How Strange, Innocence

News

2011-06-08T10:53:00.001-07:00

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!

Culture Shock

2011-04-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

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 >.<.

I Know it's Been a While...

2011-04-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

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!

Guess What?!

2010-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

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!

This Past Week...

2010-07-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2010-06-13T19:23:00.002-07:00

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!

New Feelies Album Update

2010-05-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

Speed the Plough Show and New Album

2010-05-08T13:26:00.001-07:00

Speed the Plough released a new album called Swerve and it's pretty great. My dad even plays some percussion on it.
It's available on the iTunes store and CD Baby and I think a few other places in the internets. Check it out!

Also, as I said before, Speed the Plough is also playing a show at Maxwell's on May 26th and Brenda's band, Wild Carnation, will be there too. So come see my Uncle John, my Aunt Toni, my cousin Michael, and our friends Marc, Dan, and Ian Francia play!

New Feelies Album and Other Fun Stuff!

2010-04-18T18:02:00.001-07:00

So if you guys haven't heard yet, the Feelies are definitely recording a new album. My dad says they have 6 or so songs, not all of which have been rehearsed enough to play live. He also said the album will be called "Stanley" or "Stanley is the Greatest Drummer in the World" (and yes, he was joking). Anyways, the Feelies are talking about starting to rehearse for the new album this June sometime.

I did go to the show in Connecticut in March and it was a lot of fun, and I'm quite jealous of those who got to go to the show in Philly yesterday. The will also be playing on July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at Maxwell's.

Anyway so the new songs that the Feelies have played live will be on the album, such as "Time is Right," "Bluer Skies," and my favorite, "Nobody Knows."

Also, please come out to see my aunt and uncle Toni and John Baumgartner, cousin Michael Baumgartner, and our family friends Marc, Dan, and Ian Francia play in a new incarnation of Speed the Plough at Maxwell's on May 26th I believe. Check the Maxwell's website in the future to be sure as the show is not listed there yet. It'll be fun!

So here's the Speed the Plough Website:
http://www.speedtheplough.com/

And some links to 2 of the new Feelies songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zghaziQzhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7pHGeQnA_A

My mom will also be updating www.stanleydemeski.com relatively soon, so check that for updates too!

Superyes!

2010-04-08T21:09:00.001-07:00

My dad said this was taken at a rest stop at around 4 in the morning coming back from Boston. Andy Peters, the Feelies' sound man took it.

Feelies Promo Videos!

2010-02-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

Today, I happened to be at home for the night. So my dad had this idea: I was to tape him practicing rudiments, "The Last Roundup", and "Tiger Lily" (a Luna song) in order to promote the Feelies' upcoming tour dates.

So here are the videos:

Overload

2010-02-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

So about the last 3-4 posts, I had to write a blog in Russian for my Russian I class at the end of last semester.

Anyways, I started the new semester, and I'm taking Photography, American Poetry to 1940, Pursuits of English, Intro to Film, and Russian II.
So far, Photography is stressful, but rewarding, American Poetry is nice and relaxing, Russian's eh... I may not take it again, Intro to Film's pretty cool, and pursuits is the boring requirement for all English majors, but my professor's nice.

I'm so busy that it's been really hard to keep up with my friends, and I enjoy my down time so much more. Which was why the snow day we had today was so awesome.

So I've also found a religion. It's a form of paganism in which the female aspect is focused on. Goddess worship, basically. It's really loving and accepting and, unlike some of the world's most popular religions, which makes you feel like you're a sinful piece of shit, it supports self-love. Also, Goddess worship is extremely old, much older than Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Anyway our "services" are just little rituals twice a month (unless there's a holiday). Then we eat and chill and have fun. It just... feels right. :]

These next few months are going to be packed though: Valentine's Day, possibly seeing Vetiver, Wicked Faire, countless photography projects including going to the city, friends' birthdays, Easter at my boyfriend's grandparent's, my cousin's bridal shower and then wedding in which I'm a bridesmaid, possibly the Steampunk World's Fair, trips with my Goddess sisters, etc.

I've been thinking about posting a few recipes here because, at least among my family and friends, my peanut noodles and hummus are known for being the best around.

As for the Feelies, here are some tour dates for the spring!
March 19th: The Middle East - Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 20th: Daniel Street Club - Milford, Connecticut
April 17th: World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Also, I'm sure the usual shows at Maxwell's the start of summer will also take place.

Моя кошка и мои коты

2009-12-14T08:17:00.001-08:00

Моя кошка зовут Луди. Она маленькая. Мои коты зовут Ифус и Донни. Ифус и Донни болшие. Они хорошие.

Моя гостиная

2009-12-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

Моя любимая комната моя гостиная. Она светлая. Окнa большие. Стол старый и импортый. Кресло новое и неимпортое.

Моя семья

2009-12-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

Моя семья музыканты. Моя бабушка не музыкантка. Мой брат и мой одец хорошые ударникы. я тоже ударника. Моя маты пианистка.

Русский Блог

2009-11-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Здравствуйте! Меня зовут Кэти Демески. Я студентка в Монтклар Штат Университете. Я живу в Халдоне.

All Tomorrow's Parties & the Bearsville Theater

2009-09-13T11:00:00.001-07:00

This weekend, I was able to go as a guest to the first day of All Tomorrow's Parties in Monticello, New York. Of course, it just had to rain that day. When we got there, it was quite cold and nasty and we had to wander around for a bit and be directed to several different places in order to check in as guests. After we got settled, we walked into the venue (Kutsher's) which is a "resort." It was old, weird, smelly, labyrinthine and extremely creepy. It basically looked like the hotel in The Shining, but not as nice. In other words, it was a dump. Also, there was royal blue carpet on the wall in some places.

I was able to see a bit of the Drones', Suicide's, and Panda Bear's sets, but I only watched the Feelies' and Iron & Wine's performances in full. The Stardust Ballroom in Kutshers made the sound very rumble-y. This made the bass shake the room in such a way that you felt it, and it wasn't pleasant. That's why I only watched one song by Suicide and a few by Panda Bear. I put my lens cap down on a ledge during Suicide's set, and it vibrated off the ledge and I lost it: that's how bad the rumbling was. I must admit though, I don't actually like Suicide's music, but I figured I'd never get a chance to see them again and I kind of like the idea of them. So I went in fo their first song, and they made me laugh. Think about it: two old guys: one with Bozo the Clown hair wearing iridescent goggles and playing a heavily distorted synthesizer, and the other an even older man (I believe he's 70 or 71) yelling into a microphone. They actually made my brother angry. He kept saying, "That's not music!" But I think that's kind of the idea. I guess it was worth my lens cap to be able to say that I saw Suicide.

As for the Drones, they were ok. Panda Bear was good, but could have put on a more visually interesting show, but I guess seeing Black Moth Super Rainbow live has made me a bit jaded on this subject, because their shows are so visually stimulated, you kinda feel like you're high.

The Feelies (and, I assume, most of the bands that played earlier) were not allowed a soundcheck either. However, they sounded as good as possible in that place and played well (as always). They played the newly re-issued Crazy Rhythms in it's entirety and were able to get two encores in, probably because Crazy Rhythms is so short. I really wished that they had played the also newly re-issued The Good Earth, because I like it better, but it was easier for them to ply Crazy Rhythms because Bill didn't have to do as many guitar changes.

After the Feelies' set, my mom, brother, and I ate. The food was actually pretty good. We all had wraps and sesame noodles. Unfortunately, since the food was outside, it was quite uncomfortable to eat there.

We pretty much waited around until Iron and Wine came on. In between, we caught a half hour or so of Gimme Shelter, which I'd never seen before and has re-awakened my love for the Rolling Stones. We had to leave at 10:15, though, in order to make it to the performances we wanted to see.

My mom and brother went to see Eugene Mirman, played the landlord on Flight of the Conchords, and David Cross, who was on Arrested Development. They said Mirman was hilarious, and Cross was good, but not as good as Mirman. I'm glad my brother was able to enjoy something other than the Feelies, though. He was pretty angry at having to be at what amounted to a hipster convention. He kept saying how he hated being amongst the hipsters. For the record though, they kinda smelled. Like musty-unwashed-clothes-greasy-hair-cigarette-and-booze-ish.

Iron and Wine was amazing. I've never been so moved by live music, and I was so close. I could not stop smiling. Apparently, the dude who was there taking pictures for brooklynvegan.com noticed that. Hence, my picture wound up on the site in this entry. There was another guy there with a Hitler-Youth-ish haircut standing right in front of me taking pictures of me also, but I can't seem to find those online. Anyway, so I've loved Iron and Wine's music for years now, and it was just so beautiful, not to mention a relief from the very... harsh music that I had heard earlier. It was just Sam Beam with his acoustic guitar. Someone blew balloons with song suggestions on them too. Sam Beam talked to the audience a lot too. He got us all singing along to everything, and we even clapped the beat to an entire song without stopping. I've never seen that happen at a show. That set was sooooo worth staying at that creepy place a few extra hours for.

One last thought on that day, I'm VERY glad we didn't see the Jesus Lizard, it would've been exhausting and apparently they kept saying "Happy 9/11!" which I find to be... quite unpleasant.

The next day, we had a completely different experience. My mom, my brother, and I wandered around Woodstock for the day, which was really cool. We got to the Bearsville Theater in late afternoon. Let me tell you, this place is BEAUTIFUL. The interior is all hard wood and it smelled nice. There was a sizeable green room, with nice couches and a table, these crazy spiral staircases, and it was in the middle of this clearing with a fountain and stone benches. Albert Grossman's even buried there. Anyway, I pretty much hung out with my family and Cala, Glenn's daughter most of the time. We ate at this cute and nice Chinese restaurant called the Little Bear. Also, it was just so chill there. I wish all the places they played at were like the Bearsville Theater.

One highlight of the day was listening to Dave tell stories and stuff right before the show. He told us that where he works, he's supposed to greet customers, and sometimes he does it in a Cockney accent. He demonstrated and we were all laughing.

The show was also a lot better than the night before. They played their usual lineup, and had four encores. The crowd was good too, and there weren't really any skeevy people either.

Anyway, it was a great vacation. There should be a few more Feelies shows coming up in November too.

Pictures from ATP & Bearsville:

The Drones
The movie lineup for the day
The crowd for Suicide
The Feelies

I couldn't take a picture of Dave, cause he was blocked by an amp, but I got a picture of his and my dad's shadows.Iron and Wine
Where we ate dinner in Bearsville
Woodstock

Pretty lanterns at the Bearsville Theater

The stairs
Souncheck

The doorsAlbert Grossman's Grave

A Year After The Reunion

2009-07-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

So the Feelies shows came and went and, again, they were amazing. On the first night, three of my friends came. One of them, Matt, was even at the sound check. The sound check itself ran a little late, but in the first hour or so, Glenn started playing "Billie Jean". Then Dave started singing in falsetto and playing his snare to the beat. It was absolutely hilarious and kind of made my day.

Anyway, so we ate at Maxwell's and my other friends, Dan and Liebold arrived. It was pretty packed that night, but we were able to get pretty good spots. As for the actual show, this year the Feelies started things out with some more mellow songs like "When Company Comes," and a cover of "Sunday Morning." New additions to the lineup included "Egyptian Reggae", "Moscow Nights", "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey," and "Invitation" (although, as mentioned in a previous entry, they added that song on New Year's Eve). There was even one new song, "Bluer Skies" on which Brenda's husband, Rich Barnes of Wild Carnation, even played keyboard on it while sitting on the little crate that is used as a step to get to the stage at Maxwell's.

Friday night I went to the sound check with my dad because my mom and my brother were going to take the train after my mom got out of work. Anyway, Dave again started singing Michael Jackson when Andy the sound man told him he could sing into his mic if he wanted. So he sang "Thriller" and I felt the need to text Matt and inform him about it. I just chilled at Maxwell's for most of the afternoon, reading Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. The show was pretty much the same as the day before, except I was standing next to a particularly obnoxious tall drunk man who got more and more drunk as the night progressed. Regardless it was fun.

On the Fourth of July, I took the train to Hoboken with my mom and brother and it was pretty damn crowded especially for the Hawthorne train station. My dad had asked me earlier in the week if I would help Bill's nephew, Ben, film for his Feelies concert movie. Ben and his friend (Nick, I think?) had attatched a camera holder-thing to a pole and I was instructed to put the end of the pole in my pocket and film from a little farther away than I had been standing, using the screen on the camera to keep track of the shot. Ben also had all of the Feelies go into the dressing room alone and he filmed each of them for five minutes, not asking them any questions or anything. When Bill came out he said, "I feel violated."

The show, again, was great, but my mom, brother, cousin, and I had to leave a little early to catch the 12:55 train back to Hawthorne.

The band actually had quite a bit of interaction with the audience during these three shows. These are come of my favorite cheers from the crowd and things that the band said: "Haledon fucking rocks!"
"Percussion god!" (at Dave)
"Let Stanley sing!" (the guy who said this actually asked me if my dad would be offended if he said that.)
Brenda: "Thank you." Someone in the crowd, "No, thank you!"
Glen: "Hey watch your mouth, my kids are here."
Brenda: "Did you guys see the fireworks?" Someone in the crowd, "No I'd rather be here!"

One thing I kind of regret is that I didn't take too many pictures of the band, but I was more focused on enjoying the shows. Unfortunately, most of the ones I did take I accidentally deleted. I did take some interesting artsy pictures though.

To close this entry, I'd like to say that you guys should checkout my friend Matt's blog because he has an entry about the Feelies shows. Also, if you do read his entry, it refers to Dave as Dave "From the Band" Weckerman. There is a reason behind this. You see, every time Dave calls mine or my cousin's house, he says "Hi, this is Dave from the band." So my brother, cousin and I call him Dave From the Band.

So yeah, see you guys at All Tomorrow's Parties!

Yes.

2009-06-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Again, it's been a while.
Anyway, I'm gonna skip all the stuff that I did when I was not updating and move onto an actual blog entry.
So I have a fairly new obsession: Andrew W.K. Why? Because he's so happy about everything and his music and the other things he does reflect that. My best friend, Tubbs, commented that he's like the Meatloaf of our generation. Which seems very true as far as his attitude goes.
If you need further evidence of why Andrew W.K. is amazing, this should do it:

Feelieswise, they're playing at the Whitney this Friday. It's an "acoustic" set, which means it will be as acoustic as the Feelies can get, which isn't that feasible considering the importance of percussion in the music. Then next week, it's July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at Maxwell's. Also, they will be playing in Chicago at Millenium Park. Aaannnnddd, although it's in September, the Feelies will be playing at All Tomorrow's Parties in Monticello, New York. I'm also super excited because I get to see Iron and Wine as well!

i must admit

2009-01-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

I've been extremely lazy with this blog, but it's not just laziness preventing me from posting, it's figuring out what to post about. I mean, I don't want another online journal, I have a Livejournal already, and I also don't want to be repetitive and write about every Feelies show. Also schoolwork: during the school year I basically did my homework then slept/chilled with friends/worked when I didn't have school stuff to do.

Anyway, my Christmas and New Year's were nice, the latter more so than the former. On Christmas Day, my family party at my house was very short, so I told my cousin to come pick me up later because I was bored out of my mind. He did, then picked up his friend (one of my ex-boyfriends) and we drove to East Bumblefuck, New York so that my cousin's friend could get fancy Davidoff cigarettes. It was pointless, but it was something to do.

New Year's was pretty great, I went to see the Feelies again with Vivian Girls and Yo La Tengo at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair. First my mom, my two friends I brought along, Rana and Erin, and I went to Cuban Pete's for dinner, which was soooo good. Then we went to the Wellmont and met up with my friend from school, Matt. Vivian Girls were the opening band. I thought they were alright, but most of their songs do sound pretty similar. Also, they'd probably have sounded better in a smaller venue because in the Wellmont Theater, you couldn't hear their chord changes very well. My brother didn't like them at all, but he's pretty picky, especially when it comes to girl bands. However, I generally thought their set was short and sweet, whch was nice.

The Feelies came on and my friends and I were all dancing (especially Rana and me). That's another thing I liked about this show: there was room to dance for once. My friends though Dave was really awesome the way he got so into his percussion stuff. Also, the Feelies played "Invitation" live for the first time, which made me very happy. So yeah the set was awesome, as usual.

Before I talk about Yo La Tengo's set I'm going to say something. I like Yo La Tengo, they have a lot of good songs and are nice people. However, my friends (with the exception of Matt because he stayed for the rest of Yo La Tengo) and my brother and I decided to leave early because we hungry, tired of standing around for hours, and we were kind of put off by the really long noise solo in the opening song. Shortly after Yo La Tengo played Mr. Tough (my favorite Yo La Tengo song which I'm glad we stayed for) we left to meet my cousin (who had left already with his parents) at King George Diner.

Midnight passed while we were in the car driving through Montclair and listening to "Move It" by Thing One. At King George we played obnoxious songs on the jukebox and ate a lot of very unhealthy fried food. We got home at about 2 and I talked to my dad about the show a little and went to bed. A night well spent, says I.

Anyway, since then I really haven't done much of interest. I've been spending a lot of time at my friend Damien's (we call him Fat) house. I've also re-read the sixth Harry Potter book and just started re-reading the seventh. I think what got me into that is the fact that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been on the movie channels constantly lately. I'm also reading Please Kill Me: an Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. I haven't gotten too far with that, but I learned a lot of interesting stuff about the Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol so far.

Oh and F.Y.I. for you Feelies fans: Young Wu (Dave Weckerman's side project), Wild Carnation (a band Brenda Sauter is in), and East of Venus (a new band my dad plays in with Michael Carlucci of Winter Hours and Rob Norris of the Bongos) are all playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken on Saturday January 31st. I think it's a Winter Hours tribute too. Anyway, they're all good bands and are worth checking out.

it's been a while

2008-09-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been really busy. There's really been a lot going on, good and bad.

Anyway, for the Feelies fans, tomorrow and Sunday there will be 2 shows in New York: 1 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (tomorrow), and 1 at the Bowery Ballroom. I will be going to the first one. I'm not going Sunday for several reasons: 1) I'm not 21. 2) I'll be burnt out cause I'm going to the city with friends tonight and the next day. 3) School work. Other than that, a show in Boston and one in New York State I believe have been planned for October. Neither show is sold out, since last I checked.

Oh and by the way, I'll be taking over my dad's website (www.stanleydemeski.com) shortly. My parents haven't had time to update it themselves, so I'll be re-designing and expanding it. Of course, everything has to get my dad's approval first.

So I started college and I'm actually at school right now, waiting for my next class in a lounge area. It's alright... There's not a whole lot to do as a commuter, except wait around, that is. I have one good friend that lives on campus and a few others who commute too. Usually I try to come here, get everything over with, and go home a.s.a.p. It's not like I don't have a life or am anti-social, but I have pretty much all the friends I need back in Haledon and its surrounding towns. However, I am gradually meeting new people and will probably make more friends soon.
Today is actually going to be the first time I'll be staying here after class. My friend who lives on campus invited me to the city with some of her friends whom I have met.

As for classes, I think I like my two honors classes the best. It's just a more relaxed and open environment, plus my teachers for those classes are really nice (and Feelies fans too haha). New Student Seminar is my least favorite class. I find it useless and I feel like an idiot for signing up for the 8:30-on-a-Friday-morning class. I think I may be the youngest one in my German class. It's about 7 people in there and I got placed in German Intermediate II. Speech is alright too. That's the class I'm waiting for right now.

I've developed several new habits since I've started school. One is hiding in the library. Being the brilliant honors student I am, I scheduled huge gaps between a good deal of my classes. Therefore, I may not have much to do in these gaps and would wind up sitting outside somewhere reading. I didn't like doing this, so I just started going to the library, plugging my headphones into my laptop, and putting on DVDs. I've been having a movies-adapted-from-jane-austen-books phase. This kills time, keeps me entertained, and from sticking out like a sore thumb sitting on an uncomfortable bench outside for hours at a time. Plus, I love a good mushy costume drama :D

First Feelies Reunion Show: June 30th, 2008

2008-07-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first Feelies reunion show, and it was awesomeeee.
Ohmahgah, for serious. So I'm going to attempt to describe it in some sort of a proper fashion.

Ok so my dad left around 3:00 to go to Maxwell's for a to pick up Dave (Weckerman) and drive them to a sound check and an interview with Jim DeRogatis, a rock critic. Jim also recorded the show along with Bill Million's nephew, who was videotaping it.

My mom, my brother John, my Oma (my grandmother), my friend Nicole, and I left at 7:30. My mom dropped my Oma. Nicole and I outside of Maxwell's and went to go look for parking. When we got there, I went and said hi to my dad who was eating with Brenda (Sauter), her husband Richard, and Bill. Then I went outside to meet up with some of my other family and greeted Glenn (Mercer) and his family. Parking was murder and my mom had to stop again in front of Maxwell's to ask my dad where she could park.

Anyway, Nicole and I decided to wait outside and walked around Hoboken a bit cause it was crowded even in the restaurant part of Maxwell's. When the rest of my dad's side of the family arrived, we went inside. At the entrance to the back room, the man at the door asked, "Are you on the list?" I said, "Yeah, I'm Stan's daughter." and he said, "Good enough for me!" and stamped mine and Nicole's hands. I just thought that was freakin' hilarious.

When we got in, Nicole and I made our way to the front and waited for the show to start. The rest of my family and the families of the other band members were either on the side of the room or towards the back. The band got on stage about 20 minutes later and, after a very warm reception from the audience, started playing. It was just amazing. I was ridiculously happy. It was like all the stuff I grew up listening to and hearing stories about and watching videos of was happening right there in front of me. I started snapping pictures with my DSLR and Nicole taped two songs ("The High Road" and "Away") for me on my digital camera. Granted, the video won't be great, but it suits my purposes. However, most of the time we just stood there enjoying the music.

About an hour later, the set ended and the Feelies walked off the stage. The room erupted in applause and cries for more. Nicole and I headed to where my mom and John were standing and found our Drum Corps teacher from high school (whom my dad had invited), Tim Alworth (drummer of Thing-One). Soon, it became a steady clap for an encore. A minute or so later, the Feelies got back on stage for a three-song encore, including a cover of "Paint It Black." When that was done, the crowd managed to convince the band members to do one last song. After that, the show was over and I headed outside and was introduced to several people who proceeded to tell me how great my dad is. One of them was Glenn Kenney, who had played in a band with my dad in my dad's college days. Glenn is also a very good movie critic and a really nice guy.

I didn't mention to these people, though, how my dad always calls himself a "legend" at home and has been talking about his "comeback" for years (jokingly, of course). By the way, it was so funny when I read all these articles about the Feelies' "triumphant return," and think about my dad and all his sayings at home. After the show he even mentioned something about how "his people," had come for him.

Overall, it was one crazyyyy night. It was so much to take in all at once that by the end of the night I found myself very jazzed up. I didn't get to sleep until after two A.M, after a conversation with my dad about how well the show went and how relieved he was to have everything go smoothly.

By the way, on the front cover of the Arts section on the New York Times today is an article on the Feelies and a photo which was edited to make it look like another Crazy Rhythms cover. And F.Y.I. : My dad was wearing a brown shirt that day, not light pink. (hahaha) :D

Ok, so that's it for today. I'll post a link to where more pictures and the videos will be up online when I get a chance to. Also, I'll be writing something on the highlights of the shows today and tomorrow and of course, the Fourth of July/Sonic Youth show. And thanks to freakgirl.com for linking to my blog and calling my writing adorable! :DD

The Feelies Reunion Shows and Other Things

2008-06-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so I haven't posted in a while cause my life has been crazy. These are the main reasons:
1) Boyfriend of 6 months broke up with me the week before prom: heartbreak ensues.
2) Prom then Black Moth Super Rainbow show. The latter was amazing and waaaayyyy better than the former.
3) Awards ceremonies, senior things, graduation & project graduation.
4) Work: headaches ensue.
5) Finding time to chill with all my friends.
6) College things.

Anyway, all the school stuff is done with and I don't have to see/ talk to said ex anymore.

I've changed a bit though. I'm more reserved now I believe and I think much less of people in general.

Sigh.

However, something's coming up. Something BIG.
You see once upon a time, seventeen years ago, my dad was a drummer in a band. A band called the Feelies. Said Feelies are getting back together for reunion shows next week, including an opening slot for the Sonic Youth on the Fourth of July in Battery Park (or as my dad likes to say "The Fourcha").

:D

I'm soooo happy about next week. I cannot wait cause I never saw my dad play with the Feelies cause I was about 1 year old when they broke up. I have seen my dad play in another band called Luna and I have fond memories of being 6 and standing on the side of the stage with my mom and my brother and watching "daddy" play in Central Park. I also got myself locked in the bathroom backstage that day and some bald guy from another band had to let me out.

So yeah, the first show is in five days at Maxwell's in Hoboken and it's invitation-only. The next two shows are gonna be packed cause they sold out in 1 day. The last is the Fourcha show. I was pretty upset though cause I couldn't get tickets for my friends for the Fourcha or even the shows at Maxwell's. They only allowed my dad a very limited number of tickets (I think it was about 5 tickets per band member) and only two backstage passes. This means that my brother will have to go as a drum tech in order to get a backstage pass.

So up there ^^ is a picture I took of the first time the Feelies actually played together in 17 years. My dad's the happy-looking one.

2008-05-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

I hate hate hate HATE inconsiderate people.
The kind that go to your register at 10:05 PM when the food store you work at closes at 10:00. Oh, and they have a full cart. Plus, they're a regular and they KNOW when the store closes.
I mean this week I work about 25 hours, which is a whole fucking lot for someone who's still in high school, and I was fucking miserable to be there, especially when I had schoolwork to do and a lot of people I wanted to chill with. And this person just HAD to torture me further.
Tomorrow I've got 10:45 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. .... ugh. Happy Fuckin' Mother's Day.

Ok enough of my self-indulgent whining. Other than the massive amount of time I must spend at said food store, I am pretty happy. Prom is less than two weeks away, and I'm done with A.P. testing. I think I owned the history essays. English was a lot easier than I thought it would be too.

Speaking of A.P. English, I've just found another subject to talk about: My A.P. English teacher: Mr. Molloy.
You see, he's a waaayyy cool guy. He's really smart too. And he used to be in the army. He's just kinda nuts.
The way he talks even is funny. The way he talks is kind of proper.
Example: Sometimes random kids are wandering past his room and they go like, "Yo Molloy!"
His response: "Why, hello there!"

And his special features don't stop there: He makes sound effects too!
One time he was spinning a compass on a piece of paper cause we were reading a poem with a metaphor about a compass and he made a sound like "Nyeg nyeg nyeg nyeg nyeg nyeg!" as he spun the compass. And he spazzes out sometimes too. He also makes the weirdest and funniest jokes. Last week geese were honking outside while we were taking a practice test and he said "Quiet please!"

Then there are the sandwiches. This started when one day someone from the main office called Mr. Molloy over the intercom. They asked him if he could cover a 5th period class. He said no, that he was busy. Then when the person hung up the intercom thingy, he said to us, "Yes, I have a very important sandwich to attend to that period."

EHL - OH - EHL
For serious. XD

And now every now and then he mentions sandwiches for some reason. Sometimes my one friend and I call his class "sandwich" and him " Sandwich Man."

Alright

2008-05-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

I decided if I'm going to college for writing, I may as well start my own blog.
Maybe someone will find it interesting.
But now, I'm off to eat lunch and shop for a Mother's Day Present with my brother.