Casey's Almost Awake Blog

Back in the 518

2009-08-30T20:47:00.003-04:00

Oh, so much has occurred since my last blog entry. So much. Some would say TOO much. I wouldn't, but some would.

Anyway, Dave and I are back in the Capital Region of our lovely New York State. We have a number of shows coming up in the region (and I have one solo show coming up back in Cortland).

I shall talk a bit about them here I suppose. You can see dates and times listed on our Myspace.

Speaking of which, I should consult that as I continue this post so I don't include any incorrect information.

Ok, so . . .

September 6th, we are playing at dear-to-our-heart-of-hearts Coffee Planet! We haven't played there since last year's Christmas Eve show which was not on Christmas Eve at all. It should be a good time, as playing in windows is always enjoyable, and it's been a while since I've been able to read a nice, free copy of the Tuesday Edition. . .

But truly, I recommend Coffee Planet highly as a venue in which to see Almost Awake. It's a morning show (11AM), the food and drinks are great, and it's a nice, bright, welcoming environment. Plus, you can check out the lovely shops of downtown Ballston Spa after the show.

The next weekend, Sunday, September 13th, we'll be playing at a benefit event to raise awareness of and support research about Mitochondrial Disease. This is a very important event that we urge everyone to come out for. In addition to Almost Awake, Tom Lindsay and Michael Eck's duo, The Gospel Trian will be playing, there will be speakers and a remembrance walk. It is an all afternoon event which runs from 1PM to 5PM and takes place at the Crossings of Colonie (A lovely town park). The event is being organized by a group of people who knew and cared for Amanda Perrotta, a sixteen-year-old girl who died of Mitochondrial Disease in 2008. More information about Mitochondrial Disease, the event, and Amanda can be found on the Amanda's Journey website. There was also an article about Amanda and the event in the Spotlight Newspaper.

Skip forward to October and a two-show blow-out weekend!
Friday, October 23rd we will open up for our good friend Jeremy James at his CD release party at Bread and Jam in Cohoes (8PM). On Saturday the 24th we will play at Coffee Planet (11AM) once again.

In November, look forward to Almost Awake at a brand-new venue for us (well, Bread and Jam is a new venue too, but we're openers, so it doesn't entirely count. It does count a little). Anyway, the venue I'm talking about the Jonesville Store (November 21st, 6:30PM). It's in Jonesville, which is in Clifton Park.

I'll give you more details about the October and November shows when they come a tad closer.

Oh! And I can't forget to mentions that I (Casey J. Chapman) am playing alone (::sigh::) at Blue Frog in Cortland on Thursday, September 17th from noon to 1PM as part of the Lunch Tunes series. The last Lunch Tunes gig I played was so much fun, I just had to travel back to CNY for another one (and traffic court, but that's another story).

Ok, that wraps it up. Dave is looking antsy and pacing around so I suppose I should interact with him now.

The end.

*C*

Blue Frog Folks

2009-07-31T09:03:00.002-04:00

Dave and I like Blue Frog Coffeehouse. The people are wonderful, the coffee is excellent, and Dave has a thing for the brownies. I have a thing for the free refill on in-house coffee.

The Frog is like my home-away-from-home in Cortland. I go there every Saturday and some days during the week. I recognize most of the people there (although I certainly don't *speak* to them. That would be against my nature) and am always happy to see Karina, the owner, and talk for a little while.

It's like if you mixed Jed's and Coffee Planet and put them in Cortland, or something like that. And with a free refill and a piano and a sound system, and blue frogs.

But, getting to the point, I was there on Wednesday, drinking coffee, and Karina asked if Dave and I would like to play at their summer "Lunch Tunes" series. She said they were all booked for their Tuesday slots, but had tons of openings for Thursdays (noon to 1PM). Unfortunately, professional that he is, Dave is currently unavailable at that time. I, however, am entirely free, save packing.

So, I said I would play by myself. Fun! I get to play new stuff Dave and I haven't figured out yet! And no pressure, right?

Well, it turned out there was a good audience outside (I played in the outdoor seating area) AND Dave came down to watch on his lunch break. So, I couldn't actually try out completely new stuff, but playing by myself did allow me to experiment a little which was fun.

I ended "Downtown" (which you won't have heard, of course) and "River" (mine, not Joni's) a little differently, and opened the set with "Other Side of the World" by KT Tunstall, which I haven't done in the past. As always, "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" (Dylan) was odd without Dave's solo, but also extra fun to play. And I didn't play "Winter Blue" at all. But I guess that's because "Other Side of the World" has a similar sound and therefore they've become connected in my mind, so I can't really play both in one set, and this show was only one set.

--End Run-on Sentence--

But yes, it was fun. And people came specifically to hear my play, which I was surprised by, considering it was a one-hour show, basically on a street-corner, in the middle of the day. They all clapped and everything, and thanked me afterward. Apparently I'm easily impressed by normal crowd behaviour when playing by myself. Or maybe i've just been playing on the Commons so much recently that any sort of crowd behaviour is exciting to me.

In any case, the response was overwhelmingly positive and I hope those in attendence will be back for our AUGUST 21st show at 8PM at Blue Frog. That will be a true AA performance. And I expect we will have a bunch of unfamiliar songs for those of you who haven't caught our last few appearances or my many busking adventures down in Ithaca.

And then. . . . I will do another solo Lunch Tunes show on SEPTEMBER 17th at NOON at Blue Frog.

During those performances I will be calling AA the Court-Date-Duo and myself the Small-Claims-Songstress. You see, August 21st we have to go prosecute some fools in Cortland City Court for violating a contract and then on Septemver 17th I have to attempt to reduce the insult being added to my June 1st car accident injury.

Hurrah!

That's really all I have to say, except that I expect to write another entry about relocating to Halfmoon as soon as I pack some boxes and drink some coffee and sing the Welsh song "Moliannwn"

-C

Progress for goodness sake!

2009-03-26T20:54:00.002-04:00

Dave and I finally rehearsed some new stuff.

As you know, i've been writing lots of new stuff. So, since all that material's been kicking around, playing our old stuff has gotten, well, old. But Dave didn't want to rehearse new stuff until we had a way to record our practice sessions. You see, when we figure stuff out together, we often forget what we arranged. Maybe it's because Dave's tricky and maybe it's because my notes are less-than-intelligible, but in any case, it's frustrating.

So, one of our plans for our tax-return money is buying a field recorder, and one of the things we could do with the field recorder is record our rehearsals. Then we wouldn't forget what we did. Well, we'd still forget, but there'd be a record. And Dave could work out backing vocals on his own time. You know, like, while I'm at church or growing a vegetable or something.

Our plan was to wait until we got this field recorder. But our tax-return hasn't come yet. And I sometimes play guitar during the day. And Dave was home sick. And we rehearsed.

So, now we have two new Casey/AA songs in the pipeline and two new covers (KT Tunstall and Jars of Clay) in the pipeline. It's fun.

Well, we actually debuted one of the songs at our Autumn Leaves show, but no one was there so it doesn't count.

Recording is also finished for Green Both Ways. If you have a picture of the NYC subway system you'd like us to consider for the cover, please forward it to casey(dot)almostawake(at)gmail(dot)com.

The End.

*C*

Courting Cortland (or trying. . .)

2009-03-13T10:09:00.002-04:00

Dave just did his booking magic again and booked us a show at the Blue Frog Coffeehouse in the big C (Cortland) for Friday April 3rd. It will be our second weekend show there (we also did a featured-act deal at the O.M.).

Hopefully some delightful folk from the city will come out and learn how much Almost Awake can improve their lives. We're really going to have to make an effort to woo the people of Cortland. We don't have the years of living here and the contacts that builds up that we had in Albany.

So We're going to have to work.

Especially when you are playing a tips show in a town where you don't have any sort of 'following' yet, you have to work.

I'm thinking newspaper event listings, 1/4 sheet flyers, all that. It will be fun! But then again, I'm feeling motivated today ;)

The least we can do is go to Lucky's and Blue Frog for open mic. that week.

It's not like it will kill us, our wallets or our spirits if there aren't many people in attendance at the show, but it sure would be nice to get a crowd.

When it comes down to it, I'm not nearly as self-assured and egotistical as I portray myself on stage. I really want people to like me, and even more so, my songs. So, I'd like people to come. Even if they don't like us, I'd like them to hear us. To give us a chance.

I want Cortland to see what Almost Awake has to offer. People may know Dave from the bank. They may know me from seeing me pushing around the twins in the double-stroller, but they don't really know either of us at all until they've seen us play music.

Musician. Artist. That's what I really am . . .how I want to be known.
I think it's how Dave wants to be known too.

So, I hope people come. I think we can make their night better. I'm going to promote the show.

The end.

*C*

AA in ITHACA this SUNDAY 3/15

2009-03-11T15:15:00.002-04:00

Hello all! I hope you liked the last two blogs! I liked writing them!

I want to tell everyone that Almost Awake will be making our return to Ithaca after over two years away from their fabulous music scene! We'll be bringing our acousical sounds back to the Commons at the Owl Cafe at Autumn Leaves Books. Our show will be this Sunday (3/15-- the Ides of March! Ominous. . .) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Autumn Leaves is located at 115 The Commons. The cafe is on the second floor. The second floor is mostly open to the main level, so you'll be able to browse their full selection of new and used books without sacrificing a good, long AA listen. The cafe offers an array of organic, fair trade teas and coffees as well as baked goods, soups, sandwiches and many vegetarian and vegan options. Click on the Autumn Leaves link above and scroll down to see a picture.

If you're not familiar with Ithaca, the Commons is an outdoor pedestrian-only street similar to Church Street in Burlington, VT. There's no parking there, obviously, since there's no driving, but street parking is free on weekends and all City parking garages (one is extra close) are free for the first hour and one dollar per hour thereafter. (Don't tell anyone I let you in on this, but I've never had to pay in the garages on the weekend. Even though I take a ticket when I go in, there is no attendant and the gate always opens when I try to leave. . .take that as you will.)

Anyway, it is bound to be a fun show. We will be selling CD's as always, and will gladly give you small stake in our souls if you give us a hefty tip. Small-bill-tippers only get an IOU for a cookie. I may play the mandolin if Dave can find his egg-shaker.

The end.

*C*

Some other thoughts

2009-03-06T14:54:00.002-05:00

As I said in my last post, I've been writing a lot of songs recently. I keep thinking in 3/4 time, so that's a little limiting and redundant, but I'm trying to work past it. I'm also trying to keep Dave in mind when I write because I tend to get into phases where my songs either sound like they need drum-set or nothing but guitar and voice. Needless to say, that's not too kind or helpful to the djembe master.

I wrote another song about the mohawk/erie a few weeks ago. It's the sequel to Clinton's Ditch I guess. It's in C and not a waltz, and used a capo until I lost my capo, not that you care. You don't want to know what key my song you've never heard is in, do you? Well, it's too late. I'm far to lazy and self-centered to delete that whole paragraph. The additional text makes me look intelligent-- like I have things to say.

But I wrote some other songs too. As you can guess, they are depressing. But, despite the desperation/angst-infused lyrics, I am not planning on snuffing myself any time soon, so you can count that as one point for home team! I am the home team. The visiting team is made up of people who doubt my artistic genius.

I took up playing the mandolin for a while, but then I stopped for a while, took some artistic photos of it, posted them on facebook, and went back to the guitar. I also learned how to play some delightful bluegrass numbers I'd be happy to jam with you on if ever we meet around a campfire at a fest.

Dave found a djembe stand that would allow him to stand up while playing. This is more comfortable and stable, he says. I, however, worry that he would be taller than me then, and I would not be the center of attention. Luckily the stand is quite expensive so it has not been purchased. He is looking into buying a lovely, sturdy, handcrafted djembe bag though. Both items were discovered at a drum store in Ithaca. Imagine that.

Cortland is a fun adventure. You may not understand how a place can be an adventure, but this one is. It's like jungle land at Great Escape, except it's not the jungle and it hasn't been replaced by Looney-Tunes-ville or Wiggles-world or whatever is there now.

There are a lot of neat places in Cortland. A lot of Cortland reminds me of a larger Mechanicville.

And similar to my oh-so-metro hometown, few of these neat places have live music.

Some do though.

If you feel like visiting them on the web, they are
Lucky's (Monday open mic!)
Blue Frog (Thursday open mic!)
Stone Lounge (Patio!)
Dryden Community Center Cafe (actually in Dryden.)
Homer Center for the Arts (actually in Homer.)

I mean, there are some churches and the youth center and whatnot, but i haven't linked to them because I am elitist and hate community organizations, as you know, as well as Christians and young people.

(If you didn't realize that was a joke, you are a fool and I hope you fall into a mud puddle that is actually filled with dissolved poo. I am egalitarian, love the community, am Christian and spent most of my own youth working to empower youth . . . so there!)

So, this isn't a particularly meaningful post from an Almost Awake perspective. I just wanted to let anyone who reads this know about what is going on musically in Cortland. I'll probably post more about it in the near future.

I also wanted to say that if you want to know what being a professional musician is like (it's quite glamorous!), check out the Times Union blog written by our good friends and fabulous musicians Mel and Rich of the band Sirsy. Dave says we have a lot in common, so if you want to see what Almost Awake would be like if they were cooler and rocked and had shows and fans, check it out.

Seriously though, Sirsy is the best. I don't think i've never seen anyone make a gazebo in Halfmoon rock just as much as Rev. Hall. They are unparalleled musicians and fabulous people to boot. Check them out if you can.

That's it for now. I am off to use my superior intellect to better the world by brewing the perfect cup of pumpkin-pie-spice coffee.

The End

*C*

Ithaca, here we come

2009-03-06T14:47:00.003-05:00

This Saturday (Tomorrow!), Dave and I are headed to Ithaca to drop off some press kits. The winter, early sunset and our distorted perception of the distance between C-town and I-town led us to wait until now to make this much-needed step toward Almost Awake Ithaca Domination.

But now, it is time.

Sure, we are going to be there anyway, picking up my injured and healed Larrivee, but. . .

It is time.

I'll be printing out the press kits tonight I hope. Unless I print them out tomorrow.

As it happens, Green Both Ways only has one thing left to be recorded (suspended cymbal on a track) and a special effect has been added to one of the songs, so it's practically in post-production.

We've just got to get to NYC to take a cover photo!

Also, I've written a butt-load (yep, i said butt-load) of new songs. Listen for them at shows this spring.

The gears of genius involving a possible future open mic in the Cortland-Tompkins County area are turning in the heads of we at the headquarters, too.

And I lost my Capo somewhere in my house.

The end.

*C*

A bit OT. . .

2008-12-07T14:00:00.004-05:00

I'm getting a bit off topic with this blog, but I need to update everyone on the CD. I promise that I shall get back to Thanksgiving weekend after this. . .

Alright. We were almost done (and by "we" I mean Richard over at Dick's Digital) mixing and mastering and whatnot, but hit a roadblock. The tracks sounded great, but for some reason they made me sound like I had a major lisp. So, now they are being re-mixed and re-mastered, and we should have new preliminary cut pretty soon. Then, after AA approval, they'll get the final touches and we'll be off to post-production.

Dave is going to be figuring out the order of songs. I don't care too much what order they are in, but I want everything in the world to be the last song. Not to toot my own horn, but it's so beautiful and epic, that it just has to be the last song. Like "Roll it Over" on Oasis' "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" or "The Masterplan" on "The Masterplan". Epics. Mmm...

Anyway. . . I seem to have a problem with overuse of ellipses. . . but it hasn't had a negative effect on my social or personal functioning, so I don't think I have to go into writing rehab as of now.

That's really all I wanted to say, just a little update on GBW (Green Both Ways). . .

*C*

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-03T09:10:00.002-05:00

So, it was a very busy holiday period here at AA. We hosted the Chapman parents for the Thanksgiving feast/fest, did some Casey's Birthday/Dave's Birthday/Richard's Birthday fun things, and of course, played two shows.

The show at 74 State featured the wonderful Richard Chapman. We had some fun playing different arrangements and trying new instrumentations. I was supposed to sit on a stool since my ankle is a big mess still, but I couldn't do it. I did my best not to stand on it too much, so that basically meant i stood on one foot for a good portion of the show.

We debuted our new merchandise table guard/protector/mascot. (We still love you ninja, you just seemed a bit burned out and jumpy. . .we can't have that. . .can we now?) Anyway, our new addition to the merch table is Mickie James, multi-time WWE Women's Champion. Well, actually it's a Mickie James action figure, as she was busy and we couldn't afford her appearance fee anyway. . . but, she has fully posable limbs and comes with her own folding chair! ! ! How spectacular! ! ! She will surely protect anyone who buys our stuff, keep delinquints from stealing, and entice the skeptical to purchace CDs with her skin-tight outfit and winning smile.

So, Mickie, welcome to the AA team.

But, as I was saying, it was a good show. Some out-of-towners listened and liked it and bought CDs, and some old friends we weren't expecting showed up. A good amount of family was there, including my aunt, cousin, grandma, step-aunt and step-uncle, along with my mom (and of course my Dad who was playing in the show.) Good fun. But yes, Steve and Woody and Sueann were also there.

(**Note** if you come to our show, you too could see your name in lights. . .er. . .in the AA blog. . .)

No one at 74 State seemed to have any clue who I was, despite my having worked there less than three months ago. Odd. . .I did dye my hair, but I didn't think that would make such a difference. Perhaps they were just so awestruck by my fame they were at a loss for words.

Ok, so that was a good show. We didn't get back to the hindquarters in Stillwater until after 1AM though, and had a show the next day. . .
Dave and I slept on the mother of all air matresses, which my dad refers to as the Lucitania. . .

And, with the image of AA drifting off to a place of luxurious, restful, pacifying slumber, I will leave you until next time. . .where I will pick up the story with our emergence from rest on Sunday morning.

*C*

I'm not Thankful for stairs

2008-11-25T13:21:00.002-05:00

Oh my, it's been a horrid four days.
I injured myself falling down the stairs on Friday night and sprained my ankle. This the same weekend my local ski mountain opened. This on the weekend my childcare clients had their phone service shut off. And this a week before Almost Awake's shows in Albany and Ballson Spa.

I guess I will be sitting on a stool. I guess that counts out the short skirt.

Oh well, It could be worse, I could have broken a finger.

Anyway, I'll be sending out an e-mail to the list tonight telling them about the shows this weekend, and also to let everyone know they can subscribe to this blog via RSS now. I'm also going to be updating the AASS Facebook group and creating an Almost Awake page on Facebook so you can become our fan!

I mean, if you can be a fan of Tim Horton's, why not Almost Awake?

I have written some new songs, but they are all finger picked, and dave claims djembe doesn't go well with finger picking . . . so we'll see if they get played this weekend. Maybe I can work out arrangements for them with my Dad-o.

He'll be our special guest at 74 State on Saturday. Richard Dean Chapman and he's formally known. My Dad-o is the guy behind Dick's Digital, and many other fantastic musical projects, such as the band Shameless and a new three-piece coming to a bar or private party near you.

I'd like to tell you a little bit about Almost Awake's new headquarters in Cortland, NY, but I'm going to save that for another post. For now, I just wanted to let you know that I'm back in the state I was six months ago.

Honestly, I may have done this six months to the day after the last time I sprained my ankle. . .
It is the same ankle if you are wondering. I'm icing it now, and it's cold.

So, if only because you feel bad for me, and because I have to spend my birthday on crutches, please come to our shows this weekend!

AA Loves you all the time

Keep rocking like a stocking (That's a Christmas reference. . .see? I'm hilarious)

*C*

Updated!

2008-11-22T18:42:00.002-05:00

I have fully updated this blog! As you can see, it looks quite different (while maintaining the same feel). The most important think I've changed, however, is how you can follow the blog!

As it stood before, the only way to keep track of what I was writing here was to follow it via your own blogger account or keep coming back to check. Now you can subscribe to my RSS feed (via news reader or e-mail)! It is very exciting.

Soon I will be adding a poll and updating on what's going on here at Almost Awake. For now, I just wanted to make this quick announcement and then bounce off to drink a glass of water.

It's important to stay hydrated.

Rock on!

-Casey

This past weekend

2007-07-23T13:00:00.000-04:00

I thought I should fill you all in on what happened with us this past weekend, because it was half good, half bad and certainly exciting in all regards.

We played at Spilln the Beans coffeehouse in Troy on Friday. It was quite good to return to troy and play in such a nice place. Until they cut back on music, the best Cafe to play in the collar city was, by far, the Daily Grind, but seeing as they don't really have music besides the open mike there anymore, there was a great gap to be filled. Spilln the Beans has stepped up quite nicely. They have a large area they clear out for a stage, a separated sitting area that works quite well as a sort of listening room where people there specifically for the music can sit, and the blender is of a medium volume (compared to some so loud all music is drowned out while smoothies are being smoothed). Everyone there (which wasn't very many: apparently summer is slow for these sorts of things) seemed to like us a lot, including our good friend Megan and my parents. I don't know about Dave, but I personally had a lot of fun! Also, the staff is really great, and Nick, the owner, watched attentively for the entire show. Most places the booker isn't even there, and the owner doesn't watch. That's not a criticism of other venues, as I have no problem with that arrangement, it was just a happy surprise when this wasn't the case on friday.

After the show, all of us (Myself, Dave, Megan and my Parents) attended the Harry Potter book release party at the amazing Market Blcok books, next to Spilln the Beans and also on third street (roughly across from the atrium) I won't go into details about the event, but i should go into details about Market Block, because it's pretty much my favorite bookstore in the world, although i do like Lyrical Ballad in Saratoga, since the books are so old and pretty, and another place in Saratoga whose name i forget, but has an excellent tarot card selection. Anyway, they sell our CDs at Market Block, along with many bestsellers and lesser known books that the staff thinks are particularly good. There are lots of hand written staff book reviews and reccommendations around the store, and all of the booksellers are quite knowledgable and ready to help or have a lively conversation with you about whatever you or they are reading. They also have many local authors works, books concerning the area, and self-published titles from area writers. All this promoting of the store itself aside, you should also come to see us play there on the last friday of September......

Anyway, i read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on saturday, and Dave attended the bachelor party of a friend of ours who also happens to be a local musician. He lost his keys while there (falsly claims to have been wasted, really just deposited his keys on a store counter and found them today) and had to get a ride home with our other local musician friend, Maurizio. Needless to say, without the car or the PA which was in it, we were unable to play the Cambridge farmers market. It was sad!

The end.

This is a very large screen

2007-07-19T17:39:00.000-04:00

I don't think i've ever put a link in the link section before, so there it is. I have done it. I've crossed the great barrier that is link-putting.

This is a very large screen though, as the title suggests. It's my dad's computer screen. And you are reading a blog.

Ha! I caught you red handed.

Tomorrow Dave and I are playing at Spillin the Beans, as previously noted, and I expect you to be there, because it's good for your health, and you are, undoubltedly a Harry Potter fan, since all our songs contain backward masking in which you are brainwashed to read young adult fantasy novels in a ravenous manner. So, given that, and given that you are also an adult, we can presume you are attending the Harry Potter book release party next-door at Market Block Books and are popping in for a coffee or tea before the fun begins. We'll be there from 7pm to 10pm...after which we're headed to the party. Much to Dave's (possible) dismay, i shall be in costume for the entirety of the evening.

And, given that you have listened to our albums a sufficient number of times, so will you.

*poof*

C

Rochester is Rochester-like

2007-07-17T14:25:00.000-04:00

We were in Rochester for less than 24 hours, about 20 hours, actually, and about one hour of that was spent in Henrietta, if you want to nitpick.

The show went well, although it was much more passive audience-wise since there were few University of Rochester students around to be recruited into attendance. About 4 people specifically came to watch us, all the same, and a number of other heads turned. We also did not run into the problem of free vs. paid granola, or me ingesting banana chips hidden in granola this time. My ears did hurt to the point of Dave suggesting we give up Almost Awake altogether, but not to fear, this notion has passed for the time being.

The drive to the Flour/Flower city seems to short now. Just one 2-hour shift each. Since the 14-hour-not-including-stops Asheville venutre, anywhere less than 8 hours is pretty much nothing.

We recorded vocals for Alive yesterday and Also worked a bit on Tuesday. I'll be recording lead vocals for that one either tomorrow or Thursday.

Friday we are playing at Spillin the Beans in Troy at 7pm, and heading over to the Adults-only Harry Potter book release party at Market Block Books. I'm going in costume, which is quite exciting. Now all I have to do is manufacture it and secure some interestingly colored hair dye.

I sign off with a headache, from a cold library, with little left to say.

Oh yes, we're playing at the Cambridge farmer's market on Sunday. That's Cambridge NY, not Mass. I hope i don't end up with my microphone stuck inside a speaker this time.

Goodbye.

Casey

I know i'm alive...

2007-07-10T19:37:00.000-04:00

so, my cheezy post title is a self-serving lyric quote from the Almost Awake song "Alive".
We are though, Alive, that is, after weathering yesterdays dangerous weather from the Normanskill Farm. No trees or lightning hit Casey or Dave and none of us were blown away. Dave's sister and her dog were also present and are also uninjured and fully accounted for.

With that in mind, we are staying close to home this evening, only venturing out to Uncommon Grounds in Albany for a relaxing and vexing game of Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot. This is an event of note for Almost Awake fans due to the fact that Dave taught me that game the night before we became a band (see bio for more details). It really should be checked out though. Bunnies is a cult favorite as far as deranged card/dice games are concerned. We here at Almost Awake would like to spread the gospel of the Magic Carrot to you all however, as you've been deprived for far too long. Learn more about it here.

If you are wondering, we are playing two out-of-the-area shows this weekend...
Thursday 3pm-6pm at the Manchester, VT Farmer's Market and
Sunday 8pm-10pm at Spot Coffee in Rochetster, NY.

Also, AA headquarters has recently been attacked by a militant band of fascist fruitflies. They must be defeated with the power of love, so please meditate on the image of fruitflies perishing in mass quanities if you are able and so choose. We appreciate your support.

With qualitiative analysis...

C

I am ranting like a fool

2007-07-06T11:58:00.000-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, Don't forget to brush your teeth. And don't forget to come see Almost Awake at Red Square TONIGHT! 5pm! We're playing for happy hour. We haven't played at red square in about 20 hundred ages, so we're quite excited. Also, we can walk to the show!! How awesome is that? You should come, because we love you, but not in a sexual way, unless you buy us gifts and become our groupies. ::cough:: anyway.

Tomorrow we're playing in Spencertown, NY for the hidden garden tours which benefit Spencertown Academy. They have a little craft and local goods market for the event, which is where you can find us, because we are, afterall, the farmer's market band. Dave and I wonder how this happened, but then we remember that we went on a 31 town farmer's market tour, and the wondering is quickly extiguished.

Oh, you should come to that show too.

We're not recording on monday because our engineer/co-producer is being swallowed by a bubbling tar-pit of corporate beauracratic poo, in which he is forced to be on call 24 hours a day in a quite undesirable manner so that some higher-up somewhere can relax on a Carribean beach, i'm sure. So, there you are. He's being crushed under the clown-shoe of Capitalism to the point that he is powerless even to stick it to the man (like Jesus did).

Think about that while you eat your tobacco-comapny-owned morningstar black-bean veggie burger in the name of degreasing your carbon footprint.

Why is it now cool to be eco-friendly? It's like when you buy a band's CD and a song is your favorite and then it becomes a single and then you feel as if it was stolen from you, and you're now just part of the mainstream with no claim to the fact that you were there first. That's how I feel about the recent 'being green' development in this country. i should be glad that my favorite song is popular, but instead i'm sulking over the fact that it's no longer special, just a flavor of the week on the top 40 station.

Apparently i have things to talk about that are un-related to music, and you are reading this because you want to know about Almost Awake's shows and general activities as musicians...so I'll try to get back to that.

We sat in with Sirsy on te 4th of july at Christies on the Lake in Lake George (don't try to park in lake George on the 4th of july if you have to lug equiptment, because Guatemala will seem like a short stroll away compared to the distance you'll have to walk from your car to your destination). It was pretty much a dream come true. I don't have much to say because i'll just gush, and i don't want to gush. The summary is that Dave and I played three songs with Melanie and Rich: Sirsy's "Waiting for Rain", "Round Here" by the Counting Crows, and "Wonderwall" by Oasis. I got to sing leads on "Waiting for Rain", which was pretty intimidating with Melanie right next to me playing drums, and I goofed the ending, but everyone in the audience was really drunk and really enjoying themselves, so it was ok, and you wouldn't have known unless you knew the song. "Round Here" and "Wonderwall" were both interesting because Dave played drums and Mel's kit for acoustic shows is really minimal, there aren't any toms, and almost all of the fills dave expected to include in the songs involve the toms, so he had to think on his feet and be creative. It was definately a cool experience to figure out how to play the songs together was we went, seeing as none of us had practiced them in advance. It was entirely a team effort, and the first time i'd played with a full band in a just singing type of arrangement. I'm still not really over it. Also, Rich showed me how to play the bridge to "Waiting for Rain", so in theory Dave and I are going to resume working on covering it.

In othe news, I'm seeing fireworks three times this week. And playing Bocce. And Sirsy rocks. And you should come to our shows. And rain can't spoil the fun unless the fun is in the form of an outdoor sugar sculpture.

Twinkle.

C

More Ashe

2007-06-29T13:26:00.001-04:00

Ah, Friday in Asheville. I'm at the public Library once again, with much to report. I can't remember exactly what i said last time, however.

Thursday, which was yesterday, Dave and I went out to breakfast with our good friend Amanda Platt, who i've been mentioning quite frequently, because she's amazing. Her band, Bee's Knees, played somewhere last night...no one knows where though. She didn't even know at the time we last saw her. But breakfast was great. We got to meet her guitar, Birdie (which she made herself!!) and talked about our plans to fineagle (sp) a show at the Dripolator tonight. To help in that process Dave and i attended and performed at the Dripolator open mike and brought the house down (tore it down according to dave). We talked to the host and he talked to the owner and as of this morning, we have a show. 8pm tonight. Angela and I are going to Handbill the area while dave, prospectively, plays a bit at the drum circle (6pm). We still have to go to the UNC-Asheville computer lab to print out our flyers, but we can do that when Ang is released from the bonds of employment.

Also yesterday, I discovered that Bamboo grows along the Swananoa river. I also swam in said river. If you search the depths of the internet I'm sure you'll find a video of myself and three other young ladies attempting to wave at Dave (filming) while we are swimming. it looks a bit like we are calling for help and drowning in a very friendly manner.

Tomorrow morning we are driving home. I don't want to talk about that. In fact, even bringing up the subject has caused my soul to wither as a flower in times of drought. So i must bid you farewell, and bid myself good luck...i shall need it.

*poof*
C

At the Library

2007-06-27T14:39:00.001-04:00

Right now, I'm sitting at internet computer number five at the Asheville, NC public library. I was, just a moment ago, reprimaded for having my nalgene in here, but that is beside the point.

It's our third day here (unless you count sunday night, which was mostly a haze of post-travel delirium), and it's been our most fun/relaxing day so far.

Monday we wandered around downtown to get ourselves aquianted and also went to Ingles (the supermarket) and the farmer's market. Unfortunately, the latter was rather official and didn't seem like it would be a good fit for a few troubadors from the great white north. So we haven't visited again. I was good as far as buying produce goes, however. That night was our performance at the Root Bar #1, which looks a bit like a shanty driving up, but is actually very cozy and neat inside. Our show was very good, lots of people made the point of listening, and amanda (platt) showed up to see us! In theory we are playing somewhere with her on friday. Perhaps the Dripolator coffeehouse, perhaps not.

Tuesday, yesterday, we tried to play on the street, but only made 26 cents. All the good spots had been taken by the time we arrived. Apparently busking is a big deal down here, so you have to get out there early to get the best places. Today's street musicianing went much better, probably because we got to our pre-planned and confirmed location at about 9:45am. Playing on the street is never a big money-maker, but by comparison to our attempt in Albany, Asheville is a goldmine. We haven't had half-bad luck in Canandaigua or Ithaca as far as that is concerned either. But back to the present...we played in front of Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe, and sat on some sort of sculpture. It was shady, which was very nice, compared to the the two spots we occupied yesterday (by a climbing wall and on a random bench).

The plan is to go to an open mike in Weaverville tonight, take tommorow off to do some fun things with Angela (our host and my super-amazing friend) and go to another open mike tomorrow night. Then there is the possible show with Amanda Platt on friday. We shall see about that. I'm sure i'll be back to tell you more about the gritty (ha) details of the trip as well as our New Paltz adventure.

Until then, keep your hopes up for a better and more equitable future (?)

C

sleep is an illusive beast which must be caught in preparation for travel

2007-06-19T10:33:00.001-04:00

Hey! I thought I'd let you know what was going on for Almost Awake this weekend! First, I have to remember though. Dave is better at remembering these things than me, because he is brains behind the operation and I am the fickle artist who drifts with the whims of her inspiration...or something stupid like that...

Ok, lets see....

Friday we are playing at Slow Jed's Mudhouse with the amazing Erin Hobson. It's going to be a three hour show, because two hours just can't contain the awesomeness. Afterward we're going to have a fire out back to kick off our "Ashes to Asheville" tour. Then we are going to sleep as much as possible.

Saturday AA heads down to New Paltz to play with Jeremy James at 60 main, a sweet cafe/performance space that also serves as the nexus of activity for the New Paltz Cultural Collective. Then we will camp, or stay with a friend of Daves, and hopefully sleep as much as possible...

Because Sunday we drive all day to North Carolina....

For more info on our exact itinerary while in NC, check back tomorrow when i'm not at the public library being distracted by the strange and diverse slew of slightly distressing/distressed people coming through, sitting and loitering.

drop it like it's hot

C

Lazy

2007-06-17T20:03:00.000-04:00

So, the fact that i'm sitting in my living room on a perfectly good Sunday night watching TV and using the computer is pretty disgusting. I never watch TV, but i'm by myself on a Sunday night, so what else am i really supposed to do. Something like reading or playing solitaire or playing the guitar, I guess, but I'm not. I also can't concentrate because the TV is on.

Dave is celebrating fathers day, not because he's a father, because that would be a development even I was unaware of, but because he has a father...so he isn't here.

I am posting this because i am dissapointed that no one has left any comments, even though I plastered our website with notes and links about this blog. Well, you all stink a little, but more like sandwiches than like trash, so it's not too bad.

That's it ... i'm leaving.

Crazy Weekend

2007-06-12T16:12:00.000-04:00

So, this past weekend Dave and I had four shows in the span of two days. We were going to have 5, but we had to cancel one in order to pick up our house guests and get them settled in here at the AA albany outpost.

Yes, besides 4 shows, there were also two houseguests (amazing houseguests) from the UK. Bex and Em. Bex being a friend of mine from college, and Em being her girlfriend. So they served as our roadies for the weekend, and our excuse to actually have a homelife and have fun in between the madness.

Saturday we played at Art on Lark, a last minute gig we got through our good friend Erin Harkes. She's always looking out for us and getting us all the exposure she can. It's more than one can ask for in a musician/friend that is further along in their career than you, but it's also the norm in the capital region music scene. Everyone supports each other. I say it all the time, but it's much more familial than competitive. We applaud eachothers successed and lament eachothers misfortunes, and we help eachother out whenever we can.

Anyway, Art on Lark is a festival, you guessed it, on Lark Street in Albany, NY. Lark is six blocks (albeit a long six blocks) from our house, so with the help of our roadies, we were able to walk to the gig. It also helped that it was an entirely acoustic venture. I don't think the PA could have been carried there so well. We played on the corner of Lark and Lancaster, across the street from Shining Star, which is the local hippie store of choice. We were also right next to the sidewalk chalking contest taking place on Lancaster between Lark and Willett. A number of people stopped to listen and seemed to enjoy themselves, but it was hard to hear due to the large amount of busses and fire trucks that overtook Lark for what seemed like only the 3:00-4:00 hour. The next day, at the Pride festival, i was stopped by a few people who had seen us the day before. They just wanted to say that they liked what they heard and that we did a nice job. So, I guess the traffic didn't overtake everything after all.

Saturday night brought AA to Troy to play at the Ale House. In general, it was a fun show, as it always is when we split one with Maurizio. He had a hat with a rooster on it, and somehow that became the theme for his entire set. As for us, were very happy with Maurizio's role as sound man for the night. He brought a new, massive system, and after a few technical difficulties at the beginning, mixed us cleanly and beautifully. Despite the lack of monitor I could hear everything I needed to, and I think both of us performed better as a result.

On Sunday we played at the Cambridge farmer's market. We've been touting it as a place you can play and get so much produce as tips that you don't need to go to the market for three weeks. So, of course, all of our tips were monetary. No apples for AA this time. It also rained for about half the time we were there, causing us to take a very long break between the first and second sets. The people at Cambridge are fantastically friendly and helpful however. For example, the man next to us, who runs the tent for Something's Brewing (a coffeehouse in Greenwich) always gives us free coffee, and two people offered to lend their chairs to Dave, who left his at home. The two picnic tables near our tent were continually filled with people watching and listening, even during the rainy bits. The only real downside to the market was that Em somehow managed to drop my vocal mike into the speaker. My dad, who also sat in with us that day (and it was great fun) got it out though.

Sunday night was Jeremy James' CD release party. We were asked to open because we recorded a track for it with him. I sang backing vocals, as did Dave, who also played Djembe. The other band that was meant to open was forced to cancel at the last minute due to illness, so we played a longer set and started later in order to make it work. Gemma from the Bookdrop Bees, who is the one who was sick, sang on another track on Jeremy's album, and the Bees are also good friends of AA.

Valentines, where the show was held, was empty when we got there, but by the time we got to our last song there were around 30 people there. Our sound man was also quite good that night. I thanked him after we performed. On the business front, it was a dissapointing show, just because the way Valentines works isn't a way that usually works out for small, acoustic two-act shows on Sunday nights, but on the musical front it was one of the best shows i've participated in in a great while. I think everyone in the place was listening the entire time, clapping and cheering and charging the performers with energy that translated into stellar performances for us and for Jeremy. We sat in on "Home", the song we recorded together, which was a blast. Becky and Em also quite enjoyed Jeremy and ended up buying one of his CDs (and getting it signed) and talking to him for a while.

It was a ridiculously busy weekend, but a good one nonetheless. All i want to do now, however, is stay at home, write waltz songs on my ovation, sleep and read the newspaper.

C

Recording

2007-06-04T23:26:00.000-04:00

So, we're not recording this week. The reason is that my dad, who is our engineed/co-producer, is on-call with is day-job this week. So today, instead of going to mechanicville to work on the album, I went to Borders and looked at books about plant identification and then to dinner with Dave and some of his co-workers.

We are spending this whole week cleaning in preparation for house-guests, so whether we get to rehearse is rather up in the air also. I'd like to debut a few songs at the Cambridge Farmer's Market on sunday, but we shall see.

No open mikes this week either. Perhaps one or two will be attended. I don't know.

I'm going to sleep now though.

Signing out.

C

Asheville

2007-06-02T09:06:00.000-04:00

I rediscovered the fact that I had a blog a few days ago and then rediscovered my username and password and then managed to get into the blog to post things! So, let the information begin, I suppose.

It's less than a month now until Dave and I go on our "Ashes to Asheville" tour. As mentioned on our website, we're starting it out at Slow Jed's Mud House in Averill Park, NY, where we're splitting a show with the very talented Erin Hobson. She has even suggested that we collaborate on a few songs. This will probably be fun for Dave and intimidating as all heck for me. You see, erin is probably one of the best guitarists i've ever seen out of the expansive field of singer-songwriters that exists around here. I, for one, am not such a guitarist...therefore i may opt to play the tambourine or claves when we collaborate. The performance will be three hours long rather than two in order to accomodate all the rays of awesomeness that will be emanating from the general vicinity of 3028 route 43.

Aterward we are going to burn things suitable for burning in a fire behind the shop. You will not be one of those things, because burning flesh is not something i want as my last memory before I begin my first non-camping-the-whole-time tour.

On the 23rd we are going to play at 60 Main, which is a project of the New Paltz Cultural Collective. We're splitting that show with Jeremy James (Who we're also playing with on June 10th at Valentines see: http://www.almostawake.net/dates or http://www.almostawake.net/stories for more information.) We are going to camp at the multi-use area near new paltz where all the climbers at the Shawangunks sleep.

The next day, Sunday, is all driving. Dave and I had a very close call recently while driving to the Bob Dylan B-Day Tribute at Union College (Tire blow-out, 360 off NYS thruway...etc.) so we are a little wary of driving on highways, but we'll make it work. We're going to take 81 I think.

Our gigs down in NC are a little up-in-the-air. We definately have three, which is the number we wanted, but I'm going to keep calling places right up until the days we leave, just because the more the better. Besides our three real gigs, we're probably going to go to a couple of open mics down there in order to let more people hear our music and make contacts for the next time we travel south.
Gig 1: Monday: The Root Bar #1: Swannannanoanoanona, NC (This show is the reason we have to bring out whole PA down to NC. They have one we could have used, but who wants to give their door money to the sound guys when you've never been to Asheville and have no idea if anyone at all will show up?)
Gig 2: Wednesday: Malaprops Bookstore/Cafe: Asheville, NC (We're playing in front of the store, because they don't have music inside anymore, but we, in theory, can only play out front for an hour because of a municipal limitation on street performance. I guess you have to switch locations every once and i while. So, perhaps we will find another shop willing to host us that day as well...In any case, a place I can't remember has an open mic that night also.
Gig 3: Friday: Show with Amanda Platt at yet-to-be-determined venue. It might be at a cafe, it might be a house-party, no one knows. What we do know is that Amanda is a smashing Banjo-wielding singer/songwriter. Perhaps we can collaborate on something. This is yet to be discussed.

Somewhere that i forget the name of also has an open mic on thursday, and apparently there is a weekly drum circle that happens somewhere in Asheville. We are also planning on playing at the Farmers Market (Which is massive and daily and state-sponsored in A-ville) although we don't know on what day. Tuesday or Thursday i'd assume.

Oh my, i have to go and use the bathroom. Yes, musicians have bodily functions too. Now, run along and play with your tinker-toys or whatever it is you kids do these days. I think it has something to do with electronic music or digital games or something...I don't know...i was lost after the audio cassette and original nintendo.

the first tour in non-sensical form

2006-08-23T10:13:00.000-04:00

After my last post i realized that i had spoken about the second leg of the tour as if I had told you all about the first leg, which I hadn't. So, I shall tell you about it.

It was wonderful...awful and rainy, but great. Our first three shows were rained out, but we were redeemed by Ithaca. My guitar malfunctioned in Dansville and we had to travel to Canandaigua a day early but an amazing family saved us. We saw a laser show in Rochester and stayed with my dads cousin, and played a barn party on the Cornell University student farm. Everything went wrong, but everyone we met was more than willing to offer all the help they could. Vendors, if not always customers, at all the markets were grateful to have us there and showered us with praise, help and well-wishes. Everywhere we went we were greeted with offers of food and shelter, which we sometimes accepted and sometimes went without and camped. The night we camped an army of spiders took up residence on dave's djembe case and I winced each time i took a sip of the water we purified from the stream in fear of getting giardiasis again.

There are more stories than i care to type (as i'm not on my laptop, i'm on the computer at the home of the family i nanny for and their keyboard is quite different feeling than what i'm used to). I can't even begin to explain what it was like. That tour was everything one could want out of a first tour. There was tragedy, victory, fights, even profit and a spread of our music, particularly in ithaca where we sold about ten CDs in one day between the Farmers Market and our show at the Dilmun Hill barn (which we recorded, by the way, and will hopefully have a few tracks from on myspace soon-ish),and, of course, a grand finale. The show at Dilmun Hill was so good an end to the tour that dave and I came home a day early instead of playing in Vestal and Endicott.

We missed whitney point, johnson city, endicott, vestal, canandaigua and auburn all because of rain, we played at Florida, greece, rochester and dansville as scheduled, and unexpectedly played the commons in ithaca, Juna's Cafe in ithaca, the Ithaca Farmers Market and Dilmun Hill farm. Ithaca basically ruled our world, but Rochester was pretty cool to. We have a show in October because of a CD we dropped off at spot coffee in Rochester while we were there.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the weekend before all of this started on tuesday we played in Brockport at Java Junction (very very good show, nice town, cool audience) where we will be playing again in october that same weekend. We stayed in Ithaca (obviously, right?) that night (almost ran out of gas driving between cayuga and seneca lakes and then were saved by a godly gas station in Ovid...who even knew there was an Ovid?) and played Oneonta (awesome market) and cooperstown (good market, touristy town beyond belief where there is no escape from baseball kitch) the next day.

Okay, i can't type anymore, except that that's a lie because i could type forever. Why i'm a musician and not a secretary I don't know. I think i'd be good at it. I can type quite fast. Anyway, the point was that i'm not going to say anything else about the tour right now because i've lost my train of thought. I'm also afraid to dig myself into a hole of too much detail i won't be able to get out of before my charge here wakes up.

*poof*

*C*

Markets round Dos.

2006-08-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

Going on tour, seeing what there is to see, spreading your music, is always a good experience...but not always as good as other good experiences of a similar nature.

The first long leg of our farmer's market tour behind us, Dave and I embarked on the southern section with high hopes for humankind and the sorts of people we'd meet and experiences we'd had. There was such an outpouring of support and love for us and what we were doing on the central/western tour, that we could only assume a similar atmosphere would prevail when we traveled south of Albany.

It's not to say that the tour wasn't profitable, we saw amazing places, made some money and exposed a lot of people to Almost Awake. New Paltz was a superb town, where we played to a joyous audience at the Mudd Puddle Cafe, I swear I saw Pete Seeger in Beacon, and White Plains seems like a whole new place now that i've seen both the westchester mall and the working-class people at the farmers market. But all the same, the energy wasn't in this tour that flowed so freely through the entirety of the other leg. It was very hour to hour, joy or despair. This was more steady. There were ups and downs, but they were less extreme in both directions, and people in general didn't seem as into the purpose of our tour or the presence of our music.

A perfect example is Sandy Hook Connecticut. The person who booked us to play was so accomodating and happy to have us that she offered her pool house for us to stay in. When it turned out that she would be in NYC for the dates we'd be there, she decided to book us a room at a hotel. The hotel was the fanciest, most amenity-saturated place i've ever stayed, and the recreation center as well as cable, WiFi and free cookies and coffee provided more entertainment and fun than I could have imagined. We were also told that everyone in Sandy Hook was looking forward to our performance and that we would be recieved quite favorably. This seemed to explain the gracious treatment on the part of the market manager, but wasn't actually true. The people at the market only responded luke-warmly to our appearance, and although a number of people tipped us, not many stopped to listen, clapped, or bought CDs. Even the Assistant Manager didn't do much more than tell us where it was okay to set up. The market having been the highlight of our tour looking forward, it ended up being the turning point that brought us home early in the end.

Dave and I decided, after a similar situation in White Plains that Beacon and Mudd Puddle were the best part of the originally scheduled tour and the prevailing trend was downward at that point. We were four days in and we decided to change up the next four. We still played in Arlington, but took friday off and spend Saturday and Sunday at markets close to home that we knew would rock a lot.

Saturday was Troy...and it was awesome despite a little rain late in the day. It's great to be playing and see friendly familiar faces meeting and greeting each other, stopping by to say hello and visiting their favorite vendors for their weekly re-stock of produce.

Today was Cambridge, which is just the most giving market i've ever seen. I think we recieved tips in the form of goods from over half the vendors at the end of the market, and a good portion of the patrons stopped to listen or sit at the picnic table next to our tent and soak in the sound. It sprinkled and misted for our first two sets but no one was detered, and the third set was gorgeous.

So, that's the story of the farmers market tour, leg 2. Dave and I still have Manchester VT next week, as well as Ballston Spa (our last chance to play it without rain). Lets keep our fingers crossed that those two towns can appreciate some fin local music to brighten their natural shopping expedition.

*C*

Heaven or Massachusetts

2006-06-02T12:03:00.000-04:00

I forgot to say that we booked two shows in Massachusetts at the Dreamaway Lodge in Becket. It's in the middle of nowhere, but it's surreally wonderful. June 18 and July 30

All over the place

2006-06-02T11:42:00.000-04:00

Alplaus, Coxsackie, Cambridge...we're going to be all over the place this weekend. I'm okay with that, I only wish it wasn't so soggy out. Travel is fun, but not when it means driving long distances in crappy weather and hauling equiptment through the rain. All the same, it will be exciting. Three new venues in three days. Three new towns to play in even, although I'm not sure Alplaus entirely counts as it's technically a hamlet of Niskayuna...still we haven't played in Nisky before as far as I know.

Being the person of the two of us (Casey and Dave) that reports more in a train of thought manner than in a 'this is what has been happening in the land of Almost Awake recently' manner, I thought i'd let you know that Dave's bike was stolen from our backyard. Mine is now locked to stop that from happening to both, but it's still sad. He won that bike in a raffle! Some would say 'easy come easy go' but i would say 'come by good luck, go by bad luck'. Both our bikes were unlocked, but only daves was taken. Somehow it makes me feel guilty because i still have a bike. Luckily there are garage sales all over Cohoes this weekend and a flea market at Powers Park, so we may be able to find him a new one.

At that point we will have our earnings from Samuel's Coffeehouse...in Alplaus. That's our gig tonight. We've never even been there, but have heard very good things about it. I'm looking forward to it, hoping that people from both the Clifton Park and Schenectady areas come out for the show. It's yet to be seen if that will actually occur, but it is my hope. I like playing new venues when they are coffee shops more than new venues that are bars because I tend to go in more relaxed. I expect that even if we don't brind in listeners as a band, the people who are there will be receptive and respectful. It's not so much that way with bars. We generally get a good reception from individuals, but the envronment isn't nearly as cozy or welcoming to the un-initiated. A good mix is fun though. The thing I like about bars is that we don't have to censor our lyrics (all two words of profanity that we have) and We get to turn up and be loud. We also tend to dress up more for bars because it's important to catch people's eyes when they are in a loud environment with alcohol and lots of other stimuli.

On saturday we're playing Purple Cactus Cafe in Coxsackie, which I'm hoping will be a good mix of the coffee-shop relaxedness, the restauraunt respectfulness/fanciness and the bar volume/playing up our act-ness. It's a beautiful room. It looks like the kind of bar/restaurant that people who like coffee-shops would go to, and being one of those people, it's a place I'm glad we have the opportunity to play. As I've been saying in everything I write about it, the menu looks killer also.

Sunday we're playing the Cambridge farmers market, which will be our first farmers market that we've actually been invited to play at. It will also be the first one we play at that isn't troy and we didn't get kicked out of due to silly state employees not liking music. We'll see how it goes. I'm expecting a fun day, and it's a really nice drive up there.

Anyway, this is getting to be a long post, and i want to go brush my teeth because they feel yucky...so if you want more, go read dave's blog or something. It's on our myspace page.

*C*

Windows to the world (state)

2006-05-24T18:47:00.000-04:00

We have gigs in Oswego and Brockport that aren't farmer's Markets! Woo Hoo!! We're working on syracuse, some more rochester, and ithaca. This didn't come about because we wanted to stray from the theme of the tour, but because the nature of farmers markets is that they come and go, and change a lot while they are here. A number of the markets we were planning on stopping at have either changed days or are no longer in existence, which made it necessary for us to book some non-FM shows. We've been working really hard this week, making calls and sending e-mails and all that, but there's still so much more to do. Today, while at Famous Lunch in the downtown (of troy), I made the sign for our tour that we will display while playing. It says "Almost Awake, Farmer's Market Tour 2006" has a picture of some veggies/fruit in a basket, says "CDs $7" and "Next Stop" with a blank after it, where we will affix a piece of paper that says where the next stop is at each new market.

Also today, Dave and I went to see Lisa's painting of us, which is amazing, on display at Clifton Park Center, and will be the back of our next album, which John from Coffee Planet is helping us design, although he doesn't know it yet. We litterally had to force ourselves to stop staring at it. Lisa is going to be a famous artist. I can tell. And she'd better come to Dreamaway with us on sunday or else I will be sad, not that there's anything wrong with a trip to Mass. with dave and phillip (phillip being the car)...it's just that Lisa would be awesome to have along.

Oh my, I've been distracted by instant messanger. Apparently my character in the wrestling game on our ps1 just turned on dave's character...

Busy Weekend

2006-05-21T23:46:00.000-04:00

It's been a very busy weekend here at Almost Awake headquarters. Or should I say, It's been a very busy weekend for almost awake. So much so, that we've barely been home at all, and now that we are, Dave is cleaning at a feverish pace while listening to Appalachian Spring by Copeland, and I'm typing this blog entry.

Thursday Dave got his new djembe. He ordered it at Parkway Music from the remo catalog. It's exactly the same model and design as Jules, but now Dave really owns it. That night he gave jules back to our friend Jo(h)n, and, samantha, as she is called, is borrowing Isabel (Dave's first djembe)'s case (overcoat) until Samantha's Case comes in.

On Friday, we were on WAMC's roundtable performance place, being interviewed and playing a few songs. It was fun, as always, and although I was freaking out a little bit at the beginning, i calmed down by the end and all was well. Afterwards, we went to guitar center where I found the guitar i'd been searching for, was forced to obtain it only partially against my will because it was calling to my soul, and played her (Sarah) that night at our show at the Night Sky Cafe.

Night Sky was a very good show with a nice turnout of couples that had heard us that morning on the radio, some people who had seen us before, and a few random wanderers in. We sold five discs and gave one away. I had a small fiasco in which i didn't have a capo in my new guitar case and had to rush over to Moon and River hoping Richard would have a capo...which, to Dave's great surprise and my great relief, he did. I also had to cut the hole in my guitar strap bigger so that it would fit over the massive peg that I plug in through.

Afterwards we saw Mudfunk and Hector on Stilts at the Daily Grind. A blast. Mudfunk will never get old. They are always god-like. Part of "Into the Woods" sounds like the "Beef it's what's for dinner" song, or the bit of Copeland that is playing in my kitchen right now.

Saturday was filled with Emma Willard. We played at their spring fling (sadly forced indoors due to weather) with the bookdrop bees (friends of ours, and very talented musicians, Gemma and Ilan Halfi) and a random student band called the Chupacabra's, or something like that. It was fun though. We played about two hours, The Bookdrop Bees played about two hours and we did six songs together at the end. It was nice to just sing on a few songs and not play guitar, but I felt sort of naked up there. I didn't know what to do with myself without a guitar occupying so much of my energies. Harmonizing with Dave and Gemma was awesome though. Three-part harmonies on March Neverending kicked ass.

Sunday, today, we played at church, as always...and then went up to coffee planet for some breakfast and tea/coffee before we headed over to the Saratoga County Fairgrounds for the Old Iron Springs Festival of Music and Art. Headed up by the McKrells, it was a fundraiser for St. Mary's School, that apparently has been going on for many years. It's a pretty big event, with rows and rows of craft and food vendors, kids games, live radio broadcasts from the fest, and two stages of music. The weather was horrid: Rainy and windy and all this under a roof with no sides and parking in a lot that doubles as a mud-wrestling pit. It turned out that we had a special spot to park right by the stage though, and the sun came out right when we were supposed to play. We even sold a disc, and got to see some great performers like Kate McKrell, My Friend Other and the wierd and ecclectic Ramblin' Jug Stompers. After that we got to hear ourselves on 104.9's Kaleidescope with Jim Barrett.

And now we're home and the fish has been fed.

It's been a weekend.

Getting Interviewed...all week...

2006-05-15T12:23:00.000-04:00

We're getting interviewed all week. Today was for the Saratogian (I'm actually writing this post from the Saratoga Springs Public Library). Tomorrow for Kaleidoscope on 104.9 and friday for Roundtable's Performance Place on WAMC. Then on June 10th we're going to be on 91.1 WSPN's Soiree.

I don't mind being interviewed, but I do feel like I'm pretty inarticulate most of the time. I think i would enjoy an interview through e-mail better. Then I could have a moment to think about what I wanted to say and write it down with my fingers instead of attempting to speak. It wouldn't hurt that i'd have a thesauraus at my disposal.

I'm near the art section in the library. I started a collage a little while after we moved to 'burgh, but I never finished it. I'm doing more laundry today, and being poor. It's alright though, it's the noble kind of 'pursuing your calling' poverty. At least Dave and I have a skill/talent we employ to get money from strangers on the street and we don't have to beg.

Man! I just remembered that I'm in Saratoga and that means I have to go to Saratoga Guitar and look at guitars. Good times.

I was so afraid we'd run out of gas this morning, but we didn't, and we're still here to tell the tale. There is someone in between my computer and dave's. I think he's on computer three because he's counter-clockwise from me with one computer in between and I'm on computer five.

I love my life. My ear feels a little bit better right now than it did last night. Maybe I won't go to the doctor. I don't think I actually have my insurance card anyway. That's a problem with being a musician. Lack of access to insurance. We could join the union, but then we'd have to pay dues, and I don't have money for a pack of gum right now, let alone union dues.

11 minutes remaining on this computer.

I'm going to wrap it up. I'm getting typing elbow and the mouse is on the right-handed-person side. It's totally time to go to the guitar store. Only if Dave is done with his computer though. We do have ten minutes left until they kick us off after all.

*C*

Open Mic is Fun

2006-05-09T20:23:00.000-04:00

Open Mic is Fun. Yes, that's what I said. For some reason Coffee Planet open mic has been rejuvinated this week. I think it's because half the population of Schenectady randomly showed up. The awesome half that is, not the half with the confusing layout and deadly erie boulevard pedestrian crossing-ness.

Dave just almost got what i believe was an almond thing...ick! We are both glad he didn't. He should get a sandwich though. Or maybe a muffin. The poor boy isn't taking advantage of free food. It is a good thing to take advantage of.

Nik is playing Dave's favorite song of his.

I should write entries that are applicable to people other than those who go to this open mic, but everyone should, so there you are.

*C*

Goodmorning Allergies

2006-05-08T10:39:00.000-04:00

Yes, goodmorning is one word. I made it so with my miraculous powers of making things so.

I cannot breathe through my nose, but it's alright because I don't have a real show until friday. Maybe by then the pollen count will be down or something.

I ran out of soy milk last night so now i'm eating dry raisin bran for breakfast. It could be worse. I could be eating white bread and drinking Dasani water.

On Saturday, after our show at Coffee Planet with Nik, Dave and I went up to Saratoga to see Sirsy at the Parting Glass. That's the nice thing about daytime shows on a Saturday, they allow you to go see other bands that night. So, seeing as we were up north anyway, it was Sirsy, and they were unveiling Sirsy version 2.0, we couldn't really pass it up. Anyway, I am amazed by the versatility of Melanie and Rich. They manage to sound like a full band with only two people! I could go on about it further, but it would probably be best if you just saw them yourself....(seguay to...)...Hopefully with Almost Awake later this summer! We're in the process of trying to put together a show at the Daily Grind with Sirsy and (randomly enough...the techno/electronic/keyboard/accordian-playing) Harry Pyle. Hopefully all will work out, because this would be an absolutely slammin' show!

Speaking of slammin', or should i say Jammin', Yesterdays second set at Heritage Day, kicked ass. Mostly because my dad sat in with his Telecaster and gave a new spin to our acousticness. We rocked out, and there was a lot more of an audience than at the Old Iron Spring. We even sold a few CDs. It was spiffy. And we got to hang out with Nik and friend and father at Coffee Planet, see Lisa dn Kristen and make enough money to buy lunch without going into the red.

On saturday dave battled with a Lion. More on that to come.

Rainy Saturday

2006-05-06T15:44:00.000-04:00

It's a rainy day, it's a rainy day, it's raining outside so I can't go out and play. It's a rainy day, it's a rainy day. It's raining outside today.

(above quoted from a sesame street song.)

This morning I got up really early, and then went back to sleep. Then dave and I got up for read and went to coffee planet. Our show went awesomely. Nik was a hit, Hannah and Chelsea stopped by, and I didn't sneeze during a single song.

We did two ten song sets. It rained. Lisa stopped by. Kristen was working! We sold five CDs and got yummy breakfast. Dave did the super-secret musican handshake.

Dave was slightly injured by a cat that we almost adopted, but his hand has been dis-infected and bandaged, and he promises that we he will be 100% for tomorrow...

..which is Heritage Day!! We're playing from 1-2 at the old iron spring at the end of Front Street in B-spa and from 2-4 with my very own dad, and hopefully some other all-star guests at the gazebo in wiswall park. Whether we are able to successfully tear down our whole PA and move it down the street and set it up again in litterally no time is quite doubtful. I'm anticipating more of 1-1:45 at the spring and 2:30-4 at the gazebo. My dad will be playing lap steel and electric guitar.

But as it is now, i need to pee. I will talk to you all again soon.

*C*

I'm not sure what's going on

2006-05-06T07:06:00.000-04:00

So I changed the tempate on this thing, but for some reason it isn't showing up yet. Maybe my computer is weird, maybe i'm missing something, or maybe the world can sense that i'm off due to allergies. It's up for grabs, but there you are.

I've been up since six am because my allergies are so bad that i can't sleep. I considered having breakfast, but then i remembered that we are playing at coffee planet today, home of awesome bagels, and the best hummus since the invention of the food processor. Additionally, I don't have anything to do between 11 and 12 because Nik is playing for the first hour, and Dave and I for the second two, meaning ample time for breakfast!

I hope my allergies are feeling better by then. I feel pretty aweful, and although the medicine makes my allergies more tolerable, it makes the rest of existance a little worse. A trade-off I suppose, as it everything, but i'd perfer to not be falling asleep at the mic.

Today should be fun overall though. After the show, Dave and I are heading up to saratoga to book another show at Starbucks, and then sticking around the spa city for a Sirsy show at the Parting Glass later in the evening. This is all assuming my health holds out (aren't we always wishing for that with me?). Right now I feel as if I could lie in bed all day.

"The Slight of an Impass..." went really well last night, and i'm excited to play it at coffee planet today. I want to debut another song tomorrow at heritage day, one of our new covers, but I don't think we'll have time to get one ready. We're working on "look what you've done" and "come around again" by Jet, "between the bars" by elliot smith, "don't go away" by oasis and, in theory, "dream on" by aerosmith. We've been threatening to play "torn" by natalie imbruglia for some time now, but for one reason or another we've never really worked on it. I have trouble memorizing covers. I guess it's because I actually need to know the words rather than just having them come out by some sort of reflex as they do with my own songs.

I'm going to try to go back to sleep now. Wish me luck!

*C*

Inaugural Post

2006-05-06T03:50:00.000-04:00

I'm Here, here at Blogger. This is my new blog. I like the setup of this service better than bravejournal. There are more options and whatnot, so I moved my blog. Once I figure out how, I'l lmove all my old posts here as well. I just wanted to get one post up to begin with so things didn't look so blank.

Anyway, we played at Starbucks in Saratoga tonight, and it went really well. It was our second show there, and our second success. Despite the reputation of the establishment, we've always had very good experiences there. I don't mean that I'm ever going to forego a local shop in order to buy a latte at Starbucks, but playing there is nice. The staff are friendly and helpful (one barista even gave me allergy medicine!), we get free food and drinks, booking goes smoothly, and patrons are generally attentive.

The downsides are that the performance space itself if rather small, and there is a strange divider cutting the room in half. It's also a pretty noisy room for a coffeeshop, but the blender is significantly quieter than at a lot of other places.

We got a few new names for the e-mail list as well as sold some discs, made a bit in tips and presented our invoices to be stamped. You see, with Starbucks, you have to make an invoice, fill it out, get it stamped and signed by the shift manager, and send it in to the national office. You also have to fill out a w-9 and pay taxes on your income at the end of the year. It's sort of a big process to make a buck, but it's worth it, and it's not that hard now that we have a standard invoice.

Dave and I also developed a standard contract today. We used a generic one my dad (head AASS) found on the web and altered it to work for us. Emma Willard and Green Mountain College both require contracts, so we thought it would be best if we wrote it out ourselves and made sure we got what we wanted in there, rather than relying on a standard one the venue might present to us.

We had our public debut of the new song "The Slight of an Impass...Stalemate" at Caffe Lena open mic. last night (to which we carpooled with the awesome new trojan musician Gregory Rosenthal) and the gig debut of it was tonight. I really like the song, as does Dave. It's in 6 and it was inadvertantly inspired by Elliot Smith. The chorus and bridge don't have words, just sounds, which is fun, and certainly cut down on the lyric writing.

Also, I'm in the process, with my dad Richard, of getting all my songs copyrighted and registering Switchback Music as my publishing company so that I will own the rights to all my songs. I think that's very important. My songs are my creations, my children, and owning the copyrights and publishing are like having legal custody.

Anyway, I think that's it for the moment. Hang in there folks, and keeping humming that tune in your brain until you infect someone else with it and you are free.

*C*