spoke to the guys

Spent two days on the phone with register.com to find out why the hell this website was unavailable! Stupid shitheads! Seems someone attempted to hijack their servers yadda yadda yadda but in the meantime, I couldn't get on! It's not the holocaust but its frustrating anyway...

Was gonna call Joey at least five times since last tuesday and when I actually dialed his house in NJ on thursday evening IT WAS BUSY BUSY BUSY! So as soon as I hung up who calls but Scott! Usually its me who gets all gung ho about bands and stuff but he makes me seem like I'm nodding out! I swear he actually believes we're gonna take over the world this time.

Still waiting to see what the raw footage from the other night looks like... (hint hint Tony)

Second full rehearsal

Rich and I were met at the entrance of the rehearsal studio in Manhattan (located on the top floor of a GARMENT BUILDING) by our old friend Tony from way back in the day (they seem to be crawling out of the woodwork) with a freakin' docu-cam and intern, Eli in tow! Very weird... Scott and Joey show up (all dolled up and ready for their close-ups) let the games begin!

In comes Rollo of all people! and its really time warp city. Lots of talk talk talk (not my best suit) but hey, people do it, right? Frankly, the camera scares me at first but I decided to simply ignore it. We all tried to remember more details about the "good ole days" and dug out one name or event after another and many of the missing gaps were filled in (mostly mine). After more hugs, kisses and exchanges of gifts and CD's (Rich converted our appearance on the Uncle Floyd Show to DVD!!) we went to work.


Now I don't think I'm delusional, and I DO want us to sound good (after all, if it don't sound good, where's the fun?) but DAMN, WE REALLY DO SOUND FUCKING GREAT! All the stuff we played at the previous rehearsal was nailed down and even finessed (or as Zappa would have said, "Eyebrows were put on 'em").

Eli, who didn't know anything about our history or music coming in, became an instant convert (I think) but even if not, his spontaneous applause was much appreciated. Yea, I still got an ego and yea, it likes to be fed (some things never change...) My wife says I'm a show off and know what? she's right!

Standouts from rehearsal were Emily, Party Girl and My Little Red Book. Perhaps I'll post some MP3's...

Adendum: Rollo called me the next morning with very kind words of encouragement, ROLLO LIVES!!

Jiro calls from Japan

News is spreading quickly around the world of our reunion but still was surprised to answer the phone and hear Jiro M on the other end! (How did he get my number?!) He took this picture while actually talking to me! (and I thought I was a nerd!)

For those who don't know, Jiro is my long lost brother (don't ask me to explain) who watched Buddy Love rehearsals everywhere from in my basement in Baldwin to the Music Building on 8th Ave!

He, along with Scott is waiting for our Tour of Japan and subsequent world domination (which should have happened a quarter of century ago!)

Rehearsal with Scott

After getting Scott acquainted with my wife and kids went right to work. (BTW, Shadow totally approves of Scott, a good omen!)

In between detailing songs we dished about mutual musical acquaintances (just like school girls) and decided we were a mutual admiration society! One big decision: Don't need another guitarist however possibly a keyboard? (Steve came up) but still plenty of time before the PowerPop Festival in March to decide...

I played Scott tons of stuff I've written in the past few years and he REALLY LIKES "Idle Hands" (me too) as well as some others. There's still plenty of regular Buddy Love stuff to do, but I'm glad he and Joey are so into my new material, FINALLY SOMEONE WHO'LL LISTEN TO IT!!!

Got Scott on the 12:28 train back to Manhattan and then watched Heroes (which i recorded on my DVR the day before, GREAT SHOW!)

First Rehearsal

OK, Picked Rich up and drove to Manhattan for a strange encounter with our past, that being seeing Joey again (after 26 years!) and Scott (after about 10), HOLY SHIT! How Weird was that? Some things change and some things don't!

So right off the bat, we play Sheila and its like we never left, rockin' out right outa the box! Next up Party Girl, Rock & Roll and Where Do We Go From Here? and damn if this doesn't sound really good! Scott and I start working out the little details (just like in the old days!) Rich begins channeling Gentle Giant and Joey is doin' his Ian Gillan thing! I'm playing my 12-string Rickenbacker and we're all in a pretty damn good mood.

Time for a break so we all go to pee and stuff, Joey goes to check on his car and after about 15 minutes I'm beginning to think he's made good his escape! After about 25 I'm practically sure, but I don't freak out, instead we go back to the room and begin working on My Little Red Book and HERE COMES JOEY!!! Cool, I'm not the loser I thought he thought I was!

Carrying on with Red Book, Waiting, The Kids Are Allright and Scott is ready to take over the world, starting with a tour of Japan! We all decide a proper rehearsal every third week and detail rehearsals on an 'as need' basis and we'll be ready to record our comeback album in a month or so! All in all, quite a success!