Nobody Expects the Blibbering Humdingers

Unfortunately this turned out to be true. Wrock Spring Break marked the second time that the wrock duo was stuck down south due to a storm. Evil Day 2's epic snow storm kept them in Virginia, while yesterday's rain storm and hurricane like winds, kept Scott and Kirsten on the ground in North Carolina.

When I got the call from Jon, I was just settling in to take a nap before heading down to the Sidewalk Cafe. I had just finished ironing the last crooked letter on the t-shirts I had been making for The Humdingers. They read: (ironically enough) "Nobody Expects The Blibbering Humdingers". Except that just as I lifted the backing off the last "s", the letter itself came off all together. I stared at the shirt, exhausted, and exasperated, vowing to take a short nap, and then re-iron the "s".

Then, the phone rings.

When Jon told me the news, my first thought was "Great! Now it doesn't matter that the shirt says "Humdinger". I unplugged the iron angrily. Why did it have to be that every time they were supposed to play in New York, that the weather just didn't cooperate? On top of this, Kelly and I were playing our first Sidewalk show together, and now our own friends were threatening not to come because of the rain.

I hurried to my computer and typed out the best guilt trip email I could manage, and sent it out to the group mailing list. I was miserable. My family and friends were coming from Long Island to hear me sing. What if they didn't come? What if they came, and they were the only ones there? What if other bands didn't come? What if- what if. Instead of spiraling into a Shel Silverstein poem, I decided to take a long hot shower. When I emerged, I was still upset, but my anger had gone. Kelly and I would play the show, and we would have a great time doing it. No matter what.

I put on my dress, gathered my suitcase of merch, and with Sam's help, made my way down to the East Village. After two missed trains, and the struggle of getting a cab in the rain, Kelly, Mike, Sam, and I made it safely to The Sidewalk Cafe with three instruments, a pedal board, a macbook, an amp, and my suitcase. We were soaking wet and worried. This was it.

When we made our way inside, we were welcomed by wet friends who braved the weather to support us. After some damp hugs, Kelly and I set to work setting up merch and our equipment. It was with many sighs, that we informed Amos the sound guy, that we would be rearranging the schedule to make up for the missing Humdingers.

At 7:15, the show began. Potter Ink was amazing. Playing original songs, as well as covers, she set the evening off to a wonderful start. My favorite part was when she covered The Remus Lupins' Lookin' for Trouble, and the entire audience sang the bah-bah's for her. I started to relax.

Next up were the always fabulous Bella and Le Strangers. As usual, their harmony was heavenly. Seeing them perform always puts me in a good mood. Unfortunately I was in the bathroom during my favorite song: Rodolphus, but I still heard it loud and clear, and danced along while washing my hands. I think the other women were slightly afraid.

Kelly, and I were up next. And even though Mike was calm and collected as he set up our guitars, we were terrified. Soon the three of us stood in front of our mics and began with an old favorite: Anthony Goldstein. You'd think we would start to relax after this, but no. Kelly and I had our knees locked to keep them from shaking for the whole set. Mike's another story. He played the guitar and bass with ease. I wish he could rub some of that calmness off on us. We coasted through the rest of the set. My family, at their first wizard rock show, was smiling from the audience. The small crowd standing in front of the stage was singing our own lyrics back us. Sam's face grinning from the back gave me a perfect focal point. According to our friends, despite our trembling knees, Madam Pince and the Librarians pulled off a great show. Before heading off stage, however, we had one more song. One that we were both terrified and excited to sing. Astoria Greengrass and the Pissed off Pince. (Parental Advisory!) Yep. We filked Swish and Flick. And, it wasn't exactly very nice. Honestly, the things that that girl does in our library is disgraceful! Luckily, she had a good sense of humor and loved it. We did it because we love that song, and you, Stacy. It was a great ending to our set. We left the stage still shaking, but grinning. We did it.

Next and last up was the one and only Swish and Flick. And they killed it. Stacy and John had the room pulsing with energy as they performed some of my favorite songs: Slytherin Weekend, Quidditch Witch, Hogwarts House Party, My Dad is Rich on a Boat, (to which I sang along to every lyric, much to my family's confusion as to why we were singing about rich dad/dead dad) and for the first time live: Amortentia.

It was a wonderful show, and I want to thank Stacy for helping me organize it, Jon for helping to get the word out, everyone that performed, all my friends and family who braved hurricaine winds to support us, and of course The Blibbering Humdingers who were there in spirit. It seems that New York has some vendetta against North Carolina, but I hope against hope that Scott and Kirsten will make it some day. It will be an amazing moment when no one expects The Blibbering Humdingers, yet there they'll be, at the Sidewalk Cafe, telling all the 'Puffs to "Make me a sandwich...."