Our first official act as official Matador recording artists is to perform at the label showcase, 21 years ago today, at Irving Plaza during the New Music Seminar. We have a warmup show the night before in Philadelphia, where we try out our Irving Plaza set, plus some covers. I guess it goes ok–at least we don’t get dropped. Two years later, we headline a dream bill outdoors in Union Square Park, going on after Antietam and Cyndi Lauper. We don’t get to jam with Cyndi, but Tara Key joins us on the final encore of “Speeding Motorcycle.” What has been a beautiful day turns ominous; while we play we can see storm clouds rolling in quickly from the south. Seconds after we finish, the sky opens up and torrential rain sends everyone scurrying.
