eggs and bac-y! and news

first, a memory.

Friday night we shared the stage with the well-bearded, well-worded, well-yes-some-more-if-you-please NYC band Wakey! Wakey!, led by Michael Grubbs of One Tree Hill fame.

across the foggy ribbons of neons and stage lights we saw so many friends and so many faces we didn't know... after we offered up an upside-down cover of "Burning Down the House" and finished out the set, we (and everyone else) got to enjoy the epic, folky Spring Standards and long-awaited Wakey! Wakey!. all not before discovering the secret all-black back room of the Mad Hatter where Sean, Ryan, and I hung out for a minute with Michael, his gorgeous German bassist Anne and babe keyboardist Tanya (I love it... Wakey! Wakey! consists of TV heartthrob Mikey Grubbs and his army of talented and approachable supermodels... and drummer Spencer). among other things we worshipped Twitter, chuckled about dudes who wear bright colors, played a purple guitar and took some silly photos with my disposable camera (did you know they still make those?). they couldn't have been kinder and more content to spend time with some real cincinnati folk... and watching their show wasn't too different from that. the Wakey! Wakey! set was sparkling and earnest, sort of like if you rode Space Mountain with the cast of Andy Griffith and 200 of your best friends.

the members of Spring Standards and the purple-guitar-playing tour manager then rushed onstage for the last tune; Anne must've seen me hungrily eye-ing a tambourine, cause she pulled me up and we all shouted and shook and jangled and sang together. smiley, Wakey! Wakey! said goodnight.

AND suddenly, when all the sounds had softened and Michael made his way back to the merch table, the room went black and floodlights flicked on as the power was cut to half of Covington. AND then in the half-light the greatest thing in the world happened, which means people spontaneously pulled out instruments and started singing folk songs together. AND that's what i love about music, that when all the lights go out and our phones are dead and our tech-y modern world is reduced to half-light, people are gonna make music like so what?

and off the soap-box for a little news...

this coming Friday we're back at the Mad Hatter for a rare show - a rep from a big-whig booking agency will be there checking out Cincinnati acts. it's an important one for us, and we'd be really grateful to see you out there. got to show this man what we're about!!

if you can't make it Friday, we're playing Saturday night at the Mainstay in downtown Cinci. we play at midnight, and the Dukes open at 11pm.

thanks again to everyone who came out on Friday... you were wonderful. cheers, Michael, Anne, Tanya, Spence, and friends! and to the Heffs and Birdfinder! hope to see you again soon.

love,