April showers bring May shows
flowers too
howdy friends, i’ve moved you all once again to yet another newsletter platform, but this one is the talk of the town: we’re doing substack now. in time I want this to basically merge my website and social media and be the one-stop-shopping for all things belle curves and whatever other creative hijinx i get into, with options for paid subscriptions and such. for now it’s the new home for the newsletter. welcome :)
it seems the weather here in upstate new york is finally breaking into our beloved springtime, and it’s a long time coming. when i made my plans for coming back from wintering in new orleans, i really thought i’d only have to deal with a couple weeks of cold but boy was i mistaken. lesson learned, i’m not on long island any more and warm weather takes its sweet time arriving upstate.
since i came home from new orleans in early March i’ve been running around a lot (surprising no one). I’ve been spending a lot of time in Scranton PA in particular, hanging at my friend/collaborator/fellow maniac Joe Leone’s house. we did some gigging as Sarah Gross’s band and then spent a weekend between shows working on a really fun video project, coming up with new acoustic arrangements of the songs on her recent release, The Library. The whole week felt like living our own version of The Band’s Big Pink, playing music all day then having family dinner together then having a few drinks and playing more music. I’m excited to share those videos, we cooked up something special.
I played upright bass a ton, and I want to keep my chops up on it cause I think I was getting pretty darn good by the end of the week. We topped it off with a really fun show at The Bog in Scranton, and we will definitely be back there later this year.
Troy life has been lovely despite spring’s late arrival. I’m back on my bike, hitting the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings, going to shows, and seeing friends. And I simply cannot stop writing songs.
It’s honestly gotten to the point where it’s like, … annoying. I already know what songs I want on this next record (plans for recording are currently being ironed out) and I don’t want to have to make any more decisions about what songs to add to it. Yet every time I pick up a guitar some new idea hits me over the head and I have no choice but to follow it and see where it goes. It’s like being swarmed by little creative urges all the time. Or if you’ve seen the disney movie Brave, it feels exactly like following wisps.
So I guess it’s a good problem to have, but it is a problem nonetheless. I’m thinking of recording some of the more folksy songs solo, and releasing some more music under my name. Which reminds me, the EP I put out last year “The Quiet Part” with Pete Mancini is back up on Spotify! yay
let’s get to the real kit n caboodle now of why we’re here
shows! a fck ton of shows! most are full band, too! links are for tickets :)
April 30th Buffalo - Nietzche’s opening for Sarah Gross with Wild Honey Collective
May 1st Syracuse - Funk n Waffles opening for Sarah Gross
May 3rd Rochester - Radio Social with Sarah Gross
May 9th Troy - El Dorado with Wealthy Jane and Pony in the Pancake
May 13th Troy - solo as part of Song City with Reese Fulmer, Eric-Jon Tasker, and Dust Bowl Faeries
June 4th New Orleans - solo at Banks Street Bar with Clare Doyle and Micah McKee
June 12th Kingston - Night Swim with Larry Locust and Tom Jolu
June 13th Troy - No Fun with Tom Jolu and Mod Lang
June 14th Deposit - Pre Summer Solstice Party at The Red Barn
June 14th Binghamton - Crowbar Arcade with Tom Jolu, The Neo Politans, and Kellie JW
June 26th Glens Falls - Metroland Now Stage at Rock Hill Bakehouse, with Sydney Worthley
I did a quick interview recently with Hudson Mohawk Magazine! it remains unclear to me why people want to hear me yap endlessly but i’m not arguing. It’s part of the Sanctuary For Independent Media, which is a very cool organization here in Troy that you should know about if you’re in the capital region.
Music recommendation time:
I’m making everyone i know listen to this record cause i just really like it. pretty sure i stumbled on it from a bandcamp daily post. :)