September 24, 2004

KirkSmith.net -- Issue #6

Issue Six: Lucky breaks like sticks.

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IN THIS ISSUE:
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1. Upcoming Show
2. Pianos Residency
3. Other NYC Shows
4. New York Record Stores
5. New T-shirts
6. Some other stuff

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1. UPCOMING SHOW
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Kirk plays the 23rd annual Old Pecan Street Festival.

WHEN:
Sunday Sept. 26th, 2004
1:00-2:00pm

WHERE:
Mix 94.7 Stage
6th & Red River
Austin, TX

WHAT:
Cosmic Travelers and Homies of all ages will most likely enjoy, and possibly even gain enlightenment by experiencing, The Old Pecan Street Festival. Count on a vast array of food and drink, live music on six stages, and a bountiful display of superlative arts and crafts built and sold by some 300 juried artisans from all over the Universe.

Check out the "Kid's Korner" featuring a carnival, a petting zoo, and first-rate entertainment for the young, and the young at heart.

Saturday & Sunday. All day, and part of the night.

Admission is FREE. East 6th St. between Congress Ave. & I.H. 35

For the benefit of those devoted to Sunday rituals, Kirk asked that I point out that his set won’t interfere with most mainstream Christian religious services, or brunch.

See you there brothers and sisters.

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2. PIANOS RESIDENCY
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The thoroughly autumnal month of October will be spent in the northeast playing gigs. The centerpiece of this spread is a four-week residency at Pianos.

Situated at 158 Ludlow, in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Pianos is a great new club with a smoking downstairs main stage, and a killer upstairs lounge.

Now just to be clear, because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about the downstairs part, it isn’t actually smoking. Smoking is illegal in New York City now. Yes, it is. And so you can’t do it at Pianos -- even though we bought Kirk a thousand books of matches with his name on the cover to promote the show.

By the way, the upstairs lounge isn’t really killer either. Murder is now illegal in Manhattan as well.

What you CAN do at Pianos is eat, drink, listen to good music, and dance. You have to have a special license to dance in New York City. Yes, you do. Luckily Pianos has one.

Point of interest: Pianos is housed in what used to be an old Piano store, hence the name, which then turned into a small theatre/performance space that Kirk visited in 1999 and seriously considered renting for the NY run of DESPAIR’S BOOK OF DREAMS AND THE SOMETIMES RADIO. Small world. Well, small Lower East Side at least.

Check it out: http://www.pianosnyc.com/

WHEN:
Sundays in October
8PM

WHERE:
Pianos -- Upstairs
158 Ludlow @Stanton
New York, NY

COST:
Free. Limited Seating.

INFO:
(212)505-3733
http://www.pianosnyc.com

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3. OTHER NEW YORK SHOWS
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Here’s a list of other New York dates during the month. Feel free to pass them on to friends in the area.

None is “better” than any other. Each will have its own individual charm and unique character. Some are free, some are not; some are cool, some are hot; some are late, some are early; some are manly, some are girlie. Well, most will probably be manly cause that’s the kind of thing that Kirk seems to do best, in spite of our best efforts to, how shall I say, widen his perspective.

Incidentally, I’m pretty sure I didn’t punctuate that second sentence correctly. Please forgive my ungrammatical tendencies, and send your corrections to: givemeafuckinbreakitsanonlinenewsletter@kirksmith.net

Tuesday, October 5th, 2004 8:00 PM
Pianos -- Downstairs
158 Ludlow @Stanton
New York, NY
http://www.pianosnyc.com
(212)505-3733

Wednesday, October 6th, 2004 8:00 PM
Arlene's Grocery
95 Stanton St.
New York, NY 10002
http://www.arlene-grocery.com
Price: $7.00

Monday, October 11th, 2004 11:00 PM
Pete's Candy Store
709 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211
http://www.petescandystore.com

Kirk swears he was also offered a spot opening up for Ian Hunter (formerly of “Mott the Hoople”) at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. But no one around here believes him and so far he can’t prove it.

Apparently it conflicted with a show he already confirmed at Pianos, so his booking agent turned it down without even talking to him about it. How likely is that? Besides, if Maxwell’s really wanted him to play so bad you’d think they’d offer him a spot of his own on another night, right? And I don’t see any Maxwell’s shows on the schedule. Maybe they’re still “working out the details” or something.

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4. NEW YORK RECORD STORES
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If you’re in the mood to do a little record shopping in the big city drop by:

Etherea
66 Ave. A
New York, NY 10009
212.358.1126
http://www.ethereaonline.com/
www.etherea.net
or
Rainbow Music
130 First Ave. (bet. 7th & St. Mark's)
New York, NY 10009
212.505.1774

As of next week, they’ll both be carrying SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT.

Of course you can still buy it directly from us: http://www.kirksmith.net/store_cds_suddenlybrightout.shtml

Or from CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/kirksmith

And it’s always available at shows. What else is now available at shows? I’m glad you asked.

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5. NEW T-SHIRTS
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Sporting a stellar yet minimalist design, nicked from a small metal tag Kirk dug out of the regulator box controlling an old ceiling fan in a house built in 1926, these brand new American Apparel T’s are honorably made, locally printed and have, we’re told, a remarkable slimming effect on the wearer.

They’re all the rage at Parkside Community School.

Not available on the website. Not available in stores. ONLY at the show.

This is a limited edition run.

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6. SOME OTHER STUFF
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For the record, Kirk will be home in Austin for Halloween and not at Pianos in New York, even though it is a Sunday in October.

We made changes: www.kirksmith.net

And more of them are on the way.

Whoever sent in their copy of Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style” we appreciate it. We had a copy already but it pretty much stays in the bathroom. It’ll be nice to have one for the desk, not that we’ll use it.

Winks, nods, snaps and smiles,
Your friends at kirksmith.net