Anchormen, Aweigh! XVI
I just sent Jef the final draft of the liner notes to the Anchormen's forthcoming CD, Nation of Interns. The CD will hopefully be out in the next month or so, and you can expect some shows come spring! Here are the liners:

The Anchormen
Nation of Interns

Chris Braiotta: Accordion, bass, and vocals
Jef Czekaj: Drums, and vocals
Heath Row: Vocals
Tom Scanlon: Guitar and organ

Leslie Case: Background vocals on "Another Gentrification Song" and
"Unsung Heroes"

Another Gentrification Song Another storefront boarded up. Another homeless paper cup. Another U-Haul moving truck: Another family gone. Another big box starts to trade. Another student class turned slave. Another million dollars made, not saved: Another gentrification song. Why were we not invited? Why were the developers benighted? Why was the neighborhood so slighted? When will these wrongs be righted? Another street loses its life. Another sheltered suburban white. Another man picks up a knife.

"Central Square is the heart and soul of Cambridge." -- Chris Szabla

Audobon Park Walking down Magazine past the Abstract and Ms. Rae-Ann's grocery to le block du veterinary, the OK Shoe Shop's closed up like an oyster. Sitting on the roots of a tree, reading a book by a punk-rock nothing, writing a postcard to my family, and listening to the song sung by the pool swimming. We are going down to Audobon Park. We are house rotten at the Status Palace hanging out after dark because Alisa's on her mobile phone, and we are going home. Sitting down at the Kerry, feet are hurting, cracked just like Van Gogh. Three pints of Guinness times five minutes. Now we're late; who knows where we'll go? Going back to 316. Can't watch the movie we didn't PPV. Call room service, serving dervish. Fills our stomach; still we feel empty.

"The story might be tidier with a suicide, or a drug overdose, or a graffiti-covered tombstone in Paris. What actually happened isn't nearly as profitable for the record company, but more pleasant for his family." -- Abram Shalom Himelstein and Jamie Schweser, Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing

Celebrate Democracy In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and proceeded to kill 3 million Arawaks. Their gold had made him woozy, but because of Amerigo Vespucci, we are not Columbians, we're Americans. Celebrate democracy with me. In 1776, we freed ourselves from the wily Brits to play out our Declaration of Independence. But despite our Constitution, there is still stark class division, and war is fought by the impoverished, not the rich. In 1983, the cover of Time magazine turned its annual man award upon its ear. And instead of a world leader, it gave laud to binary
readers and named the computer Machine of the Year.

"A country populated with shoppers is poorly prepared to assert, much less back up, its worldwide dominance." -- Herbert Schiller, Living in the Number One Country

Finger Lakes Should I take the train or should I rent a car? I would take an aeroplane, but I don't need to go that far to see you because we will meet halfway. I want to see you tomorrow. You wanted to see me yesterday. If you could see through my eyes and get a new perspective, and maybe even be surprised. If I were you and you were me, just think of all the things that we could see. I think that I could be happy. Take me to the edge. Take me to the pier. Tell me all the reasons why you wanted me to come here: to see you, to see the finger lakes. I am taking what you're giving. Now there's not much more for me to take. I haven't seen or heard from you in awhile. I wish that I could hear your voice. I wish that I could see you smile. Smile at me; smile at the things we say. Then I'd know what you are thinking. Then I'd know what kind of games we're playing.

"The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." -- W. Somerset Maugham

Idlewild You're spending the weekend in Michigan, debiting the balance sheet that our relationship is built on. I urinate in used car lots and then get in a van with poets from New York and without destination. I do not know where we are going. I hope we reap the seeds we're sowing. You say that I don't tell you how I feel, yet layer after layer of my heart's defenses you keep peeling. Your self-esteem and self-doubt make me sway. I love you; I'm not in love with you: At least that's how I feel right now, today. Idlewild, you make me feel like I've never ever felt before. Idlewild, is this love real? Are you an open door?

"In order to delay the onset of the dementia of affection I hugged foam cushions from the sofa while you were away." -- Todd Colby, "I Welcome You"

Indecision If you want to make a decision, you've got to make it with precision. You've got to make sure that you're in the right head. If you want to give an answer, you cannot be a second guesser. You've got to be correct again. I will never let you down again, my friend.

"The fish is never free to become an eagle." -- Theron Q. Dumont, The Master Mind

Unsung Heroes If history was written by the winners, then social studies textbooks were compiled by the sinners. Our social ills were not caused by the poor, and labor organizers don't lead choirs any more. The world was not created by the people who make the news. Society was built by working people: me and you. We've got to share our stories, our successes, and our loss if we want to break the iron chains forged by every boss. Unsung heroes are less than zeroes. We cannot afford to forget our past. There's a new day, a new way about to dawn. Yet we can't take steps forward without knowing where we've gone. We've lost ourselves in the language of the Left. We've got to learn a new tongue if we want to be heard by the deaf. Without collective memory we won't last.

"We are always in need of radicals who are also lovable." -- Howard Zinn, Howard Zinn on History

Basic tracks recorded starting January 2002 by the Anchormen, Paul Coleman, and Ken Kokubo at the Sound Museum in Boston. Overdubs recorded starting April 2002 at Drop-D Manor in Jamaica Plain. Technical assistance provided by Doug Vargas. Mixed starting November 2002 by Rafi Sofer and various interns at Q Division in Somerville. Mastered in January 2003 by Darron Burke at Makeshift Studio in Jamaica Plain.

Thank you: The Abbey Lounge; Emily Arkin; Katie Bryn; Darron Burke; Leslie Case; Paul Coleman; the Dilboy VFW; Mike Faloon; Dave Geissler; Jen Godfrey; Handstand Command; Hi-Fi Records; Ken Kokubo; Steven J. Lawrence; O'Brien's; Kimberly Pieters; Sarah Pikcilingis; Rafi Sofer, "Cyco" Dave Sakowski, and all of the interns at Q Division; Alisa Swindell; and Doug Vargas.

No hippies or pimps were involved in the making of this record.