River City Extension: Simple Gifts 4 at The Stone Pony, 11/27/13

Hey, Thanks

We don't have a lot of traditions here at CoolDad Music HQ, but the ones we do have seem to bunch up at Thanksgiving. I cook the turkey. CoolMom always makes mashed sweet potatoes with a bit of chipotle pepper thrown in. My new tradition is heading out to The Stone Pony on Thanksgiving Eve to see River City Extension.

This was the second year of my new tradition. In trying to figure out how to write this up, I thought I'd just kind of list all the things for which last night made me realize I'm truly thankful.

I'm thankful for CoolMom and the cooldaughters. Before I headed out last night, I got to watch CoolDaughter #2 swim at her swim lesson and open her first night's Hanukkah presents. I got to drive CoolDaughter #1 to her own swim practice and spend time talking to her in the car. As I left for the show, I thought about how lucky and thankful I am to have a family that accepts me and lets me be the person I am.

I'm thankful for the friends I've made through CoolDad Music. My companion for the show was a fellow cooldad that I met through the site. I used to go to shows alone all the time. I enjoyed it. But now, I'm always running into people I've met or worked with through the blog. It's nice to share things like last night with other people.

I'm thankful for Speak Into My Good Eye and the support they've shown me throughout 2013. They gave me a platform and pretty much let me do my own thing. It was nice to see both Chris and Mike last night, and I look forward to continuing to work together.

I'm thankful that I started paying closer attention to the local scene and came across bands like Harper's Fellow. They started things off last night, playing songs from their excellent debut LP, some covers, and some new songs. Cortney Metzler writes some really great songs that she delivers in her beautiful voice, and the rest of the band -- Eric Castellazzo, Brendan Smith, and Alex Ford -- provide just enough New Jersey atmosphere to keep things from veering into full-on country territory.

I'm thankful that I finally got to see a full set from Montclair's Those Mockingbirds. At the Tiny Giant Summer Bummer back in June, I had to leave during their set. Last night, they shook The Stone Pony with their singular brand of alt rock and made me think that they could be poised to move well beyond New Jersey at any moment.

I'm thankful that Kevin Devine was on the bill. He joined Those Mockingbirds on a cover of "Fortunate Son" and whipped the crowd into a frenzy during his own set. Early on, he threw in a quick reminder of last year's Simple Gifts show by giving us a few moments of "The Beers" by last year's openers, The Front Bottoms.

I'm thankful that River City Extension make this show special for their hometown fans every year. They played a two-hour set that covered their entire discography along with several tracks destined for the band's third full-length. Frontman Joe Michelini and guitarist John Muccino were non-stop motion and energy. Bassist Colin DiMeo and multi-instrumentalist Patrick O'Brien had expressions of pure joy on their faces for the entire set, and drummer Mike Costaney was the smiling, laid-back presence I've grown used to seeing as part of side-project Thanks.

I'm thankful that River City Extension brought along a string section to enhance their sound. There's just something about watching a violinist or cellist on stage who can play so beautifully while keeping up with the lead guitarist in kinetic energy.

I'm thankful that River City Extension don't feel that they're boxed into a singular sound or style. New song "Man of Conviction" is the band's interpretation of disco and has me looking forward to Deliverance.

I'm thankful that I positioned myself outside the intense and annoying bro-zone, mosh pit that formed about halfway through the main set. I didn't have a particularly good vantage point for pictures, but safety first.

Finally, I'm thankful for anyone who spends even a minute to stop by and check out my little vanity project here at CoolDad Music. It means a lot.

Sweet potatoes mashed. Turkey in the oven. Time to crack open a Unibroue and wait for the family to arrive.

Happy Thanksgiving.



And here's what I got for the setlist. Let me know if I messed up / missed anything.

Friends and Family
South for the Winter
*New*
If You Need Me Back In Brooklyn
Point of Surrender
*New*
Something Salty, Something Sweet
Letter To Lainie
It's No Ha-Ha-Ha
Welcome to Pittsburgh
(I Had Thought About This In) March
Girls (*New*)
Our New Intelligence
If I Still Own A Bible
Slander
Down, Down, Down
There and Back Again
Man of Conviction (*New*)
Ballad of Oregon
Everything West of Home / Brooklyn (Reprise)
Today I Feel Like I'm Evolving

Nautical Sabbatical
Elephant

Pics of Harper's Fellow at The Wonder Bar for DJ Jeff Raspe's Anniversary Party

25 Years on the Jersey Shore

Last night, 90.5 The Night's Jeff Raspe celebrated 25 years of being on the radio here at the Jersey Shore. He started at Eatontown's FM106.3 in 1988 and hosted "The Underground" show on that station, remaining an independent voice there even as the station itself changed.

I used to hear Jeff's voice whenever I was home from college or graduate school. Sometimes, when in my apartment at NYU, I'd even try to jiggle my radio dial to see if I could pull in FM106.3. When CoolMom and I came back from Seattle and started listening to 90.5 The Night, it was great to hear Jeff's voice again.

Jeff Raspe remains a champion of new, local music and one of the bands he's been featuring on The Night is Harper's Fellow. Appropriately, he had the alt-country quartet open the bill last night -- a bill headlined by Jesse Malin -- at The Wonder Bar. I finally managed to get some decently-lit photos of the band.

Tune into 90.5 The Night from 3pm - 7pm, Monday through Friday to hear Jeff Raspe, and I'm sure you'll also hear some Harper's Fellow along with a bunch of other fine, new, local music.

Harper's Fellow Cover The King

"Can't Help Falling in Love"

Jersey Shore folk-rockers Harper's Fellow released an in-studio performance video earlier this week for their cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love." The clip features Cortney Metzler and Eric Castellazzo delivering an intimate, acoustic version of the Blue Hawaii classic.

Harper's Fellow, who have already been announced as openers on River City Extension's 4th annual "Simple Gifts" Thanksgiving Eve (11/27) show at The Stone Pony, will be playing tonight at Langosta Lounge in Asbury Park. Music there usually starts around 10.

3-Day Weekend Edition

Labor Day 2013

It's taken me a lot longer than I expected to shake off the dust (literally) following my trip to LA for FYF Fest. If you haven't already, you can check out my recaps and some pics of:

Day 1
Day 2

I've got several hundred pics I never posted in the interest of keeping CoolDad Music load times manageable. Still trying to figure out what to do with those.

Anyway, to the business at hand.

Summer's ending, and we've got a huge Friday night of music ahead of us to kick off the holiday weekend followed by a Monday BLOWOUT.

Bergen County Folk Pop / Pop Punkers, The Front Bottoms, are playing a sold out show tonight at The Stone Pony.



If you missed out on those tickets, though, there's still plenty to do.

Later this evening, you can head over to Langosta Lounge if you'd like to catch The Ribeye Brothers.

Langosta's sister location, The Berkeley Bar, will be hosting The Riverwinds and Harper's Fellow.

And the Brighton Bar in Long Branch has got New Brunswick's Sink Tapes. I'm going to see if I can't make it to that one following the Front Bottoms show.

The big event of the weekend for me, though, will be taking place at Asbury Lanes on Labor Day when The So So Glos (from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn just like yours truly) and Nashville's Diarrhea Planet send Summer 2013 packing with a punk rock bang. That bill will also feature the last local performance by area favorites, Elevator Art.

I hope your summer was everything you wanted it to be. Start sharpening those number 2 pencils and...

...Rock on.

Album Reviews at SIMGE: Pity Sex, Harper's Fellow, More to Come

Autumn Releases Have Started

I've never been a particularly organized person. I've often suspected that it could be a major reason why I never finished my PhD when CoolMom and I were at UW. While it's never really bitten me on the job; with the flood of new releases coming in as summer comes to an end, I'm finding myself feeling a little swamped.

There really are a lot of great sounding albums by great artists hitting us all at once, and I will get to all of them one way or another. I did do a couple of reviews of summer releases for Speak Into My Good Eye that I'm not sure I ever mentioned here, though, so:

• Pity Sex, Feast of Love. This is the debut album from this Ann Arbor, MI quartet and it trades in the sounds of late eighties, early nineties shoegaze pop. It's definitely worth a listen; and, if you like it, you can check them out this Sunday at Asbury Lanes along with Modern Baseball and The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die.

• Harper's Fellow, Thanks for Tonight. Another excellent debut, this one comes from an Asbury Park-based band of neo-country / folk rockers who are about to head out on tour. They'll be back, though, playing Asbury's Berkeley Bar on August 30th.

I'm anticipating getting myself organized and getting pretty busy reviewing albums as well as writing about my experience at LA's FYF Fest this weekend. Some of it may show up over at Speak Into My Good Eye, but you can always stop by here, follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, or "like" CoolDad Music on Facebook; and you won't miss anything.

Harper's Fellow / Paper Streets at Asbury Lanes

Sunday Night Music

There was a great bill at Asbury Lanes last night featuring Mississippi's The Weeks along with locals The Black Jesuses and our good friends Harper's Fellow and Paper Streets.

I was only able to duck out for a little bit, but I did manage to catch the first two sets. Harper's Fellow played songs from their fine, just-released debut full-length Thanks for Tonight along with non-album track "The River;" and Paper Streets overcame some initial sound problems to deliver a solid set of Pacific Northwest influenced indie rock.

I forgot to grab my SD card on the way out the door, but here are some of the few pics I could cram into the camera's internal memory.

Weekend Doin's

Lots to Do

Let's see. I've got to go to a dance recital for both cooldaughters in Asbury Park on Saturday morning. Then CoolDaughter #1 and I head to... ...Rutgers, I think, for the first long course swim meet of the season.

What's that? You don't care as much about what I'll be doing as what there may be for you to do?

Well, if I had the time tomorrow I'd head over to Marine Park in Red Bank for Riverfest. I'd love to catch Harper's Fellow when they perform at 2pm, but that's unlikely. That doesn't mean you can't check them out, though.

The band are currently running an IndieGoGo campaign to put out their debut album, Thanks for Tonight. Once you've heard them play, you may like to head over to their campaign and give them some support. Just in case, like me, you're booked, you can check out the acoustic version of "Cadillac" that the band put out a little while ago.



Then, tomorrow evening, Little Dickman recording artists The Battery Electric will be throwing a release party for their debut, Weaving Spiders, at Asbury's Berkeley Bar. Surf-rockers Plato Zorba are also on the bill, and rumor has it that DJ Mehalicka will be controlling the music between sets.



In case you're interested, I just may try to make it to that one.

80 Degree Edition: Crowd Funding, Book Review, Vampire Weekend

Recap Friday

Just wanted to point out a few things:

There are a couple of crowd funding campaigns going on right now that I think deserve your attention:

Eternal Summers have a pre-order project going on PledgeMusic to finish their third LP. Correct Behavior is one of my favorite albums from last year, and the band's singer / guitarist, Nicole Yun, was kind enough to answer some questions over email for me.

Local Americana act Harper's Fellow are doing something similar over at IndieGoGo. They'll be using some local Asbury businesses to complete their record, and they'll be donating 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the record to help with Hurricane Sandy relief.

I also did a review of Jesse Jarnow's book, Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.

Speak Into My Good Eye has the review I did of the upcoming album from Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City.

So have a look at all of those if you like.

And rock on...

Harper's Fellow Crowd Funding Their Debut LP

Thanks For Tonight

Things are moving quickly for Jersey Shore neo-country / folk rockers Harper's Fellow. The brainchild of singer / songwriter Cortney Metzler, the band came together and started performing late in 2012. They recently spent time in the studio recording their debut LP and released a studio performance video for "Bow & Arrow." Today, they launched a crowd funding campaign to put the finishing touches on their record via IndieGoGo.

Contributors can pledge and receive perks ranging from a personal thank you call from a band member to a private house concert from the full band. In addition, the band are using the campaign to give back to the community by mixing and mastering the album with local businesses Lake House Music and Asbury Media and by donating 10% of the proceeds from sales of Thanks For Tonight to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.

I saw the band live a few weeks ago. Metzler's voice, some excellent musicianship, and a strong set of songs set Harper's Fellow apart in a very crowded genre. This is a record that deserves to see the light of day.

Harper's Fellow Premiere New Video

"Bow & Arrow"

The Asbury Park-based neo-folk / country quintet, Harper's Fellow, have been in the studio recording their debut LP. Just check out the band's Instagram feed.

Today they released an in-studio performance video for "Bow & Arrow" off of that upcoming record. I had a chance to catch their Happy Mondays set at the Wonder Bar a few weeks ago, and they sound just as great live as they do here.

You can catch them live and in person tonight at The Saint as part of an excellent bill that includes Asbury's Emily Grove and Nashville's Griffin House. I'd say I'll see you there, but that's gonna be tough since CoolMom heads off on a business trip tonight. You'll all just have to go and tell me what a good time you had.

Harper's Fellow at the Wonder Bar

Happy Mondays

I decided to head down to the Wonder Bar last night to catch the Happy Mondays set by Harper's Fellow. Despite playing to a crowd that may have been thinking a bit more about $.50 wings and $3.00 PBRs, they played a great set and were all smiles throughout.

Lead singer / rhythm guitarist Cortney Metzler has a beautiful and powerful voice that blends nicely with that of vocalist Yanell Reyes. The band's overall sound is neo-country / folk / Americana, I guess. Alex Ford (drums) and Brendan Smith (bass) lay a solid foundation, while lead guitarist Eric Castellazzo provides an edgy twang without ever crossing over into full-on country.

Harper's Fellow are in the process of recording their debut record, and I'll be on the lookout for that.

I brought my point and shoot with me again. Apologies to the band, but I think I may still need some practice.