Gage

k. flay was fantastic both nights.

I’m not in school for a long enough time now and not around enough that life gets in a flow.  i’m trying to get used to the consistent weird. smile at me or something. 

hope you’re doing swell

A.C. was ridiculous and i mean that in the original meaning of the word.

I saw a lot of orange people who did a lot of squealing.  I didn’t know that Jersey Shore was choosing the best and brightest of the area.  The local didn’t bring anyone out but the staff was cool and said were doing it again with a rapper friend of mine who has fans and is on the same wave length.  Voss, Flipper and I went ‘clubbing’ with these girls.  . .  One girl told me my pants were so tight she thought she could fit in them then grabbed my pants seeing what size they were.  shortly after I decided it was time to leave.

While a good amount of this is about having an adventure, going places i would never have gone to ect  this is an aspect of a different culture i need to experience more personally.  

at 4 am we got back to Philly and the mom’s house. we were stuck in philly an extra day because my car was shaking on the highway (baltimore’s mechanic put the wrong tires in the front).  We watched football i made dinner we went bowling.  moms made bake goods.  perty fantastic.

now i’m in new york, in Brooklyn, at a house that puts Baltimore’s warehouses to shame.  There’s a view of a body of water and skylines.  I’m intimidated but everyone is being super nice and too talented.  It’s complicated.  

hopefully the swagger will return with the rapping.

people showed up to Dionysus. what a strange turn of events.  

so it was the second show i booked and set up and while half as stressful as the first show (i almost threw myself out of the BellFoundry windows) it was still pretty fucking stressful.  But the turn out was really fantastic all things considered.  We booked it 3 days ahead of time.  We didn’t have any flyers.  ect.

what we had going for us was a thur when people weren’t doing much.  and a fantastic line up with too many acts.  the beatboxing guitar player was followed by an indie art school band followed by me rapping followed by a singer song writer followed by a trancy dance act followed by teenage souls (who i cant describe because they continually blow my mind).  

My set was pretty okay.  By the third song it started to get in a groove but i cut the set down so everyone else would have more time.  It was probably the best show i’ve played in baltimore that wasn’t on a real stage, and while people were receptive i got more accolades for setting up a diverse show.  I’ve been asked to start booking more, which is awesome because i have lots of friends i want to put on and i want to be playing a fuck ton more shows in baltimore but booking also tends to make me want to jump out of windows, so will see.

also, i probably just got lucky.  I’m not humble.  I just put bands on that i wanted to listen to and when i listen to my ipod i listen to a rap song followed by a dance song and figured i could do it for a show.  that the show had a weird sense of continuity and large to soft sounds, was 10 percent skill and mostly luck.  All that was really required was sending emails to people i like and being lucky that other people like them too. 

on the other hand, i get free beer and i make money so… 

another cool thing i think last night might have set up two side projects but i dont want to talk much about deals that were made when we were drinking free beer.  I will say that both projects would be with people who i’ve wanted to work with and been intimidated by for over two years.

entirely not related except that it happened last night, a relationship seems to be going into suspension.  she’s about to get a real job move to a different city and doesn’t want the weight of any commitments.  while uncommitted in the standard way, my schedule (being out of town, dating other people, working ect) leaves it that we always have to make plans in advance.  this is difficult for her.  and it sucks but it’s entirely legitimate.  I’m out of town for the next two weeks so any way we tried to work it out now probably wont be what we want or need in two weeks.  

it’s been a really healthy 2 .5 month thing.  it was meant to be just getting laid but we had more in common than we wanted.  it hasn’t been exceptionally passionate but we communicated in a way the other person always got.  I enjoyed the routine’s and the company but routines and growing used to company is a difficult thing to ask for when everyone’s in transition.  I’m sure i’ll be more bummed about this in the future, like when my hangover kicks, but for now i’m taking it as a success with whatever comes around next.

third show in rva tonight. 

second show of the tour. 

D.C. was a punk house called the Rocket Ship.  Really smart audience really respectful really intimate.  If every basement had 15 to 20 people in it with pretty good sound and a sincere interest in listening, i could play them for the next 15 years.

tonight should be interesting.  my first show in rva was one of the most frustrating show’s i’ve played. my second was with ceschi and i was pretty overwhelmed to be playing in front of one of my favorite rappers but it was over all a great day though a tepid performance.

tonight’s also the first time i did a show drive by myself which has a totally different feel even though it’s the same thing.  

tomorrow is baltimore and the show came together way too last minute but the line up is baller and should be fun. show is at dionysus if any of you want to stop by. it’s free.