Tagged, I'm It
Jonny Lives!/Treasures of the Sea/The Patchwork Family//Sin-e//1/10/06
They tagged my ass, yo. Jury duty. I have to report at 8:30. I know. I first roll out of bed at 8 and by the time I throw something on from the floor and feed the cat and find my sneakers and my bag and my hat and get to the subway it's 8:30.
Still, this is my vacation. I have a feeling I'll be made to stay late to make up for the time I'm out--not like they didn't know this was coming. Sequester me, baby. I thought I'd have like a week before I had to go because of where my number fell in the callback group so I figured I'd be calling back all week till they got up to my group, but no. I told them tomorrow was it and they said they could get me out of it and I said I'd like to get it over with--leaving out the part about how I'm looking for a new job and don't want jury duty over my head. "Remember, guilty until proven innocent!" said the Head Cheese. Uh, yeah, thanks.
Feeling incredibly tagged I went down to Kinkos to get my resume revamped--only to find the Kinkos on 7th closed. Closed! This can't be good if the place where I did my job searching--and during lunch!--closed, so I had to schlep down to the Kinkos across the street from The Slimelight and a block away from Tramps. Funny how it was so easy to drop $1100 for shows over the course of the year but I was really dreading spending $159 for a resume revamp and didn't want to part with the money. After all, my problems will resolve themselves on their own, right? Two blocks down, of course, is Academy Records where I used to spend too much time listening to CDs before I bought 'em when I worked nearby and once found G.M.T. on the 99-cent shelf. Heading up to the V after, I thought of how I used to sit outside Tramps when I used to work in the nabe. I looked down the block, wondering if I'd be able to see the younger version of myself on line there for some show. I'd tell myself to run like hell and don't end up like me. Of course, I wouldn't listen to myself. As it should be.
I knew things were going to go downhill when I got to the assigned address only to see a group of people with summonses in their hands leaving to go to another building. So I got in line behind them. And waited. And hoped that I wasn't supposed to check in at the previous location and then go to this one. The letters engraved on the cornerstone of the building were already wearing off. Queens County Courthouse; David N. Dinkins, Mayor. We were actually on a line for a metal detector, I realized when I got up to the thing. Now, how many bombers has that thing caught in Queens? Still, I set it off. The courthouse is across the street from a Dunkin Donuts, so you'd think there'd be complimentary donuts and coffee. From there it was to a hallway because the juror holding cell is being refurbished. Proper courtroom attire? People were in jeans and sneakers so fuck it, I'm wearing sneakers the next day. And that was it until about noon. I napped a bit. Tried to read. Fidgeted and squirmed. Bit my lip until it bled. Again. Hell, I'd prefer another day of the strike to this. At least during the strike you eventually went someplace, even if it was only to work. At noon we were let into the courtroom, had to fill out our summonses, take off the ID card, and hand 'em in. I felt like I was in kindergarten. They told people to turn off cell phones at least 5X and said if someone else uses one they'd take them away. And then someone would make a call. They had to hand back summonses because people didn't take off the ID. If you had an "issue"--couldn't give at least 10 days to jury duty--we had to come up row by row. People got up regardless of where they were sitting. The woman next to me told me she couldn't give 10 days to jury duty because she didn't feel good. Yeah, me either. 10 days? That's a stretch. They called names to be sent for interviews. Those not called were sent to lunch, be back by 2. I was tempted to skip out. The bus shelter in front of the courthouse had ads for a lawyer--Has your loved one been imprisoned?--or something like that with an ad for Judge Hatchett on the back. Back in the courtroom and they ignored us for 45 minutes. Fidgeted. "Didn't they tell us to be back by 2?" asked the class cut-up. I wanted to leave. "Well," they said, "I guess it's obvious by now that you're not going anywhere." Never before have those words sounded so sweet.
***
If I were able to see my former self on 21st Street the other day, one thing I wouldn't need to tell myself is about The Mooney Suzuki. I knew right away, back at Tramps in 1999. So when I got an email about 2 incognito NYC gigs, I had to go. Even now, even after everything that's happened. They said to go on their site and email their merch handler for the info. I considered begging and pleading for the tipoff so I won't make other plans in the meantime. I don't know why I didn't immediately go on Ticketweb/ master and do a search, but I let it ride. If I couldn't go, I couldn't go. On Dec. 31 I just happened to check Ticketweb to see if anything was posted to go onsale the next Wednesday. And there it was at Sin-e. The Mooney Suzuki. I panicked. I bought the ticket and started filling out my billing info and then remembered that I had an account. That would go faster. I went back and signed in, then bought the ticket. But it came up that I was buying 2 tix. Shit. I needed to pick up my laundry. My computer is too slow. I closed the browser, restarted it, signed into my account, and bought the ticket. Phew! I was gettin a guitar in my face at that show! So I emailed the merch person that I got my ticket for the 1/10 show, where/when's the next one?
By the time they got back to me the 1/17 show was posted both on the Sin-e site and Ticketweb. But I can't make the 1/17 show. The site didn't have The Mooney Suzuki listed, though. It said The Patchwork Family (Shhhhhh!) and links went to The Mooney Suzuki's site and their Myspace site. The writeup had the Mooney's pic. But the merch person wrote back something like, Just so nobody feels ripped off, they're not "secret Mooney Suzuki shows," The Patchwork Family features members of The Mooney Suzuki. And he added a link to the Sin-e site. Okay, first of all I know what the Sin-e site is. You don't have to tell me, of all people. And I felt ripped off with Alive & Amplified, but let's not split hairs. But this isn't a Mooney Suzuki gig? I bought tickets. They didn't want us to feel ripped off? It was listed as TMS on Ticketweb. They said 2 Mooney shows. And they didn't want us to feel ripped off. Mooney Suzuki featuring. How could we not think this is a Mooney Suzuki show? The ticket never arrived. The weekend of, the Ticketweb listing was changed to Patchwork Family (mem. Mooney Suzuki). And they don't want us to feel ripped off. Is this still a secret Mooney Suzuki show and they're yanking our chains? If not, it's still a night of music from some familiar faces. It's not so much that I feel ripped off, it's just that I want to know what's going on. Will the ticket arrive the next day? TW said if you don't get it at least 48 hrs. before the show, contact them. Still, I didn't. Now I have to take my email confirmation to Sin-e for a show that's not sold out, not even The Mooney Suzuki (or is it?). How embarrassing.
The E train was weird. I noticed it as soon as I got on. The bars were all different. They were longer, extended to both ends of the windows. I expected them to come down across our chests like a safety harness on a rollercoaster before it takes off. And at the end seats, the bars by the doorframe were vertical and longer. And the poles in the middle. A lot. I had to count 'em. 10. That's weird. Or am I imagining things? I looked out the end windows and the next cars had the same weird poles and handlebars. With the weak lighting, the car seemed older, dirtier, and more crowded than it really was, because it was neither dirty (well, particularly dirty) or crowded. But my guess was that it was a really old subway car. That I was sitting in a piece of history. I wondered what the line was colored and lettered back in the 60s and 70s. And when it went on the express track, I wondered if it would really stop at Queens Plaza next, or if it was a phantom subway that would it stop at some ghost station instead. I saw the V on the higher, local track and didn't see the local stations that we bypassed, so I had to wonder. I thought of the first time that the F went thru the 63rd St. tunnel. Stations that were there all along and I'd never been there before. By the time I got on the F at W4 I felt sick. That crazy guy claiming to be selling Street News and who's really carrying a stack of Onions was back.
I seriously had some excuses to give them, by way of small talk, for my TW confirmation, the same as if I'd actually had the ticket for a gig @ Sin-e. As if they cared as they checked thru the papers on their clipboard. There was nothing to worry about as I sidestepped the crowd who stood from the center of the bar and back. Jonny Lives! is, indeed, a strange thing to name a band, but there is a Jonny in the band. That doesn't make it any better, though. When introducing the band members, the singer/guitarist mentioned the other guitar player's other band and when they were playing.
But when Treasures of the Sea started putting things on the stage, I felt a little better. Playing things is awesome. Except it turns out that the little square boxes with the pipes coming out of them were amps, not some experimental, handmade, or obscuro instrument. They consist of a clarinet player, acoustic drummer, metal-guitar player (as in, the guitar is made of metal, not that he plays metal--I guess this is the part where a digital camera would've come in handy so you don't have to suffer through my descriptions of the visuals) and a gal singing. The woman is perfect for this band; she's petite with curly hair and reminded me of a living Betty Boop. Except it was really hard to hear her. Her vocals consisted mostly of noises coming from her rounded mouth and watching them was like watching--or listening to--a 78. I felt like I was in a Maakies strip, since so many of them take place on boats or seaside. I could picture them at the Seaport with a dancing monkey in front of them and people throwing change into the clarinet case. It was really interesting to watch at first, but then I was like, Rock! Do something! Stop being so charming! I can't hear you! They're the type of band that needs a seated audience and one that knows what they're going to hear, as in: an audience that knows to be quiet. Because I could hear all the murmuring and stirring in the crowd behind me. The crowd was thinking that this was the perfect opportunity to catch up with each other since they could hear each other over the band. They ended with You Are My Sunshine and Puttin On The Ritz and I had to wonder if their other songs were covers of songs from the 20s and 30s and I just didn't know it.
Well, everything seemed to be in place for a Mooney Suzuki show, secret or otherwise. Will Rockwell was back on drums after a 4-year absence, Mike Fornatale was right up front as well, and I overheard him tell his wife that Blair couldn't make it. And this is the part where you're expecting me to tell you that it was a TMS show. Everything was in place for a Mooney Suzuki show, secret or otherwise, that is, except for a bass player and Mooney Suzuki songs. All through their between-songs banter I found myself cocking my ear for an explanation or a familiar guitar lick. Is TMS going to break up? (I'd heard a rumor.) Is this a sneak preview of the next Mooney album? Is this all a big joke? A side project? Are they trying to feel out the fans for their next step? What's going on here? "We got tired of practicing all alone so we decided to practice in front of you guys." "Art needs a chance to fall flat on its face and now that we've started flat, we can't go any lower." "We just wanted to play for a few friends and more friends showed up than we expected." "I guess if you don't show up next week we'll know what you really think." And Sammy said all of this with a smile on his face, so it just seemed that an explanation would be forthcoming, except it wasn't. Of course there were some typical responses from the crowd: "Play Can!" "Electric Sweat!" "You guys don't rock anymore!" Whatever the case the set started slowly, but there were a few good songs in The Patchwork Family--Ashes, Leap Of Faith (which is going to have an elaborate string arrangement), Rocknrollergirl. The closer was a rousing drinking song with them backed by Treasures of the Sea. They wrote this ode to alcohol because the last 2 years of their careers have made them heavy drinkers. (On the Mooney site later, someone mentioned that it was a preview of new Mooney songs.)
I wanted to see Bona Roba because I did pay $13 for the show, after all, not because their blurb on the Sin-e page said "Rip this joint into your iPod right now!" (Or go out and buy an iPod into which to rip this joint right now because they're that good) because what if TMS are really going to play after? But it was getting late and I had a meeting the next day. Whatever happens, happens. I would think that they think I don't like the songs they did or that I was expecting a typical Mooney gig because I can't go on the 17th, but I know they can care less. And I was right about the E train. When I got on (at like a quarter to 1) there were only 8 poles, 3, 2, and 3. And the handlebars were much shorter. I tried to sleep on the train but couldn't, and then the next thing you know I woke up at 23rd St. Now that's more like it.
They tagged my ass, yo. Jury duty. I have to report at 8:30. I know. I first roll out of bed at 8 and by the time I throw something on from the floor and feed the cat and find my sneakers and my bag and my hat and get to the subway it's 8:30.
Still, this is my vacation. I have a feeling I'll be made to stay late to make up for the time I'm out--not like they didn't know this was coming. Sequester me, baby. I thought I'd have like a week before I had to go because of where my number fell in the callback group so I figured I'd be calling back all week till they got up to my group, but no. I told them tomorrow was it and they said they could get me out of it and I said I'd like to get it over with--leaving out the part about how I'm looking for a new job and don't want jury duty over my head. "Remember, guilty until proven innocent!" said the Head Cheese. Uh, yeah, thanks.
Feeling incredibly tagged I went down to Kinkos to get my resume revamped--only to find the Kinkos on 7th closed. Closed! This can't be good if the place where I did my job searching--and during lunch!--closed, so I had to schlep down to the Kinkos across the street from The Slimelight and a block away from Tramps. Funny how it was so easy to drop $1100 for shows over the course of the year but I was really dreading spending $159 for a resume revamp and didn't want to part with the money. After all, my problems will resolve themselves on their own, right? Two blocks down, of course, is Academy Records where I used to spend too much time listening to CDs before I bought 'em when I worked nearby and once found G.M.T. on the 99-cent shelf. Heading up to the V after, I thought of how I used to sit outside Tramps when I used to work in the nabe. I looked down the block, wondering if I'd be able to see the younger version of myself on line there for some show. I'd tell myself to run like hell and don't end up like me. Of course, I wouldn't listen to myself. As it should be.
I knew things were going to go downhill when I got to the assigned address only to see a group of people with summonses in their hands leaving to go to another building. So I got in line behind them. And waited. And hoped that I wasn't supposed to check in at the previous location and then go to this one. The letters engraved on the cornerstone of the building were already wearing off. Queens County Courthouse; David N. Dinkins, Mayor. We were actually on a line for a metal detector, I realized when I got up to the thing. Now, how many bombers has that thing caught in Queens? Still, I set it off. The courthouse is across the street from a Dunkin Donuts, so you'd think there'd be complimentary donuts and coffee. From there it was to a hallway because the juror holding cell is being refurbished. Proper courtroom attire? People were in jeans and sneakers so fuck it, I'm wearing sneakers the next day. And that was it until about noon. I napped a bit. Tried to read. Fidgeted and squirmed. Bit my lip until it bled. Again. Hell, I'd prefer another day of the strike to this. At least during the strike you eventually went someplace, even if it was only to work. At noon we were let into the courtroom, had to fill out our summonses, take off the ID card, and hand 'em in. I felt like I was in kindergarten. They told people to turn off cell phones at least 5X and said if someone else uses one they'd take them away. And then someone would make a call. They had to hand back summonses because people didn't take off the ID. If you had an "issue"--couldn't give at least 10 days to jury duty--we had to come up row by row. People got up regardless of where they were sitting. The woman next to me told me she couldn't give 10 days to jury duty because she didn't feel good. Yeah, me either. 10 days? That's a stretch. They called names to be sent for interviews. Those not called were sent to lunch, be back by 2. I was tempted to skip out. The bus shelter in front of the courthouse had ads for a lawyer--Has your loved one been imprisoned?--or something like that with an ad for Judge Hatchett on the back. Back in the courtroom and they ignored us for 45 minutes. Fidgeted. "Didn't they tell us to be back by 2?" asked the class cut-up. I wanted to leave. "Well," they said, "I guess it's obvious by now that you're not going anywhere." Never before have those words sounded so sweet.
***
If I were able to see my former self on 21st Street the other day, one thing I wouldn't need to tell myself is about The Mooney Suzuki. I knew right away, back at Tramps in 1999. So when I got an email about 2 incognito NYC gigs, I had to go. Even now, even after everything that's happened. They said to go on their site and email their merch handler for the info. I considered begging and pleading for the tipoff so I won't make other plans in the meantime. I don't know why I didn't immediately go on Ticketweb/ master and do a search, but I let it ride. If I couldn't go, I couldn't go. On Dec. 31 I just happened to check Ticketweb to see if anything was posted to go onsale the next Wednesday. And there it was at Sin-e. The Mooney Suzuki. I panicked. I bought the ticket and started filling out my billing info and then remembered that I had an account. That would go faster. I went back and signed in, then bought the ticket. But it came up that I was buying 2 tix. Shit. I needed to pick up my laundry. My computer is too slow. I closed the browser, restarted it, signed into my account, and bought the ticket. Phew! I was gettin a guitar in my face at that show! So I emailed the merch person that I got my ticket for the 1/10 show, where/when's the next one?
By the time they got back to me the 1/17 show was posted both on the Sin-e site and Ticketweb. But I can't make the 1/17 show. The site didn't have The Mooney Suzuki listed, though. It said The Patchwork Family (Shhhhhh!) and links went to The Mooney Suzuki's site and their Myspace site. The writeup had the Mooney's pic. But the merch person wrote back something like, Just so nobody feels ripped off, they're not "secret Mooney Suzuki shows," The Patchwork Family features members of The Mooney Suzuki. And he added a link to the Sin-e site. Okay, first of all I know what the Sin-e site is. You don't have to tell me, of all people. And I felt ripped off with Alive & Amplified, but let's not split hairs. But this isn't a Mooney Suzuki gig? I bought tickets. They didn't want us to feel ripped off? It was listed as TMS on Ticketweb. They said 2 Mooney shows. And they didn't want us to feel ripped off. Mooney Suzuki featuring. How could we not think this is a Mooney Suzuki show? The ticket never arrived. The weekend of, the Ticketweb listing was changed to Patchwork Family (mem. Mooney Suzuki). And they don't want us to feel ripped off. Is this still a secret Mooney Suzuki show and they're yanking our chains? If not, it's still a night of music from some familiar faces. It's not so much that I feel ripped off, it's just that I want to know what's going on. Will the ticket arrive the next day? TW said if you don't get it at least 48 hrs. before the show, contact them. Still, I didn't. Now I have to take my email confirmation to Sin-e for a show that's not sold out, not even The Mooney Suzuki (or is it?). How embarrassing.
The E train was weird. I noticed it as soon as I got on. The bars were all different. They were longer, extended to both ends of the windows. I expected them to come down across our chests like a safety harness on a rollercoaster before it takes off. And at the end seats, the bars by the doorframe were vertical and longer. And the poles in the middle. A lot. I had to count 'em. 10. That's weird. Or am I imagining things? I looked out the end windows and the next cars had the same weird poles and handlebars. With the weak lighting, the car seemed older, dirtier, and more crowded than it really was, because it was neither dirty (well, particularly dirty) or crowded. But my guess was that it was a really old subway car. That I was sitting in a piece of history. I wondered what the line was colored and lettered back in the 60s and 70s. And when it went on the express track, I wondered if it would really stop at Queens Plaza next, or if it was a phantom subway that would it stop at some ghost station instead. I saw the V on the higher, local track and didn't see the local stations that we bypassed, so I had to wonder. I thought of the first time that the F went thru the 63rd St. tunnel. Stations that were there all along and I'd never been there before. By the time I got on the F at W4 I felt sick. That crazy guy claiming to be selling Street News and who's really carrying a stack of Onions was back.
I seriously had some excuses to give them, by way of small talk, for my TW confirmation, the same as if I'd actually had the ticket for a gig @ Sin-e. As if they cared as they checked thru the papers on their clipboard. There was nothing to worry about as I sidestepped the crowd who stood from the center of the bar and back. Jonny Lives! is, indeed, a strange thing to name a band, but there is a Jonny in the band. That doesn't make it any better, though. When introducing the band members, the singer/guitarist mentioned the other guitar player's other band and when they were playing.
But when Treasures of the Sea started putting things on the stage, I felt a little better. Playing things is awesome. Except it turns out that the little square boxes with the pipes coming out of them were amps, not some experimental, handmade, or obscuro instrument. They consist of a clarinet player, acoustic drummer, metal-guitar player (as in, the guitar is made of metal, not that he plays metal--I guess this is the part where a digital camera would've come in handy so you don't have to suffer through my descriptions of the visuals) and a gal singing. The woman is perfect for this band; she's petite with curly hair and reminded me of a living Betty Boop. Except it was really hard to hear her. Her vocals consisted mostly of noises coming from her rounded mouth and watching them was like watching--or listening to--a 78. I felt like I was in a Maakies strip, since so many of them take place on boats or seaside. I could picture them at the Seaport with a dancing monkey in front of them and people throwing change into the clarinet case. It was really interesting to watch at first, but then I was like, Rock! Do something! Stop being so charming! I can't hear you! They're the type of band that needs a seated audience and one that knows what they're going to hear, as in: an audience that knows to be quiet. Because I could hear all the murmuring and stirring in the crowd behind me. The crowd was thinking that this was the perfect opportunity to catch up with each other since they could hear each other over the band. They ended with You Are My Sunshine and Puttin On The Ritz and I had to wonder if their other songs were covers of songs from the 20s and 30s and I just didn't know it.
Well, everything seemed to be in place for a Mooney Suzuki show, secret or otherwise. Will Rockwell was back on drums after a 4-year absence, Mike Fornatale was right up front as well, and I overheard him tell his wife that Blair couldn't make it. And this is the part where you're expecting me to tell you that it was a TMS show. Everything was in place for a Mooney Suzuki show, secret or otherwise, that is, except for a bass player and Mooney Suzuki songs. All through their between-songs banter I found myself cocking my ear for an explanation or a familiar guitar lick. Is TMS going to break up? (I'd heard a rumor.) Is this a sneak preview of the next Mooney album? Is this all a big joke? A side project? Are they trying to feel out the fans for their next step? What's going on here? "We got tired of practicing all alone so we decided to practice in front of you guys." "Art needs a chance to fall flat on its face and now that we've started flat, we can't go any lower." "We just wanted to play for a few friends and more friends showed up than we expected." "I guess if you don't show up next week we'll know what you really think." And Sammy said all of this with a smile on his face, so it just seemed that an explanation would be forthcoming, except it wasn't. Of course there were some typical responses from the crowd: "Play Can!" "Electric Sweat!" "You guys don't rock anymore!" Whatever the case the set started slowly, but there were a few good songs in The Patchwork Family--Ashes, Leap Of Faith (which is going to have an elaborate string arrangement), Rocknrollergirl. The closer was a rousing drinking song with them backed by Treasures of the Sea. They wrote this ode to alcohol because the last 2 years of their careers have made them heavy drinkers. (On the Mooney site later, someone mentioned that it was a preview of new Mooney songs.)
I wanted to see Bona Roba because I did pay $13 for the show, after all, not because their blurb on the Sin-e page said "Rip this joint into your iPod right now!" (Or go out and buy an iPod into which to rip this joint right now because they're that good) because what if TMS are really going to play after? But it was getting late and I had a meeting the next day. Whatever happens, happens. I would think that they think I don't like the songs they did or that I was expecting a typical Mooney gig because I can't go on the 17th, but I know they can care less. And I was right about the E train. When I got on (at like a quarter to 1) there were only 8 poles, 3, 2, and 3. And the handlebars were much shorter. I tried to sleep on the train but couldn't, and then the next thing you know I woke up at 23rd St. Now that's more like it.
posted by heather @ 3:00 PM
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