Courtney Barnett’s CMJ Wrap-Up: Free Tattoos And Google Maps Panic

DAY 6

Adam [Curley, our very own CMJ reporter here at theMusic.om.au] from Australia is on a writing expedition  and will be following me around. I wonder if this is a bad idea. What if he writes about how I'm always going to the toilet because I'm a nervous wee-er.  We meet at a café. I order a soy flat white. They don't know what that is. Adam tells me that Australians made up the “flat white” so I order a latte. I don't even know why I order a flat white all the time, I just do. Maybe once upon a time I had a crush on someone who drank flat whites so I started drinking them out of hopeful cosmic alignment (that's also the reason I started smoking). It's 9.45am and I feel confused about my life.

We have a rehearsal. This is only the 2nd rehearsal with Brad (Royston Vasie) on bass before he does 8 shows in 6 days with us. We play at 11.30pm at Piano's and it's good fun. He shreds. After all the talking about music, I'm happy to actually play some music.

After show shenanigans!

DAY 7

Back and forth on the subway today doing press all over town. My mum was in the Australian Ballet in the late '60s/early '70s and travelled the entire world ("except Venice, I've always wanted to go to Venice"). Today I wonder what it was like getting lost and having to ask for directions and feeling a real experience. The only experience I feel is dread when my phone battery starts running out and I can't use Google Maps.

I spend most of my time walking around looking at fire escapes.

I also spend a lot of time looking at the ground.

We play a 7pm show at Mercury Lounge, then 11pm we play a rad fun show at Glasslands. This one is maybe my favourite of the whole week. There's a lot of people and I lose my breath a lot.

DAY 8

Me and a bunch of lovely Australian's play two songs each at a Sounds Australia thing. There's free lunch. I do a shitload of interviews/photos from 3-8pm. The bar where I do all this has a cool looking pinball machine that I wish I could play. I start to wonder if I should be swapping my shirt between all these photos. Or wash my hair. Or both. We play a show at Midnight at Mercury Lounge. I wonder if I'll break a string soon, I have flashbacks to the SFK tour at the Metro.

Today I learn that Jay-Z got his name from the JMZ subway line.

DAY 9 - IN HAIKU

Pianos, 5pm (solo)

After so many band shows,

Solo; I feel vulnerable and boring.

I play Depreston.

285 Kent St, 9pm

I feel very un-punk rock today.

I wish I had more opinions about things.

I get free shoes.

DAY 10

I'm having lots of fun.

We play a show at 1pm. It's a brand new venue and there's no air-conditioning so I sweat like a nun in a brothel but we have an awesome fun show. Maybe getting sweaty is a really good thing, endorphins or something. They are giving away free tattoos in the main bar. I think about getting a dolphin.

Nothing free could be a bad idea, surely?

Last show, number 8, is the Aussie BBQ, we're on at 6pm. The stage is tiny and Dave has to set up the drums on the ground, but I like that cos it means I can look at him (I remember the time when we played at Tamworth and people told us they had a "who could get the most smiles from a band member" game and Dave was always the winner). Playing to a sea of people is a nice way to end the crazy week. I have so much fun even though the microphone keeps zapping me. This is my second favourite show.

DAY 11

First day off and last day in New York. We visit Time Square and I think of Jenny Holzer. We visit the Whitney museum and I think of Whitney Houston. We cross the road to Central Park and I think of Central Perk from Friends. I get a bit sad and miss home. We meet some crew and drink some beers by the pond.

We head to Pianos to watch Royston Vasie who totally rock, then we ninja on outta there for 4am airport taxi tomorrow morning for London.

Catch ya later, New York!