Knit-One-One

Near the Sweet Adeline Bakery in Berkeley, is a cool little place called Knit-One-One (3360 Adeline Street, Berkeley CA). I'll let them explain (because it's 9:45 pm and I'm tired): 

knit-one-one is a thoroughly unique, modern center for crafting-know-how. We offer classes for all skill levels, outings to some of the best-kept-crafter’s-secrets in the Bay Area, and events which combine inspiration, fun, and frolic. 

One of the events they hold is a local craft fair the first Saturday of the month. The Heated and ciuccio will be manning a booth this Saturday. It would be great to see you, if you're available. Below is a picture from a previous craft fair because I know you don't actually read the words I write. You skim and then look at pictures. It's fine. I'm no different. That's how I know what you're doing.

You want details? Boom!

Next Sale: Saturday April 3, 10 to 4:00 pm (the day before Easter Sunday)

Where: the knit-one-one studio, 3360 Adeline Street Berkeley, CA, 94703 (near Ashby BART and Sweet Adeline Bakery) Lots of FREE parking

Show Review: El Rio, March 22nd

As you know (because I am awesome at marketing, a.k.a. "harassing") I played a show last Monday night at El Rio. The day before the show, I woke up feeling completely worn down. By mid-day I had chills and my throat was feeling tickly. So, of course I started to really worry that I was going to catch the cold that my wife has had, which made her lose my voice. It's really bad to lose your voice before a show.

A word about me and colds. It used to be that when I caught a cold, I stayed sick for weeks. Weeks! This is undoubtedly because I used to smoke like a chimney. Besides staying sick for a long time, I also got sick often so there were a few years where I was perpetually ill. But then a few years ago, I quit smoking and got my act together. Now, I think I've only been sick once this year, maybe twice, and my recovery time is one week. God, I love not smoking.

Anyway, I had chills and just felt off so I got into bed around two o'clock and just kind of hung out in bed all day. I was pleased when I felt fine upon waking up the next morning. The show itself nearly went off without a hitch (I forgot the lyrics to the second song in my set and had to play a very abbreviated version) and I reached an important milestone in every band's career: SOMEONE CAME TO MY SHOW TO SEE ME WHO I DON'T KNOW PERSONALLY! Except now, I do know her personally because she came to my show. All in all, I brought out ten people on a Monday night. Success!

Other than that, Seattle's Eighteen Individual Eyes really impressed me. Two great guitar players, one of whom sings beautifully, plus just the right amount of bass for their sound plus this awesome drumming that was frenetic yet loping at the same time. They had these really weird song structures and all these interlocking parts... I just liked it. I was telling one of them how I had played in Seattle about ten years ago and she said, "oh! You've been doing this a really long time." I have. Yes, I have.

Mama Lion was cool too. I didn't get to see too much of their set, to be honest as I was working the door for the last leg of the evening but from what I could hear from outside, I liked it. Posted below are some pictures from my set as well as a thirteen second long video.  It was my wife's first time using the video camera and apparently the default film-time is thirteen seconds. So enjoy it! Every damn second of it! This song will eventually be released on the Twelve Songs Project. Oh, never mind on the video. I guess Blogger isn't feeling video anymore?

Is "Rose" Code For Something Else?

First thing this morning, it became apparent that my wife lost her voice. She still had it in the middle of the night and I know because around midnight, I farted loudly (please don't act as if you don't and also, she gave me the ice cream. She knew what she was in for.) and for a moment she was so silent that I was sure I'd pulled it off when she said, plain as day, "Nice." But this morning her voice was gone and when I realized that I had the floor, I used this song to torture her. It went well.


 (I like how there's some jackass with an air-horn in the audience who pipes up within the first thirty seconds of the song. Don't they know that's the song everyone came to hear? I'll bet they do.)

Show At El Rio, March 22nd

Lobster claw! I whipped this little beauty up recently and thought it seems proper to get it out there. The show will be on a Monday night and I'm on first which means 8:00 pm, sharp at El Rio. It would only be proper to then stay for Eighteen Individual Eyes (on tour from Seattle, show some hospitality as they seem to enjoy a good time, party-wise, from what I can tell on their blog. They like shots!) and then, closing out the night are fellow locals, Mama Lion. Music! Fun! Monday, March 22nd!

Restitution

I've been feeling badly about how I maligned poor Dodos and Mates of State. Bands gotta mature, I guess. To make up for it, I'm sharing my two favorite songs from Time To Die and Re-Arrange Us. 

7x7

The Heated's dish towels are carried at a local store called Candystore Collective here in San Francisco. A local magazine, 7x7, (so named because that's the approximate area of San Francisco, seven miles by seven miles) did a feature on Candystore and somehow The Heated snuck in there too. Score! Check it out:

 

  

  

Oh, and while we're at it, I forgot to post it here at the time but the lovely Style Wylde interviewed yours truly about some music stuff. My favorite quote? "My musical history involves hardcore marching band geekdom." Yeah, that's right. I'm a full-on geek. Although you may have already had an idea about that (see above picture with the "who me?" face). Anyway, it's a good read because I'm very interesting. 

March

I swung by the protest against the state budget cuts to education yesterday. The protests I've been to here in the past were mostly regarding gay rights and were more sparsely populated. This one was different. There were a ton of people and many of them were children and young adults. It left me feeling sad and worried for how fragile our country seems right now.

 

What's On The Player

There were a few small disappointments last year in albums from bands I really like for their previously energetic offerings that just fell flat, energy-wise for me. Mates Of State with Re-Arrange Us grew on me after a while and I still listen to it on a regular basis. The Dodos Time to Die had some damn good songs, and again, I still listen to the album. It's just that I've spent a lot of time air drumming and head-shaking my way through previous albums so I was just a little bummed to find that the songs from both bands came with a lighter touch. Who was going to fulfill my energetic longings? I've got a lot of energy, people. It needs releasing. 

Is it strange that NPR introduced me to Mariachi El Bronx? For those not familiar, there is a band called The Bronx, who I never listened to. I meant to check them out and kind of gave a few songs a listen here and there but nothing really grabbed me. Then, on a car trip across the Bay Bridge, sitting in traffic, there was a story on how The Bronx decided to put out a mariachi album. This was over the holidays and I remember hearing the songs and vowing to check it out. Well, I made good on that and bought the album. And I love it. That was month ago and I still listen to it all the damn time. It fulfills my needs. Consider the following.