“Bang-thud” is the sound your heart makes when you’re in Portland, Maine, forty-five minutes before a show, and you realize that your electric cello is still on a boat off the coast of Rhode Island, more than 200 miles away. This was specifically Harris’s heart, yesterday at approximately 7:15 pm, well after the Block Island Ferry office had closed, and not long at all before we needed to entertain a growing crowd of Portlandites. In a brilliant stroke of luck, the North Star Cafe sound guy, who’d taken up cello not two weeks prior, offered to fetch his acoustic for us. In a matter of a few minutes, and with HIS cello’s status still uncertain, Harris re-learned parts that had been written for six strings on the borrowed four-string acoustic, and the show somehow went without a hitch (if perhaps a hair behind schedule).

After a long night of what-iffing and an early morning of desperate phone calling, the cello was located and Harris made the solo trek back to Block Island to retrieve it. What could have been (and still maybe was) the most traumatic experience of our band’s short history is now in hindsight a colorful lesson about the perils of sea travel and the importance of double-checking the van.

Speaking of! Our fifteen-passenger van, which we’re calling [your favorite male celebrity], has been converted by way of seat-removal into an 8-passenger van with quite a lot of trunk space (our rehearsal space, on the other hand, has been converted into a chic 7-passenger lounge). The six-track EP, which we’ve effusively titled “EP 1,” is now on sale online as a digital download or mail-order disc, or you can buy one directly from us at one of our shows, as long as you’re willing to wait while we look for the keys to the cash box. The tour doesn’t have a name or a title yet, but it’s definitely a tour, because we have a tour van, who for the moment is Christopher Walken.

In all seriousness, we’re elated to finally have a van, and to have physical EPs in hand, and to have the cello safely back in Harris’ clutches. We’re also very happy to announce that tonight’s show at Church of Boston is our 50th show! Except none of the other guys know that yet, so unless they read this before we go on stage, I’ll be surprising them with that news in a few hours. See you in a jiffy, Boston!

As we struggled with our food comas, we found out from Julianna and Natalia that Julianna’s mother’s close friend since childhood had purchased the ingredients for the meal from the most delicious eateries in the North End.  And this is why I am posting today: as the self-appointed food-appreciator for Darlingside, I want to formally thank this friend for supporting us, feeding us, and bestowing such a generous gift upon us.  It made for a night filled with merriment and good grub.  Thanks so much for the feast, we really appreciate it!  A huge thanks to Julianna and Natalia for their expert cooking skills (they whipped up an incredible sauce from scratch for the occasion) and for the great company.  And a special personal thanks to all the contributors for saving me from having to prepare dinner for the house on my scheduled cooking night!  I’ve included a snapshot to help paint the scene.

1. All players must throw at the same time on “shoot”.
2. Representative hand signals must be clear…none of that crumple-fisted “scissors made out of rock” twaddle.
3. Rock defeats Scissors; Scissors defeats Paper; Paper defeats Rock.
4. Fire cannot be thrown.  This is old school: only Rock, Paper, and Scissors.
5. After all players have thrown on “shoot” it is time to collect points.  Each player looks around the circle and collects 1 point for each person that he/she has defeated.  For instance, if I throw paper, I will collect a point for each rock thrown by other players in the circle.  All players count points in this way.
6. The first player to tally up 5 points wins a round.
7. The winner must win by 2 points.
8. The winner of each round earns the first pick among the remaining beds, and removes himself/herself from the following rounds.
9. Rounds are played until all players have chosen respective beds.
10. Dave is interested in the couch more than the twin beds.
11. Don is wondering if he can strike a deal by choosing a double-bed before the game starts—that way he takes himself out of the running for the queen beds and the couch (what we might call the “extremes”).
12. The answer is no, Don.

And that concludes the rules!  Post and let us know how your own group games go.  As the old adage goes, where two once often tangoed in order to solve small disputes, five certainly had more fun thinking of a new way to allow five to tango, and still bickered about the sleeping situation after the game ended.

thesixtyone.com

And so it goes with almost every song as we explore the strengths and limitations of each option, sometimes ultimately returning to the original key, sometimes not. Due to the nature of classical string instruments, the changes are more often than not either by a fourth or a fifth, which for a singer is the difference between sounding like Matt Berninger, Steve Perry, or a normal person (pick any two). So fine, maybe YOU’RE safe, wherever you are, because you know what key YOU’RE in… but remember what it’s like to be a Darlingside song, never knowing when the boogeyman might show up and flip your unsuspecting ass upside down.

It was a busy weekend here in Hadley.  We had a record number of visitors crashing all over our house and our house raft, and a record number of Subarus in our driveway.  The crowds gathered for one main purpose: to hear Mulvey’s set at the Iron Horse.  Consequently, a weekend of solid jams ensued in our newly appointed music-mecca of a basement.

The festivities began Friday night with the arrival of our good friends Caitlin Canty and Greg Schultz.  Caitlin is a singer-songwriter based out of New York, and Greg is a guitarist and founding member of the band Socialist (check out their websites in the sidebar).  Saturday marked the arrival of musician friends Adam, Carlos, and JT, and friends/girfriends/girfriends-of-friends Ina, Josh, Cat, Hannah, and Christina.  This stunning fall day included everything from climbing apple trees to busking on the streets of Northampton.  The benefits of such a large group of musicians coming together on the streets were two-fold: half of the group could perform while the other half could serve as the crowd.  As Paul Hindemith, the composer, once put it: “People who make music together cannot be enemies, at least while the music lasts” (Composers Datebook, 9/25/09).  We are fortunate to have so many friends with so many talents.  Whether it be the late-night acoustic sessions in the basement or noodling away at a guitar on a floating raft at 4:30 in the morning, the music made this weekend was fueled by our enjoyment of one another.

Paul Hindemith, contemplating friendship

Speaking of people who are friendly and play music and fuel our enjoyment of one another, Peter Mulvey performed at the Iron Horse Music Hall on Saturday night–a performance some of us (Dave and I and Greg and others and Dave’s parents and stuff) had all been looking forward to for the better part of a year.  Curled up on the couches and tucked snugly into the booths on the balcony of the music hall, we listened to Mulvey splay his sweet honey-suckle nectar-sound upon the audience.  Particularly of note were Mulvey’s spoken-word pieces.  He displayed his mastery of the art of performance–that is, he understood that what occurs between songs on stage is just as important as what occurs during songs.  From start to finish, the show delivered.  It left us warm, glowing, and smiling ear to ear.

After the show, we were fortunate enough to meet Mulvey.  Upon handing him our business card and informing him of our band, he glanced at our band name.  Unprompted, he shared with us his candid impression: “Great f***ing name for a band”.  Done.  No more Milk for Spain. No more Cat Named Sam Kapala and the Spanking Hemoglobes.  Darlingside it is.

Harris and I just had our inaugural busk in downtown Northampton, followed by drinks in Amherst with Auyon, Hannah (Harris’ girlfriend), and Cat (Auyon’s girlfriend). It was great to play on the streets of Northampton again, which I haven’t done since July, and it was a great opportunity to advertise for the upcoming gig this Sunday morning (We’ll be kicking off the Hungry Ghost Bread Festival at 11 am, and then apparently participating in something called a puppet parade?). We got nice crowds and good responses even out of some of our unfinished ideas and off-the-cuff covers, so we’re excited to get back out there soon and hopefully make it a regular thing while it’s still warm out.

Apologies for the lack of content on the website at the moment, but we’re only really just getting past the moving-in and beginning-our-new-day-jobs phase, and moving on to the businessier aspects of band management. We threw this idea together over the last few days, and we’ll likely be messing around with the template for a while until we settle on something. You might have noticed our little animal friend up at the top, completely throwing off the cohesiveness of the design and looking totally adorable. We’re not really sure if he’s around to stay, but he looked so friendly that we thought he at least deserved a shot at being some kind of mascot. You should let us know what you think, because we’ve lost all objectivity.

Thanks for reading. Keep checking in with us, and don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list.