Andrew Vladeck

Whirlwind and Back Again

Just back from a whirlwind 25 shows in the US and Europe - it can even make the pace of life here in NYC seem slow.  I’m happily cooling my heels in Brooklyn with the help of some backyard bbq and brew.  THANKS to everyone who contributed to the EP>LP campaign - we reached the goal!  There’s an interview up at Penny Black Music, and a nice pitch for the NYC show at Unveiled Arts. 

Here’s a livestream video from the Homecoming Show at Joe’s Pub in NYC.   After the first couple minutes they sort out the sound and other issues and it’s great!

Now summer’s here, and the time is right to kick back, daydream, and write songs for the upcoming record.  I’ll be playing in NYC and the Northeast from time to time, so keep a look out.  Tour photos posted on Facebook. Tag yourself and post ‘em if you got ‘em!

Until soon!  Andrew

Posted on 06/04/11 at 10:52PM | Filed under: blog

The Ranger & The Goose

[Friends, since I’m working behind the scenes as of late, please allow me to tell you a story.   I was out recently with a few friends and was recounting this tale about a pickle I found myself in during a similarly frigid winter.   I was a NYC Urban Park Ranger a ways back.  An interesting gig…]

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

It was an unusually mild and bright day for January.  Central Park was filled with New Yorkers and tourists ambling around the meandering pathways.  Most of the birds had migrated south months ago –except for one stubborn old goose.  That goose was now sitting in the middle of the lightly frozen pond in front of Belvedere Castle.  The goose seemed content, and to be enjoying the day as much as everyone else.  It looked around, took in the beautiful day, and quietly honked at the passersby.

A middle-aged woman from the Upper East Side approached my partner and me when our routine patrol took us to the Great Lawn.  She pointed at the goose sitting happily in the middle of the pond and, as she buttoned up her fur coat, moaned that the poor creature was stuck and was going to die.  She swore that it had its webbed feet tangled in fishing wire, which no one could see, and surely there must be something we useless civil servants could do.  I tried to explain, as one would to a five-year old, how nature takes its course: sometimes old birds can’t make the journey home, and sometimes that’s sad. She was not having it.  Unfortunately, my sergeant wasn’t having it either. He was so afraid that a park patron would a complaint that he made us go to terrific lengths to appease them. Sergeant Pillbug, as the rangers called him, was our cripplingly awkward supervisor. He lived in his mother’s basement in Queens and because of this had the ghastly complexion of a terrestrial crustacean. It suited him. He had the “can do” idea to go to the boat house, wedge a large grey rowboat into the back of our little green jeep, and carry it to the pond for to save the goose. But the pond was frozen, and the goose was really, really big.

With a resounding series of cracks, the aluminum rowboat broke through the ice.  The sound reverberated off its metal hull, echoing across the Great Lawn, beckoning the teeming masses to come see what curious thing the rangers in their funny hats were doing.  Within seconds I found myself rowing through the thin ice, my starched sergeant sitting awkwardly erect at the rear of the dinghy, holding a walkie-talkie to his ear.  With each stroke the oars chiseled through the surface and our little boat groaned along, raising a ruckus like a giant icebreaker.  The goose was watching us curiously from the middle of the pond as we clumsily approached amidst this enormous racket.  By this point hundreds of spectators ringed the banks of Turtle Pond, underneath Belvedere Castle, and on top of the lookout on the castle itself, as the sun glistened off the ice and water and the diamond earrings of the fur-coated patron who had sent us on this expedition to Save the Poor Bird.

Just as we got within five feet of the goose, in the absolute center of the little pond, just as I was thinking to myself, “Now what?  And how exactly does Sergeant Pillbug envision me arresting/rescuing this enormous, honking Christmas dinner,” the goose popped up to its webbed feet and made a mad waddle across the ice, up the embankment, and disappeared into the woods.  For a minute, all was silent.  Silent as only a cold, clear winter’s day can be.  There was no wind, and there were no leaves to rustle in the barren trees.  The flags dangled motionless from the turret overhead.  And then, as if someone was opening a giant tin can, a peal of laughter slowly escaped—then erupted—followed by cheers, more laughter, and the muffled sound of hundreds of gloved hands applauding our tour-de-farce.  We dopey rangers were on stage.  A thinly frozen stage.  And we needed help.

Andrew


Postscript – Two weeks later a goose was found in the woods frozen as hard as a turkey on Thanksgiving eve.  My sergeant transferred to the communications division, working in a windowless bunker.  I transferred to The Bronx… far from the fur-coated animal lover of the Upper East Side.

Posted on 02/07/11 at 01:29AM | Filed under: blog | 1 Comments

Coast to Coast

I’ve some shows in the next week where I’m unveiling some new songs and an advance copy of the new EP will be available.  Official release this spring!

Los Angelians: my first show in LA in moons! Show me how you do.

Jersey Cityites: coming to give you my love.   (New Yorkers: think of Jersey City as Brooklyn, except closer to many,  and cheaper, with some amazing restaurants. Not so scary.  NYC coming soon, promise.)

Rehearsal Video

Here’s a fun little clip from out rehearsal on Monday at Lauren and Pascal’s home.

AN ASIDE

This is one of those loopy weeks that seem happen a lot lately.  So many different things flying around.  On Friday I play the NYC “Metro Area”  with my ensemble (Lauren Balthrop and Marika Hughes).  (The NY Times just called to interview me about the venue!)  On Sunday I play a family show as The Rozz & Val Show at 92Y Tribeca—and then i fly to Sundance and play that night at a scene-ster party with The Honey Brothers.  Then fly to LA, play a benefit, and play a solo show at LA’s Bootleg Theater. All the while, I finish up the artwork on my new EP, and write more songs for the next record. A bit crushed, but good things one and all.

Posted on 01/19/11 at 11:22AM | Filed under: blognews

Interrupting Goat - Euro Tour - Days 15-21 Kinda…

Alrighty friends, at long last I’m bound for Brooklyn.  I’m about 5 miles from the Dutch town of Breuckelen, waiting at the airport.   It’s been a great tour - 22 performances in 21 days.   Sparkling and shimmering with fun shows, good people, food, drives.  Here are a couple of last videos, and as always, all the tour photos are on my Facebook Profile and Facebook Page (snarky captions on facebook profile).  Tag yourselves, or upload your own photos).  NYC Homecoming show is on Thursday 10:30PM Rockwood Music Hall with Lauren Balthrop, Jason Lawrence.  Coulon at 9pm.  Oh yeah!

I’ll keep this blog brief, just some sketches -


The Hague - First off, I love cities that have a “The” in their name.  Maybe it’s because half of my family hails from The Bronx.   In either case, the venue was amazing, with really friendly fans, and photos - it’s been neat to meet facebook fans across europe - so thank you all!   Best of all were our wonderful hosts, Didi and Rene.  Rene is in the band Cooper, and we had a great time walking around Den Haag.  We even went to the Olde Jail Museum where one of the forms of torture was a window to the Sheriffs Kitchen, though which they’d “Torture the prisoners with delicious smelling food.“   THE HORROR.    But the best part was them taking us in a skiff through the canals of town.  Delightful.

Edan - a gorgeous little canal town with a nice venue and a good way to relax for an afternoon driving along the dikes and the flatlands of Holland.

Bruxelles - So glad to have made it to this french-speaking city.  I didn’t know what I was in for, musically, but after the third encore I had to tell people to GO HOME!   It was interesting, and of course fun.  At the end of various shows, twhen, as people wanted more, i took to playing American folk songs, on guitar and banjo - things I usually don’t perform, but they really dug that.  They like “America” more than most Americans.  It’s cute.   Also, one of the frienlieyst towns I’ve seen, everyone was so polite on the crowded saturday night streets.   With public consumption of alcholol legal, I was surprised how congenial everything was. 

Amsterdam -  I was a little low on energy for this last show, but the city was having a heat wave and the weather was perfect.  I didn’t get nearly enough time in this town, busy with the show and set up - but Amsterdam, I’ll be back!
I loved the vibe of Netherlands and the people.  At the first rest stop in Netherlands, at the concession counter they had the usual gum and candy bars, but also little travel-size bottles of booze.  Crazy, right!   I love how they all bike their gorgeous dutch bikes (no helmets), I like how FREE spirited they are, almost libertarian, but certainly progressive.   Thumbs up.

Posted on 10/05/10 at 04:54AM | Filed under: blog

Europe, Days 10-16, Kind of…

Apologies for the disjointed - typo-ridden blog post.  I hope it gets the point across.  I’ve had little time in front of a keyboard, but want to share my trip with you as much as possible.  It’s been so densely, richly laden with all sorts of good things.  First, here’s a video as we Zip along the Autobahn (and More photos posted on Facebook):

Drove from Modena, Italy to Chemnitz (former GDR) in one day.  Gorgeous and fascinating to be able to cut through the formerly impermeable Alps in one afternoon.  Made me thing of Hannibal leading his calvalry of Elephants through the Alps to attack Rome way back in the day - didn’t work out so well.   Anywhoo, for us it’s working great.   Such different terrain, people, language, food, culture, weather.  It doesn’t seem possible in one week, let alone one day.  But that is the wonder of Europe.

Zittau - an amazing club (Emil) with a wonderful community feel.  tons of kids came out, and students from the university.  since Zittau is off the beaten-path, and my show was featured in the paper, people were excited for my arrival.  And so was I.  Really down-to-earth, earthy, crowd.   We were fed an amazing 3-course vegetarian meal my Chef David.  So incredible.  I’ve never been asked for so many encores as I have on this tour.  As headliner, I’m already playing shows that are already an hour-and-a-half long, and still I have to cut them off after the third round of encores.   It’s madness.  and very, very sweet.

Leipzig - a breathtaking venue (Moritzbastei) in the bastion of an ancient fortification in the center of the city, which the promoter and the lighting designer made beautiful.  as usual, many of completely new faces.  The language barrier is particularly steep, in conversation, yet during the show, people are still engaged.  I must admit that this phenomenon is curious to me, but I’m grateful for the attention and patience.

Drove through a cloud lying across the rolling farmland and modern windmills of the former German Democratic Republic.   I’ve been feeling more than ever in a bubble.  A “tour bubble.“  haven’t read the paper since sept 13.  i know what town i’m in - that’s the fun part - but lose sight of the time and the day.   no watch, no phone (left that in vienna anyway).  No text messages, or iPhone anything.  Limited laptop time.   it’s such a radical change. At first I was going through withdrawal, but now it feels good.  It kind of feels like I’m meditating, all the time.   I haven’t even carried a wallet, as the venues provide dinner and and the accomodations often provide breakfast, and otherwise my tour manager has been handling the cash.   It’s like i’m 10-years old.   Language barrier has been great in the East and the South (of Germany) and in Italy - it’s hard to find other anglophones other than my friend and tour manager.   In each new city there’s usually one person I meet - the promoter - whose english is very good.  Some towns, there’s no one.  It’s very curious to see the reaction to the music and the stage banter.  At at some points I feel like i’m a crazy person talking gibberish to myself, in a crowded theater.

It’s interesting how eastern and western Germany are different, as any German (east or west) will tell you.  It makes sense, as it was literally walled-off from Western Europe for almost 50 years.  50 very formulative years - the post-war development, the continuing march of modernization, technological revolution, cold war, English-learning versus Russian-learning.   Anyone over a certain age grew up learning russian, which explains why so few speak English.   as a result it’s a slightly different place.  i wonder if it will always be.  i think it has a lot of soul.  in some ways feels closer to Poland and the Czech Republic than to Frankfurt and Berlin.

Frankfurt!   The language barrier has come down -  what a difference that makes!   I did a radio show on one of the stations earlier that day, and with the press, there was a wonderful audience.  I was happy to have the local artist, Ina Simone (that’s her real name) open up the show with her gorgeous piano-based alt-folk-pop songs.  I’ve been a fan of hers for a while, so it was a real thrill.   I had a great time playing, the sound system was amazing,  and a great responsive crowd.  It was electric.   After the third encore I had to sneak out the side door.  That felt good, and it’s just so hilarious.  It was fun to hang out with the various other people and musicians after the show.

Berlin!  amazing.  My show was featured in several of the leading print papers, in Berlin and that drove up attendance quite a bit… which is awesome!   especially since most of these shows have me headlining with no support.  I’m very thrilled that the response has been so good, because I’m as new to town as one could get.  Had a neat moment when one of my songs mentions “Berlin” and I got to sing “Berlin” in Berlin!  Very cool!  Also a bunch of friends came out, including my cousin Tom (who had run the marathan earlier that day (an incredibly rainy day).  

After 5 more shows in Germany, we’re driving to the Netherlands today, for a radio show in Rotterdam, and then a show in Belgium in the evening.   Three countries in one day, bring it on!

Oh!  and here I am backstage with Ina Simone and David of The Lonesome Thrones in Frankfurt, Germany at Hazelwood Studio’s Yellowstage.

Posted on 09/30/10 at 05:11PM | Filed under: blog

Europe, Days 1-4, Kind of…

a dream-like journey.  this blog post will be as disjointed and confusing as a dream, since it’s hard to keep up and to keep track of all the magic and write about it in a coherant manner.  will start off with a video shot in Vienna by Fairsoul Communications, two Vienna-based filmakers who I met with in a silver-lit platz near the venue, Verein.  Thanks Stuart Jolley and Gregory Kennedy-Salemi.  We had to scrap the first take because the church bells were shock-and-awe-wake-the-deadloud.  (btw, you can see more photos and up-to-date mini updates at Facebook Page and Profile).

Andrew Vladeck - Living The Dream from FairSoul-LIVE…ACT..BE on Vimeo.

4 shows down, 17 to go.  I can’t for the life of me believe it’s only been four days.  Four gloriously long, interesting, fun, soulful days.  I’ve already met and played for so many wonderful people, enjoyed meals and drinks and pretzels and funny sandwiches and pizza, driven through the gorgeous german and austrian countrysides…. the alps, the dolomites…

I can’t believe I have 5 times as many shows waiting for me. Awesome.  I’ve been trying to type this as we drive, the mountains covered in evergreens, the valleys filled with smokey clouds.  It’s intoxicating.  All of it.  There’s no way to do it justice in a blog - the amazing audiences, the kind people who have opened their venues and often their homes to us and have fed us coffee and eggs and pretzels in the morning and sent us on our way.

I’ve been thinking of my friend Abigail Chapin‘s status updates from her world touring.  Often she simply says one word - the name of the city.  Last week it was “Berlin.“  Or something like that.  They leave me hungry for details, but I can understand why now… it’s hard to describe, too much to say, not sure where to begin, and perhaps best left a mystery.

These days I never see the sunrise unless i fly a Red-Eye.  We started with a red eye to Frankfurt, and I played that night in Heidelberg.  At a fantastic venue run by anti-fascist activists, Our gracious host, Martin, fed us well and showed us around as we walked through the old part of town near the University and, of course, the castle.  They’re everywhere.  There was an interesting opening act, a german folk/punker, who sang every whiskey-laden song in english. But what a cool first night.  Students, activists, musicians, all sitting in a salon-style show.  People signed my mailing list in the best handwriting i’ve ever seen.

The landscape is lush and gorgeous, and reminds me of New York State, with the first signs of fall.  We’re zipping by in a TOTALLY SWEET black, diesel BMW stick shift car.  We had reseved a 2-cylander sardine can called a “Twingo,“ but then the rental place only had this stealth bomber of a vehicle left.  Wiebke, the svengali and partner-in-crime of this tour, is at the wheel..  we cruise at 140kph, on the autobahn, cars are FLYING past us.  each time it happens it takes my breath away.  WOW.

Did a fun interview with the biggest radio station in Bavaria, on3radio with Christina Wolf.  I got to DJ songs by a bunch of my heroes and influences, including songs by The Honey Brothers and Balthop, Alabama.

The night after our second show we drove from nurnberg to munich, as a delightful new friend graciously put us up, and in the morning fed us eggs and bavarian pretzels.  She takes the prize.  There will be payback in Bklyn bagels and genuine Nova lox.  Played an incredibly special venue in Vienna that was run by a delightful Austrian named Dominik along with at least 4 of his five siblings, and their cute dog, Vespa.  I love Vienna, stately, yet somehow quaint.  I shared the bill with this fantastic expat American named Andy Fite, who lives in Stockholm with his wife and children.

Next stop Italy.  Never really know what to expect next - it’s hard to imagine the changes that await on the other side of the alps… [next morning] Well a wonderful show awaited at Sartrea in Vincenza, brought by Albe and Enri of Occasional Disaster Booking.  Local favorites Roulette Hi Fi joined the bill - and we kicked it off with a backstage family-style pizza party.  A DREAM COME TRUE!!!

Posted on 09/18/10 at 06:15AM | Filed under: blognews | 2 Comments

Why?  The Answer’s Because.

This video was filmed at Andrew’s family’s home in Upstate New York, a cabin deep in the forest glade, where he enjoys the rustic life, and home-made apple pie.  This is part of a series of weekly videos in anticipation of Andrew’s European Tour. The first two weeks will featured traditional American folk songs, followed by new songs on the upcoming EP.

Posted on 09/07/10 at 08:12PM | Filed under: blog | 1 Comments

UPDATE: Stolen bike recovered in Chinatown Police Sting!

Reunited and it feels so good!

When last I wrote, my bike was stolen, and the thief was selling it on Craigslist.

Here’s a passage from my last post: “In the immortal words of Queen, “I Want to Ride My Bicycle.“  But in the most tragic of ironies, it was stolen by a person FROM Queens (the borough, not the band), and the thief is selling it on Craigslist.“

Well, three weeks after my bike was stolen from in front of my building it is back at home where it belongs.

In brief:

I made a google alert for whenever the words “Giant Halfway Craigslist” would appear on the internet. And sat back an waited.

Google emailed me an alert on Saturday morning. I clicked on it.  A man in Chinatown was selling a bike like mine.  It raised my suspicion becuase they posted a catalog photo.  Very oddly enough, it was the SAME generic photo as the last person who posted an ad for the bike a week earlier.

(aside: in a previous ad, a person offered only a three-word description: “NEED IT GONE”.  That bike, while it looked a lot more like my bike than the bike in the photo the person posted, was, I determined in the end, possibly not my bike.  The police thought it was, based on my photos, the description, and the suspicious ad, but fortunately I balked.  It was probably someone else’s, although it looked so much like mine, it was uncanny!).

Anyway, back to Chinatown. I called the seller and asked if it looked like it did in the photo.  He said it had no fenders or rack, just like mine.  He hesitated when I asked if he was the original owner.  I decided it was worth having a look and told him I’d visit in an hour.  He asked me to meet in outside his housing project in the Lower East Side/Chinatown.

This is going to sound so completely unbelieveable, but I kid you not - this perp is living in THE VLADECK HOUSES, the housing project in the Lower East Side that’s named after my great-grandfather, B. Charney Vladeck (I’m A. Charney Vladeck), a labor leader and City Councilman (he ran with LaGuardia).  The perpetrator walked out of THE VLADECK HOUSES to sell me my own bicycle. How flipping crazy is that? I mean really, I still can hardly believe it. (in another note, it’s really sad that this thief is abusing houses reserved for working families, to run his fencing operation).

My friend “Alice Chen” joined me on this operation.  I saw the bike and it was 1000% clearly mine.  I even took it for a spin.  Every odd detail completely matched up.  I told him I wanted to buy it and told him i was going to get cash, and instead Alice and I walked straight to the 7th Police Precinct. Two good cops said my description of the guy fit someone they were watching. and then they even took me to the corner where they thought he’d be, and my bike was right there locked outside Chang Wang Restaurant.   They brought the man out of restaurant and encouraged him to give me back the bike of spend the holiday weekend in jail, and asked me to not press charges for possession of stolen property in exchange for a warning him. i think he well knew the bike was hot (he had told me he was the original owner, but changed his story to say he bought it from the thief), but i don’t think he was the one that stole it. Though right before I checked out my bike, he sold another bike to another customer - so he’s moving plenty of bikes.  He said he bought it from the first person to post it on craigslist three weeks ago, who I had also called at the time (a Jason/Jayson/Alex from Queens).  Anyway, The police will keep their eyes open and hopefully they’ll investigate the contact in Queens.

Now, I’ve just made what could be a VERY LONG story short.  The whole saga was fascinating.   But for the sake of this blog, I’ll leave it at that.  And in anycase, I’m rocking my trusty old steed!   Thank you officers Ducret and Newberry, and “Alice Chen” for getting my back!

YEEE HAAAAW!

Posted on 09/07/10 at 10:11AM | Filed under: bicyclebikeblogstolenthief | 1 Comments

Tour Posters on the Streets of Europe - no turning back now!

Love the different posters & flyers that have been made by local promoters - here are a few - thank you all!  Thanks to Wiebke at Here We Go Agency for putting all this together!

Posted on 08/26/10 at 02:16PM | Filed under: blogeuropetour posters

The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird

This video was filmed at my family’s home in Upstate New York, a cabin deep in the forest glade, where I enjoy the rustic life, and home-made apple pie.

This is the second of weekly videos in anticipation of my European Tour.  The first two weeks will feature traditional American folk songs, followed by new songs on the upcoming EP.    

This video is part of my “Influences Series.“  This is a cover of Mr. Hobart Smith’s 1940s recording of the English Folk Song turned Appalachian Mountain Ballad.

Posted on 08/23/10 at 11:05PM | Filed under: blog

Live from the Family Homestead

Hi friends,

As promised, here’s the first of weekly videos that I’ll be launching in anticipation of my European Tour.  The first two weeks will feature traditional American folk songs, followed by new songs on the upcoming EP.    This is a cover of Doc Boggs’ 1920s version of the Appalachian Mountain Ballad “Sugar Baby”

This video was filmed at my family’s home in Upstate New York, a cabin deep in the forest glade, where I enjoy the rustic life, and home-made apple pie.

Posted on 08/19/10 at 12:28AM | Filed under: blog

Blog / When Sharks A-Snack

Here’s a dispatch from family vacation.   Hope all y’alls’ summers are going great.

Last year, on family vacation, my mom and I went for a hike through a beautiful cypress swamp in Virginia where she was bitten on her achilles heel by one of the most poisonous snakes in North America (the water moccasin).  Thanks to my vague recollection of first aid from my cub scout days, I almost made things much worse (note: don’t elevate leg, don’t apply tourniquet).   She spent the week in the hospital getting rounds of anti-venom, and a couple of months later was dancing the zumba.

This year, on family vacation, I was not hoping for a repeat.  My brother and I went kayaking in the ocean, with his little fishing rod.   Now look, for the most part, I’m a city boy.  In the ocean I’m like a… like a… fish out of water (for lack of a better term).   So I’m sitting in this dingy, listening for the telltale ominous cello music to begin, waiting for some underwater leviathan to surface on cue, it’s dorsal fin cutting through the water like a stiletto… and then my brother catches, you guessed it, a flippin shark.   It was about yay big - if you could see my hand gesture… but still… it looked the part.      So to add to the excitement, my brother (and by contrast, he somehow became an outdoorsman extraordinaire - think Grizzly Adams meets MacGyver)  insisted on removing the lure from the sharks jaw, so it would not have to swim around with a plastic fish hooked to its jaw for the rest of its life, like a donkey following a carrot.  A noble idea, which required us bringing the shark to the beach and figuring it out from there.  Basically, one-part shark out of water, two-parts towels, 3-parts shots of Tequila.  Long story short, we did, and nothing got injured, except for the sharks pride.

Anywhoo, what’s a little excitement, right?  Have a great summer ~~~ !

Andrew

Posted on 07/01/10 at 10:09AM | Filed under: blog

Texarkana to New Orleans and More

Hey all! 

I’ve been remiss in not writing sooner – but busy with good things.   Nothing like being in a van with WiFi for some catch-up time! 

I’ve returned from magical trips through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama – to a new apartment in Brooklyn.   It’s so much like my grandparents’ old apartment, which was just down the street.  My memories begin here.  I’m in the middle of developing a new record with various friends from my musical world and it’s been feeling as excellent as the warm weather.

I was lucky to pass through New Orleans during Mardi Gras, and we spent a couple extra days winding up and down over as much gumbo and beignets as I’ve ever seen in my life.  A friend of mine opened a great venue called Sound Café – it was the first time I got to play there, and we biked to the gig.   From there we crossed into the chitin’ circuit, stopping off for homemade chitlins (our tour manager, Ace, is a chitlin’ connoisseur, if ever there was one) en route from Shreveport to Biloxi. Another high point: we got to see Merle Haggard in concert = the real deal. 

South by Southwest in Austin was impossibly busy, but there’s nothing like running into friends from all over the map - even NYC friends who are always on the road – it’s surreal to finally see each other in another city other than our own.   I played with The Honey Brothers and with Balthrop, Alabama, I crossed paths with The Chapin Sisters, Saadi, Amber Rubarth, and my friends from Ireland, Dark Room Notes.

European dates are booked for September, and will be announced soon.  My latest record, The Wheel (End Up Records) is now being distributed in Europe by Sonic Rendezvous/Cargo – in fact they sold out of the first shipment – woot!  Thanks to Here We Go   for getting the word out with a ton of new reviews from all over the place.

Oh, lastly, if you’ve gotten my record, would you be a dear and review it on iTunes, Amazon, or CD Baby?  I’d appreciate it!  And if you haven’t gotten a copy yet, you can help the USA keep up with Europe!

Alright, am pulling into the Holland Tunnel, so I’ll sign off for now - please come out if you’re in town!  Would love to see you at these shows and the others to be announced!     

UPCOMING SHOWS

Tuesday April 20 (yes, 420), 8:45 PM Sharp

New York City

Rockwood Music Hall

196 Allen Street (just south of East Houston Street)

With Special Guests Lauren Balthrop (piano/vox), Colette Alexander (cello), and Jason Lawrence (percussion). New songs and other general newness.

Friday, May 7, 7:30 PM

Philadelphia

The Tin Angel

20 South Second Street

Opening for Julian Velard

Posted on 04/12/10 at 01:31PM | Filed under: blog

Happy Chrisma-Hannu-Kwanza-Rama-Krishna

The below video is from last week’s Balthrop, Alabama Holiday Concert in NYC.   It was tons of fun.  Pretty much everyone on End Up Records and many friends all wrote a holiday song for the occasion.  The record is available at End Up Records.

Posted on 12/17/09 at 01:22PM | Filed under: blog

And Now for Something Completely Different

On a whim, Andrew and his dear friend Rozz Nash made a record for their friends with families.  Next thing they knew, various people got involved to create a series of videos.  Now the record The Rozz & Val Show (Hotness Monster) has arrived.  It has songs like “I Want A Cookie,“ (To the tune of “No Sleep til Brooklyn”). Check it out today! (on Facebook).

Hey - and remember Andrew’s other two bands are playing the same night - this week!   The Honey Brothers and Balthrop, Alabama play the Brooklyn Bowl (tickets HERE). 

Posted on 12/17/09 at 01:16PM | Filed under: blog

Blog / West Coast Tour

The Honey Brothers got off to a great start in Seattle - playing a show under the space needle!  The sun broke though the clouds for our set, prompting our band to go “Sleaveless in Seattle”.

We woke up to a lovely review in Seattle Times left in front of our hotel room doors which we passed around the van.

Portland, Eugene, Sacramento, and then a highlight - playing the Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park!  A beautiful concert, a lot a great progressive messages, good politics, and aromatherapy.  It was hard to not get a contact high from standing in front of that audience.  The fog rolled in, indeed!

Posted on 09/13/09 at 03:56PM | Filed under: blog

Blog ~ All Over The Map

Where am I?  This summer has me playing all over the USA like some warped Where’s Waldo wandering minstrel.  Absurdly busy.  Suffice it to say, thanks to you and various forms of wildlife (more on that in a minute) it has thus far been a memorable and frequently great summer.  What’s more, it’s awesome to see all my various projects totally rocking and getting great notice for our efforts.

First off, as you know, I just came out with a hot new record, produced by Kyle Fischer.  This review from The Netherlands came in last week, not everyday I’m called a “poëtische woordengoochelaar” (Rootstime).  My Summer Record Release Tour for The Wheel took me up the East Coast, my first shows in DC and Philly and headlining the Mercury Lounge here in NYC.  I caught many of you good people (thank you very much!) ~ and then west to Hotel Café in LA, where local press had some nice things to say (Grimygoods), and I had a delightful time catching up with friends and eating Mexican food.

Then, a week for a family vacation in Virginia.  Family, Beach, BBQ, venomous snakes… I was hiking with my mom in the middle of a Virginia cypress swamp when all of a sudden she was bit on the heel by a cottonmouth snake (aka water moccasin, aka pit viper, aka bad news).  But she was a trooper, and after 3 days in the hospital with plenty of anti-venom to go around, she was well on her way to a good recovery with a story to tell.  It took my legs (and my psyche) about a week to recover from sprinting like a banshee several miles through the woods for help.  Next year let’s stick to the beach and sharks, riptides and the like.

After that, everything was comparatively uneventful.  The only wild animals to contend with were Fleet Foxes and Arctic Monkeys, who we found amidst at the Canadian Border crossing station at 9 in the morning.  I haven’t seen so many quiet, bearded, rockers in a linoleum tiled waiting room in my entire life.   Yes, within the week I was off to a spate of rad festival gigs with The Honey Brothers.   We loaded in by tram to the top of Squaw Valley for the Wanderlust Festival, where we shared the stage with favorites such as Andrew Bird, Broken Social Scene, Kaki King, Sonya Kitchell, and Amanda Palmer (who joined us on stage for a rousing yet curious “We Are The Champions”).  (New Music Exchange).  You can rock harder at 9,000 feet because the air is thinner. 

We rode the plane back east with half the performers, singing “American Pie.”  Then off to All Points West, seemingly in Jersey (but officially NY State – don’t tell The Boss) where I was delighted by Vampire Weekend and The National (oddly, both bands have people who went to the same college as us Honey Brothers), and most of us slogged through the sumptuous mud in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.  As soon as our set was over we had leave for Osheaga in Montreal, where be played in the most wonderful deluge, to lovely, spirited people.  Beforehand our manager reassured us we wouldn’t get electrocuted playing in the rain, which helped us enjoy singing in one gigantic communal shower.  As it was my bandmate DS’s hometown, he made sure we warmed up with some good food - Schwartz’s - and we made sure we got lost in the old city in search of French brunch.  These were our first shows in a while, and were thrilled be what people had to say. (Montreal Gazette).

Also, I was able to make a cameo with my beloved Balthrop, Alabama out in California as well.  It was like scoring a trifecta. (Portland Mercury, Albuquerque Alibi). I was glad to catch them on their first Cross-Country Tour, playing both Country and Subway songs for the teeming masses.  They even got to play with their Brooklyn neighbor Josh Ritter in Fargo, North Dakota.  Cool! 

In between all this I managed to record a quick live record of my current show with the uber-talented Dawn Landes at Saltlands in Brooklyn.   I’ll look to release several videos and audio of some of these tracks in tandem with my Fall US Tour and The Honey Brothers shows at Seattle’s Bumbershoot in September and West Coast Tour (Interview in NO DEPRESSION). 

Photos posted on Facebook and Flickr.  Button-links above.

See you out there!   And for pete’s sake, let’s please support the Health Care Initiative - let’s try and decrease the amount of human pain and suffering in our fair land… ya know, smile on your brother and all that stuff!

Posted on 08/14/09 at 12:46PM | Filed under: blog

Blog ~ The Wheel hits The Road

We swore it was snowing in Burlington, as white, fat, fuzzy things (seedlings?  not old hippies) filled the air around my car.   It was beautiful and surreal, like that scene from The Right Stuff, where mysterious golden droplets surround John Glenn’s spacecraft.

Ah, Vermont, where a Sunday drive up Route 7 finds locals engaged in a “Piscachio Hunt” on the front lawn of Church, the “Ho Hum Motel” in the shadow of Mt. Philo, the rural birthplace of the fabled founder of AA, the biggest moth I’ve ever seen, that had gigantic owl eye patterns on it’s wings.

The Radio Bean in Burlington was lit up like a fishtank in the afternoon sun, dazzlingly bright and hot, and not finding a rock I could crawl under I sweated it out with people out front before the show, which included a young woman carving a stick with a gigantic hunting knife.   It was a great way to start the tour - with people who love music, ice cream, and organic yerba matte tea.  

The next day brought a gorgeous drive to Cambridge, MA and Club Passim, celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary.  I opened for Shannon Whitworth and her band from Asheville, NC - gorgeous voice, banjo playing, and is there anything better than a pedal steel guitar?   Thanks to everyone who came out on a rainy Monday, setting a precedent for the “this is your life tour” as fans, friends and family from grace each show.  I never knew I had so many cousins.   Problems arose as I was getting ready to drive out of Boston - I couldn’t turn the key in the El Camino Roadster.   Shannon took the keys, climbed in, put her cowboy boots to the pedal - and in one try fired it up, with the radio blasting AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.“  Hot.

Immediately after the show I started for DC ~ stopping halfway and sleeping in my own Brooklyn bed.  At night you can make Boston to NYC in 3.5 hours, which can come in handy.  At this point, however, touring solo became tedious – and I wished for a friend, bandmate or dog to help with driving and conversation.

The DC gig at IOTA with DC’s Lucky Day and Richmond’s At the Stars was one of my favorite nights - the DC train catastrophe was on people’s minds and shutting down the rails.  Still, many made it out - old friends, new friends, and cousins.  And all my hard work rehearsing and developing the set was making these shows extra fun for me.   I’ve figured out a way how to boost my banjo/guitar/etc sounds to fill up the whole frequency range and room using various pedals and tricks.  It’s freaking awesome to push out that much sound out of my two Fender Twins.    It was another night in which other musicians and the soundman asked me how I get the sound I do, which is oddly satisfying.  An old friend, “The Guru,” counseled me firmly: “The colonel doesn’t give out his recipe, and neither should you!“

I spent an extra magical day-off traipsing around DC with some great new friends.  There was the American Folklife Festival on the Washington Mall - that had an odd combination of the music Latin America and Wales (unfortunately the country and not the leviathan).  We followed it up by driving around with who I understood to be the “Yalla Sashi Betch” crew, crashing a party at the Danish Embassy where, over cocktails, the four of us we rescued a fly drowning in the pool dried up with a coffee Tryst in the Madam’s Organ neighborhood.  It was the first time I realized I actually feel bad for Chinese Food Restaurants and the new wave of Thai Food gentrification.

On the drive to Philly the next day I stopped in historic Wilmington, DE to see more relatives - connected with my father’s cousin David Bromberg (one of the most inspiring musicians in my life) and got a tour of his encyclopedic shop of violins from around the world.  I held at 100K violin from the 16th century – Bile ‘em Cabbage Down!   Caught up with another cousin near Rittenhouse square and went to soundcheck at the super cool North Star Bar.   The folks in the other bands were all incredibly nice (Wooden Birds and Other Lives on a big tour from Oklahoma, and the delightful Two White Horses from Sweden).  Together we learned of the tragic news of Michael Jackson, and perhaps that’s why we all had a particularly fine show and quality hang.  There was the usual exchange of CDs with other bands, and happy trails until we meet again.

Back in wonderous NYC.  Returning never fails to blow my mind…I mean, it’s amazing, within 36 hours of being back I feasted in Chinatown, took in performance art in Tribeca, witnessed a magical rainbow in brooklyn with beers at Barbes and a concert in the park with Dr. Dog, sweated through a MJ-infused house party in the Slope, performed with Balthrop, Alabama on Smith Street, cheered Dawn Landes’s rock stylings, fired it up with Seb Leon… and no, I did not tweet once about it.  This is my life at the moment.  Just got a new banjo - super excited for my NYC record release on tuesday!

That’s the latest.   Love it or hate it, the popularity of twitter and it’s combo of bite-size blog morsals of immediate gratification and the corresponding withering away of attention spans and interest in information that is not in real-time makes me think there are fewer (but better, perhaps) readers of the old-fashioned blog post.   Maybe the reality is the above would be more engaging if it was twittered in it’s crack-rock sized installments in real-time, but there’s something that is so undignified, mosquito-like, if you will, to be constantly stopping everything to swat a thought into the twittersphere.   For those fellow Luddites, I salute you in staying the course on journeys that exceed 140 digits.

Posted on 07/04/09 at 12:37PM | Filed under: blog

Tornado Tracks

Cherry blossoms swept up in a dust devil - I walk through a pink tornado and voila: it’s springtime for Brooklyn.  A Mockingbird on an antennae above Fulton Street  confuses and delights with the Mr. Softee song.  Huh, nature’s got talent.   My neighbor’s dog Vu (for Velvet Underground) walks me down the street as cups of coffee walk art students up.

I just got hold of my new record: “The Wheel.“  Blessed springtime: newness, fresh air - progress in various forms, intoxicating and inescapable.  With thanks to my artist friends, musical and visual, and my mates at End Up Records. 

Dates are filling in for the Record Release tour, where I hope to see you.   My record is available 6/6.  The hometown release headlines the Mercury Lounge 7/7.  Read all about it at this website.

And summer shapes up with fun festival gigs - big ones, all over the country (countries?  Canada too)!  With my band of brothers: The Honey Brothers.   And i hope to cross path with my dear collective folk explosion, Balthrop, Alabama. 

I was so caught up I didn’t write you for ages with tales of wondrous musical moments: the Vaudville-esque night which i got to host, playing old-time banjo, where backstage had the privilege of helping a burlesque dancer into her monkey suit - this happened regularly along the Bowery 100 years ago.  Good people, The Wheel is coming full circle in all it’s wondrous ways.  Many of them GOOD.  Check it out.

Posted on 05/14/09 at 11:29PM | Filed under: blognews

Blog / I’ll Sleep When I’m back Home in The-City-that-Never-Sleeps

We spent a week this past weekend in Copenhagen.  At least that’s what it felt like: one big, glorious week.  Perhaps it is due to us sleeping in installments, when we could, thanks to jet lag, sound check, obligations, bar-hopping.    It helped that we refused to get off of “New York Time” for the brief weekend we were there - so when once again we found ourselves ordering another round of drinks at 6 in the morning (for the second time in as many days) it was easy to convince ourselves that it really was only 11 at night in NYC.   Besides, as city was even more electric in these pre-dawn hours, so we were extremely grateful to have jet lag on our side, and took full advantage.   I didn’t expect that level of raging from a relatively small (compared to nyc) - Scandinavian city.  Hoyt’s friend Asger traveled with a jovial entourage and led us into our first night with cans of Carlsberg beer on hand (legal to drink on the street) as we hopped to small, smoky bars (legal to smoke indoors) - reminiscent of the East Village in the pre-Guiliani years.  

Further fueling our disorientation was the eternal timelessness of the old city - “The City of Spires.“  Our hotel overlooked this skyline and ancient university library, whose 17th century design, in the absence of electricity, allowed for enormous, stately windows and for us to watch students studying and (as our manager deduced) for them to observe us walking around naked after getting out of the shower…  yikes!   

And then there was the dreamlike quality of the light - a glowing white neon comforter of clouds that saturated all hours of the day evenly, so that in between naps and coffee we couldn’t tell what time it was. And then there was the legions of commuters riding mid-century English road bicycles.  Old Raleighs, in puzzlingly mint condition, with painted chrome, high handlebars, fenders, wicker baskets and little blinking lights.    Copenhagen, it turns out, is the most bike-friendly city I’ve ever seen.  People ride these exquisite, vintage bicycles and leave them willy nilly along the streets squares, if locked at all, locked to themselves by an inconspicuous clasp on the rear tire.  The appearance begs a spirit of trust and comfort.  At least I thought so.   This detail of the city - the charming multitudes of bikers - was something I was so endeared by (more than the koalas of Australia) that I couldn’t cease my over-effusive spouting until compelled by my brothers’ spiteful mockery.  But here, in Blogland, no one is safe.

We were given a tour of the city-unto-itself, the Christiana artists commune neighborhood, where people lived in what Carl Honey observed to be giant dog houses.  Whimsical, clapboard cottages, the kind Snoopy might live in if he was a sculptor with dreadlocks and bought his hash from the open stalls in the local market.   Our lovely tourguides were two Danish friends of Asgers, who rapidly became friends of ours.  One with the undeniably awesome name of Elvira, and delightful, sharp-edged spirit to match, and another who graciously led us around, though limping, as she was still recovering after being bitten by a fucking SHARK, acquired while exploring the Galapagos.  (Can you dig that, 2,000 miles from the nearest hospital?).   We occasionally took turns giving her piggy-back rides as we hopped around the neat Christianshavn neighborhood.  These is good people!  

We felt that way about so many of the Danes we met.   That’s why it was hard to call it a night, especially since we could count the hours we had left in Europe…   But I digress - we were there for music, after all!   Forgive me for not getting to this point sooner, but you already knew that, didn’t you.  The beauty in these shows is about the people and the places.   We played a gigantic party, sponsored by our friends who are designers for “Chicks with Guns” (yes, that’s the real name of their line).   We played right before the famous Danish rapper Jokerum - old school hip hop in Danish.   You can’t get THAT in NYC.  I’ll definitely say it was neat to have played 3 continents in one month, and especially to feel us grow as friends and as a band - and this was a fantastic final concert.   It was our manager’s generous assessment was that we were sounding better than ever, in part thanks to his prophetic theory that we would play better if we held off on partying until AFTER the gig. 

Posted on 02/12/09 at 12:49AM | Filed under: blog