Seasonal Spectacular

1856 Park Rd, NW DC

Sat, Dec 11, 8:00pm

we're playing in a few days~

Squash Head

Saturday Oct 2, 8pm

1856 Park Rd NW (Vanessa's House)

Frau Eva

Birdlips

Deutschmarks

Maura & Billy

Cam and Rayan

If you give a mouse a piano

He's probably going to ask you to move it... If you move the piano for him, he's probably going to want you to tune it. This is true both of mice and men. And so when we got a piano, it wasn't long before we were in need of a tuner. Our piano tuner was a small and awkward fellow. My mother had warned me that all piano tuners are a strange breed. Ours seemed to be friendly enough, and engaged me in conversation: "Living in the city must be nice" he said.

"Yea, it's pretty sweet."

"Great place to stay in shape"

"I guess if you bike around"

"You do that much?"

"Not too much since my bike lock broke in dupont circle, and has been holding my bike prisoner ever since."

"Well, you able to stay in shape anyway? How much do you weigh?"

"Not too much."

"Here, lets see if I can pick you up over my shoulder."

"Hello what?"

This is where the conversation took a turn for the worse. Also the piano tuner started to stutter.

"c-c-c-come on let's see if I can pick you up over my shoulder."

At this point the tuner was giving me a classic puppy dog with outstretched arms.

"w-w-we could just try it..."

You know what they say... you let a mouse pick you up over his shoulder and he's going to want you to give him a scalp massage, and if you give him a scalp massage, he's going to want to dress you up in his mother's lingerie...

Anyway to cut to the chase ... our piano is now tuned - hoorah!!

Piano

I am sitting in the new(est) Frau Eva recording headquarters (Ben's basement bedroom). Right now Billy is recording bass. We're all here.

As usual, we've spent a good deal this weekend recording (though never enough). David finally has his piano all ready to record. It has involved no less than finding a decent one on craigslist, having it moved- a Kimball baby grand- letting it settle, getting it tuned, and fixing some clacking keys. And then an onslaught of tasty mics & a preamp. Now the fun part; re-recording this beautiful piano over top & in place of his keyboard. It's coming slowly.

In the meantime we've been gently progressing on the seven songs we've got. Still have it in the works to record at least 3 more.

In other news, it's been awesome having Billy as our bassist. It feels like we're a different band, and also we're arranging new songs, sprucing up old ones. We have a newfound energy and definition. After spending a better part of this year struggling with the live show and recording, we are ready to play out (put out?).

Anyway, enough rambling. We are playing a show at my house next saturday, october 2, along with Birdlips, Deutschmarks, Maura & Billy, and Cam & Rayan. The event is called Squash Head. If I get around to drawing up a flyer, I'll post it.

In the meanwhile, here are some pix of piano recording:

David plays 'Howling' solo

Thanks to Lou Black for this video from Saturday night.

La Festa d'Estate

ok, so we're pretty inconsistent with posting. but there's a lot going on in the "real world"; its easy to forget about it. And even if nobody reads this, it's still a document of our lives, right Ben? I've always liked posting, stemming from all that livejournal stuff I did in high school/ college.

Anyway... we had a wonderful show this weekend at my house. i think this is becoming a regular monthly thing. Although Saturday I was stressing because I hadn't done so many things, the event still came together nicely. All the music was superb. I think everyone there really enjoyed themselves, well, I hope so. Thank you to all that made it happen, musicians and revelers alike!

We made a flyer. I drew it, and then together we painted (my first water color experience in years! I loved it. I'm hooked again).

Next show! Saturday, July 17. This time I'll post it more in advance. Maybe.

May 11~ video flyer

Filmed in Butte La Rose, Louisiana. For our show on Tuesday with Gregory and the Hawk. DC9!

Also, check her out www.myspace.com/gregoryandthehawk

*~May Day Jubilation~*

Life changes

There's a superb bakery near my workplace here in Rockville, called Stella's. I just went there and treated myself to a rosewater macaron. It was two minutes of pure bliss.
I'll miss this bakery very much. Next Monday is my last day of employment here at C.W. Bill Young Marrow Program. Three years nearly to the day.

I am so excited about this drastic change. I'll have more time to work on music, especially recording. The Pree album is nearly finished. And we are working hard almost every day on our Frau Eva child. We've done a bad job of posting about that. In Louisiana we used a newly purchased Firepod to record 8 microphones simultaneously. We recorded the basic tracks live for 7 songs. Now we are editing, adding, building, tweaking, learning, experimenting. We are using Logic Express 8, a new program for all of us (credit to May for teaching us so much).

I won't have happy unemployment forever though. On May 10 I begin a part-time job at one of my favorite places, Qualia Coffee in Petworth. New experiences are afoot, and I'm vibrant to these changes.

-Vanessa

how sweet it is

I love this picture, and finally got my hands on a copy from Ben (taken by his iphone). During our recent trip (of which we have blogged zero about so far), we sat down at Myran's in Arnaudville, Louisiana one night. Some of Ben's family joined us, and we proceeded to consume pounds of the most delicious crawfish I've ever tasted, washed down with beer. The plate pictured is 5 lbs, starring David Klinger, lover of all edible water creatures.

I'll be dreaming of this evening for a long time

One Track Mind: Frau Eva - Music - Washington City Paper

This week we were published in City Paper's One Track Mind feature.

Read the story to find out about channeling Jeff Mangum's teenage diary, and domestic disputes

One Track Mind: Frau Eva - Music - Washington City Paper

Making “Buddies” on Craigslist

I must admit – I’m addicted to craigslist. It’s similar to a gambling addiction: risky and time consuming, but the payoff can be huge. That is why when I saw a firepod interface being sold there for $150 under retail value, I jumped on it. Only problem was that it was in Baltimore. Not to worry, though, Vanessa and I just happen to be heading past there over the weekend for Vanessa’s family reunion. Ben and I reply to the posting, talk him down another $25, and psyche ourselves up.
Then he calls.

Restricted number! Why would his number be blocked?

“The name’s Buddy,” he introduces himself in a thick accent. Not sure where he’s from, but I can say for sure that it’s not the city. He wants to meet at a Walmart parking lot, rather than his house. Why is that I ask?

“Hey man, do you want the pod or not?”

I immediately realize I may have offended him and his planning skills. “Sorry sir, I didn’t mean any offense. We can just meet in some parking lot by your house, and when we get there we’ll give you a call so you can come make the transaction. Trying out products before your buy them is so old fashioned anyway.”

“No. That’s not gonna work; I don’t give my phone number out to just anyone. How about I just call your phone every 10 minutes to check on your status.”

Wait a second!
“Why don’t you want to give us your phone number?”

“You know this day and age… you gotta be careful who has your number.”
He totally makes a good point here. If only he could have given us that sage advice before we gave him our numbers. And yet, what’s done is done.

“Sounds splendid!” I say just before he hangs up.
We rush off to Vanessa’s to tell her the good news. But for some reason, she is not as delighted as we are. Vanessa’s always skeptical! “Are you sure you can trust this guy?” she asks. I try to explain to her what you can infer from someone’s name alone – And if you’ve watched the movie Elf as many times as I have, you learn a thing or two. Plus, if he wasn’t trustworthy, I don’t think he would have gotten the name Buddy. “Well I’m glad he didn’t introduce himself as ‘Lying Jerk’, but with no contact information, I don’t think we should trust this man.”

DOWNER!

He calls back in a few hours. I can tell because the phone says “RESTRICTED”. “Buddy!!” I squeal as I answer the phone, “how’s it going…” Vanessa nudges me and I begrudgingly tell him the bad news, “My girlfriend says I can’t buy the firepod unless you give us some contact information.”
“What? Hey I thought I already explained this to you? And a bunch of people already e-mailed me about this interface and I turned them down because you agreed. You tryin to screw me over here?”
“No no,” I exclaim, “I trust you –I promise I trust you… it’s just that we don’t have your phone… or e-mail… or anything”
“Well, I guess I can give you my e-mail address. Hold on a minute." He says and then hangs up.

I tell Vanessa the good news – we’re getting contact info, and what does she do? She asks if e-mail is completely reliable. “Vanessa, my job uses e-mail. It doesn’t get more reliable than that” As a side note, and a bit of an explanation, Vanessa’s never been the smartest Frau Eva member, so I find myself always clarifying things for her.

15 minutes later he calls back, and tells me the e-mail address: “buddy7420582135@hotmail.com”. I tell him that we will e-mail him confirming our interest and to test the address, and he can call us after that.

“What do you mean confirm?” he asks, “I thought you said you wanted to buy it.”

“I know,” I say “but my girlfriend’s right here… I mean you and I both know that I’m buying that firepod… buddy…” I immediately send an e-mail, saying “Dearest Buddy, OF COURSE we want the darned thing.” but he doesn’t reply. 15 minutes later he calls us. Apparently, he didn’t get my e-mail, and I even confirm the address. I’m a bit confused, and he suggests that maybe the e-mail is still backed up in the pipes. Now I don’t know the first thing about how e-mail works, or plumbing for that matter, but Buddy’s never lied to me before, and the e-mail even has his name in it, so that’s proof enough for me. I read the e-mail to him and shout “we’re getting it!”

The “transaction” goes just as planned. But when we get it home, it doesn’t seem to record anything to the computer, which is really the only function of an interface. We try for hours to get it to work, but we just can’t seem to figure it out. Luckily, I remember that we have his e-mail address (actually turned out to be a good idea), so I e-mail asking him how to get it to work. It’s been a few days, but once the e-mail gets through his pipes, I think it should be smooth sailing!

Peach Elephant

This posting is a little after the fact, so sorry if you didn't know about this and wish you did. David did an amazing job drawing up this flyer, and with this image, representing the newly christened house Peach Elephant.

In one frenzied hour we completely set up and decorated the empty apartment connected to the main house. Then four amazing sets, full of energy and enthusiasm. Shining faces, happy cups, and pretty lights everywhere, like a dream. It was beautiful.

So to all that made this happen, and made it special, thank you.

And here's to looking forward in this fine district!