10/25/03 The Northeastern Great Mullet

Where did I leave off, o.k. We drove from Burlington to Boston, oh what fun, it was snowing, not that bad but still snow, i like snow, i like the changing of the seasons, the trees were changing colors, oh how fall it was, we made it to Boston, and the club in which we were playing was home to some of what I thought was an endangered species, The Northeastern Great Mullet, it is so rare to have a chance to see these subjects in their own environment, listening to 80's metal and screaming things at each other in that pleasing Bastun accent, with that in mind I started to wonder if there could be cross cohabitation between The Northeastern Great Mullet and the Vashon Island Sensitive Songwriter, aka Ian, knowing that there is a territorial issue between these two species, things were not looking good, so we decided to discuss these issues over some Indian food at Punjabi Dahba, you may have heard reference to this place in previous posts since it so good, and since they seem to be the Massachusetts mecca for Punjabi remixed hip hop, not Dahler Mehndi stuff, that is too poppy (to do with popular music, not bagels) but the real deal East Indian tab-la driven phat beats with sitar accompaniment, yo. After stuffing ourselves we headed back to the watering hole of the NGM (abbreviation of The Northeastern Great Mullet) and to our surprise almost the whole heard migrated elsewhere, leaving us to enjoy the rituals of the Vashon Island Sensitive Songwriter, so with a blurry of high notes and broken strings, the set was done and Bill Malonee played, I unfortunately was pre occupied calling my Mom during part of his set. I then had a chance to talk to some great folks at the bar about music and Canada and stuff, so a big shout out to the Canadian transplant and her super cool friends, I apologize for forgetting everyones names, and a super big shout to Sean and his wife Sarah, who came all the from Utah to see us, well maybe not just to see us, or maybe there was nothing else going on in Boston that night other than watching the migratory path of the NGM, so we were a good bet.
We stayed at Ian's cousin Chris' house he, as always, is super cool to hang out with, I have to say he is the most fun a M.I.T. Professor could ever be, so thanks for the bloody bagels and everything. We were soon off to play Hoboken New Jersey, at the Legendary Maxwell's, to our surprise, every one there was really nice, it is strange that although the staff of Maxwell's is geographically as close as you could be to NYC without getting wet in the Hudson river, they are congenially light years apart from any staff at any NYC club, it is nice to be considered something more than an annoying sound in the distance. The show was a lot of fun, and afterward we hung with the likes of some crazy people that drive way too far to see us, so thank you Alieta the Cub Scout and Co. for braving the insane traffic and ridiculous parking. Off we were to the city to drop off some friends at bars and apts and stuff, cars are such a pain in the ass in the city, but everyone that doesn't have one wants a ride in one, NYC is the only place in America where you have to drive like you are pissed off and in a huge hurry, it is o.k. to cut anyone and everyone off, hop curbs, spit, scream and drive like you are possessed by a speed addled murderer being chased by the fuzz, so i did, and will again, it is like a video game, you throw your quarters into a toll booth, cross the river and drive, fuckers, drive. We stayed at Ian's friend Rachel's house in Brooklyn, it is nice and small just like the opposite of what you see in the show friends, I woke up to Ian impressing Rachel and friends with his Axl Rose imitations that looked more like howdy doody doing calisthenics, took a shower and by the time I got out Ian was already taking a nap. so i am writing this to you from a couch in the most exciting city in north America, soon i will get coffee and get moving. We play CMJ (College Music Journal) tonight, it is like South By Southwest on steroids in a bucket full of piranhas. I will give you the updates when they happen, from AP and UPI the news is next on AFN.

C.D.