Friday, October 30, 2009

New Lyrics added for Goddamn You Jim


last verse-"lightly goes a child's soul
death will eat a mother whole
yet men must bear the burden
of every season passing"

thanks Jeffrey Lebowski.. (I know he is not Lebowski...he's the dude!)

I love that Felice Brothers as Stillwater picture.

Artrocker.com celebrates The Duke and The King and offers downloads





EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: The Duke & The King - The Morning I Get To Hell + If You Ever Get Famous


A couple of singer-songwriters inspired by literary charlatans, NPR darlings The Duke & The King draw from Huckleberry Finn, freshly-shot BB guns, wide plains and open spaces. At times precious, other times bare, there’s always the comforting sense of a roving partner in crime in these chords, someone to flick a lighter in the dark to signal it’s time to jump to the next train car. If there was ever a band that sounds best live, under a blanket and a starless sky, it’s probably these guys.

Read more: http://www.artrocker.com/node/16926#ixzz0VTFaM7DJ

The Felice Brothers From Shepard's Bush Empire

This is not so much a review more just an acknowledgement to how good they were.

Firstly I deliberately went with low expectations only because I was at The Luminaire gig a couple of years back and seeing that was not only my gig of the year was one of the best gigs of my life, the energy, the talent, well you know what I mean.

So, I arrived about 2 songs into A.A bondy's set who I have to say was terrific and had a pretty full crowd to perform to. I actually bumped into a friend who was going to see him rather than the brothers. He played a great set and reminded me in his looks like Jakob Dylan.

Shepeherd's bush empire has a real intimate feel to it with three balcony's which give the impression that they are bending in towards the stage,capacity is 2000 but you don't feel that. Anyway, the place was rammed, I was in the stalls standing and it was literally toe to toe, absolutely rammed.

I don't have a playlist and so can only give you the tracks I remember them playing.They kicked off the whole thing with Marlboro Man, after that in no particular order I remember Helen Fry, Frankies gun, run chicken run (encore) Ruby Mae, St Stephens end, Whiskey in my whiskey,Ballad of Lou, Ahab, Roll on Arte, Hey hey revolver, White Limo, New Mexico, farleys song,Endless night. They played for well over an hour and a half and were trully outstanding. Farley's antics y'know were not too bad, he was running around a lot throwing water on the drum kit and stuff and was actually entertaining, his song he did on his own was amazing but nothing like Ahab sung by Christmas. He reminded me of a young Lou reed now he's without mousetache and his snarling version of this song was a highlight for me, full of fire. But to be honest the whole band were just mind blowingly good, James singing New Mexico had the crowd in complete silence and Ian as ever was as good as I've ever seen and his voice also seems to have improved massively, I love the way he one minute looks and behaves like a shambolic drunk (at one point he called himself and the band 'just a bunch of losers from the catskills') but still managing to play and sing as well as ever and other times when singing solo he looks as delicate as snow, so tender and heartfelt you can't help but will him on towards whatever he's aiming or looking for, the man has that special something.

A nice touch was when about four or five tracks in Farley said something like "wow, there'a lot of you here" and James took his hat off and looked 'up to the rafters' and was genuinely gobsmacked, mouth wide open in awe, I think the whole band were genuinely shocked by the turn out, Jeez, I was shocked by the turnout, but this is a beautiful venue, google it and see. On a personal note I'd love to see them play this style of venue again, they seemed to bring that bar room sound into this venue but sang and played like they were still in a bar room. A.A Bondy played with them a fair bit too and all in all I can't say enough good things about this gig, one of the gigs of my life.

I'd love it if a recording materialises from this as I would love to experience it again.


From The Lonesome Drifter on the Gun.

Video by Spiritual Opiates Channel

Monday, October 19, 2009

Open Letter from a Fan of The Felice Brothers

Editors Note; This is written by a fan, I do not know what the plans are for the Felice Brothers going forward. This letter does pose important questions for a rock band in the 21st century which is why i included it, like, What role does a record company play in the this digital age? Are they even neccessary? and to what degree? What about a band like the Felice Brothers who have a good following, can they go on without a "label" if they chose too? not sure

By Nick Roberts
There is something inherently magical about finding a band in it's youth, when few people know about them, when you get to see them in intimate settings, when you come into a small club and see some crazy wild eyed young man at the bar drinking a pint of beer and moments later that same young man takes the stage, grabs a guitar and begins to play for you. And the songs they play move you, take you back to a time forgotten and buried under today's newspaper stories of fear and terror. They tell stories of an America that is slowly slipping away underneath our feet and being paved over with shiny objects that distract us and make our hearts smaller and our minds narrowed to the idea of God and something bigger than ourselves and the things we own, the trophies we place around us. We have just found something magical, esoteric, something hidden. Something we can hold to our chest, clutch onto and keep warm.



But eventually if that band is good more people will start to take notice. Articles will be written, websites will be built, stars will appear next to their record reviews and they might actually become successfull. With their success we chance to loose that connection we once had. It's a selfish desire for bands to stay small and play in our back yards, but it's a feeling alot of fans share. Which leads me to my point.



I was recently posed a question that has nothing to do with my personal life, my finances, does not provide groceries for my children, yet it does have the chance to effect my spirit. Mayan calenders and drunken prophets dead and buried have predicted the world to end in 3 years time, so finding your loveseat position next to God is an important thing. Music helps us do that. The Felice Brothers help me to do that.



The Fact is The Felice Brothers had a two record deal with Team Love label and that has now has ended. This leads us to the Question; Where do they go from here?
Suffice it to say i am not a record executive. I do not know the ins and outs of the music industry. But i do know music. And I believe i see the problems in the modern day music industry. And for the money that labels provide, the exposure generated, the revenue thrown at other people to get them to take notice, to listen? People pay money to get Rolling Stone reviews, they pay money to get "critics" to listen to their albums. Does this build a fan base, no. Does it provide exposure? Yes, to a small extent it does, but until those stars they put next to the album have a scratch-n-sniff quality that puts out music, it's lacking. Rolling Stone is not the magazine it was 30 years ago and hopefully their subscriptions reflect that, how they rate albums is absolute bullshit. Why would i need someone to represent that, why would i give away my money for that. As for more independent magazines; Pitchfork, Paste, i'm not sure if their is any "bribery" involved. I don't know.



Do Labels plaster posters on telephone polls around the city to promote a bands upcoming concert? Do they go to indie record shops and put up posters on their windows advertising the release of a new album? Do Labels buy tickets, then buy more tickets for their unawakened friends and bring them along to the show? Fans do. This can all be done by "Street Teams", by Frankiesgun.com, free of charge. By people who actually just love the music.



I understand the need for a label in the begining, to get you out there, to push for radio play, but indie stations will always have dj's that will listen to an album, rather have an ear for good music and put that on the air, whether that be something you dial into, fm, or a podcast like Martin here on the Board is doing and doing it well. And I've never heard The Brothers, Duke&the King on the Radio, nor did i hear The Horse Feathers, the Avett Brothers, the Everybodyfields, Mark Kozelek, or Malcolm Holcombe or any of the other bands i really love on the air, but i did hear a recording.



Exposure? The music is the exposure, how you get them to hear the music is the issue. Allowing audience taping is a great means of doing just that and it's free advertising. It's a great tool that's been used by many bands (Avett Brothers, Phish, Dave Mathews Band, Pearl Jam. . .) to increase their fanbase and also to build a community out of those fans. If the music isn't played on the radio how else will it be heard? Dimeadozen, the Trader's Den, bt.etree is exposure, the Live Music Archive is exposure, much more so than a written blurb but an actual auditory experience, free sample if you will. And you don't have to pay for it to find out if you like it! That brings fans, that brought me and many others here, it has an ""almost"" similar effect to going to a show of a band you didn't know and coming out a fan. To me it's a much more realistic representation of what a band is and hopefully an idea of what they could be. Not to mention it's a relatively untapped market. Pearl Jam put out cd's of almost an entire tour, captured by the soudboard, bound in carboard covers and sold them to the fans.



You don't need record exec's to make an album, you don't need to pay exhorbent prices for studio space when you carry those same damn instruments around with you into small clubs all over the country. You just need it mixed properly. Then you need advertising and distribution. You need a fan base, thanks record company, that already happened, and by no help from you. A good example is the Avett Brothers, they may be on Columbia now, but who is the group that's gonna follow them all over the country, buy everything they put out, the fans that have always been there. The dedicated ones who fell in love with a band that the whole world didn't know about yet-US- we'll be there. As we will be for the Brothers.
Don't get me wrong, i want them to live well, enjoy the fruits of their labor, i just don't see the "need" to forfeit so much to attain that goal. I don't see it at all.



I have been inside the standing audiences that surround musicians on the street, halo-ing them, keeping them safe, building walls out of our bodies for the music to bounce off of and richochet, a moving cathedral built by those who close in and listen and then that church dismantled as the last note fades and the guitars go back into their cases. The Felice Brothers have that.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Uncut Magazine: The Felice Brothers Debut Album the 102nd Best Album of This Century


The UK publication UNCUT, is celebrating their 150th issue by listing the top 150 albums of the 21st century, and The Felice Brothers made the list at #102. Quite an honor for sure, (although i felt it should have been #1).

The Issue features Jack White on the cover, and a covermount that Features The Felice Brothers classic "Don't Wake The Scarecrow"

a must buy for Felice Brothers fans.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Felice Brothers in Berlin "Hey Hey Revolver"



Manuela from Berlin: thank you

Mix Tape CD Review: a repost







The Mix Tape CD has finally arrived as The Felice Brothers hit the road on the Fall leg of their world tour. I greeted this wondrous gift with subdued expectations, seeing it was likely a album of outtakes, and a gift for hardcore fans who are a loyal crew. Many of these songs are well known to fans who have heard some of these numbers in the live shows for months or years. Much to most fans delight will be the inclusion of longtime requested number "White Limo" on this set of nine songs. (No its not called "Cincinnati Queen"). The drums are manned, by Simone Felice (New Mexico and Captain's Wife), Dave Turbeville (Forever Green, Ahab, Let Me Come Home), and Jeremy "The Searcher" Backofen (White Limo, Marlboro Man, Marie).

The first track is a standout acoustic ballad "Forever Green" , which sounds like an older song from perhaps the Iantown era. It features beautiful fiddle from Greg Farley and some wonderful lyrics by Ian Felice, of the occupational hazards of love.
"Ahab" with Christmas taking lead vocal, follows, apparently inspired by his reading the Melville classic in the past year. Christmas compares his plight in love with the monomaniacal captain of the Pequod. "White Limo" furnished with new lyrics, is an explosive success. Unlike "Memphis Flu", from Yonder is the Clock, which mostly failed to capture the energy it had on stage and stumbled, "Limo" brings the music up to date. The best show closing number from a mainstream rock unit since "Rosalita", (and featuring a similar swirling organ frenzy) it packs a massive 3 minute wallop.

white legs, white lies, white wedding gown
just a little red to paint the town.
could you meet me at the ghetto gate(s)?
where the goons, and the grifters wait


Searcher's heavy hands provide a powerful backbeat.

A James Felice song, apparently written mostly as a teen, follows. "Let Me Come Home" cools off the listener after the barn-burning "White Limo". A mature tale of the prodigal son returning home (Luke 15:11-32) Jimmy pleads with his family for forgiveness, as his weary soul longs for their acceptance;

"My Brother, I know that i stole her,
but brother you did not own her.
Brother, you were a friend of mine,
and i thought you'd be with me on that firing line"

One of the finest songs James has written and sounds like an instant classic. "Captain's Wife" is a smokey barroom number in the vein of "Helen Fry" or "Cypress Grove", with Ian on lead vocal. Not sure if this songs heroine has any relationship to Mary Anne Patten, the 19th century wife of a ship's captain, who became a great symbol for feminism over the next 100 years, but it wouldn't be the first time Ian has tackled such a heroine, (Edith Cavell, "St. Stephens End").
"New Mexico" is a James Felice tune that likely borrows more from his major literary influences (Cormac McCarthy) than any rock and roll muse. "Blood Meridien" was a likely nicked before by Ian, (Reverend Green in "Wonderful Life") and this violent tale, also compared often to Melville's "Moby Dick" is an apparent influence. James sings it wonderfully, with Ian taking the lower register.
"17 Years" is a piano ballad that sounds like it could have been on the "Big Empty" album. Its the tale of a young friend who washes ashore in Tarrytown, Ny. Its a sad goodbye, to his friend, and youth.

"Stood outside your window, I couldn't see within
Your curtains faintly stirring like a restless living thing
i lit a smoke as morning broke
i knew it would be a while
before i find piece of mind"

"Marie" follows, with the most stunning songwriting Ian Felice has flashed since "Frankie's Gun". Like "Frankie", this number is instantly recognizable, with lyrics that are clever, funny and memorable. Each verse is sung by a different member of the band, with Greg Farley's contribution being especially delicious,

"I thought i was sharp enough,
I read Moby Dick and stuff
I guess i ain't smart enough for you,
All i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
Give me one more night"

"Marlboro Man" from the Daytrotter Sessions, is updated here with a much spookier, electrified sound. Its another standout track. It features beautiful guitar work by Ian as well as nice accents by James and Greg.

One surprise, is the lack of inclusion of Greg Farley's standout tune, "Song for Gramps" as a tenth track. It sounds like one of their better songs, from its live performances of late and perhaps they are saving it for a more official release in the spring of 2010.

Mix Tape if it is just a series of outtakes, still has excellent continuity as the theme of unattainable love runs throughout the record. It also may be one of their best collection of songs. While it doesn't boast the unique sound of their debut album with it horn and vocal arrangements, and the brilliant production of Searcher, (in fact this album sounds as it were simply recorded live in the chicken coop studio near their home), it contains songs that will likely become a big part of the Felice Brothers history. Mostly it shows why they are quickly becoming an American treasure, this is their 5th release in the last 3 years, and the second album in six months. They are not caught up in the hype that surrounds the band, or building cults of personality, they are keeping it "real", doing one for the fans, again, and moving on down the road.

-special thanks to a certain person who helped with some of the details that i missed.

Digger

Friday, October 9, 2009

Tshirts Available: Take This Bread



I have printed out these shirts and i will have a proper store front soon enough. For now pay me $15 to mvbigtuna@yahoo.com use paypal as you can send money to an email address using that. The cost is $15 for the t shirt.

100% OF THE PROCEEDS to the FoodBank of the Hudson Valley.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Take This Bread Wins Auction!



Yes we have won the Auction, but we are offering it back to the parents of Zachary and helping them auction it off again. I already have a ton of Felice Brothers stuff.

about Zachary:

Zachary Reed Beachley was born on July 30, 2003. He suffered severe brain damage due to lack of oxygen during delivery. He is ventilator dependant due to a spinal cord injury which occurred during his traumatic delivery. He also suffers from cortical blindness, infantile spasms/seizures, is gtube fed, cerebral palsy and on and on and on : ) He is the most amazing child and he surprises us daily! Our son....is a super hero!!! Zachary's alternative treatments have included Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Transplant and Chiropractic Care. We have decided to forego another stem cell transplant and start our savings for a wheelchair accessible van. The one we want cost $50,000 and if we plan to have one in a few years, we better start saving now!!!




Check out Zachary's Family's official website

Monday, October 5, 2009

Simone Felice reading from "Black Jesus"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mwb86

Simone reading from his new novel-
"Black Jesus" is a killer, he was born in 1985, He shakes, Elephants never forget "black Jesus" is shy and the killer, "Black Jesus" is white as a dove".

also-"When Black Jesus came home from war, a big pair of Stevie Wonder sunglasses hung from his face. Not because they made him look cool, that wasn't it, they gave him the glasses to hide the wreck the little bomb had made of his eyes. He fought in Bagdhad, He fought in Sadr City and out along the River and down all the bad roads in between. He fought the worst days, the longest days in Fallujah, but most of all he fought the feeling inside he's had forever that he just dont belong."

Simone also sings a riveting version of "One More American Song"

picture by Olivia Dean

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Felice Brothers At ACL


by John T. Davis LINK

The multitudes were soggy but, well, multitudinous. “We’re not used to playing for so many people,” exclaimed one of the Felice Brothers, surveying the poncho-ed horde in front of the Dell Stage Saturday afternoon. “Holy (expletive), that’s a lot of people. Give yourselves a hand!”

Obviously, the acclaim drawn by the trio of brothers from upstage New York in their short but prolific recording career (four albums in four years) preceded them.

Onstage, they revealed a more muscular and assertive sound than their albums hint at. A fiddle and accordion scraped and sang in alternating harmony and counterpoint, while David Turbeville’s drums modulated from a rustle to a rumble, depending on the song.

A product of the same environment that bred the Band and Bob Dylan (and yes, those comparisons must get tiresome, but, guys, there are worse touchstones), the brothers borrow some of the same back-hollow imagery, with its antecedent roots of murder, strong drink and hardscrabble origins that Dylan and Co. have often employed. “Frankie’s Gun” (that rarity, a singalong murder ballad), “Murder By Mistletoe” and “Greatest Show On Earth” are all replete with images of violence, sometimes juxtaposed against flashes of natural beauty and human frailty. “Put a pistol in my hands if we’re going out to dance,” they sang at one point, epitomizing the tension that illuminates many of their songs.

Softer moments and onstage good humor balanced the bleakness of some of the folk-noir numbers. “Cooperstown” was a wonderful mood piece that followed the shade of Ty Cobb through a ghostly ballpark. And the band was perfectly capable of rendering a heartfelt Woody Guthrie-style paean to brotherhood called “Take This Bread” and following it shortly thereafter with a song introduction that ran thus: “This is a song about weird sex in the back of a limousine. A big, white limousine.” Take that, Woody.

Jay Janner photo

Friday, October 2, 2009

Big Auction: Guitar Signed by The Felice Bros, Old Crow, Gillian Welch and the Dave Rawlings Machine!!!


HERE


here is the item description:

This auction is for an autographed guitar from The Big Surprise Tour. It is autographed by Old Crow Medicine Show, The Felice Brothers, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings (Dave Rawlings Machine), Justin Townes Earle with Cory Younts and special guest Benmont Tench (founding member of TP and the Heartbreakers).This guitar was given to me by a crew member from the tour who did this special for our family. The guitar itself is a Yamaha and includes the case. For more information, you can email me.

Shipping cost is included in the auction and it will be packed and shipped by UPS. They have done very well shipping other guitars for us in the past. If you have any questions, please