Friday October 21, 2005
The Knitting Factory
74 Leonard Steret
downtown NYC
as part of LEBOWSKIFEST NYC

BACKSTORY

Alright – there’s a long backstory in this one, but I’ll try and make it as short & sweet as I can.

Tom, Rev. Caroline (TFL manager, photographer, and general all-purpose gal) and I are all pretty big film buffs, as are a bunch of our friends. Both Tommy and Caroline actually have degrees in film (mine’s poli sci). We’re all fans of the Coen Brothers, and, as such, fans of the movie The Big Lebowski.

Tom’s dedication to the film led to him often quoting from the film, and labeling certain people as “Achievers.” One night at a Heaves gig, Tommy and I were talking with TFL’s good friend Maggie about her new beau. Tom, possibly inebriated, kept asking if the new man was “an achiever,” among other things, and that lead to me writing the TFL song, “Achiever” in the weeks that followed.

Meanwhile, about a year and a half ago, while skimming the internet at work, Tom stumbled upon the LebowskiFest – a big party devoted to followers of the movie. It’s not so much a convention (i.e. no memorabilia traded, no forums/lectures, etc.), as it is a drunken bowling party with music, the occasional costumed fan, and a mutual love for all things related to “The Dude” (the main character of the film, portrayed by Jeff Bridges).

LebowskiFest (henceforth known as LF) was founded by two Louisville, KY guys named Will and Scott. The annual LF was held I Louisville, and there were also happenings in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Last year, they decided to have the first one in New York, so Tom, a couple of his friends (whose names I forget at the moment, but I’ve met them more than once, so I’m clearly an asshole), Caroline, our good friend Chris, and I all went out to the Cozy Bowl in Queens to catch the second day of the party (we weren’t able to go the first day with the bands), and we had an awesome time. That night, after meeting Jeff “the Dude” Dowd (the real-life inspiration for the film character), we decided that we would do whatever it took to get on the bill if they planned on LFNY 2005.

Flash forward about ten moths, and Tom and Rev. Caroline both get the e-mail from the LF organizers announcing the LFNY date, and they both immediately respond about TFL possibly playing the show. The response e-mal said basically, “contact Scott, the music dude, and we’ll see what we can do.” That wasn’t too promising, but it certainly wasn’t a refusal.

We decided to try and blow Scott away so that he had no choice but to give us the gig. We put together a package with the following (if ou don’t know their significance, you gotta watch the movie):

--- a cover letter lousy with movie references and quotes all used to show that we should clearly be chosen for the fest.
--- a TFL sampler CD including the song Achiever, along with a bunch of others. The CD cover showed my bath-robed legs dangling from a comfy chair, feet in slippers, and next to them was the fixings of a white Russian.
--- a TFL t-shirt

… And the one thing that would put us over the edge

--- a severed toe (rubber), bloodied, and with nail polish, wrapped in gauze and cotton with a ransom note.

We sent the package out via UPS on a Tuesday. We tracked it and saw that it was received on a Friday at noon. I received an e-mail before 1pm that day. We were in!

Extra little story -

As some of the band were leaving post-gig on Friday, we went over to the LFNY merch table, and were speaking with 'Fest organizer Scott, along with all the merch workers from Louisville. I handed them each a CD sampler that we were giving away that night, and a girl at the table saw the band name and said, "Tied For Last? That's YOU? I work in the office and I'm the one who opened your promo package - I'M THE ONE WHO GOT THE TOE!!!" Everyone elsee at the table knew what she was talking about and they all told me how great the packaging was and how they heard that our show downstairs was really good.

Damn that felt great!