March 02, 2004 - 2:36 AM

One Surprise After Another (SURPRISE!)

Well, the surprises keep on coming. This will be a brief summary since the web browser I was typing this into crashed just as I was finishing, but before I could save the last accounting, and I'm not feeling up to typing all the stuff again.

Anyways, Saturday night at the show, a trio of girls pushed passed me and Matt with nary a "excuse me, sorry" to get a better view of the stage, even though we were all packed in fairly tightly. My feathers were slightly ruffled, but I simmered down when I saw that Garrison Starr, whose music I've extolled to you before, was with them. Between Garrison, Judd Nelson, and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Matt and I were surrounded by maybe-celebrities.

Then, on Sunday afternoon I was working at the studio, and I saw a familiar face in the hallways. It turned out to be Richard Furch, a friend from Berklee for whom I had assisted many times in school (he was a year ahead of me in the Engineering program). I'd been keeping tabs on his career in NYC through Kyler, my friend whose music I've also been exhorting y'all to check out in these pages and who just so happens to be his wife (yay!). I always thought that Richard was light-years ahead of me as an engineer; he taught me a lot and I was always excited to see his name appear in industry magazines when they listed current projects being worked on in NYC (including the latest Fountains of Wayne album). The reason why he was at my studio was because he had worked with a producer in December in NY, a producer who resides in L.A. and regularly camps out in one of my studio's rooms. The producer liked Richard so much, he asked him to come out here to work with him on some new stuff for the entire month of March.

For now, Richard is staying with Adrianne, the girl with whom I'm currently recording a song, and we'll probably go out for drinks in the near future with our friend Mike. Considering that I haven't seen Richard in 4 years, I was quite flabbergasted to spot him in the halls; he had been prepared to see me, though, since Mike had told him I worked there when they saw each other in NYC for New Year's, and Adrianne had also informed him of my work status.

Tonight I went to the Hotel Cafe to see Rachael Sage perform. The first performer of the night was a woman named Libby Kirkpatrick. A girl who was there to see Libby shared my table with me. We talked in between sets and she seemed very interested in the fact that I am mostly into female singer-songwriters. I don't know if she was friendly towards me because she is fairly new to L.A. and looking to make friends, or if she was, you know, INTERESTED in me, but she kept asking me questions about the music (she's more into Jam bands, Acid-Jazz, New Orleans Funk and was curious if all singer-songwriters were as literate and lyric-minded as Libby); about Rachael Sage who she professed to like after her set; and about my being an engineer and cellist. We had a fairly nice rapport and fun conversation.

During the third act, a John Mayer-type named Tyler Hilton, I got up and went to the back of the venue where the exit is to go to the bathroom. I sensed that she, much like me, was bored and was just waiting for me to leave so that she, too, could leave, in the hopes that we wouldn't look like separate goons, walking out during the middle of his set. When I got out of the bathroom, she asked if I was leaving. I said yes, and she said she was too, so she gave me a piece of paper with her email address on it, telling me to keep her in the loop as to any upcoming concerts that she might be interested in. I told her that it was nice to meet her, she said likewise, and I left.

I thought she was cute, and I liked talking with her, but I can't tell if she LIKE-liked me. My radar is terrible at picking up those kinds of readings and translating them properly. But I'm a little wary to contact her and persue anything because 1) I don't dig Jam bands nor do I "get" Acid-Jazz 2) she's a Sociology Professor and an Activist against groups like the WTO, and I'm an apathetic bump on a log 3) and, her email address is comprised of her name followed by an underscore and then the word "anarchist". Ummmm...yeah. Maybe all those Truth.com ads and the recent viewing of Fight Club have skewed my understanding of the deeds of anarchists, but I really don't know if I want to be involved with people who do that sort of thing. Sure, I do want to become more active in politics and raise my social awareness, but I figured maybe I could start by actually taking part in elections.

Who knows, maybe I'm reading this wrong. Maybe she wouldn't try to "convert" me, maybe the "anarchist" is a tongue-in-cheek moniker, maybe it'll be fun to introduce her to my favorite music. Maybe she's not even interested in me as anything more than just a music-mate. All I know is, I'm going "eeeek" right about now.

But, I think I'll give her a heads up about Sylvie Lewis at the Hotel Cafe next Monday, since I like to pimp out Sylvie to everyone I possibly can. And, Kevin So is on that same bill, and he's a pretty cool asian folk/blues singer-songwriter from Boston, and that's a rarity to see.

Other concerts of note coming up: Matt and I will be at The Troubadour tonight, Tuesday, to see Rooney and The Like perform for $10. C'mon down!
Wednesday, Vienna Teng is having her cd release show at the Hotel Cafe.
Thursday, cellist Bonfire Madigan performs along with Jesca Hoop and Miranda Lee Richards at Tangier Restaurant (i've never seen any of them, but have heard good things)
Also Thursday, Neil Finn is at Largo, but I doubt Matt or I will be able to stand waiting for hours in line to get in.
Saturday, Rachael Sage again, this time in the valley somewhere in North Hollywood
Monday is Sylvie and Kevin So
Tuesday the 9th, Susan Werner's new album of Jazz songbook-type songs comes out!
and next month, April 8th and 9th, Amherst College alum Jonatha Brooke performs at the Knitting Factory. Hoo baby.

Now Listening To : Victoria-Still
Random Thought : I bought a new backpack today, thus retiring my 11 year-old Eddie Bauer rucksack. Godspeed you, good bag.

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