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.

Speed the Plough Show and New Album

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!

A Year After The Reunion

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!

First Feelies Reunion Show: June 30th, 2008

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