maybe i'd sleep at night

Belatedly, some more actual Caulfield Sisters news from Joe, indicating that the Lost Three Wheeler Demos may soon resurface:

... you'll be happy to know the Caulfield Sisters are rehearsing again after a long hiatus. No news on new recordings yet but I can assure you I will gently guide them into a recording studio within the next several months.

In related news... as you know, before Cindy and Mary formed The Caulfield Sisters, they recorded a 5-song demo for Mercury Records under the name "3 Wheeler". The demo was never released and Mercury gave them ownership of the songs. These 5 songs were just remixed and mastered by Peter Katis (Interpol, The National, Guster) at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT. They sound AWESOME!!! As promised, one track (First Bridge) will appear as a bonus track for the Say It With Fire EP. I'm going to ask Cindy to let me release a second "iTunes Only" EP featuring the other tracks. Keep your fingers crossed.

I didn't know "Last Bridge of Summer" was an official Three Wheeler song, although the personnel were the same. This is what an article from the time (early 1999) had to say about the band:

Though playing under a new name, the band's sound isn't one to throw Pee Shy fans for a loop. From Wheeler's jangly guitars and velvet delivery to Guidera's punchy bass lines to Orrico's restrained drumming, the band builds on groundwork laid out in its previous incarnation. With crunchier guitars and more driving rhythms, Three Wheeler's sound flirts with modern power pop, though its roots stick firmly in indie rock.

"It's a harder sound, but it's the direction we were headed in," Wheeler said, describing the sound of the band's demos.

Lacking the some of the restraint found in Wheeler's previous work, Three Wheeler's material packs a stronger punch than Pee Shy material. From the commanding yet subtle guitars of "Bleeker Street," reminiscent of the Smith's Johnny Marr or Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, to the jangly, echo-ridden "Radio Waves," Three Wheeler cranks out a sound with the intertia and power of MTV's Buzz clip material without the inherent idiocy of high-rotation material.

The band's songwriting grows along with its ventures into harder sounds. Team songwriting makes an appearance in Three Wheeler's material, with Wheeler and Guidera sharing songwriting duties, with Guidera penning music and Wheeler providing lyrics and lead vocals.

Not sure if I'd describe "First Bridge of Summer" as "hard," but it's interesting to see how they evolved from that sound to the Sisters' melancholia.

That article mentioned that Mercury had "sprung for a Three Wheeler demo, which is still under evaluation" (I guess we know how that turned out), and quoted Cindy as saying: "I think they're be a home for us somewhere."

Yes, Cindy -- in our hearts.

we're like orpheus and what's-her-name

Could there be a Pee Shy Curse, similar to the Seinfeld one? 'Cause not only did Pee Shy break up, but now -- a mere 12 years after she and Helen A.S. Popkin shared the stage with Cindy, Jenny and Bil one glorious night at the Stone Lounge in Tampa -- Gina Vivinetto has gotten the boot from the St. Pete Times.

Her crime? Blogging.

Yes -- imagine that! By day, Gina called herself a responsible citizen, a loyal patriotic American, an ethical (though "bad-ass") journalist and music critic, a "relentlessly fun, super sassy and hyper intelligent ...one-of-a-kind lesbian," a Crayola fan and even an amazingly talented musician and award-winning short story writer, in that admittedly little-known giant-headed-supermodel genre.

But that was just a front. For beneath it all, Gina had a dark side. A secret life.

She blogged.

That might make her, oh I dunno ... wait for it .... a blogger.

And not only that, but she posted comments on other people's blogs -- scurrilous blogs that, believe it or not, someone was writing anonymously. I know, that's hard to comprehend. I get the vapors just thinking about it.

One of these sites was about Hillsborough County Commissioner Rhonda Storms, a conservative whom some people (not me, naturally) seem to regard as a crazy, nudity-obsessed, homophobic, rule-bending, self-promoting wingnut who may or may not bear some resemblance to the Wicked Witch of the West.

Again, that's what some folks say. I don't live in the Tampa area, so beats me if any of this stuff is true. It seems, however, that some of Ms. Storms' critics have launched not just one but but two fake Rhonda Storms blogs. And it was on the second such site that Ms. Vivinetto, using the name of an art/music gallery she owns in St. Petersburg, posted the comments that proved so fatal to her journalistic career. To wit:

• "You left your panties here."


• "The panties had a red inscription, over the crotch: 'T.G.I.F.' And, they were musky."


• "Can we expect you Friday night at Bombshell, hot stuff? There will be a lot of HOT, YOUNG LESBIANS!!"

Shocking stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

Now, you Vivinettan apologists out there might say hey, wait a second -- didn't the Times pay for Gina to write a (not too funny) parody of MTV's The Real World that mocked Rhonda? Didn't Gina host a political fund-raising concert last year aimed at opposing Ms. Storms' agenda, not to mention her role in producing a documentary rebutting some of the commissioner's comments, with no apparent objections from her editors? Hadn't Ms. Vivinetto's somewhat outré sense of humor been on display all these years, what with that "Mr. Brady is Gay" column she'd been writing for the newspaper? Doesn't an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, the nonprofit journalism school that owns the Times, seem to agree that Gina "has a point" in sensing some inconsistencies in her bosses' actions?

Sorry, it won't wash. Clearly, the Times had no choice but to sever its ties with Gina, lest she taint the newspaper's august Stuck in the 80s podcast. One minute, she might be reminiscing about A Flock of Seagulls or Toni Basil or that Cyndi Lauper song "She Bop," and the next second she might blurt out another Rhonda Storms panty joke.

No, Gina's bosses simply had to demand her resignation. Even if they had to do it while she was hooked to an IV tube while recovering from surgery to remove a tumor. I feel safer already.

Now that Gina's gone, can someone go after all those anonymous bloggers?