Gram Parsons Birthday Bash!
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wow what a night. Sixteen great artists. Dozens of Gram Parsons songs. Author David N. Meyer reading from his brand new book, "Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and his Cosmic American Music." And close to 150 fans and friends to party with.

It was the New Heathens' first gig with bassist Brandy Wood and I don't think we've ever sounded better.

Read a great review of the night by B.B. Gun singer Megan Gilbert.

I'll let these pictures do the talking:


The "New" New Heathens, (left to right) Eric Seftel, Moi, Domenick Tiziano, Brandy Wood & Butch Phelps


Brandy Wood, laying down the law


Me busting out my brand new telecaster with Brandy and Domenick behind me

Here's a YouTube of us playing Gram's "100 Years" helped out on vocals by Charlene McPherson



Chip Robinson, Elena Skye from the Demoliton String Band, Phil Cimino & me


Brandy & Domenick, onstage


New Heathens' B&B: Butch & Brandy, backstage


Me in the middle of my two favorite bass players: Keith Christopher & Brandy Wood


NH manager Kori Burkholder and good buddy Michael St. George


The night's "Supergroup," left to right: Mary Lee Kortes, Chip Robinson, Eric "Roscoe" Ambel & Keith Christopher


The faux Nudie jacket I made


Chico! (At the end of the night)

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New Bassist Brandy Wood & Cheers to Dan
Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Friends,

I'm thrilled to introduce you to an incredible bassist who will be performing and recording with us, Brandy Wood.


Brandy Wood

She's a phenominal musician, wickedly stylish, sweet as a gumdrop and her two favorite bands are the Rolling Stones and the Faces. Plus she's played with two bands that we love, Cracker and Freeloader.

In other words, she's a dream come true.

We did part ways with bassman Dan Ambrico, but it was very cool and amicable and don't be suprised to catch him filling in a show with us sometime. Also, check out Dan's new band, Madison Ambush. They rock hard.

I'll spare you all the gory details, but being in a band is hard, hard, hard stuff. Dan and I played together for five years and even though our musical tastes weren't exact, he is a great friend and an extraordinarily punctual, responsible, dependable, generous and learned bassist. I think we both knew that a change needed to come and when we finally sat down to have what we thought would be an uncomfortable conversation (Me: "Uh, Dan, we're going to get a new bassist." Him: " Yeah, Nate, I quit the New Heathens and joined another band.") we ended up laughing remembering the fun times we've had.

Dan and I said to each other years ago that we would never let friendship get in the way of making the best music we could. Thankfully, now we are both making the music we want, and we're still great friends.

But come out and see us with Brandy. If you thought we sounded good before, whoo-baby!

Labels: Brandy Wood, Dan Ambrico

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Ronnie Wood
Thursday, November 1, 2007

Ronnie Wood came to the Barnes N' Noble at Union Square on Halloween night to sign copies of his new autobiography "Ronnie." I got a signature and a handshake from this goodtime guitar god (which now means I've shaken hands with every member of the Rolling Stones except Charlie).

The book is great, by the way. As have been the Ryan Adams, Black Crowes, and Patti Smith shows I've seen in the last two days.

Looking forward to Spanking Charlene's "Big Ass Birthday Bash" at the Lakeside Lounge on Friday night.

Labels: Ronnie Wood

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