Thanksgiving 2010

The Latest in a series of Thanksgiving's, This year we see (Clockwise from 12 O' Clock) Butterball Turkey, A Finger Roll, Delicious Mashed Poe-Tay-Toe's, The Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Homeade Stuffing (which mostly fills the center of this plate as well), Fresh Broccoli and the Surprise Newbielicious to me, Corn Casserole.

Thanks Very Much for John and Darlene for having me over and my invitation and ride courtesy of Mama Concetta and John Senior via the "Daugh-Tizz" Carol and Jamie Panda.



Tortellini Soup.
Spot the Apple Sauce and Imagine winning a prize.



Homeade Stromboli A La Jamie.
Without Peer.



England's Newest Hitmakers Direct From America !!!

Bob Dylan - Terminal 5 - 11/22/10 New York City

What Is Minimalism ?



The One of Two (the other is blurry) photos that I attempted with my cellphone under our Camera Prohibition at the Terminal Tonight.



The One Great shot Jamie got with her camera. Nice One.



WE Were penned in like cattle and treated as such!!! No Fine Wine, Dry Sherry ,Mulled Cider or even Extra Sharp Aged Cheddar Cheese was handed out for over an hour!!!! and then they offered us "wristbands"

So WE could pay them!!! to appreciate such Voluminous Solubles,....

YES TO PAY THEM !!!!!!



Here We Are (Hi Jamie)
Happy Ticketholders Ready for Bob, UNTIL !!!



But Wait, I Have No Problem Disrespecting The Venue But,....... The Artist????,..........
We Have Camera's and Plan On Taking Pictures. For Our (In OUR case OBSESSIVE) Own collection!!!!.
OK Well He Is Above the average Bruce Dickinson so,.....

Now the venue has to "Check Our Camera's In" which both myself, Jamie and quite probably 88% of that audience had in their pockets, up their sleeves or at least in their galoshes, YES Camera's!!!. This as you can imagine slows things up a great deal and while both parties (Venue Staff VS. Ticket Holders) get along well enough during the process its quite obvious that both teams have opposing ends to their means. It is also Quite Obvious that many people here have snuck their camera's in however the "tactic"seems to have worked as no-one is taking a photo and in New York at a Bob Dylan Show EVERYONE Would Be Taking A Photo.

Jamie has a contingency plan and we do meet "indoors" under separate flags.



The "official" merchandise is nice but sometimes you happen to run across something much cooler.

Where else are you going to get a Bob Dylan "Electric Lunch" (1983) t-shirt (which is in lots of ways cooler than what's available at the venue) other than from the "bootleggers" just a block away and for Ten to Twenty Dollars less than whats inside the venue. A Much cooler design from my Time Out Of Mind but this shirt "grabbed" me from a moving New York sidewalk to stop and haggle whereas the "official" merch inside got an "ooh" and even an "aah" but no "Grabbed By The Stunning Beast" reaction, Ten Bucks for this Stunning Black & White Monster of a t-shirt and worth every penny (wait till I wash it a few times then ask me).



Pan Fried Noodles with Beef

MEE Noodle Shoppe (53rd street & 9th avenue) A Longstanding haunt of mine.



The Setlist.

Sweethook - The Black Swan 11/20/10 Tivoli, New York

From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tivoli.

This was one of those gigs when you know that you're not in Kansas anymore. From what I could surmise Tivoli is a quaint little berg which is mostly a college town and while the allure of Antiquing was in the air there was also, whilst driving, long patches of foreboding dark highway shadowed by gloomy overhanging trees and dark foliage and by jove I even saw a spritely deer at the side of the road. En Route Jazelyn avoided the secret trap door at Joey's Deli when we took a detour for some gasoline (and to ask if we could use their phone) and Our Road Manager Claudia got us in and out of town in one piece quaint or otherwise.

The Black Swan Bar is a charming establishment who took care of us (Drinks on the house) and appear to be one of the only places in town (if not the only one) who sponsor Live Music. By our second set the crowd became terrifically lively which fueled the flames of the bands prowess on their instruments and elevated us to another level. Songs debuted by this lineup at the gig were "Pig in a Poke" "Low Rider" and Doctor Steve regaled us with his vocals on "Big Boss Man" and "Swinging Doors".



CB Drums make a passable product, the Cymbals are usable and the Rack Tom sounded O.K. The Floor Tom could use a better head and the Bass Drum can certainly use some muffling (as opposed to zero) in this particular drumkit's case.



Chimichanga y Pollo care of the Santa Fe Restaurant down the block on the other side of town.



The stage as shot from the backyard. Glass of Porter anterior of the glass, Broken Drumsticks posterior of the glass. Incidentally I havent broken a pair of Drumsticks in years and upon being asked on this very eve and answering as such I proceeded to Break A Drumstick!!! albeit an old one.



Quality lodgings at the Quality Inn, We did boy/girl rooms so I spent my night with Joe, Scott, Stephen and Matt.

Soap,Conditioner,Lotion and Shower Caps by Choice Hotels and after a sweaty gig, Sicilian Mummifications, many Newcastle Brown Ales and my incessant snoring Boy did we need it !!!



DISCO FRIES for Breakfast at the Eveready diner.

White Wedding - The Irish Circle 10/13/10 Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York

There have been White Wedding Banners, Flyers, Postcards, Hawkers, EPK's, Electronic Banners, Magazine Mentions, Newspaper Ads, Our Name in lights on the Marquee and even Duratrans but this is the first White Wedding Poster.



Who knew that Far Rockaway Queens held such a nice and spacious establishment as the Irish Circle ? I knew we werent playing a typical dive bar (not that there's anything wrong with that) but was pleasantly surprised to arrive and get a look round only to find Diamond Dave enjoying a piping hot Chicken pot oval pie as we prepared to set up gear. The crowd at the bar were Very Vocal in their requests and fortunately we pulled a few out of our hats to crowd please ("Need You Tonight", "Stand Back" & "Jessies Girl") and by the end of the night the crowd was pleasing us with nonstop dancing, singing and gyrating.



After the smoke cleared all that was left was Tambourines, Devo Hats and Rubik's Boxes



What was her name again ? Was it Jackie ?

Sweethook - P & G Bar 11/12/10 New York City

Who Knew ? What a Cool watering hole on the ritzy side of town and below sidewalk level to boot. I enjoyed (3) Original Sin Pear Cider's and we all enjoyed the venue and impressive sound in the brick room to the right where the live Music is performed. I thought my DW Snare Drum would sound Sweet(hook) in this room and it certainly did, Fat and Airy like an Obese English Muffin. We are all very pleased that we were invited back for a later slot (this one was 6-8 p.m.) but in December we are slated for 8-10 which can hopefully only mean 10-12 in Le future.









Trying to Get AHEAD. No stage is complete without one and the P & G has one.

Sweethook - Wicked Willy's 11/10/10 New York City

From my point of view this was a completely laid back, overly confident and self assured show which might be why my drumstick went "flying" out of my hand during our first number to be astutely returned by the sound technician right behind me and why I made a sloppy fill during our last song. All in all a success and Jazelyn sang Happy Birthday to me from the bandstand. This gig saw the return of our song (not the band) "Midnight Oil" and the premiere of. Later in the evening some guy offered to buy my birthday crown for twenty dollars and after asking Jamie (whose father the crown belonged to) what she thought the dollar crown was sold for Big Profits and went towards a Delicious Mexican meal at Panchito's on McDougal street.

Pro-Mark Drumsticks / Hot Rods

How Much Rod Can You Handle ?

Louder than a brush, Softer than a stick.
Sounds great just tapping away on your knee or the nearest furniture top.
Great with Milk.

The Tone Is In The Stick Itself .-)

White Wedding - Napper Tandy's 11/5/10 Miller Place, Long Island

We had a Great time along with the audience which is what I always say (wish/eek) but is in the truly Ultimate Sense Very True and Truest Amongst The Truly True In This True Tribe..

Our sophomore show at Napper Tandy's found us a regular monthly attraction replete with canvas banner and advertisement's up in the Loo. Fine by Me, this is called beer room success in my book and theres very little that I can say negatively about success whichever way you slice it. Top that off with an Energetic, Dancing and Appreciative crowd and I must digress. Actually I am Stuck with all this running on of sentences writer's block (JERK) and Effing Language. BRB





Cyclone Ranger.



Our T-Shirt winner of the night. Joey answered our Rick Springfield question before we even asked it, and I mean Really. Well, He said "General Hospital"

Congratulations Joey.



White Wedding, Now amongst the corporate Giants.



Spiccoli and myself stopped off at Friendly's gig-prior in the strip mall for a few Friend-z Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Sundaes. For Dinner I ordered an Chipotle Firecracker Chicken Sandwich on Jalapeno Cornbread (sounds so much better than what I tasted that was still awesome mind you) which consisted of Chipotle Chicken, Monterey Jack Cheese, Lettuce,Tomatoes and Red Onions in a Honey Chipotle Sauce (DELICIOUS)

My Favorite Band Ever if I was Absolutely Forced to pick.

The Joe FranklinS - Percussion Overdubs 11/1/10 HesDeadJimStudios Queens, New York

Whilst Abusing Sleep Deprivation Artistically as a tool of inspiration and just plain The Freakin' Reality Of My Situation!!! (3 hours sleep folks) I commuted down to the studio for an early morning overdub session (slated for 9:30-10 a.m.) and we (Tom & I) worked quickly and efficiently speaking the same language of "EngineerEase" that Thomas and myself were schooled in agreeing marvelously on colour choices in the percussion department for the tracks we felt were in need of them,..... We worked well together with the minutiae and knocked off the overdubs (one or two takes) vocals notwithstanding (fourth take) into submission and satisfied in under two hours.



See the Guiro, She's My Hero.

I overdubbed Guiro, Claves, Tambourine and Shaker onto various tracks and Thomas even got a vocal performance out of me (final chorus of "Empty Walls") which is easier said then done. WELL,...... by reminding me of Peter Criss' vocal prowess (like a friggin' cat) on the KISS debut LP track "Nothing to Lose" whilst Joe likens it to a Paul (starchild) vocal we still got some more BROOKLYN accent into the recording. My coffee was decent and the music was soothing, the man in the deli was very polite as well albeit he was on the telefono at the time.





My minds ear heard a powerful, cracking snare drum a la Hal Blaine pushing the solo of "Another Brooklyn" along so I brought down the new DW Snare Drum for its recording debut.