8/98
Dear Surfer:
Well, you're stuck with hearing from me again, Stefanie. And this is a long one.
August, the hottest month of the year wasn't very hot! And now it's over, which
means summer is over which saddens me greatly!
Anyway, we started off August with a full schedule - a gig every weekend, particularly at 2 clubs, one
in White Plains, one in Peekskill. Now I don't want to rant here, but both clubs cancelled all of our gigs!
They cancelled on short notice,
no less, one of them a mere 2 days before the gig.
Can you say "contract"? We didn't. We should have!
Oh well...moving on...
Bitter End, Saturday, August 8th: We love this room.
This was one of our best gigs in a long time. The sound was great, everyone in the group
had tremendous energy (we missed Natalie, though!) And the audience was diggin' it.
Another one of those gigs I personally live for.
On the 11th, Kim and I finally were able to catch Particle Zoo, e-pals of ours also from Jersey.
We popped down to the Baggot Inn (NYC) after rehearsal. They were excellent. Be sure to check them
out when you have the chance. Trippy rock with crispy vocals and mesmerizing harmonies - that's
the best way I can describe them. If you go to our "links" page,
you can link to their website there.
But let me rewind to August 18th. This date marked our second appearance at the 6th Annual
GM Building Concert Series. This was an outdoor event held in the restaraunt downstairs at
GM Plaza. Do
you remember the weather that day? Of course you don't, so I will refresh your memory.
It started off humid and hot and hazy, but no rain.
In fact, it did not start raining until just after we had all our equipment set up, had done our
sound check and were ready to play our first song! Fortunately, the people running the
restaraunt were very kind and gave us an ample supply of large garbage bags which we used to cover
all our equipment. When the rain stopped, which it did, we played our first set and made it all
the way through. Doreen Younglove graced us with her voice at this gig, once again, so the
vocals were VERY full. We got a lot of compliments from total strangers, sold some tapes, etc, started
our second set, and then....it rained again! Like army ants, the members of bn9 scurried about
covering everything in site. I was thrilled to see how cooperative and supportive the members
of this band are with one another.
And all in all, it was actually really fun! The audience
was great, too (except for the artful "check dodger" - private joke !!! ) Many people hung around huddling under
their umbrellas until the rain subsided yet again! We quickly jumped back up for one last set,
but the rain came back, this time with a vengeance, halfway through the song "All the Way". It was
challenging figuring out how to end a song on the fly. I never took the course on "how to end a song
at any point in the song in case of rain." But we managed! Thanks to everyone who came out
and stayed and special thanks to Glen & Jackie for shooting video!
Thanks to my Mom, Dolores, for shooting photos of us at our last minute
appearance at the Madison Avenue street fair on the 30th (and for making sure the news
cameras caught her on tape standing behind Rudy Giuliani wearing her blue number nine cap!)
We got a phone
call on Tuesday the 25th. We knew Everett & joAnn would be out of town, but none
of us had ever done a Manhattan street fair before so we really wanted to do it.
Fortunately, we found a fill in bass player and pulled it off (though
we really missed Everett!) Doreen came and sang with us, too.
It turned out to be a total success. Thanks so much to our fans who came, and to our
new fans who signed our mailing list and to everyone who hung out in the hot sun and
jammed on our music. Some guy told me, "You're like the female Mick Jagger." What a
compliment!
Our schedule for September is pretty sparse. We're returning to the Boulevard Pub
in Lake Hapatcong on September 11th and we'll be in NYC on the 25th of September and
then all over NJ in October. Be sure to catch us on Sept. 25th and come early because we'll
be treating people to pizza! But it's first come, first served.
That's about it. For anyone wondering what's up with the CD we've been talking about
for so long now, my answer is this: we have been saving money, but still don't have enough.
We've been doing many "re-makes", much to my chagrin, in an effort to get gigs that pay. I don't
understand why one must do "re-makes" in order to get paid, but it seems to have worked for The
Fugees ("killing me softly"), Mariah Carey ("I'll Be There") and practically every other artist
that is extremely popular right now! Guess what, though...You can you help change this
bizarre phenomenon. How? By coming out to bn9 shows
and cheering us on when we play our original tunes. We play them better than the re-makes anyway,
as anyone who's been there knows! And of course, we sound even better when you're there.
Thanks so much to everyone who has offered their loyal support. This business is not for the faint
of heart or stomach! It's like a nauseating rollercoaster ride at times. You
make the ride bearable, you make the hard times worth it.
Peace & all my love,
Stefanie
Letters from the past:
July, 1998 (from Stefanie)
June, 1998 (from Natalie)
May, 1998 (from Stefanie)
April, 1998 (from Susan)
March, 1998 (from JoAnn)
February, 1998 (from Kim)
January, 1998 (from Stefanie)
December, 1997 (from Stefanie)
Background pattern courtesy of scruffy puppy.
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