Sparring Partners

James Rabbit is playing a show at Caffe Pergolesi this Friday with Antarctica Takes it! and Beat Beat Whisper. We will be playing songs from "Coloratura" that we don't usually play.

International Radio Appearance

Hey! Our appearance on Public Radio International's Fair Game with Faith Salie aired yesterday. You can catch it here. John Acquadro recorded video of the session, here it is!

We're playing a show in Oakland tonight with Pith Hat and Spencer Owen at a place called the Stork Club. Show starts at 9:30.

Show! This Saturday, April 12th! Caffe Pergolessi!

With: Tyler Parkford, Roaring Camp (Matt Harra's Band), Jennifer Alcott, That Blasted Hound (Davyd Nereo's band), and It's A Trap! We're starting at 8:00 p.m. We'll have CDs! This is going to be an excellent show!

James Rabbit Website!

www.jamesrabbit.com

Thankfully Not Living in Fremont It Doesn't Apply*

Saturday March 15th 2008 Vincent, Dave Frost and I started off towards Caffe Pergolesi with the wrong show in mind. Halfway there, Amory called and said 'you guys, that show is tomorrow night'. I said 'I'm still going, I need to get out.' We were greeted by a guitar sound that made me make a cringing face. Just an electric guitar being stomped into distortion and then off again as a test. I think that's my least favorite sound.

I never learned the name of the first band. There were muscular dudes behind a drum set and a bass and a lead singer/guitarist wearing red jogging shorts. They played five or six songs and then the lead singer dismissed the bassist and called up a different singer. He said 'this is a cover of one of their songs', referring to the new singer. A guy with big glasses and short hair approached the microphone and as the band started, started screaming and contorting in a way that I have both witnessed and performed. But then- he threw down the microphone and began dancing in a new way. Imagine cutting out pictures from a Boy's Life of Webelo scouts showing you how to perform aerobic exercises. So place about eight of those pictures on top of each other and staple them together. Flipbook. That's what it looked like- amazing.

This song ended and a new bass player came up and the transformation was complete. This band is The El Hobos. Former students from around Monterey Bay, they are now scattered around the SF Bay Area. They played surf and funk and rock blended together and communicated through a powerful inside-joke language with ample use of the G, B and E strings of the guitar (the least popular ones, I think) . The focus of the band was the lead singer, I think his name was Bill. Through the set, he continued to dance as a flipbook and played intricate guitar lines while gulping, yodeling, carefully voicing lyrics to songs such as 'Hot Dog Planet' and 'Amputated Caveman Boogey'. He tied things together with a powerfully sound persona that was equal parts 'nice guy' and 'inscrutable'.

He introduced one song, "This is a love song about a trophy I won in a marksmanship competition at summer camp. Her name was Tina, she was an interpreter." WHAT? Another song was called "Cool Tips" and a significant portion of this song was rapped. This band was the band I wished I was or I wish existed in high school, They Might Be Giants with punch, or The Minutemen but funnier. Maybe the Swell Maps? Or The Homosexuals? Not far off! I spent the whole set with a progressively larger grin across my face (like the first time I saw Eraserhead - this glee of 'I get this!' and 'I trust you!'). This band was speaking deep to a permanent dude inside of me, a dude that could drink five liters of Pepsi in one day, write and record albums in a week, draw one comic book every math class, a dude that was in plays and never did homework.

You can find some mp3s on the internet, they don't really do the band justice. I think their lead singer records(ed) most of their albums by himself (sound familiar?) I will do my best to find out when their next show is and tell you. Or maybe you will stumble upon their show not knowing they are going to play and all of a sudden they will transition in and your night will be infinitely improved.

The El Hobos, I love your band, you are a punch to the gut, a tsunami, a wrecker of coastlines.

House Show!

We're playing with Jeffrey Lewis on Saturday, March 1st. Man is No Machine will be playing also. The address is 119 Highland, turn right off of Mission as you're coming into town from North Highway 1. Come and have the most fun in Santa Cruz, CA! If you can't make it to that show, we're playing the next night in Santa Rosa in a barn with Jeffrey Lewis once again. At both shows we will have copies of Coloratura available.

We're also playing at the Bike Church next week on March 4th. Lots of chances to catch James Rabbit!

These past few days:

Marcello Carlin wrote about Coloratura (I spent Friday blushing). Copies are still available by emailing me and giving me some money or coming to a show. Our next show may be in Oakland on the 23rd, or it may be somewhere else sooner.

Saturday was beautiful, the temperature was a perfect blend of sun and not-quite spring. I stumbled upon a monarch butterfly migration festival at the Natural Bridges state park. There was an octet of rangers and volunteers who sang beautifully about whaling and oil spills. Their name was the 5M band, which stood for The Mostly Mediocre Migrating Mariposa Monarchs (or something similar).

Last night we played a show at Caffe Pergolesi, it was fantastic. Our friend Amory digitally captured it and it is available to view online. Check it out!