Greg and I had met at the Future of Music conference in DC a few years back, which was keynoted, strangely, by Norm Coleman, that heinous senator from Minnesota that Al Franken barely beat. I met the director of Rhapsody there and made a stupid faux pas when I gave him my album Should Confusion to add to the Rhapsody database, but then told him that the subscription model didn't appeal to me, I preferred to have my music on my hard drive. It's a networking faux pas, because by handing him the disc I'm essentially asking him for a favor, saying, "here, add me to the database so people can hear my music" and then turning around and dissing his whole enterprise. Examples like that are part of the reason I continue to wallow in obscurity.

As the conference ended I had no ride home and was walking to catch a Chinatown bus when Greg Thorne drove past me and offered me a ride back to New York. We knew a bunch of the same people from the seedy world of college a capella and we were both crazy about Elliott Smith. It was a fun ride. Later I got a gig in Rhode Island opening for Fred Abong from Throwing Muses. I needed a full band and, having none, called up Greg. He showed up, without any rehearsal, and nailed the whole set. (So did Dan Koulomzin on bass.) It was awesome.

In addition to Rockets, I also had Greg record drums on Ten Candles and The Queen and the Potter, both songs that got cut from the record.