The vast majority of the sound problems disappeared this week, probably thanks to a big NO TAMPERING sticker on the sound board. There were still a few glitches here and there, but everyone sounded great overall. The crowd wasn’t quite as large as the previous two weeks, but it was still very busy.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “All my Dreams are in Cartoon,” in E instead of A and I liked it although I messed up some of the words at the end. I also played “The Genius of it All,” and the Pixies’ “Mr. Grieves.”
2. Pat Rich – He played good sets at each end of the night. I talked to him briefly and he mentioned a quest to add more guitar work into his songs and rely less on power chords. I like songs with more than just power chords, but not just for complexity’s sake. I doubt that was his only reason, so he should be fine. I liked the first song of his second set alot, but I’m starting to wonder if Pat and his friends are really this serious all the time. Lighten up!
3. Tom Faust – Cool name. He also gets the award for the most ripped jeans of the night. His acoustic put out a lot of bass and it sounded good with his voice. Roz had fun tripping this guy out with digital delay.
4. Matt Winn – The amazing martian guitar hypnotist. Supposedly Matt had the show of the century a few weeks back at Full Circle Records, but no one was there to see it. I saw his setlist for tonight and I asked him to mention some song titles, but I migt as well have asked his dead tuner. Matt doesn’t give out his song titles to just anyone. I remember one from the list was something about ants.
5. Tony – The song about not having to grow up to be President reminds me of my times in DC. Down there politics is a spectator sport.
6. Every Other Thursday – Remember when I mentioned a few “glitches?” 3 mics, 4 different guitars, and 4 people on stage presented a challenge and Roz figured it out by halfway through the 2nd song. Every Other Thursday is a good group. Their singer has an awesome voice and I’d definitely like to hear them again without feedback.
7. Roz King – Once again came through with a dynamite solution to a sound problem. The sound board is behind the counter, so we can’t always prevent the loud boom you get from plugging or unplugging a guitar. Roz brought in a cord with a mute switch built right in. I know some people I wish had a mute switch built right in. Roz’s cover of “Good Night Irene” closed the night.
8. Willie Tapps – It’s fun to see people listen to Willie for the first time. He’s a born entertainer and always sounds excellent.
9. Eric and Mike – The two coolest kids ever. Their combined age is only 31, but how many open mics feature guitar, violin, hammer dulcimer, and some metal piccolo looking thing, much less in the same act? I heard the week I was away Eric used an electric guitar with a distortion pedal. I’m sorry I missed it.
10. Katie and Aaron – Did a Ben Harper cover and a few other songs. Katie claims she couldn’t hear herself, so hopefully she’ll sing again before she leaves in a couple weeks.
11. Dom – He probably plays open mics more than anyone in south jersey. Whatever Roz did with the sound system for Dom’s set, it sounded great.
Thanks to everyone for coming out. See you next week!
The vast majority of the sound problems disappeared this week, probably thanks to a big NO TAMPERING sticker on the sound board. There were still a few glitches here and there, but everyone sounded great overall. The crowd wasn’t quite as large as the previous two weeks, but it was still very busy.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “All my Dreams are in Cartoon,” in E instead of A and I liked it although I messed up some of the words at the end. I also played “The Genius of it All,” and the Pixies’ “Mr. Grieves.”
2. Pat Rich – He played good sets at each end of the night. I talked to him briefly and he mentioned a quest to add more guitar work into his songs and rely less on power chords. I like songs with more than just power chords, but not just for complexity’s sake. I doubt that was his only reason, so he should be fine. I liked the first song of his second set alot, but I’m starting to wonder if Pat and his friends are really this serious all the time. Lighten up!
3. Tom Faust – Cool name. He also gets the award for the most ripped jeans of the night. His acoustic put out a lot of bass and it sounded good with his voice. Roz had fun tripping this guy out with digital delay.
4. Matt Winn – The amazing martian guitar hypnotist. Supposedly Matt had the show of the century a few weeks back at Full Circle Records, but no one was there to see it. I saw his setlist for tonight and I asked him to mention some song titles, but I migt as well have asked his dead tuner. Matt doesn’t give out his song titles to just anyone. I remember one from the list was something about ants.
5. Tony – The song about not having to grow up to be President reminds me of my times in DC. Down there politics is a spectator sport.
6. Every Other Thursday – Remember when I mentioned a few “glitches?” 3 mics, 4 different guitars, and 4 people on stage presented a challenge and Roz figured it out by halfway through the 2nd song. Every Other Thursday is a good group. Their singer has an awesome voice and I’d definitely like to hear them again without feedback.
7. Roz King – Once again came through with a dynamite solution to a sound problem. The sound board is behind the counter, so we can’t always prevent the loud boom you get from plugging or unplugging a guitar. Roz brought in a cord with a mute switch built right in. I know some people I wish had a mute switch built right in. Roz’s cover of “Good Night Irene” closed the night.
8. Willie Tapps – It’s fun to see people listen to Willie for the first time. He’s a born entertainer and always sounds excellent.
9. Eric and Mike – The two coolest kids ever. Their combined age is only 31, but how many open mics feature guitar, violin, hammer dulcimer, and some metal piccolo looking thing, much less in the same act? I heard the week I was away Eric used an electric guitar with a distortion pedal. I’m sorry I missed it.
10. Katie and Aaron – Did a Ben Harper cover and a few other songs. Katie claims she couldn’t hear herself, so hopefully she’ll sing again before she leaves in a couple weeks.
11. Dom – He probably plays open mics more than anyone in south jersey. Whatever Roz did with the sound system for Dom’s set, it sounded great.
Thanks to everyone for coming out. See you next week!
You should all be making plans to attend tonight’s open mic at the Tree House. The list is already forming up.
Eric and Mike
dogwallet
Roz King
pat rich
Matt Winn
every other thursday
Sign up yourself here and the show starts at 8:00PM. See you there!
You should all be making plans to attend tonight’s open mic at the Tree House. The list is already forming up.
Eric and Mike
dogwallet
Roz King
pat rich
Matt Winn
every other thursday
Sign up yourself here and the show starts at 8:00PM. See you there!
“Genetically Modified Chicken Lays Its Own Dipping Sauce”
Haha! Read the Onion.
“Genetically Modified Chicken Lays Its Own Dipping Sauce”
Haha! Read the Onion.
The Kelly Bell Band rocked Grape Street’s Tuesday Night Music Club last night. I can’t remember the last time I saw these guys, but they have a few new additions to the band including a new drummer and a guy playing two saxophones simultaneously! I’d like to hear exactly how the double sax sounds by itself, because he was often drowned out by the band.
Opening up for the KBB was Haywood Trout and the Dialects. I’ve seen Haywood Trout a few times at Grape Street and they’re a very tight, fun rock band. They either practice their asses off or have been playing together forever. I wasn’t as impressed with the Dialects, mostly because their musicians weren’t featured as much as they should have been. The drums and the keys should have been much louder.
There was a guy standing on the other side of the room that stood a foot taller than anyone else around him. He looked 7 feet tall! The bar rumor was that he was an ex-Villanova basketball player from the Czech republic. I believe it.
The Kelly Bell Band rocked Grape Street’s Tuesday Night Music Club last night. I can’t remember the last time I saw these guys, but they have a few new additions to the band including a new drummer and a guy playing two saxophones simultaneously! I’d like to hear exactly how the double sax sounds by itself, because he was often drowned out by the band.
Opening up for the KBB was Haywood Trout and the Dialects. I’ve seen Haywood Trout a few times at Grape Street and they’re a very tight, fun rock band. They either practice their asses off or have been playing together forever. I wasn’t as impressed with the Dialects, mostly because their musicians weren’t featured as much as they should have been. The drums and the keys should have been much louder.
There was a guy standing on the other side of the room that stood a foot taller than anyone else around him. He looked 7 feet tall! The bar rumor was that he was an ex-Villanova basketball player from the Czech republic. I believe it.
I reread my comments on Pat Rich’s Tree House open mic performance last Wednesday and thought that they might be misinterpreted. I wasn’t critical when I said, “He played a decent original and a couple of covers, but nothing I’d heard before.” My intent was to say playing two unknown covers is almost as good as playing originals. Original artists frequently play covers, but they are usually done to introduce people to new music or good tunes we may have missed. Cover musicians only play songs they know people like, which is fine, but not for us.
I reread my comments on Pat Rich’s Tree House open mic performance last Wednesday and thought that they might be misinterpreted. I wasn’t critical when I said, “He played a decent original and a couple of covers, but nothing I’d heard before.” My intent was to say playing two unknown covers is almost as good as playing originals. Original artists frequently play covers, but they are usually done to introduce people to new music or good tunes we may have missed. Cover musicians only play songs they know people like, which is fine, but not for us.
Tonight’s open mic started out bad, but it slowly turned around and ended up being a good night for the musicians and the Tree House. Last summer my only complaint about this open mic was the lack of new performers and so far this summer has changed that. New people seem to be coming in each week.
Sound problems were still with us although we got around most of them. It’s getting pretty frustrating that we spend the first few acts just getting the system to sound adequate.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “The Genius of it All,” “Headstart,” and “I Hope I Die on the Moon.”
2. Roz King – He had to leave early for a gig at Slates on Route 38. At this point I didn’t know how Roz mixed the vocals for me and I couldn’t turn down his. If you’ve heard Roz live you know his voice cuts right through PA systems.
3. Craig and Ethan – I felt bad for these guys. The monitors were not working at all and there wasn’t much I could do. We could hear them well enough, but they were discouraged by how little they heard of themselves.
4. Pat Rich – His first time out at the Tree House and I was impressed. He played a decent original and a couple of covers, but nothing I’d heard before. I’m not that up on new emo bands.
5. John Shaughnessy – Wow I think I spelled his name right on the first try. John and his bongo playing daughter, Nora, sounded great. Nora didn’t look shy or uncomfortable being up there either.
6. Sarah Alllllllllllllllen – She pretends to be low key and laid back, but you know she’s the rock star of Collingswood High. I just hope she never lets some guy talk her into joining a duo where she doesn’t play guitar or piano. Sarah is always great and tonight was no exception.
7. Willie Tapps – The real Collingswood Rock Star. I kept waiting for feedback to start, but Willie’s two mic setup held steady. We heard “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and other hits from Willie.
8. Keith Lewis – I think he was a little afraid to go up when I told him the monitors weren’t working. At some point during the night they started working and I didn’t realize it until after the Tree House closed, so maybe Keith did have some sound eminating from them. He sounded good as always.
9. Matt Winn – He’s been called a guitar hypnotist and I agree. He renamed one of his songs after 295 South and I’d agree that 295 is a decent enough road, but certainly not songworthy. 287. Now there’s a road that needs a song to keep people far away from it.
10. Justin and Dion – Justin used to be in nowayscoob and Dion even produced and played a lot on their demo, but according to Justin its not nowayscoob without Kopie. No Kopie’s not dead, he’s in the Air Force, but who cares? Justin and Dion rock! “All Along the Watchtower” was definitely the best song of the night.
11. Chris D’Antonio & Jeff Raible – I think these guys were afraid of the microphones. I had their vocals cranked and I could barely hear them.
12. Adam Huber – Adam’s been a friend of mine for almost 10 years. I’ve heard him break out late night jams on a weekly basis for the past few years and he sounded good. I think he may have been practicing.
13. Tony DeSantio – I liked the song about not having to grow up if you’re the President’s son. Anyone know who wrote it? One of his songs was sung in half French, which turned out a lot cooler than you would think.
14. Eve – She had some crazy notion that poets might not be welcome at the open mic. Definitely not! Poets, comedians, jesters, jugglers (I’ve seen some great ones lately), etc are all welcome. Eve’s poetry was very good.
15. Christine Bogan – She showed up a little late and I barely squeezed her in at the end, but it was worth it. She has a great voice and plays with tons of confidence.
Thanks to everyone for coming out. The Tree House appreciates your business. Thanks to Roz and Katie for helping out with the sound system and I’ll see you next week!
Tonight’s open mic started out bad, but it slowly turned around and ended up being a good night for the musicians and the Tree House. Last summer my only complaint about this open mic was the lack of new performers and so far this summer has changed that. New people seem to be coming in each week.
Sound problems were still with us although we got around most of them. It’s getting pretty frustrating that we spend the first few acts just getting the system to sound adequate.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “The Genius of it All,” “Headstart,” and “I Hope I Die on the Moon.”
2. Roz King – He had to leave early for a gig at Slates on Route 38. At this point I didn’t know how Roz mixed the vocals for me and I couldn’t turn down his. If you’ve heard Roz live you know his voice cuts right through PA systems.
3. Craig and Ethan – I felt bad for these guys. The monitors were not working at all and there wasn’t much I could do. We could hear them well enough, but they were discouraged by how little they heard of themselves.
4. Pat Rich – His first time out at the Tree House and I was impressed. He played a decent original and a couple of covers, but nothing I’d heard before. I’m not that up on new emo bands.
5. John Shaughnessy – Wow I think I spelled his name right on the first try. John and his bongo playing daughter, Nora, sounded great. Nora didn’t look shy or uncomfortable being up there either.
6. Sarah Alllllllllllllllen – She pretends to be low key and laid back, but you know she’s the rock star of Collingswood High. I just hope she never lets some guy talk her into joining a duo where she doesn’t play guitar or piano. Sarah is always great and tonight was no exception.
7. Willie Tapps – The real Collingswood Rock Star. I kept waiting for feedback to start, but Willie’s two mic setup held steady. We heard “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and other hits from Willie.
8. Keith Lewis – I think he was a little afraid to go up when I told him the monitors weren’t working. At some point during the night they started working and I didn’t realize it until after the Tree House closed, so maybe Keith did have some sound eminating from them. He sounded good as always.
9. Matt Winn – He’s been called a guitar hypnotist and I agree. He renamed one of his songs after 295 South and I’d agree that 295 is a decent enough road, but certainly not songworthy. 287. Now there’s a road that needs a song to keep people far away from it.
10. Justin and Dion – Justin used to be in nowayscoob and Dion even produced and played a lot on their demo, but according to Justin its not nowayscoob without Kopie. No Kopie’s not dead, he’s in the Air Force, but who cares? Justin and Dion rock! “All Along the Watchtower” was definitely the best song of the night.
11. Chris D’Antonio & Jeff Raible – I think these guys were afraid of the microphones. I had their vocals cranked and I could barely hear them.
12. Adam Huber – Adam’s been a friend of mine for almost 10 years. I’ve heard him break out late night jams on a weekly basis for the past few years and he sounded good. I think he may have been practicing.
13. Tony DeSantio – I liked the song about not having to grow up if you’re the President’s son. Anyone know who wrote it? One of his songs was sung in half French, which turned out a lot cooler than you would think.
14. Eve – She had some crazy notion that poets might not be welcome at the open mic. Definitely not! Poets, comedians, jesters, jugglers (I’ve seen some great ones lately), etc are all welcome. Eve’s poetry was very good.
15. Christine Bogan – She showed up a little late and I barely squeezed her in at the end, but it was worth it. She has a great voice and plays with tons of confidence.
Thanks to everyone for coming out. The Tree House appreciates your business. Thanks to Roz and Katie for helping out with the sound system and I’ll see you next week!
Wednesday is here again and I hope to see you all tonight at the Tree House in Collingswood, NJ (corner of Haddon and Collings Ave). We already have some musicians signed up including Sarah Allen, Justin and Dion of nowayscoob, and a few I haven’t met yet.
I talked to Keith Lewis over the weekend and he will have some scanned photos from last week’s open mic. I’ll post them as soon as I get them.
I moved into a new place and it’s been a lot of work, but I’m almost finished.
Our troops finally got rid of Saddam’s sons. Good riddance.
Wednesday is here again and I hope to see you all tonight at the Tree House in Collingswood, NJ (corner of Haddon and Collings Ave). We already have some musicians signed up including Sarah Allen, Justin and Dion of nowayscoob, and a few I haven’t met yet.
I talked to Keith Lewis over the weekend and he will have some scanned photos from last week’s open mic. I’ll post them as soon as I get them.
I moved into a new place and it’s been a lot of work, but I’m almost finished.
Our troops finally got rid of Saddam’s sons. Good riddance.
I had tickets to see the White Stripes at Penn’s Landing on the 25th, but Jack White broke his finger in a car accident. I originally heard all the shows were cancelled, but everything I read now says they’re indefinitely postponed. I don’t know if we can use the tickets we already have when they reschedule it, but I’ll try and find out.
Hello candy cane children,
I broke my finger, three breaks, car wreck, horrible left turn in front of me, no chance of escape, air bag, the air near my fingers, devil in my left hand, doctors say no way, lot’s of pain, typing with one finger, made it through year of rock n’ roll death, got off with just a warning.
Apologies to those wishing to see my hand live, soon enough I’m sure, now me and meg can share war stories, I love when we share, like once there was a monkey, and we shared the experience as children do.
Jack White
Meg broke her wrist last winter, so that’s what all the monkey sharing talk is about. Part of it anyway.Update 7/21/2003: I just heard on the radio today that all the shows are cancelled.
I had tickets to see the White Stripes at Penn’s Landing on the 25th, but Jack White broke his finger in a car accident. I originally heard all the shows were cancelled, but everything I read now says they’re indefinitely postponed. I don’t know if we can use the tickets we already have when they reschedule it, but I’ll try and find out.
Hello candy cane children,
I broke my finger, three breaks, car wreck, horrible left turn in front of me, no chance of escape, air bag, the air near my fingers, devil in my left hand, doctors say no way, lot’s of pain, typing with one finger, made it through year of rock n’ roll death, got off with just a warning.
Apologies to those wishing to see my hand live, soon enough I’m sure, now me and meg can share war stories, I love when we share, like once there was a monkey, and we shared the experience as children do.
Jack White
Meg broke her wrist last winter, so that’s what all the monkey sharing talk is about. Part of it anyway.Update 7/21/2003: I just heard on the radio today that all the shows are cancelled.
Over at the Origivation message board there is a thread discussing the selections for the Lollapalooza local slot. The bands that made the cut are Stiffed, Arms of Orion, Riding Bikes, and Swell to Grate. Y-100’s Jim McGuinn weighed in on the selection process and how they narrowed the finalists down to just 4 bands.
You ever listen to 500 bands in 3 days?
We just did. And it was fun, and torturous.
And we whittled it down to about 75 bands that we liked a lot. All those bands will be added to the ‘rotation’ of things we play at TNMC and Y-Not and stuff like that. It is great to get all this energy and music come thru the door in just 7 days that we ran the contest. Getting from 75 to 4 was tough. Everyone had an opinion, and we used everyone we could get to listen – jox, staff, interns. These 4 were the consensues, even if I can’t spell it. Yeah, no one here had ever heard of three of these bands till this weekend. Isn’t that cool, tho? We didn’t pick the bands we all knew, cause we opened it up to people like interns to help. It’s not that we sought that, it’s how it happened. As to having the contest lean ‘punk,’ I think that since everyone from the Ramones to the Donnas have played Lolla, I don’t think it’s a non-punk event at all. Frankly, a LOT of the rock bands we got felt like Alice in Chains derivative to us. Yes, we like the ‘screamo’ sound here at Y100 (look out for the new Thurdsay record that is coming soon – we think it’ll be huge), but that’s not why we chose these bands – we just liked em all. Is that wrong? I’m sure we missed something, we did the best we could – I know that I am spending at least 30 hours on this project, as is Dan.
As to Y100 being ‘lame’ and all that, well, we didn’t NEED to do this promotion. We’ve done it about 4 times over the years – the ‘big break to open for someone’ promotion. We go out and get this opportunity, we spend our entire weekends listening to a lot of really not so great bands, and then pick these and start playing them. Can’t some of you guys be happy that SOMEONE is getting some help?
The funniest thing is that we do this, and the next day all we get is emails and calls ripping us and calling us idiots. To us, it just seems like a lot of bands just can’t seem to deal with the fact that someone else might have won. Do you guys want us to keep fighting to get opportunities for bands in the music scene or not? All we ask is that you try to support us – and we’ll do what we can to help you. We just want to break a band… we’ve played so many local bands, and still the last rock band to break out of philly is the hooters. Guys – we gotta change that. But I don’t think we can change that unless we support each other – support things like Origivation, support Tommy’s show on YSP, support the Alt Weeklies coverage of local music, etc.
We hope one of these bands kicks our asses. We hope that we get the ‘average’ public to request one of these bands. We hope we can help more bands to record deals. We are psyched that this finals will feature one band that turned in a great demo but has never played a show, and another that we’d never heard of but has over 23,000 mp3 listens. And we thank the people here who have taken our picks and checked them out – hope to see you at the free show on Sat (and thx to EFC for opening up the TLA for us for free!) – I know I’m excited to see all these bands.
Yours in the rock –
Jim McGuinn
Y100
Haha thanks for being ours “in the rock” Jim. Thanks.
Over at the Origivation message board there is a thread discussing the selections for the Lollapalooza local slot. The bands that made the cut are Stiffed, Arms of Orion, Riding Bikes, and Swell to Grate. Y-100’s Jim McGuinn weighed in on the selection process and how they narrowed the finalists down to just 4 bands.
You ever listen to 500 bands in 3 days?
We just did. And it was fun, and torturous.
And we whittled it down to about 75 bands that we liked a lot. All those bands will be added to the ‘rotation’ of things we play at TNMC and Y-Not and stuff like that. It is great to get all this energy and music come thru the door in just 7 days that we ran the contest. Getting from 75 to 4 was tough. Everyone had an opinion, and we used everyone we could get to listen – jox, staff, interns. These 4 were the consensues, even if I can’t spell it. Yeah, no one here had ever heard of three of these bands till this weekend. Isn’t that cool, tho? We didn’t pick the bands we all knew, cause we opened it up to people like interns to help. It’s not that we sought that, it’s how it happened. As to having the contest lean ‘punk,’ I think that since everyone from the Ramones to the Donnas have played Lolla, I don’t think it’s a non-punk event at all. Frankly, a LOT of the rock bands we got felt like Alice in Chains derivative to us. Yes, we like the ‘screamo’ sound here at Y100 (look out for the new Thurdsay record that is coming soon – we think it’ll be huge), but that’s not why we chose these bands – we just liked em all. Is that wrong? I’m sure we missed something, we did the best we could – I know that I am spending at least 30 hours on this project, as is Dan.
As to Y100 being ‘lame’ and all that, well, we didn’t NEED to do this promotion. We’ve done it about 4 times over the years – the ‘big break to open for someone’ promotion. We go out and get this opportunity, we spend our entire weekends listening to a lot of really not so great bands, and then pick these and start playing them. Can’t some of you guys be happy that SOMEONE is getting some help?
The funniest thing is that we do this, and the next day all we get is emails and calls ripping us and calling us idiots. To us, it just seems like a lot of bands just can’t seem to deal with the fact that someone else might have won. Do you guys want us to keep fighting to get opportunities for bands in the music scene or not? All we ask is that you try to support us – and we’ll do what we can to help you. We just want to break a band… we’ve played so many local bands, and still the last rock band to break out of philly is the hooters. Guys – we gotta change that. But I don’t think we can change that unless we support each other – support things like Origivation, support Tommy’s show on YSP, support the Alt Weeklies coverage of local music, etc.
We hope one of these bands kicks our asses. We hope that we get the ‘average’ public to request one of these bands. We hope we can help more bands to record deals. We are psyched that this finals will feature one band that turned in a great demo but has never played a show, and another that we’d never heard of but has over 23,000 mp3 listens. And we thank the people here who have taken our picks and checked them out – hope to see you at the free show on Sat (and thx to EFC for opening up the TLA for us for free!) – I know I’m excited to see all these bands.
Yours in the rock –
Jim McGuinn
Y100
Haha thanks for being ours “in the rock” Jim. Thanks.
I added a few new pictures and this weekend I’ll add a few more. Hope you like them.
I added a few new pictures and this weekend I’ll add a few more. Hope you like them.
