Dandy Lions in the Doll House

Labor Day Weekend at Sidewalk Cafe

2011-08-27T09:40:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday, our EP was shared on a blog that provides links to free, (legal,) downloads of music. Yay! You can check that out here.

In other news, we are once again playing at Sidewalk Cafe in NYC (providing the lower east side stays safe from the hurricane. Sidewalk is just on the border of an evacuation zone!)

The show will be Sunday, September 4th, the day before labor day, so we know you all have off the next day and will be able to come out. Plus! We're not even playing that late, 9:30pm. And! We have a new song to share with you.

Here's the event link on facebook.

Hope to see you there! :)

Elephant featured on Swedish blog

2011-08-24T13:38:00.006-04:00

In honor of "Elephant" being linked on a Swedish blog, here is a blog post dedicated to the song!

To the best of my knowledge, this is the FIRST time we have ever publicly shared the lyrics. Lyrics to the other 5 songs on our EP to follow...

"I think I'll have a cigarette,"
she said,
"I've only had a few today."
"There's time to be illiterate,"
he said,
"I've read a few books in my day."
It's bigger than an elephant,
these thoughts of breaking down and losing ground.
The devil knows he's heaven sent
when he releases greed into the heart of the world.

We'll sit and we'll think
on this cold pavement ground.
Wrapped in the warmth of our flannel nightgowns.
One day we'll be lost,
but it won't be now.
So we'll be
whatever we are when we're first found.

La la la la la la la...

"I think I'll have a beer... or four,"
he said,
"I think I'll drink 'til I feel no more..."
She dances wild, she dances for
strangers she knows in her dreams,
that she'll never meet in the world.

We'll sit and we'll think
on this cold pavement ground.
Wrapped in the warmth of our flannel nightgowns.
One day we'll be lost,
but it won't be now.
So we'll be
whatever we are when we're first found.

La la la la la la la...

In the Doll House by Dandy Lions

The link to the Swedish blog is here- skogsgospel.blogspot.com
According to google translation, they've described us as "Stomp and gear hunting folk rock from New York." Can't say I really understand what that means, but it sounds pretty bad-ass. (Can anyone provide a more accurate translation?)

We've also switched the order on our bandcamp to have Elephant play first!

Elephant, after all, is a song about Fall (among other things,) and the crisp breeze of Autumn has certainly been showing it's presence these past few days.

Goodnight Blue Thursday

2011-08-12T03:50:00.004-04:00

Just home from our Thursday night set at Goodbye Blue Monday.

Aside from one starving audience member being denied the grilled cheese
special (apparently out of spite), the show went well.

Ben couldn't join us, but John managed to morph into something between
himself and Ben, singing and serenading us all with his upright bass.

We also introduced a new song, Walnut Tree, written by Lena some time
ago and unearthed recently.

Finally, a big thanks for the audience participation (you know who you are).
Its good to have such talented accompaniment.

DL

Show at Purchase Co-Op - Monday!

2011-05-05T10:15:00.003-04:00

Petals on BPI radio!

2011-05-04T14:32:00.002-04:00

Our song, Petals, has just been added to the rotation of tunes at BPI, an online radio
station.

Listen to the station here, and tell us if you hear Petals!

2011-04-21T07:35:00.000-04:00

Listening party this Monday in Brooklyn!

In the Doll House

2011-04-10T23:48:00.006-04:00

Take and share!

In the Doll House by Dandy Lions
Thank you everybody!

EP RELEASE PARTY TOMORROW!

2011-04-07T20:10:00.003-04:00

First, we have to share this:

Dandy Lions covers!

Second,
OUR EP RELEASE PARTY IS TOMORROW!!! 7PM at The Coffee Shoppe in Beacon, NY.
WE SO EXCITED.

SHOW TONIGHT!

2011-03-19T16:41:00.002-04:00

We are playing at Legion tonight at 830PM.

There are some awesome bands playing before and after us; the musically inquisitive Sam Schachter put the show together, so obviously it's going to be a good one.

$5 to get in; 21+
790 Metropolitan Ave between Graham and Humboldt
East Williamsburg Brooklyn
Off the L or G

Record release party!

2011-03-12T15:15:00.017-05:00

On April 9^th:

an advanced copy of our upcoming hexasongal record shall be given unto you

you can hear a sneak peek at our myspace

our record release show will take place in Beacon at The Coffee Shoppe

Alex Thake will electrify the shop walls with her artwork

we will party until dawn

RSVP here.

Such and such.

2011-02-15T23:42:00.006-05:00

1. Saturday's show at the Sidewalk was... you should've been there.

2. The final tracks of our E.P. are going to be emailed to us tomorrow! Soon they will be made available to our fan-mily.

3. Newburgh Restoration, an amazing site run by Cher Vick, has added Dandy Lions to its arts and culture section. Check out the site to learn more about Newburgh's current, and historic, situation and to see why it's such a cool place to be.

4. Hyena (a.k.a. Colby Nathan's band) has recently released their first full-length album... on vinyl! It sounds delicious. If you haven't heard Colby's music, you can check it out here.

Oh yes, the E.P. is...

2011-02-08T16:26:00.013-05:00

...almost done!

We even had a listening party at De Leo Manor just last week.

Our drummer and producer, Ben Goldstein, is in the final throes of mixing our debut record. The E.P. features three of our oldest songs and three of our newest. Be prepared for the release party invite! It has been years in the making.

Dandy Lions have been congregating in the basement of the music building at Purchase college this past week to practice for our next

show

this Saturday at the Sidewalk Cafe! Click here to r.s.v.p on facebook, or here to view Sidewalk's calendar. We're ready to play songs that are rarely heard, as well as all six from the upcoming record, with the full band! You'll see Lena on accordion, Ben on percussion and showing off some new choreography, John Feliciano dual-wielding the upright and electric bass, and Dante playing an unexpected instrument. We play at 8pm, just to give us plenty of time to drink with you afterwards.

Friday night we'd like to invite you to two of our great friends' senior recitals at SUNY Purchase. Selena Coburn and Colby Nathan. Coincidentally both shows will feature some Dandy Lion sounds...
We hope to see you there!

Labor Day Weekend!

2010-09-05T23:27:00.010-04:00

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).

2010-07-19T19:50:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-07-17T14:32:00.000-04:00

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

2010-07-11T11:09:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-07-05T21:42:00.000-04:00

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.

2010-06-29T10:01:00.000-04:00

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..

2010-05-19T19:15:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-05-12T12:55:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-02T15:41:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-22T22:13:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-04-25T23:46:00.000-04:00

Although we started about 3 hours later than our optimistic estimations, the first day of Dandy Lions in the studio (sequel to Dandy Lions in the Gravitron) was a success! We tracked four songs, including one of our earliest which we haven't been playing much lately. Tomorrow we're hoping to get 2 or 3 more and by the end of May we should have an actual real-life album. (It's only been... a year and a half?)

We never did end up with a horn section, but we've rounded up a nice group of singers to belt out some gang vocals.

More tomorrow...

That a way...

2009-02-24T20:40:00.000-05:00

The black and white photos that momma lion took came back from rite aid the other day. Unfortunately, we had to ask for a new CD (which has yet to arrive) because the one they gave us includes only the... negative images... sort of??? It turns us into ghostly figures in a ghostly environment?? Anyway, here are some for show & tell, until we either get the actual photos on a CD or figure out how to use our old scanner.

Tomorrow we play at That-a-way Cafe on Greenwich Ave in Greenwich CT- We're on at 9pm and we're just doing a short acoustic set, INCLUDING a Velvet Underground cover in preparation for Sam Schachter's awesome cover band show next week, and a brand new song that we are still working on but want to test on an audience... or something.

I've got to get Dante to write some of these.

PS I really need help with uploading photos to the blog- I made them much smaller and still they cut off nearly a third of the photo! They show up whole in my "posting" so what's wrong with my premade-by-blogspot's layout?? At least I managed to change them so that they weren't all just of me ...

For a moment, we were merely playing at the Sidewalk (har har)

2009-02-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

Friday night's show at our favorite NY venue, Sidewalk Cafe, went fantastically even despite forgetting the words to one of our oldest songs. (Laughing throughout the entire second verse wasn't so bad though- underwear is funny?) Cat hand-colored business cards with our name, myspace, and e-mail and handed them out at the show. They look super!
The general consensus was that the sound was incredible in the middle and back of the venue, and kind of shoddy in the front. (So although we love you to be as close as possible, perhaps next time you should give us some space! Dang.) However, the sound guy did an awesome job at finding a good balance between Dante's voice and mine, which is always exciting.
The other general consensus was that Zak- our bassist- has never looked happier to play with us. His comfort with the drummer- Ben, who learned 8 songs in 2 practices for this show!- was amazing, and he really was entertaining to watch (as I learned later from the videos). Our Papa Sam commented on his playing, saying he really enjoyed "that kid in the back" and we should probably "check his beard for dope". Of course, us lions know that you don't need drugs to feel euphoric. (I would go on about just needing love and good music, but obviously I'm already over my corny-ness limit).
Hee-Young, who performed before us, sang beautifully as usual, although we were still too shy to sing along to her cover of "Toxic". We did, however, find enough inspiration to come home and look up the video for "Lucky," which is obviously Britney Spear's best song.

She is so lucky, but why does she cry?
If there is nothing... missing in her life!
Why do tears come at night??

(yeah yeah uh uh uh)

2009-01-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

We braved the 20 degree weather this weekend to take some photos in the snow. Come see us with our frozen paws at our myspace.

photo by our lovely mommy.

photo by our lovely manager.

We enter the world of the late Kurt Vonnegut

2009-01-05T22:39:00.000-05:00

We've been taking our stereotypical 'lazy' trait a little too seriously these past cold weeks, but nonetheless are excited and ready to play this upcoming Friday night with some of our fellow Purchase friends. The club is Goodbye Blue Monday- I've never been, but I hear the decor matches our sound exquisitely. Plus Skeletonbreath just played there, which makes me look forward to the venue even more. We play at midnight, just late enough to have a sleepy grumbly voice, but still early enough that there might still be a sober folk or two in the crowd. Before us? Brendan Berry (10pm) and Hee-Young Kang (11pm). After us, at 1am, Rachel Browne, who shares our drummer X-tina. Our bassist is sadly unavailable, so we're hoping a couple of you will join us on stage to sing back-up "la's" and "buh buh's". (Why this seems like the obvious trade-off, I do not know).
Hope to see you there cheering us along! (or at least helping us stay awake.)

<3<3<3
Lena-Lion

AM feeding

2008-12-28T11:31:00.000-05:00

Our seven song E.P. is in the hands of our good friend Kirby over winter break, and it's finally near completion. We've been working on getting a C.D. together for about a year now, though unmentionable obstacles and distractions have prevented it from happening thus far. On the agenda today is to write trumpet and trombone parts to e-fax over to our newest producer, but of course the male half of our duo is still in bed drooling. I know better than to expect him to be awake before noon or before the smell of fried ham and eggs drifts up the stairs, and yet I still have been awake since 9am, just in case. Or maybe I just think that my presence will help lure our parents into making breakfast earlier.

Here's to leftover Christmas dinner for breakfast.

Your salivating lion cub,
Lena