The Year and a Half in Review, in Reverse

I have been meaning to document the past eighteen months or so and some of the events that supported the release of the debut Reverse album, The Longest Day of the Year (Heartcore, 2006). The following is a reverse chronology that pays tribute to a unique array of events of which I was privileged to be a part, including a faux talk show, several literary/musical events, and intimate Albany gatherings.

In Reverse Chronology (only appropriate)

1. Poetry Reading, The Bookery, Ithaca, NY July 2007.
Okay, this was not a Reverse show, but it was my most recent "public appearance" reading in Ithaca, New York with an amazing group of writers who, like me, were attending "Theory Camp", or the School for Criticism and Theory at Cornell, a six-week summer program for academics and aspiring academics. The reading was organized by poet Ray Hsu. I read three poems, and dedicated "Hearts Under the Sun" to my theory camp peeps.

1. NYC Popfest, the Delancey, May 30 2007 w/ The Secret History, Mitch Easter, et. Al.
We were invited to play this event by Tami, one of the organizers, who I knew well from the Mad Planets days. We were put on a Friday nite bill with The Secret History (for which Tod also plays drums). That weekend was a jolt out of sleepy Albany life. Traveling down from Albany on a Thurs nite; back-to-back rehearsals with the Reverse/The Secret History somewhere in Queens, NY. Sitting outside the building alone smoking asking myself "how did I land outside this random building in queens?" Tod and I having drinks in Williamsburg with Lisa and then at the 4th Ave Pub near his apt. Brunch at the Hope and Anchor, looking at the Queen Mary docked in Red Hook, a crazy tour through the Fairway super store. Mitch Easter being cranky with his drums. Tod almost refusing to play. Elena holding the lyric sheet for our cover of Frida's "There's Something Going On…" Getting the set list taped to my foot. Looking the aging indie pop poster child with my hair in pig tails while in my 30s. Casually talking pre-show to some lovely attendees from South America, where I confided that Tod and I rarely rehearse and just cram before a show, only to find our conversation lovingly reported in a webzine a week later. After waiting on-line several times to get to the coveted roof garden for drinks and mingling, Tod, Johnny and I all petered out at 2am and made our way back to b'lyn.

2. Girls with Glasses Spex-travaganza!, Bluestockings Bookstore, March 30 2007
This was a delightful event arranged by my good friend Marissa Walsh, in honor of the release of her book entitled Girl with Glasses: My Optic History (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2006). I played a few songs, including a special request by Marissa for "Yr Version of Cool" (a Mad Planets song from back in the day), which she listed as the Girl with Glasses "anthem" in her book. (It contains the lyric, "Girls with Glasses Rule the Bar/Strike their matches on a moving car…"). There were three other readers who were funny, sassy smart ladies, esp. the hipster haiku. I felt honored to be invited to play my guitar and my songs the legendary radical and feminist bookstore, and loved that so many friends came out.

3. The Annex, January 2007 with the Shondes
This was a weird show. It was January, it was cold, Jason and I drove down from Albany and back in the same day, taking turns staying awake on the NYS Thruway. I remember having dinner with Elena before hand, telling her I was not in the mood to play. Tod and I had practiced the week before or so, when I was on LI for a family event. But then we got up there, and it started and it was all worth it. Played with a bunch of cool, YOUNGINS, esp. the fabulous and energetic Shondes and the Changing Modes, who were new wavish and disco-ish at the same time. I admit, I envied their youth, and their lack of inhibition. They were all so brash and confident. After all these years, I am still the shy girl with a guitar.


4. Million Poems Show, College of Saint Rose, October 2006
This was SO MUCH fun. Poet and editor Dan Nester invited me to be the musical guest on this faux-talk show and it really was a trip. I played two songs, then was invited over to "the couch" to be interviewed, Letterman style! The other guest was Janice Erlbaum, who read from her book Girl Bomb, and Jason Spiro was the one-man house band, wearing a fake mustache and trading banter with host Jordan Davis. At the end, we were all "on the couch" and were asked to spontaneously compose poems based on words suggested by the audience members. I think mine involved a penguin. I actually signed an autograph. To top it off, it all took place in a college performance hall in a church!

5. Capital District Federation of Ideas, September 2006, w/poets Rebecca Woolf and Bernadette Mayer
Another literary/music event, this time at the CDFI, a converted storefront performance space around the corner from my house. Featured readers were poets Bernadette Mayer and Rebecca Woolf. I was invited to play a few songs between readers, and it was a delight to join Rebecca Woolf's set to perform "Moments too Late" which is a Reverse song that I wrote and then adapted her poem, "bell ringer for weather" for the lyrics. She read the poem, then I played the song, and we had a moment—none too late—of compare and contrast!

6. Valentine's, Albany July 2007 with Chris Brokaw and Poem Rocket
Tod and Johnny make their second trip to Albany, getting a little less lost this time, but still taking much longer than my the ellusice "3hrs door to door." (Okay, only once did I make it down to NYC this fast, and that was as a passenger on a runaway Chinatown bus.) This was a fun summer show. Mike Peters and Sandra Gardner, who live in Albany and comprise Poem Rocket, performed a beautiful almost-unplugged set. We all huddled close, as Valentine's had unfortunately booked a death metal band upstairs. But they were true indie pros, never flinching and delivering their moody, dark and lovely songs with intensity and commitment. Jason opened the show with a solo set of American classics and some orginals, like his wonderful "Cats" which has the line "Hey, you're my cats and I' home so lets celebrate!" I don't remember all that much about our set, 'cept that I was wearing higher-healed sandals than I normally would not and did not fall off the stage. Chris Brokaw, formerly of CODEINE and COME, was simply amazing. He played a set of intricate acoustic guitar songs with some foot percussion that reminded me of the lushness of Elliot Smith. Afterwards, we all sat in my backyard drinking beers in the summer night, discovering where our paths had crossed before, enjoying the fleeting company of not quite strangers.

7. The Reverse Record Release Party, June 20, 2007 with Dan Nester, Aidan Thompson

The albums arrived. Here it was; here they were. This show took place on THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR: JUNE 20, 2006. The album title continues to grow in significance for me. A case of gravitation towards an idea, a concept, an image: first, of Ray Bradbury's Story "All Summer in a Day"; then morphing into a title that billowed with the start of summer and also its inevitable decline. When I've googled the title, I get hits from around the world, people marking their location and time in tandem with the sun and the planets. The day comprises a sense of teetering, of pivoting on descent, at the crest of the wave or the roller coaster, of time standing still, for a second.

Many friends chipped in to make this a success. Jenn was my merch gal, wo-manning the table with her girlfriend Dawn, not letting anyone leave empty handed. Eric MC'd, and I had party favors and trinkets for everyone. Dan Nester read many an awesome poem, including his tributes to rock band Queen and his diss on Mike Love of the Beach Boys. Aidan read her lovely labyrinthine poems. I did Tai Chi in private to prep to play, and Tod and I rocked Albany something fierce!

Relaxed afterwards in Eric's backyard, sipping drinks on a big swing.

8. North Six, Brooklyn, June 2006 with Shondes, My Teenage Stride
Tod and I made our great return to the stage, with special guests Ms. Andrea Vaughn on background vox and Kurt Brondo on keys. Loved playing this show. We used the "triangulation formation" on stage suggested by Elena, so that Tod and I can kinda face each other and also the audience, allowing for some precocious inter-band eye contact as well as audience interaction. Yay, Brooklyn show in the summer time. The other bands rocked and there was indie lovin all around.