show #2

there's more to update, but for now i'll just stick w/ the show...The Potomac Accord were really fucking good...i got their cd (Silver Line on a Black Sea, it is called...)

us: from our perspective on stage (The Map Room actually has kind've a semi-stage now), we sounded really bad...but like the last show, the sound as it picked up on a whole off-stage was quite different...and last night (as well as again today) Keith and i went back and watched the video that David graciously took and, for the most part, it sounded pretty good...for the most part i'd say it sounded better than the first show...the only things that were really messed up were the first two songs...the bass on "Homage" was out of tune and Keith's guitar on "A Series of False Starts" was out of tune too...
[a brief story:]
durring practice that morning we were working on its arrangement...and there was a spell where we went through it and would get near the end and we'd get one of the transitions wrong and we'd go back and start over...after this happened a couple of times someone made a joke about playing it like that at the show and said something else that i forgot...then i was like "this song's called 'A Series of False Starts'" and then the others were like "woah!" [see Joey Lawrence] and we decided to keep it as the actual song title, as it didn't have one yet...end of story...

of course we all made quite a few mistakes durring the show, but nothing was as noticable as it seemed at the time...another funny little note: some bum had wandered in and before we did our last song yelled out "do what you gotta do" and Jacques replied "what?" or something like that and he said "it's all good" then Jacques said "i'm glad you approve" ... "you fucking cunt" it was really funny...here's our set list, posted for no reason other than to post it:
Homage
A Series of False Starts
Uncurable
Taken
A Better Way of Failing
A Case of a Derelict Heart Mended
Slow Autumn
also, before "A Case of a Derelict Heart Mended" i had to tune the guitar up (it might've been another song but i think that's right)...i think someone might've said something so i went to the mic and pulled out the ol' Misfits quote for such an occasion (in my standard, mumbled voice) "we pound these guitars like fucking jackhammers. do you think we're lightweights?" i think David was the only person who caught the reference...not that there were a lot of ppl there to catch it...not very many ppl showed up...The Potomac Accord waited later to start for ppl to show up...eventually a few did...although a good bit of them left halfway through our set...i think that was a bit discouraging durring the show...but that's okay...

also, i wore my Helloween shirt for the show...w/ a blue collared shirt underneath, and my skinny tie...kind've wacky, but it couldn't be helped...you would've done the same in my position...

there was also a third and maybe a fourth band that had been booked to play...i think at least one of the bands showed up (i think they both had some association together) but then left...they had fans there early on but they left too...i'm not sure what went on w/ that...but oh well...

a few closing thoughts: playing The Map Room's really cool 'cuz so far 100% of our shows have been booked w/ really good, really nice bands...sure it's only two shows, but maybe it'll keep up as a trend or something...also, when the music sounds different to the band than it does to the audience, it really sucks...next show we'll end up w/ it sounding perfect to us, then we'll find out it sounded like shit to everyone else or something...one day we'll be famous and Spin Art will buy us monitors...but we should be able to make due 'til then...

events and lacks thereof...

wednesday night i went w/ Justin to the Flying Saucer...they had a special: buy a certain beer (Rogue's Dead Guy, not that it matters...tasted like crap like all beer...) and take home the glass...the glass had a picture of Elvis Costello's face (from Blood and Chocolate) and said "ELVIS LIVES"...very funny, as it was durring dead elvis week and in downtown Memphis, just a block away from Beale Sreet...i went for the glass...drank a little but only a little...it was fucking awful...Justin had the rest of mine...but now i have a cool Elvis Costello glass...then i went home in order to get up early for practice...

oh, i also worked that night even though i was off...two ppl had called in so they called me and i had nothing better to do at the time and i was hardly working this week so i agreed...

we practiced early (woke up to call everyone at 6:45am) and did pretty well...Jacques went to work at 2...i napped a few more hours...then called Brad and Keith to get the gear together...i already mentioned the show, itself...

we talked w/ The Potomac Accord a while...they were super-nice guys...also Dale, Map Room/Great Depression guy, while talking w/ The Potomac Accord guys said that we (The Family Ghost) were "cool as shit" and not assholes or anything, while discussing the possibility of them getting most of the money for the cover (which never got taken, due to non-organization and our muddled mental states of the time...) i thought that was pretty cool...

once again, the band stayed over at Brad's house...they even helped us get the gear from our cars inside, which was really nice of 'em...we were all fucking dead...aside from all of us barely getting any sleep, it was really fucking hot and we were exhausted...as well as it being pretty late on top of it all...we sat up talking to 'em a little while...

i went to crash at Keith's as i had court in the morning...and he lives downtown, less than 5 min from the court-place...we watched the video, as i said in my last post...we also watched the first show, as i had that had already been in the camera...it was after 3 by the time we got to Keith's...i decided not go to sleep at all, in case i might oversleep and miss court...as well as you tend to be less tired from not sleeping at all (up to a certain point) than just getting a very small amount of sleep...i was wrong about it being at 8, it was at 9...but i noticed that when i looked at the letter again before i was about to get ready...it was pretty cool 'cuz i didn't bother bringing a change of clothes and just wore what i wore at the show (the collar shirt, not the Helloween, unfortunately...) ripped khakis and all and uncleanliness and all...but it didn't matter much...it was less court as much as it was a line...waited in line, told someone our name and got our sheet of paper thingie describing our "case" or whatever...waited more and went up to the one clerk...gave her the paper, she asked me if i had gotten the brake light fixed...i said yes (even though it wasn't broken in the first place...) she asked if i had a receipt or anything...i had the foresight to bring the package of the lights that i bought when i thought it was broken...showed her that and she said that would do...wrote "dismissed" on my paper and i went away...went back to Keith's and finally got around to my crashing...slept a few hours...then i sat around all afternoon/evening w/ Keith...just sitting around...i literally spent over half a day on his couch...now i'm home...i don't think i've left anything out...and if i have, it prob'ly wasn't imporant...(like anything is...)

oh...also some of us have been to the same shows as the guys in The Potomac Accord...Low and Godspeed You Black Emperor! in Chicago...also they played the Noise Pop festival...though they played the same night as Yo La Tengo at a different venue...they didn't get to see the other shows 'cuz they had their own to go to in different cities, though they said they were tempted to skip out on their own show for Television and Suicide and all...done, now...

cords

called Consigment and asked 'em if my cords had arrived...the guy told me the place they order stuff from didn't carry them for some reason...(thanks for calling me and letting me know!) so i searched online and finally came across a place to get 'em as a snake...well, actually two 8-track snakes...hopefully they'll arrive soon so i can start using my recorder and all that jazz...that would be swell...