The frighteningly random thoughts of Sam Shaber and her band, the happy problem
Yes, your friends here at the happy problem would like you to know that we are being featured on the DEBUT episode of MTV’s new reality show, “Teen Mom.” Check it out on your local MTV stations! (Episode is #101, “Looking for Love.”) It will play again, and again, and again, and again, and… You get the idea.
HERE’S THE SHOW:
Thursday, July 30th, 2009 10pm
Molly Malones
575 S. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-935-1577
$8
AND HERE’S THE NEWS:
Yes, my friends, my wonderful newslettery pen pals, we do indeed have a happy problem on our hands. (Pun intended.) I have officially become too busy to write the monthly drizzly, streamy, weirdy, bloggy newsletters. So I am making this your final notice. (For those of you who’ve recently signed-up for the happy problem mailing list and have no idea what I’m talking about, fear not – you are in the right place and it will feel right very soon, I promise.)
Yes, the Queen of Snarky is ending her reign here in the newsletter world. This is mostly due to the happy fact that the happy problem are getting busier and busier. We have two new members; the totally-awesome John Watson on drums and the fully-awesome Dee Castro on bass, we’ve just recorded THREE NEW SONGS which you can take a listen to on our Myspace page, we’ve finally woken-up to the world of Twitter so you can keep up with us there, and we’ve been putting more gigs together and making more plans this summer. It’s good to be busy!
(John, Dee, and James crooning for me in the studio…)
AND! ALSO! Part of the reason I’m so busy is because the Punky Chef has BLOSSOMED suddenly, and while THIS bloggy thingy is retiring, THAT bloggy thingy is THRIVING!
Yes, all of my snarky energy is going straight into The Punky Chef Attacks! blog. So you see, it’s a HAPPY PROBLEM because you can still enjoy the randomness, the self-abuse, the unmatched WIT… you just have to do it OVER THERE, instead of over here. From now on, we will be keeping things over here short, to-the-point, and informative.
Don’t worry, it’s not going to read like the airplane safety manual in the seatback pocket in front of you. I could never be THAT boring. But for the sake of our new happy problem fans, (and my sanity, if I have any left), I’ll be reigning it all in. No more waxing philsophical about Victoria’s Secret, no more emotional tirades about “Brokeback Mountain,” and no more obsessive chronicles of my love for Green Day.
Oh– and no ….more flagrant animal pictures.
Fine, except that one.
Okay and that one, too.
People, please. I’m trying to be serious.
Now I know what you’re thinking: “But I don’t like to cook. I’m not going to read some cooking website instead of these newsletters.” Ahh, but that’s where you’re WRONG, my friends. Because the Punky Chef Attacks! is not just about cooking. It’s about the glory of FOOD and all of its parts (that sounds dirty) and it’s about being a rebel and a creator and a total effing SNARKY FOODIE. I mean listen, if you survived my Ugly Handbag Tirade, if you stuck with me through my phase of driving all over the country at 60 mph to honor Al Gore, if you enjoyed my investigation into the true nature of boysenberries, THEN YOU WILL DIG THE PUNKY CHEF!
And, if you like to eat, I truly believe you will also like to cook – just let me at’cha and I’ll have you whipping up 3 Bean Beer Chili and Red Pepper Sage Cheddar Cornbread in no time! Humming a happy problem tune all the while…
So, if you live in Los Angeles, we hope to see you at Molly Malone’s next Thursday, July 30th, and we hope you will bring all of your friends, not for our sake, but for YOURS. Because once your friends see what great and cutting-edge TASTE you have in music, they will elevate you to a social status so high, you will need a telescope to see them back on Earth. Take THAT, Buzz Aldrin. (But we love you, Buzz Aldrin.)
And for those of you in the rest of the world, (and yes, Los Angelinos, there is a rest of the world), you can LISTEN to our music anytime at our Myspace, Facebook, Last.fm, iLike, and CD Baby pages, you can WATCH lots of videos of the happy problem at our YouTube site, you can create a happy problem “channel” on Pandora Radio, and you can BUY our music at iTunes and CD Baby. See? It’s not that you’re losing a Sam, it’s that you’re gaining a happy!
And with that, I must do the dishes (Punky don’t got no dishwasher), put in my earplugs, (there’s a car accident about every 7.5 minutes outside our window in Hollywood – Um, hello? Can anyone say LEFT TURN SIGNAL?), and sigh a deep, happy sigh, knowing that it’s not you, it’s me, we just need some space, and we can still be friends.
Right?
Right.
See you out there!
wuv,
Sam (& James & John & Dee)
Come follow us on Twitter! We’ll keep you up on all the latest news, songs, and live show info!
(And if you live near Los Angeles, you’re cordially invited to come party your face off with us at Molly Malone’s on Thursday, July 30th 10pm (575 S. Fairfax Ave.) – come get ‘cher happy back!)
A good time promised to all...
Come join Sam, James, John, and Dee as we perform LIVE at Molly Malones on Thursday, July 30th, 10pm. New songs! New outfits! What more could you ask for?
Thursday, July 30, 2009 10pm
Molly Malones
575 S Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 935-1577
http://www.mollymalonesla.com
Visit the WornFree blog and read about Sam and the happy problem… and get great shirts too!
blurry punky gal...
Check out Jill Pallack’s awesome music blog Affair of the Heart and watch the happy problem being formed… well, sorta.
Sam
Video shoot, day one
Video shoot wraps, day two!
Hi! Our live video of “Material Girl,” (yes, it’s THAT “Material Girl,” but so different, trust me) has been selected for a contest to get the happy problem performing at Lollapalooza. Could you help us by visiting the link below and VOTING for us? You can even do it once a day for the next 5 days. You get to watch the video which is really fun, and we’ll love you even more if you pass this on to everyone you know! 
(You can also just spread the “Material Girl” video around for fun – it’s here on YouTube. And all the happy problem music videos are at our YouTube page.)
Thank you SO much!
wuv,
Sam
P.S. Yes, this is ANOTHER contest – different from the one on Friday. Oy vey, you say? Amen to THAT, people. (But this one’s cooler, so just do it.)
Click on the cute tape player below, (or visit us at Myspace or Facebook), and wait about 25 seconds for the cute tape player to appear on the lefthand side. Then you can click to LISTEN to the happy problem, SEE a strangely warped picture of the band, and GRAB this widget to add it to your own websites and profiles! Help us take over the world, one strange cartoon tape player after another…
Click here to play our song and spread the happy...
Be there, or be... UNHAPPY!
Muddy Waters
508 E. Haley St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
805-966-9328
Debut CD available on iTunes!
BEFORE WE START: This new email format is rockin’ my world, as you can tell, but I learned the hard way that these emails don’t forward with the pictures in them. (Arghs.) SO, if you’re forwarding this missive to a friend, might I suggest that instead you send them to our BLOG page? Then they’ll be able to read it all for themselves and see the purty pictures too!
And now we begin…
Yes, it’s that time again. Time to sit at your computer, grab a cup a’ joe, (or a pint a’ bitter might work better for this experience), ready your hand on the scroll bar, and squint at this screen for the next ten minutes. Ahh, yes. It’s that time when I regale you with tales from my inner-mind, with subjects so utterly random and facts so useless that you can nary help but say,
“Why? Why do I read this thing every month? Why do I lock my office door and turn off my phone so I won’t be disturbed as I pore through this endless drivel?”
You will also wonder,
“Is that the correct spelling of “pore” in this context? Because I feel like I always see it spelled that way, but really it makes more sense to spell it “pour,” as in “pouring over” something.”
And mostly you will ask yourself,
“Why don’t I have anything better to do right now?”
Well people, I can’t help you there. But I CAN say that I’m glad you’re here with me, to spend a little time each month, to hear about all the goings on of the happy problem and everyone’s favorite snarky gal, the Punky Chef, to watch me fight with myself and with imaginary you–
We’re not fighting with you, Sam–
Exactly.
