May25

solo set and bottom of the well

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solo set and bottom of the well

I’m excited for these two shows early next week:

On Monday, May 28th, I’m playing a solo set as the musical feature for the Dirty Gerund poetry open mic at Ralph’s Rock Diner in Worcester. I’ll also be playing and improvising with the house band all night to accompany the poets. Back in the fall, Spider Cider played as the musical feature (opposite poet Andrea Gibson!) and it was a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to playing again on Monday, and getting to check out the featured poet Aslan King. Show starts at 9 pm and it’s a suggested donation of $2.

Then, on Tuesday, May 29th, I’ll be at Sally O’Briens in Somerville, as usual, except Kristen Ford won’t be playing this week. Instead, Kara Kulpa will be filling in (backed by Ariel and myself) as the house band for the night. To open for her, Ariel and I will be playing a Bottom of the Well set–complete with our new EP! (We’re still working on getting the tracks up online, so for now it’s just available in person…) The show starts at 8 pm, and as always, it’s free!

May14

shows this week

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shows this week

This week I have several shows to highlight that I’m pretty excited about playing:

Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 15th), I’ll be playing with the Kristen Ford Band for our weekly residency at Sally O’Brien’s, though it’ll be a little different than usual, since all the guest bands will be hip hop acts. I’ll be playing a set with Spider Cider after the KFB, followed by Adder (from the west coast!) and the Lost Profit$ (from Worcester). Music starts around 8 pm, and as always, it’s FREE!

Then, Thursday (May 17th) Ezekiel’s Wheels is emerging to play our first show in awhile, so that’s exciting to begin with, but even more so because it’ll also be our EP release show! In the style of basically all of my other bands, Ezekiel’s Wheels just finished recording an EP — it’s great to finally have some nice recordings with everyone who’s currently in the band on it (more info on the EP to come…) The show’s taking place at Atwoods in Cambridge, and we’ll be playing starting at 9 pm. Afterward, Klezwoods will take the stage, it’ll be a fun night of klezmer, all for just $5.

On Saturday (May 19th), I’ll be playing a solo set in Jamaica Plain at Hope Central Church as part of their monthly Dream Singers concert series. I’ll be trying out some new pieces (and may potentially debut my recent obsession of performing 2-part Baroque counterpoint as a solo performer). Also playing that night are Mark Kniffin, Nicole D’Amico, and Sound Trancing. Admission is $5.

Hope to see you at a show soon!

May11

this old way finished!

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this old way finished!

I’m excited about all of the recent progress many of my bands have been making on getting some nice recordings finished up — it’s great to finally have a whole bunch of good demos for many of these projects. The newest of these demos to be released is This Old Way by bluegrass/funk band Ethan Robbins & Cold Chocolate and can be streamed and downloaded here.

We started working on this recording way back in October — we took a little trip up to VT to record at Ethan’s parents lake house, right on Lake Champlain. It was really nice to get out of Boston for a weekend and just focus on tracking (though it meant a ton of work for Ariel, who once again played drums, recorded, mixed, and mastered the album). We got four of the tracks recorded that weekend, and originally only planned on having those tunes on the demo, but then we won some free recording time, which allowed us to record a fifth tune (though it delayed the release a little bit). As of today, all five tracks are done, though we still have a little work ahead of us to get some physical copies made…

Cold Chocolate has been sounding really great recently, and it’s exciting to finally have a recording that features everyone who’s currently in the band, as well as some of the newer tunes and arrangements. All the songs are written by Ethan, and then put together by the band — we do a mix of bluegrass and funk on guitar, upright bass, banjo, and drums. In June, we’re taking over the Kristen Ford Band residency at Sally O’Brien’s while Kristen is away on tour, so there’ll be lots of opportunities to pick up the EP in person in the near future!

Apr29

basement speeches online!

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basement speeches online!


Recently I posted about debuting some new CDs, so I’m excited to announce that the Spider Cider EP Basement Speeches can now be streamed and downloaded here on our fancy new bandcamp page. This is the band’s first studio recording, and it features four original tracks.

For those who don’t know, Spider Cider is currently one of my primary musical projects here in Boston. Musically, it’s mainly a mixture of hip hop and jazz and it’s one of the couple bands I’m actively writing for (the other being Bottom of the Well). The group also features Jacob Dinklage (rap, spoken word), Pete Fanelli (trombone), and Ariel Bernstein (drums, as well as recording, mixing, and mastering for this album). It’s really exciting to play and write with such talented musicians, and to explore how much can be done on both the upright bass and the voice in this setting. Stay tuned for more Spider Cider recordings, too–even though we just finished this EP, we already have a growing queue of new tunes we’re itching to record. And if you’re in the area, come check us out at our next show on Tuesday, May 15 at Sally O’Brien’s in Union Square!

Apr26

weekend shows

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weekend shows

Last week was a whirlwind of shows for the Bottom of the Well, Spider Cider, Kristen Ford Band tour, it was a lot of fun! It was also completely exhausting to play with three different bands (genre-wise, not personnel-wise) every night, so it’s been nice to be back in Boston and not sleeping on friends’ floors. It’s also been really exciting to have CDs for both Spider Cider and Bottom of the Well to share with folks at shows (I’ll be putting both online as soon as I can, along with some photos and videos from the tour, so stay tuned).

Now that I’m back in the area, I have some upcoming shows in town this weekend:

Tomorrow (Friday, April 27th) I’m playing with the Boston University Choral Society at Marsh Chapel starting at 8 pm. The concert will feature John Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Gabriel Faure’s Requiem.

Saturday afternoon (April 28th), I’ll be joining Kristen Ford down at Boston’s City Hall to play a short set as part of the Unite Against the War on Women rally happening all over the country. There will be speakers and music performances from 10 am until 2 pm–Kristen and I will be going on around noon. I’m even playing electric bass for this show, so I don’t have to lug the upright downtown, that’s pretty much a once-a-year event in itself.

Then, on Sunday (April 29th), Frank Drake and Cold Chocolate are teaming up for a show at Sally O’Brien’s in Union Square, so there’ll be a nice mix of bluegrass, western swing, and funk. Show goes from 5 til 7 pm.

Click here for more upcoming shows!

Apr10

upcoming CDs!

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upcoming CDs!

So I just posted a few days ago about my upcoming week-long tour next week, and in addition to being excited about that, I’m also pumped to announce that two of my bands who are going on that tour will be done with debut EPs to bring on the road with us! Both were totally self-recorded and produced, since our drummer Ariel Bernstein also just happens to be a great sound engineer, and I think they both sound great.

The Bottom of the Well demo will feature three of my original tunes (which will even have actual titles that don’t include Ks or numbers!) with the full band of signing, upright bass, and drums. I even made stencils and spent hours labeling all of the covers. It’s exciting to finally have some nice recordings of BotW, and once we get back from tour, Ariel and I are excited to get started on the next batch of tunes to record.

As for the Spider Cider demo Basement Speeches, we’ve got four of our originals featuring rap, vocals, trombone, upright bass, and drums. Our awesome artist friend Cera Smith made some amazing stamps for us to print the album covers, I think they came out really well.

We’ll be putting both albums online super soon, too, for all of you who aren’t in Boston (or along our tour route).

Also check out this week’s upcoming shows!

Apr4

April tour!

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April tour!

The next couple weeks are packed with upcoming shows in the Boston area with Spider Cider, the Kristen Ford Band, Ethan Robbins & Cold Chocolate, the Goodtime Stringband, Ezekiel’s Wheels and more, but I’m really excited about my upcoming tour around the northeast!

I’m headed out with Spider Cider, Bottom of the Well, and the Kristen Ford Band (believe it or not, it’s just 5 of us, and we actually have a couple other little bands within the group that might make appearances throughout the tour…) Here’s our route:

Monday, April 16th: Big Night Out Tour Kickoff at The Burren
Not only is this our tour kickoff, but if you need any more reasons to come out to Davis Square on a Monday, it’s also going to be the release of the Spider Cider and Bottom of the Well EPs (more details about that soon), there will be pirates, apparently, AND it will be my birthday at midnight. I’m pretty excited.

Tuesday, April 17th: House show in Philadelphia, PA
This was put together by my friend Rob, who’s been amazing on the show-organization front. There’s a full lineup of bands, it’ll be my birthday, and there will even a bake sale to help fund gas!

Wednesday, April 18th: Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn, NYC
We’ll be joined by my good friend Alex Kramer, who will open for us with something amazing, for sure. Most likely involving banjo and overtone singing. Also joining us is Your Sister’s Canary.

Thursday, April 19th: The Raven in Worcester, MA
This one was put together by my friend Greg at a cool bar in Worcester. We’ll be playing with Shane Hall and The Safest Space.

Friday, April 20th: The Black Door in Montpelier, VT
We’re playing all night at a Mediterranean restaurant in Vermont, should be fun. I really like Montpelier a lot, so I’m excited to get to visit again.

Saturday, April 21st: The Arts Block in Greenfield, MA
This day is going to contain a lot of driving, since I’m playing with Forks of Nature at NEFFA that afternoon, but it’s going to work. The lineup is going to feature a bunch of Kristen’s friends from Western Mass.

Sunday, April 22nd: Flask Lounge in Portland, ME
We’re playing all night at a little bar in Portland, it’ll be a nice, chill end to our week of travels.

Wednesday, April 25th: Tour homecoming at The Milky Way in JP
We’re still fleshing out the lineup for this one, but it will definitely include Molly Zenobia, which is exciting. It’ll be a nice show to cap off the tour.

I’ll be posting again soon with more info about the soon-to-be-released demos for Bottom of the Well and Spider Cider (with pictures of our album art!), so stay tuned. I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces outside of Boston pretty soon!

Mar29

weekend shows

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weekend shows

This weekend is pretty busy with upcoming shows:

Tomorrow night (Friday, March 30th), the Kristen Ford Band is doing a mini-tour of Somerville and Cambridge, thanks to some scheduling mishaps, but it’s going to be great. First, at 9 pm we’re going to open up for Jade Sylvan‘s CD release show at Radio in Union Square. Then, we’re off to headline a fundraiser for the Boston Dyke March at the Cantab in Central Square.

Saturday (March 31st), I’ll be playing a solo set at The Burrow collective house in Allston (contact me for the address) to open for the Dead Whale Ramblers, who are coming back though town (that’s them in the picture). They always put on a good show, so I’m excited to play with them. Also playing are Jon Lipscomb, and Of The Sun. Show starts at 7 pm.

Sunday (April 1st), I’ll be playing with Frank Drake at the Plough and Stars from 5 til 7–lots of bluegrass, country, and western swing.

Monday (April 2nd), my contradance band Forks of Nature will be playing the Scouthouse Contradance in Concord–it’ll be the first dance back with our double fiddle section!

Hope to see you around!

Mar20

Friday solo set, Bottom of the Well Tuesday

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Friday solo set, Bottom of the Well Tuesday

This week, I have a bunch of upcoming gigs, but in particular, I’m excited about a couple of them:

This Friday (March 23rd) I’m going to be playing a two hour solo set (!) at Byblos Lounge in Worcester. I’ve never played such a long solo set before, but now that I have a list of all the songs I know the words to, I’m pretty confident that it should be a good show, or atleast good stamina practice (it also means that Bottom of the Well will have plenty of new covers…) From the website, the bar looks new and pretty swanky, too, it should be a good time. I’ll be starting around 8:30 pm.

Then, on Tuesday (March 27th), I’ll be back at Sally O’Brien’s with the Kristen Ford Band, as usual, but it will be particularly exciting because Bottom of the Well is one of the special guest feature bands for the night. We’ll be playing a set at 7:30 pm, followed by the KFB, and School Tree. As always, there’s no cover.

Also stay tuned for info about my upcoming tour with Bottom of the Well, Spider Cider, and the Kristen Ford Band in April!

Mar7

Sunday shows

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Sunday shows

This Sunday (March 11th) I’ll be playing two shows:

First, Bottom of the Well will be playing this week’s Grunge Brunch at the Burren in Davis Square. There will be live original music starting at 11 am and going til 3 pm, and we’ll be on at noon. Also playing are Sam Meyer, Herego, and the Ryan Taylor Band. Plus, there’s no cover!

Then, at 6 pm, Ezekiel’s Wheels will be partaking in the Boston Jewish Music Festival as part of their Klezmer Idol competition at Ryle’s Jazz Club in Cambridge. It’s going to be totally ridiculous, but it should be fun to see a number of other local klezmer bands perform.