Friday, August 03, 2001

Pursuant to Little Oscar’s pleasantly brain-stimulating request, my favorite albums are

Jeff Lewis’s “Indie Fortune Cookie”
Espinola/Wolf’s “Lifeaphobia”
Zappa’s Mother’s “Only in it for the Money”
Bowie’s “Man Who Sold the World”
Stones’ “Beggar’s Banquet”
Chubby Checker’s “Let’s Limbo Some More” (the album with “Birdland”)
Gina Bacchauer’s “Scriabin Prelude’s/Brahm’s Waltzes”
Mostel’s “Fiddler on the Roof” (first soundtrack of Bock/Harnick Score)
Genesis’ “Selling England by the Pound”
Dylan’s “Desire”

Other favorites from the twentieth century’s Eighth decade:
Yes’s “Close to the Edge”
Emerson Lake and Palmer’s “Tarkus”
Jethro Tull’s “War Child”
King Crimson’s “Red”
The first recording of Sondheim’s “Follies”
William Finn’s “March of the Falsettos”

Wednesday, August 01, 2001

I saw the tape of Sunday's Pro-Choice on MH set. As a band we were out of control. We had a strong audience response to the first song which was quite a charge, and after that we were banging away pretty persistently. As for the park event piano dropping glitch -- Pete the Piano Killer, said Joie -- I returned the piano to Drew Blood today. It works. Drew resucitated his keyboard, as he has so many times before. That's a great keyboard, even if, or is it because, it weighs 90 pounds.

After catching the end of Lenny Malatov's set, I went to Jordan Pfister's apartment to watch the tapes of our recent shows, which is a good rule of thumb more honored in the breach.

The piano fell during the park event only when I concluded the second song. It fell at the last chord. Honestly, I bow and when I first saw the tape I thought my head or my elbow hit it. It was falling after I lifted my hands, before I began leaning. It could have just as easily fallen two chords before the end. Amen.

Next, Jordan pulled out a Cafe Bustello fundraiser tape from 1988. He had a friend who played there with, oh, what's her name. Heather? She is a wonderful performer and she doesn't need me to plug her here, she's doing very well and has much compassionate enlightenment to offer us. It's Heather Woodbury. Amazing writer performer.

The fundraiser event was at Cuando, which I now know is not spelled Quando, a place I know because I was victim to a most successful vandalization in front of it and I suspected the squatters there of providing the hiding place for all the equipment taken from my car.

Cuando is across from La MaMa La Galleria and the tape makes it look like a major auditorium.

One of the featured performers introduced by Jennifer Blowdryer was Lach. This is Lach in 1988. Long haired, slender, very attractive, handsome, intelligent, unbelievably magnetic and defiant. A cross between Bowie and Nicholson, but unique as well. It's unquestionably him, the same person who performs and hosts the weekly antihoots today. He sang two songs, including his version of Femme Fatale. That tape was a blast of light on the darkeningly disappearing past. We have continuity!
I'm still suffering from pro-choice on mental health interruptus. We only played four songs from the performance on Sunday! It has created a strong incentive to book another show. Joe Bendik played with us and he's already called Hens and Jordan to play with him. Maybe we can book one big night to officially release the PConMH CD. One of the audience members who bought the CD on Sunday told me to get it into Kim's Video in case he reviews it.

Kim's Video was originally a Dry Cleaner that began renting VHS tapes. Meanwhile, the North West Corner of 2nd Avenue and St Marks (E.8th St) was a movie theatre. There I saw Evil Dead. Suddenly Kim's was an underground video store on the second floor by what was once this movie theatre, and foreign obscure films became available there. What a gallery that second floor was! Now it's moved up nearer Third Avenue. That's the big store with three flights at least, and it also carries underground music. There are other locations, one conveniently across from Sidewalk. There is also a Kim's Dry Cleaner (These are on Avenue A). Remember when all the corner deli's suddenly became operated by a Miss Kim?

Tuesday, July 31, 2001

There are no mosquitos around, and again I have a cold. Aha! There's spraying going on in these parts.

Other contributing factors to a feeling of illness which is going away as I type -- the full body swedish massage I had at The Penninsula Spa yesterday.
The membership coordinator, a pleasantly handsome fellow named Dennis, recommends the Champagne facial.

One of the fellows there took my shoes and returned them with a beautiful shine. These are super shoes by "Havana Joe" and before he restored them, they looked dry and beaten. Now they leave a black mark upon whatever they touch.

One of the guys in the steam room, referring to it, said to another guy, "You put one of these in your place?"

I sarcastically thought, yeah, sure.

He said, Yeah, sure, but not as big as this.

"How big?"

"Actually about as big is this. We had to drop the ceilings."

"You can't have the ceilings too high."

"No, the steam rises."

One of them was spraying.

I thought, give me that, and said, "What makes the menthol?" No ingredients listed, just a warning: Flammable. "What is this stuff?"

He shrugged.

My skin was soft from the oils.

"My corpse is ready for its close-up Mr. Demille!"

Monday, July 30, 2001

The Sidewalk Cafe faces the Pyramid Club. Anti-hootenany faces Drums and Bass. Spencer said he played the Pyramid and picked up strange vibrations. When else did he feel them? I went in there, having run into my old friend and former roommate, Kenny Nowell, who was going there following a look into sidewalk. He was researching music for a play. He and Justine Lambert run the Looking Glass Theatre. The guy at the pyramid gate stopped me, asking for ID. I said, after providing him with it, "I was here back when William Burroughs was dancing with Beat Rodeo!" The 8 dollar admission really stopped me. Anyway, the lyricless music sounded ok. Beats and Bass, Bass and Drum, Drums and Bass! And some high industrial construction clanking, clanging in independent counterpoint.