We are like pendulums, our arms swinging at our sides.

Photo by Kym Pham.

Had a chance to catch up with an old friend tonight after voice lesson in the city. Her name is Kyle and I've known her for a while. Anyway, she's quite the bohemian jet-setter these days. :) When she's not working at the American Museum of Natural History, she's working my secret dream job as a waitress in a quaint NYC cafe, and when she's not doing that she's probably thinking about her next excavation (she's studying to be an anthropologist!) or her next overseas adventure... which as I understand it is going to be a backpacking trip through the Philippines. Yeah! Go Kyle! :)

It's kind of funny catching up with a friend who's known me since I just started mustering up the balls to get on stage and play for people. She and some other good friends used to come to almost all my shows around the city, usually after classes...now that I think about it I can't believe they could stand listening to me playing the same songs over and over again, especially when I was mostly a nervous wreck and I hadn't figured out how to sing properly yet. Talk about true blue support, eh? Anyway, it's a funny thing to sit and talk about what's happened since those days, and to hear some feedback on everything so far. I guess time's distance has a funny way of becoming a good mirror, or at least some kind of measurement of where you've been.

:)

So... this week's accomplishments so far: playing Baruch College last Thursday night (the show was topped off with a ridiculously large Dosa - above), losing my cell phone at a Rockland County bar and then managing to get it back, getting my taxes done (TurboTax - yes!), analyzing/talking through a management contract I'm currently mulling over and filming for a promo shoot for Kollaboration NY - an endeavor that took me driving all over 3 boroughs. Later this week... rehearsal for the Bitter End show:


8 p.m. April 5th
The Bitter End
147 Bleecker St., NYC
$5 / 21+

Come! It will be full of Rock-ness... like a Loch Ness. :)
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Saturday. Stuck in traffic on the way to DUMBO for the Kollaboration shoot; a shot of Manhattan Bridge from DUMBO; later at a studio shoot in Long Island City.

Me with T. Vu of Magnetic North, Taiyo Na and G*Lee. (photo by Kym Pham.)

(Post title is from "Pendulums" by Sarah Harmer, the song currently stuck in my head)

Album titles, album covers and so forth...

Now that I'm in the crunch to figure out the logistics of the album (art, name, layout, how many panels, track list, thank you's, etc.), I figured this would be fitting. My friend Eugene Balasta posted this on his Facebook, but I thought I'd put my results here.

Here are the guidelines:

1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/. Click “Random Article" in the top left navigation box. The title of the random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.The last few (4-5) words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days. The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Upload and tag your Album cover with the people you want to take part (and don't forget me). Bonus points: type your random band name and album title onto the picture, using a program like Windows Paint, before uploading it.

My album cover:

(Check out the photographer here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27730404@N08/3367609195/)

My band name: DIRTY HARRY

My Album name: WITH A LONG-HAIRED DIRTY STONER

:) How perfect is that?

Back from a long weekend...

A "vertical video" of Saturday's performance of "ISABELLE" at the Bowery Poetry Club.
As you can see, my bf didn't quite realize we would be unable to rotate it once it was uploaded! Here's your opportunity to lie in bed and watch a video... the violin is up quite a bit because of its high frequency - it gets picked up more by my camera microphone than it was during the performance...
Enjoy!

____________________________________

Wow, what a crazy weekend! I wanted to update last night on all the stuff that's been going on, but I'm afraid I'm still stumbling to keep in step with myself.

Friday night I had the last rehearsal before Sunday's show at the Bowery Poetry Club. Jon was feeling much better. Alex decided to throw in a melodica in addition to some violin, and we ended up having him play on half the set. We practiced until 11:30 at night, and then I had to get a few hours rest (which really was just 1 hour) before driving my sister to the airport to catch her 5:50 a.m. flight.

I got home and crashed, and later that day ended up in some corporate office on Wall Street, getting set to shoot a music video for Kollaboration New York - a music festival in June that I'm going to fill you guys in on soon enough... anyway, we were on the 52nd floor of this corporate office and the entire floor had been laid off, so there were some killer views out of this empty space... Here let me show you:

Look it's the Statue of Liberty!












We ended up going out to DUMBO later that night to shoot some shots. I ended up freezing in the cold with a dress on . . . ah, the sacrifices we make for art!


Sunday was the show at the BPC. It was So Much Fun! The band sounded great and the crowd was very cool. We had a good number of folks come out, which was really neat for a Sunday night. Stone Forest Ensemble also played - and I hadn't played with them in a while. (Last time I did, we ended up in a jam session backstage at NYU's E & L Auditorium.) Super cool group of guys/girl... here's me with their djembe player, Joshua Benson, who booked us the gig. Look at his awesome shirt *and my cheesy smile! :)














There's Dave rocking out on drums...
above, Alex on violin (left) and Jon on bass (right).











The night was topped off with some good eats at Spitzer's in LES with some Kollaboration friends, including songwriters VuDoo Soul and Nam Ninja - and of course the festival's co-chair Kym Pham.

You remind me love is a road that's long

It's official. Tomorrow's show at the Bowery Poetry Club is going to be Sick. As. Sh...oes! 

8 p.m. Sunday, March 15

Sulu Series at the Bowery Poetry Club

Alfa, 7Yossarian with Lucky Sdaerd, Brown Rice Family and the Stone Forest Ensemble

308 Bowery, Manhattan

$8 / students $5

I'll be playing with Dave Dodds on drums, Jon McElroy on bass and Alex Sovronsky on violin/melodica.

All in a day's work! <3

Here's a photo of Virginia Kamenitzer taking some shots today on the roof of her Hoboken studio. We also ended up at a very rad Jersey City coffee shop called LITM (Love is the Message). We scored the corner table and got some great natural light. I'd show you some of those photos if I could, but they're under wraps for now. I'll just post a couple behind-the-scenes pics my sister took. 

After a nice glass of riesling, a food run to Ibby's Falafel and a well-needed nap, I had rehearsal with Dave and Alex, the violinist. Jon was out of commission 'cause of the flu. Feel better Jon! 

Anyway, just for kicks - and in hopes of Jon feeling better - I'm posting an old rehearsal vid (you can tell it's old from the Christmas decor, hehe) of "Second Skin". 

Need more sleep.

It completely slipped my mind that Daylight Savings started today, so of course yesterday I was out a little late in the city, hanging out all day, shmoozing with friends at night, and found myself taking the PATH to JC around midnight, when all the drunk folk from the St. Patty's Day parade in Hoboken stumbled into the already-crowded train, slobbering and cursing and kind of being obnoxious but comical all the same... I found myself driving home and getting to bed at...
2 a.m.? What? Yeah - I hate that feeling. At least if you're aware DST is about to start you can mentally prepare yourself, and maybe get home a little earlier especially if you know you're going to be up for church and a photo shoot the next day. Buuut no, that's apparently not my speed.

So here I am... tired, lazy and getting set to go to Hoboken to walk around town with photog Virginia Kamenitzer.

Maybe I'll try to rest up later? Not likely. Dave and Jon are coming for band rehearsal... and an old friend of mine from my orchestra days, Alex Sovronsky is playing violin for a couple songs. He's an awesome musician/actor who, I believe, just completed a production of Othello in the city.

So anyway, if you're not planning on coming to the 3/15 show at the Bowery Poetry Club - you should reconsider, because I hear it's going to be LEGEN. . . wait for it . . . DARY!

:)

Beware the Ides...

Last night was a fun show at Wuzz Up Cafe, a local jam spot that I hadn't played since my college graduation show back in 2007. I was opening for two Pinoy bands, one of which ended up not making it because they were stranded in Atlanta snow. No matter, it was a decent crowd given the looming storm. Chapter 2 Band played an upbeat set of covers and a singer named Robertino Limas (?) sang Jazz standards that could make any girl swoon.

"I guess that's why they call them standards," he quipped.

Gotta love those at-home gigs. Sure beats loading your guitar and keyboard and other equipment into your teeny car to travel hundreds of miles (looks like this'll be the formula for April, when I play the D.C. area).

This week is busy busy busy! I'm gearing up to record (again, I know... when will this album be finished?!). Friday I'm heading down to Long Branch to record at this place where a bunch of awesome folk have recorded (Springsteen, Bon Jovi - the Jersey shore bunch - and Meatloaf...as legend has it, he recorded "Bat out of Hell" on the same piano I'm going to tinker amateurly on). We're re-doing "Home to Me" (lyrics here).

But I'm also psyched to see Glen Hansard play an acoustic set at Joe's Pub on Wednesday. YEAH. And... for you foodies, I'll be dining at Veselka with some college friends tomorrow night. Nothing like some yummy Eastern European fare - at least for me, I had a bad experience with borscht a few years ago. :-/

Photo by Mike Lesley.

------
Anyway, someone asked about a song I opened with last night called, "Love as Tragedy: A Play in Three Acts". So I'm posting the lyrics here, along with a live performance of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBjVffKNBQA. The awesome recorded version, you shall hear soon. Promise.

Love as Tragedy: A Play in 3 Acts

Act One was brilliant, we played our parts so convincing

and I still remember the lines.

You had me going on first dates and I fell

like Icarus falling away from the sun.

Chorus:

Now that it's all over and done, I notice

you just needed someone to play your damsel

Now that I can see things a little clearer

I feel sorry for the next girl

and you will always see, you'll always see love as tragedy.

You will always see, you'll always see love as tragedy.

Act Two was gripping, she came out of nowhere

Storm in a teacup, the irony bare.

And you seemed so honest, playing your part so convincing

but she is speaking my lines.

Chorus Interlude

Now that it's all over and done, I notice
you just needed someone to play your damsel
Now that I can see things a little clearer
I feel sorry for the next girl...

Now that it's all over and done, I notice
you just needed someone to play your damsel
Now that I can see things a little clearer
I feel sorry for the next girl
and you will always see, you'll always see love as tragedy.
You will always see, you'll always see love as tragedy.

So don't let me sit through another minute

'Cause Act Three's the part that I couldn't get right.

And you'll be persistent, 'til somebody gets it

but I don't intend to find out tonight.

Copyright Alfa Garcia. 2008. All rights reserved.