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Happy New Year – It’s going to be EXCITING!  

Yes!  – It will be an exciting 2018! Why, you may ask? 

Well, I have been working feverishly on a new project since the release of the first CD, “TEST DRIVE RAW”. I have been working with a few musician friends – Kimo and JoeZworld. Kimo is in my neighborhood so it’s easy for him and I to get together and jam and write. Mr “Z” on the other hand is down in Florida, so we are trading off on idea’s and sending files back and fourth to be worked on. All in all we are looking to release another CD sometime in the first 6 months of 2018. The name of the album will be, “Eclectic Collaborations”. Looking at 14 brand new songs with a bonus track for a total of 15. Will be working on the finishing touches after the 1st of the year and the CD cover art design. Can’t wait to share as there are some really good music that we put together that i’m sure you will enjoy listening too. Hopefully, I can also complete a few video’s to go along with the release.

So stay tuned in, it’s going to be an exciting 2018! 

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I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays with the wish of Good Health, Good Fortune and lot’s of great music to listen to!

Here are two song’s for your Holiday listening pleasure!!!

Jingle Bells

                                           Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas                                                                                         Sung by my Daughter Rebecca

 

 

 

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I remember Keith at the Mudd Club. The club had a few floors, the basement was where the bands would be hanging out before they were going on stage. The first floor was where the bar, stage and dance floor presided, the 4th floor was an art gallery in were I first met Keith. At the time he wasn’t really a known commodity as of yet, but a hell of a nice mild mannered guy. My partner Bill and I used to go up to the 4th floor to hang out between bands or just to get away from the level of noise and craziness that was on the bottom floors. For the most part, unless there was some in-prompt to event going on it was seemingly quiet on that floor. We used to hang with Keith and talk, were he came from, how did he get to New York City, when did he get into art, his likes and dislikes and so on. One time we were kidding around with Keith and Bill asked him to draw a dog humping on a napkin. I asked Bill if he still had it, he said he would have to look as it was a long time ago and who would know that Keith would be an Icon in the art world after he died in 1990 of HIV/AIDS at the age of 31.  If Bill finds the napkin, I will post it.

Some comets traverse the universe and come back around for a few spins around the sun, and some comets just burn out way to soon and leave behind a tail of stardust to admire and wonder, “what if.”

Mudd1

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My Father’s Place, Roslyn (Long Island) New York

This was one of our local clubs that shuttered in 1987 – My Band the Lampshades played there, if i remember correctly in 1984 among many other bands I worked with and played with. There was also a club right across the street called the Little Club that we also played at in which was a very small place thus the name, ‘”The Little Club”.

I am always a little dubious about trying to reincarnate an iconic club, for some reason it never can capture the way it was before and most of the time it’s more about the people that were there at that time and space then the place itself. I really hope it works out for them as we need new progressive venues that cater to indie bands and music to be showcased. God knows there isn’t many of them around.

I copied the article below

My Father’s Place, the legendary club that brought the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, the Ramones and U2 (The Lampshades -LOL)to Roslyn until it closed in 1987, will rock once again next spring. Michael “Eppy” Epstein, who founded the club on Bryant Avenue in 1971, confirmed Monday that he had signed an agreement to reopen the club in The Roslyn Hotel. “I want to do stuff that no one else is doing,” Epstein said. “I want to give people a live music experience unlike anything else on Long Island.” My Father’s Place at The Roslyn Hotel will feature both a supper club with a capacity of 200 for established national acts and an upscale restaurant with a capacity for 60 that will have a small stage for up-and-coming artists. Once renovations are completed, Epstein said he expects to present more than 150 shows a year in the space. And he plans to call on acts who played at the original My Father’s Place early in their careers — from Sting to Billy Crystal — to see if they want to come back to do something special at My Father’s Place at The Roslyn Hotel. Epstein also hopes that fans of the old club will return. “It’s a continuation of the business,” Epstein said. “If you were 18 when you went to My Father’s Place, you’re 50-something or 60-something now and you want a place with a nice tablecloth, a nice chair and an intimate concert performance.” Epstein said the new venue will be a joint venture with The Roslyn Hotel’s new owners and outside investors.

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The New Digs for “My Fathers Place” 

I hope they can capture the magic once again that was, “MY FATHER’S PLACE”

GOOD LUCK!

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My partner (Bill Veldran) and I worked with many bands over the years when we owned and ran Centour Sound. One year we produced over 350 shows by either having systems out, in which we had 3 complete PA systems or was managing a club or on tour with a band. That year Bill was touring Europe with Motorhead, I was doing weekends producing the shows and bands at the Mudd Club and all 3 PA systems where out with bands like Jelly, Insex, Tom Robinson among others that I can’t even or don’t want to remember. All of that in between playing with the Lampshades band – Talk about living, breathing and eating Rock N Roll, WE DID IT.

Literally it went something like this – getting up at 12 or 1 pm – working on the equipment, repairs etc. – on the phone booking systems with bands – loading up the vans with equipment –  leaving by 6 or 7 pm – setting up and doing a sound check –  eating a quick slice of pizza – mixing the bands to 2 or 3 am – breaking down the equipment – loading the vans – driving home and unloading the vans as the sun rises – catching  a few hours sleep and starting all over again.

Our crew, that we sent out daily and especially on the weekends on shows were Chris Connolly, Gerry Palumbo and whom ever else we could grab to set up and mix a band. A complete PA system consisted of a full 3 way speaker system (Bass, Mid and High end), monitors, an amplifier stack with crossovers, microphones mainly the work horses of Mic’s SM57’s and 58’s, a mic snake, mixing console, mic stands and cable’s, a Roland space echo and EQ’s and a lot of humping of equipment around all over the dam place. We particular got into a genre of reggae bands from Brooklyn that we were getting a lot of work from–one band that stands out was Burning Spear among other local reggae bands in the area. This part of the business was so interesting as we did do some many different types of bands and  music. In future blogs I will break down some of the shows Centour sound produced in detail – some fun facts and great stories.