No blogging since May?

Man, it's been an eventful summer.  Sara got into graduate school and just last week began pursuing a masters in folklore at UNC.  Daisy and I are gonna be a mama and daddy... to a little girl baby!  She'll be arriving in late January.

A lot of other things happened too, but let's get back to the music...

We played a few shows this summer.  Had another great Local Band/Local Beer night at the Nog in June with the Stars Explode.  Enjoyed a rare all-hands-on-deck (Sara, Chris, Jerry, Nathan, Jeff, Ecki and Margaret) performance at the always-great Sadlack's in July with Wembley.  And we had a fantastic time playing the Music for Fences benefit in Durham last weekend with the Kinksmen, Rey Norteno and Superchunk.

Due to aforementioned significant life changes, we won't be booking too many shows in the next several months.  Thought we would be playing as part of SparkCon this month but that ended up not working out.  So at this point the only thing we've got on the books is Thursday November 5 at Broad Street Cafe as part of the Troika Music Festival.  Troika is going to be huge this year with an exceptional lineup, and we highly recommend you check it out (see www.troikamusicfestival.org for details).

There has been talk of a Superfan Showcase to include the four bands on our friendly little record label's roster sometime in the winter.  We'll see.

That's about all for now.  Peace.

Sure, why not.

We played at the City Tap in Pittsboro this past Friday.  It was excellent, maybe a little surprisingly so?  Definitely excellent on its own terms, but we had a sort of mediocre experience last time we played in Pittsboro so the excellence of the City Tap seemed even more excellent.  Lovely, lovely evening and a good crowd of friends and new faces alike.  And the staff treated us really well.  We will definitely be back.  Sara and I pretty much concurred that it felt like "Sadlack's South."  Now we just need to find a Sadlack's North and West (Hillsborough?  Asheville?  Pinhook could certainly vie for that honor in Durham... unless such a bestowal necessarily involves an outdoor patio, which it might).

Next day most of us descended on Nathan and Elizabeth's Croquet Social, which was likewise excellent.  Super-friendly peeps, thoroughly entertaining thunderstorm, and I even won at croquet.

Speaking of the likewise excellent Pinhook, we're there next Wednesday to play a benefit for the Coalition to Unchain Dogs.  Benefit starts at 6:30, and I believe we play first at 7, followed by Tin Star at 8.  Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Otherwise, been heading out to Duck-Kee every so often to record.  We've got a couple of songs in the can, and things are sounding good.

Oh and Sara will be starting grad school at UNC in the Fall!  Congratulations Sara!   CAC

This is Chris, your friendly Regina Hexaphone blogger.  So, Daisy and I have been tossing around the idea of starting a small business at some point in our future.  To that end, we have lately been taking a class, attending seminars and reading books.  One seminar I recently attended had to do with new media marketing.  This is something our sometime-band member Neven J. Carswell deals with on an intimate level at his job, and I've dabbled with some of it as the Regina Hexaphone Minister of Information.  But good god, there is SO much out there!  Mercy.  Apparently Twitter is Really Important.  I had RH set up on Twitter a while back but never did anything with it.  I just didn't really get it.  But because it is Really Important, I've been trying to provide more frequent updates (I invite everyone to "follow" us, though I have yet to figure out how to post things via text messaging).  Another thing that is apparently Really Important is having your blog on an actual blog service (i.e. wordpress, typepad or the like), rather than on myspace.  So we may go down that road sometime in the near future.
 
Thing is, we don't really have a whole hell of a lot going on these days to twitter or blog about, at least not as a "band."  We do have a show this weekend that we're looking forward to... cystic fibrosis benefit at Bull McCabe's in Durham.  It'll be a long and enjoyable afternoon and evening of music, and we're excited to be sandwiched between Erie Choir and Schooner.  Details are available on our myspace and/or reverbnation and/or facebook pages (new media... sheesh).
 
That's it for shows, however... or at least that's all we've got booked.  We will likely be entering the studio again soon to record some of the newer stuff that we've been working on.  Sara has a song with a rap about pirates in it.  And a banjo song.  There's also been talk of a Sadlack's show with Wembley at some point in the spring or summer... here's hoping that comes to pass.
 
Speaking of Sara, she got into grad school at UNC, so may be entering the halls of academia in the Fall.  She's waiting to hear from a couple of other schools and then weigh her options.
 
In addition to exploring entrepreneurship, I recently started playing music occasionally with Zeno and Tim, formerly of the Sames, and a Rhodes player named Tom.  We've gotten together twice and have played through about 2.5 somewhat amorphous songs.  Not sure where all that will lead, but it's been fun.
 
Jerry's been recording folks (he remarked at practice the other day, "I actually worked each of the last two days in a row!"), including Schooner.  They've got some fun pics of the proceedings on their facebook page (go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=69226&id=21329011515&ref=mf).
 
Jeff and Ecki played with us at the Pinhook (great show with Sweet By and By and the Jackets... love the Pinhook!) last month... Jeff will kindly be joining us at Bull McCabe's this Saturday, but Ecki will be otherwise occupied with Lynn at the Cradle.  They're playing earlier (4 p.m.) at Bull McCabe's, however... don't miss 'em.  Meanwhile, Jeff's been making noises about doing some more recording himself soon.
 
Nathan will be joining us on Saturday as well, for the first time in a little bit.  Wembley's been building buzz with a few shows of late... listen for them on WXDU and look for them at the Local 506 in April.
 
Haven't heard much from Margaret lately.  What's up, Mog?
 
Man, I'm pretty good at this blogging thing...

Check this shit out: Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States of America.  I ate way too many pancakes, drank way too many bloody marys and stayed up WAY too late watching the election returns last night so I'm not really capable of writing anything more eloquent than this:

WOW.

I am so proud of my country, and my state!  And my friends and my wife and myself, for actually getting out there and knocking on people's doors for the campaign.  So.  A huge sigh of relief and a bit of time to rest.  Much, much more work to be done.  But with an inspirational leader to guide the way.

In somewhat related, RH-specific news... we played one of the bestest, most good-feelingest shows ever this past Saturday... as part of the "N.C. Rocks for Change" event next to the early voting site at UNC's Morehead Planetarium.  An absolutely gorgeous day, and simply amazing performances from Portastatic (Mac solo), Greg Humphreys, Bowerbirds, I Was Totally Destroying It, Megafaun, Billy Bragg (a definite highlight!) and Ivan Rosebud.  Superchunk and the dB's also played but Daisy and I had to miss them because of canvassing commitments.

We'll play our last show of the year tomorrow at Tir Na Nog as part of the "Holly Raleigh Christmas Volume 3" CD release show.  Sara and I are totally psyched to also be sitting in with Port Huron Statement for their set.

After that, we'll take a break... work on some new stuff... do some recording... smell the roses... and maybe be back in action in January or February.   CAC

Let's see... we last left off prior to Cave show with Band of Annuals... Sara was starting to get sick... yet we managed to make it through a pretty good 3-piece, guitar-only set (hadn't done that since Wilmington, I guess).  Band of Annuals were fantastic... don't think I've ever heard a band sound quite that good in the Cave, and with six members no less!  Beautiful songs, beautiful harmonies, beautiful sweeping lushness.

A couple of nights later, I caught part of Sara's set on the porch at the Love House, as well as all of Ivan's.  That was a pleasant little event, in spite of gray skies and chilly breezes.

Then Friday we headed up the mountain to gas-starved Asheville.  Sara and I picked up Mr. Kee in Mebane and Mr. Foster in Winston-Salem, where we all loaded into Mr. Foster's van with a 5-gallon gas can.  Managed to find gas in W-S on the way out, but not in Morganton on the way there.  We worried that the gas crisis, presidential debate and somewhat lousy weather would keep people away from the Rocket Club, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good night.  Thanks to Mark for treating us to dinner at the Admiral, to the Mend for bringing the rock and letting us use some of their equipment, to our friends and family who came out for the late night rock show and to the Rocket Club for having us.

Had a delightful breakfast on Mom's gigantic screen porch Saturday a.m., then headed for Atlanta early in the afternoon.  Sara's friend Christy was a wonderful hostess and her daughter Mary Elle took a real liking to Jerry.  The show at WonderRoot was really a lot of fun and we made some new friends in John McNicholas and the fellows of Pistolero, with whom it turned out we had other friends in common in North Elementary and Schooner.  The WonderRoot basement was cozy and friendly and sounded remarkably good for what it was.  John and Pistolero were both excellent.  We hope to play with them again.  Many thanks to Kim Ware for setting up the show.

Sunday we enjoyed more of Christy's kind hospitality, Mary Elle's charm and a beautiful Fall morning in Atlanta before hitting the road early afternoon with 3/4 of a tank of gas.  Made it as far as Charlotte before it seemed like we oughta fill up.  At first there was no gas to be found, so we finally drained our 5-gallon can, hoping that would get us as far as Winston.  But then found an open station just down the road.  Only had to battle a few roaming marauders.

Then it was home, home, home for glorious sleep.   CAC

It's a busy week in Hexland... starting last Thursday with open house at Barefoot Press.  A little crowd enjoyed free barbecue and beer in the parking lot while we played two sets on the loading dock.  A gorgeous early fall eve.  Niiice.  Afterwards Daisy and I went to check out Blue Mountain at the Pour House and Hammer No More the Fingers and the Trousers at Tir Na Nog.  A long night of rock in Raleigh.  The Trousers kicked serious ass -- cheers to them.

Then Sunday we played at OCSC's annual customer appreciation day... likewise in a parking lot but not on a loading dock.  But still free food (Neal's deli, yum) and free beer for us band people!  Thanks, OCSC.  Also made the re-acquaintance of my neighbor Kent, who just so happened to play in Americans in France (and through whose bass rig I played myself -- cheers to Kent!), and the new acquaintance of his girlfriend Amy.

So then tonight it's the Cave with Band of Annuals.  And it's Jerry's birthday!  We're gonna try to keep it short, sweet and as early as possible in order to give the BoA plenty of room to stretch before it gets too late.  We'll see how it goes.  Either way, looking forward to seeing them.

Sara plays a solo set at the Center for the Study of the American South on Thursday (along with Reid of Schooner, Ivan of the Rosebuds and Michael Holland), somewhere between 4 and 6.  Then Friday we're off to the mountains for a show at the Rocket Club in Asheville, followed by WonderRoot in Atlanta on Saturday.  That is, if the gas crisis doesn't keep us at home.  We're hopeful it won't, though things do sound a bit dire over that way...

Whooo I am tired.  Just in from Wilmington after a couple more nights of RH/Schooner fun.  Tir Na Nog local band/local beer night on Thursday; first-ever WE Fest Friday on, uh, Friday.

Thursday: I think I've said it before, but the Nog has a really good thing going on with local band/local beer night.  We've been the fortunate participants in two such events.  There was actually a whole lot of good stuff going on in downtown Raleigh this particular Thursday... including the Trousers, Red Collar et al just down the block at the Pour House and Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies, Birds of Avalon, Old Ceremony, etc. just down the street at the art on the edge thingie.  I regret that I didn't get to see any of the other bands (greatest personal regret being reserved for having missed the Trousers, but it couldn't be helped).  Anyway, it was fun playing close to home with our Schoonie friends, and having Mr. Jeffrey Dean Foster along to help us bring the rock.  I'd also like to extend personal thanks to the many Royal Raleigh Rotters who came out that night.

Next: WE Fest Friday at the Soapbox.  Kenyata, thank you.  The Soapbox was crazy.  So much going on, in every nook and crannie of the place.  Sweet chaos.  As for us, Sara, Jerry and I played as a three-piece for the first time in a while.  Some weird sound issues going on on this particular night, so not the best show ever for us, but it had its moments.  We did miss Mr. Foster.  Schooner, however, sounded fantastic... probably one of the better-sounding shows they've had with us, in my humble opinion.  We hung around for the Czech band (whose name completely escapes me now) that followed us and talked to them in the parking lot afterwards -- nice folks.

Today: slow-moving, greasy breakfast, a bit of beach time, a long drive home.  Where did the day go?

So tired.  Hello, couch.   CAC

I guess the whole idea with blogging is that you're supposed to blog about things as they're happening, or shortly thereafter, thereby immediately cementing the current into the historical, or something like that.  I'm not particularly adept at that aspect of blogging, preferring instead to live the current and then let the historical be the historical with the added filter of reflection.  That said, Schooner and Regina Hexaphone had a bang-up weekend touring points along the East Coast of the United States of America.  With the exception of a couple of hailstorms, monumental traffic delays and moments of mass indecision, everything went off without a hitch and we had a great time.

Thursday: we all got in the van.  Then we drove.  First destination was Philadelphia, a 6 or 7 hour trip, half of which we spent playing the band name game.  The M Room was the venue... RH had played there a couple of years before and had a pretty good time.  We also had eaten at the New Acropolis, so we decided to do that again.  Sara let me have the anchovies from her Greek salad.  My old high school buddy Josh happened to be in town to pick up his son from a camp in Lancaster, PA.  This ended up being fortunate in more than one respect, as he was able to provide us + Billy Alphin sleeping space in his hotel suite.  The show was good, somewhat lightly attended, but we enjoyed the opening bands On Mono and Mostly Bears.  The bar staff wasn't very friendly, but the audience was (inc. the nice waitress from the New Acropolis whose name I don't recall).  Here, Mr. John Kurtz joined our entourage.

Friday: we all managed to find each other, find food, find coffee and get back on the road by early afternoon.  Onward to NYC!  We arrived at Pianos around 5, which gave us plenty of time to load in (twice, as we loaded in to the wrong floor the first time) and wander around before sound check.  Pianos was, by far, the best sounding place we played in.  And it had the tallest stage.  So from those perspectives, it was a great show.  On the flip side, we played kind of early so the throngs of people that would show up for the later acts weren't really all there yet.  But we had many friends that came out to see us and we thank them all from the bottom of our hearts.  Then sometime after 10 p.m. the East Village turned into a hipster theme park (kudos to Brady for the term)... PACKED with young, skinny attractive people with huge attitudes.  The evening became somewhat chaotic as we tried to inconspicuously load out in the midst of teeming throngs, then figure out where everybody needed to go and get them there.  I got a little pissy.  I apologize to anyone affected by that (Sara swears I was not a gigantic asshole, in spite of my apologies to that effect).  Schooner went off to SOHO with some friends who apparently have a very large apartment; RH split off into a Margaret camp and a Richard Fisher camp.

Saturday: we arose and met at Bar Tabac in Brooklyn for a fucking delicious brunch.  Richard took us there last time we were in town and it was just as fucking delicious this time as the last.  Sara gave me her anchovies again.  Later Daisy, Jeff and I went into Manhattan to first see if we made any money at Pianos (we did not), and then to look for birthday gifts in Chinatown for Jeff's daughter Ava.  We found a variety of cute li'l things and I found some durian ice cream.  Not much luck with spring rolls, however (sorry Daisy!).  Eventually we made our way back to Brooklyn and then over to Pete's Candy Store, where Josh met us again as well as his sister Jessica who I hadn't seen in about 20 years.  We played a highly enjoyable show in a much more relaxing and laid-back setting than the night before.  Pete's is good.  Afterwards we split into our camps again and the Margaret and Richard camps went out to another bar before calling it a night.

Sunday: we met back in Williamsburg for a not-quite-as-good brunch (especially not for John, who found a bottle cap in his poached egg) as the day before, though the staff were quite friendly and accomodating.  Sean (who likes to toss a fucking salad), Erica and daughter Euly joined us there.  Sara gave me her anchovies again.  Did a bit of Williamsburg shopping, said our goodbyes to Margaret and Richard and finally managed to get in the van about an hour behind schedule.  Getting out of the City proved lengthy as well, and the trip down I-95 proved even lengthier.  We got John to the airport in Philly (but kept the 1930's vintage Martin he found in the City) more or less on time, then had to contend with crazy weather and even crazier traffic delays.  Didn't arrive in Arlington until almost 10 p.m. and didn't play until 10:30.  The show ended up being pretty good, however, and we still love the Galaxy Hut.

Then it was an all-night drive back to Durham.  We all parted ways at Sara's around 5:30 a.m. Monday.  Some of us then went to work, while others of us (me) drove to Virginia to pick up their dogs and then spent the rest of the day alternately napping and feeling like ass.

It was altogether a great, great, great time.  We look forward to sharing van space and stages with Schooner again in the near future.  But first, let me catch up on a few days' worth of sleep...   CAC

p.s. a few pics are up here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=8266220&albumId=2309148

Howdy. We're stylin' in Brooklyn at Margaret and Joe's. Samson has been so excited to have us here that he ate Daisy's jeans last night. This is good, it gives her a van project (seamstress for the band!). We're headed out to meet the Schoonies for brunch shortly. It's been a great trip so far, with some great shows. Elaborations, kudos and appreciations to follow when I have more time to type... adieu... CAC

So, our domain name (www.reginahexaphone.com) is registered with yahoo and it currently should be directing people to our myspace page since our web site has fallen into neglectful irrelevancy.  However, for some reason the past couple of weeks if you go to www.reginahexaphone.com it directs you the yahoo small business page.  I've been sending increasingly livid e-mails to yahoo about it but so far no answers.  Grrr.

Meanwhile, this is quite charming: