The next event I’ll get to "Peel Back the Curtain" on is one I’ll be performing in, not just running support for—Kurt and Kristen's Hot Tub Comedy and Variety Show at Littlefield in Brooklyn. We espied this gig on another band's listserv; those guys were unable to do it, EVEN THOUGH THE DESCRIPTION ASKED THEM TO LEAD A PUPPY-HUGGING PARADE THROUGH THE STREETS. Cobra Gold stepped in to fill this obviously critical gap. Also, yeah, it's a fundraiser for the local no-kill shelter, Brooklyn's Dog Habitat Rescue.
Monday, September 12th, 8:00: Hot Tub's 2nd Annual 9/11 Memorial Puppy Hugging Parade, featuring Todd Barry, Jiwon Lee, Musical Guest Franz Nicolay, Cobra Gold, and more.
Will we really get to hug puppies? We'd better. PUPPIES.
Saturday styles: merch selling with Sweet Soubrette at the Tinderbox Music Festival. My sister and her band put on a good show; “All that Glitters” (about her shameful gold-digging ways) had toes tapping all around the room (see the video below), and their haunting number about Anais Nin had everyone pretty much breathless. “Tenderness” was dynamite, but graaaah I wish she would let that song be as long as it wants to be. It is so catchy and infectious, there's not reason to cut it off so quickly. Ellia, chanteuse and songwriter, says it’s good to “leave ‘em wanting more,” and she certainly does, but, I don’t know, “leave ‘em really satisfied” also seems like a good mantra. I guess it's compulsory for siblings to disagree about stuff like this. Take a listen and tell me what you think (agree with me).
Sibling differences aside, Sweet Soubrette gave a really solid showing, the rest of the night was fun, and I sold two CDs when no one was buying nada from anyone. Why was this, you ask? Was it just the overabundance of good choices? Well, yes, but the Knitting Factory also lost its liquor license three days ago (hilarious!), leaving merch table commerce, like concertgoers, dry as a bone. But but but! To compensate for any performers' blown expectations, Tinderbox sprung for—and I’m not kidding—an RV full of beer to hang out in throughout the day. Yes, it was a little fratty (why was there a Knitting Factory dude inviting girl musicians up to "the emperor's lounge," the horrible alcove above the driver's seat?), but nice all the same for its booze and relative quiet. (Also because I got to nap in the front passenger seat for a half hour before Sweet Soubrette went on. Bonus!)
Some of the other music was great, especially Holly Miranda. I left before she’d finished, unexpectedly but unequivocally exhausted, but made sure to buy a CD before going—a small victory in my ongoing mission to stop being a skinflint about supporting local musicians. Money, go where my mouth is! I do wish I had been awake enough to stick around for Eula (whose charming, hard rocking, and now-I-am-unable-to-make-coherent-sentences gorgeous bandleader Alyse Lamb I had been chatting with earlier…my bashful highlight of the night).