my going away party

This is almost a month overdue, but I have been crazy busy (obviously) so I am playing catchup.

Well, in short, I got a job in NYC and had two weeks to pack, find a place, and relocate. Naturally the only time I had aside from work, were shows. And what more fitting way to say goodbye than to rock out in style? Dec 28, 2004 - Akiva, The Jane Anchor, and Omnisoul at the Grape. Booyyyyaaaaaa!!!

This was no doubtedly going to be a hot show, but combine it with my going away party and the forces come out. It was great to have most of my good friends in attendence, and though it wasn't a goodbye, it was one hell of a way to say "see you later!". Epler drove me up there and en route I had told him that I was surprised that Akiva hadn't called me yet since I am his navigational system. Five minutes later I got the call. We all got there safely and for the most part timely.

It was kinda barren when Epler and I got to the venue, but it still was early. I saw Derek first and met some of his friends from home, then met up with John Faye in the green room before seeing Akiva own the acoustic room. His room was pretty full, which actually surprised me. I honestly thought we would have a low turnout, especially since most of my friends hadn't even arrived yet. I saw with Derek and his friends, with John and Jim Johnson behind me. I was really glad that they all got to see the kid I have been pushing on them perform live. Akiva mentioned Omnisoul before he left the stage and apologized for not knowing any of the other band names...Derek replied by saying, "it's ok, Omnisoul is the only band that matters!" I laughed...though I don't know if the room thought it was a joke or not because no one else laughed. Oh well, Derek's mostly right.

As always, we spent most of the night running around the Grape. Maryann got me a Wawa gift card (yay) and Aurora got me a bunch of fun stuff to take with me on the road. Including a metal lunch box (yay). Let's see....who was there....well, we said Epler, Derek, Jim, John, Akiva, Aurora, Jackman, Maryann, Steve, Michelle, Jason, Chris Morita & family, Matt, Tanya, Shaun, Dan, Matt LoPresto, I know I am forgetting people, but I have a headache.

I missed most of the Jane Anchor's set, but enough to hear my two favorites - Venus and Emily. Then I think I played erotic mega touch with Mike Tate in the green room. It was giving us free games, so we had to rock the 80's style soft core porn. I also videotape important Omnisoul gigs, so I grabbed the camera to film the backstage shenanigans...who knows how that turned out. Oh yeah, Ritchie Rubini (producer/drummer) and Terry Thompkins (Columbia) also came and gave me a lot of awesome industry advice for NYC. Terry told me to listen to every phone call and meeting that I can because I will learn so much from it.

Omnisoul came on and rocked the fucking house. I filmed it all and got some great shots of them performing in front of a solid packed crowd. I swear their live show is getting phenomenal and their new arrangements set them apart from the rest. I'm so very proud of the Omniguys.

Afterwards I was walking around with Akiva when I run into GLENN FUCKING MOBLEY. Glenn was the film director I worked with (along with Aurora, Marissa, Jen, and Epler) on the IKE music video. He was in from L.A. visiting family, got my email about the show and "party", and came out. Fantastic! It was definitely a highlight of the night.

I couldn't have asked for a better Tuesday complete with great friends, awesome music, and a fabulous way to officially say good-bye to Philadelphia.