The Mercury Lounge show last night in NYC was ‘a good ole time,’ as our fearless organist likes to say. Chris Stamey (along with Anton Fier, Mr. Matt Brandau, and a short cameo from me (Django)) opened up and melted faces with his Ornette-Coleman-meets-Richard-Thompson guitar leads. Then TOC played and it was great having people singing along loudly in the crowd. I’d been super sleep deprived after a few days of 4am or 5am bedtimes and early rising, and I thought I might possibly pass out on stage, but as it turned out, I felt great once the adrenaline kicked in, and even had some near-out-of-body experiences on some of the quieter swelling songs like “walk on thin air” and “pennsylvania” (the encore).

On a whiter note, it started snowing really hard about 8pm and still hasn’t stopped much, so the whole city is deep in slushy white snow and ice. It definitely kept a few folks from leaving their warm apartments last night but it made us appreciate everyone who did that much more. Had a magical moment after we packed up our stuff and I was walking out on Orchard Street around 1am - Everything was still pure white, muffled, and nearly desolate, especially for such a hopping district, and it felt like being in Iceland or a Frank Capra movie. New York is sometimes at its most charming when it does something out of character, like shut up for an hour or two.

Spent our one day off trudging around the city today wishing I had those rubber boots that ‘are so hot right now’ for the womenfolk. Heading to Boston tomorrow to play Cafe 939, where we hope a freak warm front will save us from the blistering cold.