Summer School Daydreams

All,

So I emerge sheepishly from much diary neglecting. The activities of this new band mingled with an exhaustive month long summer art class I'm teaching leaves me home late most evenings crashing onto my bed to read a handful of pages of De Lampedusa's "The Leopard," before falling into uneasy sleep. 8 days to go...I count down...until my work week is cut in half, and I can begin attending to half finished songs and days at the beach with my best friend and a transistor radio.

The show at the NYC Popfest was a bittersweet experience, which simultaneously reminded me of all the things I loved and didn't love so much about the old indiepop scene. In the end, the organizers cared deeply and worked really hard...and that is what matters most. But its just hard to have a kind of DIY 'anything goes' attitude when you need to charge punters $18 in order to get the shows on. I know that's the nature of doing things in this city, where a peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be $8! Its hard to secure venues, rent equipment etc...but it still created some hard to navigate contradictions.

There were probably too many bands on one level, and not enough on another. If there is one trademark of the indie ethos, its believing that anythings possible...and occasionally this means we have an Icarus moment, even when there is a song in our hearts...

I danced to Tullycraft on Friday at our Mondo Dance party, and it sounded fantastic. Pop is still what it is all about for me. But even at its most twee, the best indiepop was sort of a serious affair, filled with a reckless intensity...even if the conspirators were often in pink nail polish (me included...as I reflect). That is really evident when you visit places like Gothenburg. Most of the kids at the NYC Popfest (most of whom are no longer kids) still have that spirit...as complicated and somewhat comprimised as it is by the passing of time. The Popfest organizers bled gigham...its just the time/space continuum is a hard thing to navigate. Perhaps this first NYC Popfest in probably 10 years...had the thankless job of cleaning out at lot of old demons and dust to make way for the risorgimento. Problems aside...I know I'll be there next year (at least pogo-ing in the audience) if they are.

Here are links to a couple of clips posted on Youtube from the pop fest
Here are some fan video clips from our last show...
It's Not The End of World, Jonah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtBKh_mEyik
Our Lady of Stalingrad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvhsuiu2mU4
How I saved My Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rL1vEOeTbY

Our next show is Tuesday July 17 at The Annex with the excellent Domino...

I have so much to write about, ancient viewer mail to answer and so on. I'm hoping a new high-speed Internet connection at home (I know, I know what have you been waiting for Gracie? Moon colonization?) and the previously mentioned two months of intermittent labour will lead to a lot more prose. Check back and see...