WHEELS

I just remembered that we were seriously considering naming the band Wheels before we came up with Bel Air. I'm glad someone talked me out of that. It was probably Wyatt.


Photo by Jamie MacKenzie
Sepia nonsense by me. I was bored.

WORLD SERIES

The Phillies? Really? Do they honestly think they're any match for the Yankees? I mean, they're THE YANKEES. THE Yankees. Get real, Phillies!

TOUR NONSENSE

Things to do in the van:

- listen to pre-made mixes
- play Garage Band trivia game
- geek out on music
- video tape each other
- play 20 questions
- play Seinfeld trivia (Allie and Eric)
- eat gorp
- get lost
- back seat drive (Jeff)
- glare at each other
- listen to Pandora
- come up with set lists
- read Twilight (Allie)
- read yellowed Penguin classics (Turner)
- smoke (Jeff and Turner)

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

I listened to Justin Townes Earle's album Midnight at the Movies recently and once again remarked on the female backing vocals on "Mama's Eyes" and "Here We Go Again". I went to allmusic.com to find out who that singer is. It turns out there are no female singers listed in the credits for that album. So, I still don't know who to be crazy jealous of.

I did notice that Cory Younts who is the amazing multi-instrumentalist that JTE tours with is credited with "Whistle (Human)". I love that! It's a very important distinction.

CURRENT OBSESSION

Deer Tick, These Old Shoes

Deer Tick will be doing some dates (though not the NYC-area shows) with Neko Case in November. I would love to see them together.

The new album Born on Flag Day is great. Check it out when you get a minute.

If you can't see this video you can access it with this link.

HELLO AGAIN!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. Everyone needs a blogcation, right?

Despite the blog slacking, we have a lot going on. We're gearing up for the CMJ Music Marathon 2009! Our showcase is on Wednesday, October 21st at the Alphabet Lounge (Avenue C and E. 7th Street) at 10pm. Here's the schedule for the night:

7pm - Heath Street
8pm - Jones Street Station
9pm - Blair
10pm - Bel Air

Notice anything about this list? Two "street" bands and then Blair and Bel Air. The CMJ schedulers have an interesting sense of humor. When Wyatt was in Masculine Feminine he played a CMJ showcase with Junior Senior and Mommy and Daddy.

The weird thing about this bill is that it actually makes sense. Heath Street is folkie singer/songwriter kind of stuff, Jones Street Station (who didn't get to play at last year's ill-fated pig roast) are great country rock featuring our friend Jon Hull on harmonica. Blair's songs are really interesting - influenced by Neil Young and alt-country but not in an obvious way. Then us. You know what we sound like: kind of an amalgamation of all of the above.

Besides CMJ, we (read: Wyatt) have been working on our brand new OFFICIAL WEBSITE!!! It's your new one stop place for all things Bel Air. It has photos, a store, our twitter feed, news and MORE. Check it out! We're excited about it.



We've also been working on our fall tour-de-south. It's coming together. Here are the dates:

15-Nov-09 The M Room Philladelphia, PA
16-Nov-09 Juggling Gypsy Wilmington, NC
17-Nov-09 The Garage Winston Salem, NC
18-Nov-09 The Bobo Gallery Asheville, NC
19-Nov-09 8th and Rail Auburn, AL
20-Nov-09 Hang Fire Savannah, GA
21-Nov-09 Slims Raleigh, NC

I've started chronicling the process of booking/planning/doing a tour in my Eight Million Stories column. You can read the first installment here. The next one will be posted next week (Oct. 16th).

Thanks for reading this long-winded post. I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time!

XOXOXO