Month: January 2014

“My Name is Brook Pridemore, and I live in Brooklyn New York”

I consider myself lucky enough to call myself both a fan and a friend of Brook Pridemore. This musician from Brooklyn has had an interesting journey in his musical career, and now you can own a piece of that history with the live tape of one of his last solo shows he is releasing. The tape is very aptly called, “My Name is Brook Pridemore, and I live in Brooklyn New York.”

Of the record, Pridemore explains, “I made sure to include songs from all five albums, as well as a few B-sides. I don’t like greatest hits packages. Greatest hits packages are for people who’ve died. If one, however, were looking for an introduction to my songs, this would be a good starting point. The record was made at Sidewalk Cafe, in the East Village, because that’s where I learned everything I know about being a song and dance man.”

From what I’ve heard of his work so far, everything he knows is a lot. Pridemore has an honesty and passion in his music that is refreshing in a world full of fake, insincere people who may or may not be in this business for the wrong reasons. I’ve seen his live show before, and it takes the energy and cranks it up to 11. The release of the album, which will be available on cassette and as a digital download, is tomorrow, Wednesday, January 29th at Mercury Lounge. Don’t miss this chance to be blown away by some honestly good music.

Pandemics/Inspector 7/Mephiskapheles @ Revolution

Editors note: This post should’ve come sooner but I didn’t have internet for most of the weekend.

Friday night The Pandemics had a big show opening for Inspector 7 & Mephiskapheles at Revolution Bar & Grill in Amityville, NY. Everyone played a great set. Unfortunately my camera has been having some focusing issues, and by the end of the night I had mostly given up on getting anything publishable. That is why Mephiskapheles gets half the photos the other two bands have. Sorry guys, but I promise I liked you and had fun. Also, thanks for saving “Bumblebee Tuna” for last because it’s one of the most fun songs by any band ever; AND shout out to the lovely couple who got engaged right before the song started. Here’s to a good long musical life together.

Fooling April @ Bowery Electric

I first discovered Fooling April when I was in college, through Myspace of all places. Yes, back when Myspace was still a thing I found this band from Philly and saw they conveniently had a show scheduled in NYC on my birthday. I sent them a message telling them how excited I was about my accidental birthday show, which was at The Bitter End before they started getting super strict about their 21+ status.

After the band finished their set, I jumped on stage to introduce myself. They were pleased to see me and said if they had realized I had made the show they would’ve sung me happy birthday! To a shy girl from NJ who wasn’t used to being in the Big City, this made me very happy.

Fast forward years later to the present, and Fooling April still have some spark left in them. This past Saturday they played Bowery Electric, and yours truly was there to take pictures. Hopefully you enjoy them, and hopefully I get another chance to see this band again in a few months rather than a few years.

Sherlock, The Doctor, and Brilliant Writing

Sherlock season 3 started last night (for those of us in the U.S.), and instead of yet another review of what worked and what didn’t in the episode, I thought I might do a little piece about what I consider to be some of the most brilliant writing I’ve ever seen. No, this is not going to be a piece gushing over Stephen Moffat’s evil genius (at least not entirely). That’s not to say I don’t think he’s brilliant, but someone else was brilliantly writing the character of Sherlock Holmes before Moffat ever could have dreamed he’d be voicing the greatest detective of all time.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first introduced us to Sherlock Holmes in 1887… just a little bit before Stephen Moffat’s time. The character has been in 4 novels and 56 short stories. Each story that Moffat uses in his series is at least somewhat based off one of these stories.

*mild spoilers coming up if you’ve never read Sherlock Holmes and/or didn’t watch the S2 final of the most recent series*

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For those of you still with us, you will remember that S2 ended with Sherlock faking his death by making it look like he jumped off a building. Like everything else in the series, this is a modern retelling of a story originally written by Conan Doyle. In the original, Holmes falls to his death from a waterfall instead, but the motive is the same… he must fool his enemies into thinking he is dead.

While the original stories were written by Conan Doyle, Moffat does a brilliant job translating everything into a modern setting. Does anyone remember the animated Sherlock Holmes series “Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century”? That, too, had Holmes in a modern setting, but with far less satisfying results. When I first heard about the current Sherlock series, I was skeptical that a modern version of Holmes could work. The only reason I gave it a chance was because Moffat was behind the wheel, and I had faith he would be true to the original content. Just like he did when taking over Doctor Who, Moffat took an old concept and continued its legacy. It can’t be a coincidence that two of the only things on television I look forward to with such anticipation are both written by the same man. I know there are people who will disagree with me and claim that Doctor Who has lost something since Moffat took over, but I believe he has done a fine job keeping the spirit of the show alive. I also find it amazing he is able to keep both series consistently good, even if there has to be a bit of space in between each new season. No matter how long I have to wait to get my fix, I always am satisfied in the end and will keep looking forward to each new moment until the last, which hopefully is a long time from now.

Sherlock S3 Ep 2 will air on PBS Sun, January 26th. You can catch up with S1 & 2 on Netflix Instant.

Six Strings and Gasoline

A little background before this review… My friend Jonny Swagger is in a band called “The Swaggerin’ Growlers“. That band started out as him banging out tunes on an acoustic guitar at his house. Recently, he decided to go back to his roots and strip some Growlers songs back down to a more acoustic sound.

I say “stripped down,” but it doesn’t feel like anything is missing here. Swagger mixes drums, harmonica, and guitar beautiful together, and does everything all on his own. The name of this one-man band with the power of 5 (which was the number of members in the Growlers at one point) is Tail Light Rebellion, and what started as a side project and experiment has become something better than even Swagger himself could have dreamed possible.

He shouldn’t have been surprised though. From the first few notes of “Six Strings and Gasoline,” the debut album from TLR, I fell in love in a whole new way with songs I had been familiar with for years. Usually I am very adverse to change, never liking when an artist remixes old songs they have in their repertoire, but I was thoroughly impressed (and even excited) by what is presented in SSaG. There is a life in these songs that you wouldn’t imagine possible from such a seemingly simple idea.

The obvious disclaimer here is that, like I said at the beginning, Swagger and I are very good friends (and have been for years). Having said that, I am honest to God impressed with what he’s done here, and proud to know him. Don’t take my word for it though. Listen for yourself. If you like what you hear (and live in the Boston area) you can show him your love at his homecoming show at the Midway Cafe on Sunday, January 19th. It promises to be a great show, and I’d travel from NYC myself if I didn’t already have plans.

Music worth traveling for, that’s what TLR can give you… and that is a very good (and rare) thing.

Music For Car Commercials

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the Brooklyn-based indie rock band Libel, and I have to say they’ve grown a lot. One thing hasn’t changed though – from the moment I first saw them they immediately impressed me. The music was loud and fun and made me want to rock with them. This was something I could get behind.

The music itself wasn’t the only thing that hooked me in that initial meeting, it was also how much the band seemed to enjoy doing what they do. Clearly they have taken that to the next level with their album “Music For Car Commercials“. It has the usual pop/rock sound you would expect from an indie band, but it’s like they’ve taken that sound and decided to have fun with it. I talked to lead singer Gavin Dunaway and asked him exactly what he was trying to do with this album.

“We’re just trying to make music with no ulterior motives,” was his response. He went on to say, “I wanted to write songs about refusing to feel powerless in a world where control seems to constantly elude us.”

Based on our conversation I would say he was talking about commercialism and how sometimes a great band doesn’t get recognized until their song ends up in a car commercial or something similar. Pretty deep stuff, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a light-hearted side to things. Mostly he wanted to “prove there’s still some life left in rock and roll”… and “wanted to make an album that defied subgenres”.

“I was hoping Libel could sound like something people couldn’t put their finger on.”

That’s the statement that hit me the hardest, because I can honestly say I spent half the record trying to decide who they reminded me of and coming up empty-handed. Maybe that’s because Libel has a unique sound, something familiar that is really it’s own thing. And that’s ok too. Not everyone needs to be a carbon copy of any one band or use some generic formula. If that’s you’re thing, fine. If not, there’s Libel.

Of all the songs in the album, I think my favorite was “Tomorrow’s Children,” which coincidentally is the song chosen for their music video.

Gavin’s wife Michela Buttignol was the creator of said video, and in my opinion she did a fantastic job.

As I said in the opening, I have always been impressed with what Libel has to offer. It may have been awhile since that first time, but I look forward to seeing if their live show has evolved as much as their music has. We’ll all have a chance to see for ourselves, as they have a show coming up this Friday, January 17th at Radio Bushwick.

 

Shayfer James’ Red Room

New York local artist Shayfer James has released a 6-song album, “Red Room Vol 2,” which can be yours exclusively if you donate to his indiegogo campaign today. The album is filled with the hauntingly beautiful and piano driven music you would expect if you’ve heard James’ other works, including his last album, “Counterfeit Arcade,” which was released in 2011.

In his campaign, which is to fund his new album “Haunted Things,” he states that “Red Room Vol 2” was recorded in 8 hours, but that certainly doesn’t mean a lack of quality. Each song will leave some impression on you. If you’ve never heard of Shayfer James before, 1) I’m sorry; 2) you can hear samples of his work on his bandcamp page. After you’ve been wowed by the past, I hope you consider donating towards the future. I don’t have advanced knowledge, but I’m confident Haunted Things will live up to it’s name and haunt you in the best way possible.

Pandemics Take Philly

As I mentioned in my most recent post, I plan on adding a lot more content to this site. I also mentioned a certain band I’m associated with called “The Pandemics,” and that I would be writing about a recent trip to Philly they took. The show itself was nothing special, but it was still a worthwhile trip. For one thing it was their first show since November, so it was good practice for a bigger show they have coming up later this month with Mephiskapheles and Inspector 7. For another, it was the first time the band had gotten together for 2 or 3 weeks, since holidays got in the way of their rehearsing schedule. So, even though they were competing against the Eagles game and didn’t have many people in attendance, it was still a great trip out for everyone. That’s an important lesson for touring bands to learn. When you first get out on the road, you don’t always make money on tour. In fact, your first couple times out you should expect to lose (or at best break even). But it’s still great for you to get your name out there and also get some bonding time with your bandmates. If you play your cards right, eventually the money will follow.

Thanks for waiting patiently while we dust ourselves off from a rough year. Here’s some picks from the road to hold you over until next time:

 

 

PS – If you’re interested in the Meph/Inspector 7 show I mentioned, it’s Jan 24th at Revolution Bar & Music Hall in Amytville, NY. Message me on the Facebook page and I’ll tell you how to get reduced price tickets from the band. Support your local ska scene!

 

The Blog Is Dead, Long Live The Blog

Last year was pretty dead for this blog (looking back my last post was in March, which is way too long to let something sit here and take up space, in my opinion). If anyone is still out there patiently waiting for new content here, I’m sorry to keep you waiting for so long. There were a lot of distractions to keep me occupied in my personal life. Two major factors were my move from Brooklyn to Long Island, and my only having the time to see the one band that has recently taken over a large part of my life. My writing wasn’t the only area that suffered because of it. I also majorly stopped with my photography pursuits. Fear not though, for my new year’s resolutions for 2014 are as follows:

1) Get this blog back on its feet and start posting content regularly again.
2) Dust off my camera and start taking pictures of anything and everything that crosses my path.

As I mentioned before, there was one band in particular that took over a large part of my life in the past year. That band is a LI ska band called “The Pandemics“. The guy I’ve been seeing for about a year and a half now is their bari sax player. This past year was very good to them, and they got a lot of great opportunities to play with some amazing acts. While I was pleased for them, their schedule combined with my work schedule left me with less ambition to run around taking pictures and writing about everything. I pretty much got in a routine of go to work, go home, occasionally see boyfriend’s band play. It was fine for a time, but it left me looking back on the year and wanting to push myself more in the future. I’m going to do my best to put myself out there and introduce you all to some great new things. Having said that, I’m also probably going to talk about The Pandemics a lot, simply because I have easy access to them and they are a large part of my life. Luckily for you, they’re not just some dumb band that I am close to. They actually are pretty good, and I think you will enjoy what I have to share with you. I promise to mix stuff up though and not just turn this into a lovefest for some guy and his stupid band.

Thank you for being patient with me as I work towards making this space more active again. I already have a couple of posts planned, first of which is going to be about the trip I took to Philly this past weekend. That should be out later this week, pending the status of the annoying plague-thing that has made residence in my chest. Until next time, happy new year and stay warm, kids!