we have been quite busy the past couple weeks... but we are not about to hang up a mission accomplished banner or anything.
On the 27th we went downtown for a live broadcast on WERS at Emerson College, where the science of broadcasting is studied. Unfortunately 9am is a little early to be under the microscope. OK. So there were some headphone issues. At that time of day it can be like talking about jazz to Yogi Bera:"No I don't understand it. If I understood it I couldn't talk about it." ...And then there might have been some discussion of microphone placement, and there might have been some feedback. It was a learning experience; and if we can shed a little light...Mission Accomplished!
Next day we were headed up to Montpelier, that's the Langdon St. Cage where the inmates are on the outside and the monkeys are on the stage. Bur seriously the Langdon St. Cafe is a great place for us to play, and they know how to make us feel at home. Every time Dinty's wine glass was low, a full one materialized. And he was singing Beertown. We weren't So Lonely like Sean sang. No, we swung the bucket around and they filled it pretty good. Anais Mitchell sat in and sang about the Tennessee Stud and Fixin' to Die, and people yelled a lot. Of course I didn't take the offer to serve as mayor seriously. But when we got pulled over by the cops after the show we were glad we had the mayor sitting in the back seat. And didn't you hear the officer say as he walked away: "Who's gonna turn the wheel"?... Mission Accomplished baby!
 Thankfully our old friend Bo Thayer had offered his place in nearby Gaysville for a crash pad; tucked into the woods like an elbow in the heart of a mudslide. Very cozy. Thanks Bo! I nodded off to sleep to the sound of Bill telling one of his scary bedtime stories about chimpanzees...
Next day, New York City just like I pictured it: The Yankees losing to the Red Sox on the radio and traffic stacked like cordwood on the FDR...We had to wait a bit for our show at Banjo Jim's. But on a beautiful evening in New York, who cares? Of course when Van Hayride is the band preceeding, it tends to muss the carefull coif of pre-show calm. Even if you have never heard of this band, you can well imagine their 'genre'. As an encore they played a song called " The Night They Fired David Lee Roth". Lead singer Jack Grace looked just like cowboy David Lee gone to seed as he crooned 'Ain't Talkin' bout Love". Wow. Mission Accomplished and we hadn't even started yet! Later Jack served up some Merle and Bartenders Blues. And you better believe he wasn't going to let us end anything too soon. "I ain't done yet " he said and he was right. That's a great little room for us down there in alphabet city. Why I swear we nearly brought the owner to tears with our sensitive renditions of Supermarket and Hit a Man. Luckily we had another gig scheduled at the Lizard Lounge or we would've never left...
That's right every Tuesday we are there. Whether it's Kimon singin' Talk To Me, Dinty sayin' Tell Mama or Sean letting the Hickory Wind do the talking, we are there. Sometimes the endings are better than others, ( we'll get Mystery Train right next time I swear).Last week we had the Everyday Visuals down to sing the Sloop John B and something about Carolina. Talk about sweet...
But we just got a postcard from ol' pal Paulette, who is presently relaxing at a mental facility in Camarillo California. It seems he is very concerned about the rat that got et up by the cat in Froggy Went a Courtin' off our 1st CD. So Ry has agreed to fly out there and staighten things out. Unfortunately he will miss our May 15th show at the Lizard. So we got Tim Gearan comin down to take his spot at the table. If the good lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, and we got you folks comin' down; we will get that Mission Accomplished...