So, I’m thinking of devoting a section of My Everything Pill to “My Favorite Bar 4 Open Mic Moments.”  Problem is, it seems improbable that what I saw a few nights ago will ever be topped.

Chris Sifflet shows off his comedic skills while Greg Sullo, of Dinosaur Feathers does the Robot.

This is only 30 seconds of footage but I swear that Mr. Sullo did the Robot for a steady 10+ minutes.

Perhaps I will invite him to do the same during our February 18th show at Union Hall.  That bill will also include Pearl and the Beard AND The Senors of Marseille

Lets talk about  a maverick.  And I don’t mean the Alaskan, hockey mom, road to nowhere kind.  I’m talking about Lieutenant Pete Mitchell, call-sign “Maverick.”

That’s the kind of inspiration it took to put together my proudest cover song moment.  It was by sheer luck and the resourcefulness of one Shwa, an excellent singer-songwriter to whom people should listen, who caught the band playing “Take My Breath Away,” at The Living Room with accompaniment from three greats, Kevin Johnston, Ivan Sandomire, and Paul Basile.  If Berlin should stumble upon this one day, I do hope they do not take this rendition as utter disrespect:

Lisa Box did tell me that seeing the four of us on stage, dueling verses, conjured images of Goose, Mav, Strider and Ice Man playing shirtless volleyball on a hot, sunny day, to the tune of “Playing with the Boys.”   You be the judge:

This is one of the most boring days of my life.  Sad too.  The ceremony is more or less vacant.  The church feels more like an auditorium.  Except for the bride and groom, everyone looks sullen.  Then the awkward 4 hour space in between the ceremony and the reception.  What the hell is that? In residential Juarez, there’s not much to do (and at the urges of my mother, who is hoping that I will not be kidnapped on this trip, I am not exactly looking for anything to do).  So, to the hotel my girlfriend and I go, alternately napping, raiding the pathetic “buffet y bar” in the downstairs lobby and watching CNN Mexico (not surprisingly superior to the CNN we get in the states).

We shower, I iron my suit, she applies her make-up and we’re off.  At the reception, we’re greeted by two large armed men who guide us through a metal detector.  Really though.  I would have taken a photo of this if not for the fear of being clubbed by one or both of the gentlemen.  Luckily for me, I have left my machete and Uzi at home.  The reception hall is basically empty.  No one arrives at a Mexican wedding until two hours after start-time, except for the old folks and the Americans.  So lets fast forward two hours.  

The reception hall is still kind of empty but I’m drunk on several poorly made gin and tonics, which have obviously grown on me.  Still bored. The wedding band is surprisingly good, but no one pays attention.  My girlfriend’s amigas join us at our lonely table and things are looking up.  But wait, no dinner.  What?  No dinner.  Seriously?  Yep.  Just a table in the middle of the room with some chocolate covered strawberries and nuts, which all the little kids have already turned into a pile of crumbs and strawberry stems.  I’m about to go ape-shit.  Haven’t smoked a cigarette in 9 months but I’m about to. Instead a have another gin and tonic and sulk.

Then, out of nowhere, a loud crack, a sizzle, everything gets bright…

Fireworks, pool noodles, half-naked women with masks, ballon animals, boys on stilts, the bride on stage, singing her ass off, everyone on their feet, dancing their asses off.  Holy shit.  This is the best party I have ever been to. Another gin and tonic, por favor!

Mike Grubbs has been working out.  There’s no question about it.  My good friend, fellow Family Records label-mate and front man of Wakey!Wakey! has definitely been developing his upper body.  He gave me a long hug a few nights ago and he just felt like a different person.  So muscular.

Don’t get me wrong. 

I liked it.

If you want a taste of some of that rock-hard business, I recommend checking out one of his upcoming shows at The Living Room – part of his January residency – which to no one’s surprise, has been going smashingly.  Just pay him a compliment after the show and he’ll probably hug you too.

His last two residency shows will be on Monday, Jan.19th (with Lacrymosa opening at 8pm) and Monday, January 26th @ 9pm.  The rest of his band members are also very good looking, and well toned.  But not as muscular as Mike.

I am never the first.  Always been a late bloomer. 

That I did not speak my first words until a relatively old age still serves as initial evidence for this fact.  My grandmother even proposed that I might be “delayed” – a term which seems to me more truthful than offensive – until I found myself with my parents, in a wooded area in Maine, at the ripe age of three, when I finally opened my mouth: “This is a very spooky forest.”

Clearly, I had been holding out for just the right thing to say.

Same with blogging, I guess.  It should come as no surprise that I am the last of all my Family Records label-mates to finally start this thing.  I actually still don’t even get what this whole blogging business is all about, but as an egomaniac and total conformist, I feel obliged to participate.  Naturally, in a few years, I will probably have transformed into the greatest blogger alive.  Young bloggers will ask, “What advice do you have for an inexperienced blogger like me?”  Veteran bloggers, while celebrating me publicly, will secretly succumb to bitterness and envy, and mutter hateful little things under their breaths, and even attempt to ally themselves in an effort to overthrow my blog-domination, only to find that their coalition forces just don’t measure up. 

Of course, this is just one theory.  And besides, in New York, the spookiest of all forests, I only seek to “dominate” in the less literal, Casey Shea sense of the word. Truth be told, I’m not ready or equipped to say anything nearly as poignant as “this is very spooky forest.” 

So I’ll just say, “Hello World!”