Common Rotation: The Big Payback.

Hello, all, this is the long-awaited post from your humble slave to the Zima, Trio Member #2 or 3, Ellie! I am writing to give a little outside perspective to Buffy actors, namely the incredibly talented and incredibly attractive Adam Busch. As you know, because you are all faithful and avid Buffy obsessors, Adam has been in the folk-rock (if that describes it) band Common Rotation for about 10 years now.

Common Rotation is comprised of Adam Busch (lead vocals, harmonica, accordion, xylophone...more on this later), Eric Kufs (singer-songwriter, guitarist), and Jordan Katz (trumpeteer, guitarist, and wicked banjo player). They recently toured the USA and the UK by visiting fans' living rooms and playing there. This "Living Room Tour" has been captured on film by Peter Stass, and will be coming out as the documentary "Close to Home" soon. (see later) Their music centers around such themes as social revolution, religion, the government, love, loneliness, taxes, and ice cream. And I'm not joking here. This is truly a great band.

Anyway, all three of the Trio members are immersed in some level of Common Rotation love. I happened to be lucky enough (and obnoxious enough to push the issue a little far) to go to one of Common Rotation's concert. It was actually the first concert of their new tour, the recently-nicknamed "Exxon/Mobil Running on Empty" CoRo spring-thru-fall tour that has been stirring up controversy and fangirl nonsense throughout the coasts of America.

The event took place in the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia......Mississippi....on May 17th, and I live to tell the exciting tale. Well, I won't ramble about it for too much longer before sharing my fabulous pictures, but I would like to say that the band was unbelievable. For three guys who were "pretending we havent just woken up in the van half an hour ago", I was blown away. There were about 12 people there, and I was sitting at a table right next to the stage, so as to properly freak out Adam by staring at him for 2 hours straight. After a bit of Eric Kufs wandering around at the bar and me salivating, the set began with their anti-corporate acoustic number "Clear Channel", in which Adam played a fabulous accordion. Such an underrated instrument. They then performed their satirical anti-anthem, "Indie Rocking", during which Adam kept everyone (or at least me) cracking up. He enjoys backing up about 10 feet from the microphone and then pouncing on it, by the way, which is an awesome thing to witness. Also, in between phrases he would shout things like, "That's a strong accusation, I'd better back it up with something really melodious!". At the chorus he yelled, "Choreography!" and all three members began to hop in unison.

Truly genius.

Then, as Eric tuned the guitar, Adam asked for any requests. Some stupid people shouted out "Fortunate" and "Oklahoma". And then me, being also a stupid person, shouted "Complex", and Eric actually considered that one before saying..."Mmmmmm....hmmmmnnnn....nnno." Eric is an odd man. He's very tan, too, as you will see later. But damn, can he play guitar! Color me impressed.

The rest of the set was out of this world, including numbers such as "Gone Dyin", "True Hollywood Romance", "Afterthoughts", a xylolphonic "Before It Takes", "Everything Under the Sun", an "Offstage Lines" that had the most rocking trumpet solo I've ever witnessed in my existence, "92 Mikes", "How to Lose", a "Given Signs" that literally brought tears to my eyes, "Satan is Real/Satan No", "Union Dues", "Belfast" (of course, I sang, which was awesome - audience participation is a grand thing), great new number "Smile And the Whole World Leaves With You", and a bittersweet closing with "Pawn". [Sorry, I'm doing this from memory...too bad there was no setlist to steal.]

After the set I rushed the table to buy my proud CoRo merchandise from Jordan Katz, who is pretty much an awesome man. I picked up a "Union Maid" shirt and the new Common Rotation song/tablature book (BUY IT TODAY!!) chatted with him about crew and whatnot as he waited for someone to bring me my change. I asked him about the documentary, and he said, "Ask Adam!". And in a few moments Adam Busch meandered over, pulling out a wad of money to pay me back with! Which was very exciting, as this meant that I now owned a five-dollar bill which had once belonged to Adam himself. And as I'm standing there awkwardly, clutching my new possessions and staring at Adam, Jory's like, ask about the documentary! So I say, "Oh, yeah, when's the documentary coming out?!". Adam sort of grinned and said, "Um..it's in editing...soon!". (I thought he said "June", so I was like "June! Yes!" and then Jordan made fun of me.) Then I nudged Jordan - for some reason I'm not as starstruck and terrified of him as I am of Adam and Eric - and asked for a picture. So we all stood there, and I almost got to be next to Adam, but then Eric was all like, yeah, I'll come in the picture in between Ellie and Adam! Damn you...oh well, I love Eric. And then I wrapped my arm around Eric - who is rather muscular - and grinned my silly face off, and I was immortalized as the silly fan girl between Jordan and Eric in what has become my favorite picture of all time.

Anyway, after congratulating them on kicking ass, I departed with a little dance that would have been embarassing if I wasn't simply floating on Cloud 9000000. And there ends the tale of May 17th, the day I met Common Rotation. Of course, they messaged me on MySpace later, which is also totally neat, but they're just splendid people like that.

And here we have pictures! I know you're excited. If you haven't fallen asleep by now.

Adam and Eric performing their first song, "Clear Channel":


Adam and Accordion...a beautiful sight to behold:


Adam indie rockin' with the blurriness of the cam:


Adam Busch and Eric Kufs, ladies and gentlemen:


Common Rotation:


Eric wondering why the hell my flash is on, and Adam happily oblivious on his harmonica:


*sigh*:


"Nowadays xylophones are so high-tech...they just don't make xylophones like they used to..." - Adam


The tablature/song book, which you can purchase here


And the picture you've all been waiting for: Jordan Katz, me, Eric Kufs, and Adam Busch:

Yes, I look really shiny, and pale, and generally strange-looking, but you'll just have to accept that and admire the greatness of the guys.

So that concludes my rave about Common Rotation. If you're interested, because you're a hardcore folk opportunist, you want to commiserate about gas prices and Eminem, or you just love Adam Busch from Buffy, you should visit the website here and see what the band is about. They're returning to the World Cafe Live this Thursday, June 1st, and I encourage everyone to try and make an appearance, unless you live in Germany, as most of our fans seem to be doing nowadays. Common Rotation is worth it. They're smart, they're funny, they make great music, and they want your support. Really, people, Common Rotation may just change your life.

And if not, you're lame.

Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more updates about when the Not-So-Evil Trio of Slackers will return for Episode 4 of Cool Refreshing Zima. First we have to all fail our exams! Then, back to the real priorities, like rocking the world of podcasting and dominating the world.

Lots of love,
Ellie