Sweatpants at the Cake Shop in NYC

This is from when we played up at the Cake Shop back in August. My friend Joe took it. I remember that it was very hot when we played and I would sweat a lot on stage so I wore a headband like Mark Knopfler. At one show I didn't wear it and I went blind with wet eyes.

I was very nervous playing this show because I had never played in NYC before and something about NYC seems "for real," like I felt some pressure to do it up for real. Normally I don't mind not feeling like a real band. In general I have thought of Sweatpants as a "fun thing to do" and actually, over the last year, as a way to beat out frustration and stress. Playing with Dave and Jamie is a great way to release tension that builds up from the publishing biz.

Playing in NYC, on the other hand, was very tense and nervewracking. Also my friend-from-way-back, Josh, was at the show. That's his head there in the foreground on the left. Next to him, with the girl-hair, is Leah. Josh and I were in our first bands together. In high school we played as Rocktommy. I stole a couple of the riffs in Sweatpants songs from Josh's songs over the years. We even cover one of his songs. I was hoping he wouldn't be angry.

After the show we went outside where there was a rolled-up carpet, and I whacked my friend Bill with it. Then Bill took it and threw it at me and Leah like a missile and knocked us both over. Leah was here last week and I asked her did she get any bruises from that night and she laughed and said yes. I had a bruise that was shaped like a rolled-up carpet.

We went to some bar, a kind of famous one, and got into a barfight. Some guy on the dance floor bumped into Bill and I asked Bill did he want me to take the guy down and Bill said yeah so I tackled the guy and straddled him. I was careful to tackle him gently. The guy laughed and so did I. Then I think someone tackled Josh. We were in a pretty famous bar in Manhattan and everyone was tackling each other.

I was just getting waters at the bar and the bartender was like you better tip. I tipped her a lot of money. Then Jamie and Bill and I drove to Philadelphia but only made it halfway and stayed in a Budget Inn.