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We used to look down at this place. I mean literally. From our little eyrie (alas, now defunct) in Barton Centre, a certain 6th floor balcony that is now, perhaps, part of popular Banga-lore. Way back when in those black & white times, a Blue Fox hid out there, some kind of phamily restaurant, I believe. We actually saw L’attitude being built, and Suraj (Motherjane) was the cool guy who did all the AC work. It’s now Smartini, and we played there last night.

Sound guys SoundAce weren’t really on the ball. Not even sniffing distance, actually. Just managed to pull it off. And, dear readers, if ever you play at Smartini, remember not to hit a Bb note on stage. It cries wolf.

People were trickling in – a lot of the crowd was probably at the Max Mueller Jazz gig – heck we’d have liked to go too! And the smart folks at Smartini weren’t letting stags in. And stopping folks who didn’t have ‘invites’ (which were only available inside Smartini, I think).

Was a fun gig for us though – relaxed and easy. Played some new songs – 1996 – to good response. Had to sing really hard – could barely hear vox on monitors. Don’t like that situation. Feel like you’re not in control. Tony took nice solo on Intermission. Nate was cooking too.

Went to Church St. Empire afterward, hoping that a certain young Nick didn’t choose that night for a bit of bohemian bullying, with full parental backing.

What a joke. Bijoy’s hilarious catty puns set the tone nicely, I think, for this JAM CAT thing. As far as concerts go, it was more like what the cat dragged in.

Among the hairballs was V&P sound. When are these guys gonna get their cat together? On stage sound was boomy, undefined and messy, despite tons of spanking new equipment. What the crowd (there was a decent-sized one) heard is anybody’s guess. They cheered us on pretty loudly, especially after Look At Me, Sanity, and Paper Puli, so I guess it wasn’t completely terrible.

There were a few wayward souls throwing paper balls and those little skinny paper rockets on stage for laughs. Annoying. One particular sharp-eyed shmuck almost got said paper ball into the bell of Nate’s Sax! Nate, in his own words: “I was really mad – until I figured that the guy almost made the shot!”

Played a short set – we were asked to finish early. Galeej was supposed to get on next, but The Unknowns somehow got that slot. Messy altercation and some fisticuffs backstage, and the next thing we know, Galeej aren’t playing at all. Bummer.

That about sums it up. If you weren’t there, you didn’t miss much.