Since our last update, we've rocked The Crowded House in Madisonville, KY, subtly of course, as we go un-plugged for those folks. We'll be back up that way again in a couple of weeks, with a few new tunes to try out and a different percussion setup in place, as we attempt to perfect our less-amplified presentation a bit more. This might give us a chance to pull out a few tunes that don't otherwise translate so well to the sonic bludgeoning we give them under normal circumstances. Besides, we're looking to get in touch with our sensitive sides, and I'm really a crooner at heart anyway.
Side note(and something I just feel obligated to mention): I'll be fine with not having another pumpkin-flavored beer for at least the next 10 or 11 months. Thank you.
We did a quick 3-song set at The World Famous Twin Kegs, here in Nashville, recently, as part of the very cool Woodbine Rocks Presents: Tic Tac Toe series. We'll be back for their 50s night on October 16th, doing a pair from Fats Domino & Chuck Berry, along with 7 or 8 other acts. It's free, and a f#cking blast, so you should really get down for one of these if you have a chance. We're gonna try to be involved with as many of these as we possibly can.
Thanks to Colin & Trinity for inviting us.
I got the chance to do some writing with my old bandmate Lee Coram, and a couple of sessions have yielded some interesting results. It doesn't sound like The Great Affairs, but it doesn't NOT sound like us either. I dig it. We'll see what happens when a singer gets ahold of it. So far, so good.
We headed up north to play John Brown's in Marion, IL, where I had an unusually "off" night…too much on my mind and not enough in my belly perhaps. We rallied a bit towards the end, and folks made us feel welcome, in spite of our lackluster showing, but I've made a promise to myself that we will absolutely rip the roof off of that place when we close out our 2013 there on December 13th, so to anyone reading this that made the show last weekend, I hope you'll please accept my sincere apologies, and allow us to rectify the situation in 2 months time. We'll play 'til one of us drops if we have to.
This weekend we're off to Memphis, to play The Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street with Ezell. This will be our first stop in Memphis in over 2 years, so we're pretty stoked to start rebuilding a relationship with the good folks down yonder. It's been too long.
In other news, I submitted a bunch of old film footage, some going as far back as my high school "battle of the bands" for an indie film project that will focus on the close call with success(or lack thereof) of my old band Best Of Seven, and chart the trajectories of the individual members in the years since our official disbanding. I haven't seen any of it yet, but I know the guy behind it, and he's no slouch in the filmmaking department, so I trust him to make us look like no bigger a**holes than we actually are/were.
Finally, a bit of news on the "new record(s)" front…we're starting to assemble the tunes that should make up what will be the 5th proper release from The Great Affairs. As yet untitled, it should include some, if not all of the following:
CALIFORNIA(TURN TO STONE)
THE NEXT THREE MINUTES
MISS AMERICA
ELISE(COVER ME)
STAY ALL NIGHT
THE EYES IN EVERY ROOM
A SECRET'S A SECRET
I CAN'T SLEEP ALONE
MAKE YOU SMILE
IT'S ALL IN THE LIVIN'
Now, some of you may recognize a title or two from the demos that I used circulate via this site every month or so, both on this list and the one below. That one is(as of this writing, at least), the final lineup for the "Nothing's Broken" record Kenny & I have been working on in our spare time for the last year or so, with a supporting cast of fairly reputable characters that have really brought some magic to the thing.
Right now, this record is about 60% done. In fact, some of it is completely mixed and mastered, but we have a handful of sessions left yet, to cut the remaining few tracks and wrap up overdubs and mixing on the stuff we already have in the can. It's close, and feeling a little closer now that we've settled on this as the final selection.
I've been listening to the roughs for months now, and I'm really proud of this stuff. I can't wait to get it out there, so hopefully we can get down to it and nudge it along to the finish line before the end of the year. The next TGA will follow shortly thereafter. It's already completely demoed, save 1 or 2 tunes that I'll get to as soon as my schedule permits….and I was telling Kenny yesterday as we were demoing a pair of new ideas he brought in that I feel there are still a few new songs that have yet to reveal themselves. Once those materialize, we'll head into the studio and start hammering this stuff together proper.
But, back to the "Nothing's Broken" project….here's how that is shaking out:
NOTHING'S BROKEN
I AM REBORN
LET ME GO
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
THAT'S MY GIRL
DIRTY ON THE STEREO
AS FINE AS YOU ARE
BREATHE AGAIN
CRAWL
JUST SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW
SEVEN DAYS
MAKE IT OUT(yeah…we're gonna put a little spin on this)
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
I think that's all I've got that I can share at the moment. Here's a list of shows we have coming up in October/early November, before we take some time to knuckle down on all this new stuff/studio business>>>>
Wednesday, October 16th @ Twin Kegs(50's Night) Nashville, TN
Friday, October 18th @ Gerstle's in Louisville, KY
Saturday, October 19th Un-plugged @ The Crowded House in Madisonville, KY
Friday, November 1st @ The Nick in Birmingham, AL
Saturday, November 2nd at The Loft in Columbus, GA
Cheers,
D.
p.s. Here are all the usual LINKS:
<My Morton Times "Hearing Things" blog>
<The "official" The Great Affairs page >
< The Great affairs on Facebook >