Reconnaissance Report from the Second MiniTour

We've returned safely from our second MiniTour across the eastern one-tenth of America. New locations were scouted, new allies made, much ground was covered, and much fun was had. Craig humbly offers his report.

After a home-base show at the trusty Charleston in Brooklyn, we headed off to Boston, our second trip there. We first hung out with Andy and Jen at the Band in Boston podcast. They served us some amazing cheese, raspberries and strawberries and then we did a little recording session for them. They were incredibly hospitable and welcoming, and had a beautiful house with some cute dogs. Can't wait until the session is online, we'll let you know. http://www.bandinbostonpodcast.com

Then, we headed over to Church Bar and rocked out with Hands and Knees, Guillermo Sexo and the Big Big Bucks. We blessed our lucky stars that there was a parking lot to park our car plus UHaul trailer in the back because that thing is seriously a thorn in your side.

Next, we brought our friends the Big Big Bucks with us to the Smith College area in Northampton, MA. We played at this awesome place called the Sierra Grille. The Sierra Grille will serve all performing bands off the menu for free, plus unlimited booze, and it was AMAZING. You get to pick your meat then decide your own sauce, plus two sides. I had smoked pork medallions with a creamy tomato sauce. I just about died. All the bands sat around one big table, eating and drinking in harmony. Something about the meat and the convivial atmosphere led me to confess all my inner secrets to Doug, Sam and Taylor in my corner of the table. Now they know all about my dreams.

Once we were done with the meal, they took apart the table, put the chairs away, and we performed in the same place we had just been eating. Somehow, despite our bellies being weighed down with delicious meats, we came off with what I thought was the best show of the tour. Maybe there is something magical about that food.

One awesome Northampton band we played with was called Bunny's a Swine, and I took a video of them. http://www.myspace.com/bunnysaswine. Afterwards we hung out with these guys and they were some cool cats. Even helped back the trailer out of their driveway which was hell. Thank god James is a master of backing up and parking.

Bunny's a Swine @ Sierra Grille:


Lastly, we headed over to AS220 in Providence, RI with lots of time to spare. We had a nice, relaxing afternoon and showed up to the gig real early. Nice town. We got a good video from this one, check it out. This is "Devil in Your Eyes".



After conquering all 10 people who live in Providence, we hightailed it to Taylor's parents' cabin in Cape Cod for some fun in the sun on July 4th. At night we canoed out onto the water to see the fireworks and after getting back to shore, we put Huey Lewis and the News on the iPod stereo and started a dance party. Can it get any better than this?? Can it??

I'm off to visit the family in Minnesota next week so I won't have any new posts for a little bit. Everybody in MiniBoone is going this way and that for the next few weeks. But when everybody gets back from their various trips, we'll hopefully be working on some new recordings and a bunch of new songs. Yee-haw!

What I Learned on my First MiniTour

We made it back safe and sound from our first MiniTour. No one annoyed each other and the car didn't putter out. "Shamone," "chamone" and even "chamanqi" and "chamaq attack" became the tour slogans.

First played at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn on Thursday, then headed off to Portland. There we got some amazing food for free. Mouth-watering bleu-cheese-filled burger and quesadillas. I ate half of the burger before I realized I had to perform in 15 minutes and I would be lumbering about the stage with an aching belly if I didn't stop. Portland Empire was the biggest place we've ever played, with a huge stage perfect for running around and jumping off of. The ceilings were high and the rafters exposed, very woodsy. A huge room that was not packed but nonetheless the crowd was very warm to us. After we went on we watched Full Contact Kitty from Belfast, Maine rock the stage and do weird no-wave stuff. Hope we can play with them again. Full Contact Kitty myspace.

Oh yeah and Taylor's bud took some awesome pictures of us:




Drove from Portland to Boston that same night. Arrived just as the sun was coming up. But it was worth it cuz we got to relax the next day before our show. Played pool in Taylor's buddy's house. Craig nearly beat Doug even though he had never played pool before. Hung out with Craig and Doug's friends way back from our Japan days, drank some home-brewed beer that was insanely good, and then watched some crazy videos on Youtube, such as this one about a kid whose parents have canceled his World of Warcraft account:



And then we had a good sweaty time at PA's Lounge.

Back in New York on Sunday. Just in time to get in a Father's Day call to my dad before our show at Union Pool. Shared the stage with this incredible band from New Orleans called Caddywhompus. Definitely one of the best bands we've ever played with, they started and stopped on a dime through all sorts of blasts of noise. Also, I've never seen someone so adept at guitar foot-pedal-switching. This guy was tapping his pedals like it was a choreographed dance. Caddywhompus myspace

I uploaded a couple of videos from our Bruar Falls show on youtube. Below you will find our cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark". More videos at http://www.youtube.com/stockhausensupremes. I also taped a few songs by Everyone at Bruar Falls and Caddywhompus at Union Pool which I've added at http://www.youtube.com/stegemancentral. Hope you enjoy!

Next up: Brooklyn-Boston-Northampton-Providence trip from June 30th to July 3th. Yee-haw! Should be awesome awesome awesome.

3 Videos from Cinco de Mayo

Yes! Yes! I have uploaded three new videos from the Cinco de Mayo show. You can see them on the Youtube video strip to the left side of the page. You can also see all our videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/StockhausenSupremes. In a little while I should also have a few videos up of the other bands on the bill on http://www.youtube.com/user/StegemanCentral.

This was a fantastic show. Lots of people came. I wore my bike helmet a lot, for protection. A lady in the crowd asked to wear my bike helmet too. The allure of my musky scent left on the helmet was too great a temptation. Next time, I will let someone borrow my kneepads.

This is my favorite video of the lot. Hope you enjoy.

Video from the Annex

What a lovely weekend it's been in New York. Yesterday, I took a little walk while having a chat on the phone with my mom on her birthday. Here's a little something for the kiddies to watch when they're tired of playing outside and want to come back in to play video games and watch TV. It's "Funny Money" from the Annex.



Also, this is probably old news since I'm always behind on these sorts of things, but last week when my brother was in town, he played me a great youtube video detailing a prank call to Black Jack Pizza by Jack Nicholson. This made my week.

New Vids from Pianos Show

Uploaded some new videos from the Pianos show last week! Check em out on the Youtube side bar to your left, or at http://www.youtube.com/user/StockhausenSupremes.

My favorite one is below. Doug is like some freaky preacher or something. This has gotta be Doug's best performance ever.

Tribeca Hebrew = Maniac Fun

Thank you to all who came to the Tribeca Hebrew party. Hope you had a blast. We have a great video in which I run around like a maniac at the end of Funny Money. Here it is below.

The Gifted Girls are still selling their merchandise on their blog. You can get some of this cool paraphernalia here, including the tote bag I beautifully modeled at the show.

Also, I've recently started another Youtube channel devoted to videos of bands with whom MiniBoone has played. There's some videos of Big Big Bucks and wavING, and also James's new band the 21st Century Electric Peace Movement (yes, you will notice that this band shares three members with MiniBoone). I hope to keep this up as we play more shows.

http://www.youtube.com/user/StegemanCentral

Of course, all MiniBoone videos will remain at http://www.youtube.com/user/StockhausenSupremes. I'm putting them up all the time so keep on watchin' now!

Craig

Videos from the Charleston President's Day Show

Hey great wide world,

I uploaded some videos from the show at the February 16, 2009 show at the Charleston onto Youtube. All who attended enjoyed the Gala apples generously bequeathed by James after his aborted diet/fast left him with extra apples. I won't go into the sordid details but we are told that the diet ended disastrously, with much barf.

Videos (of the concert, not the barf) can be viewed in the little filmstrip on the left side of this page. Or you can go directly to the source at http://www.youtube.com/user/StockhausenSupremes. OR you can view my personal favorite below! I make things so helpful!




Also, we have this great flyer for the 4th Meal Productions fundraiser on Saturday February 21, where we'll be playing with the 21st Century Electric Peace Movement, the James Keary-led extravaganza of a band. There will be drinks and a showing of the season finale of their Gifted Girls web series. Everyone will make merry. Judging from the flyer, lots of unicorns, mertigers, and other witchy things are to be expected.

Craig