Aug 07 : "Fukushima" - The Benjees (Brooklyn)

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (May 2014)

A few Thursday nights ago (July 9) I headed over to Pianos after work and saw Brooklyn band "The Benjees". Wow what a powerhouse performance. Their web page gives a little bit of a clue about their style, but the live show rocked beyond anything you can hear on their website. I want to see them again.

Here is "Fukushima", the lead song on their Soundcloud page. While I think they might have overstepped in picking the title, the message is there.

The artist removed this track from their web page. :(

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7/5/20 ::: OOPS. Their main web page seems also to have disappeared!.

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To visit The Benjees, here is the click to their main webpage.The Benjees (CLICK HERE). On their page you can see a couple of their videos including one done at the show on July 9th (again, live was better than what the video picked up). ... ... p.s. ... I was one of the anonymous people in the dark wearing a fluorescent bracelet, whose light lasted all the way til I was coming home on the Night Owl bus.

Jul 26 : "Disorienting" - The Rally (New York)

(( June 26 Mix & Match / Part 3 ))

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released

The original part of my plans that night was to go to the Cameo Gallery to hear "The Rally". I had been listening to them on line and was looking forward to seeing them live. So after hearing the Alexander Bishop and the Tom Shaner bands play at Spike Hill, I headed over to Cameo where I heard The Rally play live for the first time.

Here is a sample description from one of the Rally pages ::: The band started as Wolves, a noise/experimental set that played art galleries during early 2013 but matured into a full band and began doing the local rounds. As Wolves, they played Pianos, Public Assembly, The Delancey, Bowery Electric, and Mercury during the following months and even took part in their first festival gigs for CMJ and Northside Festival. It was towards the end of 2013 that they recorded a 3-song EP and that they released under the name The Rally. Having grown into a more melodic sound and serious approach to song-writing, while maintaining a melancholic, moody feel, the new year introduces The Rally as the pleasantly invigorating result of an unplanned allegiance to music.

The Rally does have only a few songs published. Playing here right on my blog page is "Disorienting", released just a few months ago, this past January. :::

The Rally did a good show that night at Cameo, and they have another coming up soon, on Wednesday, August 6th, at Mercury Lounge. To visit The Rally in the meantime, here is the click to their Bandcamp page ::: The Rally (CLICK HERE)

Jul 20 : "Forever Drug" - Tom Shaner Band (New York)

(( June 26 Mix & Match / Part 2 ))

The past few weeks I got sucked up into a busy work schedule and have fallen behind in my comments on this page. Still writing chronologically about bands I saw on June 26 (Yikes!)

The second artist up at Spike Hill on June 26 (playing after Alexander Bishop, mentioned in the previous blog) was Tom Shaner, who also came with a band. If there was any common theme about these two bands, I would say that it would be their eclectic repertoires. Tom Shaner played rock, folk, ballads, a wide range. However, the styles of presentation between the two bands were quite different. Alexander Bishop's Band's style was extremely freeflowing, while Tom Shaner's Band's style was tight and precise..

The band is a five-piece, with the keys player switching off to accordion keys for a few songs. Some very interesting lyrics, which are sung by Tom Shaner himself.

As with some other bands I've written about recently, the web music doesn't do justice to what you can see live, but here's an example of some of his work. The song is "Forever Drug" :::

If you would like to hear the Tom Shaner band live, you're in luck; they have another show coming up TONIGHT! This is an early show at the LIC Bar. Here is the click to Tom Shaner's Facebook page for more information ::: Tom Shaner Band on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

Jun 16 : "Cardboard Box" - Panophonic (Clifton Heights)

On Friday last week I headed up to the "Nut Hut" for the first time. This was to see Panophonic which I hadn't seen in quite a while. "Panophonic" is a solo project of musician, Tom Lugo, who has multiple bands and music projects going simultaneously, such as Under the Wire and Stellarscope, to name two, along with a record label, Patetico Recordings.

This was a night when his solo project was in the spotlight. Two other outfits played after him.

It had been a while since I had heard Panophonic live, and there were some changes. Tom used to advertise that coming to his shows, "Your ears will bleed". And indeed they did. ... But the music has mellowed out a little, and I found that I bled less last Friday.

Naturally I hadn't heard Panophonic play in so long that almost all the work was new. One of the new songs he played was "Cardboard Box", which is about being homeless, a timely topic.

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6/27/20 UPDATE! ::: OOPS! Looks like the band removed this song from their page!

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Cardboard Box

Pack my bags I had to go
I’d venture out into the cold
Walked aimlessly down the streets
With no particular place to go

I will beg, steal, and lie
I’ll do anything to get by
In love and war it all is fair
I am broken beyond repair

I’ll weather the rain
I’ll endure the pain
Of your judging eyes
Wonder if you would survive

Ask me if I really care
I speak my mind, I swear, I swear
Ask me if I really care
I bore more than you can bear

Pack my bags I had to go
I’d venture out into the cold
Walked aimlessly down the streets
With no particular place to go

I will beg, steal, and lie
I’ll do anything to get by
In love and war it all is fair
I am broken beyond repair

Lowest of the low
Crawl back- into my hole
It doesn’t- hurt anymore
My bed is the cold concrete floor

Ask me if I really care
I speak my mind, I swear, I swear
Ask me if I really care
I bore more than you can bear

Just last night CBS' "60 Minutes" did a segment about the "100,000 Homes Campaign", a nationwide effort to first ascertain who the most vulnerable people in the homeless population are, and then match them up with property owners. Some landlords receive federal subsidies to participate in this program with the residents paying a small percentage. But the journalist also interviewed other civic-minded landlords who set aside a percentage of their units at low cost or no cost specially to participate in this program.

The "60 Minutes" episode discussed the high success rate of the program and showed very dramatic "before" and "after" pictures of the participants, talking about the dehumanizing effects of being homeless (as we heard in Tom's song above), and how people's lives are completely transformed once they've become situated in a home of their own. Here is the link to the "60 Minutes" segment: 100,000 Homes: Housing the Homeless Saves Money?

Tom is a man with a strong interest in various social issues. In addition to the lyrics about homelessness, he has also followed up with actions on the issue of hunger, by generously donating both music and merch from Panophonic and Stellarscope to our non-profit, West Girard Communty Council to raffle off at our first fundraising party for our Food Cupboard. This event took place a few weeks ago.

If you'd like to check out more of Panophonic's music, here is the link to Tom's Soundcloud page, where he has samples of music from his various projects::: Tom Lugo's Soundcloud page (CLICK HERE)

Jun 08 : "The Frenchman" - Joe Benjamin & A Mighty Handful (New York)

(( May 29-30 Mix & Match, Part 3 ))

Next band up at Pianos following Clear Plastic Masks was New York ensemble "Joe Benjamin & A Mighty Handful". That night there were twelve members in the act, and, if you've been to Pianos, I'm sure you can just imagine how tight a fit that was. Their sound filled the room.

This was my first time hearing a swing band live. I generally don't listen to that genre a whole lot. But I was happy I was able to hear this band. Joe Benjamin & A Mighty Handful has a great sound. Very crisp in presentation. And humor in the lyrics.

I don't see any samples of their music on Soundcloud, so to show you a sample, here's a video from YouTube. This is "The Frenchman". This was recorded at a live performance at Radio Bushwick.

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6/27/20 UPDATE! ::: OOPS! Looks like the music link and the band's web page itself have disappeared.

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Joe Benjamin & A Mighty Handful have another show coming up next week at Bowery Electric, on June 18. To visit their Facebook page in the meantime, here is the click :::

I saw several bands at different venues on my Mix & Match night, May 29 into the 30th. There was quite a range in styles. These three bands that I've featured over the last week in this and the previous two blog postings (Slothrust, Clear Plastic Masks) were my favorites.