5/01

Dear Surfer:

Hi. Ok - so gas prices are going up, I heard, to $3 a gallon. With this in mind, I have decided that until the prices go back down, we won't be playing anywhere further than 1 hour away in any direction. I just don't understand why anything involving money always goes up ... except for pay. Rent, postage, the PATH train, the subway's next... Is anyone actually making any money, besides, of course, the people running our country?

Our month - the first weekend of May was insane. Lots of driving, but fun. We played at Borders in Marlton, NJ on the 4th. I like playing in South Jersey (though it's more than an hour away) because I get to see family and friends whom I don't get to see very often and they rarely get to see the band, so it's nice. Getting down there was a bitch, though. Rush hour on the turnpike on a Friday... ugh. Poor planning. We ran late, but we made it. It was lotsafun! We met a cool photographer there who came out to see us a few days later (more on that in a sec.)

The next night, we played a benefit show at the Spot on Long Island. This was a very cool night of mutual support. I belong to the LongIslandMusicScene email list... that's how we got the gig. We had only played at the Spot once before, 2 years ago, and these benefit shows were organized basically to save the venue from bankruptcy. It's right on the SUNY Stonybrook campus, but for some reason, they're having trouble getting people to come out and support live music. So a bunch of Long Island musicians and us donated our time to saving the place. And it worked! Thanks to everyone who came out that night. We made a live recording of the show which will be mastered and sent to us soon. IF it came out good, I'll be running off some copies to sell at shows. Stay tuned!

The next day, the 6th, we went back down to South Jersey. Now, see, if gas were $3 a gallon already, this weekend would have been not doable, basically. We played at Burlington County College's annual FunFest, or Beezer Blast. I don't know why it has 2 names. It was sponsored by their campus radio station and we were on the air (although I didn't hear it - wish I could have.) It was cool. The weather was awesome. The people were very nice, after our initial run in with the security guards (who told us we should have arrived earlier to get a better parking space - we went through 3 security guards and had to convince them that yes, we were performing and yes, we did have equipment in our cars that we needed to load out!) The sound system was the best I've ever worked with - I could hear myself totally clearly. We sold a bunch of CDs and we should have pictures soon, thanks to Jerry Hastings, the photographer we met in Marlton on Friday. He came out and took pictures on Sunday. College gigs are always unpredictable. This one was nice because it attracted people from the community and not just students. Met a lot of my homeys from good ole Willingboro! Also, this was Camari's first gig with us and she did a fabulous job.

Then, back to O'Donnell's on the 11th. Another fun O'Donnell's time. Camari sang with us at this one, too. On the 25th, we kicked off Memorial Day weekend with a show at Desmond's. I was suprised by the number of people there. I thought we were the only broke fools with no place to go on Memorial Day weekend.... but I guess since everything goes up but pay, not as many people can afford to go away any more.

Which leads me to this: What the hell are we letting this world come to?! I'm really pissed off, but I feel so powerless. Someone has got to stand up and make some changes in this world, or before you know it, we will be a Third World country. The division of wealth in the US is greater than it's ever been. Why? What are we going to do about it? As an "entertainer", I often hesitate about talking too much about reality. I'm supposed to make people feel good, have fun. But there's too much shit in this world that doesn't feel good and isn't fun and isn't RIGHT, and it's getting to me... it's BEEN getting to me.

Ok, enough ranting. Dennis Miller and Bill Maher do it way better than I do anyway. I will find that 9-5 job, watch tv and just be happy. That is my goal in life!

Peace!


yours,

Stefanie
stefanie@bluenumbernine.com

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Letters from the past:

April, 2001
March, 2001
February, 2001
January, 2001
December, 2000
November, 2000
October, 2000
September, 2000
August, 2000 (from Marco)
July, 2000
June, 2000
May, 2000
April, 2000
March, 2000
February, 2000
January, 2000
December, 1999
November, 1999
October, 1999
September, 1999
August, 1999
July, 1999
June, 1999
April, 1999
March, 1999
February, 1999
January, 1999