Arlene's with the Apple Bros & Tom Clark
Thursday, January 31, 2008

Some of the best New Heathens gigs I can remember featured one great roots-rock band after another, then the New Heathens ending the night by making everybody dance.

Last night was like that at Arlene's Grocery.

I showed up at the beginning of a rockin' set by Tom Clark and his High Action Boys . Dude put on a telecaster clinic!

Then the Apple Brothers , one of my all-time favorite NYC bands hit the stage and kicked out the jams. I've still got lead singer Jamie's sandpaper yowl and the quicksilver licks from his white stratocaster zipping through my brain.

We were a four-piece last night because Dom couldn't make the gig due to a work emergency. Butch stepped it up and played great electric licks on his new black Gretch (guitarists are like jet engines: you can still fly if you lose one, but if you lose two you're dead). Eric laid down a steady, pounding groove, as usual. Brandy sang a lot of background vocals and my oh my she sounded fantastic! Plus her bass totally kicked ass. I thrashed away at my acoustic guitar on every song, something I do only in case of emergency (as a common courtesy to the nice folks who come listen to us). I hit most of the right chords and I thought we sounded like a tight, Americana quartet.

And who can argue with dancers? We had at people bopping around the floor until our very last note. Man that's satisfying. Especially in a city with draconian cabaret laws.

We had another nice-in-New-York-City moment when the curmudgeony door lady said she really liked us. This from a woman who must hear 150 bands a month. (She didn't PAY us, mind you, but she said she liked us, which is more than a band usually gets in a New York club).

Our friend Anne Scatto gave us Christmas presents before the show. I got a t-shirt that says, "As Seen On YouTube" and Eric got a shirt that says, "Your Favorite Band Sucks." Thanks Anne.

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Monkee Business, Randy Lee, Larune
Monday, January 28, 2008

Brandy Wood singing at the Demolition String Band's Monkees Tribute at Southpaw on Friday.

On Friday Brandy and I sang at a Monkees Tribute hosted by our friends the Demolition String Band out at Southpaw in Brooklyn. I sang "Steppin' Stone" and "Mary Mary" and Brandy shimmied all over the stage singing "For Pete's Sake." Other performers included Mary Lee Kortes,, Ollabelle, Alex Battles (who donned shades and rocked the hell out of the mid-80's reunited Monkees nugget, "Whole Wide World (I'd Go The)," Laura Cantrell and many others. Oh mercy did we have fun Monkeeing around.


From the left there's Elena Skye from the Demolition String Band, me, and telecaster master Boo Reiners.

Saturday I saw Randy Lee , who also sang at the Monkees night, do a special set at the Mercury Lounge. Randy has great tunes and really sexy friends. The night degenerated beautifully.

On Sunday I went to the Brooklyn Country Fair at Galapagos in Williamsburg to check out Larune . In my first blog here I talked up Larune, who I'd seen at a Hill Country show put on by Lindy Loo . For the past month Larune has performed at the Living Room in Manhattan along with Shooter Jennings every Sunday (something she'll do again in February, see you there!)

I think Kamara Thomas, lead singer and frontwoman in Larune, is one of the best songwriters I've ever heard. Her song "Cryin' In My Onions" gives me chills. I've got her ($5!) CD on the stereo right now. Her boyfriend, Gordon, plays incredible pedal steel in the band. The details that Kamara writes into her songs, like "the smell of hibiscus" in her tune "Don't Fall in Love With Texas" and the image of the scorned woman scrubbing the floors and cooking a stew in "Onions" are haunting. Her supple, husky voice is the perfect conduit for those emotions. As Lindy Loo said by way of introducing her at the fair yesterday, "She's as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, she's the real deal."



Dig it.

New Heathens play Wednesday at Arlene's Grocery with the Apple Brothers. Should be a great night of greasy rock 'n' roll.

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Moving Right Along in the Studio
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Roscoe: Hey Brandy, why don't you play this next track absolutely perfect?

Brandy: OK, sure thing Roscoe.

Dom: Wonder if I have any text messages.

Back in the studio on Sunday. Brandy did some overdubs and they were amazing. The bass sounds so damn good on the record so far. We put one in-process track, "Only Gets Better" on our MySpace page (Within 10 hours of putting up that track with the new bass parts we got THREE comments about it).

We hope to be back in there in March.

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DREW GLACKIN: 1963-2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008

Friends,

Some very sad news, our friend Drew Glackin passed away yesterday.



Drew was an omnipresent dude, either onstage or in the crowd at every great music show in New York (and beyond). I used to joke that Drew was in every band in New York City. The Silos were his main gig, but he also played with the Hold Steady, Chip Robinson, Jack Grace and everyone in between.

Including the New Heathens.

We last saw Drew on Dec. 13 at our gig at Hank’s Saloon in Brooklyn. Drew would always come out to hear us play there and, of course, we’d invite him up onstage to jam. We did “Abe Lincoln,” that Thursday night. Then we closed down the bar with him, same as always.

Drew had a thyroid problem for some time for which he didn't seek medical treatment, reportedly, because as a musician he had no health insurance. On New Year’s Day he walked into the hospital and hours later his heart stopped. Doctors revived him, then his heart stopped again. He was revived again, but irreparable damage was done.

I found out about what happened on Thursday and went to Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn to see Drew. I went to his bedside in the Intensive Care Unit and held his hand. It was very heavy, and very sad.

The fact that Drew played with us, and made an effort to come out to see us many times meant so much to me. He was a dude who played good music with the best musicians. Period. For him to come see my band and play with us was perhaps our highest compliment.

We’re going to miss Drew like hell. I told him three weeks ago at Hank’s Saloon that he is an honorary New Heathen. Wherever we are, whenever we play, he’s always welcome with us.

I told him that again in the hospital.

The offer still stands, brother.

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Last Pix of 2007...
Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Butch is a good friend. I needed to blow off steam, so he took me to the Lakeside Lounge and gave me photo booth therapy. Here we are around 4 a.m. Dec. 29, 2007.

Happy Two-Thousand-An'-Nate, everyone.

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