Thanks for clicking the "more" link.  I wanna tell you I really want to start blogging more regularly again.  There’s always the feeling that I want to keep my private life private and not say stupid-ass things lest they end up getting used as pull-quotes in all my record reviews…!!  But on the other hand I’ve been feeling weird about this blog for ten years straight and it ain’t never stopped me before, or not for long.  I do plenty of stuff in public anyway, why not talk about that at least?  And maybe, a little about what’s going on with me if I feel like sharing.  Unfortunately at the moment I got nothin’.  I had a very quiet Thanksgiving.  There you go, whoo-hoo!  Bloggage.  :-P

Yep I guess I’m going a little stir crazy what with all this gloomy weather, another Chicago winter looming ahead.  Don’t quite know what to do with myself these days, now that the hubbub of the record release is over.  But I’m enjoying the feeling too ‘cuz pretty soon I’ll be touring for like sixty-eight weeks straight!  And who am I kidding, I love being at home doing my thing.  I’ll be missing that solitude when I’m on the road, for sure.

I haven’t been super isolated though, just a little bored maybe.  I have been making the effort to get out and hang with friends a little, and talking on the phone a lot, with Lucie, Sarah, Alyce… Eric too of course, he’s been really sweet and supportive the past few weeks.  We’re keeping in touch just about every day and have hung out four or five times both with other people and just the two of us.  A few tears involved but no big drama (I wouldn’t talk about it if there were).  It all seems very healthy and amiable, in the truest sense of the word… es un hombre bien amable, y lo estoy amando como un amigo.  So that’s about as good an outcome as either of us could hope for.  I mean it hurts of course, because we wanted it to work out, it’s a big disappointment.  But all in all this has been a piece of cake as far as breakups go, unlike some others I can think of!!  No third parties, no shared household or pets or merged record collection to split up.  It was just a regular boring ol’ it-didn’t-work-out kinda thing.  So that’s a big relief for me, in retrospect.  And it greatly increases the chances that we’ll remain good friends as it was intended.  He wasn’t the one for me but that’s okay… I’m resuming my assumption that my partner in crime is out there somewhere and will make himself apparent to me at some point.  In the meantime I have so much work to do, and a lot of good friends to hang out with if I want to.  Including Eric, whom I still love and respect a whole lot, and vice versa!  He’s a fun guy, super smart and creative and goal-oriented, and a real bon vivant too, super fun to be around.  Great friends too.  I’ve really enjoyed being a part of that world for the past year and I’m psyched that there’ll be plenty more good times to come.  We have a lot in the bank, it’s a solid friendship, and that’s a gift that I so appreciate.  Plus he kinda raises the bar as far as the kind of guy I would ever want to date in the future.  I don’t think that’s a bad thing…

Speaking of friendship, I had an awesome little sushi party on the day the CD was released… Eric helped me pull it together, not that there was much to organize.  We just sent out e-mails and commandeered a restaurant for a few hours.  I never do that, I don’t have parties!! But this was the most fun I’ve had in I don’t know how long.  Over a dozen people showed up — some folks who worked on the record (Laura, Emmett, Josh and Jason), some Drag City folks (Dan K and Zach), some of my gal-pals (Sarah and Sheila) and of course Eric and a few good pals I met through him (Geoff and Nell and Emerson).  There was wine and beer, there were multiple toasts called out, a bouquet of flowers from Laura and scratch-off lottery tickets for everyone.  Very good times.

So yeah, that left me feeling really great, and so blessed to have all these amazing people swarmin’ around me.  I’ve been in Chicago nine years now and I’ve had my finger in a lotta pies, mingling in many different social circles that overlap each other through music.  That group was just scratchin’ the surface, a lot of good friends and bandmates couldn’t come that night… these are all such great people.  Creative, funny, talented and fascinating folks.  I’m really lucky to know them, and even more fortunate to be able to work with these people to make this album I’m so proud of.  Just having the chance to celebrate a job well done, it’s the best feeling.  And this is a big milestone for me after all; it’s been a long time coming, a lot of blood sweat ‘n’ tears.  It’s a special record, it captures a mood that I think will easily resonate with a lot of people.  So it worked out well.  I think it does a pretty good job of painting a picture of where I’m at today, even though the songs were written over the course of many years, and I sure wasn’t in that mindset when I recorded it six months ago!  Just coincidence it ended up that way I’m sure.  :-|

The Hothouse show on the 19th went great too.  It was the perfect amount of people; all the tables were filled up and and some people were standing but it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded.  The opening bands were excellent, though I couldn’t pay much attention what with all the smoking and pacing in circles looking worried… heheh.  I’m always like that before a show.  But it went fine.  The band was awesome, it was me on my blue 335, Emmett on electric guitar too, Ryan on bass, Jason on drums and Lindsay on keyboards and backups.  She had her digital keyboard set up next to the baby grand so she could play either one.  It turned into a longass show, like an hour and a half.  We played the whole album front to back — might as well, it’s a release show and it sure cuts down on the decision-making!  Then we played the two songs that ended up as outtakes, then the two cover songs that were on my Demos album.  For the encore we did a couple older songs, "Telescopic" (with Jason doing his sweet melodica thing), and Cars & Parties.  We had a little problem with the mikes early in the set but after that the sound was just so beautiful, what a great room.  I think it’s about 300 capacity so it’s a pretty big room but the acoustics are nice and airy and crisp.  My pal Mike Sturgess did sound — he’s a musician too, he fronts the band Clyde Federal.  But he’s my favorite soundman in town and knows my shit the best.  I mean, he’s done sound at the majority of the Chicago shows I’ve played over the past five years or so, therefore he knows what it’s supposed to sound like, what we’re liable to need in our monitors etc.  I barely ever have to say anything to the guy, he just knows what we need, and if there’s a problem he’s right on top of it.  He might as well be another bandmember, I’ve been working with him so long.  So that was great.  We played well too, far as I could tell.  I was singing well (even though I’m SMOKING again goddammit!!) and played almost all my chords correctly, though I did screw up the words a little here and there.  Blanked out on a couple of lines and had to make something up in a few unexpected places, but it worked out okay.  I don’t worry about it as long as it rhymes.

What else have I done?  Last week I tagged along with Brandon to see "The Squid and the Whale"… it started out as a bowling party but everybody bailed so he decided to make it a movie party instead.  It was good too, and the ending was a nice surprise.  I won’t spoil it but I had heard from Eric that this was a a very sad film, and then I heard the same thing from Donna, one of his roommates.  And Brandon had heard the same thing from two other people!  And it was sad, but I think we were both sitting there waiting for something REALLY awful to happen.  So the ending was kind of a surprise and a relief, we were both expecting all hell to break loose.

Oh and guess what I did at the beginning of that crazy-ass release week?  I went to Electrical to do backups on a couple of songs for Daniel Smith.  Both the songs were really cool and I really enjoyed the task, doing that kind of fast-paced, clipped style of singing.  Some crazy harmonies in there, it was a lot of fun, and it was great working with Dan and Steve too.  We’re all friends and pros, we all know the routine so it’s a nice jovial atmosphere for gettin’ things done.  I really dig getting the chance to work in a lot of different styles, i.e. contrasting this with the very languid singing I did earlier in the month with Barry and Pramod for a new Morning Recordings album.  Or the country harmony I did on the Canasta record, and the really balls-to-the-wall one I came up with for "Impostors" at their release show at Subterranean.  I guess I just really get off on playing music in general, and the physical act of singing in particular.  It’s an activity that requires (and enhances) physical and mental and spiritual energy all at once.  I dig it.  I have a good job.

And that’s enough catching up for now I reckon!  Heheh.  Went off at the mouth a little didn’t I.  :-)

We played to some HUGEass audiences by my standards; there were I think 2200 paid at Stubb’s, and it seemed like at least a thousand at the other two shows, though I didn’t ask.  And those people were so quiet, so respectful, such a pleasure to play for.  It made me really want to kick out the jams for them, so I did.  :-) This was the first time I’ve ever gone off to play solo in another town… I played some solo shows last spring on the way down to SXSW, but that doesn’t count ‘cuz Eric was there with me (both in the car and on the bill).  This time I was all by my lonesome, but it worked out great.  Well, I wasn’t entirely solo anyway; I sweet-talked Calexico’s pedal steel player Paul Niehaus into helping me out on a few songs at the end of my set.  That really put it over the top, I wanted to take that guy home with me, dude.  Some people just cannot play a bad note.  Really sweet guy too, and I feel bad ‘cuz I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to him before I left.  Oh Paul, thank you so much if you read this!!  I’m sure you’ll be totally embarrassed that I’m talking about you like this, ha ha!!

The whole night of music was just so beautiful.  Sam was playing with his sister Sara on harmonies and little percussioney things, and omigod theirs is one of the most achingly gorgeous sounds in the universe.  Must be that family thing, the voices just melt together like buttah.  And getting the whole Calexico experience with the horns and vibraphone and everything… I’d only seen them before as the John’n'Joey 2-piece (I played with them in Tucson one time that way, and Philly another time).  It was pretty damn impressive to witness the full-on treatment.  Fuckin’ awesome.  And then everybody joins together and it’s just this mini rock orchestra up there, with giant movies being projected behind them… eagles flying, horses running, horses fighting (or fucking? hard to tell), carousel horses going round and round.  The stuff of my dreams, basically.  Oh, it was just neat-o.  They invited me onstage again at the end of the show for a big group singalong of… what else?  "Wild Horses." I had that frickin’ song going through my head so bad on the way home to Chicago, and all day the next!  I’ll never be able to hear that tune again without singing along, I bet.

There were I think 13 of us traveling together in a little convoy of vans plus cargo trailer.  Four girls including me, and nine guys.  We all got along so great!  Oh, they were all so sweet to me, I love ‘em all.  Of course I already knew John and Joey are great guys, and I already knew Howard, and Troy too… he’d drummed in a tour I did with Danielle Howle some years back.  So right away there’s four big hugs and I’m shuffled into a group of people that I already know.  And the people I hadn’t met were equally friendly and welcoming, it was like we’d all been in this little traveling circus for years.  No drama queens in the bunch, they were all total soldiers workin’ hard and pitchin’ in helping each other GTD.  I guess by now they’ve all been working together so long they’ve got the combo exactly right.  It was great to see that.  I’ve always have pretty good luck in that department too but it’s cool to see it scaled upward, to a dozen people instead of just five or six in one van, the way I usually travel.

I shared a hotel room with Sara one night and we sat up talking a bit, that was cool.  But that night I was coughing a lot from a cold I had the week before, and I was afraid it was too annoying for her.  She claimed she slept through it but I still felt bad so I asked Howard to switch me out the next night with someone else.  He put me with Deborah, the gal who was doing the video stuff, she kinda had a little cough too so it was okay.  She was just as fun as Sara to roomie with, we laid in our beds watching trashy TV ’til we went to sleep.  Hawaii 5-0 mixed with CNN and "Fatal Attraction", good times.  Plus she dosed me up with Nyquil so I didn’t cough at all, got a good night’s sleep.  Ahhh.

During the day I was riding in the Iron & Wine van, from Tulsa to Fort Worth, and from there to Austin.  Sam was driving both days — I’m kinda picky about my drivers but he’s really good, I trusted him immediately so I stuck with them again on the 2nd day.  Very stable driver, yes.  Just to make sure though, I rode shotgun on the way to Texas, whereupon he invited me to DJ with my iPod.  I LOVE being the DJ!!  So all day I play song after song after song.  I played a whole shitload of stuff off the different CDs I made for the Rock For Kids auctions, plus the "future RFK" playlist I’m currently assembling.  (Speaking of which, hey Clay, can I post that 3rd tracklist now?) Bounced a lot of other tracks in there too, just a big mish-mash of stuff I love.  Was getting lots of "who is this? this is great!" comments… that is, until I started in on the really challenging stuff, heheh.  I think the annoying segment of our show started with "Yodeling Robot" by Ed Sanders.  That was bad enough, but then came the tongue twisters.  Poor Sam!!  He sat through Dr. Seuss "Fox In Socks" without comment, then "Sister Suzie’s Sewing Shirts For Soldiers" by Billy Murray.  Which is a lot to tolerate.  But then I gave him "Court of King Caractacus" by Rolf Harris (the "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" guy)… it’s one of those recursive songs that keeps getting longer and longer, and faster and faster.  We got about 3/4 of the way through it… "NOWWWW the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses of the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus… were just passing by!  All together now…!" The whole van squirms, and Sam finally speaks up.  "Tag!!  I have to call tag." And turns the volume down halfway.  I was laughing so hard!!  Yup, I have found the great bearded one’s musical breaking point.  It is Rolf Harris.  Not too shabby!  People have shut me down for MUCH less annoying music than that.  :-D I told him not to worry and quickly switched to something else: the perfect antidote being my boyfriend Eric’s song "Is That Star Wars?" Thank god it worked, everybody calmed down and stopped wanting to scratch out my eyeballs so I was able to continue from there.  But the volume never went up too high after that, I was paying the price.  Daa-hahaha!!!  I deserved it, I know.

So ANYWAY yeah, this was such a great experience for me, I had a super fun time.  I’d do it again with them in a heartbeat, and maybe I will!  We’ll see.  But either way I’m really happy with how it turned out.  It’s got me all excited about everything that’s coming up too.  Now I have my guitar chops and my voice back in shape, and I’m all jazzed up about the release show and the touring and all that.  I know for sure I can play these tunes really well, so I know they’ll be even better at the Hothouse with my fantabulous bandmates helping me out.  We’re setting up a bunch of rehearsals now… we’ll probably have three or four full band ones plus maybe a couple of one-on-one rehearsalettes I might want to do with Lindsay and/or Emmett.  The band is gonna be those two (Lindsay on piano/keys and background vox, Emmett on guitar) plus the rhythm section, Ryan on bass and Jason on drums. I really fuckin’ wanted to ask every person who played on the record but that would’ve been eleven people, too much of a clusterfuck onstage and too much of a pain in the ass for the poor soundman, and for rehearsing.  Had to keep it simple though it pains me not to ask others, especially Hasbrouck!!  And Do-rock on pedal steel would be so nice too, and Azita on piano and Josh on upright, and Mark, oh man.  But I just can’t.  Arghhh.  This’ll be a really good combo though, I do think it’s a good choice if I have to narrow it down to just a few.  I haven’t had a chance to play a show with Emmett before, I’m especially looking forward to that.  Whiz kid, that one.  And Lindsay’s the total sugar on top, I love playing with her.

This is going to be a busy couple of weeks for sure, even without the rehearsals.  Lotta press stuff, and a few music things here and there to keep me off the streets. Tomorrow (=today) I’m recording with Pramod, doing backups for Morning Recordings.  I haven’t learned the songs yet, eeek!!!  But it’ll be fine, I’ll learn ‘em in the car on the way to the studio like I always do, heheh.  Week after next I’m doing the same for Daniel Smith, with Steve over at Electrical.  It’ll be fun to see both of them again.  I’ve never recorded with Dan before, though I have done backups for him live, the time me and Amy toured with him and Elin back in ’99 or whenever that was.  I was always hoping I’d get to work with him again so I’m really excited it’s finally going to happen.

Edith Frost: WONDER WONDER
©2001 Drag City #DC209 (CD and LP)
Reviews • Lyrics
Purchase the CD or LP at Drag City, or get the CD on Amazon
MP3s are available from iTunes and Amazon

My third album, also released in Japan on P-Vine.

Produced by Rian Murphy
Engineered by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio Recording, Chicago, Illinois
All songs by Edith Frost, published by Marfa Music (BMI)
Mastered by John Golden
Cover image by Deborah Moore
Other photos by Mark Nomura
Layout by Dan Osborn

Musicians: Amy Domingues, Steve Dorocke, Edith Frost, Mark Greenberg, Ryan Hembrey, Glenn Kotche, Bill Lowman, Paul Mertens, Rian Murphy, Archer Prewitt, Rick Rizzo, Susan Voelz

Songs: True; Cars and Parties; Who; Wonder Wonder; Hear My Heart; The Fear; Dreamers; Further; Merry Go Round; Easy to Love; Honey Please; You’re Decided

Reviewed by Colin Berry on NPR’s All Things Considered, July 31, 2001

I did backup vocals on the songs "Breakout", "For a Friend", "Elephant Candy", and "What Do You Want The Girl To Do".  I may be on others as well. The lead singer of Chestnut Station is my old friend Rian Murphy, who also produced my records Calling Over Time, Love is Real and Wonder Wonder.

This is a four-song 12" EP / CD-EP.  I did backups on all 4 songs, along with a whole bunch of other singers like Bill Callahan (Smog), Kelly Hogan, Archer Prewitt, and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab).

A review by Jeff DeRoche which appeared in the 9/14/2000 issue of The Stranger (Seattle, WA)…

Rian really fucked up.  He failed to book Steve for recording in September, so now if we want to work with him we have to wait until November or December.  Bummer!!  But I’m still excited to record with Steve.  Wait’ll I tell Jodi Shapiro, she’s gonna flip.

Saw more old friends this weekend… Daniel Smith was at Electrical mixing the new Danielson Family record with Albini.  I went over there with John on Saturday to hang out and hear a few of the tunes, it sounded really great.  That’s when I bumped into Rian and we all had the discussion on when/if we should schedule recording at Electrical.  I was so pissed at Rian; I spent the better part of the weekend just seething about it.  Hopefully we’ll get it scheduled ASAP and I’ll be able to rest a little easier.  Rian feels pretty bad about it too, he even apologized to John for pissing me off!!

Amy Domingues played with Threnody Ensemble at the Bottle last night, and spent the night with us afterward.  John had to go to work today of course, but Amy wanted to go thrifting so we went to Roscoe & Damen.  She was looking for a skirt and found a cool one at the Sally for only 65 cents!!  So she felt okay about spending $5 at Shangri La for a coordinating top.  (grin) We had lunch at Costello’s and she took off early this afternoon.  They’re playing in St. Louis tonight, on their way to Seattle in a few days.