Sep 15 : "Meet Me In Morristown" + Vail Mansion

The last week in August I went over to Morristown one evening after work and went to the final "Meet Me In Morristown" event of the season. This takes place every last Thursday of the summer months and is a time when all the restaurants and shops are open late, and people come to the center of town to "meet" and socialize. Part of each of the last Thursday nights is a featured local band.

On the evening of August 29 it was native Morristown band "Mama D and the Vexations" that was featured. They portray themselves as a cover band. While they do some concerts like other bands, their main efforts seem to be directed towards doing private events and parties. Mama D mentioned that right now she has bookings into 2020 and even 2021 for private events. Here is the click to their web page where you can see their huge repertoire. Mama D and The Vexations (CLICK HERE).

The concert itself took place on the lawn at the Vail Mansion, which was once a private residence of a local industrialist. It later became a government building and today has been reimagined into condos. Here is an interesting background story. Vail Mansion, some background. (CLICK HERE).

I was less than happy with the way this concert was set up. Vail Mansion is in the center of town along South Street, and the concert stage was set up near the street. There were desks and booths of vendors and organizations too close to the music, lots of people milling about and talking. A real distraction from trying to listen to the band. (It reminded me of the old Grape Street in Philly, where everybody talking loud at the bar sometimes drowned out the bands playing only 20 feet away!) ... The bad logistics for this event were just the opposite from the great evening I previously had at a "Meet Me" show at Morristown Green.

So, yes, I will be checking out the "Meet Me In Morristown" events in 2020, with an eye toward only going to those that are held at Morristown Green, not Vail Mansion. While Morristown Green is also in the center of town, it is large enough so that the music is in the center of the square and away from distractions and any noise on the street. Also, the tall trees were great for a summer evening. That was a wonderful experience; will try for that one again.

Sep 08 : "Zoo" - goodfight (New York)

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (July 2019)

A few weeks ago I went to Pianos one evening after work and saw New York band "goodfight". They just released an album in July and played a lot of the new work at the show.

The album is titled "Dac Mcmicken, the Legend Of". A lot of the tracks deal with relationships. We're never completely sure whether the relationships are in a state of flux, just having a couple bumps in the road, or whether the main characters are doing some deep introspection and self-examination. In the first song of the album, "Zoo", we start to get the feel that the main character is at first saying that the relationship might have run its course. This is emphasized by the fact that the two of them are at the "zoo" where they first met, and maybe there's been too little growth in the intervening time. Is it time to move on? Maybe. But there are too many things that keep the main character from driving down the "off-ramp".

While the songs do deal with relationships that are in a state of flux, there's still a sense that all this questioning and self-examination is very natural and does not have the gravity that we feel in songs of other bands. We come to feel that, even if the couple were to break up, it would not be a major upheaval, but just two individuals deciding to casually move off on different paths.

It's not only the lyrics that give us that casual and easy feel, but the instrumentals as well. The song structure is a little choppy and uncertain, but the melodic lines are more light and breezy. ... And at 2:27 on the clock, it's like we are turning off on a different road with a change in feel and change in tempo. Maybe that could be the symbolic off-ramp. .... Or not.

The band describe themselves as: we are power pop, super sultry motley jazz, and made up shoegaze, violent and vulnerable trap, with flowers and indie punk

Here is "Zoo", the first track on the new album, "Dac Mcmicken, the Legend Of" :::

If you want to read the lyrics to "Zoo", here they are ::: "Zoo" lyrics.

goodfight doesn't have any other shows coming up soon, but here is the click to their Facebook page where you can read more about them::: goodfight on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Aug 31 : "Something to Lose" - Quiet Luke (New York)

News
Quiet Luke Releases New Video

It's been a year and a half since I saw Quiet Luke do a show at Bushwick's Alphaville. When I first heard him on line, I was drawn in by the instrumentals. But after listening to a few more tracks I realized that I've probably never heard any other singer who uses such a wide vocal range through most of his work. It was especially evident in "The Shortest Distance" which I wrote about in a previous post.

That same range is evident in his new video, "Something to Lose". When Quiet Luke released this video just a couple weeks ago (August 13), I was interested to know more, so I asked him to tell us about the video's background. He gave us the story :::

The video was heavily influenced by David Lynch’s work as well as classic American stories like Grease and West Side Story.

There’s an odd decade lineage running through it
50s —> 70s —> 90s

and through all my work if you look closely

We were trying to access the past in a way that’s futuristic

This song has a few different moods. The piece starts off with an uncharacteristically slow beat for the artist. But around 2:20 to 2:32 on the clock, the tempo and feel of the song start to change.

So here is the new video from Quiet Luke: "Something to Lose" :::

Quiet Luke writes in a variety of styles and vibes which you can hear on his Soundcloud page. You can also check out this and some other videos On YouTube. And, while he doesn't have any shows coming up soon, here is the link to his Facebook page where you'll be able to watch his calendar and see what he's doing ::: Quiet Luke on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

And I've gotta again mention "The Shortest Distance". Still like that track.

Aug 28 : "365 25 NYC DMV" - 185668232 (Brooklyn)

News
185668232 Releases New Video

Last week Trash Boy took us to Whole Foods. Today, Brooklyn noise artist, "185668232", is taking us to the New York City DMV! Yikes! We hope it's just in reference to his own account. Watch as he takes the background sounds of the room as individual threads and builds them into a piece. In this video we can see him actually doing some of the work, while in the previous Fire Betty's Barcade we were a little off at a distance and couldn't see what he was doing with the machine.

185668232 is noise artist Iam S. Mick, or, since his revival after being banned by Facebook, "William Mick". Here are the notes from his video page. 185668232 field record sample loops a NYC DMV to build a mid-fidelityi, drone, ambient, boom bap, power pop, synth-beat with poeticalogic inspired by the lively yet censored crowd of people waiting in line for hours and the ticketing to teller automation system.

"365.25 - NYC DMV (Wednesday, August 14, 2019)

Waiting at the DMV this is probably illegal to be documenting but they have you on camera all ready making your docket numbers if you don’t know what you’re doing then it’s fine to identify your consumer mind Commodify your purpose signs it’s all in the wordsplay on edge of going curve"

Photographer Mary Curran also makes a cameo appearance.

185668232 has a show coming up soon on Sep 11 at Rose Gold. 185668232 has been having a rough time with Facebook, but here is their new page as it stands now ::: 185668232's new page on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Aug 09 : "Good Times" - Sam Seeger (New York)

News
Sam Seeger Releases New Video

When I turned on my computer and took the ride down this road in the convertible with the top down: Wow! Just what I needed as a short diversion from the horrific news cycle that we're now in. Wish the video could have lasted all day! :)

That being said, when we look beneath the surface of this carefree video, we find some :::

DEEP QUESTIONS
(1)How fast are we actually going? 90?
(2)Are the cops chasing us?
(3)How can Sam be driving in the front seat and also be in the back facing the opposite direction at the same time?
(4)How can Sam and Max maintain balance standing on top of the car going at 90?

Hmm. Questions to ponder. For a deeper look, check out the video. It's new; just released on August 4. Enjoy the ride! :::

Sam doesn't have any shows coming up in the next few weeks, but here is the link to his Facebook page where you can keep up with what he's doing ::: Sam Seeger on Facebook (CLICK HERE).