is the word "giselle?" "to sell?" "she said?" well, i can find out right this very second.
hang on.
isn't this fun, and slightly interactive?
ah, the answer is "she said." i'm so happy that i can find out whenever i need to something that i need to know at the moment. also, did you know that the lyrics are also "i'm afraid i'm afraid i'm afraid i'm afraid afraid OF GHOSTS" ?????? never knew that. and now that i'm listening to the song again, i'm pretty sure that it should be "giselle" over and over again. that was fun. anyway...this is a good song.
there are rumors on the horizon that are frightening echoes of my nightmare the other night. the good news is that there is a possibility of this year's XXX-Mas Party being hosted by Echo Station @ Pianos. the bad news was that was exactly my dream when andy choose to break up with me. greeeeat. however, i'm excited...and you should be too. keep your fingers Xed and i'll keep you in the know...
"just bc you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you" are the best fucking lyrics ever by nirvana cuz i'm telling you right here and now, it's all about me and my obscene paranoia.
i have to go to p.c. soon for work. i dread it. it is so ugly and yucky and rainy and man, my hair is a freaking afro right now. i'm going to put some nice pix of juliet from the other day @ glen island up cuz i love them and they're pretty and you should also enjoy them. i was trying to be artsy because i am in fact a toreador (if you ever played vampire the masquerade you'll understand) and thus obsessed with certain types of beauty. and the light and colors of fall days is something that just hits a nerve with me. so i tried to capture the insane beauty that was the background, as well as the insane beauty that is of course, juliet "dumbo" labella. um. i just keep writing cuz photobucket is taking my life to upload these damn pictures...
ah. here they are...
hang on.
isn't this fun, and slightly interactive?
ah, the answer is "she said." i'm so happy that i can find out whenever i need to something that i need to know at the moment. also, did you know that the lyrics are also "i'm afraid i'm afraid i'm afraid i'm afraid afraid OF GHOSTS" ?????? never knew that. and now that i'm listening to the song again, i'm pretty sure that it should be "giselle" over and over again. that was fun. anyway...this is a good song.
there are rumors on the horizon that are frightening echoes of my nightmare the other night. the good news is that there is a possibility of this year's XXX-Mas Party being hosted by Echo Station @ Pianos. the bad news was that was exactly my dream when andy choose to break up with me. greeeeat. however, i'm excited...and you should be too. keep your fingers Xed and i'll keep you in the know...
"just bc you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you" are the best fucking lyrics ever by nirvana cuz i'm telling you right here and now, it's all about me and my obscene paranoia.
i have to go to p.c. soon for work. i dread it. it is so ugly and yucky and rainy and man, my hair is a freaking afro right now. i'm going to put some nice pix of juliet from the other day @ glen island up cuz i love them and they're pretty and you should also enjoy them. i was trying to be artsy because i am in fact a toreador (if you ever played vampire the masquerade you'll understand) and thus obsessed with certain types of beauty. and the light and colors of fall days is something that just hits a nerve with me. so i tried to capture the insane beauty that was the background, as well as the insane beauty that is of course, juliet "dumbo" labella. um. i just keep writing cuz photobucket is taking my life to upload these damn pictures...
ah. here they are...
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
just a bit to tide me over...
i am so easily impressable...i went to my weight watchers meeting tonite, and i skipped last week cuz i was sick and it was halloween and i was celebrating and such, and now i feel so renewed and good for going and i'm going to try my darndest to loose 10 lbs by new years! um, someone appears to be in my apartment which is dreadful since i'm not really wearing much. oh no, it was merely leo in the office...anywho,did i tell you about my new case? he is a beautiful little boy who looks exactly like gage creed! scary. i love him so far. i've had him once. anyway, my delicious jani is here. jani is my most favorite sushi/chinese restraunt in the universe...i'm not even going off my diet, i have brown rice sushi. que oso, as juliet would say. so i suppose i'm going to go eat now. and prob. watch some t.v., such as the adult swim we tivo'd, or perhaps the dumbass looking little man. godforbid. or borat, which we may have...i watched the (well, fell asleep to) the marathon of ali g last night, and it was silly. i had the worst nightmare ever last night, and have been a mess all day because of it. my grandma is ok, home and all. all the test were negative, and apparently she passed out and had an enlarged heart cuz HER PANTS WERE TOO TIGHT. seriously.
Monday, November 06, 2006
from a source other than lady jaded...
so here's what jason @ product shop nyc had to say about the show on friday:
Thank you to everyone who attended A Night Out With Product Shop NYC at Studio B on Friday, November 3rd. The night was such an amazing success and the crowd was absolutely on fire. I especially want to thank all the bands that played, all of whom tore it up!
Echo Station started off the evening with their ultra-tight hook-filled rock n' roll, that included their soon-to-be hit single "Let's Go Steady, Debbie." The Brooklyn Playboys proved to be one of the countries best bluegrass outfits. Ferraby Lionheart was fantastic with his sailor-folk-troubadour songs that proved to be one of the highlights of this entire CMJ Festival. Birdmonster had some technical difficulties but proved their buzz to be more than worthy with a fighting set of powerful pop music that continues to win them a larger and larger audience. Sam Champion fucking rocked like the future rock stars they will one day become. Ra-Ra Riot threw down for an energetic set that ended with a cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love."
While it's impossible for me to say one band was better than all the rest, The Thermals clearly owned the night. They got the crowd going fucking mental. And deservingly so. They were so freaking killer. In a super tight forty-five minute set, they blasted their way through a plethora of tracks that got people dancing and throwing their fists in the air. It was splendid. I was in awe. The crowd was in heaven. The band were super pleased. All in all, it was Thermaltastic!
At round 1:50am, The Horrors finally took the stage for the final set of the night. While it took them an hour plus to take the stage, which led them to lose quite a bit of the exhausted crowd, they still played a fantastically zany set to a crowd of almost two hundred. They broke a light, tore a curtain, attacked the crowd, and by the end of their twenty-two minute set had two burly security guards on stage with them. So yes, The Horrors did what they do best. They came. They bitched. The banged. They rocked. They broke shit. They left.
A big thank you to all the bands, managers, publicists, and agents who helped make Product Shop NYC's "unofficial" CMJ party a reality. I also want to send some love to Marc Spitz and DJ Del for spinning some killer music between bands. I especially want to thank Justine and Joady at Studio B for being such wonderful people to work with and for putting together such an awesome crew. I would also like to send a big thank you to PSNYC's own 3xWes for working so hard on the evening. And especially, thanks to everyone who came to show and helped promote it. You all rule........
Thank you to everyone who attended A Night Out With Product Shop NYC at Studio B on Friday, November 3rd. The night was such an amazing success and the crowd was absolutely on fire. I especially want to thank all the bands that played, all of whom tore it up!
Echo Station started off the evening with their ultra-tight hook-filled rock n' roll, that included their soon-to-be hit single "Let's Go Steady, Debbie." The Brooklyn Playboys proved to be one of the countries best bluegrass outfits. Ferraby Lionheart was fantastic with his sailor-folk-troubadour songs that proved to be one of the highlights of this entire CMJ Festival. Birdmonster had some technical difficulties but proved their buzz to be more than worthy with a fighting set of powerful pop music that continues to win them a larger and larger audience. Sam Champion fucking rocked like the future rock stars they will one day become. Ra-Ra Riot threw down for an energetic set that ended with a cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love."
While it's impossible for me to say one band was better than all the rest, The Thermals clearly owned the night. They got the crowd going fucking mental. And deservingly so. They were so freaking killer. In a super tight forty-five minute set, they blasted their way through a plethora of tracks that got people dancing and throwing their fists in the air. It was splendid. I was in awe. The crowd was in heaven. The band were super pleased. All in all, it was Thermaltastic!
At round 1:50am, The Horrors finally took the stage for the final set of the night. While it took them an hour plus to take the stage, which led them to lose quite a bit of the exhausted crowd, they still played a fantastically zany set to a crowd of almost two hundred. They broke a light, tore a curtain, attacked the crowd, and by the end of their twenty-two minute set had two burly security guards on stage with them. So yes, The Horrors did what they do best. They came. They bitched. The banged. They rocked. They broke shit. They left.
A big thank you to all the bands, managers, publicists, and agents who helped make Product Shop NYC's "unofficial" CMJ party a reality. I also want to send some love to Marc Spitz and DJ Del for spinning some killer music between bands. I especially want to thank Justine and Joady at Studio B for being such wonderful people to work with and for putting together such an awesome crew. I would also like to send a big thank you to PSNYC's own 3xWes for working so hard on the evening. And especially, thanks to everyone who came to show and helped promote it. You all rule........
dreaming
i had a dream last night about echo station throwing a cd release party...i think it was at marty's...where we are no longer "allowed" to have shows due to the fact that we don't provide $2 hookers...anyway, i often dream about our days past at marty's...it's never actually marty's but a different place w/the bar in the middle and kristen and keely are always there (much like in real life). it makes me kind of sad and reminiscent. i hope they do have a cd release party...maybe @ don hills... hint, hint...
well i have 14 minutes to get ready for my new client...wish me luck. oh and my grandmother is in the hospital w/an enlarged heart right now. she hasn't gone to a doc is maybe 40 years, so god only knows what they're going to find. stubborn crazy lady. keep her in your thoughts, prayers, incantations, whatever...knock on wood for her...
well i have 14 minutes to get ready for my new client...wish me luck. oh and my grandmother is in the hospital w/an enlarged heart right now. she hasn't gone to a doc is maybe 40 years, so god only knows what they're going to find. stubborn crazy lady. keep her in your thoughts, prayers, incantations, whatever...knock on wood for her...
Sunday, November 05, 2006
our night @ Club Studio B...
so friday came and andy and the boys left at 11 am to meet in pc to catch the limo... the nice guys at three rivers press sent them a handsome escalade, as well as a kind driver named mohamed. so they go into the city, and go to the hotel we were staying at only the rooms were not ready yet so they decided to wander the streets of chelsea, and lo and behold came across a movie theater playing borat. so they watched it and laughed a lot. then they got ready for the show...
i got my hairs cut by my new bffl nathaniel at salon o in greenwich. then i came home and got ready. i decided NOT to wear my leather pants as the shirt i wore was also black and shiny so it didn't really work out in favor of the pants. jen was a trooper and drove us down even though she was sick w/a sinus infection. we got there without a trace of traffic, which was amazing...and once we got to Studio B, they wouldn't let us in. so we hung out in the chilly brooklyn night. eventually they did let us in, and the place was freaking gorgeous. it was just huge and fantastic and the bathrooms were just spectacular. the die-hard loyal e/s fans, the ones who have been there from the begining, were all there and watched the boys kick ass! my two dear friends, who i mentioned were coming in an earlier blog, showed up as well, and it was just so much fun!
my jjhs bffl, lo, who shares many of my memories!
there was a decent crowd, considering how early it was... jason from product shop nyc seemed really into the show (i wanted so badly to buy him a drink to thank him for the "shout out" but alas, i couldn't find him again once the show was over...) and the songs sounded amazing, and the guys were just so tight and rocked our butts off! there was a snazzy little light show and smoke machines going and it was just a fantastic show.
and who was there to see his song put to life? yes, marc spitz himself. he was wonderful. i believe that i said to him, much like i was david spade..."you sir, are great. i am a fan." to which he replied, "no your husband's great!" which was flattering but i was like, "nonono, it's YOU who is great!" then i got my picture taken with him! and so did the boys...
here we are just hanging out afterwards...
the place was hopping...many other bands came on...we watched some of them...the thermals, they had great stage presence, but i couldn't really get into it...steve liked the birdmonsters, and i think the birdmonsters as a whole were quite nice guys...there was drama as they thought the horrors cancelled, but they showed up just as we were loading our butts into the shiny escalade to be taken into manhattan for more delicious fun...including hotdogs and cheesefries that were noxious orange colors and crazy joebags not getting in the elevator and our hotel was so trendy and quaint and we just had so much fun! the guys were babbling and giggling about gypsy tears and shapeshifters...it was a night not soon to be forgotten...unfortunately, the cd was not ready to be released, but stay tooned for that...maybe we'll have another show to celebrate the release...
i got my hairs cut by my new bffl nathaniel at salon o in greenwich. then i came home and got ready. i decided NOT to wear my leather pants as the shirt i wore was also black and shiny so it didn't really work out in favor of the pants. jen was a trooper and drove us down even though she was sick w/a sinus infection. we got there without a trace of traffic, which was amazing...and once we got to Studio B, they wouldn't let us in. so we hung out in the chilly brooklyn night. eventually they did let us in, and the place was freaking gorgeous. it was just huge and fantastic and the bathrooms were just spectacular. the die-hard loyal e/s fans, the ones who have been there from the begining, were all there and watched the boys kick ass! my two dear friends, who i mentioned were coming in an earlier blog, showed up as well, and it was just so much fun!
my jjhs bffl, lo, who shares many of my memories!
there was a decent crowd, considering how early it was... jason from product shop nyc seemed really into the show (i wanted so badly to buy him a drink to thank him for the "shout out" but alas, i couldn't find him again once the show was over...) and the songs sounded amazing, and the guys were just so tight and rocked our butts off! there was a snazzy little light show and smoke machines going and it was just a fantastic show.
and who was there to see his song put to life? yes, marc spitz himself. he was wonderful. i believe that i said to him, much like i was david spade..."you sir, are great. i am a fan." to which he replied, "no your husband's great!" which was flattering but i was like, "nonono, it's YOU who is great!" then i got my picture taken with him! and so did the boys...
here we are just hanging out afterwards...
the place was hopping...many other bands came on...we watched some of them...the thermals, they had great stage presence, but i couldn't really get into it...steve liked the birdmonsters, and i think the birdmonsters as a whole were quite nice guys...there was drama as they thought the horrors cancelled, but they showed up just as we were loading our butts into the shiny escalade to be taken into manhattan for more delicious fun...including hotdogs and cheesefries that were noxious orange colors and crazy joebags not getting in the elevator and our hotel was so trendy and quaint and we just had so much fun! the guys were babbling and giggling about gypsy tears and shapeshifters...it was a night not soon to be forgotten...unfortunately, the cd was not ready to be released, but stay tooned for that...maybe we'll have another show to celebrate the release...
echo update from the faithful dotcom.
as i'm too tired to write until i have some coffee (the chest is burning again. dammit!) i will show you what mikey wrote...i have my fantastic fotos uploading as we speak, and i'll tell you all, as soon as i have my caffeine fix...11/04/06:
It's been a long, hard 2 weeks. I'm writing this blog on fumes, but I always like to write while the emotion in me is still running high. Last night was the CMJ party at Studio B.
We were unable to check into our hotel until 2:00, so we walked around the block and were able to catch the noon show of "Borat" at the Chelsea West. The movie was very therapeutic. Since rehearsal on Thursday night, I think we all felt very tense. Personally, I have not felt that nervous or tight since out first NYC gig almost 6 years ago. The movie was so hysterical though, that it helped relieve some of the tension. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel, got ready and headed off to Brooklyn.
As predicted, the early set time of 6:45 drew a little crowd, mostly comprised of the echo station faithful. Those faithful were loud enough to make us think the place was full though. As always, you guys are the best. We love you and thank you. We couldn't see shit on stage. The light show was awesome but blinding and the smoke machine made it impossible to see more then a few feet. We kind of like it like that. The intense rehearsal schedule paid off. We played great. The set was very tight and we played with the intensity that we're known for.
After our set was over, we met Marc Spitz, author of Too Much, Too Late. Marc was a totally awesome guy who took the time to chat with us, praised our performance and continued to express his pleasure with our version of Let's Go Steady Debbie." One of the most memorable things from this night was his line, "This is not it for you guys." To hear that from someone of his stature was very gratifying and exciting. He also gave us some insight on what will be happening as far as promoting us in regards to the CD release.
Afterward, Andy and I were backstage and we ran into Jason Gordon from Productshop NYC. He also praised our performance and gave us encouraging news on what's going to happen with our CD when they release it. Jason was also a cool cat. We're hoping we'll have the chance to continue working with him and his company.
The plan was to release the CD that night. Unfortunately, production problems made that impossible. They should be done within the next few weeks. Most of last night is still sinking into our heads, so I do not want to go into specific details of what was discussed. All I can say is that the end result of this gig was highly positive and left the future of echo station looking bright. Hopefully we can keep that light burning. We will see what the future holds for us.
I haven't seen or talked to the guys since we left each other this morning, so I'm not sure what they're feeling. For me, I feel a little bummed out right now. For the last two weeks, we've spent almost every day together. While it's been hectic and tiring, it also made the tight bond between us even tighter. Yesterday, we all got a taste of what life could be like if we made it. On Monday, we all go back to our day jobs and have to stare the uncertainty of what will come from this contest straight in the face. Our lives are great in either case. We have lots to be greatfull for. I will say though that we just had a sip of the sweetest wine ... and we're all still very thirsty.
-Mike
PS: Live show footage to be posted as soon as Andy can fix that fucked up camera of his.
It's been a long, hard 2 weeks. I'm writing this blog on fumes, but I always like to write while the emotion in me is still running high. Last night was the CMJ party at Studio B.
We were unable to check into our hotel until 2:00, so we walked around the block and were able to catch the noon show of "Borat" at the Chelsea West. The movie was very therapeutic. Since rehearsal on Thursday night, I think we all felt very tense. Personally, I have not felt that nervous or tight since out first NYC gig almost 6 years ago. The movie was so hysterical though, that it helped relieve some of the tension. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel, got ready and headed off to Brooklyn.
As predicted, the early set time of 6:45 drew a little crowd, mostly comprised of the echo station faithful. Those faithful were loud enough to make us think the place was full though. As always, you guys are the best. We love you and thank you. We couldn't see shit on stage. The light show was awesome but blinding and the smoke machine made it impossible to see more then a few feet. We kind of like it like that. The intense rehearsal schedule paid off. We played great. The set was very tight and we played with the intensity that we're known for.
After our set was over, we met Marc Spitz, author of Too Much, Too Late. Marc was a totally awesome guy who took the time to chat with us, praised our performance and continued to express his pleasure with our version of Let's Go Steady Debbie." One of the most memorable things from this night was his line, "This is not it for you guys." To hear that from someone of his stature was very gratifying and exciting. He also gave us some insight on what will be happening as far as promoting us in regards to the CD release.
Afterward, Andy and I were backstage and we ran into Jason Gordon from Productshop NYC. He also praised our performance and gave us encouraging news on what's going to happen with our CD when they release it. Jason was also a cool cat. We're hoping we'll have the chance to continue working with him and his company.
The plan was to release the CD that night. Unfortunately, production problems made that impossible. They should be done within the next few weeks. Most of last night is still sinking into our heads, so I do not want to go into specific details of what was discussed. All I can say is that the end result of this gig was highly positive and left the future of echo station looking bright. Hopefully we can keep that light burning. We will see what the future holds for us.
I haven't seen or talked to the guys since we left each other this morning, so I'm not sure what they're feeling. For me, I feel a little bummed out right now. For the last two weeks, we've spent almost every day together. While it's been hectic and tiring, it also made the tight bond between us even tighter. Yesterday, we all got a taste of what life could be like if we made it. On Monday, we all go back to our day jobs and have to stare the uncertainty of what will come from this contest straight in the face. Our lives are great in either case. We have lots to be greatfull for. I will say though that we just had a sip of the sweetest wine ... and we're all still very thirsty.
-Mike
PS: Live show footage to be posted as soon as Andy can fix that fucked up camera of his.
Friday, November 03, 2006
EXCLUSIVE Echo Station Interview with Lady Jaded
New York-based rock band Echo Station is very unique in that the members have created a fierce brotherhood that translates through their music. According to Jason Gordon at Productshopnyc.com, “This band is all about rock n' roll. Some bands work on their image when they should be working on hooks. They got the swing of Whiskeytown and the rock of The Figgs.” The members of Echo Station, Steve Iasillo (vocals, guitar), Joe "Joebags" Bologna (guitar, vocals), Andy LaBella (bass, vocals) and Mike "Dot Com" Moody (drums) shared the same musical vision: To make rock music that would leave even the most casual listener wanting more. Echo Station’s intense and passionate live performances assaulted the New York City club circuit with highly successful shows at Piano's, CBGB, Don Hill’s, and Arlene Grocery. Since then, Echo Station has continued to bring their energetic live show to the masses by playing over 100 shows all over the northeast.
This past summer, Echo Station won the “Let’s Go Steady, Debbie!” songwriting contest, sponsored by author of Too Much, Too Late Marc Spitz, Random House, Product Shop NYC, and Three Rivers Press. Judges included Spitz, James Iha (ex-Smashing Pumpkins), Andy Greenwald (SPIN, author of Nothing Feels Good, Miss Misery), Chuck Klosterman (SPIN, author of Killing Yourself to Live), Alan Light (former editor-in-chief of Vibe, Spin, and Tracks, author of The Skills to Pay the Bills ) Sia Michel (former SPIN magazine editor-in-chief), Jason Gordon (Productshopnyc.com), Mary Huhn (New York Post) and Sarah "Ultragrrrl" Lewitinn.
A sampling from the book: “You think she’ll like it?” Harry wondered aloud. He couldn’t care less that he’d written something like an American classic. A song that anyone could cover and not ruin – even a teenage pop queen, someone who didn’t know shit about love.
The rules for the contest: We are asking bands from all over the country to read Marc Spitz’s brand new novel, Too Much Too Late, interpret and express what THEY think the fictional single “Let’s Go Steady, Debbie” (by the fictional band, The Jane Ashers) sounds like since the novel only suggests it via intentionally minor descriptive detail. You write the lyrics. You write the chords. You sing it. You are The Jane Ashers.
According to Marc Spitz, who also wrote the fantastic, Smith’s obsessed How Soon is Never?, “It dawned on me after the contest was announced we were kind of asking a lot from the contestants. Read a book, write a song, and make that song a pop classic?” Apparently, lead guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Steve Iasillo was up for it. “When I read the book, I just imagined what the song would sound like and even thought I should write this song even before the contest was announced. When the contest came out, I wrote the song that night, in like an hour. I have this theory that the songs I write in like 5 minutes are my best; it just flows out of me. This happened with Debbie... “
Echo Station will be performing as part of the CMJ festival at Studio B in Brooklyn, on Friday November 3rd. They will be playing along with indie faves the Horrors and the Thermals. The show is sponsored by Product Shop NYC. 1000+ promotional copies of their five song EP will be released this night, sponsored by Product Shop Records. The night is sure to be a blast, as Echo Station shows usually entail a lot of dancing, especially to the catchy “Claire is Clairvoyant” and “Mr. Heartbreaker.” There is also a lot of screaming and singing along and just good, old fashioned rock and roll decadence. I should know, I’ve been dancing and singing and screaming along for the past 6 years.
Despite their intense rehearsal schedule this past week, the boys in Echo Station (well, three out of the four of them)took the time to answer a few pressing questions for yours truly (Joebags, who is only here for a few weeks, is understandably quite busy, but we'll hear from him soon). I will now share their wisdom and passion with you…
Lady Jaded: Steve, when had you initially gotten together in 2000? What was it that enticed you to make a band comprised of these particular boys? What were you expecting to accomplish together? Steve: Well, I was in bands in college, and I never really felt like the music I liked was being played or represented. There was actually a early version of e / s in Binghamton, we played 2 gigs. After college, I spoke with Joe and was like let s do this for real when we get home. Mike was always our drummer so we called him up and was like let’s really try to play gigs and not fuck around. We started jamming my originals and got an offer to play the rye rec. We had no bass player and I had had a few jam session with Andy in high school, and asked him to play bass for the gig. We did not know if was gonna work, but once we started playing it just clicked and the band was complete. I think the idea was to be very intense, no BS Rock n Roll and really try hard to play good gigs in NYC.
LJ: We need to discuss the lyrics. I am a lyric whore. I love to find meaning in the songs, and I am always disappointed to learn that “whiskey” is not indeed about J, but about, um, whiskey…or is it? How the hell do you get such good lyrics while improvising?
Steve: "Good lyrics" that’s funny....Lyrics are a very sticky subject for me. I really consider myself a music person and not a writer. So, that is the hardest part. I think what happens is I write a song, a melody, and the whole structure in my head or on tape, then tackle lyrics. A lot of times, I just sing nonsense words and they form what the lyrics are, sometimes I sit down and write them. A song like whiskey, just came out with those words, it's not about whiskey or anyone when I wrote it, just a cool title/reference to band Whiskeytown). But when I listen to the words now, I think what came out is subconsciously about my feelings, I just did not know it at the time. A song like Bully is the same thing, I really did not have lyrics except the first line, but by playing the song, the lyrics came together to express my frustration of playing gigs in NY and the fight it is to be seen and heard there, and the way you are hot one day and everyone forgets you the next. The title was again just a cool name, but now means something.
LJ: Remember your first gig @ Rye Rec? What were you feeling that night? Did it go as you had hoped? Did you think you'd make it this far?
Mike: Yeah, I remember it. I was actually pretty excited because it had been years since I had performed in front of anyone, but I didn't have the nervous energy like I did at our first NYC show. I thought the show was awesome, though when I watch the video today, I cringe. What still stands out to me though is the energy the 4 of us had together. It was a sign of what was to come. I never doubted our ability to get this far and beyond. My confidence stems from the fact that we don't view or treat each other as just band mates. We view and treat each other as brothers who live for the music we play. I think that translates into our performances.
Andy: The first gig? Why don't we go back to the first rehearsal or the first time Steve called me. I remember getting the call from Steve and we were just shooting the shit. Steve starting telling me that a friend of his was putting together a show at the Rye Rec and that his band needed a bass player. I was like yeah and?? And he asked me if I wanted to do it and I said sure, but I don't have a bass or an amp and he said they still had Joe's old stuff. I was shocked to hear the 3 of them were still playing together after all these years. I was so happy he called because we had been trying to put a band together since back in high school and this was long overdue. From the very first practice at Exit 6 in PC we knew we had something special here. I learned the songs very quick and man, were the songs great. Everything sounded amazing and we were very excited for the gig. The gig went very well despite my reading the music off a cheat sheet and my being somewhat timid onstage. The comfort level obviously wasn't completely there yet and we were all kinda nervous, but after that night we knew we had something special and immediately started booking gigs in NYC.
Steve: Rye Rec was a disaster, but very fun and exciting. We got a great response, and I think that gave us the push to keep going and really start to play gigs.
LJ: How did the stagnation of e/s in the past few years effect your lives?
Steve: Looking at the last few years, I think our lives were just changing but we still wanted e/s to continue. As long as it is fun, I will keep on doing it....
Mike: This band has been the focal point of my life since it started in October of 2000. I've always viewed it as my #1 priority. When things slowed down and became uncertain I was initially devastated. I had been living thinking we were going to make it no matter what and my normal life was just a formality until we did. Eventually, I took a step back and looked at the bigger picture. I accepted the fact that there are things beyond my control and I had to find a balance between "real" life and what was going on with the band. Once I did that, everything seemed to fall into place for me personally and soon after the band re-emerged stronger then ever. I am happier with things now then I have ever been.
Andy: There have been many times where I've thought the band was done over the last few years. We've had a couple of chances to make something happen and nothing ever panned out. It's a tough business to break into and we all knew that from the start. We actually talked about how things were probably winding down and aside from the occasional guest appearance or backyard party we probably weren't going to gig much more. It really bummed me out because I know how good the music and how powerful our live shows can be. I love being onstage and the long layoffs always killed me. I guess we have Joebags to thank for getting drunk one night and dropping an email on Don Hills and suddenly we had another gig. One thing I can say is it seems whenever we take these long breaks, when we get back together it is always fun and there is always a kind of renewed energy and excitement to be playing again.
LJ: Onto the “Debbie" news...what was your initial reaction to Steve’s entering the contest? and when you heard that you won...? Can you relate to the Jane Ashers in anyway?
Steve: I loved the book, and I did relate to it. I think there are hundreds of bands out there with the same situation, and the story really gives bands hope, like it can happen for you. It's cheezy but kind of inspirational.
Andy: When I first heard about the contest I was all for it. I was just excited for a new song and getting back into the studio to record something new. When we first started rehearsing the song we knew right away it was special. It had that magic that we really haven't felt since we first heard Claire. It's funny how the simplest little riffs that Steve comes up with in a few minutes turn out to be the catchiest tunes he has written. So with a little restructuring and laying down some sweet harmonies we knew going into the studio we had something special. I mean, we knew it was a good song, and we had a chance to win, but i don't think any of us honestly believed we would actually win. I remember the call vividly. Steve called me at work and said, "Dude... we won!" And I was kind of caught of guard, but I knew exactly what he meant. I jumped up out of my seat and just went nuts. I could not believe we fucking won. Now at this point I still hadn't read the book yet, so I made it a point to read it on the plane to and from Cali and I was shocked at how much this story related to us. I mean right down to them saying something about naming your band after a Star Wars reference. It was about a few guys from a small town playing rock and roll, having real lives, girlfriends, wives, babies, etc. and then out of the blue someone hears their hit song, creates a buzz around it and the band takes off. We ARE the Jane Ashers!
Mike: When Steve first told me about the contest, I didn't think much about it or didn't think anything would come of it. It sounded cool, and for the most part I'm down for anything. That casual attitude changed as soon as he brought Let's Go Steady Debbie to the table. Just like Claire and Heartbreaker, I knew it was an instant classic. When Steve called with the news that we had won, I was overjoyed. It's one of those moments in my life I will never forget. I can't put my finger on one emotion, but it was one of the best feelings I've ever had. After reading Too Much Too Late, it's scary how much we can relate to the Jane Ashers. While reading it, I sometimes felt as if Marc Spitz was writing about Echo Station.
LJ: What do you want from this whole scenario? What sort of fame do you hope to achieve? Is this cult fame enough?
Steve: I WANT TO BE LIKE LA LOHAN!!!! No, Really, I want just to play music for a living. If I can do that, and provide from my family, then I would be happy. I don't care about fame or rock star money (although some money would be nice!!). I see super famous people and they seem to loose their minds, I would never want that. I don't need that much attention.
Mike: Like Scarface said, "I want the whole world ... and everything in it." In reality I'm hoping this scenario propels us to our dream, which is to be a great, respected rock band. I have no ego to think we will become the greatest band in the world, nor do I want that kind of label ... too much pressure. I want to continue to partake in the great music Steve writes and play shows for a growing base of loyal fans. I am most excited about the thought of touring the U.S. or maybe even Europe with the boys and rocking out every night. This cult fame is awesome and if it goes no further I will still be happy. However, truth be told, I want more. Not just for me, but for all the guys and our families who could benefit from our success. I will be happy with whatever God graces us with though.
Andy: I mean we all are very realistic people. We don't by any means think we're going to launch to superstardom or anything. But we finally have a buzz building around us and we're finally getting some recognition after 6 years of busting our asses. I've always said that I would love to just get paid doing what I love to do. Shit, I just want to live comfortably and not have to have a day job. Looking back on the showcase we did at Pianos in May 04, we kinda knew it was a long shot. We all know how major labels are and that they probably were not looking for a band like us. That's why we're excited to be part of the CMJ thing which is more geared around indie labels which may be more interested in signing a band like us.
LJ: you guys get to play music in front of people, who all have a blast at your shows...is this enough? Do you want more? What? For instance, if you were to be faced with the decision of things just going as they've gone the past few years, would it be worth it to you?
Steve: It goes back to being fun, if nothing happens, what can you do? I think we have done so much, we've played a tons of cool places in NY and around NY State, we got to record in Electric lady, had major label showcase, won the contest. I mean, we have done more than most band do ever, so I try to look at it that way. It's ultimately about the music, and I think I'll be writing and recording music for myself until I am old and grey. With the internet, Myspace, etc, I can have people hear it forever....
Andy: We love playing gigs. There is nothing better than being up onstage. Our crowds are always amazing. It's great to see the same faces still out there supporting us after 6 years. Of course we want more, but I know no matter what we will always be friends, brothers, band mates. We'll never stop playing, writing, teaching our kids how to play music as well. We'll always play those backyard keg parties and any other occasion that we're asked to play. It's fun. We always said we'd play until it wasn't fun anymore and I'm not ready to pack it in anytime soon. If something happens, it happens. If not, shit life goes on I guess. We'll have no regrets and a ton of great memories and a bunch of music and video recordings to remember this the rest of our lives.
Mike: There's nothing better then playing music for a live audience. No drug can simulate that feeling. Do I want more ... yes. I want to play more shows, in more prestigious venues in front of larger crowds. I want to do this in many cities and countries. If I was faced with such a decision, it would still be very worth it to me. If no more comes of it, I still get to play and make music with Steve, Joe & Andy.
LJ: Your live show is fantastic...your audience is always way into it, your fans anyway, and the bands preceding or succeeding you, as well as random audience members, are always blown away...what is the secret to your live energy?
Steve: There is no secret, just rocking, just having a good time. That has always worked for us.....
Mike: The genuine love and respect the four of us have for each other. Anyone who sees us play will tell you they can see the four of us are having a blast together on stage. Add to that a passion for playing great music and you have a potent, energetic live show. What many people don't realize is that you don't need to have a group of musical virtuoso's to be a great band. What's more important is that you have a group with explosive chemistry. That's Echo Station's secret. We're just 4 friends from Port Chester who found a special bond together through music.
Andy: I swore I'd never tell but the secret is Jagermeister...nah I’m just kidding. I don't know really. Something about getting up on stage, the pure adrenaline rush of it. The lights, the music, the crowd. We lay it all on the line. There are nights were I didn't know if I’d make it off the stage in one piece. We leave it all on the stage. Max effort, max energy, max heart. We always said our goal was to kick your asses and that’s exactly what it is. We go up there and do very little talking, we let the music speak for itself... and it always does. I've had people who haven't seen us since like the first year come out and see us again and say they can't believe we are still rocking so hard after all these years, how far we have come, and what a great band we have grown to become. So i don't know man. Even though I’m the youngest one and got picked on the most over the years for either my hair, my clothes, whatever... it's cool. I never had older brothers growing up or anything so it's cool. I love these guys man. It's the brotherhood of the wolf motherfuckers... recognize!!
Don't forget to come out and support the boys TONITE, Friday November 3rd @ Club Studio B in Brooklyn...it's easy to get there...either meet at my house @ 4:30 to follow us down or...take I-95 S / NEW ENGLAND TRWY toward NEW YORK. 3.2 miles
Take the HUTCHINSON PKWY SOUTH exit- EXIT 14- toward WHITESTONE BR. 0.1 miles
Merge onto HUTCHINSON RIVER PKWY S (Portions toll). 6.0 miles
HUTCHINSON RIVER PKWY S becomes I-678 S. 4.5
Merge onto I-495 W / LONG ISLAND EXPY via EXIT 12B toward MIDTOWN TUN. 3.8 miles
Take EXIT 17W toward I-278 W / BKLYN-QUEENS EXPWY / BROOKLYN. 0.9 miles
Merge onto I-278 W / BROOKLYN QUEENS EXPY toward BROOKLYN. 1.1 miles
Take the MEEKER AVE exit- EXIT 34- toward MORGAN AVE. 0.1 miles
Keep LEFT at the fork in the ramp. <0.1 miles
Stay STRAIGHT to go onto MEEKER AVE. 0.1 miles
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto DRIGGS AVE. 0.4 miles
Turn RIGHT onto MCGUINNESS BLVD. 0.3 miles
Turn LEFT onto MESEROLE AVE. 0.3 miles
Turn RIGHT onto BANKER ST.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
no day but today...
my doc prescribed hydrocodone to help me sleep as well as stop my wretched, wracking cough...however, it doesn't seem to be working. i have a fantabulous interview with echo station that will i will be previewing tomorrow here and on my myspace blog... so stay tuned...also, we are getting ever so stoked about the show tomorrow night...i am so pleased that some of my oldest and bestest are coming out to support...girls who i love yet never ever get to see...i love you guys! tomorrow night should be a beautiful time... of course, i bet this lovely mild weather will end and it will be freezy freeky. so i'm debating whether to take more medicine...it says if i od my breathing will stop (did you know that that's how people die when they have too much alchohol in their system? the alchohol, a depressant, depresses aka slows down all functions including breathing and thus, death). anyway. maybe i am getting a bit blurry eyed...i dyed my hair today. it's not quite as red as sally's over there, but it's kinda close...
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
citizen DICK
i'm watching singles and getting ever so sentimental for the long begotten days of grunge and the seattle music scene all the while wondering where the hell that hot member of pearl jam has been for the past 20 years (seriously. is he really in pearl jam?)when i discover that dan zanes, that wacky old songmeister that is in this disney band "dan zane's house party" which does juliet's favorite song "malti" which she sings completely en espanol is the ex-lead singer of the band del fuegos. you remember. like, from the 80s? like, from the juliana hatfield song "my sister" which goes "she's the one who would have taken me to my first all ages show/it was the violent femmes/ and the DEL FUEGOS/before they had a record out/ before they went gold..." is that the craziest shit? you most likely do NOT think that it is cuz this wacky man is not singing in your living room every morning. i love the song "malti" i will admit it to you. and the girls in the band do have that retro-alternative vibe to them!
hYPERchondriac
yea i suck, i feel like utter dogpoop, yet my doctor looks at me, almost like borat, mocking-like, and says, "it's a cold." and is thinking "you dumb shit!" but it burrrrns in my chest and i cannot be sick for friday night's ECHO STATION SHOW @ studio B in brooklyn. as they say in the hood...NO SLEEP TIL...you get my drift. so alas i have been prescribed some cough syrup like a dork, and hopefully will be feeling like having fun on friday night :)
did i tell you my leather pants are cute? but in hindsite, i'm feeling a wee bit 80s... which i love, don't get me wrong. and its not like i'm going to be wearing a shirt with the shoulders cut out (remember those? from the early 90s? well, i sure do, as my parents bought me one for xmas, and then forBADE me to wear it! mixxed messages, anyone?)
i spent my day watching funny borat things all around the universe...some special on comedy central, and then the tivo'd borat on snl (which i nicely included in this here blog for you) and then letterman...so i cannot wait to see the movie on saturday! it comes out friday, but you remember, the e/s show...
speaking of which! i think i may be getting my interview soon...the boys have been working diligently, practicing their lucky jean encased butt's off, but i'm hoping they'll be getting back to me by friday...and it will entertain the bejesus out of you i am sure!
halloween was niiiiiiice...altho i felt poopy all day...i didn't dress up but i wore my orange trick or treat socks and a festive scarf. how lame was that? "festive" it was also a bit "jaunty". juliet had a blast...of course. it is wonderful having her to take around and get candy. i remember how depressing halloween was getting... halloween was always our favorite holiday and we'd even take the next day off (citing religious reasons. hahahahahhahaha. seriously. my math teacher was like, are you joking? and i said, kind of. but anyway.)and we'd always watch rocky horror and once we TRIED to be naughty (we, i'm talking about my sister amie and my best friend christina)and took like, 2 eggs in our pillowcases, and i don't know what we were planning on doing w/them since we were w/my little sisters, and a bunch of other neighborhood kids, and parents and stuff, but alas, they cracked in our bags. we were like "DOH" just like homer simpson would be. then we yelled at other hoodlums who were smashing pumpkins all over the street. speaking of smashing pumpkins, did i mention that JAMES IHA might be there friday night?
did i tell you my leather pants are cute? but in hindsite, i'm feeling a wee bit 80s... which i love, don't get me wrong. and its not like i'm going to be wearing a shirt with the shoulders cut out (remember those? from the early 90s? well, i sure do, as my parents bought me one for xmas, and then forBADE me to wear it! mixxed messages, anyone?)
i spent my day watching funny borat things all around the universe...some special on comedy central, and then the tivo'd borat on snl (which i nicely included in this here blog for you) and then letterman...so i cannot wait to see the movie on saturday! it comes out friday, but you remember, the e/s show...
speaking of which! i think i may be getting my interview soon...the boys have been working diligently, practicing their lucky jean encased butt's off, but i'm hoping they'll be getting back to me by friday...and it will entertain the bejesus out of you i am sure!
halloween was niiiiiiice...altho i felt poopy all day...i didn't dress up but i wore my orange trick or treat socks and a festive scarf. how lame was that? "festive" it was also a bit "jaunty". juliet had a blast...of course. it is wonderful having her to take around and get candy. i remember how depressing halloween was getting... halloween was always our favorite holiday and we'd even take the next day off (citing religious reasons. hahahahahhahaha. seriously. my math teacher was like, are you joking? and i said, kind of. but anyway.)and we'd always watch rocky horror and once we TRIED to be naughty (we, i'm talking about my sister amie and my best friend christina)and took like, 2 eggs in our pillowcases, and i don't know what we were planning on doing w/them since we were w/my little sisters, and a bunch of other neighborhood kids, and parents and stuff, but alas, they cracked in our bags. we were like "DOH" just like homer simpson would be. then we yelled at other hoodlums who were smashing pumpkins all over the street. speaking of smashing pumpkins, did i mention that JAMES IHA might be there friday night?
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