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SEXPOSÉ: The Gentle Readers 1998 Diary Archives

• February/March 1998 Edition
• May/June 1998 Edition
• July/August 1998 Edition
• October 1998 Edition
• December 1998 Edition

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Now, for the rest of you - friends, thank you for making 1998 our best year ever. I think Susan and I started playing together in 1992, so we're entering our eighth year at this. In 1999, we're going to make and release our third record (again on Flat Earth Records, unless Indiana is ravaged by pestilence and disease, affecting at least two of the following: Kyle, Allan, Jay or Brandon), and we're going to be out playing lots. As of December 22, 1998, I am day job-free. I spent 1998 making significant enhancements to relationships with friends and family, knowing that I would need meals and places to stay. Susan too is about to burst the bonds of security, and we're trying to persuade Linda and Greg to do the same. I should mention here that Linda Bolley will be playing drums with us always and forever full-time for the rest of her natural life, which is tremendous.

We played several times last month - here are the highlights:

Dark Horse - I don't know if we've ever played so well. We were the first band of three, and we were so giddy that we stayed and drank and embraced until 3 o'clock in the morning. I think that we embraced pretty much everyone in the bar, upstairs and down. Greg and his girlfriend disappeared while Susan and Linda and I laughed and laughed with big drooly smiles.

Smith's - We opened for Mary Cutrufello, the black, female, ivy-league educated Bruce Springsteen. I remember several things about this night: my bra strap fell and kind of pinned my arm to my side, making it very difficult to play guitar. Susan talked about the upcoming surprise party I was throwing her for her birthday, and Mary Cutrufello played about 2 1/2 hours, including four covers and a couple of dissertations on passion and how rock and roll can save your soul. I, for one, do not believe that rock and roll can save your soul. I have a hard time responding when a performer yells out to a crowd "Do you like rock & roll?" It creeps me out. Maybe I do, maybe I don't. It's my secret, though (lean in so I can whisper in your ear) I probably didn't come here for the food.

Otherside - We played with Nillah, a fine band, and we played two sets. I'm not going to say anything dumb or snide about our experience here - we had a really good time, though I'm not sure we got paid enough. I'm fairly certain we did not.

Our record continues to do well at college radio stations across the country, but especially in the Northeast. We hope to be playing a couple of shows in January with John Strohm, also on Flat Earth Records. I cannot recommend his new record (due out after the first of the year) highly enough. Also, please go buy "Come Clean," the new Mysteries of Life record - it's one of the year's best. But before that, make sure you've purchased our fine album, "You In Black & White." Then proceed.

I'm blowing you kisses like I'm Debbie Gibson riding on a float in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade -

Lee

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So anyway, our drummer, Kevin Leahy, has gone on tour with Shawn Mullins, an Atlanta singer-songwriter who just got signed to Columbia on the strength of his single "Lullaby," which you've probably heard by now. We played our last few shows with the following drummers: Jeremy Truitt of the Michelle Penn Band, Brian Swinks of Red Shift and Linda Bolley of Elroy's Big Machine. Greg Partridge continues to play bass with us, for which we are pleased and grateful. He's a good provider and an excellent marksman.

Our record has gone to radio - mostly college (350 stations) and some AAA. After week one, it looks like Alaska is the state most receptive to the Gentle Readers, which is somehow apropos. Susan and I are quitting our day jobs at the end of the year and we're going to go out and play, and make another record which we are currently engaged in writing. It's taking a long time because we have been listening to the Moody Blues, and so each of our new songs has 400 lines. Ok, that's a lie. It's actually not taking any time at all to write this record, probably because we can't stop singing about ourselves. We are doing some acoustic shows now, and I must say, it's pretty cool. It rocks, which surprised us all. All two of us.

On the personal front, Susan has been out in L.A. She went to the Buffalo Club (so secret the matchbooks just have a picture of a buffalo on them), and sat next to Keifer Sutherland. I moved, and my car keeps not starting (it has a short in the electrical system), and I went to Gulf Shores, Alabama, for a day and then got evacuated because of Hurricane Georges. I can't stop listening to Barry White, and Susan is on a big Hooverphonic kick right now. And, I am of course clutching Midol, which is an excellent prop. When someone asks you to perform an unpleasant task, you simply hold up the bottle and shake your head. Trust me, I'm an expert.

Stay free -
Lee

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Let me get off on the good foot though by saying that the new Komeda album is pretty great. I think the single, "It's Alright Baby," is the one to beat this year for me. I have been listening to Massive Attack, though I feel a little odd about it (it makes me feel like a poser), and I just heard that Madonna song "Ray of Light" for the first time yesterday. I couldn't believe how good it was. I'm also entering the Leadbelly phase of my life, which for some reason also makes me feel like a poser. That new Garbage song kicks ass too, in my humble estimation. Yeah for everyone! (Barf.)

I guess I have to actually mention some news, so try this: Our record ships to radio mid-August. Many thanks at this point to Steve Craig at 99X here in Atlanta for playing our record and for having us on his show last month. Just to show that we are totally hardcore, we played a Wednesday last month at the Elbow Room in Columbia, South Carolina with our friends in Isaac Curry. We got back to Atlanta at 5 a.m. Thursday and went to work (did I mention we're surgeons?). Our show with John Strohm at the Point (in Atlanta) July 9 was great; the third band on the bill was King Lear Jet, which is our former drummer Andrew Simmons' group and they're very cool. Sort of a grungier, poppier Luna. Sometimes now people I don't know call me on the phone and say they like our record. And then they start the heavy breathing... Finally, we're doing an in-store promotion here (Atlanta - sorry to our friends overseas) at several in-town stores. We've got promo cassettes by the cash register. One of these has a "you're the winner" message on it, and that lucky lass or laddie gets the ENTIRE Flat Earth Records catalog absolutely free.

I know Susan would want me to close on a positive, so let me say thanks again to you all for reading this and coming to see us and buying our record. Now if the rest of the country would get off its collective ass and do the same, we'd be rolling. (You may use the name "Collective Ass" for your band with our blessing).

Let's always take the high road -
Lee

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Well, since I last updated the news, we have had our CD-release party and as the June 2 street date approaches, the initial reviews of the album are all really good. Somebody I know who used to be in the music business told me about this album, "the good news is that it's a great record; the bad news is you won't sell any copies." I hope he was only half right. The cover picture is an arty kind of girl-in-a-bra photo, which is so arty that nobody can figure out what it is. A friend of mine at work asked why we featured a leg and a shoe on the cover. Our distributor, Symbiotic, of Chicago, had an order from Italy the day they received our discs, so I feel relatively certain that we're going to be huge.

Our CD-release party was great, except our CD's didn't come in until the following day. We actually sold some anyway, and promised to mail them upon arrival (which we did).

I apologize for the delay in updating the news. I decided that I would quit smoking and enter some pie eating contests to satisfy that oral craving, so I've been otherwise occupied. Speaking of eating, I must tell you truthfully that Susan and I were recently in Los Angeles, and like all good tourists with a couple of hours to waste, we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium. Once in your life you should do this. We saw the bikini made of human hair and a multitude of exhibits on people who have survived various and sundry impalements.

The highlight of the visit though was the ode to Jay Gwaltney of Zionsville, Indiana, (my home town) who ate a birch tree in the late 1970's to win a radio contest. The Gwaltneys lived across the street from my folks, and so this exhibit was especially entertaining. His display was coordinated with one in homage to the man who ate the most oysters ever at a buffet. These pictures will be on our Scrapbook page soon.

The other highlight of our trip was visiting the beautiful and famous Griffith Park Observatory, and taking in its display on people who have been hit by asteroids. One guy got hit twice, which is surely God's way of sending a recall notice.

We're going to put up a press page soon (as if the photos from Ripley's aren't going to be enough to bring you back). We've coordinated our outfits (all Madras plaid), and written a new band cheer. We're going to come rock your town soon (provided it's in a 100-mile radius of Atlanta). Please buy our record and help restore some stateliness and decorum to this silly, frivolous industry. Ok - speech is over. Now let's all get laid.

Hit me with your best shot,
Lee

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Speaking of rock, I must put my plug in for Ivy's record "Apartment Life," which is absolutely the hardest rocking sort of soft rock album of the year (last year). I love it. It's sublime. Truth be told, we might not be as good as Ivy. You should know that. Go buy the record but don't hold us to the Ivy standard. We will fail. I think they're on Atlantic.

If I never plugged the Future Bible Heroes record, I should. I saw them live which was about as lively as customer appreciation day at the morgue, but they still are tremendous in their own take a sip of a drink, take a drag on a cigarette, start the sequencer kind of way. Enough.

Let's talk about us again. Kathy Jaroneski, a graphic artist for NBC in L.A., did the artwork for our record. The cover photo is courtesy of our good friend Joe Cillo, and the rest of the photographs were taken by Kathryn Kolb. She's an amazing photographer from Decatur, GA, who we only had to slightly coerce to work with us (she said she had the flu). We are now practicing in Kevin's bitchin' bachelor warehouse, and we had our photos taken there. I don't know anything about a CD release party yet, though we do have shows in April on the books, and we'll have copies of the new record with us, guaranteed.

Finally, let me apologize for falling behind in updating the news and stuff. I won't bore you with the details (agony, minutiae, indecision), but I will thank you again for visiting our website and coming to see us play. After all, this isn't my own personal platform; this is business. Right on.

Lee

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