Wednesday, June 8, 2011

News

So I have news for both the Feelies and Speed the Plough today.

First of all, Should Be Gone is the Song of the Day today on my beloved NPR.

As I mentioned before, the Celebrate Brooklyn! show on July 23rd has been officially announced. It will be held in Prospect Park with Times New Viking and Real Estate opening. It's free, so if you're in the area, you should go.


Another show has also been announced for the day before Celebrate Brooklyn! at Daniel Street Club in Connecticut. I'm pretty excited for that one as well because Milford is a great little town. More information here.

An additional Maxwell's show has also been added on July 3rd. I will not be able to make this one because I'm celebrating the 4th of July with my boyfriend's family this year down the shore, but I'll definitely be there on the 1st and 2nd. You can get tickets for any of the Maxwell's shows here.

On to Speed the Plough news. So, as you may know from my previous entries, a new album will be released soon, and it's called Shine. I recently was able to listen in on a few songs from the new album and it sounds great! For more info on that you can check out the Speed the Plough Facebook and official website . You'll also see some picture I took of them last Sunday, like this one:


STP is also playing 2 shows in late July. The first is on July 29th, and Brenda's band Wild Carnation is playing as well. You can find out more about it here. The next day, another show is happening in Montclair at Tierney's too, details here.


So there's an awful lot to be excited about this summer.

Anyway, here's a picture of the Feelies with Tom Jones and author Jan McInerney. My dad was really excited. Hope to see you at the upcoming shows!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Culture Shock

So on April 16th I went to the "Last Great" Culture Shock festival at SUNY Purchase with a few of my girlfriends.

The campus of SUNY Purchase was pretty nice. Purchase is kind of in the middle of nowhere, so the campus was pretty green. A lot of the buildings were also designed awesomely, and overall the campus was lovely. Until we entered the Stood.

Since the weather was terribly nasty yesterday, the shows were relocated to the student center, which, as mentioned above, is widely known as the Stood. The Stood appears to be entirely student-run, and they did have a few very cool features such as old arcade games, two stages, murals painted by students, and a life-sized chess set. However, the Stood was pretty damn skeevy. It was not clean at all, the bathrooms were atrocious (not to mention the ceiling was leaking in the women's room), the murals and graffiti left nowhere for the eye to rest, and I kind of felt like I didn't want to touch anything there to be quite honest. Luckily, my dad said we could hang out in the green room and that provided us with someplace clean and quiet to sit down.

The first band I really paid attention to was Talk Normal. They were comprised of two ladies: one who sang while sitting up very straight on her drum set and one who played guitar and sang. They were a bit noisy (which I'm usually not a fan of), but I kind of really liked them anyway and plan on checking out their album(s?) soon.

Woods is actually a band that I've just started getting into, and I really enjoyed seeing them live. Although, they also could have done without the long jams in the middle of some of their songs. Otherwise, I really liked them. That was kind of predictable, though, because folky-indie-rock-ish music is usually right up my alley.

I've been listening to Real Estate for about a year and a half or so, so I was really looking forward to seeing them. They definitely didn't disappoint. They had a nice mellow energy, and I thought that their echoey and clean sound was surprisingly preserved in the Stood. The sound quality, though, also had to do with Andy, the Feelies' sound guy who handled Real Estate's sound as well that day. Anyway, Real Estate even dedicated a song to the Feelies "one of (their) favorite bands of all time." I was sooo excited about that. After Real Estate's set I even saw the bassist being a fanboy with Brenda, it was kind of adorable.

Next up was the curator himself, R. Steevie More. When I first saw him walking around, I thought he was just some eccentric old dude who liked to walk around with a globe on his head at music festivals. My friend Esha, though, pointed out that he had been announcing things, so we knew he must have been the curator. Anyways, my dad briefed me on who R. Steevie More actually was and what he's done musically before my friends and I watched his performance. It was hilarious, weird, and energetic. He sang songs about things like hamburgers, spinach, and not wanting to leave one's house. There were some points where he got really intense and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Awesome.

Before I get to the Feelies' performance, I must say one thing: if you're at a show, don't sit on the stage while the bands are setting up. It's not cute. You not only get in the way, but you look obnoxious and disrespectful.

Anyways, I had expected the largest crowd for the Feelies because they were headlining that night, but what I didn't expect was for people to start moshing. I mean really, moshing to the Feelies? It happened, though. Not only that, people also stage-dived and crowd surfed. Bill actually told the audience to stop stage diving to no avail, but the real issue seemed to be people throwing stuff. Another word of advice on concert etiquette: don't throw shit, especially at the performers. Overall, though, I was able to dance with my friends while trying to maintain my footing in the crowd so it wound up being quite fun. The enthusiasm of the crowd was also really exciting to me (and my dad as well), even though more than one of the people that I had to fend off reeked of beer and/or rum, there seemed to be genuine fans in the crowd, as I found a lot of people singing along to the songs.

It wound up being one of the craziest nights I had in a while.

P.S. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I forgot my memory card for my camera >.<.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

I Know it's Been a While...

and the new album, Here Before, will be coming out this coming Tuesday, but I probably won't be making a full post until next weekend. I've got a term paper and a bunch of other crap to work on for school (cause I'm actually involved at school now hah). I also want to be able to post a bunch of pictures from the Culture Shock festival at SUNY Purchase next weekend (the Feelies are headlining Saturday). So what I will leave you with until then is this:

Upcoming Shows (besides the one at SUNY which is only open to SUNY students and their guests):
5/13: The Bell House, Brooklyn, NYC. More info here.
5/14: The Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge. More info here.
6/17: World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA. More info here.
6/18: 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C. More info here.
7/23: Celebrate Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NYC (details for this event have not yet been officially released)
The Maxwell's shows are on again as for this year's 4th of July weekend as well, but most likely not on the 4th itself this time.

Also, a new Speed the Plough album is in the works. This is what the official facebook had to say about it:
"The new album will include Sunburst-era songs "Madeleine" and "(Love is) The Best Revenge," along with a cover of Lee Hazelwood's "Pour Man" and a slew of brand new tunes. With contributions from former Ploughsters Brenda Sauter and Rich Barnes, and introducing our new guitar-slinger and vocalist Ed Seifert."

Lastly, here are some links to different pages that you might want to "Like"/add:
The official Feelies Facebook (run by my mom and Bob Torsello)
My dad's Facebook
The official Speed the Plough Facebook

Longtime friend of the band Massimo De Vecchi also has a Feelies page that is endorsed by the band.

You can get the new album from places such as the Bar/None site, Amazon.com, iTunes, etc.

Ok so, 'til next week!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Guess What?!

The Feelies are going into the studio this Saturday and Sunday to start recording their new album!
I will be there probably Saturday night and maybe Sunday too to take pictures and hang out.

And here's an old picture of the Feelies playing the Peanut Gallery in Haledon!


Monday, July 5, 2010

This Past Week...

I put my first listing up on my new etsy shop for vintage clothing that I started with two of my friends, my boyfriend turned 21, aaaaand the Feelies played at Maxwell's all weekend.

Hah, anyways, I didn't go to the first show because my boyfriend's roommate also turned 21 and had a huge party.

The next day, I had to go into work early, and then pick up my friend Melissa and take the train over to Hoboken. We watched the soundcheck, and Melissa, who as an avid metalhead, may not have liked the Feelies, but she did!

We ate dinner, and then went and sat on the ground by the Hudson River in beautiful weather with my family. Around 9:30, the show started.

Yes, there were two (I think?) new songs that will be on the new album. I know there were five total, including covers I hadn't seen them play before. They were, as I have described before, very much in the same vein as the new songs that have already been played live. And it was really great to hear them completed after hearing the very minimal demos. It was a fun show and there wound up being three encores. Also, there was this Australian guy, who was actually named Guy, who started talking to me and one of my cousins. He said he was on a business trip in New York and got a call from a friend in Australia telling him about the show on Saturday, and he stayed in America a bit longer to see the Feelies. Then he mentioned that they should play in Australia, and I said that almost all of them have day jobs, and so the band can't tour all that much. But he seemed nice.

The 4th of July was REALLY insane though. My cousin, Michael, picked me up to take the train to Penn Station at noon in order to shoot a video for Speed the Plough. We met up with his parents and Marc, Dan and Ian at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Why? Cause there was this exhibit of pianos scattered around the city that anyone could play and it was ending on the 4th and my uncle wanted to play it while everyone else played acoustic instruments. Plus, it's pretty at the cathedral. If you want you can see one of the videos here.

Other than it being 95 FREAKIN' DEGREES, it was a nice time. After the shoot, Michael and I caught a PATH to Hoboken and met up with my brother and my friend Tubbs. We headed back to Maxwell's for the soundcheck and my boyfriend met us shortly after.

The street fair on Frank Sinatra drive, I must admit, was pretty lame. It was a little too controlled, and there weren't that many stalls when I went there around 7ish.

The show, again, was great. There weren't as many people as the night before though, but it seemed that the more dedicated fans came out for this show, so there was no shortage of enthusiasm. There wound up being four encores.

So as for the future of the Feelies, if you didn't see them this past weekend, you may be out of luck for a while. They will be focusing on recording their new album (which my dad still says will be called Stanley), but at least that's something to look forward to!

Also, sorry, I don't have pictures of the shows this year. I did take a few, but on an analog camera, so if they come out well, I'll scan them and post them.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

What I Have to Say About the Demo Tracks...

So my dad played some demo tracks for my family and me with only guitar and drums. There were about 5 tracks that I had not heard before, and they, not surprisingly, sounded good. They are definitely in the same vein as the new songs that have been played live (listed in a previous post). The classic jangle is still there, but I think the guitar lines are maybe a teensy bit more complex than previous albums. The new demos seemed to be a logical progression, a bit different, but not so much that fans of the old stuff won't like it.

I am really exited for the Fourth of July Feelies shows this year. It's just an exciting time of year and I love Hoboken in the summer. I love how it's a sort-of tradition and how the Forucha's become something a lot bigger for my family than just a small barbeque and going to see fireworks. And when the new album is released eventually, it'll be even better.

I have some more news as well. Speed the Plough will be playing at The Living Room in New York City on June 26th at 10:00 PM and the performance will be recorded for the show "From The Living Room to The Loft” on XM radio. They will also be playing at The Cake Shop (which is actually just a few steps from The Living Room) on July 23rd. I may be taping one/both of these shows. So check these shows out too!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

New Feelies Album Update

So told me that the Feelies went into pre-production for their new album today!

And I'd like to call attention to the cooking blog I started with my boyfriend. It's called Poor College Kids Cooking and it can be found here: http://poorcollegekidscooking.blogspot.com/

All of our recipes are vegetarian and awesome! :D