West Indian Girl

live at coda 4.6.06

thursday night in new york city we played a club called coda in midtown. coda is on the same block as the empire state building. i didnt get to see too much of the city at all though because once we got into town it was all work until 2 in the morning. i would be lying if i didnt say this particular show of the tour was the most stressful one. reason being was the sheer amount of industry people at the show. that’s the one thing about new york – i think we all put more pressure on our selves than need be just because we feel like we have to impress the suits rather than just going up there and being free and easy like we are in places like asbury park or northampton for example. overall, the show was pretty good but we were plagued by a nasty stage sound. hey man, no excuses, the show must go on and it did and we rocked. in my opinion we still need to get over new york’s distractions and kick it’s fucking ass in the next time we’re there.

after the show i finally got to head out and take advantage of the best thing ny has to offer…that would be the 4am bar closing time. mariqueen and i met up with 3 of her friends at a bar called the pink elephant. it reminded me of an la bar filled with a bunch of chris carter’s friends (models/actors) in it. the best thing about the pink elephant was somehow ending up at the owner’s table drinking vodka and champagne with him. cheers and thanks mate. i ended up eating a chicken cutlet sandwhich and passing out around 6 in the morning. hope to see you again very soon nyc.

big apple wighead thanks to: teddy for bringing his style to the club, reena for letting all of harlem know about us, brad nelson and the great jim rinaldi from philly for taking more fine picutres of us (all the live ones you see here), anne reeves, ian for basically setting this whole show up, ian’s girlfriend liz for letting us stay at her place and selling our merch, ian’s friend andy for making the posters as well as taking pics (see above crowd shot), kavi ohri our little golden child, and the whole entire staff of cherry lane (brigitte pictured). what a great company and group of people they are. talk about being there for your band. cherry lane came out in full force and i really love the fact that the company stands behind us – good genuine people (this seems like an oxymoron when talking about a company in this industry).

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: it was funny to see how everyone’s stress levels (particularly mine, fran and ian’s) rose the minute we got into the city.

The Venue: we played midtown at coda, a dope and classy joint. though the stage and dressing room were mediocre i thought it was a sleek and fantastic place to hang out at. i only wished they had given me my throat coat and apple requests… they didn’t even make hot water. so for that, i’ll have to give them a six out of ten.

The Show: what a fucking nightmare. seriously. i was already stressed out enough because this was our most important show, as far as i was concerned, on the tour. we had a lot of industry people come out to see us, so i wanted everything to be perfect (ie. i didn’t get wasted on my birthday so i would be well rested for this show). the nightmare began on stage. great. i was so upset with the sound (or lack there of) through out the entire set. first of all i couldn’t hear anything out of my monitor. it was like philadelphia times ten million. i was dying. after three songs i just said to myself, “fuck it”… i asked the crowd if they could hear me and explained to them that i couldn’t hear anything but the response i got put me at ease so i was able to coast my way through the rest of the set.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: i don’t think it would be too proper if i shared that with you. just think about how mad i was…

Interesting Things After The Show: i made plans to hang out with the boys but i didn’t know that they had to make a pit stop at ian’s apartment. i promised my friends that i would meet up with them at this bar so i told fran to jump in a cab with me and that we would meet up with the others whenever they were ready. we got dropped off at what used to be the VIP section of some place called the cro[w?]bar and was now being called the pink elephant. it was so strange. fran and i just stood there as these guys were begging their way inside. my friend edward told me it was a speak easy kind of thing and i was fully prepared to say what i needed to, to get us in. the doorman looked at the both of us and said, “you two can come in”… blahblahblah… tons of bad house music and pretty people that danced bad. models and tools with agendas for days. i didn’t care. i was hanging out with the greatest people from NYC anyway, i could’ve been at FAO schwarz at christmas and would have fun as long as i was with michael, jarah and edward (i love you guys). so we all sat at the owner’s table and got served endless amounts of vodka and champagne. i doubt he reads this, but hey rocco, thanks. we left at five and somehow made our way to a deli where i made fran buy me the most randomly amazing chicken cutlet sandwich. too bad the mac and cheese side i ordered was more like soup. i didn’t care though, waste not want not. you bet your ass i finished every last drop of that crap. i think in my inebriated state, i thought the chicken cutlet represented our show and the mac and cheese represented our sound on stage… sometimes you just gotta eat some shit and get it over with and hope for the best. i heart NYC.

THE JAMES REPORT

Coda. I believe! I believe! There is love in New York City. I sing to you from the lost abyss of dancing souls waiting to reunite. Let’s do it again soon!!!

our cherry lane family
live shot
late night crew: michael, jarrah and edward
teddy, q and our girl reena
dan from cherry lane and ian

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