June 8, 2004 - The Paradise Lounge - Boston, MA - with: the Montgomerys
Brian Says: This morning I woke up ay 8:45, after going to bed at 2:45 last night. I went to a national chain car mechanics place, just to get a tune up--I hear you should get one every once in a while and I don't think mine has had one. I'm planning to drive to Montreal to celebrate the 4th of July and don't want anything to happen. I watched a stressful episode of ER on the TV, and my heart was racing and my face was cringing, and I was glad to get outta there. But alas, now my car feels worse than when I drove it in--there was nothing wrong with it going in. So now I gotta bring it in pre work tomorrow--that's 7am. Aack!! I just know they're gonna say it has nothing to do with what they did--it's unrelated and will cost $500. Do Click and Clack read this blog? Should I ditch the car and live in NYC? At 6pm last night we met at Ning's and put our stuff into my car. The ride down was groovy, with me and Ning up front, digging the Rio playlist I made just for the ride. In back, Tony and Max were getting to know each other. It's about time. But we're a shy bunch. Arriving at the Paradise, I felt 17 again--summer in Boston always does that. We met the soundman and some of the Montgomeries. Mike the drummer is a friendly one and it turns out we've met before. Max and I ordered drinks and we did an SFTD soundcheck. The Ohlenbusch's arrived and we all exchanged pleasantries and the family members sat at a table. I sat at the bar watching Pedro spin a gem (2 hitter!), alternately joined by Max and Tony. Soon enough it was time to play and there was an OK crowd. Though L-Ron Chud said to me "next time someone offers you a Tuesday night gig in Boston in the summer, decline". Well, I dunno if J Giles had that attitude, ol' Chud. (former Steamtrain member, btw). Mike's drums were very minimal, which is fine-but the ride cymbal in the middle was wreaking havoc with my brain hemispheres. I adjusted alright, but finished the gig with 5 new personalities. I was starving--we all were--and so we ordered some food. Chicken burrito, me. And it was great. We ate while watching the Montgomeries play their brand of power pop. Very well played! Unlike the blurb I read, they actually hav very little to do with XTC musically. It reminded me a bit of the Lilys. The ride home was nice enough--after a guy named Brett inhabited Tony for a while, he mysteriously departed and soon max and Tony were asleep. Henning and I talked more, and I think I did doze on the last 10 minute stretch of 91--waking up to Freddy Mercury's voice. Henning Says: This was our first time playing at The Paradise Lounge. In fact, it was my first time there at all. I had been to the Paradise Theatre proper a couple of times to see Fountains of Wayne, but was never in the lounge. It's really nice. It was bigger than I imagined with two levels of seating. The whole place was part of an art installation of toilet seat that were painted by different area artists. So, they were all over the walls. This particular Tuesday was the hottest day of the year so far. Luckily, Brian's little red car has air conditioned because we were pretty jammed in there. On the way down, I found out that it would be Max's birthday at midnight. I had no idea. Happy Birthday, Max. We arrived at the club exactly at 8:00 and parked right in front. When we loaded in, we encountered many very friendly people which always makes the world better. Andrea Kremer, who booked this show for us, helped us out by selling our merchandise and she did a great job. People were kind enough to pick up t-shirts and Cds. Thanks, Andrea. The performance was pretty good. I felt like we were too loud the whole time, but we were energetic, and I didn't see anyone with their fingers in their ears. We debutted two new songs: "Save My Place" and "Map". Both came off well. We finished with tthe long-play version of OMnivore which Brian had to navigate through with one tom drum. A photographer came up to me while we were clearing the stage and I said I would come over and talk to him and then I forgot. Sorry, photographer. I don't know what else. Brian pretty much covered it. My pizza was good. Sorry. That was a really dull gig diary. It wasn't a dull gig, I promise. I'm sorry.	Activity Pages