The Wrens Threatening to Record

 The Wrens

The Wrens are a great band from New Jersey that seems adverse to regular LP releases. By “regular” I mean more than once in five years. After 20 years they’ve released just four full-length albums with the last, The Meadowlands, coming out in 2003. Music magazine, Magnet, has decided to have some fun with The Wrens and their prolific silence and, late last year, began running a regular feature on their website know as “Wrens Watch“. There, they occasionally interview the Wrens’ Charles Bissell. It’s more than a little funny albeit not quite safe for work.

One of the nice bonus items that you’ll find there is a clip from the now-ongoing recording sessions for The Wrens’ next album. (Seriously. They’re really recording one.) You’ll find that in the January 26th entry. It’s a rough track but shows promise of new music that those of us who have been wearing out our copies of Meadowlands have been longing to receive.

Also, be sure to check out the updated website for The Wrens and read about their new single!

Seriously.

A new single.

Did I not mention that earlier? It’s called “Pulled Fences”, it was recorded at Abbey Road, and it’s available on iTunes. 

There’s a bit of a story as to how the song came about but I’ll leave it to the band to explain (via their blog):

 

“So years upon years ago, we swore to a pointlessly bold dare that if we ever got on the Tonight Show or Letterman, we would have to make up a song on the spot – no rehearsal, no cheating, no pre-air band huddle. This is back when Carson still hosted (Johnny not Daly) and for some reason, was our measure at the time for having ‘made it’.

“As if Johnny would have waved us over to the couch to sit next to George Gobel and be congratulated on our gumption.

“Cut to almost twenty years later, we’re invited to perform a few songs for something called the WorldSpace Sessions at Abbey Road.”

 

They’re also threatening to perform at SXSW next month so… watch for that!

I’ll leave you with a fan-produced video for the song, “Boys You Won’t”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZU3ywyEqq8[/youtube]

It Has Begun

I have had a difficult time composing a proper set of words for this day. Barack Obama is a hallmark of change. That’s not so much a bit of campaign rhetoric as it is a true fact. Left/Right politics aside, we have an African-American President. What we are seeing today is something that so many thought never to see in their lifetimes. I have to admit, it moves me nearly to joyous tears even as I type.

On a more sobering point:

Four years ago I watched the man who would become one of the worst Presidents in our nation’s history take the oath of office. I don’t really want to be the one who told you so but… I told you so.

Of course, I’m probably preaching to the choir as anyone who reads this probably agrees with that assertion (the current polls would support this probability.) Anyone who doesn’t agree is probably a sad neo-con, cowering in his oversized office, plotting ways to retake the majority. Those who have assaulted our nation, our freedoms, and our environment, are not likely to retire. They will continue to fight tirelessly to tear down what we hope to build.

And so, as we move into the Obama era, I encourage you to do so with optimism and pride but keep your caution and maintain your vigilance.

Celebrate the day. 

Tomorrow, we get to work.

Old News and Other Current Events

Here at rowjimmy.com, as we’ve pressed into the new year, I’ve continued to maintain my high standards of neglect. So, today, I’m going to fill you in on a slew old music news as well as a couple of current items.

“Why old news?”
C’mon, it’s not as if anyone is reading this to get the latest scoop.

So, what’s new?

 

Phish Summer Tour:

06/04 – Nikon at Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY
06/05 – Nikon at Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY
06/06 – Comcast Center – Mansfield, MA
06/07 – Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ
06/09 – Asheville Civic Center – Asheville, NC
06/16 – Fox Theatre – St. Louis, MO
06/18 – Post Gazette Pavilion – Burgettstown, PA
06/19 – Verizon Wireless Music Center – Noblesville, IN
06/20 – Alpine Valley – East Troy, WI
06/21 – Alpine Valley – East Troy, WI

Pretty cool little run if you live on the East Coast. The Asheville show is pretty small (fewer than 8000) but the St. Louis show is crazy small (approx. 5000.) Good luck to those trying to get into that one.

If those dates don’t suit you, do not despair. Word is that West Coast dates are pending for late Summer. Also, watch for the Bonnaroo line-up to be announced on Feb. 3.
Edit to add: Red Rocks, too!

The lottery for Phish Ticketing is open now. Click here to get in on the action.

 

 

 

‘The Dead’ will be hitting the road this Spring on what’s become a somewhat controversial tour. The so-called “core-four” (Lesh, Weir, Kreutzman, Hart) have hired Warren Haynes to sling the lead guitar and Ratdog’s keyboardist to fill out the stage, replicating the favorably reviewed line-up from the recent Barack Obama fundraiser.

The controversy arises from the ticket prices. While not “Rolling Stones” high, tickets for this tour are nearly double what Phish is charging for their shows. Add to that the outrageous “VIP” bundles that sell “premium” seats along with special entrances, posters and a private cash bar for nearly $500 per person. The pre-sale has already begun and tickets ARE selling but, I’m afraid that you won’t see me at the local shows.

 

Instead, I’m planning to catch Keller Williams whose Winter > Spring solo tour gets underway this week. I taped his annual Xmas SPCA Benefit last month am had a great time. You can stream and download the show here.
Check out Keller’s website for more music, tourdates, tickets and more: http://www.kellerwilliams.net.

 

 

 

Speaking of taping, I’ve had the pleasure of taping several local bands in my neighborhood venue over the past few weeks. Prize Money, from the Charlottesville area, and Seven Minutes, from Richmond, played a hot rock show at The Loft in Fredericksburg, VA. The following week, local reggae band, The Transmitters made the walls sweat as they, accompanied by a three-piece horn section, danced through two great sets of original reggae laced with a couple of old favorites. I’ll see about posting streams from each show up here soon.

 

 

Lastly, I just got word that The Decemberists are offering a free mp3 of a song from their upcoming album, The Hazards Of Love. The song is entitled, “The Rake” and is available at http://www.decemberists.com.  Also, be sure to check out their singer/songwriter, Colin Meloy, this afternoon on World Cafe on XPN (http://xpn.org)

 

Thanks to Here Comes The Flood for the Decemberists tip!

New Year, Old Habits

So, 2009 is here and I haven’t even bothered to write to congratulate you for surviving ’08.

Let’s recap, shall we?

My son was born in May.
The United States elected an African-American to the Presidency.
Phish announced a reunion.
And some other stuff happened, too.

That about sums it up, right?

Anyway, I’m mostly writing this to see if I can manage to post from my new iPod. If you’re reading this, it worked.

Oh, and where will that image show up, I wonder? It should be a cute shot of Emmet from our Holiday Card photo shoot. (I think it comes up below this here text so I’ll stop typing.)

Writing… 

(The following is transcribed from a pocket-sized notebook.)

I used to tell people, “That’s just my job to pay the bills, feed the kids and all that. That’s not who I am.” But that’s really just a line. I’ve probably said that more to convince myself than anyone else.

“No,” I’d tell them. “I’m actually a writer. I write fiction, lyrics, whatever.”

But it’s all bull.

I do, sometimes, compose such things but, as the saying famously declares, “A Writer Writes.” Wannabes,  like myself, who go a month at a time without so much as a journal entry, are not writers. We are our jobs first and the act of writing is *gasp* a hobby. It’s a hobby that I’ll not likely convert into a future or even so much as a past-time because I lack the discipline to put a pen to paper more than once in a while. It’s not as if I don’t have ideas or passions and the time is there if I am willing to take it; it’s just that the easy path is so damned appealing.

I can ride this train each night to the end of the line with my ipod screwed into my ears and eyes closed, copping a few extra minutes of sleep. That’s cake. Inspiration strikes when it’s ready and I’m not so lazy as to ignore it but I’m also not so motivated as to keep the ink flowing in hopes that additional wit might sneak onto the page.

I’ve written a few good songs in 2008. That’s my honest (if not modest) opinion. I wonder, however, if I couldn’t have written a few more had been I writing on the regular as I did many years ago. Always, when I have been more diligent as a writer, have I produced a greater volume of presentable material. The amount of dreck increases too but, to sit idly and wait for quality to fall out of the sky seems remarkably ego-maniacal.

And so, as I made a New Year’s resolution several years ago to make no further New Year’s resolutions, I am hoping and aspiring (but not resolving) to write more in 2009. This goes for all formats: this little book, my blog, song lyrics, love letters, and epic diatribes to politicians and old friends.

I won’t aspire to be a better or successful writer- just, simply, a writer. I will endeavor to undo the silence of my apathy and give textual voice to the thoughts, questions, and images in my mind. 

Plus, there’s that cycle of dirty song parodies that I’ve always wanted to write…

-jmh