NYC Trip: Recap.

our label payed for us to come out to new york city to play the CMJ music festival. these were the highlights:

-- arriving at baggage claim, greeted by a man with one of those paper signs written on in all-caps
-- having said guy carry our bags to a van, driven by a nice man named Frank, who took us to our paid-for hotel



(the view from the hotel -- not exactly scenic, but look at all the cabs...)


-- meeting up with a friend from Warped Tour, John Bush, at an inCREDIBLY hip bar in the Village, which was called Black & White, but didn't even have a sign saying so
-- getting two cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery; they are famous -- you might remember them from the SNL video for "Lazy Sunday": "I'm crazy for the cupcakes, cousin!" I am, too.
-- eating said cupcakes in an awesome little park kitty-corner from the bakery, on a stone chessboard-table



(it was a Halloween cupcake)



(carrying gear for ten blocks through the East Village)



(Nate's costume)

-- playing with and meeting Matt Skiba, singer of the band Heavens, but also singer/guitarist of Alkaline Trio. He was very nice and put up with my dorking out; I have been listening to them since I was 16 (i'll do the math for you: that is 7 years of his songs in my life)
-- listening to demos of new songs with our producer, lou giordano, and seeing the excitement on his face
-- helping two 20-year old fans--some of my favorite guys in the whole country--sneak in to the 21+ CMJ show
-- watching joe play drums in a Luchador mask (Mexican Wrestler) -- the rest of us were in panchos and sombreros, but joe's costume took the (cup)cake. also, watching mikey jump from the stage to the bar, similiar height but about 4-5 feet apart, swinging a tambourine at the beginning of "learn to sing", all in front of a crowd of maybe 100 mostly disinterested industry-types, and a few fans
-- meeting, and subsequently having drinks purchased by, Courtney Taylor, the singer of the Dandy Warhols and main character of the Documentary "Dig!", a great film about his band and their friends/enemies the Brian Jonestown Massacre



(we look awesome)

-- and believe it or not, i actually remember fondly the twenty minutes of sleep i managed to steal on the floor of the airport terminal as we waited for our flight, my sweatshirt being used as a pillow.

did it do anything to promote Sherwood? not sure.
but was it awesome? yes.

back in mexican exile,
dan