///unbelievable show tonight at the Village Church in Baltimore... in Hampden. probably the most gorgeous space we've ever played in. old church from the 1800s. beatiful woodwork. sound was pristine. nice size. it was a perfect place to play on this eve of the election. great mood and energy in the building. local Cameron Blake and his band opened. they were really great. well put together songs and well performed. great spirit. helped set the mood right off the bat. and we have them to thank for setting the show up in this amazing room. nice little crowd for a monday and they were all super nice and generous. really can't say thank you enough.
our buddy Bob Keal of Small Sur made it out as well. chillin at his place right now. so good to see him and to get some hangtime. he rules.
last several shows have all been amazing in their own little ways...
WED 10/29/08 Kittery, ME
started the day by visiting with the band and theory classes at Lisa's high school alma mater -- Belmont High School -- in Belmont, NH thanks to her old teacher Ray Craigie. we had a blast. we setup and played right in their classroom... and the kids asked great questions. and we ate hot lunch. my favorite.
ended the day in Kittery, Maine at a new art/performance space called The Buoy that our buddy Nat Baldwin had helped hook us up with. Brett + Al + Jeremy + Ryan and everyone else involved with the space were such good people. we had an amazing time. the show was really fun. we played first. then locals Unnatural Witch played an all improv sound experimental set that was super cool. right up my alley. great scene. i really really enjoyed this show. met some fantastic people. here's some photos and some video of the Unnatural Witch set...
crashed that night with Nat and his girlfriend Laura and his brother Niles out at Nat's grandpa's cabin on the rocky shore of the Atlantic.... with East facing windows. i set my alarm and got up at 6:20am for the sunrise. so peaceful. so awe-inspiring. it was very cold, but worth every moment.
this morning and sunrise was a major grounding moment for me. felt incredible to be there right then aka here right now. complete peace with the moment. thanks to nat and laura and brett and all of you that continue to make it possible for us to do what we do...
THUR 10/30/08 Moultonborough, NH
woke the rest of the crew up and we quickly packed up and embarked on a beautiful morning drive to Moultonborough, NH for an early afternoon show at Moultonborough Academy.
played an all-school assembly at the academy to 300+ kids in their auditorium. and we ate hot lunch again. my favorite. the assemby was a blast. the kids were soooo fun. after the assembly we stuck aorund for another hour and chatted with the music students before school ended.we were back that night for a night concert in the auditorium. this time with a high school band called The Brewmeisters. they were great and a fun opener for the evening. we had so much fun at Moultonborough Academy. thanks to Mrs. Harmony Markey for making it happen and all the kids that helped make it so fun. especially enjoyed the signing of foreheads that a bunch of kids insisted on... i bet their parents really love us now... :)
FRI 10/31/08 New London, CT
spent the morning with Lisa's family then hit the road for New London, CT for a Halloween show on the Connecticut College campus that our buddy Mike Borden had set up.
show was in The Barn where bands on campus practice. really really cool and cozy space. we got it warmed up with Glitch then Antoinette with Mike on guitar with us -- which was rad. by then some folks started to show up and we rocked for about an hour to a dancey and fun crew before yielding to the spooky forces of the evening and moved on to the various events around campus... Mike took really good care of us in general and even hooked us up with a mix cd for the road.
after the show, cam and i cruised with Mike to the big Halloween dance in the student center. place was packed with drunk college kids in costumes. it was intense. i didn't last long. grinding in hot rooms just isn't my thing anymore. cam on the other hand... :)
SAT 11/1/08 Northampton, MA
great show at The Elevens in Northampton, MA. Mark Sheehan brought us back to town and this time set us up at The Elevens... pretty classy place right in downtown. Mark is awesome and can't thank him enough for the support and for all that he does for independent music in the area... he ended up billing us with two locals releasing new albums.... and sandwiched us right in between them. really awesome show. great sound. great bill. great crowd. all the bands were tight and a pleasure to work with.
Mark Schwaber and his sidekick Sarah Gomes kicked the evening off with a gorgeous set of tunes. I guess they'd recently toured with The Swell Season, who we'd had the pleasure of meeting in Missoula back at the beginning of May... we could definitely sense the similarities.
after them, the first of the two bands hosting an album release party -- Nuclear Waste Management Club -- which
is essentially a sideproject for Spouse frontman Jose Ayerve with which he has an all-star group of musicians backing him up including Peyton Pinkerton of the Silver Jews and Ken Maiuri of Pedro The Lion amongst others. super tight. fun to watch. all super nice.we followed them. our set was a blast. then after us the other local releasing a new album -- Watcher -- closed the night out. also rad. definitely check all these folks out. all fairly hard to describe. all very talented.
after the show we kicked it old school with our buddy Miranda La Police. the awesomest. the most coolest. the most funnest girl on the street. old Johnson State College buddy of Lisa and I. she's le shit. love her. so good to see her and goof off into the wee hours with her again. and she has the coolest apartment with the coolest decor. we had way too much fun
SUN 11/2/08 Philly
we were on a Philly cheesesteak mission. shocked we didn't pursue this mission when we were in Philadelphia in April. nonetheless, we forgave ourselves and were determined to make up for it. we googled the infamous Geno's and Pat's steakhouses and set the GPS directly for them. i was asked Geno's or Pat's? the night before. we chose Pat's King of Steaks based on less flashiness, proximity to our parking spot and less McCain / Palin signs. :)
amazing experience. fastest food ever. and best fast food ever.
show that night was at The M Room again. this time with Horse In The Sea from Chicago who were pretty cool. nice people. pretty poppy Belle & Sebastiany music. also on the
bill were two local bands that both reminded me of Ween in their own way, which is crazy, cuz i don't know if we've ever played with a band that reminded me of Ween... and we managed to play with two of them this night... granted, we were in Ween territory, but still. they were definitely both quite different from Ween, but the Weenisms were aplenty. and i was very grateful for them. loved both of the bands. very cool stuff. and super nice people. definitely check out Gentlemen Christ as well as the uber jazzy strange pop and awesome Fresh Cut Salads. it was a fun show, despite being pretty thin on paying customers. thank goodness the bands were cool. thanks to Shannon from Anthropic Records for helping put the show together. and to Evan and Dave from Cloud Minder for coming out. and big big thanks to Shannon, Evan and Carl for putting us up. and to Vitamins for being a crazy ass kitten and bouncing off the walls the whole time we were there.
11/3/08 Baltimore, MD
that leads us back to where this entry started... i fell asleep in the middle... so now it's last night... amazing amazing show last night. the church space was unbelievable. perfect way to spend the eve of this election. and my dad's birthday, which i was saddened to be so far away for and dedicated the set to him... between that, the space, the election eve, and the opener Cameron Blake, it made for a very inspiring evening.
11/4/08 election day. it's finally here. tomorrow could be a brand new day in America. may it be so. we're headed to Washington DC today to play at an Ethiopian restaurant called Dahlak and presumptively celebrate an Obama victory... can't wait.
thanks for listening. going to post a bunch more photos on our myspace site... and maybe to our flickr site too.
right on.
talk to you soon.
///gilbert
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