1 June 1996

It's been a busy spring for us, with the two high points being the release of our third album (and first as a trio), More Bad News, and our tour of New England (the last two weekends of April). Around these events, we have been playing out locally here in southeast Pennsylvania.

More Bad News came back from DiscMakers in the first week of March, and the response to the new album has been just terrific. Gene Shay has been playing it regularly on WXPN and WHYY and we've had lots of positive feedback on it.

The big trip to New England was divided into two long weekends (in between, we came back to Philly to work and study and otherwise keep our real lives moving). We played a string of scattered venues from the Boston area northward, including the Portland (ME) Folk Club, the Inn at Long Trail (Killington, VT), a living-room set at MIT, the Blacksmith House in Cambridge, MA, the Quarter Note Coffehouse in Plymouth, NH, the Luthiers' concert series in Waltham, MA and a short "getaway set" at Overall Music in Lexington, MA on the last day of the trip. This was our longest road trip ever, and it was tiring, but also very enjoyable and rewarding. Former bandmember Melissa Demian came to several of the shows and we dragged her up on stage to sing "Por La Tu Puerta" - with three part harmonies! - and a few other things. Our show in Killington also included the first (and so far only) live performance of "Sheath and Knife."

Tom Rhoads