Entrance to the Exit

Show of the year (of the month!)

2010-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

We'll be providing the entertainment pre-game for the Australian Football League's Grand Final on Friday, September 24th. With the time difference, if you were to start pregaming "Penn State" style, you'd be doing it as a normal Friday night (that is, normal before children! Hear that Chris?!) and starting roughly at Happy Hour. Mind you, the game starts at 1AM! Pace yourself!

ps- tickets are $20, we were not aware of this until now. More info to come...

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

2010-08-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

Since we're playing musical bands (MFA is recording a new album, the Disheverly Brothers threaten too, as well as Cottaret's "Chinese Democracy Demos" held up [zing!]) let me present one more: Champs. Enjoy!

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Show Poster by Disheverly Nick!

2010-05-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

BIG Philly Beer Week Gig!

2010-05-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 5th • 8:30pm
The Disheverly Brothers return to Craft Ale House to celebrate our pride, our fuel, our passion, our region: Philly Beer Week.

As sponsor of our best (and worst) decisions, The Disheverly Brothers will pay tribute to zymurgy in our most ambitious set yet: a four act rock opera starring Ham Stanley (himself!) as a rogue highwayman determined to deliver a truckload of Big Sky Moose Drool, all the while evading Rick Stone (yes, THE Rick Stone!) in a series of comic near misses. Join us on a sonic trip across the vast midwest.

Or, we'll just stick to playing the greatest songs ever written while trying really hard to hit those harmonies and not break strings... deal? DEAL!

Friday, April 23rd Craft Ale House: The Return

2010-04-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

New show for real this time!

The Disheverly Brothers return to Craft Ale House!
Last time, it was "Blitzkrieg Bop"... this time it's the "Land of the Lost" theme song. Gary: keep the song request "dares" comin'. We are not afraid to try "Baby Got Back" either. The Disheverly Brothers know no shame.

Friday, April 23rd 9pm

Mr. Alex Chilton

2010-03-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Let me just say, without Alex Chilton/Big Star there would be no My Friend Autumn. The DNA of #1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers throughout our catalog. You might have heard Mr. Chilton passed away last week, it's time you discover him. Big Star is the gateway: there are several less-than-even solo albums with even greater riches of this artist who couldn't sit still.

True to the song "Alex Chilton" by The Replacements, "what's that song? I'm in love with that song" is the way it usually goes. I'd try to suggest specific songs, but really, there are only three Big Star albums. You spent more on beer last weekend.

New Show Added!

2010-03-07T16:48:00.001-08:00

Chris, one half of the Disheverly Brothers (the disheverly brother? a disheveled brother?) will be performing outside of the Mainstay Inn in the heart of wonderful downtown Phoenixville during the pre-St Patrick's Day "Meet The Brewer" pub crawl. This year's event boasts brewers from Sly Fox, Heavy Seas, Long Trail, Iron Hill, Victory, Rogue, Kilkenny (!), Lagunitas, Stoudts, Weyerbacher, and many many more.

The other half of the Disheverlies will be showcasing homebrew, and demonstrating that everyone and anyone can experience the pure joy making their own. We'll call it Zen and the Noble arts...

We'll be on the landing outside of the Mainstay Inn starting at 1pm on, please drop in and say hi!
Saturday, March 13th 1pm
Mainstay Inn - 184 Bridge St. Phoenixville, PA

Long Story Short

2010-02-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

To offer a little explanation: The Disheverly Brothers and My Friend Autumn are the same band. The Disheverlies were conceived while in a hibernation period for MFA, which is our band that plays [mostly] original material.

We are constantly writing, scheming, and generally dreaming up new directions to go in, and The Disheverly Brothers were conceived, for better or worse, in one of these sessions. Rather than be pressured to find a new bassist to play our original songs to 1 person at 1am on a weeknight, we figured why not pick our favorite songs ever written and perform them in a style all our own. Oh, and then some of us had babies, some of us got engaged, and some of us adopted puppies. You cannot make this stuff up!

SO! That "Summer Music For Winter People" CD you have is Chris and Matt (and Jim, just wait!!) as My Friend Autumn, but the show you saw was Chris and Matt as the Disheverly Brothers: strings breaking, harmonies a little off kilter, and songs sung with 100% heart.

Thank you for your support!

Enter Cole!

2009-06-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

You might have noticed a lag in activity. This is on purpose.

Anne and I are proud to inform you of the arrival of our son, Cole! I know it's now June, and if you are reading this you already know this, but Coleman Michael was born January 17, 2009. Baby and baby mama are doing great, our favorite is "imitate the squeal as conversation with baby" time and tummy time.

In the meantime we've been tracking work for film, as well as plotting out Fog War, Wind War, a new configuration for the band (bye bye bass!), AND a solo project. Whew, and this is all between diapers and burping. One of these days I will get a new track up for your consumption. Maybe some virtual 7" splits are in order, a la Deerhunter/Atlas Sound

Papa loves mambo,
mcmfa

M Ward's "Let's Dance"

2009-02-19T09:58:00.002-08:00

There was a moment that I am pretty certain I was the only one who existed in the world. It was last September and I was DJing my friend Terrence's wedding in Hatteras, NC. Through stormy weather and travails, the wedding date was finally set for Saturday. It was supposed to be on that Friday, but since the forecast was foreboding they had decided to let the mainland stranded guests arrive. When the weather cooperated, the rest of us were treated to a sublime beach day with violently tumbling surf, abundant sunshine, and low humidity.

Saturday rolled around, and we were met by intermittent showers and higher humidity. NC-12 was reopened, and the rest of guests arrived in time. We had set up a big tent in the front yard of the house, which partly straddled the driveway. We lined the interior of the tent with various sizes of Chinese lanterns, illuminated by tiny led lights. Wires were run. PA set up and tested. Table centerpieces set. (all the while: hair is done, tuxedos smoothed, nerves cooled by confidence and deep breathing)

Just after the vows were spoken, I put the system on autopilot with some dinner music, and introductions made/prayer given/meal enjoyed/toast given. Returning to the helm as the happy couple were about to cut their wedding cake, I decided to segue into the evening with "Let's Dance" by M. Ward. The world fell intoxicated by the lowering amber sunlight in the autumn haze, and the scene has been frozen in my mind ever since. Insects, too small to be silhouetted, blazed as miniature suns flying erratically to and fro, and time becomes an elastic too worn out to speed up again, as time often does when things are good. In the lowering light, I drifted while the Chinese lanterns began showing their light. It was one of those rare moments when the music video of life synchronizes perfectly with the vibrations of love and consequence at hand. In my mind, that is. And *SNAP* I am back at a wedding with 100 guests.

Realizing I was the only one swooning to the bittersweet, lugubrious beat, "Crazy In Love" was then put on to satisfy the rising tide of eager dancers. The mood in the tent shifts wayyy upward and the joyous evening begins.

First Facebook Reunites My Childhood Neighborhood

2008-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Then, Jason Lytle's dad is on YouTube. Life just got weird(er).

JeromeLytle, look him up.

ps- Jason Lytle is/was of Grandaddy. Fare thee well.

James and Bill, we salute you!

2008-11-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

Hey! You should go to O'Tasty shows! Why not buy an album while you're there? Why does MFA want you to do so much for this other band?

James O'Brien, helmsman of the good ship O'Tasty granted us access to his house in Hyattsville, MD to use for recording purposes. He has since vacated to be nearer to his excellent RedRocks Firebrick Pizzeria in Columbia Heights, WDC, but has yet to put the house on the market.

I'll report on the recording later, but we give many thanks to James for his generosity.

We also thank Bill Thompson for use of his recording rig and several mics. Thank you!

I Watched This On Purpose: Rock of Love 2

2008-11-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

At first, needing mindless entertainment, we went for the most vacuous thing we could find. It was unbearable.

Somehow this show has to do with music, since it is on Vh1, right? No. There were bands involved, but mostly this show involved buxom ladies propensity to drink and get into arguments, not necessarily in that order. This is what I have been missing by not watching TV for the past, uh, 8 years?

btw: we are recording this weekend! We'll see how it comes out, as team MFA will be venturing into "we did this all ourselves" territory!

Phillies Win!

2008-10-30T05:24:00.001-07:00

I grew up outside of Boston, and my long years of suffering with the Sox, coupled with the vicarious elation of 2004's curse-shattering championship run, have well prepared me for this day.

The Philadelphia Phillies are World Series Champions!

I can't say this too loudly, as we have Mets and Nats fans in our ranks (not naming names) and they will tell you all about my "I think I am still a Red Sox fan" revelation after having attended my first game at Fenway in 15 years back in May.

But, as I settled into my role as a Phillies fan in 2005, and what I expected to be a long, turbulent ride moving into a long-suffering NL city, I carried my superstitions with me as closely guarded secrets. About the time Tim McCarver started talking about Philadelphia sports history last night, I feared him jinxing us; much the same as the soon-to-be former marine standing next to me in Fenway while Jon Lester wrapped up that no hitter I witnessed back in May, as the words "I've never seen a... oh, wait" formed at my lips.

Last night, my nephews had gone from a halloween parade to watching the game– the effects of the sugar had clearly taken hold. Taking cues from my brother-in-law, my wife and myself, they were easily whipped into a frenzy, yet unaware of the jinx. Much like a generation of young Red Sox fans who expectantly experience the thrill of victory these days, without being tempered by a spirit-sucking, excruciatingly painful drought, I look forward to them growing up having this privilege. There are plenty of folks around these parts that will be quick to remind them that it was a long, hard road to get here!

(cue Rocky horns here)

Recontextualization

2008-10-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

"Everybody Let Up" by Apples in Stereo

This track once stood out on many miscreant mixes I would make to aid and abet misadventures with my friends. It's mix of confectionary pop and kiddie-lethargic declaration ("everybody's whinin'/cause I spend the day reclinin'") made for great sunrise drive home listening.

I ended up putting it on a 3 CD mix made for my dad when he was in the hospital. Dad shocked me with his discovery of Belle & Sebastian, so I thought I would take him the next step: indie rock. Why not? The man liked the early Beatles more than the later period, and was known to have a few early Beach Boys records in his ever dwindling collection (though a yard sale revealed not one by two copies of The Beatles' Revolver! ha), and had an affinity for just about any music that could justify its' purpose or had some sort of internal logic.

I don't need to reiterate my fathers' fate, but the song is tagged forever in the "could've been" mix. I thought of him recovering and hearing that song, and it either annoying him with it's inherent brattiness, or making him laugh at the situation of being attended to by winsome nurses and a family at beckon call. "Care of Cell 44" by The Zombies also fits into this category of songs that have nothing to do with death, yet remind me of 2 years ago. Written about a girl getting released from jail, it's lines "Good morning to you I hope your feeling better baby" and "we'll get to know each other for a second time" fit exactly where I knew my parents' otherwise great relationship was heading: loss.

Would I take it back? No. Perhaps someday with age the death-induced associations will fade and my memory will fail and I will create backstories that make more sense out of these songs' reminding me of dad, but for now, 2 years on, this will have to do...

Tonight: The M Room

2008-10-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

At practice last night something occurred to me: the people want the rock. We have a few slow numbers that own up to my best AM radio tendencies, but that when playing a small club, you have to trim the fat. Otherwise, people will duck out to get beers, which in turn is not a bad thing since there is a correlation between how good we sound and the number of drinks you've had.

So here you go: tonight's show at the M Room will be our most concise power pop set to date. If you heard Campfire Hymn on the radio, you'll have to wait for the next show to get your slow jam on (or, as "spacey country shuffle" as the case may be)

See you tonight at 9!

I Can Hear Music

2008-09-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Terrence and Alicia married this past weekend in sunny Hatteras, NC. I say sunny, but it wasn't without an ordeal to get there. Initially they had planned for a Friday wedding, leaving Saturday for a relaxing beach barbecue, but with the nor'easter that surprise attacked the coast over the weekend, plans were shifted and they married Saturday. Our arrival was welcomed at 2am with ocean overwash on Highway 12! I guess that is what you get building a road on a thin strand of land between two large body of water! Regardless, congratulations! You make a wonderful couple, and were gracious hosts...

I DJ'd the reception, and in return, Terrence gifted me with a lot of latter-day Beach Boys CDs. It is no secret the ferocity of the love that Terrence has for the Beach Boys. So here I am back at home digesting about 12 albums worth of music. I am having to take breaks to retreat back to more familiar territory (Pet Sounds, Smile, Today!/Summer Days) but what is most striking is how the balance shifted from the mainstay (Brian Wilson) to the new guy (Carl Wilson) and little is lost. There are some questionable tracks, but before Pet Sounds, throwaway tracks were a mainstay of Beach Boys albums.

One cannot help but feel a sadness for what was lost within that group. Musically, individually... spun into franchises that are related by blood and little else.

Show this Wednesday!!

2008-09-24T12:49:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, October 1st 9PM
M Room
15 W. Girard Ave (near Frankford) Philadelphia

w/ Victor Victor Band and Ganto Barn

The bill has been shifting more than sand on a coastal highway in a tropical depression (sorry Terrence and Alicia!) but we are excited to play our first show at the M Room!

My Samples Guide to Boulder

2008-09-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

There is no mistaking that at one point in my life, I was a huuuge Samples fan. While others were cutting their teeth on Built To Spill, Will Oldham, Modest Mouse, and the nascent seeds of Indie Rock(TM), I was visualizing world peace through appropriation of world beat and Sting, repeat ad nauseam. It was all in the drums!

So here we go:
(note, 14th and Euclid street sign to come)

Tulagi's, site of some recordings for "Underwater People"

The Fox Theatre, home of several of my brothers' live tapes

The approach to Red Rocks (note the big fat rain smudge on the lens. This is the only rain we met the entire trip, coast to coast)

Red Rocks Amphitheater, since appropriated by Dave Matthews Band. The Samples headlined here several times in the early 90's. Not to mention two tracks from Under A Blood Red Sky.

Old Samples poster in the nice museum within the visitors center.

Patrick and one of said red rocks.

Your band flier here.

Jim at Hooked on Colfax, a few doors down from both the Ogden Theater, and the Bluebird Theater, site of the last show by the Samples original lineup. It was great to just play on the same block as the location of several of my previous heroes live tapes. Even if it was in a coffeeshop basement!

There are far worse places to be than Denver in the summer time!

Radiohead

2008-09-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

My inner geek is completely rocking out right now.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2008-09-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

It just dawned on me that we made California and did not visit In N Out Burger. How is that remotely possible? I blame the wafting mix of pine and eucalyptus that enveloped me while procuring tickets for and attending Radiohead in Golden Gate Park. I am a firm believer in local treasures (hence my Cherry Mash experience), and acted as porter in seeing an unspecified quantity of Boulevard Wheat from Lawrence, KS to Denver, CO. Had we been driving the other way, we would have surely ended up with Fat Tire east of the Mississippi. In N Out is more of a regional thing, but you can't get them back east.

Camp MFA has returned back to school for the season, and by school I mean life. And by life, I mean marriage. This weekend we celebrate the union of our guitarist Chris Kudela to his longtime girlfriend Megan Mitchell. Congratulations guys! We're taking a little time off while Chris and Megan sort through photographs, cards and write their thank you notes.

We'll be back in action Wednesday, October 1 at the M Room in Philadelphia. We're super-excited to be playing this venue for the first time. Matt promises he will have his amp checked out by then!

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day, and hope we weren't the ones keeping you up playing softly, albeit incorrect, covers on the front porch til the wee hours!
xoxox
mcmfa

"The One That Got Away" live in Denver

2008-09-02T05:49:00.000-07:00

What you can't see:
- a very large table near the back of the room that I would have rather sat around, family style.

- very large, plush sofas lining the walls
- the barista upstairs who claimed we "saved the night"
- delicious, dry air devoid of any humidity pouring down from the Rockies

San Francisco, terminus

2008-08-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

I find myself rhapsodizing way too much about this trip to report objectively. Blogging about it after the fact creates a challenge, being afforded the chance to be both factual and eloquent. I will stick to the narrow path and leave out the parts about waking up Friday in Palo Alto surrounded by musical artifacts of classic San Francisco psychedelia, and getting a blister on my right foot from the Jeep's heater Thursday night (small price to pay for no speeding tickets and getting Patrick to San Fran safely!)

Patrick on the dark end of the street

Unify

Matt contemplating similar unification, days in the making!

Sutro

We had a full day to go until our show, so what a better way to go than attending the Outside Lands festival! Teaming up with Jen and two of her friends, the six of us tackled major taxi and public transportation delays to attend.

Jen and Patrick, into the throng of humanity.

A major challenge of touring must be not blowing your take on other touring attractions/bands. This is the only picture that could come close to capturing my experience of seeing Radiohead in Golden Gate Park.

It was sublime. The lights, the sound (minus the second PA failure, the first one gave a great contrast!), the songs, the total audience freak out, the dad and two sons in front of us, the late teens next to us (one who proclaimed "this is better than a f'n rave!"), dear friends close, and others wandering the festival to be seen at some later point. (cell service was critically deficient)

This was taken through the front window of a furniture store, toward the El Alhambra Theater, home to gym currently. We joked about them "praying toward South Beach" as this is the only gym I have ever seen with minarets!

The show at the Parkside was ragged and great. We had witnessed Radiohead screw up and keep their game faces on, which inspired us to do the same. Here is Patrick with his!

Thee Parkside sits in Portrero Hill, east of downtown, and seems to have been through some gentrifying as of late, though the neighborhood has retained much of it's charm.

The array of friends and family in attendance was humbling. Nothing quite like seeing friendly faces after a week of space travel.

Pearl Bauer is a dear friend of Anne's, so therefore has become a good friend of mine. She and her husband Chris completely feed into our vagabond/wanderer tendencies (or as Anne is keen to point out, MINE). They operate on a life list that they constantly work toward checking experiences off their list. Years ago Pearl was to play tambourine in a band in New York, but it never worked out. Upon booking this show, I knew it was imperative to help her realize this dream. Chris had just checked skydiving from his list, so we invited Pearl up on stage to play the last song of our set (and tour) with us. Many thanks to Bartender Mary and Boom for being so accommodating, when in San Francisco, please visit Thee Parkside! Punk rock bathroom in full effect!!!

Laura in Russian Hill

Jen, at whose place we crashed (thank you!)

Patrick, Ms. Pac-Man (aka decompression tank for the road-weary)

Beginning this trip in an airline terminal just steps from where my sister and her family were embarking on their trip home; after a week of being with people near and dear, it was a little lonely watching fog eat San Francisco alive from SFO.

Genius + Love = Cherry Mash

2008-08-28T05:14:00.001-07:00

If you have come here to read about music, sorry. Today we will discuss road food. And not just road food, but localized confectionary genius. We stopped off at a gas station in rural western Kansas (one of the few places we were 100% comfortable leaving the Jeep unattended!) and my life changed forever.

I introduce you to the Cherry Mash.

This candy comes out of Missouri, the Show Me State, a sobriquet I hardly understand. All puns resisted, I removed the wrapper to discover a weighty chocolate nugget.

What no cherries? Huh?

One bite reveals a gummy sort of whipped nougat-like center, flavored in Missouri's best atomic cherry flavoring. Coupled with the complexity of the chopped roasted peanuts in the chocolate, this must be the face that launched a thousand diabetic ships.

The label reveals you can chop up Cherry Mash and put it in a milkshake! You can also put it in cookies! Just do not taunt Cherry Mash.

Kansas persisted to stretch out even farther toward the horizon than we thought possible as trains made haste alongside grain filling stations and the fields whence it came, and we were suckered by Prairie Dog Town. For the sake of being kosher, I will not post photos of mutant cows alongside the hallowed Cherry Mash.

Dig me some sunflowers though!

On America

2008-08-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some random shots taken throughout the trip.
First off, state signs!

In place of North Carolina, please accept this photo of Monument Valley, inside of Charlotte, NC's famous The Penguin. Not pictured: fried pickles.

In place of Tennessee, accept this photo taken just outside of Knoxville.

In place of Missouri, here's a photo approaching St. Louis.

In place of Kansas, we offer our new, non-offensive name to call people... K Tag (ie, "you are such a..." or "don't be such a...")

In place of California, here is the very next sign AFTER the "welcome to" sign.

Tennessee and California were near impossible to get, careening over mountain passes with little or no shoulder well into the night. Missouri's was lost in St. Louis. Kansas was sheer lethargy of ye olde camera hand. Sorry again, Patrick!

Stay creative, Colorado!

On Traveling Through The Mountain West

2008-08-26T07:58:00.001-07:00

Took this picture of myself early, early Thursday morning as we loaded up and headed over the front range of the Rockies, leaving Denver behind in civil twilight. I was a little freaked out by the prospect of having 18 hours ahead of me in the Jeep. Not that it hadn't been a great trip so far: a lot of ground still to cover, a lot of different kinds of air to breathe, all on an average of 6 hours of sleep per night. I love fresh air, but 3 days without a top on the Jeep was starting to test me!

Gearing up in gloves and hats for a cold pre-dawn through the Rockies, we started the Radiohead marathon as interstate 70 started to twist and convulse through canyons and mountain passes. Oh, and I got a tasty breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee at Daz Bogs in Silverthorne.

Having been broken down on the side of the road in 1995 nearby, I was somewhat familiar with the area as the last good place for a breakfast stop, so we pulled off just as the sunlight crested the hills. From that point on I knew it was all manifest destiny from there.

The mountains fell apart into sandhills with mutinous boulders, then canyons started appearing as we crossed over into Utah. The sun was kicking it up a notch too, so we were able to jettison our outer layers (much like backpacking!) and made it a practice to fill up on gas every half tank. Distances start to stretch in this country. Mountain ranges bend and wind their ways around gigantic valleys made for Dinosaur commutes. Long gone as they are, along with vegetation, left behind are skeletal remains and oil exploration. The farther we drove into Utah, the denser the air became. As we exited I-70 for Highway 50, it was clear that most of the fresh air we had experienced would be replaced with an arid imitation!

Dust storms kicked up in the distance, we outran them. Trucks kicked up dust clouds in the road, we drove through them. All that dust has to go somewhere! Welcome to Nevada. Rugged, rural beauty. The sun wanted to eat us alive. Meanwhile, my guitars slept packed away, blissfully unawares in the back. Sun, heat, cold: these things are not your guitar's friend! We took every chance we had (roughly every 100 miles) to get out, gas up, reapply sunblock, administer eye drops, and buy water. Note: make sure you eye drop in the shade and NOT looking into the sun!
Range after mountain range; vista after sweeping vista, the sun finally began to disappear into the western horizon. We were left with red earth behind us, and blinding white hot sun ahead. With less fanfare than expected of a desert sunset, twilight had begun.

A coyote scampered across the road oblivious to the speeding hot metallic death that was the Jeep (Patrick swerved deftly to avoid it) and finally day gave up it's grasp of the sky, revealing an infinite canopy of stars that featured the purple-blue ink of the Milky Way. This had me wishing for a blackout once we made Reno.

I was exhausted, and Patrick was willing to stop, though disappointed of only making it a 15 hour day. After a brief discussion, it dawned on me that he had further responsibilities in San Francisco than had been communicated to me. Still willing to stop, I ventured that we should persevere. Wow, this all sounds so civil, but in reality, you have two road-weary/grizzled men with the will to drive themselves sleepless, and the entire contents of central Nevada's famous baked oxygen bottled inside our lungs as perverted laughing gas going straight to our brains. Throw in a disagreement, and you've got volatility. Once our exhausted grievances were out there, there was no pulling them back. Rather, these became fuel (with the assistance of two disgusting Monster Energy Drinks!) for the remainder of the trip. Onward! Outward! Westward! Blistering! (the heater in the Jeep would prove caustic to my right ankle!)

Truckee, CA will never look the same to me!

Denver Show Report

2008-08-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

I found it surprisingly difficult to get online on our weeklong trek. The best part is, after phone calls to the missus, I really didn't need it. Moments in between were spent ambling around Lawrence/Boulder/Denver/Austin, NV (google it!)/San Francisco. While it crossed my mind to plug myself in and regale the ether with my ramblings, I found better use for my brainpower and eyes (reading, sleeping, driving etc). Here are some belated notes on our journey, will post several of these.

Started Wednesday as tourists, and visited scenic Boulder. While once a hippie town, it seemed to have been slowly devoured by Bed Bath and Beyond. Never fear, we found a staunch, independent record store called Albums on the Hill, and paid Andy a visit. If you ever drop in, tell him we said hi.

The Denver show went well. Hooked On Colfax had a dark, yet photogenic performance space in the basement.

We played without any amplification, so my voice was a little throttled by the end. Jim flew out and made an appearance on his new Cajon drum, which will be making it's way out more often. Picture a wooden suitcase fitted out with a snare in one part, with a drummer sitting on top of it. I am a believer! We did a monster, 16 song set that still ran under our alloted 2 hours. Elegiac made it's live debut, and we dusted off "You Know It Has To Be Right!," "I Was Electric" and a brand new cover of Nada Surf's "Inside of Love"

Afterward we had a few Fat Tire's at Annie's Diner. Eating fish taco's at my wife's namesake made me wish I were driving toward her! Some friends of Patrick's came out and regaled us with stories of their famous family Thanksgiving fireworks (a euphemism, of course) and that took the edge off.

At dawn we started off toward the west, starting a Radiohead marathon of every one of their albums. Could there be a better landscape for their cavernous, isolated sound? I think not, as the farther we drove the more it seemed we were on the moon. We had 20 hours to drive, and San Francisco to make before the next morning.

Denver Obama Mania, Pre Show Post

2008-08-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Denver. Per request, we will have full road pics up at some point, as soon as I can get my computer hooked up through the ole Airport Express. Seems my WEP2 personal will not accept that one last digit of Ramsay's password. Funny how this technology makes things harder, before making things easier. Hence, I am on that friends computer. Everyone else has gone to sleep. Sleep. Sleeeeeep. Sleeeeeeeeeep. I think I saw too many Wizard of Oz tourist traps ads today.

We made it to colorful Colorado alive and well. Along the way we played a show, drove. Ate. Drove. Meandered around Lawrence, KS, slept, drove. Repeat.

The show in Charlotte went surprisingly well. Patrick is absolutely soaring in the position of electronic percussionist. It doesn't take a lot to get the drum sampling program I designed going, but his musical instincts have really aided in creating a sonic landscape in which my songs reside comfortably. My favorite anecdote thus far was introducing a new song, "Say Your Prayers," as being an "indictment of apathy" and in a pregnant pause Patrick blurts out "whatever." Priceless. Even moreso was the woman in Knoxville from Charlotte who thinks she heard of us. Thank you WEND 106.5!!!

We are looking forward to a day off tomorrow, before our show. A day off is a day without 1000's of miles to drive. Once we check in to our hotel, I will look into getting some of these here photos posted. Seriously, it has been a blast. This town is abuzz with Democratic National Convention mania. Get ready folks! They are doing bomb drills!! I am lonely for my one and only, but absence does make the heart grow fonder, and I am about to fall asleep in a hammock with my ipod set to "starry night" so life is good. Even better is coming 3/5 of the way across this great nation with one good old friend to end up crashing with two more of 'em. It's good to be "home"

Good night.

...all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it

2008-08-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

Did an equipment check last night, and realized my travel guitar fits into my acoustic-electric case! I picked up this guitar on our honeymoon, and intended to pass it off to another traveller, but that traveller never materialized. SO, now I put stickers on it to show where it has been!

This should be a revolution in my travels, as since the beast has been smuggled in a soft sided case through a variety of flight attendant moods. Now it can travel in relative comfort (or at least safely wedged between the massive chunks of luggage) being checked in!

On the way to Bodrum, I could have busted the thing out and nobody would have batted an eyelash, as I flew with it "stowed" between my legs as a benchwarmer in a hockey game. Flying to Charlotte, friendly flight attendants stowed it in the first class closet. En route to Boston, they made me stow it overhead in the crammed solid bin, which made me very nervous. This cheaply constructed balsa wood guitar can be dented by a fingernail! I was dreading the results so much that I swore on the way home, I would stow it beneath my seat at all costs, hiding it from view with a combination of sweatshirt and standard issue flight blanket. The only hazard then was the curious feet behind me.

It's a small price to pay for something to put stickers on. My brother has started sliding me space station patches, so perhaps the case will become a canvas all unto itself!

If anyone has any suggestions for unique San Francisco stickers, this will be the guitars' second trip there and I've yet to find one! You'd be surprised how the bumper sticker industry has been overrun by those faux-European vehicle nationality designators! It's become the new Calvin Peeing On Something sticker...

Many, Many Thanks

2008-08-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for coming out to DC Arts Center on Saturday and making our benefit show such a success! The event ended up selling out (both tickets and beer!) and we raised over $1,700 for the Sunbeam Foundation, their biggest fundraiser of the year!

It was an unforgettable night of generosity, and we thank you from the depths of our collective hearts for helping til it hurts.

If you missed it, you missed Jim playing drums one handed while Matt's amp shorted out, and Matt doing his best Robert Pollard-as-lounge-singer impersonation. Many thanks to Terrence from Anchorage and Chris from The Forest for helping furnish an amp for our last two songs and/or playing along.

Look out Charlotte and San Francisco (and maybe Denver!). Matt Cummins of My Friend Autumn is coming your way, presented as an electro-acoustic duo. Get caught up in the fury of the small rock n roll as Matt is joined by Patrick Horn Sunday, August 17th at Snug Harbor in Charlotte, and Saturday, August 23rd at Thee Parkside in San Francisco. We will breathe in deep in Charlotte, and exhale sweet, kudzu humidity upon the Bay Area a week later.

We've also gotten some attention from Charlotte radio!
Please email divakar@1065.com and ask him to play My Friend Autumn on his show!

Benefit Show Coming Up!

2008-08-01T10:46:00.001-07:00

Greetings,
The Sunbeam Foundation benefit show is almost upon us! Anchorage and the City Veins are joining us to create an unforgettable night of music for a good cause. There will also be an auction and libations. Come on out and join us!

7:30pm Saturday, August 9th
DC Arts Center
2438 18th St. NW
Washington, DC
$20 donation

MFA on the Radio!

2008-07-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Loyal Compatriots!
We've been added to 91.7 WKDU in Philadelphia, PA!
Please call (215) 895-5917 or IM "requestwkdu" to request "Everyone Knows Which Side I'm On" by My Friend Autumn!

We've been added to 89.3 WUMDin North Dartmouth, MA!
Please call (508) 999-8150 and request "One In The Same" by My Friend Autumn!

(you can actually request any song off the album you like, we just have some intel on which songs have already been given some love!)

In other, less campaigny news, I was thinly slicing garlic last night in creating a plum soy reduction thingy with arugala, and man, do my hands have the "power" this morning. You know what I am talking about! Anne did note how much flavor the sauce held, but if she could only be here to experience the tactile repeats. Man, I can't stop smelling my fingers now...

Airplay!!

2008-07-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Go check out WKDU here in Philadelphia, Drexel University's free form station. They have been giving some love to our album! (Everyone Knows) Which Side I'm On has been getting some airplay!

If you feel so inclined, call up and request MFA!!
pax,
mc

Details Emerge

2008-07-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

We're a little behind the ball, but when are we ever in front of it! Seriously, MFA is somewhat like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. We just grabbed that shiny false idol, and now we are running out of a cave just about to be justly poison darted by natives.

All of the sudden August 9th is about a month away, woah!

Never fear, we have a line up for our benefit show! The indefatigable Anchorage, The City Veins, The Forest and MFA are confirmed so far, and we are hoping to add one or two more bands/artists. Calls have been made, emails sent, we'll see what emerges. DC Arts Center is very intimate, so be on the lookout for both intimate acoustic performances as well as full out rock. I cannot tell you how excited I am for each artist to be so giving of their time and energy. We hope to put together an atmosphere that is both inspiring and enjoyable for both performers and participants.

More as it emerges, but this is what we have so far!
pax,
mc

Love Is A Sentimental Heart

2008-06-25T05:57:00.001-07:00

We dropped in on my brother-in-law's family last night and everyone seemed to be holding up. Yes, there was food. Yes, there were tissues. Yes, there were kids running in and out, blissfully unaware of all that was happening around them. My youngest nephew kept on talking about building a human ladder to heaven, while the older one talked about how "Mimi, Pop Pop, and your Dad are going to have a party in heaven and get kicked out"

I've retreated today inside Smashing Pumpkins' 1996 Aeroplane Flies High singles box set. I've made good on my long promise to myself to digitize it, which I need to make sure I still listen to it in physical form, digitally it's just too convenient! I'm cataloging recording and production techniques as I begin to plan our new recordings. New songs = new chances to approach the same equation with a whole new kind of math. Plotting recording set ups is a good distraction while preparing to concentrate on the OTHER reason everyone gets together. There is such a taboo around talking about death, but how much closer to life can you get than either weddings or funerals?

Driving around yesterday, looking at the sleepy, placid white on grey on blue Pennsylvanian clouds that dotted the sky, I thought of Bob, having spent his entire life in the area; and how the sky looks the same whether or not he is here. Oddly comforting, I wondered how it looked to him the last time he laid eyes on it, and said a little prayer to myself that somehow he could see it through my eyes, or that of his family or grandchildren. There is a photo of him with his youngest granddaughter (my neice) that captures the contrast of young and old, but between you can see this air of humility that hopefully someday Elizabeth can connect to. This was your grandfather. He was fiery, but he was loving and would spare no energy to let you know how excited he was to be holding you, and wanting to get a picture with you.

I'll post the obit link when I can find it.

Someone Great

2008-06-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

I am sure you have heard the song "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem. It's pretty ambiguous in subject matter: it could be about a broken relationship as much as it could be about death of a loved one. While it's probably about the former, I have chosen to hear it as the latter.

For these reasons, I could barely listen to it when my dad died. Or my mother-in-law died. Now, my brother-in-law's dad, Bob Strunk, Sr. has passed. I am left without comfort, without reason. People get sick, I understand. I've got this LCD Soundsystem song I can listen to finally, but still translate it as the passing of someone great. But for the love, could people stop dying? Just for one year. I know what you are thinking, that people die every day and not everyone has the justice of having lived a full life, but this is my third year of marriage, and the third loved one who has passed since taking my vows. Where is the solace in that?

Bob was full of enthusiasm for life and people and stories. He didn't know a stranger and would tell it like it is. Or told it like it was (Forget grammar now.) I've got so much to say but so few words to say it in.

people People PEOPLE! Go call your parents and tell them you love them! It doesn't matter who you regard as your parents, biological, foster, other; tell them you love them.

"Scratch any cynic and you'll find a disappointed idealist"

2008-06-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all for supporting us this past weekend on our threefer! Starting off Thursday at L'Etage, picking up a surprise show Friday in Phoenixville, and rounding it all out in Chris' back yard with big ole barbecue with friends and family. Expect an assembly of visual oddities to surface on our website very shortly. There was everything from a post-grad dance party invasion to drunken men channeling Bono while vocalizing to our songs to cornhole in the backyard (wow, that sounds bad. Cornhole is bean bag toss to everyone else but eastern Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyans.)

But again, with the good news comes the bad. George Carlin has died. Being in a band while faced with adversity, second only to "What Would Andy Kaufman Do?" is "What Would George Carlin Do?" in axioms to help young artists fight a world of BS with more BS.

I wonder if they'll play "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" in a glitzy, star-studded tribute during primetime now. If so, my how times have changed!

be well,
mcmfa

ps- we're going to incubate for a little now and tighten up some new songs for you, as well as attempt to record some of the new ones (on demand!!)

The Clash- London Calling

2008-06-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

Would you believe when I first heard London Calling I didn't like it? It was sprawling mix of music very unfamiliar to my circa-1994 grunge-tinted ears. It's amazing how with a little bit of digging, you realize that current music isn't as current as you think. This album was my first course in the drift of ideas from one generation to the next, and how there is nothing completely "new," just a series of information being transmitted and decoded by a different, sometimes younger set of musicians. This has been my best defense against writers block: not worrying about wearing your influences on your sleeves. (aka, Guns of Brixton basically being a template for the Beastie Boys)

There is something incredibly liberating about this ideal! Think about the mass of information out there waiting to be reinterpreted! Of course, you can be TOO derivative, but part and parcel, you are giving a melody, a chord, an idea (whatever!) renewed life. What a better way to pay tribute, especially in this world of information overload. It makes complete sense, just as much as buying albums to support musicians who make music you love to enable them to keep making music.

The record store I picked it up in doesn't exist anymore (Cornelius, NC). I had returned Sleeps With Angels by Neil Young having decided that was not the best "so you want to listen to Neil Young" album, and decided The Clash were my next conquest. It took me years to finally penetrate it's veneer and now I listen to it nearly once every 4 months or so. At the time I had no idea that Sandinista! even existed...

These United States (not the band)

2008-06-04T06:04:00.001-07:00

While MFA is not an overtly political band, but Barack Obama has just clinched the Democratic nomination and it is a watershed in the history of our nation. OUT OF MANY, ONE! The irony of a candidate being the beneficiary of his opponents' campaign finance reform work is not lost on us! Some of us were Clinton supporters, others Obama supporters, some part-time McCain advocates, alongside one "hey, I would be happy with both," either way our country is poised to move forward in one grueling stroke of electoral history. Hopefully they can all get a little sleep now, and rest up for the presidential campaign!

No matter what you stand for or who you stand with, make sure you vote in November!

ps- I've got some killer footage of These United States playing TT The Bears in Cambridge, MA that I will upload once I get it OK's by the band. Check 'em out!

Time Machine

2008-05-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have this big problem of trying to cram too much in, and plan out my life to be busy, busy, busy. At the end of six week cycles, I get all worked up and Anne looks at me and asks "why are we fighting?" and then inevitably the next day or so I will realize that I have not been at home in 6 weekends. Weeks don't count, as there is work to be done and that takes a different kind of travel. Where does the time go? Shows, birthdays, seeing loved ones, boats, cars... etc etc etc. Next thing you know all you want is a good, strong cup of coffee to let go cold as you sort out your memories over an acoustic guitar at 8am on a Saturday.

The good news is this weekend I won't have to call my mom to talk, but will be in her presence as we celebrate her birthday. I feel bad that yesterday in a flustered fit I confided in her how little time we had had at home, and I think it made her feel like I didn't want to see her. NOPE! I cannot wait. There is no cup of coffee like a cup of coffee in her kitchen!!

I've got a great birthday gift for her, made from my recent trip to Boston (where I met up with my childhood best friend Paul Hanna, whom I hadn't seen in 12 years, then witnessed a Jon Lester NO HITTER with from right field SRO tickets! There was something pretty special about being back in Fenway Park, like going home, that and we jumped into conversation without missing a beat. No matter where you are, your past isn't far behind. Make something of it, and don't hide!)

I wish I had a time machine, not to go back in time (anymore), but to make more hours in a day- to slow down the time we already have. I need some time to contemplate this wonderful things happening around me to help me be more grateful!

ps- we're working on a western swing of dates coming up in August! These will not be full-band, but special acoustic shows with Terrence Henry of Anchorage and Patrick Horn of His Own Damn Self.

There Will Be Synths

2008-05-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

We've been busy working on our summer plans, and want to give a HUGE shout out to our friend Brice Woodall. Brice is an old friend from DC who now lives in Chicago, and is on tour with his band. Not only does his new album sound stellar, he added us to a bill with his band here in Philly! Mark your calendars for Thursday, June 17th: the mighty Brice Woodall and the Positrons w/ My Friend Autumn at L'ETAGE (6th and Bainbridge) Philadelphia.

Be warned: there will be synths!
(that will be the name of my movie, starring Daniel Day Lewis as an evil Rick Wakeman: There Will Be Synths "I drink your voltage!!!")

Anybody have white-soled shoes (size 12.5) I can borrow? Hows about some sunblock?
be good, get into some trouble!
-mcmfa

What The World Needs Now...

2008-05-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's kind of hard to celebrate a CD release when thousands upon thousands of people have been dying in Asia. First the cyclone in Burma, now the earthquake in China. Some people might try to convince you that this is mother nature correcting herself and taking lives with her, do not succumb to this dehumanization. This is the same attitude that leads toward nihilists crashing planes into buildings and people blowing themselves up to zero gain. Please try to help, even if it's just contemplating these people's pain and suffering!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We would like to thank everyone who came out in support of our shows this weekend. There was an outpouring of love, and we hope that we returned that to you tenfold in our evening of merriment. Especially in the face of torrential rain, we hope you stayed dry and didn't miss getting stuck in the mud out at Radiohead! Sorry we couldn't hang out for longer after our set, we had 3 hours of eye-strain to endure to get ourselves in bed for work Monday morning. And now it's already Tuesday! How'd they do that!

Bear with us while we revamp the website too. Our priority was to get the album released for you fine people, now the website for the lurkers. You know who you are!

The Adventures of Pete and Pete

2008-05-08T05:55:00.001-07:00

Just popped in my copy of "Music from the Adventures of Pete and Pete" by Polaris (nee Miracle Legion) and I am transported back to the summer of 1995. I am on my way to the Charlotte airport to pick my parents up after their trip to Germany to see my sister, who is not yet married, but is living as an au pair in the Fatherland to learn the language (and to be near her now husband.)

I've popped in the Cassingle that I got from mailing in box tops from Frosted Flakes or something, and am blasting the excellent "Hey Sandy" while speeding to make it on time. It's summer in Charlotte, and the windows are up up up and the A/C is on on on.

There was nothing strange about getting a tape of three songs from a supposed kids' show. Nothing! The show was like being on drugs and I could watch it with my girlfriends' little sister without batting a lash (of course, not being ON drugs).

I am 95% sure this is still in print, and would recommend it to anyone who likes jangley pop or old R.E.M. Check out the Mezzotint label, run by Mark Mulcahy himself (I think).

Flashy Flash Flash

2008-05-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

check out this animation that now adorns our myspace page. we should change it around and call our weekend of shows our "flash intro release party!"

The CDs are shipping in today, I will believe when I see it. Part of me thinks that somehow I will wake up and it will be 5/21/04 and it will be the day after our first recording session. If by some reason tomorrow I am 4 years younger, please bear with me!

Vacationland

2008-04-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

We headed to Cape May this weekend for a band weekend of music, music, skee ball, and basketball. And more basketball. At 50 cents a play, we racked up far more tickets at basketball than skeeball, and we could go head-to-head. Besides, Matt's 300+ point skeeball game was maligned when the machine read "CAL". WTF? Gimme my tickets!

To recap: Mighty Chris Kudela of the St. John's Red Storm (nee Men) held out a formidable 68 point showing, and the four of us played that machine so much it ran out of tickets twice!! Jon Heller of the Temple Owls proved to Kentucky Wildcat Matt Cummins that the left hoop was in fact counting the baskets correctly, but then was subject to 10 3 pointers in a row in Matt's only 60+ point game. It was never clear if Jim Greif was a Pitt Panther or a George Mason Fightin' Fairfaxian Bricklayer, so we'll just call him Switzerland, and yeah, the Swiss like to block shots. WTF? Gimme a quarter!

In culinary news: Matt wasn't hip to Jon's burger concoction, but missed the instruction to leave the burger on the bleeding side of medium rare. Mr. Grillmaster also vetoed grilling the chicken burgers, as Jim would surely not like them flavored with the charcoal they were slowly dripping down into. Jim did pick up some pretty killer veggie chips that made a snack trinity with garden salsa sunchips and bold party chex mix. And make that not one, not Two, but THREE bags of microwave popcorn. And boat races, c'mon Chris, will spades EVER win? WTF?

The neighbors were great about our noise, one admonished his guests for potentially staying inside on such a beautiful day, and the other couldn't hear our acoustic stylee. Turns out our sound isn't much louder than a weed whacker or other such lawnscaping tools. Had we only known this at the Essjay, we would have mowed the lawn more regularly AND had Dano do it while we were practicing in the basement! ps- Mattresses on the windows help, just make sure you don't kill your drummer with them.

We have new songs to perform! We have shows coming up! We have shows in the works! The weather is getting super-nice (hella-nice for all you reading from California)! Look for photos on the website soon!

pax,
mcmfaxoxoxox

Mark Your Calendars!

2008-04-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release:

My Friend Autumn's long promised debut full-length, "Summer Music For Winter People" will be released on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008!

Recording sessions began in earnest in 2004 when the band had just 2 members. Delayed by milestones- graduation, marriage and death- the record is ultimately about navigating life and the hope that who you once were is constantly being revised for the better. With our best line-up to date, MFA is poised to take over your mind: one song at a time. Four years in the making, open your mind and let us inside!

xoxoxo,
mcmfa

Yesterday

2008-04-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've been following the hype surrounding REM's new record, Accelerate, with a somewhat keen eye. I'm not one of those people who scold "new" REM, and canonize "old" REM. While their pre-"quitting touring" output is seminal and is a must listen, I do not discriminate against anything after. Actually, I consider "Up" to be a classic. How many bands do you hear being influenced by those who have influenced them? Bands don't stick around that long. Imagine Pavement reuniting and playing "Stockton Kwassa Kwassa" and taking back the cheekiness Vampire Weekend seems to have lifted from the "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" promo materials. (Of course, REM was also borrowed mixer Nigel Godrich, Radioheads' producer, which could explain a lot!)

The next album, "Reveal," was entertaining, and showed hints of the band looking backwards into their own catalog for inspiration. But by the time "Around The Sun" landed, I couldn't take it. The songs plodded, while the production seemed grafted from a David Gray album. It was obviously dialed in. REM is a corporation (any band lasting over 25 years is as hard to disband as Bear Stearns) and I was suspicious that this lugubrious album was it!

BUT WAIT, there's more. REM's not dead.

"Supernatural Superserious" sounds like dinosaurs awakening. Moreover, REM is deeply entrenched in Warner Brothers. There won't be many albums released this year that get this much of a push, a practice that evokes a sort of nostalgia post-modern consumerism. Regardless of what other people think, I like the sound of this song. It's reminiscent of "New Adventures in Hi Fi," coincidentally (?) my favorite REM album (!)

ps- I could really go for a Pavement reunion, though would prefer them to leave all vampires out of it.

Black Postcards

2008-03-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Not sure if this is a good thing. I get obsessed with bands every so often. About 10 years ago I was introduced to Luna, and had to buy all of their albums. Yes, even their "we're signed to a major label but have no hope" phase record "Pup Tent." C'mon, it was designed by Frank Olinsky, that's pretty cool.

So here I am, post-Luna, reading Dean Wareham's memoir "Black Postcards." The jury is still out on this one, as it is far less entertaining than David Lee Roth's memoir, Crazy From The Heat, which is one of my favorite reads of all time (ADD Theatre!) I am not sure if it is a good thing to read the extension of the already detached personality of Luna's albums. It jumps in with a contentious quote from his former bandmate: that's like going on a date with a girl who starts off conversation talking about her ex-boyfriend's gripes with her.

Leave the baggage!

Now Hear This!

2008-03-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

We're moving forward with our release schedule for "Summer Winter for Music People" to hit around mid-May. In the meantime, we've added a guitarist: Chris Kudela. You'll see Chris sporting both his trademark Fender Jaguar and an acoustic guitar to round out our sound. Chris also fills in the gaps with vocal harmonies, and swears that he's tried to understand the game of soccer.

The band descended upon Molly Maguires on Saturday, for an impromptu 6 song set. This was our live debut in this configuration, and by all reports, we pulled off being a non-Irish band on the greenest night of the year. Well, that is if you are Catholic. If not, don't expect us to try to play tonight! Trepidation gave way once we realized the O'Tasty-crazed crowd actually started dancing to our acoustic stylings. My guess is my apology for not being an Irish band went a long, long way! Many thanks to our friends and families for egging us on!

Our website has been renovated with a placeholder, should you care to check us out in our practice space. We have yet to name it, all ideas are welcome.

xoxox,
mcmfa

Our Best Friends Band

2008-03-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

I feel a little conflicted. Somehow in the search for shows, and other band related activities, I have used up some "come see my show" cred with friends in order to drum up a crowd for O'Tasty playing a show at Molly Maguires in Phoenixville. Their drummer is our drummer too.

Booking O'Tasty a road show upon their request, the people at Molly's have been awesome, and even encouraged me to slip them a copy of our record. Turns out, they don't just book Irish bands. And, I am encourageable. Sweet!

This wouldn't be that big a deal, but O'Tasty is coming up from DC, and I am a Phoenixvillian (I am going to shorten that to just Villain at some point). People in Pennsylvania do not know O'Tasty is named after a Chinese take out joint on Columbia Ave. I sort of think "Potato Famine" would be a better name in this circumstance, but you are the band you are, and as Ward Williams of Jump, Little Children told me wayyyy back (while talking about an opening band they had named Area 51), "It's just a band name!"

So in the meantime, I have cooked up a plan. Since I am effectively the promoter, My Friend Autumn is going to play a few songs in O'Tasty's set break. This is huge. We've been slumming it in living rooms across the Schuylkill Triad (I just made that term up) cobbling together a set, and now we are about to step out into the world of self-booked shows and room temperature draft beer. That's not to say Molly Maguires has warm beer, it's just when you're mid-set, your beer goes warm. That's all. MFA hereby will attempt to play few enough songs that our beers stay cold, as to not ruin the St. Patricks Day vibe for the greater good. We're Big Star and Pavement playing Lemonheads songs, after all.

Details:
O'Tasty (w/ a short MFA set)
Saturday, March 15 9pm
Molly Maguires Pub
197 Bridge Street
Phx, PA

If you feel so inclined, I created an evite. Send it to anyone!

Tomorrow Never Knows

2008-02-22T13:07:00.000-08:00

If there is one song that would represent the entirety 20th century music, it would be "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles. Seriously, much as you can probably hum Beethoven's "Fifth" or "Spring" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," Tomorrow Never Knows is the vehicle in which entire genres of recorded music have been delivered. You've got trance. You've got hip hop. You've got sampling. The Beatles already did the power-pop thing earlier on that same album, so I won't include that, but man, that song must have launched a million imaginations.

Not that the Beatles need another accolade, but this song truly represents the dawn of the recorded age: using the studio as an instrument.

And from here, I go into the weekend with a song without a chorus to ponder!

This is Pretty Cool

2008-02-07T05:59:00.000-08:00

So, it's not every day you discover an artist by their amazing website. So many band websites look the same. That is why ours looks like it does, which has now fallen into disrepair.

So anyway, there's this guy Billy Harvey who has a really sweet website. Designers the world over were inundated with links to his website in 2005. Check it out.

The real reason why I am posting is that he is currently on a tour of the U.S. and of A. in a bio-diesel converted 1983 Merdeces. He is video-blogging his adventures on his myspace. He comes off sort of like Garth from Wayne's World and Beck's lovechild. Friday he is showing up in Philly at Northstar Bar as the first act of 4 bands. Come check him out. He gave me good Austin record store recommendations in 2006, too. Good guy.

On that same trip, I picked his record up at Waterloo and listened while driving around in a rental car, and a then-soccer-teammate asked me "is this your band." I laughed, saying "you think I would actually drive around listening to my own band!!"

ps- Anne, don't tell anyone.

(got it) Made In China

2008-02-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

Checking on the website stats page this morning, I am floored to find hits from China. And not just hits, but an IP collecting every single piece of music we have on the site. We are not RIAA members, so don't worry about us sicking the dogs. Actually, as a friend pointed out, this could very well be the first time piracy helped anyone! Free Asian distribution!

If you ever find yourself in China, and you find yourself carousing the multitude of cheeeeap music options, keep an eye out for us and pick up a copy. I will pay you back, hook you up with a legitimate copy, and buy you your next drink when I see you.

Imagine, if you will, rather than piracy, that there is a rogue band learning how to play our songs; and as we speak, an imposter MFA is readying their own album "Democracy Music for Communist People"

NOTE TO THE CHINESE CENSOR READING THIS: we do not condone forced democracy on your people, you need to utilize the government that works best for you.

Boardtape 2008 Has Arrived!

2008-01-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

2008's installment of Boardtape is titled "Microdisiac" and consists of all original remixes of some of my favorite artists. For example, one of the best tracks on Galactic's latest record "From The Corner To The Block" is called "Fanfare." "Fanfare" is only a 1:22 long on their record. Under the watchful eye of DJ Adequate, that same track becomes 4:23 with some twists and turns.

If you are the legal owner to the sound recordings and disprove of anyone reinterpreting your stellar work, email me and I will take yours down.

Enjoy!
Budget DJ and self-styled internet Cred Tycoon,
DJ Adequate

Track Listing:
Mr. Bitterness (adequate mix)- Soul Coughing
Get Innocuous (vocal remix)- LCD Soundsystem featuring Murry Wilson
Fanfare (adequate remix)- Galactic
Positive Tension (drums of navarone mix)- Bloc Party
Les Yper Sound (motive mix)- Stereolab
Point (ape shall not kill ape mix)- Cornelius
Little Black Ache (bad needle mix)- Bishop Allen
So What'cha E-pro (dance mix)
You may note that DJ Adequate tried the So What'cha Want/E-pro mash-up before to varied results. This is a extended alternate version, listen for the reverse turntable scratches

It Will Be Mine, oh yes, It Will Be Mine

2008-01-22T05:38:00.000-08:00

Helping your friend buy and amp is an involved process: the deal is you play while he twiddles knobs and pushes the amp one way or the other. Especially since this amp is to be a direct contrast/corrollary to your own, you've got to keep your ears open. (ed note: personnel announcement to follow)

You see, in these days of chain stores and electronic sameness, historically independent music stores are the places you find your true sound. Why go for the same set up that every else has when you will end up sounding the same as them? And that is not a good thing. This side of modding everything, you hit up these little independent shops where the shop owner talks your ear off, and then tells you to play anything as long as you put it back correctly. And the place is a candy shop. And you're a kid. With a couple hundred bucks. ha! Somehow I've eeked a sound out of my set up when it is the same. I try to help others not make the same mistake: shop at small shops! shop at small shops! get esoteric gear that you corral to make a sonic thumbprint for yourself.

...and there it was. sitting on the counter. after hours of twiddling knobs and talking "sound" it was time to check out, and since I wasn't actually buying anything, I took the opportunity to carouse the PA section, and then the hidden keyboard section. For the first time in my life I crossed a Moog in a music store. A minimoog– lying expectantly on the counter, I had to ask questions about it. How much? How much work does it need? When did it come in? Then, they took my name to call first when it is done. Sweet Jesus, I did not plan on finding one of these in real life, just eBay! We've been messing with a CZ-101 to make it sound like a Moog, but I want knobs!

It wanted me. It saw me first; I just had to approach it! It was like Wayne's World without Stairway. Moogs are the new custom strat. Mark my words.

Adjective, Noun, Verb

2008-01-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

Today we were supposed to get some snow, but instead, Philadelphia has turned into what I imagine as our finest replica of an English winter. It's not quite raining. It's not quite foggy. It's definitely not snowing. Soon enough there will be snow, but then there will be rain, then there will be the soup. The soup is what happens when the ground thaws and you miss the road by an inch when you step out of the car. It's not a thud. It's not a thwack. Somewhere in between.

Man, sleep and me don't get along these days. My favorite lunch spot betrayed me last week (I like to think of it as real-time karmic fall out from mocking the Omnivore's Dilemma- the concept, not the book) and my stomach has been topsy turvey ever since. The wine probably doesn't help. Regardless, I woke up last night around 3 and spent the remainder of the tiny hours in a warbly, half-dreaming state. I should start writing songs that way, if I could only figure out how to stay asleep with a guitar in my hand.

Coming soon, an official announcement from MFA World Central Command with regards to people, places, and things.

And stuff. Lots of stuff.

Slow Motion Decay (live video)

2008-01-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know there is a live video of us performing "Slow Motion Decay>" up on alumni Matt Sedlar's blog. The video was taken by Kim Lufkin at Staccato in DC, in 2006.

I could critique it from a personal perspective (note to self: there is a reason why bands wear black on stage!) but I will just say it's pretty cool finding video of yourself on the interweb. That is, unless you're Meg White, you just had a nervous breakdown, and some imposter claims to be you in a stag film.

Speaking of which video also exists of another band performing a U2 cover (one of many!) to ring in the third decade of a certain drummers' life. This video hasn't escaped the vault. We'll see!

Matt said it best, that Staccato was totally the Cheers of local rock!

MFA Bonus Elite Super Premium Cardgage

2008-01-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

We're going to need to institute a MFA frequent flyer program, where miles travelled can be redeemed for merch, or cash.

Jim came up from Arlington this weekend for practice, and a multitude of televised sporting. Anne is in Florida working and familying, so bachelorhood thus equated sports. Starting with missing the end of my ever-sliding Kentucky Wildcats loss to Louisville, we watched Pittsburg lose to Jacksonville in the AFC wild card game.

Then, I went in to hyper-caffeinated battle with Comcast early sunday afternoon as the signal kept on cutting out whist watching Jim's Pitt Panthers lose to Villanova in the closing seconds of the game. I tell you, there is nothing like trying to watch a close college basketball game while the digital signal keeps cutting out. Mind you, it's not like broadcast or even normal cable where you can still get a portion of signal, when digital cuts you get nothing. No audio. No signal. No basketball. No Win. No Loss. Nada. Good thing Jim didn't care that he missed the end of the loss, I cared because we pay for that shizzle!

Man, I really hope the Shins don't break up!

Butter 08

2008-01-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Top of the year to ya. Hope you and yours stayed toasty and warm. Mine and ours travelled. And travelled. Back in the 80's, I grew up somewhere between Massachusetts and Kentucky, sometimes strapped in to a seatbelt, other times crossing the imaginary line between where my brother or sisters' seat ended and mine began.

Fast forward a good 25 years and I'm hurtling between Charlotte and Louisville fueled by Christmas cookies and Big Red Vanilla Float soda with my wife and mom alternatingly gasping. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I might have thought it wise to share the driving duties; but in real life, we had mileage to gain and only so much time to attain it and I'd be damned if I wasn't going to be at the helm for it.

Glad to be back home. We have an album to release people! Battle stations!
happy 08,
mcmfa

OH, I ALMOST FORGOT!
The DJing went well. DJ Boozy Claus (nee Adequate) crowd pleased several different crowds for about 7 hours. It's not every day you get to make one group happy by playing Girl Talk and an entirely separate group happy by spinning "In Da Club" right after "Only In Dreams" by Weezer. Not to mention someone outside of indierock-dom acknowledging your fine choice of a Dismemberment Plan song. Note to friends Georgie James, Lavajet, The Apparitions, and Brice Woodall: you can collect your 2 cents from ASCAP now.

What Will They Do When They Find Out I Am Not A Real DJ?

2007-12-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

My neice (age 6) laughed and said "yeah right" when she found out I am DJing this party on Friday. Slowly, a wave of fear enveloped me as I realized I didn't have traditional party hits that get the crowd up. I have the Kinks. I have the Beatles. I have the Zombies. I have Belle and Sebastian (there's an Onion headline in here somewhere, I dont know, something about a riot at a library or something). I do have a few room shakers, but my large-scale DJ operation has not reached epic proportions.

So today a friend slips me an iPod full of future national treasures: Akon, Rhianna, and tons of other names I do not recognize conspicuously filed next to familiar "artists" Christmas tunes. Let me go on the record: this is going to be one hell of a feat! 6 hours! Everything must go! Everything will be played! Officially, I cross the threshold of "songs I like" to "songs other people might like"

Here I go educating myself on the thuggier side of hip hop!

Ah ooooooooo

2007-12-17T05:13:00.000-08:00

Morning came really early this morning, I think Anne forgot she messed up the alarm clock, thus making 6am on the clock be 5:30am. But, who am I to not start the routine? Next thing you know you are on a foreign, earlier train with older even more uncomfortable seats. Then, you put on the Handsome Boy Modelling School and start dreaming of bagels.

The studio has been getting a lot of play lately making remixes for a big holiday party this weekend. DJ Adequate is coming on strong with an hour of brand spankin' new remixes. He is training in his dojo for the 6 hour marathon with a combination of agility and stamina. Should you see him with alcohol at this event (and believe me, the stuff is bound to be flowing) slap his hand and say "no you can't have it back silly rabbit"

he will have slept by then, which is not the case now.
xoxoxox,
mcmfa

Bizarre Factoid

2007-12-07T06:37:00.001-08:00

We are all veterans. MFA consists of people who have played little or much, or a little much.

Spinning currently: "Ruby Vroom" by Soul Coughing (the patron saint of MFA). I have only played New York City once, and that was at CB's 313 Gallery, next door to CBGB. Friends said "dude, you played CBGB?!" and I'd say "no, there's a difference." And not in just a 667, the neighbor of the beast kind of way.

That difference being Soul Coughing used to throw their weekly party night there in the deep recesses of the early 90's. Who knew? If I had known at the time, chances are I would have made even more of an arse of myself on stage.

"We need new heroes"

Who Needs Daylight Savings Time?

2007-12-03T05:58:00.001-08:00

It's amazing, once the weather starts to turn you have two options: hibernate or generate. It seems for the last 8 years of my life I have chosen the hibernation option. When the going gets cold, the cold get sleeping.

This year, my senses are starting to mold the world around me into what I want it to be (as opposed to it molding me into something reminiscent of a potato, with or without soft landing). I am simultaneously rehearsing two new bandmates, each doing amazing work on their own, as well as prepping to bring the whole operation together. The days are getting shorter, but that almost means there are fewer distractions!

In the wings (mind you, alongside the launching of our album):
Booking several friends bands in Phoenixville
Building another cover band for late winter
Creating a U2 cover act for local irish pub
Creating a French cover act for a local Creperie (!)
DJing a friends' Christmas party (uh, 6 hours?!?)
Recording a set of Christmas staples acoustically
Helping engineer a friends' band record
A weekend mountaineering trip to Grayson Highlands, VA

Wow, no time for Season Affective Disorder!

First things first, MFA are getting together this weekend for another rehearsal. We are expanding to 4 piece, and eventually 5 piece, but still need to get together to arrange the songs. Whew!

xoxox,
mcmfa

Dashboard Confessor

2007-11-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

Watch this, now go do something!

Life has been moving at a breakneck pace for me lately, we're busy getting the band prepped. I just listened to the album master again and am about to OK it. The weekend after Betsy's funeral, I found myself at a childhood friends' wedding basically on the backside of the mountain on which I learned to snowboard in Massachusetts for only the 5th visit since leaving in 1992; the very next weekend I found myself being peppered with what I'll call Gerglish by the most adorably disobedient German children in the mountains of North Carolina, not far from where I went to college. Only to retire back to my home in Pennsylvania. The year is 2007. I am 30 years old. My father has passed. My mother-in-law has passed. My wife must think I am crazy, I cannot take it all in. I cannot process everything that is happening around me. 2,000 miles in just over 2 weeks, done in 5-8 hour increments is more motion than I could handle, given the circumstance. Man, I used to be able to champ that no questions asked with barely a cup of coffee!

And now I go back to something I used to give me fuel when I was 15. Jimmy V. Basketball season is almost in full swing (the cake games are being played now; someone tell that to UK having lost to Gardner-Webb! I think they didn't get the memo!)

So here I go, one foot in front of the other. Family. Religion. Band. Don't give up, don't ever give up.

Lightning Strikes Twice

2007-11-21T06:40:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would let you know that my mother-in-law, Betsy Moser DeMutis, passed away two weeks ago today with her family around her. Anne is hanging in there; the two of them were very close. We'd been busy with funeral arrangements, and then with sorting out things on the homefront. It's all a bit of a blur, though the time has passed quite a bit slower for me than when my father died. If you feel so inclined, please make a donation to The Clinic here in Phoenixville in Betsy's memory. They provide free healthcare to those in need, and Betsy was a huge proponent of their cause!

As my mom says, life happens when you are busy making other plans. Actually, I think John Lennon said that too.

We were busy reconfiguring the band to suit the album release, but as you can imagine we haven't been able to pick it up. The album is sounding great, thanks Burleigh! My notes are coming soon, thank you for your nudges and patience.

In other news, I attended a childhood friends' wedding in Massachusetts last weekend. Nothing like seeing the girl who was basically your little sister get married, all grown up. Speaking of which, to see a different neighbor who was 2 when I moved away was confounding. 15 years is a long time, and then to check her brothers' band on myspace. Toddlers and kindergarteners morphing into high school seniors and rock drummers! It's like having been on the moon for a decade and a half, remind me not to volunteer for the Mars mission like I've said I'd do in the past. Count me out!

Hey, Aren't You...

2007-10-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

My day-to-day life revolves around 30th Street Station here in Philly, at the crossroads of regional and local rail. My daily path takes me in the line of fire of the taxi line, in which I have to look for speeding taxis with new passengers, and speeding taxis having just dropped off passengers.

Yesterday, I look over at this line and see a vaguely familiar face attempting to cram huge road cases into the trunk of one of these taxis. Wait, that's Dan Wilson! For someone a lot less obsessive, it would mean Dan Wilson of Semisonic, the guy that wrote "Closing Time." For someone a little less obsessive, it would mean Dan Wilson, co-writer of the grammy award winning song "Not Ready To Make Nice" by the Dixie Chicks. But for me, it would mean Dan Wilson, producer of Mike Doughty's first major solo record, as well as solo artist on Rick Rubin's American Recordings.

I walk up and sheepishly ask "Excuse me, are you Dan Wilson?" 99.9% sure, he says "Yes, I am" rather distracted by the task of cramming said oblong boxes into the trunk. I reply "I am a big fan of your work, nice to meet you" and go in for a handshake. With that, I turn and walk away, headed for my train.

That's it, when you meet people you admire and you're not just Mr. Fanboy, it's kind of awkward. You don't want to let the moment slip without letting them know you know who they are, but your anonymity is a challenge to them, and they instantly have to navigate the possibilities. Especially if they're somewhat "It" at the moment (a grammy, plus a new record "Free Life" which by all reports is stellar), I can only imagine that a stranger on the street could be a) someone from the venue coming to pick you up b) that guy who keeps on showing up asking for the secrets to the universe or c) someone approaching you to co-write songs. Man, I wish our society was more like that "Sorry I was late, I had to co-write a song with a big dude whose ipod wouldn't turn off"

And what band was I listening to?
Queens of the Stone Age.

Ha.

I do own "Feeling Strangely Fine" though, and just gave it a spin last week.

Yes, Master!

2007-10-23T11:31:00.001-07:00

We got the masters back from, uh, mastering. It hasn't been tracked out yet, but upon converting the torrent back to listenable form, I am blown away by this black magic. Mr. Burleigh Seaver, my hats off to you and your dark arts! We've yet to finalize it, and will have to wait for Burleigh to get back in town.

Speaking of which, to our friends on the west coast, his band Shortstack are doing a string of dates out there starting later this week. Please check them out, tell them we said hello!

Should I admit to seeing the Smashing Pumpkins on this latest tour? I was all excited until actually being at the show. Some of the new stuff occupies the same sonic space with very little emotional resonance, though admittedly, it's my fault for not knowing it as well as everything up to 1998. Moreover, take this at face value, Billy's guitar and vocals completely drowned out the rest of the band. When you combine that with the rest of the band high tailing it off stage after the final encore to leave Billy eating up the ovation, you start connecting what this thing is really about, and sadly, that's not the way I remember it.

Good thing my obsession moved on to a band that will most likely never get back together. And this one, that can't.

Anchorage at Velvet Lounge

2007-10-17T05:08:00.001-07:00

Our friends Anchorage (you might remember them as Eastern Homes or Sad Bastard) are playing Velvet Lounge in D.C. this coming Saturday night, October 20 prolly around 9pm. Go check them out. They've changed their instrumentation around a little, and opened up lots of spaces in their songs. One more time: go check them out!

Currently Listening to...

2007-10-11T06:56:00.001-07:00

Stan Getz Bossa Nova.

Not to be a shill, but does it get any better than this? Holy crap, it takes me a couple of years to lose this record and then rediscover it. Verve put out this compilation in 1996, and it makes for some of the best foreground/background music I have in my collection. Some of the songs are flawlessly studio-sounding, only to have an audience clapping politely at the end. Might be studio chicanery (a la "Live at the Club" by Cannonball Adderly), but I somehow doubt it.

Makes me really want to master my nylon-stringed guitar. Sure, he is a appropriating a musical movement from Brazil, but he is doing so incorporating them into the fold. Astrud Gilberto's voice must be responsible for millions of children, much like Barry White. A friend of mine posted a blog commenting on Russia's "sex day" as a way to encourage population growth.

Russia, meet Brazil.

DJ Adequate for Sunbeams

2007-10-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't even have a chance to post that I had been asked to do a charity DJ set in DC before already being back from it. Wow.

We were raising money for an organization called the Sunbeam Foundation, which some friends created after the passing of their friend a few years back to a rare, pediatric brain cancer. Check it out, you can still make donations if you would like.

The event was at Indeblue (in the shadows of the Verizon Center (aka MCI Center in my day, man, can them corporations merge or what!) and I set up in an actual DJ booth. Too bad I didn't have needles for the turntables (or actual records for that matter!) but I did my set live mixtape style. No matching beats, no genre cohesion. Part chaos. Part order. Dig.

We raised somewhere in the ballpark of $1000 before tallying the cut of the bar. Thank you for your support!

This Is Your Brain on Music

2007-10-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Started a book called "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel J. Levitin. Have to say, when he got into the part in the beginning about the notes Miles Davis is not playing in Kind of Blue, I immediately stopped reading and put it on the iPod. Immediately I felt an urge to listen to the Dismemberment Plan. Something about mathiness and rock equals the Plan, always.

Last weekend Jim came up and we got a few good rehearsals in. Jon is ramping up with the songs nicely, so much so that we are on the cusp of bringing a fourth into the fold to fill out the songs. We have been a trio since we decided not to be a duo, so being a quartet is completely mind blowing.

We ran through the album mixes deep headphone-style, after one of the practices, and did a few fixes after flying blind for a while. It was kind of like being the only one who can land the airplane, following instructions by a pilot on the ground (we called Nick while he was on his way to work!) Turns out some of the stuff I did was right, turns out some of the other stuff I did was not so right. Either way, we smoothed out some of the kinks, and now the record is on it's way to mastering again!

Album art is coming along as well. Some goodies are being developed in addition to the record, so hopefully the launch will go off without a hitch. The website will also get an overhaul, and will devolve further into internet absurdity. I just get so tired of all the websites looking the same. We are not a gloss and sheen band. We are a roll of duct tape and a coat hanger band. Feel it.

thanks for reading,
mfa

Back from Vacationland

2007-09-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

What can I say? August was vacationland. So much so that by the time Labor Day weekend rolled around, Anne and I withdrew from the world altogether to watch movies, hike, and basically be spontaneous. There is nothing like going away to make you want to be home, and there is nothing like being home to make you really itch to do something. So I forgot to call Jon and Jim back (my phone died), and I messed up lining up practices for the next weekend. Secretly I am glad I did, save for any grief caused to my bandmates. They are the patient type, and from what Jim has said, he could use the weekend to survey a new automobile. Just keep the license plate of the current one, my friend.

Imagine yourself in a desert. Imagine the desert full of arrid mountains, then imagine a crystal sea between those mountains. Float on your back in this imaginary salty sea in the pitch black midnight after being on planes for 30 hours. Oh, and add a full dinner and a toast with new and old friends on the back of a 75 foot (25m) sailboat. Wonder how you got there, what you did to deserve it (nevermind you have paid handsomely for it), and then start freaking out about sharks. There are no sharks, but your brain won't have any of that nonsense so you scurry to the ladder, rinse and towel off, then fall asleep above deck under bright blue stars (and the steady pulse and sporadic lightning from a disco a half mile (800m) away on the shore. WTF?

That being said, it is nice to be home. Now I get to write the book.

Norcal

2007-08-13T13:07:00.001-07:00

Started back into travel season this past weekend for MFA's #1 fan's wedding, in Palo Alto, CA. Anne and I flew into Oakland late, late, late Wednesday night and crashed pretty hard once we reached the bride's house. Not only did she get up to let us in at 2:30, she woke up before us. Now, that is hardcore.

We have a disorder: we can't sit still. We are so restless even when we are road weary and sleepy. This found us about 24 hours dangling precariously above cliffs en route to Big Sur, just to take a picture of the sign and come back. I think I found the place to dramatically drive the car off the cliff when the time comes. Wow. No more buying the farm or kicking the bucket. I'm talking flaming car extrusion.

By the time we picked up my brother in SFO that next afternoon, we had covered Monterey, Santa Cruz, Carmel and Big Sur, not to mention having helped stranded friends in San Jose procure a rental car. It was hard to look at the farmlands and not think of Steinbeck, and thus my father, ditto for the the Santa Lucia hills. Very fittingly, we had put in Modest Mouse's Good News record.

The wedding-type events went off without a hitch (actually, I should say with a hitch, as the deal was sealed) Nothing like being bone dry in a nicely pressed suit, low-80 temps when back east you'd be melting. Maybe that's why my friends aunt said something about "you could eat him with a spoon." I think I know what that means, but I'll still plead youthful ignorance. There was a mechanical bull, but I could not get on in time for last call and closing. The more youthfilled (and liquorfull) ignorantati of the softer persuasion had the bar captivated, no way was a 200+ hombre like me getting up there to spoil their view of cleveland.

spent an afternoon in San Fran with some of anne's beloved from college. very, very kind people. Just so happens their apartment is atop the Noe Valley neighborhood and boasts a super steeeeeeeep hill right nearby. I think I asked them at least three times how they got to work and if they had to hoof the hill. It was probably the sleep depravation talking. The weather was even more perfect than Palo Alto (perpetually spring to San Fran's perpetual fall) and we hung out on their deck, overlooking the bay.

Maybe I'll turn this into a foto blog once I get the technology.

also, when we get the monetary technology, we are so going to record at Tiny Telephone. That would rule. Or maybe record in Sausalito with Steve Lillywhite as if we were the Gusterds. woot.

Dr. Dremo's Thanks, and setlist

2007-07-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks for coming out to the show on Saturday at Dr. Dremo's! Please visit that place before it is history next March!

With a little light goading, we raised over $600 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We also sent Mr. Matt Sedlar packing into his official graduation from MFA professional development academy.

Setlist:
Every Day Is Fall*
The Ballad of You and Me*
Elegiac*
East Coast Versus West Coast*
Sweet Caroline*
Queen of the Lost Causes
One In The Same
Campfire Hymn
Now It's On (Grandaddy cover)
Slow Motion Decay
Speakeasy
The One That Got Away +
Bergamot
St Matthew's Court
Gravel In My Palm
I Was Electric
1994

(break)
Tender (Blur cover w/matt on irish drum)
Wishing Well

*= matt solo, to give jim a rest
+= with Terrence Henry of Eastern Homes on harmonica

City of Brotherly Grit

2007-07-24T11:48:00.001-07:00

Jim here. With a show approaching, I made the trek to Philly this weekend to rock out with MFA and catch up with some old friends. The XPN Fest (or whatever they call it) had the most awesome backdrop (the Philly skyline) I've seen since those D.C. shows they used to have on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the Capitol. Fountains of Wayne didn't disappoint and I think I'm going to have to keep an eye on those Fratelli boys.

It always feels good to play, but it feels even better when you get to play outside when it is 74 degrees and breezy. While we didn't play long, I think we are ready for the gig on Saturday. I'm really glad we are jumping right in like this. It's been way too long since the last show!

After practice, I met up with my college buddy, Chris, who was playing in a block party in the working-class neighborhood of Port Richmond. The party was also a 21st birthday celebration for one of the friends of the band. They had 2 kegs, a large box of soft pretzels, a hot dog machine, a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine! An aside, I turned on the power to the cotton candy machine just to see what it would do. After twirling around for about 5 seconds, the power for the entire block went out for about 3 minutes or so. Oops, sorry folks. Of course, we pretended like it had nothing to do with us. Just one block over, there was another block party with much of the same pomp. I don't think I have really seen anything like this since my early days in Pittsburgh.

Later that night, I went to a house party in the Philly suburbs in an upscale neighborhood (I have no idea where exactly). The back yard was ginormous (this word was just added to Merriam-Webster!) and had a regulation size soccer goal. I think I overheard that the hostess had played some college footie. I assumed the crowd would be the pretentious hipster sort by looking at them, but instead I found everyone to be friendly and talkative.

Community means different things in different places. Everyone knew each other on the block in my hometown. Now, outside of the artist that lives two flights up, I don't know anyone in my apartment complex. If this weekend taught me anything, it is that community is what you make of it... and I need to try harder.

Sunday, the original lineup (Matt and I) went to New York City for a total of two hours. However, while we were there we had the only $5 meal available anywhere in the City. 2 BBQ half chickens with sides, soup and drinks for a total of $12! Then we met up with old work friends Nick and Jessica and hopped across the Hudson and Hackensack rivers to catch D.C. United vs. Red Bull New York at Estadio de Los Gigantes at the Medowlands. While our boys didn't pull out the victory, we saw a hell of a header by the other team.

Aside from major road construction delays on the way back home, it was a solid weekend of enjoyable experiences.

See you on Saturday!

Show coming up, album going out, ships coming in

2007-07-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gents,
Two weeks ago I was sitting at the old, crackity mactop twiddling knobs and wondering "wow, what sounds better: not-so-good, or not-so-bad" shoring up work on 4 tracks. Turns out, once you settle in on middle-fi, it all looks rosy. Think about it: DIYing will limit your budget but will not limit your creativity. The end result might not be super-pro, but we're not a super-pro kind of band. We're more of a "make it up as you go along" kind of band. More than that, we're open source. Tinker, tinker, tinker. If anybody asked me for tracks, I would probably give it to them to see if they could make it sound different, better, or even worse (Mark, I burned you a DVD but haven't sent it!)

So here we go, two weeks later we are gearing up for our first show in 18 months on July 28th. I am psyched, it's like Christmas in July. Not only that, but we're playing Dr. Dremo's, a place we have yet to play in the DC area. It's not a rock club. It's not a pool hall. It's not a typical venue. MORE THAN THAT, we are raising money for a charity that is very, very, very close to me: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you've read anything in this blog, you probably read the one about my dad's memorial donations going to them. I actually agreed to this show before I knew the charity, so this is the icing on the cake. BUT wait, Jon can't make it because it's his birthday and he'll be in NYC, so Matt Sedlar, our former bassist, has stepped up. We never had a chance to give him a proper goodbye, since his departure coincided with a downtime for the band. We might also have a sax sit in, depends how much cramming we can get done.

"Summer Music..." has gone back to mixing for some tweaks, but will be delivered to mastering. Yes, it has been 3 years. But there are reasons.

What else? Philly is beautiful today. Thunderstorms swept through last night, taking the heat but leaving palpable humidity, with a slight breeze. It's somewhat tropical, and not in a "jeez, I'm melting" kind of way. More of a "dood, this could be the Keys" which seldom happens in the mid-Atlantic in balm season. Anne and I met a night where I wore a beloved green beater button-down, and an undershirt, and I swapped out sweating through one and carrying the other as it dried out, and changing when need be. Like I said, it's Christmas in July, only a little more humid, but not enough to drop you. Dig.

xo,
mcmfa

This Ain't No Chinese Democracy

2007-07-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Our album is now mixed. We would like to thank the Army of Emotional Support for pulling us through this one. Realize, we have gone through 3 and a half band members in the process. I say "and a half" because we have been itching to introduce a 4th member, but delayed as the record was delayed. Not to mention personal stuff. We are now "older" and "wiser" which in rock is the mafioso kiss on the cheek, but we'll let you decide that.

So here we go, the master recordings are going to the masterer (I'd make a "Yes, Master!" joke, but that is actually a legit, operational business, and we do not want to create the impression we are looking elsewhere) in the District.

Stay tuned for a show announcement, if you are still there. This feels like falling asleep on the telephone. You still want to listen to what she's saying, but next thing you know you've awaken to forgetting whether or not you've hung the telephone up or not!

Yours in scouting,
mfa

Chinese Firedrill

2007-06-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

"Living this life/is like trying to learn Latin/in a Chinese Firedrill"

You know, if I were able to report that I'd be a slouch and that is why the record is not mixed yet, I might feel better about my place in the Universe. How do I say that I have been working really, really hard at learning how to mix? How do I say that we "ran out of money" for the project and brought the mixing in house? How do I say that I have already scrapped four song mixes in favor of fine tuning my ears?

I like to wear lots of hats, it just so happens now I am a producer. I did the remix EP to prove I could, and now I am mixing the remainder of our record. It is sounding good. Anne has been an invaluable resource: she will not BS me and say "sounds good" to spare my feelings. If it sounds like used kitty litter, she'll say it sounds like used kitty litter.

The thing is, I like a nice, dense mix. I like combining several elements and making sonic burgoo. Where some people might like to a sparse drum, bass, guitar mix, I want to drop the guitar and replace it all with synths and a vague mellotron.

So that's me, I am tweaking here and there, EQing everywhere, and shining these nuggets.

Oh, and playing in a cover band for a big family party. Got a PA (my first!) for the vocals and for the iPod DJ afterward. We have 3 vocalists (4 if you count Anne, but she has relegated herself to learning to play bass before trying to play and sing!) We've been practicing since March, and know our set backwards and forwards. Okay, so just forwards, but still, that's something!

Summertime rolls...

ps- I am 100% free of the bean (coffee). Well, I had a half cup with Anne on our anniversary whilst watching Meet the Press, but other than that, I'm decaf.

Songs for Your Bean

2007-05-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for a busy summer, I have decided, once again, to quit coffee. Jim probably thinks I am crazy, but really, I think it's what is keeping me up at night. And not in that great, James Mercer kind of way where I am brilliantly composing songs out of a bad situation with drug-addled neighbors. More in that "man, maybe I do have that restless leg syndrome I make fun of the TV for advertising"

But I dig the bean. One of my favorite things is sitting in my mom's kitchen and sipping coffee in the morning. That's the thing, it's all about habit, and partially to do with the gas-on-a-brushfire effect you get for the first month but goes away, leaving you with a phantom limb.

Oh yeah, I give up and take up coffee all the time. This last time getting into coffee was directly related to dad passing. Weird, eh? The man could drink some coffee. Once asking him how much coffee he'd drink in a day, he responded a whopping "up to 10 cups, basically it's all I drink in the morning." So I have used the bean to get myself out of bed, and to coax myself onto the train when I couldn't drive.

Get ready for summer, kids. Give up something you love to get something better in return. Puritan Self-Denial Beach Blanket Bingo anyone?

ps- this is Led Zep summer. does anyone remember love?

Am I depressed because I listen to pop music, or do I listen to pop music because I am depressed?

2007-05-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I never really listened to lyrics in songs until recently. I heard sounds, which formed a vibe, but I never really paid attention to the actually meanings. It was almost as if I had created some sort of emotional security system. Going back through some of my favorite records, and I am going wayyyyy back, I am hearing things in technicolor.

Take for example. 1993's "Altered Beast" By Matthew Sweet. This record is brutal! How could I not have heard it before? Sure, there are the guest artists (Mic Fleetwood here, Nicky Hopkins there, Robert Quine, Richard Lloyd, Ivan Julian everywhere!) most of which I wouldn't even recognize by name until recently. But when you hear the songs, man, put it away, it's bleeding! Perhaps I picked up on the black humor of "Someone to Pull the Trigger" and the rocking rockingness that is "Ugly Truth," but you think I would have heard the desolate obsession with a relationship that is to bad to keep, but too good to ditch.

And it doesn't stop there. Every song. Every. Single. Song. Funny, I don't remember being an overtly sad teenager. This being one of my favorite records, I need to re-examine. Let's go down the check list: suicide attempts=0, overdoses=0, runaway attempts=0. There you have it folks, I am certified oblivious. And Jody Stephens is on this record, given my latter day Big Star introduction (thanks to pd)… you'd think I'd have noticed the jangle.

The production is super-compressed, I guess to bring out the vocals, and you'd barely notice the guitars except for the fact, um, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! But I think I appreciate this record more now that it's 14 years later. I actually had this one before "Girlfriend" which I technically never bought. Tracing it back, I think this was a record that an old girlfriend didn't get back. Strange, she got all the REM, but not Matthew Sweet. Score!

Funny how it works out. Man, I still love this record!

"c'mon Bob, get it together"

2007-04-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think I should turn this thing into a personal MP3-blog, not one that has other people's songs but mine. In the spirit of the odds and ends covers EP release, I am contemplating nearing full disclosure and unleashing a double album documenting a year in the life. There is just too much material to fit onto one record, I almost feel as if that game was built to defeat art in the first place.

Let me think about this, I know some people are interested in hearing the non-album tracks, but I have to self-edit enough to not be Ryan Adams. You will not get MP3's of me drunk trying to impersonate old Hank.

Have a good weekend. I'm making a quick trip back to DC then back to Philly to take our neice to her first major league baseball game. I think I like baseball because I get nostalgic about my own youth, not that I dislike the game, but it's a little irreverent of modern times. We want it, and we want it now. We don't want to have to wait out a pitchers duel. Wait, maybe that's WHY I like it. Ha.

be well,
xoxox,
mfa

Graduation Day

2007-04-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

In the My Friend Autumn universe, players don't quit or leave, they graduate.

It is with regret that I inform you that Matt Sedlar has earned all qualifying credits and has moved his status to Alumni. Congratulations, Matt! You now join the illustrious ranks of Tom Lewis and Paul Binghay. Should you feel the need to stop in (you will get several invitations to guest lecture) please feel free. You were a fine purveyor of musical insight, and you helped make MFA into an actual band. Your album credits are a testament to not just your bass playing abilities, but your overall musical sensibilities. Thank you for your service.

++++++

Jon Heller has a scar on his arm from a Goldfinger show at age 17. How cool is that? I am not being ironic, I once put "Mable" on a solo "album" back in 2000 and called it the best song ever written. He is our new bassist, and I know what you are thinking: oh brother, MFA is going aggro. Not exactly. Jon has studied bass for years, and is thrilled to be in a trio where we not only actually hear his voice, but we welcome it. Not sure when our first show in version 4.0 will be, stay tuned.

We look forward to seeing you soon!
xo,
mfa

We're #1!

2007-02-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

(on Google)

Tallying stats for the new EP, it's come to our attention that we are the #1 listing when you google My Friend Autumn, without quotations (try it!). I guess those algrithms love sudden bursts of hits, moving our ranking up.

Thanks for all of the emails, we've got two more songs on the way. Bear with us, we hit some technical difficulties while trying to track guitars. Now that our neighbors have (sadly) moved out, I've got a small window to get the tubes on the amp crackling.

much love,
mc/mfa

Boardtape 2007

2007-01-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

If you are interested, this years' installment of Boardtape is up on the My Friend Autumn website. Long story short: Boardtape began as a mixtape my brother made me when I lived in Montana winter 2000. Last year it was a podcast in 4 time-life themed movements, this year it's one big file, and mountaineering themed.

Why mountaineering? We're attempting a winter ascent of Mt Washington, New Hampshire in February. Don't worry, we're also packing snowboard gear to get some turns in (I know you were worried). Dano's packing his banjo, and I'm packing my travel guitar, perhaps this trip'll spawn some late night "man that was a cold day" songs. Speaking of which, Dan got tickets for Sufjan at the Kennedy Center. Way to go!

Be well, enjoy all of this music. There is a lot more on the way! It's been a busy 2007 MFA studio-side, we're regrouping in March to start rocking y'all in the first person.
xoxo
-mc, mfa

Happy New Year!

2007-01-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

No, we don't have a new site! Our old one is going on into the terrible two's, and we're going to renovate come album time.

In the meantime, we are very proud to present "Alterations in Fluid Volume" an EP consisting of 7 covers in various styles, as well as 3 original instrumentals. We've gotten a little lap-toppy lately, but that is due more to the shift from apartment, to apartment, to apartment, to rowhouse.

Back in the "please do not sue us" department, our advisor has pleaded with you to 1) ask us to remove your song should you disagree with us (interpretation is the next sincerest form of flattery) and 2) ask us to remove your song should you discover we have sampled you. We're not playing the Soul Coughing game and hiding them. Some of them are smack dab in the middle, right up in your face saying hello. Mostly, you will find they serve the songs. Again, if you disagree, please email us at info at my friend autumn dot com.

Thank you for bearing with us as we prepare our full, all album feast. The first album EP has gone to the art department. We're having to release the record in halves due to scheduling conflicts with central command.
And thank you to Bruce Falconer or David Durst for naming the second instrumental.

Mike Cummins

2006-10-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I'm sorry to inform everyone that my dad, Mike, passed away a little more than two weeks ago, due to complications from a long battle with cancer. It wasn't the cancer, but the lack of an immune system. Who knew? We were just hiking in Peaks of Otter weeks before he fell ill, talking about him discovering Belle and Sebastian.

Not sure what this will do to our album, but if you are reading this, if anything we know you are patient!

Contact me if you are interested in donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in his memory. matthewbc at hotmail dot com.

Album News

2006-08-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

The album news is that there is no album news. Apparently Silver Sonya has gotten really popular now that Chad and TJ are going at it more full time, so Nick has had a tough time getting in.

That is good news for me, since this seems to be the year that loads of friends decided to get married. I mean, in non-full-time bandy mode you have the ability to make it to every wedding. Whereas if we were stuck in Omaha on tour, I'd have to call in and pour myself a double to get through the disappointment of not being able to thrill the dancefloor with my slick shoes.

But that is bad news if you are expecting the record to drop soon. Rest assured it is done, but you are more likely to hear the Lemonheads record before ours. No, hell has not frozen over, The Lemonheads (nee Evan Dando Solo) are releasing a record. I am psyched about this. Just as much, Terrence Henry (aka Bobby Trendy) and I are going to curate a Lemonheads museum. You heard it here first.

pax,
mc

Ted Leo Screed

2006-07-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

Listening through "Shake the Sheets" by Ted Leo/Rx today. It is now I just realized the massive influence that record had on the aesthetics and writing of our EP "Opening Flower and Happy Bird"

I actually enjoy "The Tyranny of Distance" to "Shake the Sheets," but the connection is undeniable. Did anyone notice The Rentals are going to be at the 9:30 club in about a week? Our EP is like a Rentals/Ted Leo trainwreck.

Onward and upward, our record is going to warm and loverly. The rain in spain falls mostly in the plain.
xo,
mfa

Summa summa summa time

2006-07-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Me and my girlfriend, we don’t wear any shoes.

Listen:
The Hailing
Grandaddy” *sigh*
psssst

Read:
John Steinbeck
Jared Diamond

Enjoy:
Civilized grown-up milkshake
Spicy Spicy
Cool down

Blobfest is this weekend! They are actually recreating the scene when everyone runs out of the theatre. Oh, by the way, the opening scene for The Blob was shot in my town.

From My Window (Sad) and (Lonely) (?)

2006-03-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

Just saw Josh Rouse at World Café Live. I have to say, it’s not exactly the best music to listen to with your beloved, but hey, the man is brilliant. (his backstory includes the dissolution of his 7 year marriage and his expatriation to Spain). It was just him, a guitar, and a big shimmery backdrop that often imitated a body of water in sunlight. Props.

His “1972” is the reason for the next album. Not this coming album, but the next. I had decided I had had enough with gloom and alterna-angst in my songs upon hearing the jubilation that is that record. Now, please please please, if you play keys or guitar in the Philly area, email me! If not, all of our songs will have “Cut Your Hair”-esque ooh ooh’s! Not that it is a bad thing, but such indieboy soul-stylings only go so far.

Now we are get ready for tonight. The components are in place, yet ¾ of the performing musicians are still 2.5 to 4.5 hours away (depending on Baltimore traffic). Barristers is going to be a lot of fun. We have much to celebrate… the least of which is that we are all alive and breathing. Come out and dance to the rock. As opposed to Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock, haven’t we already done that enough? Leave the head pain for the morning and enjoy some cocktails and conversation. Not to mention basketball. With any luck, George Mason will be taking on Wichita State while we are playing. Reminds me of watching homie Brice Woodall play whilst the beloved Red Sox put the Yankees on ice back in 2004.

I miss you Brice, take over the world already!

Paul is Dead

2006-03-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Man, backwards our songs are the ultimate emo material. Minus, the nasal vocal sounds of Sigur Ros-lite, the chord changes are very heart wrenching. I wonder if they sound like this to the casual listener, while played forwards.

You see, Tipper Gore wanted me to quality check the mixes so far to see if they were satanic reference free. So far, only “Candy Apple Red” sounds remotely satanic, with special guest Bruce Falconer’s reversed vocals sound like “ohhhh… murda” which could either be murder, or Murtha, as in the outspoken Pennsylvania proponent for Iraqi troop withdrawl.

But really, he is saying “I don’t know…”

Barrister's Show Coming Up!

2006-03-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

So we've got this show coming up, and really, I am scared of Philadelphia pulling us apart like some lo-fi zombie movie. Here's the deal, we don't have tattoos or piercings. More than that, when contemplating response to a band looking for another rock band to open for them, I wondered about our rockingness. I mean, we rock, but in a different way than a lot of bands rock. We wear black only 20% of the time, and mostly then because all of our ringer-t's are in the laundry and we're about to go to bed.

So here we are, on the cusp of our third Philly show. We'll be going on after NCAA basketball on a Friday night… how can we lose? Actually, if Pitt loses that night, Jim will not be playing with us. We are prepared to replace all of his drumbeats with midi-files.

We're excited to be playing Barristers. It's a new-ish neighborhood bar in the middle of swank Rittenhouse. You can wear what you'd wear to the swank at Barristers. BUT, you might not be able to wear what you'd wear to Barristers at the swank. That being said, come as you are. Sweatpants are awesome. Sorta.

If you have tats and piercings, mo' better…
Jim also plays drums in the venerable "Potato Famine," raucuous irish rockers, winners of the 2005 Irish Rhapsody Festival at Knitting Factory NYC, openers for Black 47 on St. Patty's day. They will be playing Friday and Saturday night at Staccato in Adams Morgan, DC. You need to see this band. I ran sound for them 2 years ago, and brother James O'Brien told me he loved me over the mic. Yeah, it's like that.

Time Machine

2006-02-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

This post brought to you by Friendster, where two friends from way back contacted me:

I remember the first time I seriously went record shopping. And by this, I don’t mean scampering into my local Strawberries to buy ACDC, Van Halen and ogle 2 Live Crew as to think my mom wouldn’t go all Tipper Gore on it. I actually bought the third NWA tape though I don’t know how. I was turned on way more by the parental advisory sticker than by Easy E and MC Ren don’t matterin’ and just don’t bitin’.

It was around 1991, and my brother and I were in Harvard Square after a session at ZT Maximus (does that place still exist? Can our Mass. friends confirm this? It’s across from Alewife between the gigantor apartment buildings). There was some freak folk guy playing on the sidewalk, and we had just stopped into The Gap to say hello to a childhood neighbor who had it made. Well, we were 14 and she was 22 and almost out of college and free. That is having it made. Much more than trying to convince my friend Darrell Jermain to hit on Meg Gorman, whom I secretly thought should want me. Yeah, 14 going on Melrose.

Then we went on to HMV. It was as if a portal to my future had opened up. I remember looking for Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction, Souxie and the Banshees, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a ton of other bands I had heard of through my sister. This was when I still held out on CDs, so it was strictly tapes for me. I looked hard as I could for McRad, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Mulling through a hardcore punk section was like experiencing a new gravity for me. One that I would never truly adapt to, even still. But no McRad.

I settled on two free cassingles: World Party: All Over The World and U2: Mysterious Ways… both of which became fodder for my initial forays into songwriting, taping over them with my own material.

Rock in the Chocolate City

2006-02-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for coming out to our show the other night. We made some new friends, and hopefully in the process we didn't alienate the old ones! So many people! For those who stuck around for Zero Beat, thank you. We are not U2. We were not a U2 cover band. We just got the jones. Did you know that was the first time we played together in 18 months? Did you know "Until The End of the World" only existed as an idea on email until we played it together for the first time on stage? Wow.

James O'Brien is awesome. I potentially put him in an uncomfortable spot, what does he do? He says no worries, and that what I had said was nice. Note to self: when someone inadvertantly puts me in a strange spot, be as selfless as James. He could have really made me feel like more of a jackass than I already did.

Mixing went well with Nick. 2 down, 10 to go. Brice Woodall laughed when I told him a year ago we were nearing completion. His words: that's only 1/3 of the process! Mixing takes forever! Unfortunately we mixed one of the songs Brice was going to sing on, good thing is that he couldn't make it because he lives in Chicago now, and the tides have been kind to our brother-in-arms.

Check out Gorillaz b-side "Hong Kong," wow, what depth this collaboration has between Danger Mouse and Automator. Fictional bands can do anything! Might I suggest if you want to write songs or a band, don't think of it as you, but write for some character, how the band is "supposed to sound" not actually sounds. That's a trick I learned for the record MFA is mixing now. It is the cure for writers block.

pax,
mc/mfa

DJ Kulsik

2006-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

This morning I got 10 free downloads to the iTunes music store. Anyone who knows me knows I like my music written on plastic, encased in paper. I like having that thing to read or look at while listening. Call me "old fashioned" I like "albums." Remember them?

But, so, with a free download card I've decided to get tracks that I have lusted after since being able to discern the rock from the crap.

And, I have DJ Kulsik to thank for my love of Cheap Trick. I hadn't heard the song until I was 12 and at my sister's high school talent show. Dude was bellowing the song enough to know he really meant it, though he clearly was more a "baseball player" than a "singer." It caused me to check out the song in the form of Cheap Trick Live at Budokan. This then opened up a whole new world to me: rock songs and screaming Japanese girls. Wait, I think I already blogged about this.

God love 'em

New Sincerity

2006-01-26T12:11:00.000-08:00

So I made a mix on my iTunes for songs that reminded me how wonderful my ladyfriend is. I've been totally inspired by listening to the Sound of Young America podcast. New Sincerity is awesome. It is awesomeness. There's a difference. And there is such thing as inspiration overload, more on that later.

I put the mix on random and I am instantly transported to my friend Terrence's friend's balcony in Seattle back in August 2002. You can see the modern art museum sculpture arm and hammer thingy from the balcony, and also watch as the street basically falls into the Puget Sound. In some other life I am meant to live there, no matter how trite it is. Anne stepped out to take in a run, and I stepped out to breathe in some salty, cool, humidified air, in such stark contrast to the swill we'd been breathing in DC since late June.

She was running up the hill from the sound as I stepped out. She looked up to find me smiling awkwardly, wondering who this beautiful girl was who had travelled with me across the country to see a friend I hadn't seen in years, whom she hadn't met.

The song was "New Slang" by The Shins and unfortunately, it being about the strains of love relationships, is excluded from our wedding first dance song shortlist. This song, in me, has survived the popular overload of "this song will change your life" statement by Natalie Portman in Garden State. It already had changed mine. I got chills when I saw that movie, no not because Natalie was compulsive liar of an epileptic, but because some of the events seemed lifted straight from my life. No, Anne does not have Epilepsy.

New Sincerity: it will change your life.

Turin Brakes Blew Us Off…

2006-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

The energy is bristling here in MFA world headquarters. As we speak, Philly is doing it's winter thing. And by that, I don't mean snow. I mean cold rain.

Regardless, plans are being laid for quite the rest of the winter. Our home away from home, Staccato, is closing it's doors after launching several bands into relative obscurity, like wind powered vessels passing in the night. And by that, I mean they gave us a place to play when all other clubs wanted us to sonically rhyme with "oogazi." Anyone who tries to tell you there is not a Fugazi shaped cloud over DC is full of it. That being said, that's a hell of a lot better than the other cloud… neoconservatism!

We're looking into shooting a documentary based around our February 3rd show. Old friends are working their way out of the woodwork to join us for what looks to be our most show yet. And that's including the night when Turin Brakes blew us off. James O'brien has treated so many bands so well over the past 4 years, come wish him well. They're not closing until March, but methinks me doth not book too much.

AND, on top of all of this, we can no longer trust our friend Bruce Falconer, as this night, he is celebrating his 30th birthday. Come

Wind for the Sleeping People

2006-01-18T06:25:00.000-08:00

Last night the wind hit Philadelphia with a vengeance. Rather than wait up and check the site report (yeah, I'm a dork) I laid my exhausted bones to bed. Flash forward to about 3am and it sounded like the Wizard of Oz outside. We live on the 7th floor, so any wind resistance comes from window paines and dormant window-unit air conditioners. It sounded like the rattling bones of some spent maritime antagonist trying to crawl through the window sealant.

Then the rains came. Walking around this morning was like being in spin cycle… wind coming from every direction to make sure you knew it was there and to push you back to bed. And lord knows you need it, since the same wind kept you up all night like a badly timed cup of coffee.

Started work on a cover of 'Every Day Is Fall' by brothers in arms Alcian Blue. While their version is a blitz of droning rock guitars, mine's going to be a somewhat different affair. Perhaps when I bring the band in on it, we can completely overhaul it. News: a good hook is hard to kill. I covered Eastern Homes' "I Feel Love" and that turned into a DJ Shadow-lite workout. Maybe I should take that to the band too.

Hope you are enjoying the Boardtape!

Boardtape!

2006-01-17T06:36:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
If you haven't already checked it out, Boardtape is online. It's hot. Seriously, I had to check our webhosting to see if it would handle the bandwidth. Yes it does, so I would like to heartily thank Dreamhost for being so badass.

If you are new to us, hey. We are a power pop/unpopular pop band from DC/Philly and we like you. As our drummer says, it's not who you are, but what you like that is important. Oh wait, or was that Rob Gordon? We live for the rock music, and tend to be opinionated on lots of matters pop culture related.

In other, more colloquial news: My Friend Autumn is going in to mix our record in a few weeks! Thanks to Nick Anderson, we are using Silver Sonya.

AND, we are playing Staccato Friday, February 3rd starting at 9pm. Come have some fun in the city.

much love,
mfa