Sunday, May 1, 2011

A Perfect Day for Nothing in Particular


After spending the week burying friends and family, and the day scanning and uploading old photos of the band for a project we’re working on, I’m tired of focusing on the past! I don’t feel like coming up for a subject for today’s blog.

Valerie, the kids and I sat through a painfully tedious funeral mass yesterday. When it was over the priest said, “This ends our celebration.” I could only think, “These Catholics really know how to party!”

I just got back from rollerblading around Lafayette Park. It’s a beautiful spring morning and it fills me with hope. It’s time for new things from old people.

Dominic and I have been working hard turning a live 1981 KWMU broadcast of the band into a CD. The audio has deteriorated over the years, but the performance is there. Danny wasn’t in the band yet, but you can hear him in the audience. You can also hear our friend Sue who passed away recently. Jim Wallace was in the studio. He went on to do bigger and better things for NPR.

Valerie and I will be picnicking in the park later. We do that every chance we get. She’s recently been experimenting on the kids and me with exotic new recipes.

I had a big scare this morning. I smelled smoke and thought the house was on fire. Smoke billowed across my office window at the front of our apartment. I ran out back to find our neighbor smoking some kind of meat.

Rehearsals for our show in June have been going well. It’s convinced me it’s time to get a regular band together. I have so much new material I’ll never get it all recorded by myself. I’ve been advised to have 3 new songs available by then so I can use the show for advertising. It’s good to have goals.

While I’m busy writing about nothing in particular, I have to mention all of my favorite bands have just come out with new albums. Radiohead, Elbow, Sufjan Stevens, Cake, The Decemberists, and not too long ago, Doves. It’s pretty amazing considering you can’t make money on recorded music anymore.

Valerie, the kids and I went to The Decemberists at The Pageant last Wednesday. It was a great show, but you could tell they were exhausted after their long tour. Unfortunately it’s the only way you can make a living at music these days.

Everyone I know is excited about Neil Innes playing at Off Broadway next month. It’s hard to believe one of my idols is playing a small bar that’s within walking distance of my house. Innes is responsible for The Bonzo Dog Band, The Rutles, and much of the music of Monty Python.

My son is building up his Neil Innes collection. He’s really into vinyl right now, which is good because some of the albums are so obscure, they will never be released digitally.

A Perfect Day for Nothing in Particular is a song I wrote for Earwacks in the 70s.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Now, more than ever, when you play a song written a few decades ago it's not about the time it was written, it's entirely about what you hear right now. The magic of music is that it isn't there at all when it's not playing.So it's always about now, even when you sing something from long ago.

Anonymous said...

Tony, you're so cool!

David's Mom

Anonymous said...

Trust me. Give me enough time and i can find pretty much anything on cd.
Dylan