It is Boston Music Awards time! Vote vote vote for Ad Frank (best male vocalist) and Ad Frank & The F.E.W. (best song - "Winterthru"). You may vote as many times as you wish, oddly enough. Go here TODAY, voting ends at 5pm!
And here's a little somethin'-somethin' for ya. This is the video for WINTERTHRU. Enjoy!
This is going to be a fabulous show. Downstairs at the Middle East, Cambridge, MA.We're on at 9:00, nice & early! Wewt!
Come out, come out, wherever you are! A big night, upstairs at the Middle East with handfuls of great bands, y'see?!
I'm gonna be playing some rocknroll music with Frigate. We're touring with Slapshot. Here's the stuff:
| Trix | Antwerp, Belgium | ||
| Endless Summer Open Air | Tourgau, Germany | ||
| Backstage | München, Germany | ||
| Café Central | Weinheim, Germany | ||
| Landespavillion | Stuttgart, Germany | ||
| De Kelder | Amersfoort, Netherlands | ||
| Musikbunker | Aachen, Germany | ||
| Zwischenfall | Bochum, Germany | ||
| Rock My Ass Festival (Hauptsmoorhalle) | Bamberg, Germany | ||
| Little Devil | Tilburg, Netherlands |
In case you missed it, here is a condensed version of the aforementioned Orbit show!
More in scurvyann's world of ROCK: last weekend I spent some time recording at the fabulous Moontower studio with Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women. Even after all these years I'm not exactly in my element in the studio...I prefer the "anything goes"-ness of a live show vs. the preciseness of the studio. But I did way okay. Ad and I go way back (Miles Dethmuffen and PermaFrost, anybody? Anybody?) and he recalled a recording session (or 2) of yore when I cried in the studio. So of course, the rest of the (current) studio session I threatened to cry at each turn. It was fun! (And I didn't even cry!) It's going to be an amazing album. (Even though I didn't cry.) If you don't like this album, then I will cry. (With my fists! On your FACE!)
In OTHER rock news, there was ALMOST an impromptu Frigate thing this coming weekend. Unfortunately all of our schedules didn't jive, so it ain't happnin, but it was interesting that we all were very much into the idea of raising the shipwrecked Frigate for realsies. Who knows!?
In true Scurvyann fashion...it seems I can't be in just one band for very long! What's with that, anyway???
This time up - it is ORBIT, this Friday, June 6th at TT THE BEARS in Cambridge. Here's a little article on Orbit from the Boston Phoenix.
with Taxpayer, The Fatal Flaw, and Airport
@ T.T. The Bear's Place
10 Brookline St, Cambridge MA 02139
617-492-0082
www.ttthebears.com
We're on at midnight. Take a nap and come out and see me, nnnnkay?
I've become somewhat of an outdoorsperson over the past weeks, not much indoor-at-the-screen time. I've sort of substituted proper posts with tiny little twitter updates. (see updates on sidebar, over there --->)
But I wanted to tell you to come to my rock and roll show. It is Tuesday! This Tuesday! The 22nd! Of April! Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women are at Harper's Ferry in Allston, MA. With American Music Club! And Barn Burning, too. I'm told that we're on at 10, the middle act.
Please come, won't you?
Here's a little video of C6 dancing around onstage at Orbit soundcheck a couple of weeks ago. He just walked up onto the stage and started boppin' around. (First rule of stagecrashing: act like you're SUPPOSED to be there.) The song is "Nice Ride", and I always thought of it as one of our more chill-out kinds of songs, but C6 connects to the intricate beat. He feels it, man. Here you will see young Arlo Robbins playing the part of The Bouncer! C6 was actually wearing his all access pass so it was all good in the end.
PS: a special shoutout to my pal CousCous for remarking last night that he was surprised there wasn't any video of C6 on this here blog... thus prompting me to finally figure out how to get the dang moving pictures out of that confounded motion picture camera and onto m'dang computing machine and onto the world wide internet. TA DAAA!
I just plugged in to rehearse a little for the Orbit shows. I cranked up the fuzz and started playing the part to "Machines". After 3 seconds, 2 framed photos that were hanging on our wall fell to the floor.
HAhrhHR!!
Orbit will be playing part of the TT's Jeanne benefit series, Thursday December 27th. As of this writing, there are still some tix left for the official reunion shows at the Paradise on Saturday - Friday's sold out.
At TTs tonight (December 21st) - I'll be playing with Ad, Ned, and Caitlin as "Joe Jackson't" or "Pretty Women Out Walking With Gorillas". Come on down and hear me doing my best attempt at being Graham Maby. MABY I'll remember all my parts! HAHRHARHHARHRHHrhhhrhr!!!!
I'm gonna be rockin' a lot this month!
First: December 8th - Ad Frank & The Fast Easy Women! At Great Scott, Allston, MA. Apparently, it is a GLAMSTRAVAGANZA! Who knew? Also on the bill are Me & Joan Collins, Logan 5 & the Runners and more.
Then: December 21st - I'm in a mysterious yet-to-be-named, one-time-only cover band...we'll call us "Pretty Women Out Walking With Gorillas" for now! (hint, hint) A benefit show for Jeanne at TT the Bears, Cambridge, MA. Wonderful lineup tonight, take a look.
And Finally: December 28th and 29th - Orbit Reunion Shows! At The Paradise, Boston, MA. Also on the bill, The Sheila Divine who are also reuniting. Party like it's 1999!
Ummm...I'd better get to rehearsin' all this, yaTHINK?!
Last Thursday was the much-anticipated Ad Frank/Freezepop rawkinroll show at the Middle East. I love rockin' the downstairs stage at the Middle East, I do. I am going to toot my own horn here: I did pretty well for someone who still limps and kinda hurts and doesn't really have her balance back yet. (The bum leg situation explained somewhere in this post if you need catchin' up.) I almost fell over a couple times but nothing too extreme. I managed to stomp on my instrument cable and disconnect it from my tuner. But that's not cuz of anything medical...I just get a little stompy sometimes. Can't hep m'sef!
Did you miss the show? Pity. It was amazing. And we looked fabulous. Witness:
All of these rather splendid photographs were taken by Rick Webb. Take a looky at his stuff - he took tons of great shots of Freezepop too. Now I wanna get me a fancyass camera!!! (I'm savin' my pennies...)
Part of our act was a videoshow projected behind us, which was synced up to beats and keyboard tracks. All that stuff was masterminded by Jeff Robbins, (with whom I played in Orbit, as well.) He sang and played guitar as well as creating all the backing tracks and most of the other videos. We did have a REAL drummer (Hahha - I almost called him a "brick and mortar" drummer!) named Robert Brazier. He's a gadabout!
Though we had lots of stuff going on with the tracks and the visuals, we were pretty much a kickass rock trio. (As evidenced on one of our first shows when there were technical difficulties with the backing tracks and we had to go without! Rocked.)
I made an animation for our song Up On Mars, one of our mellower tunes. Originally created to be projected behind us for the show, there are a few sections that seem a little slow watching it here without the band playing in front of it! Enjoy my awesome handiwork! HAHrhAHRHA!!!
Love,
Scurvyann
ps: do you recognize that astronaut chick in the video? HINT: It's me!
Hey there! Come to my show. It'll be great! Really! REALLY great! Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women, Thursday September 27 at the Middle East (Downstairs), Cambridge, MA. Don't forget. In fact, buy your tickets now, as the show's a gonna sell out!
The art from this flier is from an old advertisement for Orange Crush - I thought it was suitable even before I realized that the kids pictured matched up quite nicely with each band member. We look just like'em! (click on the pic for larger image.) And this is exactly what our rehearsals look like. Orange Crush, bowl o'snax, banjos, LPs on the hifi! Yowza yowza yowza!
Good Mornin!
Guess what?
C6 went to his first BAND REHEARSAL last night!
More on that in a bit - first, I must tell you that we (Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women) have a show coming up THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th AT THE MIDDLE EAST, CAMBRIDGE, MA! Did I mention the show is THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th AT THE MIDDLE EAST, CAMBRIDGE, MA??? Did I? And it is with Freezepop, whom I adore. (Get your tix early - it'll sell out for sure.)
ANNNNyway, with my recent medical issues and other band members busy schedules, we hadn't had too much in the way of full band rehearsals over the summertime. So the few rehearsals we do have scheduled are really important.
Late in the afternoon yesterday, C5's project at work went into overdrive and he had to work late. On rehearsal nights, I need to leave the house a little before 7:oo. He wouldn't be home by then and didn't know how late he would be. The rehearsal had to be 7:30 to 8:30 as other band members had commitments right after rehearsal, so delaying our start time wasn't an option. And C5 didn't know exactly how late he would be. Ugh! I scrambled to see about getting someone to sit with C6 but was AMAZINGLY UNSUCCESSFUL. I thought that I would have to bail on going to rehearsal. Then I thought- heyyyyy, why not try to bring C6 along? He likes the rock. He likes the roll. Maybe it'll work.
...and maybe monkeys'll fly outta my butt!
All the livelong day C6 had disagreed with EVERYTHING. EVerything! Every. Thing. Screamingly so. He even objected, tearfully, to my choice of shirt. ("NOOOO! NOT THE RED SHIRT!!!!!!") Now, I know I'm no fashionplate, but gimme a break, kid! He was in rare form, and so was I. By the afternoon, I was looking forward to the end-of-the-day C6 handoff to C5. I was looking forward to my big night out - rehearsal! (...and maybe even an ice-cold beer!) By the afternoon, I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. I was sore. I was sweaty and gross. C6 was a screaming tornado of rage. I was a puddle of goo in an (apparently ugly) red shirt. How did I expect to have any kind of productive rehearsal???
We picked up my band mate Sarah, who lives nearby, and headed into Cambridge to the rehearsal space. C6 was excited to be out in the evening! And he was a little taken with Sarah and sang her a few songs, including "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Poo".
C6 really enjoyed the rehearsal space - especially the smelly hallway with all the doors! When we got into our rehearsal room, he met all my bandmates and shook hands, just the way his Dad taught him ("look'em right in the eye!") I set him up next to me on the floor with his Sesame Street Water Wow book, a drink and a snack. We put in some earplugs but they didn't stay in very long. I brought some big headphones, which he liked trying on at home, but those didn't stay on either. (I thought they'd muffle some of the volume.)
We started to play and C6 immediately grabbed the guitar pick from my fingers. I gave him a few to play with but he always wanted the one I was USING so I had to go without for most of the rehearsal. Oh, the sacrifices we Moms must make!
He was happy while we played, dancing a little bit, rockin' out, putting the earplugs in a line (making the MBTA Orange Line and Purple Line on the floor), sticking all the guitar picks in the little hollow area of the monitor, playing his egg shaker.
I was pretty much on autopilot, playing with one ear on the music and the other on C6, the majority of my attention on the boy. I kept thinking that C6 would "go off", or unplug something, crunch his snack into the very nice carpet...but he didn't do any of those things. He was excellent! I was very happy about that. My playing wasn't great, but it wasn't atrocious either. Under the circumstances, we both did great. Whew!
...he wants to go again next week and play the gween dwumset. I gave the Classic Mom Answer, "We'll See."
-Scurvyann. Rocknroll Mum, Over-n-out. xoxo
ps: BLAST FROM THE PAST! The photo is C6, age 2 months, sporting his "rock me" onesie, a gift from my pal Limey G.
Dudes? Come to my show Thursday evening, July 5th, at TT The Bears, Central Square, Cambridge, MA. It is one of my old bands - Miles Dethmuffen, later named PermaFrost. I have known these guys forever, and it is a pleasure to be in their company once again. Here's a silly PermaFrost interview , eons ago, from Lollipop magazine.
I have been trying to find little pockets of time to rehearse singing and bass parts for an upcoming PermaFrost/Dethmuffen reunion show. It ain't easy to rehearse at home, as usually when I start to play bass, C6 wants to take my pick and detune my bass, or play it himself. Yesterday, I was scraping the rust off of my vocal cords, trying to sing a song that was always a little bit out of my range even back in the best of my singin' days. So as I was putting on a special 'concert' for C6, playing and 'singing' this song, he stops me and says "Mum! Top. Top doing dat! Top making dat bad noise!!!"
*sigh*
So it dawned on me that I haven't written one LICK about any of the rockstuff that has been going on here. Oops! I guess I should if I want to keep my subtitle "Rocknroll mum".
Ad Frank & The F.E.W. played a dy-no-mite show at the Lizard Lounge (ha - I just typed "the Lizard Lung" - eeeeewww!) a couple of weeks ago. Here's a short-but-sweet review. Ummmm...we did a li'l photo shoot...and we popped into The Moontower studio to record a few demo songs. Whatelsewhatelse? A couple of months ago, Ad and I played a couple of shows, just us 2, with Britband Echo Heights. The show at The Baseball Tavern was a lot of fun - very laid back. I totally forgot the words in the middle of one song and did a nervous Grover laugh. (You know...Grover from Sesame Street.) We recovered when Ad loudly stagewhispered my part to me and we picked it up. HAHHRHARH! Smoov!
We've got a show at TTs, June 23rd. Come on out-n-see!
Scurvyann, over-n-out.
Q: What could be better than one Abraham Lincoln?
A: Five Abraham Lincolns!
um...well I guess they are not all Abrahams - you got your Mary Todd Lincoln, yer Ringo Lincoln, Abe Vigoda Lincoln, Lancelot Lincoln, and Hot Rod Lincoln - THE STINKIN' LINCOLNS!!!
I'm sad that I had to miss the annual Presidents' Day weekend show of The Stinkin' Lincolns, my pal Johnny Black's band of Abes. They are the rockingest Abe Lincolns you EVAH did see! It has been awhile since I have seen them, but the vision of multi-Abes rockin' out at the Abbey (or Abe-y?) Lounge is seared into my memory. SEARED! Seriously - one of the funnest and best shows I've seen, the Lincolns, a couple years back now, in all their mole-covered glory. I damn well better not miss next years show. Maybe if "Hot Rod" Lincoln can't make the show, I'll fill in as "Babe-raham" Lincoln.
ps: "Lincoln" looks so wrong when you keep writing/reading it. Did I spell it wrong? No! Look! Read! Lincoln! Isn't it weird looking?
