Ted Leo and the Pharmacists http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:36:21 -0700 Fuzz.com en http://www.fuzz.com/ http://www.fuzz.com/_/images/logo/blimp.png http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Dr-Feel-Better-Ted-Leo-Jams-Without-The-Pharmacists http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Dr-Feel-Better-Ted-Leo-Jams-Without-The-Pharmacists#comments
The Bryant Park Project, July 17, 2008 - Ted Leo of the group Ted Leo and The Pharmacists stops by the BPP to play a special solo set before his performance at Thursday night's New York's River to River festival.

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Check it out, Ted plays a MAGNIFICENT version of the Waterboys classic "Fisherman's Blues" and a new original of his own!

Here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92621087]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:26:50 -0700 http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Dr-Feel-Better-Ted-Leo-Jams-Without-The-Pharmacists http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/97-UPDATE http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/97-UPDATE#comments And since "domestic partner" works in Boston, patient zero (as far as I'm concerned) probably works in her office.
Still having trouble eating, but I had no fever issues last night and felt pretty good waking up today...]]> Mon, 05 Mar 2007 10:58:41 -0800 http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/97-UPDATE http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/ANOTHER-UPDATE http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/ANOTHER-UPDATE#comments Feeling pretty good today. A truly beautiful snowfall happened overnight, and that actually puts me in a good mood. We have a practice scheduled for tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes and hope that I'm in some sort of manageable shape for Noise Pop and Stanford over the coming weekend. I can guarantee you that I won't be anywhere near 100%, so you'l have to cut me some slack if I don't bleed for my art this time 'round, but we'll see what we can do.
And hey - who knows? If I push myself over the edge, you might get some vomit or... "the other thing," instead...

Oh - and also, thanks to all of the New Englanders who have been or are currently also going through this same thing who've been writing me with their horror stories/words of encouragement. I feel your pain - this shit's no joke, sonnn!]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2007 23:24:54 -0800 http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/ANOTHER-UPDATE http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/ATTENTION-SECRET-SHOW-CANCELLED http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/ATTENTION-SECRET-SHOW-CANCELLED#comments I feel terrible about doing this everybody, but I also just feel terrible... I guess I should start by spilling the beans on the "secret" show. So, we whipped up this idea about a week and a half ago, to add a small unannounced show in New York because we've been practicing with a former Pharmacist, who's recently come back to the fold, and we figured it'd be a good way to get some more "road testing" in, since we don't have any shows other than Noise Pop between now and when we tour for real at the end of next month. His name is James Canty, and if you don't know him from The Nation of Ulysses, The Make Up, Cupid Car Club, French Toast, or Dust Galaxy, then let's be honest - chances are you probably won't know him from his pre-Hearts of Oak position as second guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist in the Pharmacists, because you probably never saw the Pharmacists pre-Hearts of Oak. But putting that aside for the moment, it should be mentioned as an "in fact..." here, that a few Hearts of Oak songs were first bashed out while James was still playing with us, and indeed, some of them took shape in his very own basement in DC, in the very same house that I once lived as well. So we've been practicing with James again, and it's been great, but there's nothing like getting on stage to work it out, to help you, uh... work it out. So with that in mind we went looking for a show that we could play unannounced, hence the fake name, "The Sons of Cain."
Y. Pestis, however, has finally found its way to the northeastern US, as I was struck down this past Tuesday morning with something so strong that it can only be The Black Death returned, and I am waiting for the bubos to appear. Here's the timeline, so you understand that I'm not being a wuss here:
Tues., 7:30 AM - I wake feeling "foggy," write it off as having not slept enough.
Tues., 9:30 AM - suspicious enough about how bad I'm feeling that I call my "domestic partner" at work to see how she's doing. She says she's not doing too well either. I wonder if the miso we used (in the risotto - crafty!) the night before had maybe gone bad...
Tues., 2:00 PM - I'm now feeling sufficiently crappy that I cancel the interviews I had scheduled for the afternoon and push them off to the next day, I also push our scheduled practice for the next day, off to Thursday. I call "domestic partner" to check on how it's progressing with her, and she says it's moving along similarly, and that she's found out that, like, 10 people in her office are out from this thing and that others had it over the weekend. I suggest she get her ass home before she can't.
Tues., 3:30 PM - the puking starts, and when I say "puking," I mean the fo'-rilz, hard-core, gut-wrenching, extremity-numbing, profuse sweat making vomiting sessions that... anyway - you know what I'm saying, and if you don't, don't wish for it.
Tues., 4:00 PM - the... um... "other thing" starts...
Tues., 4:30 PM - "Domestic partner" gets back, heads right for the bowl. I try to hold her hair back, but I can barely get myself off the floor (you think this is an exaggeration, but it's not!).
Tues., 8:30 PM - bile.
Tues., 9:00 PM - dry heaves.
Tues., 10:00 PM - chills.
Tues., 11:0? PM - pass out.
Wed., 9:00 AM - wake up, "the other thing" starts immediately and continues throughout the day, though thankfully, there's no more vomiting.
Wed. 2:00 PM - cancel interviews again, push practice to Friday.
Wed., 10:00 PM - high fever breaks, DRENCH everything around me in sweat, change clothes, fall asleep.
Thurs., 8:00 AM - wake up feeling o.k., eat a banana and some toast, go through most of day with less of "the other."
Thurs., 4:00 PM - actually make it through interviews, but wind up completely wiped out and dizzy, get fever back.
Thurs., 10:00 PM - fall asleep for an hour, spend the rest of the night tossing and turning, fever going up, getting hot and sweaty, then fever breaking, getting chills.
Fri., 7:00 AM - wake up feeling worse than I felt waking up yesterday, cancel practice for today, start facing the fact that it's really unrealistic to think about doing a show that starts at midnight in only two days.
Fri., 9:30 AM - eat a banana, some toast, AND an apple!
Fri., 5:00 PM - get dizzy while shaving, feel stupid, realize that I gotta pull the plug.
And that brings us up to the present moment, my friends, and for those of you who went the extra mile and did the detective work to figure this show out, I am truly sorry to cancel on you with such short notice. We will be back at Webster (quite a different experience, I know) at the end of the upcoming tour, and hopefully we can find a way to do something fun like this again before too many months go by. If there are problems with your refunds, let me know - I can't promise that I can get to the bottom of it, but we'll try to figure it out.
In the meantime, there are two bands, Brother Reverend and Blip Blip Bleep that are still playing Sunday night who seem awesome, and were super nice to let us jump on their bill in this fashion, and I'd like to first thank them for that, and second to say that if you were coming to the show hoping to see us, and you're not already aware of these bands, then please - why not go anyway and suport them? I was looking forward to doing that, myself...

And one last thing - I was told that "what's going around" is a "12 to 24 hour thing," and yet here I am still recovering on the FOURTH DAY. Anyone else had this? What gives???]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2007 23:23:56 -0800 http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/ATTENTION-SECRET-SHOW-CANCELLED http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/FINALLY-A-STEP http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/FINALLY-A-STEP#comments DID YOU HEAR THAT?? They actually went on record opposing the latest Bush plan for Iraq, affectionately known as "The Surge." I haven't entirely processed what this means yet (in the abstract sense, that is), but in the immediate, that means it... oh yeah - bummer - that means it goes to the Senate on Saturday, where it's going to need 60 votes to succeed...
BITING MY FRIGGING NAILS!!
(which needed trimming anyway)
If you're interested, heres what it actually says:
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That--
(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and
(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.
What's that line from that song?
No amount of poetry could mend this broken heart / but you can put the Hoover 'round if you want to make a start...
No, that's not it...
Don't feel sad, 'cause two out of three ain't bad?
Closer ...but, no.
Just carry on, thankful to be farmed like worms / Old glory for a blanket / As you suck on your thumbs?
Well... I mean, that's a good one, but...
When you woke this morning you looked so rocky-eyed,
Blue and white normally, but strange ringed like that in black.
It doesn't get much better, your voice can get just ripped up shouting in vain,
Maybe someone hears what you say, but you're still on your own at night.
You've got to make such a noise to understand the silence.
Screaming like a jackass, ringing ears so you can't hear the silence
Even when it's there - like the wind seen from the window,
Seeing it, but not being touched by it.
(We never asked for war, nor in the innocence of our birth were we aware of it.
We never asked for war, nor in the struggle to realisation did we feel there was a need for it.
We never asked for war, nor in the joyful colours of our childhood were we conscious of its darkness.)
Ahh yes... That's the one...]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2007 23:23:25 -0800 http://TedLeoandthePharmacists.fuzz.com/blog/entry/FINALLY-A-STEP