2-11-97: Jeff, the band and Tom Verlaine arrive at Memphis International Airport. They drive two rental cars five miles north to Claridge House, a corporate housing complex in the middle of downtown. Right away the plan is to road test the new songs at a club called Barristers and record the second album at Easley Studios - the band debued most of the new songs two days previous at Arlene Grociery in Manhattan. The last time Jeff and the band were in Memphis, was August of 1994, promoting Grace.
2-12/13 -97: The band paly two club shows, on the bill with buddies and local indie heroes, The Grifters. A friendly mob of fans from Champaign, Illinois submerge on Jeff. He obliges them by joining in on a group photo and signing some CDs.
*scan photo of Champaign people with Jeff
Feb. continued: Guitarist Michael Tighe is bedridden with the flu, delaying the band's start time at Easley. In late Feb. they finally enter the studio. The sessions are a bit rocky and things feel tentative. Jeff's deliberate working method tries the patience of producer Verlaine as the studio costs begin to mount. Eventually, songs emerge but according to the band, sound lifeless.
March: After a band meeting at a midtown watering hole, Jeff and the band decide that recording sessions at Easley for My Sweetheart The Drunk aren't worthy. Jeff will remain in Memphis to flesh out the songs himself while Tighe, Mick Grondahl and Parker Kindred will fly back to NYC. Following a session without the band, Jeff tells Verlaine in so many words, that it isn't working out and he now knows what he needs to do as far as reworking the songs. Still holed up at the dreary corporate housing setting of Claridge, Jeff immersed himself into his new surroundings. At some point during the spring, probably through his new friend Andria, he takes to dancing at a juke joint on the south side called Green's Lounge. A sweaty night of jumping around to the likes of James Brown and the Mar-Keys may well be a depressurizing move while crafting the long-awaited second album. One day, on his way to get a Tennessee driver's license, he, Andria and hotshot guitarist and member of Memphis/Oxford, Miss. band DDT, Luther Dickinson, met for lunch. By this point, Jeff is preparing to move into a house in the midtown district - a block or two from Andria's apartment. Unlike Manhattan, Memphis is a sprawling layout and Jeff plans is to buy a car but in the meantime he purchases a bike.
3-23-97: Jeff plays solo, Sin'e style at Barristers supporting The Grifters and Dayton, Ohio noise rockers, Brainiac.
*insert Memphis Flyer (flyer)
Jeff was so taken by the low key vibe at Barristers that he inquired with management about setting up a weekly residence. He got the go-ahead to begin Monday night, March 31 and could now test the new songs on an objective audience (most of whom weren't familiar with his music). Die hard fans who came to see these shows couldn't have balked at the $5 cover charge. Jeff would headline and be supported by Memphis rock bands like Seven Four Slide.
