IT IS OFFICIAL!! THE GOOD FLAME HAS BEEN BILL SARDELLED!!!!

Setting: Day three in the big city. A nice rainy afternoon in tbone's apartment.

Tobias went to chipotle with his sister and ate. Then he went to the bookstore where I met him. I was a little disappointed that a special friend of his sister wasn't there but as I understand it: New York is the greatest city on earth and it has been raining all day in Central Park but I could always go for a cheese burger. This is code. That Iranians are hard at work decoding it.

We are heading to an incredible happy hour special at Doc Holiday's that entails 2-for-1 drinks until 8:00. After 8:00 it's all you can drink bud light 'till close.

Tobias here: For lunch I had a veggie fajita burrito, holy shit. If you haven't had one of these at Chipotle's, you haven't lived yet. I'm going to the comedy cellar at 11:00 tonight, Dave Atell will be there, check us out tomorrow for a review.

T-bone again: we had fun with the camera and have some fun stuff for hoody.

Tonight was going to be a quite night at home. Last weekend was just a bunch of craziness. Didn’t make it home Friday, 5 in the morning on Saturday and even an exclamation point on Sunday. A quite night. A couple of Brews. Maybe a movie. So far I have had nothing close. Around nine I went downstairs to buy some chips and an older polish guy was passed out on the sidewalk and Sam (the owner of Sam’s, where I buy my beer and food) was trying to get this passed out polish guy away from his store. A neighborhood acquaintance that doesn’t speak much English asked for my phone to call an ambulance. I said I would call because I speak English and had nothing better to do. After I call the ambulance the guy, of course, wakes up and wants to fight everyone. I called 911 back and told them to send the cops because there was now a handful of large drunk polish men that were getting into it. It kind of died down but then the guy starts coming at me. I wasn’t worried because he couldn’t walk very well. The cops come and took him. I went back upstairs and ate my chips. I just went back downstairs and cops are all over the block. Some guy was just stabbed. I am thinking to myself “what the fuck is going on tonight?”. I have seen the guy who got stabbed in the area before and I am sure he deserved it. He is alive and well and I am sure will be back on the streets by morning. So much for a quite evening at home.
The video is actually almost done. I know we said this months ago but this time it is true. Tobias has seen the rough cut and said it is very funny. The show is in less then a month and I am really excited to be home and playing tunes with the boys. In my mother’s neighborhood people don’t get stabbed or pass out drunk on the sidewalk. It will be a nice vacation.

I just got a call today from both wallace and tobias and it looks like we have some august dates confirmed for performances in portland. We will let you know the details as they unfold.
On a personal note, I am having trouble connecting with my boss’s husband. I work for a famous singer out of their home. He is an older gentleman who is not afraid to wear biker shorts all day long. Today I got stuck riding the elevator with him down to street level. I tried to make conversation but I think I failed miserably. (A little background is needed. It rained like a mother fucker all day today and still is tonight.)
Him: So it is just raining like crazy outside.
Me: I know! Apparently it’s the remnants of some tropical storm that is moving up the east coast and slowly dissipating.
Him: Well it sure is pouring.
Me: It's this low pressure that is just sitting on top of us. It is no longer a tropical storm or anything but there is a lot of precipitation involved with it. It's all about the Gulf Stream. You know what I mean?
him: not really. (the elevator opens) well have a nice day.
Me: you to.

I then pretended to fiddle with my bag as he left so I didn't have to walk down the street with him. That stupid weather and climate class I took last fall has not paid off at all. I sounded like an idiot. Luckily his wife signs the paychecks, not him. I just sounded like a total idiot. When I force conversation I come off like an idiot. An example of this is when I was trying to impress this chick while we walked by this old building that I knew something about. After about ten minutes of me describing why it is so ugly and racist I just sounded like a dork. Luckily, I have my moments. My boss (the artist I work for) loves me because I was able to find a Sony walkman that she wanted on ebay so she thinks I am some sort of whiz kid. You win some and you lose some I guess.

Looking forward to The Good Flame show! The reason we are so good is because it is always a treat to play and is nothing but fun. I love that! Making music for the right reasons!
tbone out

First things first. I live with a beer snob. I am from Portland which is the land of beer snobs but I have adapted. I am sorry but I cannot take east coast beer snobs seriously. I live on a tight budget and deals are deals. The store downstairs just got a case of 24oz. Busch cans and they are selling them for a dollar. I was jumping for joy and have bought many. When I informed my roommate of this he shook his head as if to say "tbone, you are sooo not cool". HELLO! This is a great value! How could you not see this for what it is: the Garden of Eden.
Secondly, fuck the 6 train. yes, fuck it. It is "running slowly between 77th and 53rd due to construction or something. It screws up my whole day! Fuck the mta. I have done some calculations and 4 million people ride the subway everyday and I think that translates to at least 6 million dollars a day not including advertising and what not. How can you not run the train efficiently with that much money? I say the mob has something to do with it. How do they combat this? They raise the monthly pass! Raise the seven dollar day fun pass during the summer and rape the tourists is my solution! How complicated is that? They won’t be offended. They don't vote.
tbone out

I don’t know about you but I had a fantastic Fourth of July. The weather was perfect! I spent the whole day in Battery Park with a great group of friends for a free concert. I highly suggest going to see Stephen Malkmus and the Jinks if they come to your town. He was the lead singer of Pavement and his new band is just rockin’! I liked them so much that I would lick his shoe if it had dog shit on it. Yo La Tango also played and they were fun but I think Malkmus out-did himself, so that stole some acclaim away from Yo La Tango. Then we went to a roof top party and I was able to see all the fireworks displays at once. It was really a sight to see!

I hope the guys don't mind. I wanted to post a link to some music I have been working on lately. This is my NYC project that I mention every once in a while and I want to share it with the friends that I have here on the World Wide Web. Myspace, as hip but lame as it is, is great for bands because they let you put your songs up for free. Let me give a run down of the songs that are currently playing on our myspace page:

Nadan'C : A lovely song about nothing. At the same time it is in the key of C major. If you use your noodle you might get that it is not just a clever title. In my opinion it is really about more then nothing but rather about all things. The problem is that when you encompass everything eventually you get back to a point of nothing. That is because of some fancy laws of physics that are above everyone's head. I don't want to get into it. This is actually one of my favorite songs that willow and I have written together.

Song for Maryanne: This is a song we wrote while we were on vacation over Memorial Day weekend this year. We had a lovely house in Rhode Island with a couple of other friends and the porch was perfect for drinking beer and writing songs. Maryanne is a very special and talented performer in the NYC area who I have never actually met.

Microphone: This is a great tune in my opinion. Live it really fills up the room (especially at the bitter end pub with the grand piano!). It is about real people but with some made-up events, details, and motivations.

Dear Me: A song about the need to move on. So you fucked up, no one really cares. Before you know it you are still in the corner regretting, fretting, and bloodletting and everyone else has forgotten about you. None of these things will help you. Life is hard but it is only as good as you can make it. (This is my interpretation. I did not write the song but this is what it means to me. Willow probably has a completely different idea, and that idea is probably more correct then mine.)

So please listen and enjoy and if you are in the NYC area come and see us next time we play. I thought that this would be some interesting filler while The Good Flame is preparing for world domination.