10.07.98
Subject: Upcoming Show!
Greetings friends and fans!
After seven months in studio-work-related silent seclusion and a mid-summer bass-player switcheroo, Rockets burst from the Streetlamps are ready to play their next show! (For those of you who are confused, absentminded, or tend to erect mental blocks when confronted with long, difficult band names, Rockets burst from the Streetlamps would be the enjoyable band of your friend(s) Rick, Craig, Annie and/or Aug.)
The details:
22 OCTOBER 1998
O'BRIEN'S PUB (on Harvard Ave. at the intersection with Cambridge Streeet, in Allston)
WE GO ON PROMPTLY AT 10:00
Other Bands Playing: THE APE HANGERS & FRONT ROYALE
21+
{Sometimes the media of email is so frustratingŠ for I really want more than anything to draw a box around that section above, but I can't, I just can't. }
We will be very grateful if you come to see us — we'll even give you free stickers, or sips of our drinks, or anything you want from us. You've got a couple weeks, inscribe your calendar now saying you've got something to do on 22 OctoberŠ and we'll send you another email the day before or the day of to remind you to show up. Unless you don't want us to, i.e. if you'd like off of this email mailing list please reply and let us knowŠ despite the slightly obnoxious tone of this communique, we don't MEAN to be annoying. And conversely (sort of) if you know anyone who would like to get onto this mailing list, let me know — or feel free to forward this message to any parties who might be interested, even remotely. Thank you very much.We hope to see you at O'Brien's.
love,
Annie
(Rockets burst from the Streetlamps)
PS: Play with our website! It was updated in August and it's getting another entralling update this week. http://www.stodgy.com/rockets/
10.22.98
Subject: SHOW TONIGHT! REMINDER!
[I was tempted to type SHOW TONIGHT! REINDEER! for the subject of this email, since it looks so similar and is somewhat more interesting, but i didn't want anyone to feel harrassed.]
Greetings fans and friends!
For those of you who were obliged to read my last email-mailing-list communiqué, please bear with me for one moment while I welcome those who are new to our mailing list and direct them to read the extra prattle supplied below the line of asterisks at the end of this message, which reiterates things said in the past.
NOW. Everyone, please hereby, kindly be reminded that ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS are playing tonight!
The show's at O'Brien's in Allston, on the coner of Harvard and Cambridge Streets (it's red). We go on promptly at 10:00, so please arrive well-prior to that for optimal drinking, socializing and music-absorbing pleasure. You must be old (21+). The cover will be meager, we will be appreciative. The bands playing after us are The Ape Hangers and Front Royale. I'll see you tonight, and thank you in advance (unless you're one of the people on our list in a non-contiguous state or in a province, in which case i'm afraid i can extend only thanks and no promises of seeing you tonight).
Love,
Annie & Rockets burst from the Streetlamps
11.15.98
Subject: november brings another show
[i hope this reminder does not suffer from being significantly less witty and coherent than the standard, for i must warn you, it is being composed sunday morning while the coffee is brewing but not yet successfully consumed, and that seems a dangerous thing].
Fans and Friends!
While it may seem that you have suddenly become the victim of excessive amounts of junk-email, what is actually happening is that ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS have finally embarked on their plan to play lots of shows, as they have oft promised they would someday do. Again, for those of you just added to the mailing list and/or suffering from grievous memory lapses, misinformation or generalized confusion, ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS is the band of your friend(s): Annie (that girl with long curly red hair); Rick (that boy with long bright yellow hair); Craig (that boy with very boingy long brown-black curly hair) and Aug (that boy with the green hooded sweatshirt).
We are playing THIS WEEK at O'BRIEN's on THURSDAY (the 19th). Do please arrive around 9:30. We're playing with THE CHOICE OF TRAGIC WIVES who pride themselves on having a name almost as long as ours. O'Brien's is the little red bar on Harvard Street in Allston, diagonally across from the Sports Depot. [Although I have vague aspiriations towards someday being a member of the Royal Geographic Society, and going to those stuffy meetings with a bunch of old men with muttonchops, and investigating the ways of navigational matters, I'm afriad that at this juncture I have no control over geographic matters and must give in and use sports bars with big glowing signs as landmarks in my directions, as that is the current practice. ]
Anyway, you should come to our show — we're going to play a longish set, we think, and we'll definitely debut some new songs. If you have any questions or want the hell off this email mailing list, feel free to contact me at: rockets@stodgy.com See you Thursday!
Love,
Annie (and the other Rockets burst from the Streetlamps members, in absentia)
12.8.98
Subject: why it's advantageous
My dearest friends and fans,
I am writing to inform you that we are, in fact, playing another show, at o'brien's, this very week. I feel i must point out that it would be in your best interest to attend, for there are several factors contributing to why this a likely prospect for quite a winning evening out. Firstly, the night of our engagement is a Saturday, not a Thursday, but a Saturday. This means there will be sleep available to all, before and after the event (except for Craig, who has to work on Saturdays). Relatedly, as it is a Saturday, followed by a Sunday, as they are, you may feel free, once attending our concert, to drink liberally and deeply, enjoying the festive weekend air. Secondly, we will be playing with Obey, making for a night of entertaining juxtapositions (including, perhaps, and this is only speculation, a sign outside O'Brien's, written on a blackboard that says "Obey rockets burst from the streetlamps"). Thirdly, we will be debuting new songs, which, for those of you who have come to see us repeatedly (and we thank you), will be some relief, not to mention exceedingly exciting. Fourthly, it will be our last show of the year nineteen hundred and ninety eight, with the next not to follow until nigh on the end of January, and that is some time to wait. (Did you notice the nice rhyme in the preceding sentence?) Fifthly, if you come you can have a free sticker. Sixthly, we like you. Seventhly, you love o'brien's. Eigthly, i wrote you this really utterly stupid email, that isn't at all witty.
-Rockets burst from the Streetlamps
-O'brien's in Allston (the corner of Harvard and Cambridge, across from Sports Depot)
-Saturday, 12 December (YES, that's THIS Saturday)
-With Obey
-21+
(arrive before or about 10 pm).
Thank you very much.
love,
Annie (& Rockets burst from the Streetlamps)
http://www.stodgy.com/rockets/
01.24.99
Subject: parties!
Salutations, Dearest Friends & Fans,
Doubtlessly, you have sighed relievedly whilst noting that Rockets burst from the Streetlamps have been most kindly in effectuating an interimistic suspension of harrassment via email during the past two fortnights or so. As it turns out, this peaceful lull has been only a cleverly calculated interregnum shall end presently. Here are the details:
--This Saturday night:
--ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS PLAY THE ARCHENEMY BIRTHDAY PARTY
--at the Middle East Upstairs
--30 january 99
--arrive by 9 to make sure and catch our set and have lots of drinks
--lineup (all archenemy bands!):
1. ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS
2. LIFESTYLE
3. NEPTUNE
4. BETWIXT
--Archenemy merchandise, giveaways, party games, dancing girls...
--and our debut cd "above a moving train" will be on sale, replete with its deluxe packaging...
That's one thing. The other thing, of which you should be apprised and which you should mark directly upon your calendars, and for which you should begin to prepare immediately, is our momentously stirring OFFICIAL RECORD RELEASE PARTY. This not-to-be-missed event will take place on Saturday, 20 February, at O'Brien's. It will be quite the affair of the winter, assuredly. If you thought the show where Annie gave away the two non-vegan gingerbread men was exhilerating, you won't believe the cacophonous and climactic fun we've got planed for this, our special day. Of course, another email, with all the details will follow, mid-February. Thank you for your time and love.
Love,
Annie & Rockets burst from the Streetlamps
PS: http://archenemy.com/ (this will amuse & inform you further)
02.18.99
Subject: record release, latest whims
hello hello friends and fans...
[i'll try to keep this message (relatively) concise for a change, as my corporate tunnel syndrome is acting up]
Indeed it is time for Rockets burst from the Streetlamps' fun record release party. Rather a stimulating announcement, n'est-ce pas?
Here are the enthralling details:
-THIS SATURDAY NIGHT (20 feb 99)
-at O'BRIEN'S (3 Harvard St, Allston)
-with CATHODE and DAVID KEYES (especially from Canada)
We're headlining. Cathode will be going on around 10.30, David will be going on around 10. Our regularly show-going fans will be excited to hear that we'll be pulling out a few surprises during this set, while generally aiming to please.
Our new full-length cd, ABOVE A MOVING TRAIN, will be available for purchase (and will dazzle you with it's extravagant packaging -- it comes in a box). We'll probably all drink a lot. We chose this date to release our cd in honor of Anaïs Nin's birthday (which is actually 21 Feb -- but we didn't want you to be hungover at work on Monday, so we put our show on Saturday night). See you Saturday!
love,
annie (& the other streetlamps, by proxy)
05.11.99
Subject: early warning: rockets burst from bears
Dear, darling friends and fans,
It seems so terribly long since last we spoke... a half-oppressive hush has fallen upon us in these last, dormant, straggling months of late winter. No doubt you've been unhopefully languishing, inutterably horrified by the scarcity of Rockets burst from the Streetlamps performances. But you must lament no more! Upon reading the notice which will follow, you will indeed feel pressed to spring up unabashedly from your consumption couch, reapply the artificial rosy blush to your cheeks and ready yourself to attend an dazzling, rejeuvenating affair, planned for the very apogee of the luscious New England springtime. What pray tell, is the band about whose album the Noise wrote, "the sheer volume of pretense it came wrapped in...made me want to shoot up and die", on about now?
+ Rockets burst from the Streetlamps
+ at T.T. the Bear's (on Brookline St, Central Square, Cambridge)
+ 18 May 1999
+ we go on at 11.30pm + also playing:
1. FableFactory
2. Hip Tanaka
3. Marmoset (on Secretly Canadian)
+ it's 18+
+ we'll play good songs
Thanks ever so much for letting us sign your crowded dance card. If this email has annoyed you (not the tone... i can't help that... just the fact that you received it at all) please let us know and we'll take you off our mailing list. Also feel free to email us with any questions or to tell us we're smug.
I'll write a few days before the show to remind you again (both, i suppose, about the show and our alleged smugness). I've redone the web site if anyone cares (yes, i know there are typos on it...) at http://www.stodgy.com/rockets and there's new stuff about us on the archenemy site http://archenemy.com including the review i quoted from above. Talk to you or see you soon! [what the hell is up with annie's schizophrenic use of two completely opposite tones of voice in one short email?]
love,
annie
[+ Rick, Aug and Craig via 'Streetlamps telepathic proxy]
05.18.99
Subject: rockets burst from bears! tonight!
Darling friends and fans and divers others not yet taxonomically classified:
Despite appearances (being that Rockets burst from the Streetlamps are harassing you with vast, unwelcome quantities of email) this is actually just an affectionate reminder that the big show is tonight, and that you mean, wholeheartedly, to attend. It promises to be fascinating and eventful, not to mention amusing and perhaps pleasurable. We've a kaleidoscopically varied set planned, dappled with multitudinous tonal hues, from wretchedness and anguish to ardor and merriment. But perhaps I am giving too much away. Do please come. We'll share a drinkŠ
Details:
Rockets bust from the Streetlamps
At TT the Bear's On Brookline Street in Cambridge
Arrive by 11 (earlier to facilitate increased drinking)
18+ / $5
Thank you exceedingly.
Love,
Annie
(& the other 'Streetlamps via zealous spiritualistic concentrations of their brains)
07.13.99
Subject: Rockets burst with bands kindred in their taxonomy
Greetings friends, fans, and unsuspecting aquaintences!
This concise dispatch will serve to inform or remind you that: YOU ARE INVITED FOR A THRILLING EVENING OF BANDS WITH LENGTHY NAMES:
The bill:
Rockets burst from the Streetlamps
The Choice of Tragic Wives
We are all drainage for Angels
The place:
O'Brien's on Harvard Ave in Allston
The date:
Wednesday, 14 July 1999
We probably go on between 11 and 11.30 (yes, that's tomorrow, and yes, it is, indeed, Bastille Day) (sorry about it's being a school night, we'll play a weekend next time -- but come anyway -- you don't need sleep)
The further encouragement:
Drinks and admission are cheap, so you can bring a date. Also, the bands are very romantic. Please email us with any concerns, or to get the hell of this mailing list. I'm sorry this message is neither funny nor overly archaic. I'm in a horrid rush and much dash... but we love you anyway.
Love,
Annie
& the other Rockets burst from the Streetlamps via proxy
08.17.99
Subject: rockets burst at the end of summer
Dearest friends, fans and multifarious others,
In our northern, university town, one cannot help but notice, as August gathers her organza skirts and readies to fold them for the winter linen press, and the days commence to wane and dwindle, that there is a certain disquietude latent in the atmosphere. September looms ahead and friends pack and plan to leave forever. They drift through one last season in our antique and restive town, having lodged here autumn to autumn to autumn, and then it is time, at last, to go. So those of us left, watch, softly forlorn, as if gently restrained behind glazed panes, swelling with gentle glazed pains, as our friends and the season take their leave.
Thus, it seems only fitting, that Rockets burst from the Streetlamps provide you with a meagre bit of entertainment while you suffer this ordeal of bidding friends and the summer goodbye. Help us to usher in the stunning golden autumn and sadly see off our many friends who are moving away just now... (this)
SATURDAY, 21 AUGUST 99 at O'BRIEN'S in ALLSTON with VOLITION and NO REGRET we headline (at 11? 12?) it's not a schoolnight, but it is 21+
As usual, if you have any chums who should like to be appended to this mailing list, or conversely, if you you would like to be instantaneously removed here from, do please drop a line. Or write us in regards to any topic of mutual concern. We shall be glad to do what we can to help. Thank you kindly. We do look forward to seeing you Saturday.
Love,
Annie (& les autres Streetlamps terribles)
09.08.99
Subject: save a date
dear 'Streetlamps mailing list friends....
i am running around much like a chicken sans a head today, preparing to leave on the Streetlamps Annual Toronto International Film Festival Stodgy Holiday, so i'm afraid you'll not be in for any of the email eloquence to which you have, perhaps, become accustomed. (apparently headless chickens can live for a number of years if you manage not to cut off a small smidgen of their brain... perhaps that's what's going on with me) (nice talk for a vegan!) point being,
WE'RE PLAYING AN ESPECIALLY EXCITING SHOW, at TT's, Sponsored by WZBC's Flyweight (that's Petrina's Nice radio show, Thursday 5-7pm) on Monday, 20 September 1999, a special, sort of early show, so, save the date. (i.e. buy your Tom Waits' tickets for either sunday or tuesday)
our show: with BREATHLESS (yes, that Breathless, that you knew and loved in days of yore, featuring Dominic Appleton, the guy from This Mortal Coil who dreamily sang "The Jeweller" ((and others)) on the Filigree & Shadow album. Breathless are REALLY GOOD, far better than This Mortal Coil ever was. In fact, they have been one of my favorite bands since i was a wee thing in high school...) and with our friends from boston REFLECTING SKIN so, that's:
-Reflecting Skin (9pm)
-Rockets burst from the Streetlamps (10pm)
-Breathless (11pm)
-TT the BEARS
-Monday 20 SEPT 99
-Sponsored by WZBC 90.3 fm
-link to find out more about the show and see the pretty flyer http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/pmk/breathless.html
-link to the Breathless web site http://breathless-uk.com/
ALSO, although, Rick and Craig and i will be on holiday Toronto, our very own quiet yet clever bassist, Mr. Aug Stone, will staying in Allston, holding down the fort and appearing on the radio, all by himself, to promote the show:
THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER,
WZBC, 90.3
between 5-7
He will, at that time, also be debuting our new single "The Cartographer" and its alarming B-side "All the Same" and probably talking about books.
I know i've said all this in the most confusing and scattered way possible, and probably forgotten important bits. but like i said, i'm very frazzled. i'm using contractions, colloquialisms and very few big words. and i'm sorry. I'll try to write again, next week, from my state room on the QE2 and remind you about the show a few days in advance. (even though you probably wish i wouldn't, and i'll actually be in a cheap hotel that probably doesn't have a single sexy 1920s style deck chair!) Please send all questions to: rockets@stodgy.com
with great respect for your patience and gratefulness for your interest,
as well as quite a few cans of diet coke,
annie of the streetlamps
(and the other, presently elsewhere streetlamps, craig, rick, and aug)
09.17.99
Subject: rockets burst from a bear (without harming it)
Greetings, friends, fans and those who may have accidentally wandered into the room...
Although three fourths of Rockets burst from the Streetlamps are STILL off on our annual Streetlamps Stodgy Holiday in lovely Canada, we have sneakily managed to infiltrate your computer for a quick reminder of an exceedingly significant and rather exciting event. ready?
this MONDAY 20 September 1999
TT the Bears, Cambridge MA
Sponsored by WZBC
Reflecting Skin 9.00 pm
Rockets burst from the Streetlamps 10.00 pm
Breathless 11.00 pm
As your might recall from the irratating message i sent you about a week ago, this show is super extra especially exciting because we are playing with Breathless, who, as well as being an amazing band, are coming all the way from London to play the delightful enclave which is TT the Bears.
Thank you to everyone who listened to Aug's interview and the debut of our new songs on WZBC. He reports that your positive responses made him feel like a rock star.
The ineloquence of this message is due to facts that:
1. i am on vacation
2. i have watched 10 films in the past 36 hours
3. since i'm in a hotel, i have TV, and Martha Stewart keeps showing me weird things
4. there's a naked man across the hotel courtyard, just standing there, in a window
Nonetheless, i do hope to see you all on Monday, to celebrate our return to the States, and to help us welcome Breathless to our fair country as well... also to hear music and drink other such treats...
Thanks ever so much.
yours,
Annie of the Streetlamps
(and the other Streetlamps, two of which are presently watching a scary film and the other of which is probably either sleeping or drinking)
10.04.99
Subject:
Hi friends and fans, sniffle sniffle.
i arise momentarily and feebly from my autumnal flu sickbed to forewarn you: Rockets burst from the Streetlamps On the Town with Mikey Dee the Wednesday, 6 October 99 91.5 fm live performance and interview a delectable spread of songs we don't always play, for the seasoned (read: bored) fan. our own special brand of jazzy abandon (read: not anything like jazz.) thank you for tuning in. or at least making your sister tape it.
love,
annie
(and Rockets burst from the Streetlamps)
ps: did anyone attend the alleged "debate" which allegedly took place at the middle east this past weekend? the one which grew out of the controversy over our alleged pretentious packaging? please let us know if what happened if you did.
12.06.99
Subject: rockets and thrushes and bears oh my!
beloved friends, fans, drinking-chums and multifarious music-scene popinjays:
rockets burst from the streetlamps magnanimously announce that our week's activities include one that will be certain to happify you and your mates (yes, happify is a real word). we are playing tt the bears on FRIDAY 10 december 1999 18+/fun for all
amusia 9pm
streetlamps 10 pm
mistle thrush 11 pm
splashdown 12 pm
if this information leads, in any way, to confusion; if you'd like to be removed from our list; know someone who is beside himself with desire to be on it; or would like, simply to chat, please email us. otherwise, we will see you on friday night, turtledoves, for your happification. (happification is not a real word, as far as i know).
love,
annie of the streetlamps
and rick, craig, aug and our blue flashy light via the powers vested in me as email scribe
ps: i'm sorry i called you "turtledoves"... it suddenly struck me as funny, but i know it isn't...
01.20.00
Subject: plan ahead for the holiday!
"What holiday might that be?" perhaps you are confoundedly inquiring of the ether surrounding your own exquisite head. Dear friends and fans, this is no exaltation of mere Man or Woman or Unbungled Historical Occurrence. Rather, the upcoming festival to which I refer is the day serving to exalt an esteemed, talented and transcendently charming member of the Rodentia Order (and a close cousin of the Squirrel to boot) the Groundhog. Oh, most holy of holidays, most worthy cause of jubilation! "Yes, yes, of course!" you may now say to yourself, "but how should I celebrate?"
As you question me aloud like that, you notice my eyes become distant, and you assume, rightly, that I am reminiscing about a far off and possibly painful timeŠ. Yes, it is true, I will tell you what I hope to be an instructive story from such a time: high school. It is of a wrenchingly confessional nature, so please do not fail to heed its didactic message, so bruisingly delivered.
I was quiet and shy in high school. (Ok, that's an understatement - I was exceedingly goth and wouldn't talk to anyone excepting those few who could pronounce Einsturzende Neubauten as if naturally, etc). But each year, I would, the day before Groundhog's day, stand up at lunch, during the "announcements" time and inform everyone of what joy was to come the next day and request that they wear brown in honor of the Groundhog. Let me emphasize that coming from an unremittingly black and stripey-tights wearing goth, this was no idle token gesture. The wearing of brown showed an unsurpassed dedication to the spirit of the Groundhog. (At least that was the idea, in my recollection).
Of course, these requests were generally ignored. The New-Zealand-pop-music-loving Cool Kids of my high school would come in the next day in their brightly colored Chills t-shirts and (this was before brown became the new black in the early 90s -- not that I went in for that noxious idea) and continued, as they did every day, to ignore me and my peculiar notions and trot off during study periods to gawk at Julianna Hatfield working at Mystery Train and talk about what a babe she was. (Disclaimer: if you are or know anyone who went to my high school, or indeed if you are or know Julianna Hatfield, please realize that I have, actually, forgiven you all, and am employing bitterness as an ironic device here). There were an elite few, however, the ones in blue hair (before blue hair was the new naturally colored hair) or Edwardian knickers, with 4AD records, or whose parents made them spend a lot of time in Bavaria as children, who were curious enough to not only wear brown, but were kind enough to ask me for more information on how they could better celebrate. So, in my particularly noisome and hairshirtesquely scratchy dead old lady brown dress from the Garment District ($2!), and with my headless brown-clad 5-inch 70s headless dollhouse doll dangling from a string around my neck, I would distribute the back issues of my zine which explained it in more detail and recommend that to complete their union with the Groundhog, they should, once alone, or with a special friend, blare Joy Division and consume a Special Dark chocolate bar. (BECAUSE, OF COURSE, Ian Curtis was like a Groundhog, in that he invariably wore brown and flapped his arms about curiously, and Special Dark candy bars were brown, like Groundhogs, and also were deep and smooth just like Ian Curtis's voice). Really it all made perfect sense.
Not to be undone by my followers in Groundhog adulation, at home I not only participated in the Joy Division/Brown-Wearing/Special-Dark-Eating (this was before I was a vegan) rituals, but also, using brown towels, pantyhose, coat hangers and other peculiar objects, constructed at three foot high Groundhog devotional effigy in my room.
"But Annie," I hear you protesting, "this was all in the decadent 80s. Is it at all this practical now?"
I'd have to say no. I can't go around advocated that non-black wearing, non-vegan stuff anymore. And who the hell who doesn't live with their mum has brown towels and/or pantyhose lying around? SO I offer you an alternative. It entails sacrifice equal to those of which I told you. Activities of worship befitting the honor of the Groundhog. I recommend:
1. stretch your celebration of the holiday out for an entire week
2. on FEBRUARY 8th, find a way to get to NORTHAMPTON MASSACHUSETTS
3. come see ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS play with 27 at the Iron Horse
4. listen to Joy Division in the car if you feel like it (but you don't have to)
I think it would be a suitable show of veneration, don't you?
And, an announcement utterly unrelated to Groundhogs, as far as I can tell:
Did you know that young Rick has a side-project? It's an experimental noise and multimedia (re: AV club) type outfit called WE ARE ALL DRAINAGE FOR ANGELS. (notice the long, literarily derived name). Not only is Rick in this "band" but so is this fellow Benjamin, whom you you may not know, but he's very nice. Anyway, they would like me to tell you that they will be playing THIS MONDAY, 24 JANUARY at the Milky Way in JP. There's going to be all manner of crazy experimental music fun, and film projections and other manefestations of avant-garde-a-rama. Also, they tell me that they're expecting a well-known-pop-star as a special guest. ALL THIS! And there are other bands too, and drinksŠ (Disclaimer: if you're in one of the other bands, I'm really sorry, they didn't tell me the roster when they asked me to write this email, I know it's not at all polite!)
So, if you would like more information about:
1. WE ARE ALL DRAINAGE FOR ANGELS
2. the ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS show in Northampton
3. GROUNDHOGS
Please feel free to email me. I realize these interests are all somewhat more specialized than the normal subject matter of our band mailing list mailings, and I am prepared to field questions at a tete-a-tete level.
And since I know you don't believe me about high school and building the 3 foot Groundhog effigy, please feel free to visit the following secret link for proof: http://stodgy.com/annie/rodent.html
Thank you very much for your patience and understanding. I'll see you at the Milky Way on Monday, and in NoHo during Groundhogs' Week. OH, and very importantly, i would like to point out, that i am not a goth anymore. (I'm a recovering goth).
Yours truly,
Annie
(and maybe the other members of Rockets burst from the Streetlamps - or they may just rough me up when they read thisŠ)
02.20.00
Subject: sans rodentia
greetings my dears.
whilst i must report receiving quite a goodly deal of...uh... response following the "groundhog" email, i have taken note that a resounding number of commentators mentioned having "trouble getting through it". now, i don't condone illiteracy or this objectionable fin de siecle obsession with the television's opiate drool in lieu of worthy, wholesome works of printed literature*, which keep our bookbinding friends in new stockings, however, i have heard your pleas for brevity, and will, this once, indulge you, more or less.
-rockets burst from the streetlamps
-playing at the sky bar
-518 somerville ave, somerville
-friday 25 february 00
abunai! - 12:00
streetlamps- 11:05
moon patrol - 10:10
enuma elish - 9:15
doors open - 9:00
there's a map of how to get to to the sky bar from harvard square on our website http://www.stodgy.com/rockets/shows1.html but it's really easy to get to... don't worry. you can also check out the artsy flyer for the show there, if you feel so inclined. please feel free to email if you need assistance finding or getting to the sky bar, or would like to be bodily plucked off this mailing list.
yours,
annie (and the lads)
*i know this isn't a printed or a work of literature.
03.29.00
Subject: It's a jolly holiday with streetlamps
Greetings fellow travelers. It is time to gather up your hatboxes and your driving goggles, for rockets burst from the streetlamps will be, this weekend, bursting from Worcester, Massachusetts.
Perhaps the idea of a wee journey to Worcester strikes you immediately as unappealing: but do, my friends, reconsider! Worcester holds charms which you have, perhaps, been remiss in weighing. I plead with you, bestow thought to the lovely idyll that could be a Saturday in Worcester: perhaps a visit to the Higgins Armory, to admire the largest collection of Medieval Arms and Armor in North America, a stroll through the Botanical Gardens, replete with light repast at the TWIGS cafe, perhaps a turn round the Art Museum, admiring the Flemish beauties, and then, what could be more sublime to top off your day of erudition and enlightenment than the throbbing, tumescent, rousing, intoxicating communion of a place in the rockets burst from the streetlamps audience. truly, what could be more intellectually fulfilling?
Please put on your itineraries, a saunter over to the Heywood Gallery, Saturday night, 1 April 00, to witness our part in a music series entitled, "New Music for the Year Zero" (the point of which we have not yet surmised). For your further entertainment, Rick's old friend Pat's band Grubstake will be playing, as well as Annie's old friend The Cold's band Twelfth of Never. There will also, we are told, be some people banging on sheet metal and other such things, known as Industrial Sonic Echo. It all begins around 8 and promises to be terribly artsy.
The excessive clicking section:
Click here to see Annie's color flyer for this happening:
http://www.stodgy.com/rockets/heywood.html
Click here for other upcoming rockets burst from the streetlamps shows: http://www.stodgy.com/rockets/shows1.html
Click here to peruse the rockets burst form the streetlamps online gazetteer:
http://www.stodgy.com/rockets
Click here to see Archenemy's new, very revamped website:
http://www.archenemy.com
Click here for more information about the charms Worcester has to offer:
http://www.worcester.org/
The Directions to the Heywood Gallery Section:
__get on I-90 (mass pike) and go West for 34.1 miles
__Bear right on ramp at sign reading "Exit 11 RT-122 to Millbury/Worcester" and go North for 0.6 miles __Bear left on ramp at sign reading "Millbury/Worcester/Providence R I Via Rte 146" and go North for about 200 feet
__Turn left on RT-122 and go Northwest for 3.8 miles
As usual, please feel free to respond if you would like to be unencumbered by further email messages from us. Also, feel free to write for help with your travel plans, or for whatever other reason strikes your fancy.
Thanks awfully,
Annie and the other 'streetlamps tho' they be otherwise occupied at present
03.31.00
Subject: rockets not bursting after all!
Sorry to bother you again, dear friends and fans, but i must alarmingly report that OUR SHOW AT THE HEYWOOD GALLERY 1 APRIL 00 HAS BEEN CANCELED due, apparently to some sort of nebulous, unspecified police action. I apologize, on behalf of the band, for any inconvenience this might cause you and you loved ones. Please be advised that we will be playing in april, may, and june in boston, so you needn't do yourself bodily harm on account of remorse. Please watch your email, or check out our website for further details. terribly sorry.
yours,
annie and the other streetlamps, now considering the many possibilities of a newly freed saturday night
04.16.00
Subject: springtime, memory, canadians, hurray!
Dearest friends and fans, former co-workers who probably wish they weren't on this list, and assorted others:
does not always the change of seasons put you in mind of he past? reminiscences of springs gone by well, bubblingly, up for one, now, certainly. and always with these tender, season-changing poignant pricks of memory, come personal time capsules filled with quick explosions of sensual information: the smell of one's grade school in spring, the music that floored one in high school as the winter broke, the taste of a delicious vegan-cheese sandwich....
as the jonquils raise their lazy heads, the magnolia trees burst into riots of pink, and the grass awakens, perhaps you are wandering the damp pavements dreamily, thinking on the promise of this time of year, and the promise you remember it holding last year, the year before, the year before that. and with these ethereal memories, perhaps there is a soundtrack, the music, that, during those old springs, captured this promise, enrapt you. perhaps, you wish idly, to hear it again. to feel that sense of hope again. unfortunately, bono has not grown his hair long again and still has those hideous sunglasses.
SO, why don't you come and see
ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS
at TT THE BEAR'S
on THURSDAY / 20 APRIL 00
line-up
Random Access Memory w/Mr Curt
Mellonva*
Rockets burst from the Streetlamps
Scissorkiss
yes, that's THIS thursday. it's 18+ and costs $6.
*Mellonova are our new friends from Canada. we think you'll like them too.
Also, bear in mind, that we will be playing at O'Brien's in Allston on 6 May, with Mistle Thrush and Element 47 as part of the Mikey Dee benefit week. (more info: http://www.mikeydee.com). (more info on things 'streetlamp: http://www.stodgy.com/streetlamps)
Furthermore, bear in mind, that if you would like to be removed from this list, or would like to have your chums added (whether motivated by kindness or vengeance) please feel free to write me here. Lastly, if you are REALLY bored and/or sad at work, i revamped my wooden ducks web site for you. http://www.stodgy.com/ducks
Thank you for sharing ALL your Proustian moments with us.
love,
annie (+rick, aug, craig and marcel proust)
05.02.00
Subject: perhaps i'm out of my element, but i daresay there is a thrush by that streetlamp!
dearest friends, fans, and any earnest boys in stripey bathing trunks with victorian modesty,
today, i'm afraid, i can only offer you a brief email mailing list message, as i must dash to the liquor store and then on to practice (which will be highly beneficial for both myself and for you, as you will understand, after perusing the lines that follow). however, i thought it only fair that you be informed, that:
ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS
are playing this SATURDAY at O'BRIEN'S in ALLSTON
(yes, we return to o'brien's!)
with ELEMENT 47 and MISTLE THRUSH
as part of the week of shows to benefit Mikey Dee (http://www.mikeydee.com)
and, as allegedly the "people" like this sort of thing, we're going to play some new material please arrive by 9.30 for optimal streetlamps-viewing, and increased drinking and socializing time.
as usual, please keep me informed of your whims vis-a-vis your retention or expulsion from this mailing list, feel free to write if there is anything with which we can be of help to you, and take time to examine www.stodgy.com/rockets or www.archenemy.com if further gleaning of related information strikes you as a worthy pursuit.
until saturday, then,
i remain,
yours,
annie
& and the other streetlamps (though they be not clad in stripey bathing trunks so far as i know)
5.25.00
herein, thereupon, and hitherto, it's rockets burst from the streetlamps
dearest friends, fans, wastrels, happy-go-lucky grad students and wishful wannabe belgians (and real belgians),
In traditional usage, the popular phrase "Streetlamps' Stodgy Holiday" refers to a vacation week or weekend, or portion thereof, for which the totality of the Streetlamps, or some portion thereof, have departed. Recall, for example, the (portions of the) Streetlamps' jaunts to the Toronto Film Festival, or to New York City, or to Buffalo. (my how myopic we are in our choice of regions!) In my continuing studies of modern language usage (one must be quite careful not to become TOO intimate with that which one studies, lest one find oneself made foolish by the pretentiousness putting on of airs -- perhaps speaking with false accents or in the new language or dialect which one studies!) i have found that old idioms often take on new meanings, or shades of meaning. (fill in your own witty example here... i am too late for practice to think of one) (preferably something involving fish, goats, squirrels or ponies). Thusly, (if there had been a witty example in the last sentence, it would make sense to start this sentence with "thusly") i postulate, that, perhaps, the phrase "Streetlamps Stodgy Holiday" may, now that it is the year 1000, come to mean something slightly different. Perhaps the phrase may now apply to a Streetlamps EVENT that occurs on a pre-established HOLIDAY. For example, are playing
THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Sunday the 28th
at the Middle East DOWNSTAIRS (exciting!)
the line up is:
round i sound
us
reflecting skin
the changlings
the show starts around 8, so we will be on quite early. i would strongly advise you to arrive by 9 at the absolute latest. it would be lovely to see you. and you probably don't have to work the next day, so you can get terribly tight!
please feel free to contact me with any questions, to request the effacement of your name from this list or the implantation of the name thereupon of a friend or foe.
with premature gratefulness for your attendance at our show, and the promise of future thoughts and wishes more coherent than those herein contained,
yours,
annie
(and the other streetlamps, who are no doubt waiting for me grumpily by our box)
(where we practice)
ps: our new single "the cartographer" will be for sale at the show, so bring your penny jar!
6.12.00
you can't keep a cartographer restrained forever...
Indeed, my dear chums and compatriots and foreign friends,
finally, WE RELEASE THE CARTOGRAPHER! (that is, to clarify my clever and charming obliquity for those of you who have not as yet been subjected to our exceedingly infiltrative advertising efforts, ((i.e. mumbling into microphones, once in a while, "this is our new single, 'the cartographer'")) our new single). (i hope you enjoyed the use of both nested parentheses and a quotes within a quote within the previous parenthetical remark -- if it were not for the lowest common denominator typography to which present email technology restricts one, i would surely have also attempted an italicized phrase gone roman due to being set in an italicized passage...)
what this means (the "this" here has the antecedent of "WE RELEASE THE CARTOGRAPHER!", as explaining the parenthetical explanation of the first parenthetical remarks' punctuation seems somewhat redundant at this juncture) is the following:
1. WE ARE HAVING A PARTY TO WHICH YOU ARE INVITED
2. YOU MAY, IF YOU SO DESIRE, NOW PURCHASE OUR SINGLE AT NEWBURY COMICS 3. SOON YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PURCHASE OUR SINGLE AT OTHER PLACES BOTH PHYSICAL AND WEBBISH
4. YOU CAN HEAR OUR SINGLE ON THE RADIO, WHICH MAKES US BLUSH
(though it may serve to interrupt the flow of prose, i feel i must add, before i go any further, to avoid confusion or an even more inopportune tangent at some later point, that this is an an email from the band rockets burst from the streetlamps)
now, about that party. it's a wee way's away yet, but i thought you might like to mark your agendas. here are the details:
on WEDNESDAY the 21st of JUNE 2000,
at THE MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS,
amidst a line-up consisting of
jrcorduroy (9.15)
the choice of tragic wives (10.00)
[us] (10.45) mistle thrush (11.30)
AND OF COURSE THERE WILL BE SPECIAL TREATS (both aural and physical), AS IT IS A PARTY
I have also been charged, since i'm here, with relaying to you the following information on behalf of two of my bandmates. it seems that the "side project" of rick (the first bandmate for whom i will be relaying information in this section of this email) which is our friend benjamin's "main project", Drainage for Angels (formerly known as We are All Drainage for Angels) will be playing this wednesday, the 14th, at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain.
after they play, which will be at about nine, sean, one of our archenemy label godhead people will play, and apparently aug (the second bandmate for whom i will be relaying information in this section of the email) is now a member of sean. (i don't know how that works exactly, but it does sound rather titillating, doesn't it?).
After sean plays, neptune, our labelmates who have just released a record in a sheet metal record sleeve (you MUST see it) will play.
[here's something benjamin wrote which may serve to further clarify the above paragraphs:
drainage for angels is a sort of ambient/noise project, consisting of benjamin palmer (bnjmn/dj) richard webb (rockets burst from the streetlamps) christopher ewen (future bible heroes, magnetic fields) and matthew poitras (various mental institutions) all doing various 'musical' things, and nicole mcdonald (ooze) mixing video. fun.
sean drinkwater (lifestyle, veronica black morpheus nipple) will be doing something very interesting.
neptune is sort of like a cross between tom waits and nick cave and they make all of their instruments out of sheet metal, and sometimes they have robots playing harps. who knows what they will actually be doing, but it will undoubtedly be entertaining.]
so, my friends, if you have stuck with this email thus far, you will find that i will now reward you with various apologies and loopholes by which you may escape:
PRIMARILY, the various "side projects" and related concerns who have occasionally received promotion on this list would like to thank you for your good natured patience with their having insinuated themselves hereupon and formally announce that you may now join their very own mailing lists if you see fit -- and here forward proceed unmolested by their naggings on THIS list. the details: to join the DRAINAGE FOR ANGELS mailing list, email drainage@99thmind.com to join the archenemy mailing list (for info about sean, neptune and all the other archenemy bands/projects), email archinfo@archenemy.com
SECONDARILY, if i, one of my bandmates, or parties unknown has put you on this list without your prior knowledge or consent, and you find it distasteful or offensive, please email rockets@stodgy.com to be removed, no questions asked (though sometimes we have been known to hassle people about it a bit). conversely, if there is a party whom you think would benefit from receiving these emails, do please forward me their name.
TERTIARILY, i don't think tertiarily is a word. so thank you for your patience, please attend the various events mentioned above which are sure to amuse, and watch for quick reminder about our record release party, closer to the date of the show...
with affection,
annie (and rick and aug by request, and craig also)
06.21.00
wee reminder
dear friends, fans and desirers of treats/new records...
i have NO CONCEPTION what he's talking about, but aug says that some people have been complaining about the verbosity and unneeded complexity of my band emails. while i entirely do not go in for the concept of dull emails on the whole, i must admit, i'm at work and trying to finish up so i can go to sound check, and it IS getting late, so, this once, i'll just quickly remind you:
rockets burst from the streetlamps' 7" record release party is TONIGHT
at the middle east upstairs
18+ | $7
the line up is:
jrcorduroy
the choice of tragic wives
us
mistle thrush
AND i've put on my Mrs Dalloway hat and planned RATHER a smashing-seeming party.... with treats and prizes and other things loosely falling under the category of "fun". do hope to see you there.
thanks ever so much.
-annie
(et les autre streetlamps)
08.17.00
bunnies
dear sympathizers, well-wishers, collaborators, advocates, patrons, misadressees, dipsomaniacs and chums:
Due to the herculean vagabondage, excuse me, delightful holiday jaunts, of certain band members, it has been a quiet summer for your old pals rockets burst from the streetlamps. however, as we are all just arrived safely back in sunny, unruffled, student-free, late-summer allston, well-rested and fully keen, we have decided to give, of ourselves, to you, and play a show to share our joy and vim. alright. it's lies, i admit it. we're wearier than ever, especially those of us who did not get to have lovely holiday tours of eastern europe or northern north america. but we're still playing a show, and it will still be amusing (one might hope). it is
THIS SUNDAY 20 August 2000
TT the Bear's in Cambridge
with Enuma Elish
Moveable and
Words for Snow
(we're on last -- if you can't make it earlier, arrive between 10.30 and 11)
also, we're going to be on the wireless! that would be,
next wednesday 23 August 2000
on "the n'oreaster"
WMWM 91.9
between 9 and 10 pm (several live songs plus scary interview action)
(this station probably does not come in wherever you are, but you should try it anyway).
we also have a show coming up, in september (the 23rd) we think, at the linwood, if that is in any way relevant. so my dears, again, you are saved from further prolixity by my having to run off to band practice, to the great benefit of all. it is good to speak with you all again.
yours,
annie
(and the other charming streetlamps you know and love)
ps: http:www.stodgy.com/rockets
09.19.00
streetlamps show.
friends:
we are playing this friday, the 22nd of september, at the linwood in boston.
the show is presented by Intelligent Records and the line up is as follows:
Double Barrel Sunrise (headline) Pop Gun (third) Say Hi To Lisa (second) rockets burst from the streetlamps (first) it is 21+
it starts at 9 it costs $6
please come.
thank you.
sincerely, rockets burst from the streetlamps
rockets@stodgy.com http:www.stodgy.com/rockets
11.25.00
rockets bursting from all over (run for cover!)
Our dearest comrades, sympathizers, intimates, familiars, correspondents, mates, fans, esteemed colleagues & journalists and any overeducated-email-reading squirrels:
the rockets burst from the streetlamps WORLD TOUR is at hand. it begins, in fact, tomorrow, in our first port of call, the strange, outlandish, remote, terra incognito of SOMERVILLE MASSACHUSETTS. you may marvel, indeed, at our valor, in undertaking such a formidable voyage; but it cannot be said of rockets burst from the streetlamps that we are without pluck! aside from the insular and idiosyncratic natives of somerville, whom we may there encounter, we hear rumors that there will be foreigners afoot from thousands of miles away! "who might they be?", you ask, in abject wonder: "perhaps selkies from the Celtic isles? or centaurs from the Mediterranean? perhaps some stranger specimens, thought, cruelly, to be of anthropological interest and roughly kidnapped by a wily imperialist explorer?" Ah, the percolations of your cunning imaginations do you no disservice. Indeed the guests, will be very exotic. Some, will have traversed (in a great cortege of finery and bejeweled splendor!) the yawning Atlantic, and then, the yawning metropolis of Boston, to this Somerville destination, their travels having originated in the home of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and capitol of the Empire,the lovely, sooty, balmy London, England! Others of these strangers, will have made their way, over land, in the magnificent tradition of Marco Polo, Sir Richard Burton, Dust Bowl era photographer Dorothea Lange, or indie-rock bands throughout time, all the way from the land of the Gold Rush, tough immigration policies for fruit riding in cars, and people having sleepover parties with Christina Ricci, Los Angeles, California.
THEN, as if that were not feat enough, rockets burst from the streetlamps will abandon the new-found safety of their Somerville anchorage, and commence their heedless wayfaring, indeed, out of the very bounds of Massachusetts! Their next halting ground, which they will not reach until Saturday, (the QE II only attains a service speed of 28.5 knots!), will be the hamlet of Manhattan. There, along with their new English Friends, they will face unknown dangers and temptations and attempt to perform acts of wondrous artistry. Following the Herculean task of enduring yet another night of Rock in the same week, the Streetlamps, dog-weary and no doubt over-stimulated, will return gratefully to their staterooms, relieved that exposing the oddbods of NYC to some late night shoegazey, slightly melancholic melodic pop is now a fait accompli. Thusly then, they will return, in rooms brimming with the flowers of acclaim, to their home port.
Bewildered?
Let us summarize:
1. ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS
THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2000
at LILLI'S at 608 Somerville Ave.
in SOMERVILLE MA
with BREATHLESS
(from london & featuring the charming Mr.Dominic Appleton of this mortal coil)
and TIPSY (from LA)
we are first (at 9 or 9.30ish)
breathless are second
(Lilli's is actually v. easy to get to and closer to civilization than we may have let on earlier)
2. ROCKETS BURST FROM THE STREETLAMPS
SATURDAY 28 OCTOBER 2000
at CB's GALLERY at CBGB's
313 The Bowery
(btw. 1st & 2nd at the end of Bleeker)
in New York City
with BREATHLESS
and White Knuckle Sandwich
and Ghosts of the Canal
(breathless are third, we're last)
Still bewildered?
well, to get to lilli's, get yourself to porter square T station (the one after harvard, or a drive down Mass Ave from harvard), via T or car, it matters not. Once there, take the fork in the road behind the T station, between the station and the Pier 1 store in that little mall thingie. That's Somerville Ave. The club is a few blocks from there (heading back toward cambridge). Or, call us for a ride, if you're on those sort of terms with us.
to get to CB's Gallery, check out these directions on their site at http://cbgb.com/directions.htm . If you need help getting to New York from another city, you'll have to call us and ask for a custom triptych...
Still bewildered? "how do i get off this damn list!?" you ask yourself. it's easy. just ask.
OR "how do i find out about more about my beloved streetlamps!?" you ask yourself. that also is easy. try: http://www.stodgy.com/rockets OR "how do i ask the streetlamps a question not answered by the above information which they have, admittedly, kindly already provided for me?!" you ask yourself. that, you may, of course do, in person, at the shows, or, email us at: rockets@stodgy.com
We do hope you have, through the perusal of this missive, become at least somewhat enlightened, however. And we do, of course apologize, for the last mailing list email being so short (we were in a temper!) and for this one being so long and for any other missteps we have unknowingly made. And rest assured that we still hold you in the highest regard, and hope you do us, and that you are as pleased and excited about our Grande Voyage as we are, and that you will come to see us.
Thank you very much.
We wish you well.
love,
annie
and rick, aug and craig, being the streetlamps presently not present
03.01.01
unique new york unique new york unique new york
Dear Friends, fans and people added to our list in unintentionally mercenary fashion (because we thought you might appreciate it, and we apologize)...
You nique, you nork, and, it would seem, so do we. Gyre and gimble in the wabe, and all that. I know, generally, you, most of you, are not in new york city or its immediate environs. However, on the other hand, i know that some of you ARE. And it is those of you specifically, and more generally those planning weekend get-aways with as yet unpinpointed, or only quasi-pinpointed destinations, to whom i address myself principally.
For it seems, that rockets burst from the streetlamps are playing
at CBGB's 313 Gallery
on Saturday, 3 March 01
around 9 with, amongst other acts,
our compilation-mates and adored canadian chums, Mellonova
thusly, if you happen to be in new york (ahem, Mr. Khavari, whom we've not seen in some time!) i do think you might stop by, if it is not terribly disagreeable (an acceptable excuse).
please do email us if you need directions or a dinner date. or a lecture on the romance and enduring appeal of literature relating to homosexuality at english universities during the edwardian era. also, for those of you to whom none of the above is of interest, perhaps, we can offer you, though this is rather paltry, an update on what we've been doing, since last you heard from us, which was, we shall readily admit, really some time ago.
we have been hard at work! (not what you expected, eh?!) we are going into the studio to record our second full length album during the last week of march, and have been, throughout these snowy winter months (well, perhaps not so snowy, but it fits with the hibernation imagery) holed up in our cozy amber-lit practice space, writing new songs and making plans (i.e. engaging in friendly debate) related to the future. We're hoping to record 10-15 songs, most of which we think are really quite good, and you will like, in fact, you will like them a whole lot more than that stuff on our first album.
After the recording's done, we'll probably play a bunch of shows in boston, and maybe do some touring. We've been getting a lot of air play and press in Europe lately, thanks to Aug's tireless efforts at Archenemy's European Promotion and Distribution department, and we're, quite seriously, considering touring abroad in the autumn. Augmenting our long-rumored 27 date tour of the Netherlands and Belgium with, perhaps, some dates in non-Dutch-speaking countries such as England, Ireland and elsewhere. (If you are Dutch or Belgian and would like to assist in these efforts, please be in touch). So that's about it. Oh, except that i'm thinking, seriously, of getting into haberdashery...
Please, if you have any questions or comments regarding the above information, or would like to be removed from this noisome list, or are, mistakenly, on it more than once (and this bothers you) please let us know.
Otherwise, we shall expect to see you in New York, or perhaps in April, or perhaps elsewhere.
Also, if anyone, especially those of you in New York, are friends with Mr. Eggers, Sarah Vowell, or any of the McSweeneys folks, if you could, tactfully, pass this email along to them and/or encourage them to come see us, and be our friends, i, for one, would be forever in you debt. Though i cannot speak for the boys, who may think this a very tedious thing to write.
love,
annie
and the other rockets burst from the streetlamps (who are, each, variously, one guesses, at the moment, sleeping, computing, smoking, writing, and/or licking albrecht durer etchings)