The Next Day...

Our rehearsal last night was in a word, AWESOME! Tony was there to film it and luckily we were ON. Re-discovered yet another old Buddy Love song, "I Can't Get Up" which came together in as much time as it takes to hear it, fine tuned our other new songs, rearrange the set list (15 songs now!) just in time to say goodbye to Joey, who's going on a mini-tour with his "other" band (how dare he) so we won't have a full rehearsal again till August 12th. It's cool though cause we all agree we're almost (not quite) ready to appear.

VOX!

Got my Vox Buckingham back from the repair guy and it, like the Fender Twin (which he already lovingly restored), TOTALLY ROCKS! Can't wait to get the two working in tandem like I used to, one on either side of the drums (that's my buddy Rich, to you!). That sound in combination with my Gold Top was (and will be again) totally sumptuous (good word, huh?) and with that piece in place I NOW HAVE ALL OF MY ORIGINAL BUDDY LOVE EQUIPMENT READY TO GO (Talk about retro!)

Had rehearsal this past Sunday night at THE STUDIO on 30th St. I sorta liked it there, the techs were totally supportive and made sure everything sounded good except the ROOM was NOT shaped right for our purposes (I couldn't see or hear!) which was a problem. So we're rehearsing again tonight (twice in one week? unprecedented!) at SMASH, our old standby. Should be interesting...

Blogs in Blogs

Has it been a whole month since I posted here? Been crazy busy but is that a good excuse? In the meantime we've had two rehearsals; The first one (June 10th) we concentrated on tiny nit-picking details and at the last moment re-learned a Buddy Love "Classic" called Can't Hold On, which sounded AWESOME right outa the box!

The second one (last Thursday the 28th) was with Scott and Rich in his basement, where we perfected Can't Hold On, touched on a few other songs and then learned a brand new one (actually about three years old) called Idle Hands, which Scott has been wanting to do for months and finally got his wish. I guess living with the song on his own paid off for him (and us!) cause his bass line is remarkably flowing and musical (he says it's his best bass line EVER for any song /any band) and I can't wait to hear Joey sing it!

We all decided to up our rehearsal schedule to once a week (barring incidents and accidents) so we can get this show on the road by summer's end. I'm chomping at the bit...

Elvis Costello in NYC

Just walked in from seeing Elvis Costello at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square! WOA! and YAY! He (and his band, the Imposters) was absolutely awesome! EC is my all time favorite performer and inspiration (without him, there'd be no Buddy Love!) and it was a pleasure to see him again in top form, in fine voice, and rockin' as hard as ever. The songs came non-stop, no chatter, no clutter, just one right after the utter! (My Hero!)

In the meantime, we're having band rehearsal this sunday night and I'm looking forward to setting right all the wrong I've done since the last one.

Two weeks later...

Tony brought a second cameraman to film our shenanigans and this time there was actual DRAMA! (yes, still talking about the damn email I sent) Wish I never opened my mouth o'mighty (love saying that). After the talk talk talk which got out of control for the camera (did Tony plan that?) we played our set two time, the first of which totally sucked (according to Tony and company) and the second of which he described as Palladium Quality. (THANK GOD!) I don't think I could have stood another bad rehearsal. We got it all on tape (video and audio) and in the cold light of the next day, it still sounded GOOD! (again, thank god or whoever)

Got an email from some guy who wants to buy the entire case of 25 Buddy Love lps I found, lets see if his check clears!

Opened a forum on this site which I urge ANYONE WHO HAS ANY INTEREST WHATSOEVER to join and contribute to, please...

Had to go and open my Mouth-O-Mighty

Ever say something that you meant but other people heard in an entirely different way than you intended? SEE BELOW! Seems I gave the impression that I was unhappy with the way this reunion was going, which is totally off base. IT'S MY DREAM COME TRUE! Can I help it if I care so much about making sure its as magnificent as I envision? (btw, its 95% there already)

Truth to tell, I overreacted. Silly me! Just cause one rehearsal wasn't the quantum leap forward that every other one was to the previous, it was bound to level off and I simply was expecting the exponential growth curve to continue, which was not realistic.

To any person who got the wrong impression, oops?!?! sorry!

Time flies and it's no fun

We started this "reunion" project in November of last year and here it is the beginning of May so WHEN THE HELL ARE WE GONNA PLAY OUT?!?! I have no idea. Even though we have a killer set practically finished there are still no plans to perform or record or ANYTHING!

As defacto leader of the band should it fall on my shoulders to plan stuff to the last detail? Frankly it might be a bit too much for one person and I am getting frustrated. BTW, does anyone even read this shit?!

Maybe I'm upset about last week's rehearsal which was not wonderful. Or maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself and just chalk it up to an off night.

On the other hand, I am very happy to note that another "period" piece of my original Buddy Love equipment has been "restored" to perfect working order; my 1975 Fender Twin Reverb! (you may remember the Les Paul drama from a few months ago) All that's left is to repair my Vox Buckingham and I'll have ALL of my original equipment!