weak after week.

It's been a busy week of alcohol-free socializing...commentary to follow, but probably not until after Saturday's top secret LYSN gig, which will either be tremendous fun or the utter disaster that it's threatened to be every time we've played there in the past.

It tends to go like this: we show up, marvel at how cool and inviting and relaxed the general vibe and space is; wonder where the sound man is; smoke 13,174 boredom cigarettes waiting for sound man to appear; sound man eventually shows up with about the same level of sound man proficiency as the average Vegetarian Duck reader; we end up handling the sound ourselves, which is fine, but we could've saved ourselves 3 hours and 13,174 cigarettes if we'd known this earlier; we each make a trip home to search for cables most normal venues would have laying around, etc. Worst case, the sound man is not only ignorant and useless but also insecure and territorial, so while he can't do his job properly, he won't let us do it either...

All of which kind of ruins the cool and relaxed atmosphere for us, so this year we're prepared: we're just going to pretend that there's nothing but an un-plugged-in PA amp and speakers sitting in a field somewhere and it's our job to get it working.

Why do we continue to play here? Well, for one it's still 1968 here. And it's a very different and open-minded audience than we're accustomed to, their reactions are visceral, inarticulate, and fantastic. Plus the whole concept of what we do is foreign to them, and it's such a welcome change from playing to the same 50 jaded people all the time. Here's an a excerpt from post-show audience member conversation our first time there:

Audience Member: wow, that was amazing. so, how long have you guys been playing together?
Me: we've never played together before.
AM: [laughs] no, really.
Me: really...
AM: what do you mean?
Me: i mean this is the first time we've ever played together, ever. i just met the other guitar player for the first time 13,147 boredom cigarettes ago.
AM (cocks head, dog-like): what do you mean you just met him?

etc.

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Pictured above, Sunday's homemade Nolio for Scrabble: focaccia with caramelized onions, prosciutto, and a lemon-pepper cream sauce...cast your doubts aside, it's tasty.