Just saw a documentary on "The Orange Blossom Special". A documentary just about that one fiddle tune and it was really quite interesting. Written in 1938 by Ervin T. Rouse about the train of the same name. (Chubby Wise claims to have taken part in the creation of the work but Mr. Rouse held the copyright.) It is considered the fiddler's anthem and one listen could tell you why. It is a vehicle for the fiddler to show his/her chops and some took it way out there. Here's a clip of the late great Vassar Clements with over a dozen other fiddler's helping him out at the Opry...
Saw Railroad Earth for the first time at Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday night! I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed it - those boys can play. Talk about a fiddle player - Tim Carbone lights it up. The whole band is amazing and the crowd was unreal. They have a fantastic ability to play this fine acoustic music and take it way out there. It was a real special night of music and left me very inspired. Set and setting - it was all there.
If you haven't been to Brooklyn Bowl you gotta go check it out. Very cool venue with excellent staff and some great beers. (Didn't try the food but people were raving about it - Blue Ribbon does the food there.)
More importantly than the venue this band delivers the goods - check them out here RRE 10/29/10! I especially love the second set starting with "Long Way To Go"! Saturday night's show isn't up on the Archive but should be soon - saw some folks recording on old tape machines. Can't wait to hear that!
In BreezyGrass news, we'll be at The Bayhouse in Breezy Point this Saturday night starting around 9pm. We are working really hard to put together a fantastic set. We will indeed be joined by the great Charlie Wolfe on harmonicas! Looking forward to seeing lots of heads there! Have a great week all...
News and thoughts about the band and the big world around us - and not so big!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
News and Updates and Happy Birthday Steve
So the weekend winds down! I had Fios installed yesterday and set about changing up the arrangement of the TV room. In doing so I knocked over the laptop and fried the screen! Help on the way though - ordered a new LCD screen and it looks to be an easy fix! Will keep you updated.
In BG world, we added a new date. Feb 12th back at the BayHouse in Breezy Point! It'll be our first three set show down in Breezy since mid - Sept. I hear that Charlie Wolfe will be joining us on harmonicas. Charlie is a monster on the harp and an amazing guy in general. Needless to say, I believe it is going to be a great show! I've also heard that we might be joined by some other great musician friends of ours and that is just fantastic! It'll be great to get back to Breezy and have some fun!
Recording news - we are set to carve out some dates to record in Feb. We are going to block out some time and really knock things down and get it going. So, you'll be hearing some new stuff very soon and we hope to have a release party sometime in the spring!
Have a great week! Let's hope that the storms this week treat us well...if its going to snow - let's hope for a snow day!
Matty
PS - the website has been updated and is really looking great these days thanks to our friend Carolyn. Check it out here BreezyGrass Website! Real cool stuff up there about the band and tons of other interesting things to check out.
PPS - a big big Happy Birthday to one of the best guys in the world! Steve Hawk! Hope you had a great day bro!
In BG world, we added a new date. Feb 12th back at the BayHouse in Breezy Point! It'll be our first three set show down in Breezy since mid - Sept. I hear that Charlie Wolfe will be joining us on harmonicas. Charlie is a monster on the harp and an amazing guy in general. Needless to say, I believe it is going to be a great show! I've also heard that we might be joined by some other great musician friends of ours and that is just fantastic! It'll be great to get back to Breezy and have some fun!
Recording news - we are set to carve out some dates to record in Feb. We are going to block out some time and really knock things down and get it going. So, you'll be hearing some new stuff very soon and we hope to have a release party sometime in the spring!
Have a great week! Let's hope that the storms this week treat us well...if its going to snow - let's hope for a snow day!
Matty
PS - the website has been updated and is really looking great these days thanks to our friend Carolyn. Check it out here BreezyGrass Website! Real cool stuff up there about the band and tons of other interesting things to check out.
PPS - a big big Happy Birthday to one of the best guys in the world! Steve Hawk! Hope you had a great day bro!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
From the Iceberg Sessions
Could it be five weeks ago that the band and I assembled in the cold caverns of RAA down in Ft. Tilden to do some exploratory recording? I only know that because the blog told me that the last entry was five weeks ago. I'm not a math person so five weeks ago it was. It's been a long time and sorry for the delay in writing. We've played a bunch of shows to end the year, survived the holidays, and have played three shows since the New Year began!
Last Tuesday saw us at Banjo Jim's for the first time in two years. It was a great show and we were happy to be back there. If you've never been and like acoustic music/bluegrass/Americana that's the spot. We played our first full three set show at the Chelsea Brewing Company last Friday and had an awesome time - a very cool place!
I digress...From that frigid session five weeks ago, comes the first trickle of what promises to be a great release once we get back on track with the recording. We hope to have a tangible package sometime when the weather thaws out! It's a new one called "Many Years From Now". I wrote it this fall and it fell together pretty quickly with the rest of the band. I think it has some great harmonies, every instrument clicking, and Vic on mandolin really cranking! Check it out and stay tuned - more to come...
Last Tuesday saw us at Banjo Jim's for the first time in two years. It was a great show and we were happy to be back there. If you've never been and like acoustic music/bluegrass/Americana that's the spot. We played our first full three set show at the Chelsea Brewing Company last Friday and had an awesome time - a very cool place!
I digress...From that frigid session five weeks ago, comes the first trickle of what promises to be a great release once we get back on track with the recording. We hope to have a tangible package sometime when the weather thaws out! It's a new one called "Many Years From Now". I wrote it this fall and it fell together pretty quickly with the rest of the band. I think it has some great harmonies, every instrument clicking, and Vic on mandolin really cranking! Check it out and stay tuned - more to come...
Thursday, December 16, 2010
It's Cold In There...
So last night we all got together down in Ft. Tilden (RAA) to do some recording. We had scheduled this a week or so ago not even contemplating that weather would be a factor. I think that I can speak for the rest of the band saying that it felt like we were basically playing outside. In fact, it might have been warmer outside than it was inside. It was cold - really cold!
I digress. The plan was to get some tracks recorded so that we can share with everyone the new sounds we got going with the band. We gave it a good try but the results might be a bit...frozen. We'll have to wait till it gets mixed down to be sure but we know that we are going in the right direction. And if we can get something in such adverse weather conditions - it looks good for future recordings!
A special thank you to Chris LaMura for pulling tape for us all night. And the Coldest Person of the Night might have to go to Walter Ensor! Thanks for being a trooper...and of course our man Tony!
And the week goes on....where is Friday?!?
I digress. The plan was to get some tracks recorded so that we can share with everyone the new sounds we got going with the band. We gave it a good try but the results might be a bit...frozen. We'll have to wait till it gets mixed down to be sure but we know that we are going in the right direction. And if we can get something in such adverse weather conditions - it looks good for future recordings!
A special thank you to Chris LaMura for pulling tape for us all night. And the Coldest Person of the Night might have to go to Walter Ensor! Thanks for being a trooper...and of course our man Tony!
And the week goes on....where is Friday?!?
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Colony Theater Audio
We want to thank our friend Nick Mascia for pulling the audio of our set at the Colony Theater. It was a fantastic evening for sure and we were honored to be a part of it again this year. You can listen to it right here: Colony Theater Show
The audio is a live recording so remember its not a polished gem. There are some really great moments I feel and overall kicks ass. You can hear all of us on this one and on some tunes the great Charlie Wolfe joins us on harmonica.
A cold Sunday...perfect for football & some Railroad Earth spinning in the background...Amen Corner a great album! Have a good week all...
The audio is a live recording so remember its not a polished gem. There are some really great moments I feel and overall kicks ass. You can hear all of us on this one and on some tunes the great Charlie Wolfe joins us on harmonica.
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| BG @ The Colony Theater - my poor attempt at Photoshop |
Monday, November 29, 2010
Rambling Monday Thoughts
Monday. Monday. Back to reality from the long weekend - but thankfully Monday is over for the most part. I'm not a big Monday fan overall - the getting up early again wah wah wah! Kramer from Seinfeld was right that days do have a feeling ("I feel Wed.")....and I happen to love Wed. as it's rehearsal nights usually. A little fried from this Monday as you can tell by the senseless babble you just read! (Sorry)
In other ramblings, I have to say that I couldn't be happier with how BG is sounding these days. (and really happy with the last two gigs!) We've added some fantastic musicians (Walter Ensor and Cat Cosmai) to our ranks on a regular basis and are broadening our sounds big time.
This past Spring we (Vic, Steve, Jim, & I) started recording what was to become our first album/ep. We had planned on really shaping it up and getting it out there for all to hear this Fall - it sounded amazing and was going real well (in fact a lot of what on our websites is the rough demos). All the while, we worked playing gigs this Summer with our new friends! Instead of finishing the album we have focused on growing our sound and cultivating this newness that we've found. This is part of the reason why what you've been hearing here on the interwebs and seeing/hearing in the live shows of late don't match up. Have no fear, we are on it, and are planning to take some time to get some fresh sounds around on our internet spots. So stay tuned. Rehearsals this Wed. and gearing up for our Bar 4 show on Dec. 23rd. It might be our last gig of the year...but you never know. Mark your calender nevertheless.
Still waiting on pictures from the Colony Theater show on Friday night! Soon as we get some - we'll post 'em. I also heard that someone might have taped the show so there might be some audio as well. Here's to hoping...
In other ramblings, I have to say that I couldn't be happier with how BG is sounding these days. (and really happy with the last two gigs!) We've added some fantastic musicians (Walter Ensor and Cat Cosmai) to our ranks on a regular basis and are broadening our sounds big time.
This past Spring we (Vic, Steve, Jim, & I) started recording what was to become our first album/ep. We had planned on really shaping it up and getting it out there for all to hear this Fall - it sounded amazing and was going real well (in fact a lot of what on our websites is the rough demos). All the while, we worked playing gigs this Summer with our new friends! Instead of finishing the album we have focused on growing our sound and cultivating this newness that we've found. This is part of the reason why what you've been hearing here on the interwebs and seeing/hearing in the live shows of late don't match up. Have no fear, we are on it, and are planning to take some time to get some fresh sounds around on our internet spots. So stay tuned. Rehearsals this Wed. and gearing up for our Bar 4 show on Dec. 23rd. It might be our last gig of the year...but you never know. Mark your calender nevertheless.
Still waiting on pictures from the Colony Theater show on Friday night! Soon as we get some - we'll post 'em. I also heard that someone might have taped the show so there might be some audio as well. Here's to hoping...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Operation Toy Soldier
What a great night we had last night. We had such a fun time opening up the night with a great set. Stellar playing from everyone. We had Charlie Wolf sit in on a couple of tunes. Kerry Kearney & Friends ripped it up. Some awesome playing and harmonies. And Reda Shay lit the place up.
But overall - it was the community that came out strong and supported the cause. It was something very special to be a part of for sure. I'm sure we'll be seeing pictures soon enough...will post them when they come in!
Have a great Saturday....
But overall - it was the community that came out strong and supported the cause. It was something very special to be a part of for sure. I'm sure we'll be seeing pictures soon enough...will post them when they come in!
Have a great Saturday....
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