Let them eat cake, delicious cake

Last week we gathered to celebrate the birthday of Chris Taillie, Shorefirian extraordinaire and all-around awesome person.

Here, Chris poses for the popular blowing-out-the-candles shot. The delicious cake was a confection courtesy of one of our local favorites, One Girl Cookies, and was a combination of the birthday boy’s choosing: vanilla cake, chocolate buttercream frosting and a filling of raspberry jam. Yum!

Here, Chris enjoys a slice with David, Jessica, Carrie, Mark, Brendan, & Kyle. Happy Birthday, Chris!

A Memory From Don Hills

Another New York City music club is gone. I remember playing Don Hill’s many times on Saturday nights, when it was home to the Tiswas party. One gig in particular comes to mind. I had just gotten an early ’70’s Hiwatt amplifier and Don Hill’s was the only place I ever used it. If you don’t know Hiwatt amplifiers, all you really need to know about them is that Townshend used them in the late ’60s and ’70s. They have both a great clean sharp tone and a thunderous distortion when you crank it in the pre-amp channel. Oh, and Hiwatts are probably the loudest amps on the planet. Not really conducive to NYC club gigs (which is ultimately why I reluctantly parted with it). Nonetheless, I used it at Don Hill’s. And it was really, really loud and totally awesome. For me at least. I have a feeling the audience didn’t much care for the aural assault. I feel sad about Don Hill’s closing. But to be honest, I feel sadder about not owning this anymore:

Go To Tuesday

We have a lot going on this week including support of the Kristen Ann Carr Fund’s “A Night to Remember” gala fundraiser this Saturday. Founded in 1993 by Bruce Springsteen’s co-manager Barbara Carr and her husband, prominent rock journalist Dave Marsh, after sarcoma claimed the life of their daughter 21-year-old Kristen Ann Carr, this event honors the life of this extraordinary young woman and raises funds to help provides grants for cancer research and improve all aspects of cancer patient life with an emphasis on adolescents and young adults. Since its inception, the Fund has raised $8 million for these worthy causes and you can get involved with their online charity auction starting next week at: CharityBuzz

Kristen Ann Carr Fund's "A Night To Remember" Raises Funds for Sarcoma on Saturday, April 30 at Tribeca Grill

Thursday, April 28
Scala & Kolacny Brothers- Webster Hall
Wilderness of Manitoba- Mercury Lounge
Pee Wee Ellis, Larry Willis, & Christian McBride- The Iridium

Friday, April 29
Pee Wee Ellis, Larry Wills, & Christian McBride- The Iridium

Saturday, April 30
Garland Jeffreys- Highline Ballroom
Pee Wee Ellis, Larry Willis, & Christian McBride- The Iridium
Kristen Ann Carr Fund’s “A Night to Remember”- Tribeca Grill

Nikki Jean Charms Origins Earth Day show at Webster Hall

As I watched Nikki Jean walking down the green carpet with ease and radiating a natural warmth at Wednesday night’s Earth Day concert at Webster Hall presented by Origins, I couldn’t help but beam as she answered questions from eager reporters on her own green efforts (decreasing car time) and spoke briefly on her eagerly anticipated debut album, Pennies in a Jar, out in July on S-Curve Records. It was a big night for a sweet girl from Philly who loves her friends and baking cakes..

Nikki with 95.5 WPLJ DJ Jeff Miles

Nikki’s producer Sam Hollander was also beyond proud, telling me he considers her as a “future Oprah” and “one in a million.” Sam would know what it takes to make it, of course. He has produced hits for some of the biggest acts around – Train, Tom Jones, and Good Charlotte. But it was his experience with Nikki that blew him away immediately. “She’s formidable,” he told me.

The phenomenal part, and all in attendance Wednesday can attest — is that Nikki, at just 26-years-old, has an amazing journey ahead. I mean, it takes a singular talent to co-write songs with Bob Dylan, Carole King, Carly Simon and Burt Bacharach, on your first time out of the gate. For those singing along with her as she previewed material from Pennies, including the title track (which she co-wrote with Bacharach), her days of relative anonymity are drawing to a close, and I for one cannot wait to see what happens next!

The Car Test

When you’re with a band for awhile and it gets pretty serious, you start thinking about making a baby record together. Sometimes, when you lead hectic independent lives, this process can take longer than you bargained for. But there are a lot of significant and memorable moments along the way, and today my dear band mates and I reached a big one: The Car Test.

Also known as The Shitty Speaker Test, The Car Test is what bands do to test the almost-final mixes of their recordings to hear how they’ll sound to the average listener on non-studio quality speakers. Like crappy car speakers.

You may remember the scene in the movie Once (starring The Swell Season’s Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) where the band piles into a car to hear their newly recorded demos:

Yay! It still sounds good through terrible speakers!

My band mate, Darrell, loved this idea so much he’s rounded up the group, rented a zipcar and will brave driving the streets of NYC for the first time in order to do this.

Wish us luck!

Go To Tuesday

Wednesday, April 20
Nikki Jean- Webster Hall

Thursday, April 21
A2IM’s NYC Chapter Bar Takeover- The Magician
Marc Ribot- The Iridium

Monday, April 25
Amanda Shires- Rockwood Music Hall
Russ Paul’s Guitar Monsters feat. Jimmy Vivino (Conan O’Brien), Arlen Roth (Master of the Telecaster), Gene Cornish (The Rascals), and Johnny A w/ The Les Paul Trio- The Iridium
Kate Voegele- Rock Talk at Feinstein’s Loews Regency

Amanda Shires - Monday @ Rockwood Music Hall

Pioneers of Video Game Music

With last week’s announcement that video game soundtracks are now eligible alongside FIlm and Television soundtracks in the Visual Media categories for Grammy Awards, I couldn’t help but think of my all-time favorite video game soundtrack. Now I am actually a horrible video game player (save for NBA Jam), and will admit there are literally thousands of video games I haven’t played let alone listened to. Of all the games I’ve played, this soundtrack is hands down the best I’ve come across: KATAMARI DAMACY.

For those unfamiliar- the plot to Katamari Damacy is rolling a ball that gathers whatever it rolls over so the ball gets insanely bigger. Yeah. You just roll a ball over desks, chairs, and eventually over people, towns, bridges… it’s really addicting and the music helps the gameplay maintain a giddy charm:

The music ranges from heavy jazz to samba to techno-lounge transfusion; but you can just file it under ‘experimental’. The music has become so popular that five albums are available as well as a tribute album. The game has one its share of industry awards, as well as garnering a BAFTA nomination in 2005.

I still am not that great at playing this game, but my failing has led to maximum exposure of a lot of these songs. It’s still a testament to how off-the-wall catchy and quirky the soundtrack is that even when I think of my failures, I still have a smile on my face

The Set List Showdown

Of course I love going to concerts. What isn’t there to love about going to see an artist you adore and respect perform in the flesh? Singing along to every single word and being surrounded by like-minded people who share your epic enthusiasm…it can be an other worldly experience. And while I do love myself a huge stadium-sized spectacular, I tend to find that the more intimate the venue, the more I get out of the concert.

And back on July 15, 2006 when I was still a rambunctious college student, I got the chance to see my favorite singer, P!nk, perform at the legendary Philadelphia Electric Factory. Now, as anyone that spends any significant amount of time around me can tell you, I could very well be labeled P!nk’s #1 crazy loco fan, so obviously I had an absolute ball during the show.

But I got to really show my true fan-dom colors right after she finished her encore. I watched as she put her mic onto the stand. She waved to the screaming audience (I was the loudest, I’m sure of it). She then bent over and proceeded to peel a piece of paper off the stage.

THE. SET. LIST. You could see the audience freeze. Our mouths all gaping, we watched as she balled the piece of paper up and launched it into the air over our heads. Our hands ejected from our sockets and shot above us. And by some miracle of the world, I was one of two hands to grab it.

The other belonged to someone I will fondly refer to as MY ARCH ENEMY. And as my eyes fell and met those of MY ARCH ENEMY, a battle of strength and wits was underway. Fire burned in both of our pupils and our hands clenched hard enough to nearly rip the very precious prize we were fighting over. But no one will get between me and any P!nk memorabilia, so with a twist of my wrist and a quick jerk, MY ARCH ENEMY relinquished her cursed grasp and I clasped onto my winnings with the strength of an eagle’s talons…Please share my glorious moment with me and observe the fruits of my labor…

"My Precious"

I know I’m not the only person out there who has been in this position! Have you ever scored some awesome live concert bounty? Do you have it hung up on your wall all music nerdy like I do?!

Zac Brown’s Spicing Up My Lunch

Today for lunch is a packed salad…again, but unlike any other day today’s salad features left over pork tenderloin.  And it’s not just any pork tenderloin — it’s the second best I’ve ever had thanks to Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Grub Brown Sauce (more on the first below).  I’m an avid cook and what this sauce does to meat is something spectacular.  The subtle nuances of coconut milk, ginger and bourbon turn any meat into a melt-in-your-mouth delight.

Which reminded me of a post I started to write several months back after a visit and eat-and-greet with Zac Brown Band and Executive Chef Rusty Hamlin in Camden, NJ.

Here’s a general menu of what was served at my ZBB eat-and-greet.
- Pork Tenderloin – Zac’s Brown Sauce (often called love sauce)
- Beef Tenderloin – Georgia Clay Rub
- Pocket Knife Cole Slaw (featured in the cookbook)
- 3 Local Vegetable Dishes (As determined by Chef Rusty day of show)
- Fresh Salad
- Bread & Desserts from local bakers

Again, the pork is cooked in Zac’s sauce which is phenomenal and the meat itself is shipped in exclusively from White Marble Farms – and its exactly that, marbled to produce the most tender experience possible.  But back to the sauce, I really like the analogy Zac uses… he created his sauce like General Tso did for his soldiers — where it’s so delicious you could eat shoe leather — and believe me, I think I could eat shoe leather if it was smothered in this sauce.

The Georgia Clay Rub is equally impressive. The tenderloin was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the rub is all spice, no salt. Zac specifically designed it this way so that it wouldn’t draw moisture from the meat and it pays off. I’ve been personally searching for something like this because I find that all rubs out there are complete sodium bombs.

Vegetables when I visited were grilled brussel sprouts, a blend of fire grilled squash and cherry tomatoes peppers, and a delicious diced yam.

The salad was a spinach and goat cheese mix that was topped with White Balsamic Vinaigrette. Attached is a shot of the sample plate — it was PERFECTION.

But now the band has even taken one more step to super serve the fans — offering Front Porch Stage Boxes at select shows where you get an all-you-can-eat table with unobstructed views of the stage.  You gotta see it to believe it.

Chef Rusty Introduces Front Porch Stage Boxes

To See Ray Davies’ Friends

Congrats to Mr. Ray Davies on the new album “See My Friends.” The record features some notable acolytes, fans and pals teaming up with Mr. Davies on several songs past and present.

…then I got to thinking, if IIIIII could cover a Kinks song, what would it be? This is by no means my favorite Kinks song (a tall order figuring that one out!) but it’s one that always thrills me with its bluesy undertones, bass-line, crescendo, unexpected tempo change and all around awesomeness. (The second song, “Picture Book,” is also killer if only for the words “a-shooby dooby do.” They don’t make cool the way they used to, I’ll tell you what!)

What about you? Do you have a favorite Kinks song?