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Through our associations with MUNY and the MTA, we occasionally get asked to do political, and community based New York City themed events. We did a street party to kick off a “go-green” initiative on the lower east side last year and this week we had the honor to perform at Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s kick-off event to his ‘09 campaign here in Manhattan.

Everything about the event was a lot of fun. The event staff made us feel so welcome and they took great care of us. They even had a staffer on hand whose job was solely to make sure everything went smoothly for us. Thanks Max! These kind of events can go so many different ways and I am always abundantly grateful when people greet us with a smile and make us feel welcome and supported so we can focus on giving a great show.

They set us up at the end of hallway so everyone who was coming into the main room would have to file past the band. At first it was just a trickle. We played mostly very upbeat versions of our tunes, sticking mostly to a major-key repertoire at what I jokingly called “a good political tempo.” The result was immediate. We had staffers tapping their feet and dancing in place as they waited for guests to come off the elevators. When the bulk of people were arriving it was a fun little parade of passers-by many of whom would dance a little two-step or do a twirl in front of the band!

As the time for the mayor’s arrival grew near, the tension in the room mounted. People crowded the hallway to get a chance to see Mayor Mike up close. We decided to play “Tishomingo Blues” at a perky clip to welcome the mayor. These arrivals always take longer than you’d expect so we were well into a 6 minute version of the song (complete with two horn solos apiece, three tempo changes, and a banjo solo!) before we had done everything we felt like doing with that tune. We moved on to “The Millenburg Joys” by the time the mayor arrived. And yes, my dear clever reader, I did not miss an opportunity to bend the lyrics to mention the Bloomberg Joys. Anything to make the guys in the band chuckle. We were having a good time.

The main event started in the next room with a loud, hip-hop sound system and chants of “four more years.” We ambled in to eat some hot-dogs and pretzels and listen to Ed Koch and Mayor Mike. Props to Audrey Smalls who began her speech with something like the following: “I was born, bred, buttered, toasted, jellied, jammed, and honeyed in Harlem!” Awesome!

After the speeches we went back out to the hallway and did the whole parade in reverse. Now, it felt less tense and the music was louder and more lively – everyone had just been exposed to that enormous sound system so we could play with more gusto. It seemed to work – people started gobbling up our business cards and promo-cd’s that we had on display.

When Bloomberg himself came back down the line it was very crowded again. He went past us shaking hands while we were playing “Over in That Glory Land.” Then, just as he had turned the corner he came back towards the band and poked through the crowd towards the band-stand. He made eye-contact with me as I was singing and mouthed a “Thank You.”

Clearly the attitude of gratitude, respect, and appreciation that everyone was displaying had started from the top down.

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For a bonus: here is a picture of three of our id badges featuring awesome bad-ass pictures of our heros in action. The guy who took these pix was a character. Apparently Stefan was smiling that way because the guy was singing “We Will Rock You.” He and I were having a discussion about George Orwell when he snapped most of my head into the frame.

We recently found ourselves being filmed by NBC for a segment on stress relief. Apparently Tin Pan music will make you live a healthier, happier, longer life.

Here’s a new easy way to purchase all of our music in one place. Let me know if you dig it.

The first few times of the season we’re second guessing ourselves a little bit. It’s pretty darn cold. Clifton is just smacking at his strings because he can’t really feel his fingers. Our intonation is sliding around like a game of chutes and ladders. The guitar is part metal and part wood. The metal is expanding and the wood is contracting. Its a crapshoot. Our horns change pitch on every chorus depending if we’ve just finished blowing or not. Every time we happen to take more than two minutes of rest in between playing, we have to warm up the instruments each time. The bass is having all kinds of humidity issues.

But then the sun breaks and finally its warm and people start to show up and its not so bad. We do all right for a day and even if its the same money as we’ve been making in the trains this winter at least we’re outside. There are less crazy people and the vibe is so much more conducive to making good music.

We were leaving the gig and we passed the Petrossian Restaurant on 7th Ave. It looked so elegant and refined inside. It’s the spot for caviar and other delights. The building itself is so interesting and beautiful. Clifton was ready to eat. He’s always down for the good food. Looking at the menu and the prices would have wiped out most of our earnings for the day so Rob was the voice of wisdom… “When we have our first really great day, we’ll come back here and celebrate.” Agreed.

Didn’t take long. Sadly, Stefan was still in Baltimore doing the Mumbo show, but only two days later there we were at the Petrossian, smiling and slap-happy after our first big day of the year. A week ago today… Feasting on toast points, Fois Gras, Herring Samplers, Sturgeon Burgers, and great coffee. In the photo above we see Clifton verifying the authenticity of the silver.

We’re back and loving it.

Jewish? You betcha!
My man Erez at Shemspeed really loved houndstooth and wrote about us on his Jewish Music Website! Check it out! You don’t have to be a Heeb to shemspeed.

All good things come to and end. Everything is in a flux. Prince says, “Sometimes is snows in April. All good things, they say, never last.”

Barring some horrible disaster, the beautiful mosaics at the Times Square station will have a longer duration than most of us here. But having musicians perform in front of them is already being phased out.

It’s a shame, too. A perhaps typical story of bureaucratic non-solution to a non-problem. The good stuff: A beautiful environment in a well-trafficked location with great acoustics. The poor stuff: it’s not far from a ticket and information booth. The speaker system in this glass enclosed booth is not working well. Even without a band playing, communications are garbled and both people with questions and the MTA staff have to articulate precisely and speak loudly to be heard.

Non-solution: no more bands at the mosaics. We’ll see how it plays out.

We performed their yesterday and Marshal came by and took this photo. Beautiful!

Finally Tuk Tik has a moment to help. I lofted the idea of just calling her Wendy but everyone ultimately just wants to hear the sound of their own name. I couldn’t pronounce it correctly. Yesterday, during rehearsal, I said it correctly after about four botched attempts. I knew I did it right because she whirled around with an attentive smile.

Now, she spreads her hand out on the table. She taps her pinkie and says, “Chai” the word for Yes. She taps her ring finger and says the same sound about a third lower. The middle finger starts higher goes up a bit and then falls off fast about a fifth. It sounds like when we say the word “Wow.” She tapped her pointer finger for the high tone. It starts high and goes up maybe a quarter tone at the very end. I beleive this is the sound that means “tea”. Finally the thumb for the raising tone. It sounds like what we inflect for a question like at the of a sentence. We repeated this part of the lesson a few times until I had the sound of it.

I finally realize a mistake I’ve been making for about two days. Someone would show me a new word like “kow” for rice (low tone – I think) and I would repeat it back as a rising tone signifying “rice – am I saying it correctly?”. Wrong. Sometimes the opposite problem. One of our hosts was named “eh” (rising tone). I wanted to get her attention so I said it with a falling tone which is the inflection we generally use to call someone’s name. It was like she just didn’t hear me. That sound was not her name.

In English we use pitch to add an emotional layer of information to what we say by bending the pitch of our phrases. It will take a lot of practice to disassociate that impulse from the pitches necessary to speak Thai. The Thai also use pitch for emotional content but it sounds more like just changing the key of the whole melody up or down. Higher means more excited, agitated or important. Sometimes this will happen in the span of just one idea. The melody will keep transposing up or down to match the emotional needs of the moment. Nonetheless, a high tone is always heard as the high tone, a falling tone as a falling tone. Etc…

Tuk Tik continues with the first part of her name: tuk. It’s a very short stacatto sound with an explosive “dt” at the beginning and just the faintest suggestion of “k” at the end. She runs the sound through each of the five pitches. The normal tone and the low tone are easy but the falling tone, rising tone, and high tone are really hard to hear as the sound is so short. Especially the high tone with that slight quarter lift at the end. Of course her name was two high tones in a row: “Tuk Tik” – just about impossible for me.

Maybe I’ll write a song built around these 5 pitches and the kind of sound that Thai evokes. In a cab, I was listening to a talk radio show. The outstanding characteristic to my ear was that there was absolutely no pauses. Just as one person would be taking a tiny short breath – the other person would interject a short “chai”(yes) or shorter “kop” (a general word indicating respect. ) The first person would be off into the next idea. Occasionaly you’d hear a “Chai, di di di” (yes, good good good)

On the last day of my stay I was playing some duets with Bob. We already share an explicitly conversational approach to playing together. During one extended passage I was doing these kind of interjections with my plunger mute in between his phrases. To him, it was as obvious as if I had just been talking. At one point after a really twisted phrase he had layed down I said “are you drunk?” with my horn (“mao my?”) We both started to laugh.