WHOA THERE, SCARJO

As you have probably heard, Scarlett Johansson is taking a lot of heat for her recent project Anywhere I Lay My Head, an album of Tom Waits covers. People are wondering where she gets off recording an album when she is clearly a mediocre actress who should stick to what she knows. I say - more power to her. If I had the resources to get TV on the Radio to produce my album and David Bowie to do backup vocals and - wait - is that Salman Rushdie in her video? Let's just say if I could I would.

VIDEO

LA funnyman and talented video artist, Sean Barrett is going to be doing a video for our very own song "Looking Up". Look for it at the end of the summer! In the meantime, here's one of his videos that I especially like.

MEMORIAL DAY!

Yesterday, Memorial Day, I drove down to Baltimore to see the Orioles/Yankees game at Camden Yards. I have many things to say about this but first of all - there was NO traffic! I guess people really were staying home because of gas prices. I heard Pat Kiernan saying that less people would be on the road but I didn't believe it. He says a lot of things. This time, though, it was true. I hit no traffic there and back. I also paid $3.72 a gallon which, considering, I thought was pretty good.

Camden Yards is the 3rd major league ballpark that I have visited and the 2nd at which I have attended a game. I took a tour of the Blue Jays stadium in Toronto back in high school, the highlight of which was watching roadies set up for the Rolling Stones show that was going on that weekend. I won't tell you which tour it was because then I'd be dating myself. Ok fine, Steel Wheels.

The Orioles' stadium has it's plusses and minuses.
Plusses:
- It is modern, clean and well layed out. I did find myself missing the old n' dirtiness of Yankee Stadium, though. The environment just seemed a bit sterile.
- It's not nearly as big as Yankee Stadium so all the seats are pretty good.

Minuses:
- They don't have it together where refreshments are concerned. Getting a hot dog was an impossible dream. There was, maybe, one hot dog guy going around the WHOLE stadium. He showed up in my section in the 8th inning. No joke. When I went out to the concession stands I waited in a line only to get to the front and hear the grill guy say that there was a 15 minute wait for hot dogs. He was lucky he was in Baltimore at that moment. That would not fly in El Bronx. Anyway, I missed a whole inning on my hot dog quest. Not that it mattered in that game.
- Also under the refreshments umbrella - The vendor handed me my Cracker Jacks. At Yankee Stadium, even if the vendor is in the next row he will throw you the Cracker Jacks (or peanuts) because it's part of the fun. Getting handed Cracker Jacks is boring.
- Related: They didn't play Take Me Out to the Ballgame in the 7th inning stretch. What???
- Baltimore fans HATE Derek Jeter. They chanted "Overrated" everytime he went up to bat. How can you hate this guy?


I mean, seriously.

Despite the above ranting and the Yankees' loss, I am so happy to have experienced a different stadium. It was a fabulous day to be at a ballpark and I had the best time because so many awesome friends were there. I'm glad that the Orioles won because it made them happy!

AMERICAN IDOL FINALE!

David Cook won!



Now you don't have to read any more about American Idol on this blog ever again. Until February when it starts all over again.

It should have been Jason Castro...

SAVE THE DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be celebrating the release of our new album Pole to Pole on July 11th at Spike Hill! Save the date!

THE ROGUE DECORATOR STRIKES AGAIN!

Where is TRD getting these flags?

Read the beginning of the story here.

OPEN MIC AT BANJO JIM'S

This is Jeff performing at the open mic that is held at Banjo Jim's every Saturday afternoon from 3-6. We each played 3 songs at the beginning (we were the second and third people to go) and then stuck around to watch the other characters perform.

THE CURSE OF BEL AIR???

If you are in a band - don't come anywhere near us. We are cursed. Here's our booking history:

1) We booked a show at the Creek and Cave. Shortly after, they shut down as a venue due to noise complaints.
2) We are about to set a date with Sound Fix for our CD release party when they shut down as a venue due to noise complaints. They have since re-opened for acoustic acts only.
3) We book a CD release party at Rockstar Bar only find out they have double booked and we are screwed.
4) We get a gig playing with Boy Genius at Pete's Candy Store and the show gets cancelled due to double booking.

Wow. We may never play out.

INTERVIEW IS UP

Last week Bel Air was interviewed by Kevin Heald of Eight Million Stories, a web magazine about NYC culture. Check out the interview here:

http://eightmillionstories.com/archive.php?gvID=48

It's a slightly drunk conversation about our new album and how we formed as a band. Kevin had some nice things to say about our album, as well.

BLAZE FOLEY

Why is it that I just heard of Blaze Foley?? Our friend Jared wrote about him in his tour blog and I was intrigued and checked him out. Ever since I've been obsessed. His life story is a crazy one including a duct tape obsession that ended in his casket being covered in duct tape by his friends after he took a bullet for his friend.

The first album of his that I got is "Live at the Austin Outhouse". It's SO good. His inbetween song banter is almost the best part. He says things like:

"It's hell being a grown up. Especially with soap operas on all day when you're out of work."

"Can I get another snoot of that brandy? It's strictly for medicinal purposes. Watching whales die on CNN will give you medicinal porpoises."

The songs are incredible, too. Required listening: "Clay Pigeons", "If I Could Only Fly" and "Election Day".

OK. YOU WERE RIGHT, WYATT

I concede. Based on the vast survey conducted on this blog strawberry is a more popular jelly flavor than grape. I'm surprised as I think grape is the king of all jellies. But, I can see that I'm in the minority.

WHAT?

Alright, perhaps I don't know how to pick them.

MYSPACE DEMOS #4

Here's what Jeff says about his demo:

"I swear to god i woke up with this song in my head one day. This is a re-recording I did on a crappy little digi 4track. You can hear Mr. Grieves' collar rattling, so I tried to mask it with a shaker. I thought it was very sneaky, turns out to just sound silly. Think I was listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen last fall, certainly sounds like I was."

LUNCH TIME POLL

OK. Say you're in a diner eating your 2 eggs scrambled with bacon and homefries. It comes with toast. The toast comes with a little caddy of jelly. Your options on the jelly caddy are Strawberry or Grape.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

DO I KNOW HOW TO PICK THEM OR WHAT?

Jason Castro is in the FINAL FOUR. Tonight's theme is "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame". It should be good!

GO JASON!

THEORY PROVED WRONG

Today I ran into my good friend Tom Coppola on the street. Hey, in a city of 8 million people you're bound to run into some SUNY Geneseo alums (big ups to SUNY)

Up until this morning I thought that if you wanted to run into someone you know that you had to do the following:

1) forget about showering for a couple days
2) don't put your contacts in or makeup on
3) put on some sweatpants
4) go out in public

It's as easy as that. I never run into people when I'm looking presentable. But this morning was different. I was showered, primped, made-up, and wearing a Mary Tyler Moore "makin it in the city" day job ensemble complete with pencil skirt and heels. Yeah.


This is me today.

GO BIG BROWN!!

The Derby party was a success!! It was so much fun. Lots of people, food, bourbon and good times. My photography attempts, unfortunately, were NOT a success:

Here are some revelers enjoying beverages. James and the rest of the "Stud Emporium" in the background.



Here you can "see" the race on the big screen. The horse are going so fast they are out of focus.

OUR BELOVED PRACTICE SPACE

There are some characters at our practice space. The Midget Prog Band, the Dying Quail, Jay Honstetter. But now there is a new one - The Rogue Decorator. Here is the hallway as it was:



Pretty bland, right?

Not anymore!