(No MP3s this time, as you'll see below, but we have a couple of Quicktime Movies of Robyn and Morris on the Downloads page.)

Philadelphia - 20/03/01

Today it's Philadelphia, then Washington tomorrow. .... In the van Paul Bevan, who is doing our outfront sound and has taken over as head sheepdog so the rest of us can relax, tells me that Laura, his friend, is an ace theremin player .... we know Laura, so this is deeply exciting. I spent a lot of time with Bruce Woolley playing theremin in London, and also with Lydia, Leon Theremin's great grand niece or whatever the equivalent of that is in proper descendant order ......... theremin on "You'll have to go Sideways" is an idea we bat around for the rest of the day but it doesn't quite make it .....

what does the '-ish' in 'English' mean was a stray thought I had in the van, and Robyn and I have a word about the tour diary...... we get into Philly (I am having such a great time, being able to write things like "We get in to Philly" and it be true) and go to the hotel, but there is something wrong .... I am starting to detach, I can feel it ..... so is Morris, and he looks a bit sad so I decide to cheer him up by photographing him ...... functioning hearts can hurt as well as love, and he misses Sheila and the kids but they are coming at the week-end ...... maybe it's a bit of a weird day, rainy, something funny floating around the band ..... most of my dislocation is probably caused by the fact that after soundcheck Kimberley beats me seven games in a row at pool as we wander up and down south street ......

The soundcheck? Oh, it is becoming a blur ........ we worked out a new song called "Evil Guy" ..... it falls into place pretty easily so we think we might do it tonight .... we use gigs to practice numbers - when they're in good shape we can stop playing them, in some ways this is the wrong way round but our problem is getting bored very quickly .... destroy and move on (good for music, but don't treat people like that) ....... we are also already bored of our new setlist for example so Robyn decides to change it and start with "You'll have to go Sideways", we're also going to throw in "Each of Her Silver Wands", a new one, too ...... and "Face of Death" clambers on just as we are leaving the dressing room ..... this is all mini-mini-me in anarchy terms - the Young Fresh Fellows didn't do ANY songs from their setlist in Baltimore .....

..... the gig is the best yet but in lots of ways there's more mistakes - the more we play these songs the more we seem to forget them ...... the DAT player doesn't work so the whole thing is lost to history which is also good because I am so behind on uploads to Tracy ..... but it is starting to remind me of The Soft Boys or something better ....

See SxSW, Baltimore, etc ......

— Matthew