Joe’s Pub show and after-party were a smashing success

We had an amazing Saturday night playing at Joe's Pub, our dream venue in New York ... and then had a buzzing after-party at KGB Bar down the way that stretched late into the night. Several critics and photographers were on hand, one of whom has featured us as his Artist of the Week ...

Exciting results of the show: Linda started out the night with the infamous bass line from "Sharks" and we were on a roll from that point onward. We introduced "We Fought all the Battles" and the audience cheered wildly during "Wedding Song's" interlude with bass solo, viola and violin flourishes, and general musical madness. We sang a gritty but pretty version of Liz Phair's classic "F--k And Run," which allowed Joshua and Ilana the chance to drop the F-bomb on stage against Nick's insistent drumming. The "Billie Jean" cover was a darkly pleasing experience. The audience called us back for an encore and then still were sad to see us go after we played a few more songs. And when we were breaking down the set, the Joe's Pub mix engineer said, "Someone in hip hop is going to sample your song 'Cairo,' that song's just too good to pass up."

There were dozens of new faces in the audience and after the show we sold our freshly completed CD "Somebody Saves My Life Most Every Single Day," and Kind Monitor T-shirts to totally new listeners. They said they particularly enjoyed "A Single Tiny Story", "Cairo", and "Baby Blue," describing it as a rather gorgeously sad duet between Joshua and Barret. A funny thing happened during the after-party: several people said to us: "It's so weird, but friends have told me to come hear you play and I finally did after all this time ... and you're actually, like, really good! It's like you never know about bands, but you guys are like really, really good." We'll take that as a huge compliment.

Many thanks are in order for making this show such a huge success: to Joe's Pub for booking our release party, all the amazing people who came out in 100-degree weather to fill the house, Joe Hankins for press and publicity, CC Bursell for promotional support, Jerald Stein for photography, Nick Keppol for designing the poster and website (www.kindmonitor.com), the band itself who played with such flawlessness and dedication (Barret, Alex, Linda, Ilana, and Nick). Jen Guthals flew in for the show and took some great pictures of the band from the audience. And so many more people need thanks, especially our friends and fans who spread the word about this weekend's big party and helped draw such a big crowd! You made this all possible.

We can't wait to play for you again.

KM