Labor Day Weekend!

We had two shows this weekend, both with the full band! We haven't played with Ben and John in a while, so it was really exciting to get back together with them back at good ol' Purchase. We practiced all week and showed up to Sidewalk Cafe on Saturday night in great matching outfits.

Before we played, our cousin's band took the stage. Trey's band Expecto! is the best thing to ever come out of Dunstable, Massachusetts, as far as I'm concerned- and they're still all only 16! They were fantastic.
Here they are in action:



And here are some of us:







Tonight we played at Newburgh's international festival. Usually they feature some "big" band. The example that we were given is Blue Oyster Cult, who apparently played the festival a few years back. This year, they featured us. Well, for 40 minutes at least.



After the show we ate fried oreos and then went out for milkshakes (naturally).

Practicing before the sidewalk show.
The show was so much fun!
Looking forward to playing there again with a full band alongside our little cousin's band Expecto Patronum September 4th!

Tonight!

Show tonight at Sidewalk Cafe!
East 6th and Ave A, NY, NY.
9pm sharp: They are, unlike us, always right on schedule.
Swear & Shake at 10pm.

It's just us two again, accordion and guitar and a bit of glockenspiel.

Possible consumption of crif dogs right before the show, if anyone wants to join.
I like the "chihuahua"- a bacon wrapped hot dog with sour cream and avocado. Mmm.

Max's on Main

Our show last night was great, although not without technical difficulties (as always). Our lovely little P.A. decided to only let us use 2 out of 4 inputs, so we had to get creative and use 2 amps for our guitar and accordion, and say so-long to the moniter.

And I need to say- Swear & Shake are absolutely fantastic ! Hopefully they'll be playing with us again in Beacon, at an outdoor festival in August.

We have next week's show to look forward to at Sidewalk Cafe. (Also with Kari and Adam + band).
Wish the whole band was playing with us!
I've been missing the drums.

Show this Saturday! July 10th!

We're playing the 2nd Saturday event in Beacon this week- 7/10 at 9pm. The show's at Max's on Main St, which is pretty much the hippest bar in Beacon. (Although, from what I've heard, it's not hip in the hipster way... I wonder if the dude-bra will like our music...)

We're playing with Swear & Shake and I'm super excited to be opening for them. Kari and Adam are awesome musicians from Purchase, and just great people in general. This will be our first show with them, but our second is happening the week after at Sidewalk Cafe!

This show will be without Ben and John but we look forward to playing with them as soon as possible!!

I don't advise having the volume up, or even on, for either of these.

We finished back-up vocals a little while ago. Here's a few absurd videos- one of the 'men' singing 'buh-buh's' for dreamers, and one of us all screaming- for blue are your eyes. Although, in the actual song, only Dante will scream. Yep.




Ben's on tour with Russ Barnett, (who just finished his album- awesome)! So we'll be playing acoustic for most of the summer, and finishing our album up in August.


Slowly but surely..

We played on Saturday at Michelle's store- Blackbird Attic Boutique in Beacon, NY. The photos above were taken by Jay Dymond.
You can be a fan of Blackbird Attic on facebook here.
She posted some videos of us playing, and also a video of a little impromptu fashion show that we had after the show.

Our crowd was mostly our friends (THANKS!) but a few passerbys stopped in. Overall, I realized how detrimental it was to my confidence level to have not played in so long! I usually hide any butterflies pretty well, but I was beyond nervous for this show. I'm glad we got the ball rolling though- hopefully we will be playing as much as possible this summer, especially since it turns out that both our bassist and drummer are sticking around NY!

So much for the shorts and tank tops of last week... it's miserable and dreary out.

Our grandpa, Papa Dom, passed away last week. The funeral was Saturday. The show at Michelle's store had to be cancelled, although it is rescheduled for this Saturday instead, at 6pm.

Dominic Anthony De Leo, a devoted husband, loving father and veteran of World War II, passed away on Tuesday, May 4, at the age of 86. He was surrounded by his beloved wife, Dorothy, and his six adoring children. Dominic was born in Brooklyn on December 30, 1923, to Antoinette and Santo De Leo. He had four siblings: Phyllis, Anna, Frank and Angelo. He graduated from New Utrecht High School at 16 and attended St. John's University. In 1942, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, he joined the Navy and was trained as a radioman. Twice a ship he was assigned to was torpedoed and sunk. As the ship's chief communications officer, he stayed on the sinking ship longer than anyone else to send Mayday signals. He was honorably discharged in 1942 and served in the Reserves until 1962. He graduated from NYU School of Foreign Trade, and he studied to be a chiropractor. Dominic married the love of his life, Dorothy Terranova. He met Dorothy at a VJ Day block party after calling out, "Who wants to kiss a sailor." Violet Terranova, his future mother in-law, stepped forward. She introduced Dom to Dorothy, and Dom declared she was the one he would marry. And they did in 1947. They started a family and in 1962 moved to Pearl River, where they raised Diane, Maryann, Dominic, David, Dorothea and Daniel. A son born in 1954 only survived two days. He spent 31 years as a foreman with the New York Sanitation Department. He worked for D.C. Andrews, Dyson Shipping Company, Sheffield Dairy, was a licensed realtor and notary republic. Dominic rooted for his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers and was overjoyed when they won the World Series. He had a curious, brilliant mind and enjoyed organic gardening, gadgets, technology, photography and was a champion handball player. He was an avid reader and did two crossword puzzles in pen every morning. His favorite books were the Bible and The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. He was a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus (serving as financial secretary), the American Legion, the VFW, the Christian Family Movement (CFM), and St. Margaret's in Pearl River. He was a Democratic Party committeeman. Dominic loved life, lived passionately and by example encouraged his children to do the same. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his daughters Diane, Maryann and Dorothea, and his sons Dominic, David and Daniel, his daughter in laws, Carolyn Bogart De Leo, of Jackson, MS, LindaLee Colavito De Leo of Balmville, NY, and Joanna Weiss of Milton, MA, and 12 grandchildren, Michael, Jeremy, Christopher, Lena, Dante, Lara, Dean, Kristyn, Jenni, Ethan, Ava and Jesse and three great grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Anna, and brother, Angelo. Visitation will be held Thursday, May 6, 7-9 p.m. and Friday, May 7, 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., at Wyman-Fisher Funeral Home in Pearl River, NY. There will be a funeral mass held at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Pearl River on Saturday, May 8 at 9:30 a.m. Interment will take place following the mass at Frederick Loeschser Veterans Cemetery in New Hempstead, NY. Donations in his honor can be made to EFFORTS.com, a non-profit organization for people with COPD. WYMAN-FISHER FUNERAL HOME INC. 100 Franklin Ave. Pearl River, NY 10965 845-735-2161

We have a show coming up, our first in a while, so we spent the morning and early afternoon practicing outside on our porch. It's beautiful out today! Our thermometer says its 100 degrees, but I'm going to disagree. It's probably around 80. A few bicyclists turned around probably wondering what in the world sort of noise was coming from our house, and we egotistically hoped that we could gather a crowd on our front lawn. I think the breeze carried our sound, but probably not in a good way.

The show is an acoustic set up with our new PA system that we got for Christmas (and have yet to use in public!) at my friend's new boutique in Beacon. She made us a pretty cute flyer, so I think I'm going to put some up around Newburgh and maybe in New Paltz. Her goal is to reconstruct the consignment shop so that it specializes in vintage, retro, and handmade goods and has both new and old items. It's going to be a great shop once it gets going.

Annnnd we're back

Well I never did return "tomorrow" to continue writing about how successful our recording was going... and that may be because it was once again just a tease. The guy who was recording us seemingly dropped off the face of the planet- thankfully before we had actually paid him. I don't know, everyone seems so excited to start... why can't they finish?

Good thing is, we've finally got it down. Why we didn't record with Ben Goldstein to begin with is beyond me. (HEY BEN!) We've been taking our time and having a lot of fun in our sessions. And although it is a year later, and we still have not finished an album, we are well on our way. (For real, this time).

Our 6 song E.P. is sounding great so far. Our main vocals were finished up today, and now its just harmonies and extra instruments until we can hand it over to Ben to mix and finish up. Hopefully by Fall 2010...?????

Don't give up on us! We're working on it. Really.