purples
so the pics last night turned out strange and abstract i'm not sure if the camera was low on batteries or on lsd or what, but:
iota%20001.jpgbut the thing is this picture is oddly artistically evocative of the whole night. here we were, just adam on the cello and i on guitar, vocals, hat, on a big beautiful sounding p.a. system with just the right amount of people in the room (where all the great bands on their way up passing thru town that you want to see play in a comfortable good-sized atmosphere) for it to feel graciously supported but maintainable sound-wise. there were a bunch of people in there, but they were mostly there for us when we were playing, and they were all locked in. there was an energy. i loved it. aziza and kay started dancing like crazy english clubbers, and adam was all soaring like he just came from a ravel quartet rendition on the coast (which he had). afterwards nikki barr freaking rocked the place and i sat in the back and talked to important people over a heaping basket of the best fries in d.c.
on friday was the arts fest at atholton high school- i commend the maryland burbs for enacting such a vibrant collection of music, readings, and bigstage courtyard social mayhem in a fashion that would normally be on the fringes of consideration in most schools. i had a great time even tho at the beginning of it i practically knew no one, and after which i'd a)shot the shit with many dreaming souls b)had played to a field full of people intently listening and got called back for more, and c)left with 19 people owning my cd that hadn't before. it was a beautiful night, and one of those that could never be reinacted. i need those to make me feel in right in the here and now.
now it's a monday that feels like a sunday and we're gonna have an afternoon practice for the lifted show, and midweek i'll be getting in the car for the South. who could ask for anything more?
recap
all the gears seem to be turning in the right direction, and here i am pretending as though i am the orchestrator of it all. there are moments when i don't know where the time has even gone and there are moments when i, just for a second, think i know why the time was even there at all. i feel really good these days, and i know it has been forever since i've written on here but i was writing an e-mail to someone today telling them that this kind of interneglect only signifies what is good- that life is a rumpus about me and i am using the outlet part of my brain in ways that are direct.
lessee so i went and played in philly at this fairly renowned place called indre studios, and it was comfortable and contained and almost ...polite. but the real trip was contained in the grotty part, in philly itself, when we walked down the italian market and i bought a big ole box of strawberries and three and a half pounds of grapes all for two dollars and i had a big streetwise italian man try his best to teach his inherited lessons about loyalty, and when we all ate at pat's original phillycheesesteaks and huddled in perfect timing to beat the rain and listen to a young girl live out said virtue by telling her young boyfriend that she would no longer date him if he walked across the street to eat at gino's, the obvious opponent in her father's and father's father's loyalty.. and i love being in that city, because believe it or not it was kind of refreshing to see a bit of... well, poverty. it sounds weird but i believe that the cities with the most soul have to have some grimy. and don't get me the wrong way- i am not making light of people in economic recession. i simply never want to have taste in chandeliers.
anyway the point is philly has a bit of everything. and i believe one of those things is soul.
the following weekend the enterrage went to new york, as i was playing the grand ole room they call the bitter end. i must say it still invigorates me properly just to even feel the sensation of being in the City, to feel a sort of fast-forward caffeination without even needing coffee. there is something to the pull of soul-matter there that everybody just feels. and you don't even have to have your antennae out scoping about for it. anyway i was part of this songwriter's series that this larry fellow sets up, and i had the privelage of seeing some people that i had not seen in ages, and i played my arse off and the whole room was full and affected and it was triumphant. i later got a dvd of that show, from the webcast of it. here's a stillcamera's glimpse:
bitterendtrip%20015.jpgso it went really well and i was asked to come back and play a future show at cbgb's. that'll be june 6. all the current ahappenin's are right now located at
www.myspace.com/danielleemusic while this site is currently getting an overhaul and it's about to be all new and highly current.
in the meantime i am working on learning all the music to the bright eyes' "lifted" album because we are performing it in its entirety at jammin java on june 2. i just hope that everyone comes that would flat out refuse to actually call themselves emo at all..
and i'm amped about playing iota coming up because i will be doing it with adam on the cello. please come out to the undeniable arlington scene if you are nearby. we're gonna have a musical stampede.
then i'll play at the strathmore this multimillion dollar ubermodern mansion concert hall because of the newsong contest i done did be chosen in. that will be the opposite of whack. all before leaving in the roadmobile for a venture south to play some carolina and atlandom, after which i will be half through with recording my newer more stripped-down forthcoming album. rach is gonna play some oboe on a couple tracks and i've been working on the orchestration this very eve (: i would hope not a creature is stirring as i sit and vamp out all these details, but if you stir, do it with conviction. i wish you dreams of good reality.
