yeah, we were surprised, too.

a funny thing happened last night. the band had booked a low-profile gig at a club down in the financial district--a real dive, but it was one of the first places to book me in new york, so i have a soft spot for it. it took some convincing to drag the band down there, but drag down we did, full of vim and enthusiasm that was mildly confused when we saw...

the orange bear was not open. it was not only shuttered, but gutted. given that we'd only made the booking about a week ago, this came as a bit of a surprise--you'd THINK that the booking guy would have made some mention if the club had been scheduled to undergo major remodeling the day we were meant to play, or at least given us a phone call if it had been raided and remaindered by a horde of roving sandinistas or something.

never let it be said that i do not bring excitement and novelty into the lives of my bandmates. as ben said: "i've played a lot of gigs in this city, and seen a lot of weird things...but i've never shown up to a gig to find the club shut down."

so there's one band milestone we can cross off the list.