• Common Rotation-Bitter End

    I played a show with my Common Rotation friends last Friday. They’re a swell bunch. The tops. It was at the Bitter End. I like the place but the actual room setup is hard for me. It’s got audiences on the sides as well as the front so you can’t look at everyone at once. They do have a grand piano and I took advantage of it. They played a great set and put the full band on. Some girl had a birthday and she and her friends gave me a plate of wonderfully small baked pastries. And when I got settled after my set, Mr. 102-TMBG-Shows(aka TDK, aka Mike) gave me a bag of Hershey Minatures. He’s a real good guy. They were soon gone but not because of me but because my girlfriend was helping me watch my Lose Weight Exercise. It’s good because I’ve been running again.
    I’m working on a new Queen cover. I’m also working on songs for the Circus show. I was gonna play one of the new ones that night but didn’t feel it was ready. My piano is bad ass.

  • Magic Brian Show

    Magic Brian’s show went better than it did the last time. I did Dr. Wankle better and played very well on the old piano. I like Parkside alot. Andy and Karen, the folks that run it, are sweet sweet people. And every time I come in that place at anytime Pete, who runs sound and does other stuff, usually buys me a drink.
    My friend, Mackin, showed up. He’s a stand-up fellow. He did his Bobby Brady at my cd-release. We hung out for a long time. I hadn’t seen him in forever.
    I played my horse song again. I like that song. I’ve been working on it for a long time and finally “finished” it.
    I like playing piano at shows alot. One time I played at my friend Wilder’s house. He has a baby grand in this old Dark Shadows house in Staten Island. Parlor shows are the old living room shows. Leave the kids in bed because I’m coming to your house and playing nighttime songs.

  • La Belle Epoque Halloween Show

    One day I was getting off the subway to go to work and I saw thin red tape blocking one of the exits to the surface. At the stairs was this guy in a fedora, trenchcoat and a suit that looked as if he had gone to the detective clothing store to buy his workclothes.
    I nodded to his direction and told my boss, “That cop bought his clothes at the detective store.” By the time I got upstairs, I realized it was part of a Law and Order shoot.
    This morning I went to pick up a shirt at the cleaners and saw this lady on the corner dressed in fortune-telling clothes. There’s no other way to describe it. She had the dress of a fancied old world peasant and she had a red scarf made of lace as a bonnet. Anyway, she had a cup and was going up to strangers. When it was my turn she said, “We’re going to vandalize the world . . . Vandalism.” I love living in this town.
    My band played Sunday night at La Belle Epoque. I was going to dress up like Matlock but couldn’t get it together so I just wore a nice suit and colored my eyes. My ladyfriend was Betty Davis.
    This place is gorgeous. It looks like a cross between a French restaurant and an old-timey ice cream parlor. It’s on the second floor above an antique store two blocks south of Union Square.
    I got to play the grand piano and even though I couldn’t hear myself it was still cool to play it. My friend, Dan Dzula, sat in on the drums that night. His brother puts on fantastic puppet shows. Sammy dressed like a Parisian mechanic and he played real good. Dave went as himself yesterday and had to get home to draw pictures for Dr. Pepper. He drew my wolf.
    Ben Ickies started a new band called The Ambitious Orchestra. It’s an 18-piece band that includes strings, bassoon, accordions, and Mr. Ickies conducting. It was very ambitious and lovely.
    County Club and the Porn Horns were good, too. The singer/trumpet player dressed like Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the singer/sax player dressed like Mario and the other singer/sax player dressed like Teen Wolf! I was a judge for the costume contest and made sure that guy won. He did the dance when he won. It would have been even more badass if the other sax player went as Styles. And it would have been even more badass than that if they’d brought a portable basketball goal.
    I think the restaurant was a little peeved. They wanted people to eat dinner and most had already eaten and didn’t want $12 ravioli. It was a good time though. A real good time.