While The Band’s Away…

The band is now in Austin, TX, preparing for their SxSW showcase at the Phoenix tomorrow night. And here I am in Mifflintown, PA, holding down the CCB fort, writing to you. I’m really wallowing in self-pity, wishing that I could be in Austin…In a way, I feel like Ken Mattingly, the astronaut who was originally slated to be a pilot for the Apollo 13 mission. Mattingly was exposed to rubella (German measles) and was unable to take part in the mission (No, I don’t have German measles). When the mission ran into problems, Mattingly helped the crew solve the problem of power conservation during the astronauts’ re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. He did his part from afar. But I digress…

Anyway, I thought I’d make use of this time to take care of some things – from afar. I’m working on my first keyboard model – the SP-6,000,013,333, which will make its debut later this month (Inside Joke)! Work on the CCB’s debut album is also in store, while the band is away.

I know many stories from the group’s SxSW trip are on the way, but we did have quite an eventful weekend in early March. I’m here to tell you about this. On March 4, we played at the Cameo in Brooklyn. In terms of the performance, there was nothing that made it stand out., but the excitement occurred before the show…

Newman, Grant and I were making our way back from the van to the venue when, all of a sudden, we found ourselves in the middle of a riot! We were across the street from the Cameo, and we noticed some commotion. I first noticed a group of people grabbing scraps of wood and trash from a dumpster. They began throwing the garbage in the street, smacking the planks of wood against the ground. At first, I was confused, but I didn’t think much of it. We passed a man, with a bandana covering his face, standing in the middle of the street. There was something threatening about this man, and I could see the intensity in his eyes. A strange smell began to fill my nostrils, and the air became foggy. I noticed Grant and Newman looking at something to my right and I could see the confusion and bewilderment on their faces. When I finally turned my head to see what they were staring at, I saw two other men further down the street, with smoke bombs in their hands. They, too, had bandanas covering their faces. Grant began speaking – “I think this is a…a…I think we’re in the middle of a…a…” He struggled to find the word, but I knew exactly what he was trying to say. I finished his sentence – “A Riot!”

All of a sudden, the rioters with the smoke bombs smashed the windows of the American Apparel store nearby. They began slashing the tires of the parked cars lining the street. Bystanders were scattering to get out of the way. A few patrons of the Cameo were outside of the bar, smoking cigarettes. They began yelling – “Everyone get inside! Get inside!!!” We ran into the bar, and the doors were locked behind us. It was certainly an intense moment. To this day, I don’t know what they were protesting, and that was the first thought that popped into my head as I found myself in the middle of the commotion. It was a wild time for 3/5 of the CCB!

The rest of the weekend went smoothly. On March 5, we recorded at Grand Street Recording in Brooklyn. We received 3 free hours of studio time as a reward for being named Deli Magazine’s Band of the Month in November. 3 hours is not much time in the studio world, and we didn’t get much accomplished, but it was still a great experience. The studio was amazing, and the engineers were really nice guys. We attempted to record our two newest songs…

Later that night, we played at Norwood in Manhattan, and we had a blast! The crowd was energetic and we got great vibes from them. As live performers, we can agree that an audience’s energy fuels our energy. I can safely say that it was probably the most fun I’ve had in my experiences with the CCB. As midnight came about, so did my birthday. Norwood was definitely a great place to celebrate! Newman’s birthday was the following day, so a heavy celebration was in order.

The next day, we made our way back to PA – we performed at Green Gables that night in Lewistown, which is always fun. Overall, it was a great weekend, and an eventful one, to say the least.

That’s all I’ve got on my end. I’m looking forward to the band’s return.

Stay tuned for more stories from the band’s SxSW trip.

Sam