Black Postcards

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!

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

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

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

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

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'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

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

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)

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

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

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?

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

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

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?

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

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

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...

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!

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.