Welcome To October

Welcome to October
I welcome you with a rainstorm
Things are getting colder
So you should all stay indoors
Welcome to a new month
I welcome you with a deadline
Say hello to shortcuts
Because you no longer have time

...

Welcome to October
I welcome you with a schedule
First regrets are over
There's no more need to retool
Welcome to the first day
I welcome you with a sleepwalk
Say hello to pouring rain
And there's no more need for the small talk

Lyrics for DEAR

Ciao, tutti!

Four items of business:

1) I have to make a correction for last post. Two corrections, actually. My mother gave me an impassioned call making clear the point that she had, in fact, made gnocchi successfully by herself. And she made it for 20 people for a passover dinner. So here are the two corrections: a) Mom did make gnocchi by herself before I could, and b) She actually is competitive about it.

2) It turns out that I have a concert with Flaming Fire earlier than I expected. Yesterday I discovered that we are playing a show on... tomorrow, actually. Welcome to October, Sam! The venue is Coco66, which means absolutely nothing to me. But if you know something about it, like where it is and how to get there, then come by around 9 pm and you'll get to see my debut as a Flaming Fire member and as a bassist, as well as hear one of our new tunes, 4th of July. Check it out. Here's the official email:

The Official Email (yes, that shaking you're feeling is definitely fear)

Hey!

We're playing a surprise show (to us, even) tomorrow at Coco66 at 9 PM in Greenpoint. This'll be our first gig with our new amazing bass player Sam Goldsmith who is stellar, we like him a lot. He just turned 21, so say happy birthday. Other bands include our good pals from Memphis, Esque, as well as Free Blood and Papercuts. We'll debut a new song we've been working on for a couple months called "4th of July," and it sounds great, thanks to incredible arrangements by Stirling Krusing and Justina Flash. I'm really, really happy about it.

Hey, Leon & Brian Dewan just sold a Dewantaron instrument to some gentleman from Magnetic Fields. So now, everyone's gonna sound like Flaming Fire. Darn it! Congrats, Leon and Brian!

In other news, Flaming Fire is very close to signing a deal with a Brooklyn arts organization to do a month-long installation from mid November to mid December! Would you like to be a part of this? If so, please email me. We need lots of help, and promise it'll be fun and very entertaining. It'll be part Disneyworld, part temple of (insert your idea here).

Look forward to a new website thanks to FF percussionist/genius Chris Theise, that we promise to update a lot more than our current one...

Oh, we have new red tshirts for sale! They look like the one above, are American Apparel, are available in either gold and black , and in man or woman styles (girl sleeves pictured, just in case you weren't sure from Amanda's boyish figure). If you'd like one, please paypal katehambrecht@hotmail.com $15, and let us know what size and color. We've sold more than half at recent shows, so I encourage you get one now, before we start to run out of certain styles/sizes.

Lauren Weinstein and Tim Hodler now have a beautiful baby girl named Ramona Salley Hodler. She is very purdy, and we're all in love with her.

And finally, band friend Gabe Galvin is mixing our album this month! He's bunkered down in a tenement basement somewhere in manhattan, and has resolved to not leave the house till he finishes the album before November 1! Go get 'em Gabe! He'll be sending us some new rough mixes each week, which we'll be sharing with you guys soon...look for something new on the website next week.

See you tomorrow!

Love,
Patrick

End Official Email

Patrick, for those of you who don't know, is the singer dude with the magnificent Kyp Malone-like beard in the picture I posted in the last update. Just so you can put a face to the literary/email voice.

3) I will be participating in the High School Law Institute again this year, where I will kill my Saturday mornings (aka. Friday nights) by team-teaching Constitutional law to high schoolers with students at the NYU Law School. That starts in two days, right after the gig, so I won't get to stay after with the band and enjoy my 21-ness. (Well, it's okay! Because I got to have a shot with them after practice on Wednesday, so I guess you can say I really did celebrate. And I didn't even get drunk! Just a little happier.)

I know a couple of the teachers I'm working with from before, and they're both good people, although I'm the only undergrad in the group with prior experience with the HSLI. On top of that, the law student I was working with last year is now the president of the program. Life is sweet as Halloween candy. On the other hand, I guess I have to read the Constitution again.

4) As of right now, I have no plans for a recital date. Stop asking. It only makes me worry.

Come to the show tomorrow if you can! And even if you can't, too. Couldn't hurt.

-Sam goldsmith

You walk the silent stairs
That you never saw
Then you realize