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| Rye Coalition at White Eagle Hall |
Happy Birthday!
This past Saturday, I headed back up to Jersey City to catch the first anniversary celebration for White Eagle Hall. It was a free show headlined by the band who opened the venue exactly one year ago, Jersey City's own Rye Coalition. Joining them on the bill were Will Wood and The Tapeworms, Long Neck, and our CoolDad Music Extended Family Band, The RockNRoll Hi-Fives.
I've attended a few shows at White Eagle Hall over the last 365 days; and, I have to say, it really is a great room. They've been booking some important touring acts as well as making room for local nights in their 800 cap space; and the staff there have been extremely accommodating to CoolDad Music, allowing contributor Rose Lamela and me press access to just about everything we've asked for.
Speaking of Rose, Saturday was the first time we ever met face-to-face. That was a nice treat. This Internet-connected world allows us to form so many virtual friendships, and it's always fun to make them real. I also think this means that this was the first time we ever had "double coverage" of a show by CoolDad Music. Be on the lookout for Rose's pics a little bit later.
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| Rosi and Joe |
The whole show had a very casual party vibe about it. Lily Mastrodimos's Long Neck kicked things off with a very loose and amiable set that featured songs from the band's fantastic Will This Do? released early this year. Make sure you check it out. Albums that come out in January have a tendency to be forgotten as the year rolls along, and Will This Do? deserves to stay on your radar.
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| Long Neck |
What can I say about The RockNRoll Hi-Fives? I've seen the Centenos more than my own family over the last month or so (This is 100% true.), and my heart fills to bursting every time they play. They had friends in the audience, and I'm sure they won over some new fans as well. The big stage at White Eagle Hall was a change from the smaller spaces the band played in Japan, and the jumps and high kicks were back. No confetti cannons this time, but they did bring celebratory beads that they tossed to the crowd.
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
I don't know what it is about piano players, but they seem to make for the wildest and most animated frontpeople. Will Wood lived up to that in spades. During the set from Will Wood and The Tapeworms, Wood stood atop the keyboard to better elicit crowd participation, bounced high off of his bench, slammed the keys with his feet. At one point, the sax player wound his way through the crowd. The music and the performance were theatrical, and Wood is a charismatic and sardonic emcee.
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| Will Wood and The Tapeworms |
Rye Coalition took the stage as celebratory balloons poured down from the balcony. They're a hard rocking five-piece who don't play that often anymore, and the crowd up front went pretty nuts for them. Singer Ralph Cuseglio spent a good portion of the set at the edge of the stage doling out hugs and kisses. The rest of the band and the crowd fed off of each other. The band lost themselves in a few extended jams, and Cuseglio passed around a bottle of whiskey only to exclaim, "You motherfuckers!" when it came back totally empty.
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| Rye Coalition |
Saturday felt like not only a celebration of White Eagle Hall, but also a celebration of all that's been going on in Jersey City over the last year or more. I find myself up there more and more as venues like White Eagle Hall, Monty Hall, FM, and Pet Shop JC have been drawing me back up to Hudson County. I'm starting to recognize lots of the faces that I see at these shows (Rose told me she recognized me from a few places) over and over again.
Since starting this site, it's always been kind of strange to me that Monmouth and Hudson Counties could be in the same small state but still feel so far removed from one another. Hopefully, with more places for bands to play and for fans to meet, we'll see a little more cross-pollination and become closer neighbors.
Happy birthday, White Eagle Hall. I'll be back soon.
All of my pics from the evening are at the Facebook page and will be in the Flickr galleries when I get around to uploading them.
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