Marnie Stern, Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies

The kids were at camp this week, so my wife dragged me out (it didn't take much convincing) to Local 506 to see Marnie Stern and local hep cats Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies. First we stopped next door for Indian food and ran into Marnie there. She was busy on the phone, so I didn't want to bother her, but we all met over dinner in the back of 506, camped out with our takeout while people arrived for the show. Of course we started chatting then. Marnie has to be one of the friendliest New Yorkers I have ever met. Everything they say about New Yorkers being kinda rude, not true! OK, maybe it's true for some of youse. Anyway.. one great thing about her is that she is still fresh, not burned out on touring or on the "industry".

VV and the LL's opened. This was my second time seeing them, the first being their very first gig several months ago. They sounded tighter than the first show, and played much the same material, 60's "girl group" a-go-go, or as they say, "the Sunbeam Sugarplum sound". Here is their MySpace. I'm looking forward to their first release. Fun stuff.

Then Marnie kicked ass! One guy said she sounds like Sonic Youth meets Eddie Van Halen. She makes extensive use of tapping as Eddie made famous, only in the post-punk style. Shredalicious! Special mention here goes to drummer Zach Hill. I think you could power a small city on the energy of his drumming alone. I was surprised that Marnie only plays with a rhythm guitarist, drummer, and herself. I hope she eventually adds a really good bassist. Check Marnie's MySpace for tunes from her debut album.

Back From the Abyss

We have returned from the great western voyage, but this week has been one of unpacking and readjusting to "life as we know it", things like work and stuff.

This means I have not had much of a chance to move things forward here in Bitland, though I have been planning the next stage of development.

One thing I have been thinking about is whether or not to perform in this year's Carrboro Music Festival, and if so, with whom. At this point I am tempted to go solo, a first (at least during this century), because Circle of Willis has not been rehearsing recently and it's not clear that anything will come together. Well, here's an idea. If you are reading this, you are local, interested in playing at the end of September for a 1/2 hour set for "tens of screaming fans", feel free to drop me an email sometime soon. Very soon. The musical lay of the land will be something like this: improv (10-15 minutes), vocal pieces (10 minutes), and composed instrumentals (10 minutes), all originals, though everything is open to discussion.