I always kinda hate reading blog posts that are like, "Sorry. I know I haven't posted in a while." But, sorry...?
For a variety of reasons, I haven't been feeling the fire that I used to around here. Some of it is feeling the need to maintain some perspective about what's important in life. Some of it is probably just age. Some of it is wanting to spend more time with the coolfamily before the cooldaughters start to move on to the next big phases in their lives. Some of it is... ...well, I don't really know.
I felt a little surge of inspiration around Father's Day Weekend with shows from Sweet Spirit / High Waisted, William Tyler / Renee Maskin. Then, later that week, I got out to a great show with White Reaper, TWEN, and Dentist. It felt like I was getting back in the groove.
Sweet Spirit at Rough Trade NYC
High Waisted at Rough Trade NYC
William Tyler at The Saint
Renee Maskin at The Saint
Dentist at Wonder Bar
TWEN at Wonder Bar
White Reaper at Wonder Bar
The following weekend, I hit both local release shows with Titus Andronicus for An Obelisk. I got to watch and talk to my favorite band. I took a bunch of pretty cool pictures. But I never got around to saying anything about the shows. Same for the excellent Happy Mondays that week with Daddies, QWAM, and Shut Up.
This past weekend, CoolMom and I hit the heartwarming (and body-roasting) show with The RockNRoll Hi-Fives and Mulch (who we all know by now is Dentist, right?) at Asbury Park Yacht Club; and I made a last-minute decision to catch Potty Mouth and Colleen Green at Asbury Park Brewery on Sunday night. That was a good call. More pictures.
"Mulch" at APYC
The RockNRoll Hi-Fives at APYC
Potty Mouth at Asbury Park Brewery
Colleen Green at Asbury Park Brewery
I've also been listening to lots of stuff including new albums from Pip Blom, Mannequin Pussy, Rick Barry, and of course Titus Andronicus. Reviews haven't been coming as easily as they used to, but I plan on writing something about at least a couple of these.
Anyway...
What am I saying? I'm not sure, really. I've toyed with the idea of saying that, for all intents and purposes, I'm done here; but I don't think that's the right call. It's been fun spending more time at home with the coolfamily, riding my bike, and watching my Yankees / Mets games; but I also love taking and editing pictures. And almost nothing makes me happier than the feeling of being at a live performance for a band that I love. Every one of those shows I mentioned above elevated my frame of mind for, at least, a little while.
So, I guess, I'm going to keep doing whatever it is I've been doing here as best I can for a little while. I'll continue to share whatever Henry, Rosi, and whoever else want to provide. I'll tote my camera along to shows, and I'll do my best to help my friends find places to play their music. And I'll always be a place where artists can share their art if they want to continue to give me that opportunity.
I haven't been reading emails or messages as religiously as I used to, and I'm sorry for that; but that kind of stuff has taken kind of a backseat to things like driving the girls around or riding my bike by the beach.
Thanks for reading and thanks for sticking with me.
Oh! And don't forget to come out to The Saint on 7/29 for the show... ...No! THE THING!... ...I've been most excited about this summer. You might get to see my heart burst right out of my chest, and you'll have a blast.
Poster by Matt Hockenjos
In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram at @cooldadmusic. All the pictures I take eventually show up in the Flickr account.
So, here's how things have been going around here lately.
I had a great weekend. Spent Friday evening with CoolMom at a lovely wedding. On Saturday, I headed into Brooklyn to see Sweet Spirit, High Waisted, and Spiral Heads. Sunday was Father's Day, of course. CoolMom and the cooldaughters made it a great day full of hugs, gifts, and great food. That evening, I headed over to The Saint for the early show from Renee Maskin and William Tyler.
Throughout the weekend, I had some interactions that made me feel pretty good about the site. People mentioned how they'd like to see me keep on trucking here. I got compliments from several folks on my photographs, and I heard some pretty affirming and validating things about what I've been doing here for the last seven years.
Rejuvenated and inspired, I planned to write about all of that here yesterday. Then... ...I just didn't. That's how things have been going. Motivation -- even after a run of fantastic experiences -- has been tough. I'm working on it.
Anyway.
CoolMom and I headed out to New Hope on Friday night for a wedding. The weather was beautiful, and so was the ceremony. I'd had tickets for Sweet Spirit's Philly stop for a while, but I ended up handing those over to Chris Dickman while CoolMom and I celebrated with friends.
I did manage to hump it over to Rough Trade on Saturday for Sweet Spirit's Brooklyn show. I've mentioned it before, but there's just something about what Sabrina Ellis, Andrew Cashen, and their bands get across through their various projects that fills my heart with joy at every one of their live performances. Saturday was no different. Sweet Spirit is the poppier, more accessible maybe, offshoot of A Giant Dog; but all of the passion and abandon are still there. People around me bopped non-stop to new songs "Touch" and "Los Lonely Girls" as well as older tunes like "Pamela," "Rebel Rebel," "The Power," and "I Wanna Have You." Sweating and singing along with Sweet Spirit: I'll take it any chance I can get.
Sweet Spirit
Sweet Spirit
Sweet Spirit
I brought my little, crop sensor Sony and a few primes so that I could travel light. The lighting was a little rough. It made me wish I'd brought one of the full frames. And there were moments when I got too wrapped up in things to snap pictures. I managed a few shots, though. Such a great band to shoot.
High Waisted were also on this bill; and I, honestly, can't remember the last time I caught one of their sets. On Ludlow remains one of my favorite records; and hearing "Party in the Back," "Trust," and "Shithead" again put a big smile on my face. That was helped by the fact that High Waisted always bring it during their live shows. Also nice was getting the chance to catch up over by the merch table.
High Waisted
High Waisted
Spiral Heads, the latest project of Simon O'Connor of Simon Doom, opened as the space was filling up. Jess Dye of High Waisted walked by just after Spiral Heads finished their set and echoed my own thoughts when she said to me, "Did you catch that last band? They fuckin' rocked."
Spiral Heads
Spiral Heads
After a really beautiful and lazy Father's Day spent out by the pool, I headed down to Asbury for the early show at The Saint featuring William Tyler and best bud, Renee Maskin. Whether it's with Lowlight or solo, every set from Renee is a unique and intimate experience. She lives in her songs; and, no matter how many times I hear them, they sound fresh and true.
Renee Maskin
Renee Maskin
William Tyler is a revelation. Tyler introduced most of his songs by relating what inspired them: solo drives through America's wide-open spaces, looking for life in the barren desert. And, as someone steeped in rock and pop, the idea to me that specific ideas could come across simply through the guitar, without lyrics, is a little foreign. But, damn, they do. The audience sat rapt and attentive; and, when I wasn't snapping a picture, I closed my eyes and let the sounds wash over me.
William Tyler
William Tyler
William Tyler
As I was leaving The Saint, I commented to a few friends that I'd had an "inspiring weekend." Inspiration hasn't come easily for me lately. That's not because the sources of inspiration have been fewer. I just think I've been less capable of responding to them than I have been in the past.
I managed to get all of the pictures from the weekend edited before going to bed on Sunday, and I woke up Monday with big plans to pump out some Real A+ Content TM. Then... well, we've been over this. Sweet Spirit, High Waisted, Renee Maskin, William Tyler, the coolfamily, and my friends all started to break through a bit this past weekend. Lots of cool stuff coming up in the next few weeks. Should be inspiring.
By Renee Maskin [First things first. Lowlight, one of our very favorite bands around here, dropped a brand, spanking new single today. "Burkhalter" is the first single from their upcoming LP, Endless Bummer. It further melds the band's country / Americana roots with the epic, spacious, synth-driven rock they explored on Born to Run. The song is nominally about an unseen character from The Big Lebowski, but Renee hints that it may be more than just a bit autobiographical. Give the song a listen and go see Lowlight tonight when they close out Night 1 of What a Wonderful Year 2k18 at Wonder Bar in Asbury Park. -- CoolDad]
I am lucky enough to be able to call Jim a good friend, and he was kind enough to ask me to write a little "year-end recap" of sorts, which is bold, because he knows what a sailor's mouth I've got on me; and it doesn't go away in print. But I'll try and keep it somewhat clean for ya, Jim.
Renee Maskin
Most people with ears and / or eyes would agree that 2018 was a weird one. Our smart devices are listening to us (and apparently sometimes recording us), the stock market hasn't seen this bad of a turn since the Great Depression, and Prince is still dead. And that's barely scratching the ever-itchy surface that is politics as of late.
More positively, some of this #MeToo stuff has shaken loose some really scummy people; and, while that whole thing remains all kinds of complicated, I think it's been a long time coming and we might be off to a positive start with it. Also, a second Red Dead Redemption installment finally came out, and New Jersey remains one of the country's leaders in glitter production. So it's not just doom and gloom out there.
As for me, the nucleus of my own atom, Lowlight kept things pretty consistently busy. We played with art punk royalty, Jon Langford (Mekons), in one of our favorite spots, the Old Franklin Schoolhouse. We opened for Twin Peaks at the Sea.Hear.Now Fest, with all their frenetic sweating / swooning fans extending their energy to our set. And, of course, we got to go on an East Coast run with Pretenders, who treated us like road family, dropped a little knowledge on us while we were out there, and just generally remain cool-as-all-hell every time we cross paths.
Lowlight
Along the way, we put out a little EP called Born to Run (Don't worry. We all know who will always be The Boss of Asbury Park.), and a live LP, It's Later Than You Think, that road warrior Scott Maxwell tracked during our run with Pretenders. We made a really fun video in collaboration with Strauss Performing Arts in Edison, NJ, and finished out the year with a residency at the infamous John and Peter's in New Hope, PA. We've also been finishing another LP, with a single that dropped today, and just generally waging our holy war against time itself.
Converse to all of the really amazing things that happened for the band this year, some of Lowlight's members experienced tremendous losses as well. I won't get into it, but what I will say is that I'm proud to be in a group of people who are not just top-notch artistic collaborators, but who are also some really top-notch human beings. Always looking out for their families, friends, and each other, too. And they put up with me, so that's an extra gold star on them. Band Fam, 'til the end.
Anyway, without further ado, here are my "Top Five Things Worth Mentioning of 2018."
Best Record of 2018
IC-01 Hanoi, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
I can't say enough good things about this record. It's loud; it's beautiful. It's frantic; it's chill. Noisy psychedelic jazz funk. Just an all-around great work of art.
Best Song of 2018
"Jupiter 4," Sharon Van Etten
Holy. Shit. What a great song, and the album isn't even out yet (although, if you're like me, you have it pre-ordered). I've had "Jupiter 4" on repeat since it was released, and I can't wait to hear what comes next from SVE…
Best Movie
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
I mean, did we really need to wait this long for the Coen Brothers to cast Tom Waits in a movie? And, surprisingly, as brilliant and wonderful as that vignette is, it's not even the best one in the film. I sat on the edge of my seat the whole time just soaking in the pure joy of this movie. Not to be missed.
Netflix
Best App Recommendation of 2018
Radiooooo
This app has been around longer than 2018, but somebody just recommended it to Dana and Derril this year; and now we're all hooked. You pick a country you want to hear some music from and the decade in which it was released, and the app cycles through what was going on musically in that time and place. Whether we're hanging out in between recording and rehearsing or traveling around to gigs, if we're not sure what to listen to, we roll the musical dice with this Radiooooo. We're very rarely disappointed.
The character of this place far exceeds its name. It's a weird little motel right by the beach, complete with pool, greek takeout joint, and outdoor alcoholic beverage area run by Darlene, the Patron Saint of Tiki Bars. She told us she hadn't been to the beach in four years, which is a feat in itself since it's right across the street. The whole thing was very Bukowski. Lots of characters, a few motel cats, a lot of great stories. I'd recommend a visit. Tell Darlene we say hey.
There was a time, back in the early days of CoolDad Music, when I would write recaps and reviews of just about every show I attended, no matter how large or how small. As I've become a veteran, jaded blogger, I've done less of that. I'm not complaining here because it's 100% my own choice to do all of this, but it's a fair bit of work to put together a post about even a small show if I want to include pictures and all that kinda stuff. Sometimes, I just get lazy.
I still attend a shit-ton of shows, though. Here's a round-up of what I've been up to in the last week or so.
Let's Get Folked Up!, Watermark, Asbury Park, NJ
On Wednesday, May 16th, I attended the inaugural Let's Get Folked Up "writers' round" presented by Chris Brown and Megan O'Shea in conjunction with Nashville recording artist Jo Smith. In addition to Smith and Brown, the line-up for this first show in a proposed series included J.T. Makoviecki of Jackson Pines, Renee Maskin of Lowlight, and Matty Carlock.
Jo Smith
Chris Brown et al
Artists took turns sharing songs and stories over the course of two sets before finishing up with a group performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." It was a pretty laid-back evening in a beautiful space with waves crashing just outside the windows behind the stage. I'm hearing that the next installment will happen in July; and, if last week was any indication, it's definitely something worth checking out.
Thursday with the Dickmans, Independent Record Pressing, Bordentown, NJ / The Outpost, Asbury Park, NJ
On Thursday morning, Chris Dickman and I headed over to Bordentown where Randy Now has organized a tour of the new Independent Record Pressing plant which sits just a few minutes away from the Man Cave. We got a walkthrough of the production floor and saw vintage and new vinyl presses pumping out titles from bands like Radiohead, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Menzingers, and Snail Mail. It was pretty damn cool, especially to know that it's happening right in our backyard.
Fruit & Flowers
That evening, Chris & Amy managed to get me into a party that surf, skate, swim lifestyle brand Volcom were throwing at Asbury Park's Outpost. Fruit & Flowers, long a favorite of ours around here, were providing the musical entertainment. I, amazingly, hadn't seen the Brooklyn band since Austin; and it was nice to see that they could still blow me away. Earlier this week, Fruit & Flowers left for their first-ever tour of the UK.
Sweet Spirit / The 1910 Chainsaw Company, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA I already wrote briefly here about what a tough day Friday was. As the day wore on, I made the last-minute decision to head down to Philly to catch Sweet Spirit at Johnny Brenda's.
Sweet Spirit is a project featuring Sabrina Ellis and Andrew Cashen of A Giant Dog along with Josh Merry, Jake Knight, Jon Fichter, and Danny Lion. Where A Giant Dog are glam punk, Sweet Spirit are more soulful, more poppy. Ellis, though, is probably the most charismatic presence in live music right now. It doesn't matter which band she's fronting. And, I hate to put this kind of thing on artists who don't know me from a hole in the ground; but Ellis and Cashen have "been there" for me at times when I really needed it. Catching them at this show was really a no-brainer for me, and they didn't disappoint.
Sweet Spirit
I only brought the point & shoot and spent most of the set enjoying myself rather than shooting. Openers The 1910 Chainsaw Company were a nice surprise. To me, they sounded like what you might get if you crossed Pavement and The Beach Boys.
The 1910 Chainsaw Company
Side note: Philly is like 30 miles further from me than Brooklyn, but the drive on Friday was about 30 minutes shorter each way than my usual trips up to Brooklyn. I'll be heading down there more often.
Michael VM / Metal Mountains, Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
After taking Saturday night off from shows in order to spend some time with the family, it was back to it on Sunday for an early show at Mercury Lounge. Our good buddy Michael VM made the trip up from North Carolina with his family to celebrate last year's release, the happiest man on earth. I reviewed the album right around its original release, and it finds Michael in a quieter more contemplative place following his marriage, his move from NYC to NC, and the loss of his mother. He played live with a band that included several members of his former band, The Everymen, as well as his father, Ray. The songs translated well to a live setting and were as moving as they are on the record.
Michael VM
Duo Metal Mountains opened. Helen Rush (vocals / guitar) and Pat Gubler (guitar) delivered, maybe, the mellowest, most low-key set I've ever seen. Metal Mountains' Facebook bio reads simply, "Quiet in the noise..." and that's pretty spot-on.
Metal Mountains
Pastrami from Katz's after the show.
Kali Masi / The Vansaders / Have A Good Season, The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ
On Monday, I headed over to The Saint to catch The Vansaders, Have A Good Season, and Chicago post-hardcore / emo-ish band Kali Masi. Emily was working the door. Scotch LaRock showed up. Alex. Billy. Neil. It wasn't a huge crowd, but there were lots of familiar, friendly faces.
Have A Good Season do the 90s fuzzy guitar indie thing (Dinosaur Jr., Built To Spill) really well, and it's always cool when I catch one of their sets. I was saying to someone over the weekend that I've never seen The Vansaders turn in a bad set, and last night was no different. Just big gut punches of punk-inspired anthems. Kali Masi played to the small Monday night crowd as if they were working a packed room, which is always good to see.
Have A Good Season
The Vansaders
Kali Masi
Things ended relatively early -- always a bonus after a busy few days.
So, even though it's been quiet here at the site, I've been pretty busy. I've got a few interesting things lined up this week that I'll share with you before the coolfamily and I head down to Savannah for the long weekend.
On Wednesday, May 16th, Let's Get Folked Up! comes to The Watermark in Asbury Park. The brainchild of Chris Brown, Nashville's Jo Smith, and Megan O'Shea, the evening will be a "songwriters in the round"-style concert featuring Brown, Smith, and a host of some of the best singer / songwriters in the Asbury music scene. If things go well here, and I'm sure they will, there's the potential for Let's Get Folked Up! to become a recurring series that brings together artists from Asbury, Nashville, and beyond to share songs and stories and maybe even interact with the audience.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, let's talk about May 16th. I sat down at The Annex in Asbury Park last week with Chris and Meg to get the lowdown on the inaugural Folking.
Tell me a little bit about Let's Get Folked Up.
Meg: Chris and our friend Jo Smith from Nashville pulled me into it a few months ago with the idea of creating a bridge for Nashville artists to bring them here and get them involved in our music scene. And we're really excited about it.
We have an amazing line-up. Jo Smith isn't around here too often, and I'm so excited for her to get involved in our music scene and meet everybody, make friends, and expose her music to everyone here.
Who, in addition to Jo, is on the line-up for the inaugural session?
Chris: Matty Carlock, J.T. Makoviecki from Jackson Pines, Renee Maskin from Lowlight, and myself.
And what's the format?
Chris: Songwriters in the round. When Jo and I met in December playing a show, we got to talking. We were just going to try and trade off and help each other out with shows. But Jo loved the songwriters in the round idea because it's huge in Nashville. And I think it's a great concept. It's a listening room-style thing. There are stories. There are narratives. It evokes "Storytellers" or "Unplugged" from back in the day when we were kids. It's such a cool thing for artists to communicate together.
I knew that Jo knew Meg, so I reached out to Meg and said, "Maybe we can all brainstorm this and turn it into a recurring series."
Is everyone onstage all at once?
Chris: Yep. Someone will do an opening set. Then the rest of the acts will join. There will be a collaborative song at the end (that we haven't figured out yet).
So is it a planned set or more improvisational?
Meg: A little bit of improv, I think. We're gonna just let the artists kind of roll with it and see what stories they come up with, what songs they're in the mood to play.
How did you hook up with Jo?
Chris: She was booked to play at Anchor's Bend for a Christmas show that my dad and I were playing. We just got to chatting. She's super-sweet and super-talented, and she was eager to get into this scene more. Jo is an established artist, and she just wants to see if we can bring more Nashville artists to Asbury; and, maybe in the future, bring some Asbury artists down there.
Nashville is a huge music city in the way that Austin is a huge music city, and I think it would be cool to have that bridge to Asbury.
How did you end up at Watermark?
Chris: I played something similar there in, shit, 2011? It was Emily Grove, myself, Michael Dante Summonte, my buddy Andrew Holtz, and Michael Brett. It was the first time I ever met Emily, Michael, and Michael. Andrew and I were best friends from high school, college roommates.
I remember looking back at the photos from that show, and the room was so elegant. I had talked to [Watermark owner] Russell [Lewis] back then about how they never designed it for music, but acoustic music sounds so good in there. It bounces off the windows. Just the aesthetic of it with the ocean behind you and everything…
I reached out to Russell about it. They're usually closed on Wednesdays anyway, and he said sure. We thought it would be a fun, elegant, last hurrah before summer when this place gets crazy again.
You've talked about potentially making this a series. Would it be resident at the Watermark or do you think you'd move it around?
Meg: We talked about maybe bouncing from venue to venue. There's so much here. It would be silly not to take advantage of it.
Chris: Places like The Anchor's Bend, Danny Clinch's Gallery, even House of Independents could be really cool. There are so many different rooms with their own cool aesthetic.
In a general sense, is it important to you to bring outside acts into Asbury to inject some fresh sounds into the scene?
Chris: I think so. The music scene in Asbury is very diverse, and it could only benefit from becoming more diverse. All of a sudden, you expose an artist from Nashville to this scene and people think, "Hey. I can do a country number." It doesn't have to be a punk rock town or an indie rock town or a folk singer town. Even with people recently being frustrated by the lack of hip-hop or R&B categories at the awards… ...I say why not? Music is the universal language.
Do you have plans for any future installments or is it just wait and see at this point?
Chris: Kind of tentative at this point. Maybe not June, but maybe July to give more time for planning. We do want to see how this one goes. But we've already had a solid outpouring of interest from people who want to participate. I'm already thinking of different line-ups in my head of people we could bring together. Even putting the most polar opposite personalities on the stage could be fun! Maybe the singer for a punk band with some soft-spoken, folky artist.
I'm really interested in the whole dynamic of having everyone on stage at once, playing off of one another, taking it wherever it goes…
Chris: Even the cues you take from whatever song an artist might choose without any prompting. I'd love to see it evolve into something where maybe even the audience gets involved.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Meg: It's going to be a great night. We have such an amazing scene around here, and I'm just really looking forward to pushing our artists further and seeing what they do when they're put on a stage together.
Chris will be playing. Meg will be emceeing?
Chris: Yep.
Meg: Yeah. I'm excited. Each and every one of the participants, I know pretty well; and I've seen all of them do amazing things in the years that I've known them. It's going to be fun.
Let's Get Folked Up! takes place on Wednesday, May 16th, at Asbury Park's Watermark on the boardwalk. It features Jo Smith, Chris Brown, Matty Carlock, Renee Maskin, and J.T. Makoviecki. Doors are at 6pm, and $10 gets you inside.
