she’s gonna be a writer and no one can stop her

You know, I think those remarks by Obama's pastor are getting misconstrued by the media. Clearly, what he meant is: "God damn! America is so totally ready to see and hear more from those Caulfield Sisters!" And who could possibly quarrel with that? (Yes, Senator McCain, I'm looking at you. But is there any truth to the rumors that Hillary's a fan and, if nominated, plans to give an acceptance speech that consists solely of a dramatic reading of the lyrics from "Mosquito Song"? Take that, Samantha Power.)

Anyway, if you've been waiting all this time trying to make up your mind about whether to buy a physical copy of Say It With Fire, the Sisters' splendid 2004 EP with that cool cover depicting what looks like a homespun floral dress that's suffered some tragic ironing mishap, you're just about out of luck, slim. American Laundromat's online store now lists the disc as "out of print," and my quick-and-dirty perusal of Google, GEMM and eBay turns up a whopping total of one used copy for sale in the entire universe. (Actually, it's amazing that even one person who has ever purchased the EP feels like parting with it.) Feel free to keep checking GEMM if you're truly desperate, but I'm just glad I scarfed as many copies from multiple vendors as I did when the album was still extant. Sure as shit worked out better than all that Bear Stearns stock.

Yes, the album's still available from iTunes. I suppose you can also buy a Bentley instead of a Rolls, or vacation on the Adriatic instead of the Riviera, if you feel like lowering your standards a smidge. Your call.

On the other hand, we live in an amazing universe, so opportunities still abound to partake of Caulfields-esque magic. Cindy side project du jour Land of Tomorrow is still stalking the Earth like the wildebeast of musical wonderment that it is and last night was scheduled to conduct what I can only assume was a majestic show at Glasslands in Brooklyn with Oakley Hall, and if you missed that there's always April 19 at Cakeshop.

Meanwhile, Kristin's other band Gloria Deluxe just celebrated the release of its new album Must Don't Whip 'Um, containing songs from the second operetta in its Accidental Trilogy. This will allegedly be available on Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby soon (I definitely recommend the CD Baby option), but meanwhile you can squint at one of the photos on this page and see Kristin drumming away happily up on the riser.

Kinda overwhelming, isn't it, having all these options? Or as the Rev. Wright might put it: "God damn!"

no, she can do it with her eyes

I hope everyone is having a good MLK Day. Here's a treat for y'all: Someone has uploaded a second live video of the Sisters onto YouTube, this time showing them performing at Pianos, which I'm guessing was a few years ago.

The camera moves around a lot and offers a good look at all three, each seeming very serious but rocking out nonetheless. Is Mary amazing on that bass or what? Kristin's got her headphones on and is drumming intently with that right shirtsleeve cuff unbuttoned, and late in the song Cindy starts wailing on the pedal and pounding on her guitar like she's trying to knock some sense into it.

Damn, what an amazing contribution to Western civilization and the Milky Way galaxy they are.

Anyway, here goes:

the flood will take us when we're in our sleep

Let's just say, hypothetically, that you drive five hours across the state to see a wonderful band whose debut album has been immeasurably enriching your life during the past couple of months, but then because of some absurdly inaccurate Google Maps driving directions coupled with extreme fatigue and your usual stupidity you arrive just in time to catch the last song and a half of their set, for a total of maybe five minutes. But this is the most glorious five minutes ever. And the band that comes up next also rocks the joint hard, and so it is with less disappointment and chagrin than you probably would have expected that you sleep off your embarrassment in some hotel, wake up early the next day and make the trek back home, trying not to worry too much about that weird bird-chirping noise your front left wheel suddenly seems to be making. And you finally arrive at your house without further adventure, aside from the hour you spent napping in a turnpike rest stop when the exhaustion finally became too much to bear.

You'd be in the mood for some relaxin' at this point, wouldn't you? I certainly am. I mean, yeah, you would be.

And you'd be in luck, because the always-enterprising Ms. Cynthia Wheeler has formed yet another new band, this time called Land of Tomorrow, whose mission statement, she explains, is to service one's psychic needs on those "'jesus, i need to chill the f*ck out' days." (This is the band formerly known as Mostly Water, according to American Laundromat's latest e-mail.)

They've got a couple sound clips up at their MySpace site, and as far as chilling out is concerned, all I can do is echo Mr. Bush: Mission fucking accomplished. Cindy's laughter at the beginning of "I Loved" is pretty damned beguiling too.

Best of all, the band will be rocking out live Thursday night at the Cake Shop in NYC. So go check 'em out. My advice: Bring a goddamn map too.

P.S. Looking for another band to check out? Wye Oak! Wye Oak! Wye Oak! (formerly Monarch)