Everyone has them: the days when you are at the top of
your game; the days your hit all the marks. Fortunately
for those of us at the Lakeside Lounge in NYC last
night, yesterday was one of those days for Amy. Amy
sang and played her heart out, along with long-time
musical cohort Jon Graboff on lead electric guitar, for
an hour and a half.

Amy promised to play everything, and she did. Included
in her set were about six new songs and those songs are
strong. Included in the new songs were Dancing with
Joey Ramone, The Trouble with Jeannie, I Don't Want to
Talk, Just Like Rasputin (which Amy said was her attempt
to be historical, but which she admitted ended up being
another song about her), a lovely song about missing an
old friend who died, and a song about a friend's fling.
Having heard both Joey and Jeannie a few times since the
summer (Amy likes to play NYC), it seems to me that they
are likely to be the pillars of the new CD.

Jeannie is the song that will catch people's attention
and generate buzz, interviews and hopefully more
appearances. It's a very Amy song about the problems
with trying to hate but ending up liking her new guy's ex.

But Joey is the heartfelt, nostalgic look back at
something that is no longer here. Hearing it makes me
think that perhaps when I was hanging out at CBGBs back
in the day, Amy was probably hanging out there not too
far away from me.

Lots of favorites showed up last night: Til the Wheels
Fall Off (the best version of the song I have heard Amy
do), Cynically Yours, Beer and Kisses, Knapsack (a
request from the audience), Why Do I, Summer of My
Wasted Youth, That Tone of Voice, 20 Questions,
Alejandro Escovedo's Castanets and many more. Of course
the problem with Amy's catalog is that it would take
three hours for her to play all the good stuff.

It was a real good show.