NEW NEW HEATHEN!!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009

This is Valentina Grace Tiziano, born yesterday to Domenick Tiziano and his bride Agatha.

Biggest congratulations to them!

Maybe someday she'll join a band with Butch's son Max.

My how those guitarists are breeding...

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Thanks Samu!

(Backstory.)

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Sweet Zevonathon Review
Monday, November 23, 2009

On Lucid Culture.

Concert Review: The Zevon-athon at Banjo Jim’s, NYC 11/12/09
November 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment

by Richard Wallace

Warren Zevon was an American songwriter whose vocabulary, both written and musical, earned him acclaim from the music press, his peers and his loyal following throughout a 30 year-plus career that ended too soon when he died after a short battle with cancer in 2003. It may have been his Russian heritage that fueled many of his songs with an unforgettably rebellious, muscular, Cossack spirit.

It must have been that same spirit that drove Nate Schweber to lead the cavalry into Banjo Jim’s on Thursday night for the very first Warren Zevon-athon. Schweber, frontman of the New Heathens, pulled together a band of stellar downtown Americana talent to perform a robust double barrel set of Zevon’s material. The audience that packed into Banjo Jim’s shared the small club’s confined, standing-room-only space with the dozens of musicians on the bill, and they reveled all night long, celebrating in the work of an indelible artist.

For this show, Schweber was joined by J.D. Hughes on drums, Alison Jones on bass, Rich Hinman (of the Madison Square Gardeners, among others) on guitar and Andy Mullen on piano, and together they were able to do an outstanding job of recreating the stylish west coast feel of Zevon’s early recordings.

Among the standup performances were Jesse Bates (“I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”), Steve Welner (“I Was in the House when the House Burned Down”), Steve Strunsky (“Mr. Bad Example”) and Andy Mullen (“The French Inhaler”). Schweber and his bandmates added “Frank and Jesse James”, “Mohammed’s Radio”, “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and of course the irrepressible “Werewolves of London.”

But the highlights of the evening may have been the contributions of the female vocalists in the house: Mary Lee Kortes of Mary Lee’s Corvette (“Desperados Under the Eaves”) Charlene McPherson of Spanking Charlene (“Hasten Down the Wind”), Eleanor Whitmore (“Carmelita”), Monica Passin and Drina Seay (“Keep Me in Your Heart”). Each one of these striking performances were done with a remarkable forthrightness and amazing compassion for the material.

Leave it to Zevon. The Excitable One’s foot-stomping numbers are models of boyish swagger. A notorious womanizer, Zevon may have been dead for six years now, yet he can still charm his way through to all the female hearts in a room with his poignantly candid lyrics.

And then Serena Jean Southam (of the Whisky Trippers) belted out “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” and the night was allowed to proceed to its fitful conclusion. Leave it to Schweber, who’d courageously orchestrated the night, and yes, “His hair was perfect.”

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Zevonathon, what a cool night
Monday, November 16, 2009

Friends, I want to share some pictures with you from the Zevonathon show we did last week. I thought the whole thing was stellar. All the musicians turned out wonderful performances, the house was packed and I got to have a birthday party of sorts listening to my music cranked loud by my favorite songwriter guy, Warren Zevon. What a cool thing to call on all this NYC talent to share it with me.

This was the setlist:

SET ONE
Lawyers, Guns & Money - Nate
Excitable Boy - Aaron Lee Tasjan
Disorder In The House - Mary Lamont & Jim Marchese
Play It All Night Long - John "Chico" Finn
Mutineer - Chip Robinson
My Shit's Fucked Up - Eric "Roscoe" Ambel
Desperadoes Under the Eaves - Mary Lee Kortes
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Jesse Bates
Hasten Down the Wind - Charlene McPherson
Mohammed's Radio - Nate & Charlene
The Indifference of Heaven - Emory Joseph
The Hula-Hula Boys - Randy Lee & Tony Graci

SET TWO
Frank & Jesse James - Nate
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Mike Storey
Carmelita - Eleanor Whitmore
Mr. Bad Example - Steve Strunsky
My Dirty Life and Times - Joe Cassady
I Was In The House When The House Burned Down - Steve Welner
Splendid Isolation - Sharon & Kim
The French Inhaler - Andy Mullen
Keep Me In Your Heart - Li'l Mo & Drina
Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Serena Jean
Werewolves - Everybody
Lawyers, Guns & Money (encore) - Nate

Here are some photos, courtesy of Heidi Welner, Dave Seay, Kori Burkholder and Kristen Couchot.

Here we are, firing it off.
Aaron Lee Tasjan rocked, "Excitable Boy."
My buddy John "Chico" Finn, from Bovina, NY (of Livestock notoriety) gave a perfect rendition of the Zevon's twisted ode to rural life, "Play It All Night Long."
My friends Randy Lee and Tony Graci turned in one of the coolest performances of the night, a tune Warren wrote about Hawaii called, "The Hula Hula" boys. Not only did Randy trick the tune out by speaking Hawaiian during the intro, but Tony played slack-steel guitar. Too cool.
Tony Graci (who in addition to playing Hawaiian guitar is one of the best drummers I know)
Charlene McPherson, of Spanking Charlene, is one of my real good musician friends in New York. I always love to hear her sing, and I really love to sing with her. She was awesome by herself on "Hasten Down The Wind," and it was a blast singing "Mohammed's Radio" with her.
Eleanor Whitmore was just a knockout singing and playing violin on "Carmelita." She really dazzled.
My man Jesse Bates went berzerko on, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," complete with a sung harmonica solo. Totally awesome.
One of the night's highlights' for me was Mary Lee Kortes singing, "Desperados Under The Eaves." It was really cool singing harmony on the song's coda with her.
Eric "Roscoe" Ambel did a dark, bluesy version of "My Shit's Fucked Up," that was really, really cool.
Chip Robinson stunned the room to silence with a gorgeous version of "Mutineer." The place was packed, and you couldn't hear a sound except Chip playing.
Serena Jean Southam was energetic and pitch-perfect on "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me."
In the middle of the show my Smurfette, Kristen, brought out ridiculously good cupcakes for everyone and led the crowd in singing happy birthday to me. A happy one indeed. Thanks baby.
My buddy Steve Strunsky, a loud & proud member of the Rockin' Reporters club (his band is called The Lonesome Prairie Dogs), channeled his inner robber-baron for, "Mr. Bad Example."
My friend Mike Storey of The Izzys did a great job on the crazy tune, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."
I couldn't have pulled off the show without some top-notch musicians. The Piano Fighter for the night was Andy Mullen, who not only transcribed and transposed several songs, he also turned out a beautiful solo piano version of "The French Inhaler."
On bass was the lovely, rock-solid Alison Jones.
Rich Hinman, from the Madison Square Gardners, played guitar and he was dazzling. It was a little intimidating to play with cats this good. Here's a photo of Rich looking astounded at my choice of chords.
Sadly, I didn't get a pic of drummerman extraordinaire (and Mr. Bad Influence) J.D. "Doggie" Hughes, but if you watch the video up at the top you can see him kicking ass.

Joe Cassady sounded superb on "My Dirty Life & Times."
This lady, Sharon, contacted the club and asked to be on the bill because she was actually a friend of Warren Zevon's. It was really cool to talk to her at the end of the night and hear some of her stories about hanging out with Warren. She also gave me a snapshot she took of the man, which I was really knocked out by.

Monica "Li'l Mo" Passion and "Banjo" Drina Seay just about made everybody cry with a shimmering version of the last song Zevon ever recorded, "Keep Me In Your Heart."


Emory Joseph did a poignant rendition of, "The Indifference of Heaven."
Steve Welner from Fourteen Feet was great on "I Was In The House When The House Burned Down."
Mary Lamont and her beau Jim Marchese rocked out on "Disorder in the House."
During the last song, "Werewolves of London," my friend Alex Battles walked in just in time for me to sing, "He was looking for a man named Alex Battles." Many days find Battles and I talking online about music for hours and he was real helpful with advice and support as I put together the Zevonathon. It was he who insisted that we do a proper Italian encore at the end of the evening and replay the opening song, "Lawyers, Guns & Money." He also sang the final verse of "Werewolves."


At the end of the night Sharon gave me this photograph that she took of Warren Zevon. It was really a special thing to get. I love Zevon, obviously, and though I didn't do the gig out of any "be closer to the man" or "be more like the man," sense, it was neat to see a candid photo of him taken by someone who knew him. Kinda' made for a poetic end to a fantastic night. Thanks to everyone who shared it with me.

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Zevonathon rocked.
Friday, November 13, 2009

Details soon.

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Zevon Rehearsals II, Enjoy Every Sandwich
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Gettin' excited about the Zevonathon tomorrow night at Banjo Jim's. The guest singers came and rehearsed with the band last night and they were all real cool. Songs sound great. It's going to make for a night of excellent music.

I only saw Warren Zevon once. It was the last gig he ever played. I was in the audience at the famous David Letterman show where Zevon was the only guest. It was the one time in the history of the show that Dave gave his whole show over to a single artist.

Zevon had been diagnosed with terminal cancer a few months earlier. My good friend Abe Bradshaw got me a ticket, for which I'm still grateful to both him and his girlfriend Nicole.

I loved Zevon so much, his songs were more unique and exciting than anyone else's, and it was such a thrill for me to finally see him live. It was also heartbreaking, knowing that soon he would die.

It was during this broadcast that Letterman, a longtime Zevon friend and longer-time Zevon fan, asked him, "What do you know about life and death that I don't?" Zevon gave his poignant line, "Enjoy every sandwich."

Zevon played three songs, "Mutineer," "Genius," and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner." What was really cool is during the commercial breaks Paul Schaffer led the CBS Orchestra through other Zevon tunes, and the man himself played along.

Here's a clip of Zevon and Letterman's interview, and also Zevon performing his song Mutineer, which he wrote as a thank you to his fans.



If you spot a guy in a red t-shirt on the front row of the balcony off on the right, that's me.

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Sweet Link
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Warren Zevon show at Banjo Jim's, this Thursday.

Thanks Battles.

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Urban Survival
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Kids, it took me more than eight years to figure this out, but here's the key to living in a huge metropolis like New York City: do things that are very UN-urban. For example, find a trout stream where big browns are nailing streamers.Isn't this fun?When I caught this one, on a big, black wooly bugger, it had a 6-inch half-digested chub hanging from his mouth. Gnarly!Ah, but the scenery was just lovely. Or go to a shooting range, like Smurfette did, cashing in a gift certificate I'd given her for her birthday for a full day of handgun instruction. Smurfette shot so well that my emotions vacillated between pride and anxiety. Seemed like every time her gun went "pop!" I heard the target she aimed at go "ding!" Best be a good Smurf. Listen to a great song about the south. All day I spun the Warren Zevon album, "Mr. Bad Example," which features the magnificent song "Renegade." However the album version is way too over-the-top and overproduced. This is the ultimate version of the tune. Remember, at the end of a glorious, sunny, late-fall day spent sharpshooting and flyfishing, bring it all back home. You might recognize the dinner entree on the right from one of the photos above (caught, mind you, in one of the streams that gives NYC its drinking water, so I'm as confident that it's as healthy as I'm positive it was delicious). You might also recognize the sharpshooter.

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Zevon Rehearsals
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Had a good, full-band rehearsal last night in preparation for this Warren Zevon-A-Thon that I'm putting together for Thursday, Nov. 12 at Banjo Jim's. I got some really great players for the backing band. (So good it's a little intimidating, honestly). I've got my buddy J.D. "Doggie" Hughes on drums, the lovely Alison Jones on bass, Rich Hinman from the Madison Square Gardiners on guitar and, because no Zevon tribute could fly without a piano fighter, Andy Mullen on the ivories.

It was really cool to run down the Zevon songbook last night. The tribute thing is kinda' big in this, whatever you want to dub it, New York circuit of roots-minded musicians whose enthusiasm is bigger than their album sales. (Some out there say the tribute thing is getting kinda' annoying).

I used to care. I did a bunch of tributes with the New Heathens and hoped they would attract a lot of people and I could show 'em my band and then people would like us. I put a lot of energy into that. It never worked out that way.

This one's different. Though I want people to turn out to this gig, I don't really care about attendance. I've got no band of my own to try and turn people on to this time. I'm just doing it because I love Warren Zevon. It'll be my birthday on Sunday the 15th, so this is kinda' my birthday present to myself: a buncha' friends hanging around and a whole night of Warren Zevon music.

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Zevonathon
Monday, November 2, 2009

Thursday, Nov. 12 at Banjo Jim's.

Poster by Michael St. George

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