12 Songs that Changed my Life

Music, you know-- true music--
not just rock 'n' roll-- it chooses you.
It lives in your car, or alone, listening to your headphones--
you know, with the vast, scenic bridges and angelic choirs
in your brain.

It's a place apart...
from the vast, benign...
lap of America.

-Lester Bangs in Almost Famous



I always wanted to be one of those guys that when recalling the ten songs that affected them most significantly, would pull out some really cool and interesting choices, like an odd cut of a Stiff Little Fingers LP, or something off a mixtape KRS One made before Boogie Down Productions, or some really obscure country song by Charlie Pride. Simply not the case. As Lester points out, you do not choose music, it finds you, it grabs you, invades you and lives inside of you throughout your life.
Here are my songs, some i listen to all the time, some i haven't intentionally listened to in decades, but when they play one the radio they can instantly pull me back to the moment where they introduced themselves to me.
12. "Kashmir" Led Zeppelin
Generally i despise classic rock, but when i was a teen a huge movie was "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". In this film, quintessential high school douche, Mike Damone tells "Rat" that playing Led Zep, was key to scoring with chicks. After a few years of frustrating defeats at the hands of the young ladies in my high school, i can say girls never liked Zeppelin, i shoulda went with James Taylor!
Mike Damones Five Point Plan

11. "Musta Got Lost" J Geils Band
No song ever captured my imagination to the theatrical side of music like the live version on the "Blow Your Face Out" lp. Peter Wolf, playing his alter ego "Wooba Gooba" gave the best intro in rock history, and got me to buy that record with my own money. My first album i bought with my own money, and i loved the intro rap by Peter Wolf ;
Hold on this song has a little introduction to it
It's ain’t supposed to be sad though you might feel it that way
It's a song about desperation,
Every now and then we do get desperate

This is a song about L-O-V-E,
and if you abuse it you're gonn' lose it
and if you lose it you're gonn' 'buse and
if you 'buse it you aint gonn' be able to choose it
cuz you aint gonn' have it further on down the line
things aint gonn' be so fine
you're gonn' to be sitting there on your little.. machine
tryin to look and keep it clean and
You’re going to be home playing bingo all night all alone
and that's why your sittin there by the telephone
and you know that she aint goin to call you!

So you put on the TV and you're watchin Johnny Carson
segwayin right into the Tomorrow show
but that don't got the go so you turn it off ya turn on the radio,
the radio don’t' seem to get the click so you say
"Hey Man, I can't lickety split"
You start to open up a little book
and there's somethin there you got to overlook
and you say "BABY, you know there's somethin on my mind!
"You say "Baby there's somethin on my mind -
I know that you're home and I know you aint all alone! "

So you start walking over to her house
and you get over to her house
and you walk over to her door and
you start poundin on her door and you say
"Open up the door bitch!”
This is wooba gooba with the green teeth, let me in!!"

Well, she opens up the door
and then you just kinda walk up to her and say
"Baby", (say Baby!) you look up way up at her green mascara
and you say "Oh my darling,
you know her and me was at the party as friends -
do not believe what they say
that's only gossip that they tellin ya -
a wise crack of lies!"
You say Darling!!!

Take your big curls and squeeze them down Ratumba -
What's the name of the chick with the long hair?
(Rapunzel!) Hey Rapunzel!
Heh heh... Hey Reputa the beautah! Reputa the Beautah!
Hey Reputa the Beautah flip me down your hair
and let me climb up to the ladder of your love!!
Because this is the wooba gooba sayin to ya
"Love comes once and when it comes
you better grab it fast cuz sometimes the love
you grab aint gonn' last and
I believe I musta,
You know I think I musta,
You know baby I think I musta,
You know I think I musta,
I musta got lost!!!!!!!

10. "True Love will Find You in the End"-Daniel Johnston
I have always been fascinated by autobiographical songs in rock history from Johnny B Goode, to Bo Diddley, to Come Together, To Born To Run, to Slim SHady, pop music is littered with incredible self reflection. This song, seems to the most real, and saddest tale of a guy living without the love of a woman. Knowing his life story makes the impact of this song even more powerful and the song almost becomes his own musical hug to himself.



9. "Changing of the Guards"-Bob Dylan
Dylan went from folk and rock in the mid 1970's toward religious music as he supposedly converted to Christianity. People dismissed this music as "not important" and a sellout of his generation. Those people missed some of the most inspired performances of his career as well as as many great songs as he ever delivered. Changing of the Guards followed similar lyrical path as Times They Are a Changing, but with more pointed attack on those living for this world, and more dazzling verbal frenzy. The last couple of verses say it all, and Bob ain't pussyfooting around, and he goes for the jugular like few have ever done;

Gentlemen, he said,
I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes,
I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Peace will come
With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
Between the King and the Queen of Swords.

Changing of the Guards

8. "Ball and Chain" - Social Distortion
It could've been anything off their self titled album in 1990. I found Mike Ness's music to have all the vitality of the punk music that i loved, but also showed influences of folk and country. I went to see the band live and was transfixed by an absolutely charismatic frontman, filled with rage, brains and impecable musical tastes. Ball and Chain live

7. "Triumph" Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan hit the scene in the early 90's with Enter the WU, amid probably the greatest (last) music scene in American pop music history, with the east coast/west coast hip hop rivalry, fueling some great music, and grunge acts like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and ALice in Chains breaking out and indie music producing the Elephant 6 Recording Company. By the time Wu-Tang returned in 1997 with "Forever", the hip hop scene was a mess as icons were being murdered and the gritty reality of those early MC's was now being replaced by vapid self promotion. No record was anticipated than the Wu-Tang follow up, as i saw it as Rap's great hope. (While it wasn't that!), It delivered with its first single (and video) an amazing lyrical barrage, not often seen. Its gritty, its minimalist and its raw.
Video i especially liked Inspecta Deck's opening verse:

I bomb atomically, Socrates' philosophies
and hypothesis can't define how I be droppin these
mockeries, lyrically perform armed robbery
Flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me
Battle-scarred shogun, explosion when my pen hits
tremendous, ultra-violet shine blind forensics
I inspect you, through the future see millenium
Killa B's sold fifty gold sixty platinum
Shacklin the masses with drastic rap tactics
Graphic displays melt the steel like blacksmiths
Black Wu jackets queen B's ease the guns in
Rumble with patrolmen, tear gas laced the function
Heads by the score take flight incite a war
Chicks hit the floor, diehard fans demand more
Behold the bold soldier, control the globe slowly
Proceeds to blow swingin swords like Shinobi
Stomp grounds and pound footprints in solid rock
Wu got it locked, performin live on your hottest block

6. "Landlocked Blues" Bright Eyes
This song restored my faith in new artists, not only in their ability to write great songs, but to go for it all. The Bright Eyes production was sterling, the songs as good as any i ever heard and Conor's uninhibited view of love and politics was really refreshing. The line that got me;
and the moon's laying low in the sky
forcing everything metal to shine
and the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
they argue "walk this way," "no walk this way"
INCREDIBLE!SONG!!

5. "Space Cowboy" The Jonzun Crew
This is major old school, but this was my introduction to rap music, and this (along with the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb") dominated our high school's hoop team layup line in pregame for a few seasons. I had a teamate (Jon Scoville) who i would hang with before practice, and we would play one on one all afternoon, while listening to underground funk music from the Barnstable High School radio station. It seems so dated today. Space Cowboy
Funny thing is, one of these guys Maurice Starr, went on to discover and produce pop groups like New Kids on the Block.

4. "Heaven" Bryan Adams
All i can say is, that at the Hyannis Rollerskating Rink i touched my first booby to this song (my big move!) and when i hear it to this day it transports me to that glorious moment every time. She was very cute, although i doubt this moment had such a powerful impact in her life. I know its very sad.

3. "Complete Control"-The Clash
Without question, no song has been played more in my life than this one. I have never tired of it, and use for fuel when i need a pick me up. I think it pretty much sums up my musical ethos, even though i dont know the lyrics to this day, (and i don't want to know them!)aside from "they say, British rock is dull". The only band that matters, and the best live band ever. And I loved the harmonies!, the best i would hear for the next twenty years till The Felice Brothers!


2. "Frankie's Gun"-The Felice Brothers
People assume because i have seen 30 something shows, and i have these sites running, that i have been with The Felice Brothers from the very beginning, and that i live near the Catskills. Far from the truth. ALthough i had heard "Lou The Welterweight" before, and found it amusing, i was not a huge fan yet. In the fall of 2007 a DJ on a pirate radio station had a copy of Adventures of the Felice Brothers, and spun "Frankies Gun" as i was driving my truck onto a boat ferry. I thought immediately it was the greatest song i ever heard. It had everything i ever liked about music, it was gritty and real, it was totally unpretentious, yet alarmingly genius, it had amazingly ragged harmonies, the best lyrics i had heard in decades, and inside the walls of that truck i heard country, rock, rap, blues, and folk wrapped up in a virtually cinematic experience. It was the music that i had been waiting my whole life for and IT FOUND ME. I was so grateful, and so determined to mine this musical gold. I went home to find this gem, and i couldnt find it easily, i eventually was able to rip some sound off the internet and basically listened to this song daily for months, i soon discovered other music by these guys and was tansfixed by the songs and the sound, my early favorites being "Rockefeller Drug Law Blues" "Hey Hey Revolver" and "The Devil is Real". You all know the story. In the Spring, i picked up the self titled album, (the best record i have ever heard), and played to death all year. Still do.

1. "Highway Patrolman" Bruce Springsteen
No song has ever kinda told my story like this one. Its the story of a Highway Patrolman named Joe Roberts who is his brothers keeper, and Frankie, who finds trouble all too easily. The Album, Nebraska, found its way into a cut-out bin (that was a place record stores would place albums that didnt sell well), and i perused the back track listing and what caught my eye was one of the song titles: "Johnny 99" . I didn't know what it was like, but that title sounded so HUGE! Larger than life. I thought with a title like that it had to be great. It was nothing as i expected, it had none of the rock and roll majesty of Born to Run lp, or the punkish "I hate my dad" attitude of Darkness on the Edge of town, but instead i found a scary depiction of souls over the edge, people who are disconnected from the rest of us, waging pyschological war in their heads. This was like a punch in the stomach to me, as it reminded me of my own brother, who was born with all the gifts in the world, looks, brains, athletic prowess, but was overcome by regret, unwillingness to forgive people in our past and eventually his life crumbled down around him. He could very well be living on the streets tonight. "Highway Patrolman" was made into a movie by Sean Penn, called Indian Runner. This song and this album are listened to in the dark, alone. I do it every so often and it always leaves me spooked.

Lost Treasures: Vol. 1 "Waterspider-ugly version"

I guess we might never hear this again, but it remains one of my favorite Felice Brothers songs of all time, this version really matches up well with another lost classic "Division St.) love the sound of this version, its really gritty, and benefits from Simone's and Ian's voices mixing nicely.

from Bronyaur at Frankiesgun come his lyrics

oh the band i'm followin
i could hear them hollerin
hey hey cocaine

could you meet us in the pines
and grind your lullaby
and go dance in the pourin rain

waterspider. dessert flower.
they don't make them like you no more
waterspider. freedom fighter
they don't make them like you no more

well, there's a time to give em hell
and a time to wish em well
oh hey hey cocaine

some dreams you'll understand
but some don't mean a damn
hey hey cocaine

even if forest fires rage in californ a while
even if the world turns on end
even if the union band kills the whole of dixie land
oh hey hey cocaine

Maya Solovey's response to the Felice Brothers

her lyrics to her response to Her Eyes Dart Around


Well if you look further west
To the orange and reds
Where the tree trunks have grown
Out of nothing but stone
That's where my love resides
In the black candlelight
In the fall of our death
When the world went to rest.

Well you picked up a stone
Said "see this is my home.
I'm a man of the wild
I'm forever a child."
"I can't be with no one
Who don't carry a gun."
"I live for the eyes
Of the one I won't find.

Oh lie de lie lie
Oh lord I did lie
With my boots strapped on
I made a grown man cry
Cause I became him
And he became me
And it grew hard to tell
Well who's heart had failed.

So if you look further west
Where the sun goes to rest
Out where the wind blows
Over nothing but stone
That's where my love was born
On one clear cold morn
That's where my love died
As you turned your eyes.

Felice Brothers at Pearl Street

from last year!!!!

Slideshow to "Morning i get to Hell"

Baldman thank you!

Batteryinyourleg.com review of the Scala (London) Show

Duke & The King (Live@The Scala) London
Written By: Mark on November 23, 2009 Comments

Last night after a nightmare journey into the metropolis, I was privileged to attend the gospel according to The Duke and The King. It’s the only apt description of the greatest live show I have ever attended!!!! Man, my body went through every emotion – I cried like a baby to “One More American Song”, then laughed, clapped and sang along with the massive crowd to “Summer Morning Rain”.



This band from the Catskill Mountains interchange instruments and interact till you feel like the stage has melted away. The whole gig was one big celebration like jamming with friends in the backyard. My thoughts on Simone as a songwriter are well documented, for me he is a 21st Century Woody Guthrie.



This is no one man show: Simi Stone displays amazing stagecraft as well as sweet harmonies alongside Bobby Bird and Reverend Loveday. They are mind-blowingly soulful at times and these upbeat songs full of hope counterbalance the more reflective acoustic offerings from Simone’s pen. The Reverend has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard live, wish I could find the words to convey how moved I was last night.



The title of the debut longplayer is Nothing Gold Can Stay. I for one hope The Duke and The King do for years to come. As I drifted into the night my soul felt cleansed and my heart full of hope. For that, Simone, Bobby, Simi & Reverend, I thank you.



Many thanks to Giovanna from Sure Shot and Tom from Loose for arrangements! Finally to Shane Allen who supplied the superb photos and company on the long journey!!

Duke and the King Interview @Batteryinyourleg.com

The Duke & The King

link

“Unless you’ve been on planet Mars, you will know of my love for these amazing guys. It was a real honour to be invited backstage to meet them and run what I thought would be a short five minute interview. Turns out we kinda hit it off and it ended up running for nearly thirty minutes. Hope I managed to give you an insight to the people behind this inspirational band!!!”

Mark: Hi everyone! I was wondering if you could give our readers some background information on the band and the Catskill Mountains?

Simone: Where I grew up people run around in the woods crazy, light fires and drink beer. Listening to Jimi Hendrix, Iron Maiden, selling and doing drugs and having sex on the back of pickup trucks. It’s a place where it’s a long winter so you gotta learn how to read if you wanna keep your sanity. I have been lucky enough to travel around the world but everywhere I go I think about that place because it’s a really beautiful spot. That’s our homebase for the band we got a barn where we rehearse, a cabin where we record. When we are home we are up there in the woods.

Mark: I saw this amazing video on YouTube of you doing an acoustic version of “One More American Song” in Olana Bell Tower.

Simone: Have you ever heard of Olana ?

Mark: No not until I saw the video and it blew me away !!

Simone: Well if America has any castles it’s one of them. This guy built it – Frederic Church – he was the first internationally recognised American painter in the 1860’s. He was a friend of Walt Whitman and the other transcendental writers and they all made their homes in the Catskill Mountains around a town called Hudson. I go there to do some songwriting on nice summer days, and I went there and this girl saw me playing the guitar by the gardens. She asked to take some photo’s so I said I was kind of busy so she said please I wanna film you. So I said listen I have been coming here since I was a kid but that bell tower has always been out of bounds. If you can get me up there you can film me. So she went and got the skeleton key and the go ahead from her boss. It was a magical day and she said sing a song so I sung a song and it ended up on the internet like everything on the internet!! (much laughter from the room ) You know naked children and beheadings all kinds of shit. It’s a strange world we live in so we are trying to be just as rooted and on earth as we can as a band!!

Mark: I described that song in an article dunno if you ever read anything as I know people write some strange shit!

Simone: We don’t.

Mark: Well O said it reminded me of a 21st century version of ‘This Land is Your Land’ by Woody Guthrie. You know that’s how it came and much it means to me sends shivers down my spine the first time and every time I hear it. You know I really mean that!!

Simone: Wow, you know I have never had a compliment that gracious in that way about it. Because you know Woddy Guthrie is a real storyteller, he knows how to tell the story of our very strange mistake of a country, yet very beautiful country. You know man I don’t know what to say!!

Mark: Well you know that song can move me to tears, amazing song!!

Simone: (softly) Really I don’t know what to say truly.

Mark: So you had some rave reviews over here for the album, it’s been critically acclaimed whatever that is!! So how’s the record gone down Stateside?

Simone: Well we have not been playing over there too much but we have been asked to do a couple of really great things there is a radio station called NPR. It’s the National Public Radio and if you get asked to do it it’s a good honour and we have been asked onto three different shows. We were also asked by Levon Helm from The Band to play over at his house, that’s one of our highlights of our time together as a band I think. We sang our songs over at his place and everyone sang along with us. You know these real Levon devotee’s said it was the best version of “Helpless” they had ever heard, that made us really proud. If that wasn’t enough Levon asked us to come up and sing “The Weight” with him I had to remember the first and third verse that’s what he asked me to sing then we all sang the chorus together. I kept looking over at Levon with that smile and it changed my life and everyone else in The Band and made us a better band too.

Mark: Do you feel that this is like a natural progression then on from your work with the Felice Brothers ?

Simone: Yea, I guess it’s always a progression, a journey train ride, raft ride down a river and this is where it’s taking us we follow our hearts and the voice in our heads all four of us. We don’t question the voice and in that we are united as a traveling church of poetry and sex and music etc.!!

Mark: I sound like I’m pissing up your back now, but I really do think you are a lyrical genius and together as a band the harmonies you create onstage are something magical!!

Simone: I’m really glad that you are here to see us live for the first time tonight because I really feel you are going to get a heartful tonight right brothers and sister!!

All: Yea, right!

Simi: We are so happy to be here!

Mark: This is a really great venue to play guys!

Simone: Yea everyone here is so lovely!

Mark: You have described the record as about growing up in America in the 80’s, like with Union St you have introduced it onstage as such – is that a fair reflection ?

Simone: Ummmmm what do you think Bob?

Bobby Bird: The only thing I’ll say is that I think the records about more than anything us giving back what we have got as listeners to. In other words we have been shaken up our lives changed and saved by music and songs by Rock’n’Roll and as long as we got Rock’n’Roll it will be alright. I think a lot of it’s looking back on the mistakes we made in our childhood in love and life and realising – Shit!! There was nothing we could do to change it so lets live right now and all sing together and have a good time. So uh for me it’s just another time that’s passed on it relates to the past the future and the present! It’s just tying all those pieces together.

Simone: When I was a kid the first song I ever got tapped into on the radio was “We are the World”. I would sit with my Walkman and listen – it was on like every half an hour. So I would watch the video on MTV and I would see Stevie like singing with Cindy Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles and fuckin’ Kenny Loggins and that was my introduction to pop music. I have never really thought of this before but we have been lucky enough to create a band were there are all these great voices singing songs together!!

Mark: Totally

Simone: And shit we are the world man!!!!! (much laughter)

Mark: You kinda took my next words I find it’s a record that’s deep slightly mournful yet full of hope!

Simone: We want our music to be full of hope, I will let the preacher talk about that!

Reverend: We talk about the American Dream but what is life without hope of a better life, so if we can spread some of that in any venue, any interview, any photograph; shed a little light into someone’s life and give them the inspiration to get to point B, where we are trying to go, then we have done our job.

Bobby: It’s interesting when a question like that comes up because it makes you really dig into yourself to understand it. When you go through something and you really face it there’s a freedom that goes along with accepting it. So you end up feeling better though it might not feel as good as you would like it to, you know you get a certain freedom from not being weighed down by things by just letting them go.

Mark: The way I feel about listening to the record – and I’m sure people get this from your shows – I don’t want this to sound like bullshit but you feel as fan you feel like you are part of a family. Do you know what I mean?

Simone: That was the mantra that I first used to talk about with my brothers when I first started to sing and play was that I want everyone who comes to see us play – be it five or five thousand – to feel like they are part of this. We want them to sing along. We are lucky that we wrote some songs that people can sing along to. We want people to feel like they are part of something you know? Like too many rock stars they get up there and say look at me look at me I’m shaking! We want everybody to look inward and all be one, you know? Union St is a place where we can all be one and we really wanna not just talk the talk, we want to walk the walk.

Bobby: When you are really looking inward you are looking outward because people are feeling the same things. So if you look inward and find the truth of what that is you will probably find you have a lot in common with the person standing next to you.

Mark: I have taken up way too much of your time already, but I must ask you what’s planned for 2010?

Simone: Well we are going to play all over Europe everywhere, wherever people want us to sing we are going to come sing. Then maybe in the fall we will go and record some new songs. Album two will be an extension of what we started except with Reverend Loveday singing some leads and Simi Stone as well and all of us really singing together as a singing band on tape. So this year we are going to be developing that onstage.

Mark: So will that include some more time back in the UK?

Simone: Yea we are coming back in February if the people want us we will keep coming!!

Mark: Fantastic, well I had a couple of shit questions I’m not even going to bother with those!!!!! (much laughter)

Simone: Well you asked all the right ones!!!

Mark: Thank you so much for your time and warmth people!!

Duke and the King Radio Song in Bilbao

http://www.youtube.com/user/oxytocina

Weird Night in Boston

Fame is a bee.
It has a song--
It has a sting--
Ah, too, it has a wing. -emily Dickinson


setlist

marlboro man
Murder by mistletoe
Loves me tenderly
katie dear
whiskey in my whiskey
Stepdad
River Jordan
Frankies gun
Goddamn you Jim
White Limo
Endless Night
Farleys Song for gramps
Cooperstown
chicken wire
Take this bread
Run Chicken Run
St Stephens End
Glory Glory (crowd on stage)


It was a strange night in Boston, mostly because i had driven 1,000 miles to get to the show, and i was barely awake to start the show. Willy Mason opened and put together a nice solo acoustic set that was well recieved in a town where Willy is quite popular.
The Felice Brothers took the stage at the Paradise Rock Club at little past 10:00pm and the club was packed to the gills. The Brothers, through neverending touring, have built a growing ministry of rock and roll, with lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, Ian Felice, the pied piper to a legion of fans seeking their dirtbag brand of rock, folk, country, blues and occasionally hip hop, splashed music.

The set was not unusual, except the inclusion of the brand new "Endless Nights" and
the fairly new "Stepdad", a Christmas penned tune, that was the highlight of the evening. There was very little banter between the audience and the crowd, and the most uncomfortable one was a little fun ribbing James Felice tried to give the Boston audience because of the New York Yankees World Series Title. There was no laughter, just an uncomfortable silence mixed with a few grumbles.

The crowd, mostly college students, came to life with "Frankies Gun" and continued to merrily party along till the encore finale of Glory Glory, which saw Ian invite the crowd onstage. I've seen a few of these over the last couple years, but this one bordered on scary. Ian teetered on the edge of the stage, half his boots off the edge, as the boozed out crowd, partied and sang the chorus. The fans grabbed and slapped what they wished and this was capped off by Farley's complete and violent destruction of the drum kit. The fans started to behave a little scary and taking anything that wasn't hammered down. Dave Turbeville looks helplessly as his workstation was smashed and pillaged.

Despite this, It was a night these kids will likely never forget, and they will now pass on to their friends memories of these dirtbag pied pipers. I sense the next time we see the Felice Brothers it will be down a couple of train stops at the House of Blues.

I'm back and at the show tonight

You can read my hiking journal @ my journal

Takethisbread on twitter!

If you care to see if I survive the next ten days! I will be updating on my phone via twitter name : takethisbread

I did just drop my phone in a cup of water though!!! It may fry out, so if you see no updates after tonight that's the reason.

Wish me luck.

Sorry!

I'll be away for 11 days as i will be doing a shakedown hike on the Appalachian trail From the Georgia border to Smoky Mountain National Park. Will check in after the Felice Brothers show in Boston on the 19th.

the midnight ramble

The Set List:

Simi -- electric violin
Simone -- acoustic guitar
Bobby/Chicken -- bass
Nowell/Deacon -- drums (Levon Helm's kit(?))

If you ever get famous
The morning that I get to hell
Don't wake the scarecrow (with "Palenville" included in the lyric)
Suzanne (with Chicken on guitar, Deacon on bass, Simone on drums, included Simone dancing about the stage with various other band members, and the great ending duet between Simi & Bobby)
Union Street
Radio Song (with Simi on tambourine, the band sounded very tight and well-rehearsed on this number, with outstanding vocals and harmonies)
--> Helpless (with Deacon contributing a too-short, but outstanding rap)

three hours later, the encore was a song by The Band,
The Weight
Simone was tapped to sing at the last minute, and sang the first two verses, with Bobby chiming in on Simone's mic, and Larry Campell on the middle mic, and Simi sharing the third mic with Teresa Williams and Amy Helm. Third verse sung by Dave Keyes (the amazing piano/organ/accordion player sitting in with the Levon Helm band that night), final verse by Teresa & Amy. Simi played a solo on Larry Campell's fiddle, and Howard Johnson played a tuba solo, during the song.

Said one fan, "Those 7 songs were polished until they shone, but they did not lose any of their intensity. In fact, at one point in "Don't Wake the Scarecrow," Simone practically lost the vocal in a sort of guttural choke, he was so intense. The interplay with Simi adds a lot to the performance too."

another added; "D&K appeared well-rehearsed, they all gave stunning performances, and the 40 minutes flew by much too quickly. The band was tight, focused, powerful, and putting out so much energy, that during their set, I got the mental image of them playing to a huge stadium full of fans -- we witnessed rock stars, giving superior performances of their craft, last night on that stage."


The Levon Helm Band followed with a two hour set featuring:
The Shape I'm In
Such a Night
Long Dark Veil
Deep Ellum Blues
Attics of My Life (Grateful Dead)
Tennesee Jed (Grateful Dead)
All on Mardi Gras Day
Natural Anthem (Jesse Ed Davis tune, featuring Howard Johnson on large sax)
Do Right Woman (Gram Parsons)
Across the Great Divide
Remedy (featuring Jim Weider)
It Makes No Difference
Chest Fever
---
The Weight, featuring The Duke & The King


I can't understate the precision and quality of the performance. Their harmonies and vocal arrangements were as good as anything you might see from the great vocal groups they can be compared to; CSNY, Fleetwood Mac, Beach Boys ect. I heard one man in the lobby murmering that the music sounded like Brian Wilson's, cause it had a spiritual quality. This is something I told Simone. The Beach Boys music was really Gospel disguised as surf songs. These Songs are similar. Additionally these guys have what none of those vocal supergroups ever had, Nowell Haskins. The Big Man, delivers vocal home runs, and provides such such a potent contrast to Bobby and Simone, it makes the sound unique. It's their hook.

Still, There were a lot of big stars in that small room, maybe two or three that will one day be enshrined in the rock and roll hall of fame(yes I think Larry Campbell should and will get in), but the biggest star in that place was Simone Felice. No question. It was good to see a star take his rightful place in the galaxy.

take this bread makes first delivery

Take this Bread made it's first delivery of food today to families in need, giving 8 local families a full thanksgiving dinner to prepare at their home:
-whole Turkey
-10lb bag of Potatoes
-cranberry sauce
-stuffing
-turnip or Squash fresh whole
-bag of carrots
-peas

All delivered to the Edgartown Elementary School for children's families in the free lunch program, with the help of
Cafeteria manager Geena DeBettencourt.

Take This Bread Takes To The Highway with Mobile Soup Kitchen

In an effort to pursue our own creed, we have secured this Mobile Kitchen which we will be taking to locales near and far to help out folks who could use a hand.
Look for us on tour in 2010! If you want to help get in touch, hope to see some of you out there.
If some of you were wondering why i have been not blogging as often, well this is it. I've been working on this for quite a while and will be doing so in the future. More coming......

A Late but Great Review of Yonder is the Clock

The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock
November 2, 2009 by Bryan Sanchez
Category: Albums (and EPs)

The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock
The thousands of bands and artists whom cite Bob Dylan as an influence are just that, thousands and thousands. And a multitude more will never cite him but will fill every crevice of their music with his masterful presence and influence. The Felice Brothers are a breath of whirling fresh air with their twisted stories about betrayal, relationships, humanity and even, sports. For a band that sounds like the kind of music Dylan would be proud of, they have every reason to be proud themselves.

They’ve steadily and all the while, quietly, have built a solid following by releasing an album of stellar music every year since 2006. And now, with Yonder is the Clock, they’ve resoundingly made it four in a row – and my, what a gift it is. You see, the four brothers Simone, Ian and James with longtime friends and fellow bandmembers, Greg Farley and Christmas Clapton, enrich their music with a passion and musicianship that recalls everything that’s amazing about Americana: the ghosts of greats like Hank Williams, the blistered love of Tom Waits and even the tenacity of Uncle Tupelo.

Recorded in a building that was built around the remains of a chicken coop, these five band members create thrillingly fantastic music that’s as equally affective musically as it is lyrically. You can take the love lost bitterness of “Katie Dear,” that finds all of the members singing behind Ian’s wispily whiskey-soaked vocals and follow it with “Run Chicken Run,” a song that weaves its complicated story around twirling violin, forceful accordion and bursting drums and you’d be set. This one-two punch, neatly nestled in the heart of the album is at the very foundation: the kind of music that shocks you to your core. Poignant, stirring and stunning, it’s an amazing feat.

The meaning behind Yonder is the Clock comes from the pages of Mark Twain and it only further encompasses the band’s rich and traditional take on Americana. The band’s music shan’t be pigeonholed into a problematic genre like folk because there is far too much going on here. Even the album’s slower gems that focus the attention on the words are paired with mesmerizing music that’s rousing. “The Big Surprise” layers its sounds with a few drum spats, a ranging guitar and the slow roll of pedal tones while Ian sings about how “the jazzy band has lost its swing” and how “all your love has been a lie,” you’d think that just because you back yourself with such trademarks that you’d be able to comfortably abscond it all but for The Felice Brothers, this is about making music for a greater role.

And it just seems to come natural to them, every bit of their heart and soul is spread out in a cool amount of warmth and tenderness. Whether it’s the brooding roam of “Boy From Lawrence County” with its powerful message, or the spook and charm of “Sailor Song,” with its entirely own message of deceit and regret (this is where Waits is most felt,) each song possesses its own special destination with its own special journey and road to follow.

Furthermore, it’s amazing how everything just seems to be pieced together, as if it was all meant to be. A few weeks ago when I was in Austin for their excellent music festival, these guys were sandwiched in between Deer Tick and Grizzly Bear at a stage I was tented out at. I use that wording because it had been raining all day and in order to get a good spot you need to fight it out near the front. I was intrigued but never anticipated such extraordinary results. When The Felice Brothers took the stage, I was transformed to another place and it was a glorious feeling; hopefully you can take their music in some kind of live setting but for now, they’ve placed everything that’s superb about them and have delivered it ten-fold with Yonder is the Clock.

Bryan Sanchez Adequecy.net