the first show

last night we played a backyard show in our neighborhood of bed stuy.
the show was put on by the backyard series.

we were admittedly nervous since we haven't performed in over a year.
not to mention, we're accustomed to playing with 4 other people...
but it was a challenge we needed to accept and it totally paid off.
the songs really breathed and had dynamics.  very emotional.
hopefully we can track down some footage...
until then, here are a few pictures

jailbait

we came across this video this morning and got the chills



now hiring: this exact band line up

montauk

liska and i just celebrated our anniversary in montauk

march playlist

so hopefully this will become a regular thing...

we put together a playlist on grooveshark.
it's basically a group of songs that we listened to a lot last month.
sometimes while cooking and doing dishes, or while taking a shower and brushing our teeth, or while going for walks and train rides.

i'd say personally (nate), the song i listened to most was "county line" by cass mccombs.  i don't normally repeat a song immediately after it finishes but i just couldn't get enough of this one.  it perfectly soundtracked the melancholy of new york winter.  i also finally had a fleetwood mac "tusk" moment, beautiful album through and through.

check out the playlist here:  http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/March+2011/50386183?src=5

It's A Funny Life

liska just pointed out that i never blogged about our latest song, "It's A Funny Life."

so, boom, here you go.  you can download it for free at our bandcamp site.

it's a tender song with a lot of funny references, both direct and subtle.

we particularly love how the last half turned out.

staten island ferry

since liska and i have never lived on the east coast we keep telling
ourselves we should take advantage of the new sights and experiences
this land has to offer.

so recently, on a cold sunny day we took a ferry into staten island.
from what we could tell there appears to be absolutely no reason to
visit staten island.  but boat rides that go past the statue of liberty are
pretty interesting and worth the free ride.  once we arrived we looked
on a map and saw a place called "Silver Lake Park" and figured that's
where we should go.

here are a few shots from the day...

the big one

while living in l.a. i remember seeing a billboard asking "are you ready for the big one?"
it's a reference to the mass destruction earthquake that's apparently overdue for the region.
this morning i came across this article: California's 'big one' might be a megastorm
as if we needed more fear in our lives.

the problem is, it's not really something you can prepare for unless you want to move away completely.  then again, every corner of the world has it's natural disasters.  choose your poison?  or how about quit talking about it?  if you're a scientist it makes sense to study and discuss it amongst other scientists.  but telling the public and coming up with hypothetical disaster scenarios just to get people worked up is foolish.  it's sort of like telling a little kid about the rapture.  like a haunted story passed down from generation to generation.  each one of them dying without seeing the horror of it all, but sensing the urgency of it.

that's sort of how our song came about ("the big one" http://doomandgloom.bandcamp.com/ )  liska and i tend to come up with plans for different disaster situations.  the disaster isn't what's so frightening, but the idea of being apart in the midst of that, or the constant dread of one person dying before the other.  on bad days we joke (half joke) about wishing for a disaster to just take us both away at the same time.  i suppose that's both depressing and romantic.  which is kind of how the song feels, but with a healthy portion of hope.

"if it's true what they say, stop listening.  if it's true what they say, it's not true today."

blizzard pt. 2

1.11.11 - bowery hotel - with friends robert & gia

chasing down the smoke

photo: grand army plaza - with friends jamie & moses - 1.9.11

---

we've been writing lots recently.
a bunch of garageband snippits with temporary titles like "google maps" and "liska jam."
particularly excited about a new one called "small town bands"
it was born out of that neil young acoustic deserty sound scape and feeling.
then we scrapped that recording and started over.  can't describe it anymore.

brando (best bud/castledoor bassist) sent us some demos recently.
we really freaked - they sound so fresh and amazing.
it's more soulful than anything we've ever done.
i sang a chorus on one of them...hopefully we'll finish it soon.
we're gonna send him "small town bands" so he can add parts to it.
should be an interesting experiment.

christmas curls

liska at home in bed stuy - christmas morning 2010

snowed in

at my work there is a rule that they're responsible for providing a taxi ride home if you work past midnight.  thank goodness, cause i had a shift that lasted till 4am this week...just after one of the worst blizzards in new york history.



it started snowing here the day after christmas and didn't stop for 24 straight hours.  it's been pretty intense considering we have to walk about a mile to the train every day.  but also, kinda fun.


here are two photos from the morning after the blizzard.

first, the view across the street from our house:

there were so many abandoned vehicles.  including cabs, police cars, ambulances and buses like this one:

 i took these photos with my christmas present from liska: