FIRST GAME OF THE YEAR!

Tomorrow night I'm taking Wyatt to his first Yankee's game. It will be my pleasure to give him a tour of the house that Ruth built. Unfortunately, though, we won't be able to get there early enough to see Monument Park because I will be working until 6pm and it closes at 6:20. This work thing is constantly getting in the way of my fun. I might have to become a rockstar instead. In the meantime, I'll be sitting in the nosebleeds wearing my Posada t-shirt and wishing he wasn't on the DL.

IT'S PARTY TIME!!

This Saturday marks the return of DJ Freakness and DJ Triple Crown (aka me and Jeff). We will be back to DJ the best bluegrass and country all afternoon while you drink mint juleps and watch the ponies.

THE GARDEN WILL BE OPEN

Have a fancy cocktail al fresco while I spin classic country and the best of today's alternamericana.

I might, inspired by Dean Wareham, even spin some Glen Campbell. Wichita Lineman here I come!

RANGERS

If Allie is going to blog about the Yankees, then I might as well make her feel better by blogging about the Rangers. They are one win away from eliminating the Devils (aka the swamp rats") from the playoffs and moving that much closer to the Stanley Cup.

I have been saying that this is the Rangers year since before the season started...and it just might be!!!!

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!!!



-jeff

THE YANKEES

My bandmates are going to kill me. First I post about nothing other than American Idol and now it's baseball season. But, I can't be stopped. Perhaps I should disassociate this blog from Bel Air.

Anyhooz, the Yanks played Boston last night and won. Decisively. It's hard to watch Boston games, though, because I get so mad at Manny. My blood pressure rises to an unhealthy level. He is so vile. Alex Rodriguez balances it all out, though. He is a specimen of physical perfection - juiced or not. But, that's not why I watch baseball. I mean I could talk about how beautiful the Yankee organization is all day. I could mention something about Girardi's bone structure or how Posada looks so dignified with the salt and pepper at the temples that he has going on now. But, again, that's not why I watch baseball.






This is:

GORG!

BOOK REPORT

I highly recommend Black Postcards by Dean Wareham to anyone who is in a band, anyone who loves music and really anyone that can appreciate a good story. Wareham, the frontman/guitar player for a couple of my all-time favorite bands, Galaxie 500 and Luna, spells out his life story from the beginning to the end of Luna. It reads in a lot of parts like a novel. There is much drama in both bands and in Wareham's personal life to read about in this well-written and incredibly honest book.

The amount of detail in this book is amazing. Clearly, Wareham kept good notes on his touring/recording/life experiences. I was particularly fascinated by his accounts of the recording process. Some albums took 3 days to record (Today), others took months (Pup Tent). It's hard to say which of those two albums I like better.

Beyond the recording and touring a lot of focus is put on how a band can have the kind of success that Luna had and still have to struggle with money. There are ups and downs. Label signings and labels disolving. Advances and massive debt. Making a living off of t-shirt sales. This is an unglamorous look at being a rockstar.

Wareham can be arrogant at times, especially when talking about other bands, but he is also self-depricating. Either way, he doesn't pull any punches. Anecdotes from his years on the road are entertaining and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.

On a personal note, I was very happy to get to page 295 and have a mystery solved. Every once in a while for birthdays and mother's/father's day I give my parents mix CDs mostly comprised of Brooklyn bands and other indie stuff. One mix that I gave to my mom had Broken Chair on it from Luna's album Rendevous. My mom and I both really like that song (written and sung by guitarist Sean Eden) but we always wondered why it was called Broken Chair. There is no reference to a chair in that song at all. Wareham offers this explanation:

"The song refers obliquely to his former girlfriend, who had bought him two matching vintage leather chairs when they lived together - as a birthday gift. One of the chairs was broken. When Sean moved out, she let him take the broken chair."

Now I feel better.

Wareham calls his book a Rock and Roll Romance and I love that description. I couldn't put it down. Now, go get it!

THANK YOU

To ALL of the gorgeous people that came out to see 2/5ths of Bel Air perform last night at the Parkside Lounge. It was fun times.

OH YEAH

How come Ryan never say "Seacrest Out" any more? That was his thing. Oh well.

I'M BORED

Words I hate:

- pro-active
- via


Names I like:

- Ramona
- Omarosa

Those two would be good for twin girls.

Anyone see Idol last night?

TOMORROW NIGHT

Jeff and Allie LIVE!!!!

We're playing a duo show tomorrow (Tuesday the 15th) at Parkside Lounge. Come to see some pared down Bel Air songs from our upcoming album Pole to Pole. a NEW song, a couple covers, and Allie playing harmonica and guitar at the same time to the best of her abilities. Please try not to make fun of her headgear.

The show is at 8 o'clock and it's FREE!


photo by Jamie MacKenzie

TO ALL OF THE SKINNYS AT THE GYM:

Spandex should not be baggy. Get off the treadmill and go eat a doughnut.

Thanks. Bye.
Allie

TWO WORDS

JASON CASTRO FOREVER!



Even Bel Air bass player Matt is a fan after that performance. I believe his words were "Jason is the best one - he should win. He's the only one that I can live in this world with"

BLAST FROM THE PAST

This is a picture of me and my old country band The Blue 88's! I just found it while going through some old files on my computer. It was taken during our residency at the Stinger Bar which doesn't even exist anymore. Ahh, good old days.

BROOKE WHITE GO AWAY

Long version:
I haven't posted about AI (I'm cool) lately because I didn't see it at all last week (I know!). Last Tuesday Bel Air and friends went out to dinner at a new restaurant that we all highly recommend. It's called Roberta's and it's a pizza place with a geniune pizza oven straight from Italy. The food is amazing and it's BYO so our check came to such a ridiculous amount that I think we tipped 50% or something because anything less would have been obscenely cheap. The other cool thing about Roberta's is that it's co-owned by our friend Brandon Hoy. Brandon was in a band called Alabama Black Snake that BUBD played with a lot and eventually shared a practice space with. He's a super nice guy and it's great to see his new venture doing so well. The NY Times gave Roberta's a great review as you can see in the link above.

Short version:
I didn't see idol last week because I was eating lots of pizza and drinking lots of wine.

I'm really hoping that Brooke White gets the boot this week. I can't take her anymore. As usual, the girls at Go Fug Yourself hit the nail on the head: She needs to stop talking so much.

ONE STEP CLOSER

Yesterday Bel Air took a little field trip to Salt Mastering in Greenpoint to have our album Pole to Pole mastered. Everything sounds awesome! And, an added bonus was that we got to see as actual record get made out of a blank disk on one of these:



This picture looks old-timey but I swear this is exactly what the lathe at Salt looks like. Extra bonus: the songs that were cut into the blank disk were Bel Air songs! We walked out with a record of the first four songs on the album. It was very exciting.

Breakup Breakdown released two 7 inch singles on fine, fine Czechoslovakian vinyl and they are what I am most proud of from that era. I hope Bel Air releases some vinyl, too.

MYSPACE DEMOS #3

I promised something more light-hearted this time. So, here ya go. This is what happens when Wyatt and I have time to kill. It's so silly that Wyatt actually laughs through his vocal part. Speaking of, you kind of have to pump up the volume to really grasp the genius of his vocals. We didn't get this mastered or anything if you know what I mean.

The name of the song is Gary because, well, just because it is. We called it Allie's Lullaby long enough to name the mp3 file that but I think you'll agree that Gary is better.

PLAYING IN A COVER BAND FINALLY PAYS OFF FOR SOMEBODY

Filipino singer Arnel Pineda was discovered through YouTube videos of him singing covers with his band "The Zoo". He is now the new lead singer of Journey.


He's good! Check him out at his debut show on February 21, 2008 in Chile.

THIS SATURDAY!!!