OK, look. I know many of our fans are in their 30s and 40s, but this whole “Waaaah, you guys are playing at 10pm and that’s really late” whiny junk has got to stop.
And this added whiny junk of “Waaaah, you guys are Delaware’s premier acoustic dork-rock power duo, so I don’t wanna come all the way to Philadelphia because that would betray my home and native land, plus it’s faaaaaaar” is also uncool.
Dudes, Philly is 25 minutes away. You’ve driven to Newark from Wilmington (also 25 minutes) while baked out of your skull to get some Chinese takeout from No. 1’s at midnight, so quit yer bellyachin’. “Results, not excuses!” That’s what my high school band director used to say.
Son, like us, you were put on this earth for one thing only: TO ROCK. Some people provide the rocking– that’s us. Some people are there to absorb the rocking– that’s you. Together, WE ROCK SYNERGISTICALLY. Got that? We need you to rock! You help complete the circle of rocking, don’t you understand?
Frequently Asked Questions:
IS ROCKING APPROPRIATE AT ANY TIME OF THE DAY OR NIGHT?YES IT IS. ARE YOU TOO OLD TO ROCK?NO YOU ARE NOT. IS PHILLY TOO FAR AWAY?NO IT IS NOT. IS SEEING HOT BREAKFAST RIGHT FOR ME? YOUR DOCTOR SAYS YES. MUST YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPS?IT IS NECESSARY TO SHOW OUR SERIOUSNESS.
So with that out of the way, let us tell you about our show coming up in Philly at The Head House on May 3rd!
DEETS: WHEN: Thursday, May 3rd, 2012. Music starts at 8pm; we play at 10pm. WHERE: The Head House. 122 Lombard Street in the South Street/Olde City section of Philadelphia. WHAT: Hot Breakfast! plus a bunch of other bands spanning multiple genres. COVER: $7. Cheap! PARKING: There’s street parking, and there’s a garage at 215 Lombard. So easy, it’s ridiculous. FOOD: American and Japanese food along with craft beer and a full bar with drink specials. NOMZ!
So, now you know. And knowing is half the battle. G.I. Jooooooooooe
We’ve been told that once you hit 40 you start ordering chicken croquettes with Metamucil gravy off HoJo’s early-bird menu and then you’re in bed by 9:30pm after an episode of Matlock.
NOT US, BABY.
We’re so hardcore that we’re playing three (THREE!) shows in one day for you, just three short weeks after Matt had his gall bladder out.
THAT’S HARD-FREAKIN’-CORE.
Philadelphia Dramatists Center; purveyors of fine Philadelphia theater since… well… a while ago.
So lemme tell you about these shows!
SHOW THE FIRST:
We’ve been asked to be the first band ever to grace LOMA Coffee’s new music/performance space, so we’re kicking off an entire day of music. This means that we’re playing an early-morning show– that’s 8am. I wonder how bleary-eyed bankers will react to hearing Crazy Train as they make their way to the coffee counter for their first jolt of the day? One way to find out.
Jill would like to thank MAC Cosmetics in advance for creating foundation powerful enough to cover up her under-eye circles, since she is normally deep in full-on REM sleep at 8am.
WHERE: LOMA Coffee, 239 N. Market St. Wilmington, DE 19801. WHEN: 8:00am – 8:45am. (What the hell are we thinking?) HOW MUCH: No cover. Just grab a coffee. (Did you ever notice that Canadians say “a coffee” and Americans say “some coffee” or “a cup of coffee?” Discuss.)
SHOW THE SECOND:
Since 2011, we’ve been the house band for Philly’s Primary Stages, which is a quarterly two-night theater event where playwrights see their newly-penned short works performed at the Shubin Theater. It’s super-cool because over the course of two evenings, about 16 plays are staged with script in hand, and Hot Breakfast! gets to provide the interstitial music, as well as playing a fun half-hour set to a terrific crowd each night. We LOVE this gig!
As a thank you to Denise Shubin who owns the Shubin Theater, Philly’s Primary Stages is holding a fund raiser which showcases the best short plays of the last seven or so years of PPS. Because it’s a “best of” night, the actors will be off-book, and the shows will be spit-shined to a gleaming polish. There are two shows on the night of the 13th, and each performance features the same seven plays. And because it’s a fund-raiser, tickets are $20.
As usual, there will likely be beer, wine, and perhaps a bottle or two of something passed around (heh), as well as chips, snax, vienna sausages (it’s a Todd thing) and puddin’ packs. (We have “Jill gets 2 pudding packs” in our rider for this show, we shit you not. If Jill doesn’t get pudding, she trashes the place like fuckin’ Air Supply.)
WHERE: The Shubin Theater, 407 Bainbridge St. (that’s 4th and Bainbridge), Philadelphia, PA 19147 WHEN: We start at 7pm sharp! The plays start at 7:30. HOW MUCH: It’s a fund raiser for the theater, so tickets are $20 and well worth it. Get yer tickets here: http://is.gd/Shubin_Tix MORE DETAILS:http://www.facebook.com/events/255436124551441/
SHOW THE THIRD:
Same exact gig as the previous one, except this show starts at 10pm and may feature slightly more awesomeness from the house band. (Awesomeness subject to availability; house band awesomeness may be substituted for yawning and crankypants at the discretion of the management.)
WHERE: The Shubin Theater, 407 Bainbridge St. (that’s 4th and Bainbridge), Philadelphia, PA 19147 WHEN: We start at 10pm sharp! The plays start at 10:30. HOW MUCH: It’s a fund raiser for the theater, so tickets are $20 and well worth it. Get yer tickets here: http://is.gd/Shubin_Tix There will likely be beer, wine, and perhaps a bottle or two of something passed around (heh), as well as chips, snax, vienna sausages (it’s a Todd thing) and puddin’ packs. (We have “Jill gets 2 pudding packs” in our rider for this show, we shit you not. If Jill doesn’t get pudding, she trashes the place like fuckin’ Air Supply.) MORE DETAILS:http://www.facebook.com/events/255436124551441/
All of this is happening on Friday the 13th. What could go wrong?
NOTHING; for the power of ROCK protects us.
We are Delaware’s premier acoustic dork-rock power duo, by cracky!
We have songs about having a hole in your pants, about UFOs + love, about sheepishly and nerdily asking someone on a date, and we do a douchey cover of Crazy Train and a sweeeeet cover of Kiss Off
Jill’s .sig back in the USENET days was about professing her love for John Flansburgh
One of the first conversations Jill ever had with Matt was about programming TI-99/4As
We’ve played at World Cafe Live before. They like us there.
Most compelling reason: We’re cheap!
So Mr. Coulton, what’s it gonna take? I will bake you a batch of my world-famous maple-bacon cookies! I will eat an entire box of Cinnamon Life in one sitting! (Oh wait, I’ve done that already today.) I will get a dumb tattoo! I will donate a metric assload of money to a charity of choice! I will stop ending every sentence with an exclamation point!
Please? Pretty please? With sugar on top? And with a Grade B maple syrup drizzle and crumbled bacon? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE?
OH SWEET BABY WEDGE ANTILLES, I WILL NEVER ASK FOR ANYTHING ELSE EVER AGAIN FOR MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFETIME EVER EVER EVER!
PLEEEEEEEZE?
ALL CAPS!
ALL CAPS!
DILUTE! DILUTE! OK!
———————
Hmmmm. Or maybe we should just send his booking agent an email with a link to our electronic press kit. We must consult our management.
Kyle’s photographer life takes him to some neat places around the globe, and for the past few months Hot Breakfast! and Kyle were coincidentally in Tucson and Austin at the same time on two separate occasions, yet missing each other by just a few hours each time. We all pretended to be concerned that we were stalking each other. 🙂
Kyle often alludes to “seekrit projects” via his LiveJournal, which naturally makes his readers lean in and read extra-carefully, trying to eke out any clues as to what he’s working on and who he’s working with. The other day he barely revealed just a few small details of his latest Neil Gaiman / Amanda Palmer / Kyle collaboration, and mentioned he needed a few couples of “certain ages” willing to be photographed tastefully naked for this seekrit project. Since Matt and I are of certain ages, we volunteered, mostly because we have been wanting to finally meet Kyle! (And after you hit 40, any concerns you ever had about being naked in front of folks just goes away… we look like what we look like. Having done a lot of theater helps, too.)
This morning we headed up to Philly, where Kyle and his (jaw-droppingly beautiful) wife Trillian so warmly welcomed us and made us feel completely at home. We got down to business after learning more about the project, and we took our solemn oaths of secrecy. As a thank-you for contributing to the project, we snapped a few fun HB! photos covering our jibblies with Matt’s guitar and a strategically-placed tambourine… and hey, since we had the instruments out, we played a bit. Naked house concert! Woot!
We have a show tonight in Wilmington at the Chris White Gallery, but we figured we could do a quick living room concert. What a beautiful life we have… we are surrounded by people who are doing what they were put on this earth to do. Damn, it feels good. We don’t need a ton of money in the bank account when we have the ability and opportunity to create and share art.
Here’s a video of us singing “Defender” in Kyle’s living room. Hopefully you can see from the preview that we are indeed clothed for this rendition.
If you live in Delaware, I’m sure you’ve heard the huge buzz about Rachel Schain‘s big show on March 24 with JP Jones. She’s been on the radio promoting it, and it’s been in all the papers (we’re not kidding). Quite the hubbub, bub! We were so excited to see her sharing the bill with one of her musical heroes… until JP had to back out of the gig just 28 hours before curtain, “because of something.”
Ah yes, the dreaded “something.” I hate when something happens.
But sometimes, I love when something happens! Because when something happens to JP Jones, Hot Breakfast! makes something awesome happen… like asking to share the bill with Rachel instead. We will ROCK THE PANTS OFF of Wilmington, my friends! And with Rory Sullivan jumping in the headlining spot, there’s gonna be a whole lot of fabulous singer/songwriter magic happening. (And then some crappy dork-rock.)
(Well, actually, the dork-rock happens first. We’re the opener.)
WHEN: Doors open at 7:30pm; we’re the first act, and we go on at 8pm sharp!
WHERE: At the Chris White Gallery, which is in the Shipley Lofts in Wilmington. That’s 701 Shipley St., Wilmington DE 19801.
HOW MUCH: Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10, or in advance for $8 at Brown Paper Tickets.
OTHER DETAILS: The venue seats 100– it’s the perfect intimate size for Rachel and Rory’s music. We’re more used to selling out Madison Square Garden and stuff, but we’ll make do. 🙂 This performance will correspond with the DE Photography Exhibit gallery closing for local photographers Brian Truono and Gary Regulski. Their stuff is sweeeeeet. It’s a feast for the senses and stuff!
WILL THERE BE BOOZE? Yes there will, and the proceeds go to a good cause. So have a beverage! We’ll sound better.
We know it’s short notice… like, really, really short notice. But if you’re like us and enjoying a LOFTNOC, then maybe you can enjoy your Saturday with us IRL.
See you then, maybe?
Yay!
Your pal,
Ji11
Please note, seriously: Surburban Legend (aka Matt) just had his inner organs unceremoniously and rearranged 6 days ago, so if he’s not feeling up to ROCKING ALL OF WILMINGTON, we may have to be the second jerk artist to bail on the evening. We reserve the right to call “gall bladder.” Please don’t hold it against us.
What this means to us is: We’re not gonna sit around wishing we had something… whatever it is. If we want something, we’re gonna ask for it. Someone might say yes!
We never would have played a kick-ass house concert all the way across the country in Arizona this weekend to a home packed with 50 friends and strangers if we didn’t ask someone to host it. It was a little scary asking (“What an imposition!” we thought), but the worst the potential hosts could have said was, “No, thanks.” But instead they said, “HELL YES!” and during the show they said, “HOLY CRAP! WOOOOOOO!” and then after the show they said, “Wheeee! We should do this more often!” And we all smiled and giggled and hugged and drank wine and were (and are) all very happy having created and shared something so awesome.
So join us in making 2012 the year you ask for what you need.
Don’t be upset if people have to say “No, thanks,” since you’re no worse off than if you hadn’t asked.
But don’t be surprised when they say “Hell YES!” with a fistpump.
Let us know how this works out for you, and we’ll do the same.
We’ve got some house concerts coming up, and we’re really excited about them!
House concerts are pretty popular these days. They’re a neat way for audiences to hear music up close and personal-like, and it’s a neat way for artists to play for people who are interested in digging the music rather than playing Quarters in a bar. (Does anyone even play Quarters anymore?) In a nutshell, the house owner invites their friends, people show up and nom on tastysnax and/or tastydrinx, and eventually people sit down to hear the concert. We’ll play one or two sets depending on what y’all have arranged for us to do, and then we’ll pass a hat, and then we might have one more snack, and then we hug and say thank you, and we hug some more, and then we pack up our stuff and say goodnight. And then your friends post on Facebook and Twitter about what an awesome time they had, you feel terrific about bringing dorky-good music to your friends and family, we make some new friends and fans hopefully… everyone wins!
People really like house concerts.
You might worry your house is too small; it’s not! House concerts don’t have to be in houses, either. Apartments are great, community centers are spiffy… wherever you want. Dorm rooms even work!
You might worry your house is too messy; it’s not. Have you seen my office?
You might worry that strangers will be coming to your house; don’t worry. The event can be private if you want, so you control who attends. Or, if you trust us, we can publicize it for you.
You might worry your neighbors will be annoyed about the noise; they won’t– just invite them and then they can’t complain because they’ll be having too much fun. 🙂
If you live near Mesa Arizona or near Wilmington, DE and you’d like to come to one of the house concerts we have coming up in January, drop us a line at awesomesauce@hot-breakfast.com. We’d love to have you!
As if you didn’t get enough Hot Breakfast! this past weekend, there’s still one more tasty opportunity for you to get your dork-rock on before the end of the year. Why not give the people you love an offer of dinner and dork-rock at Bellefonte Cafe?
(Oh. Right. Because you love them, that’s why. Can’t say we blame you.)
*AHEM*
OK! So! Bellefonte Cafe is a fabulous place to get dinner, snacks, coffee, and adult beverages… as well as a nice hot breakfast and on 12/23: HOT BREAKFAST!
This show will also feature a tasty side dish of singer/songwriter Brian Turner, so be prepared to be serenaded by his spiffy stylings; and he’ll definitely be joining us on stage for a little three-way. Scandalous!
When: Friday, December 23, 2011, 7-9pm. Where: Bellefonte Cafe: 804 Brandywine Blvd, Wilmington, DE 19809 Cost: No cover charge! But you should probably eat or drink something (You’re too skinny! Just look at you wasting away!) because that’s the good thing to do (we recommend the black bean soup and the guacamole). The musicians get paid via tips, though we’ll also accept high-fives and compliments.
We’d love it if you came out. Don’t you deserve a break?
YES YOU DO.
See you soon! And if not, hey, no worries. We’re a no-pressure kind of band.
We had a really wonderful weekend, and we wanted to tell you about it.
On Friday afternoon, we were at Jill’s house rehearsing a few tunes and relaxing before we had to start thinking about getting down to Chapel Street for our show there later that evening. Matt decided to start loading our sound equipment (speakers, cables, PA, etc.) into the car when he realized… uh, it’s not here at the house.
You see, we played a Thanksgiving-eve show in Philadelphia and were heading out of town immediately after the show to visit family, so friends of ours from Philly let us store our equipment in their basement so we didn’t have to schlep our sound system up to New England… and then we forgot it was up there because we’re super-geniuses. So up to Philly we went to grab our sound equipment. Thank Elvis that traffic was kind– totally fortuitous considering it was a Friday afternoon during the holiday season.
So anyhoo, we made it back to DE with almost two hours to spare, so we still had time to brush our teefs and look marginally presentable for the show.
The show was really fun– we played for about 25 minutes, from 7:50 – 8:15, as a pre-game show for Chapel Street Players’ production of The Santaland Diaries. We love playing for theater crowds– they tend to get our dork-rock humor, and they’re kind and generous with the applause. Everyone’s pal Kevin Regan was there to shoot video of the plays, and he was kind enough to record our set, too. Here’s a video of us doing Total Eclipse of the Heart from that night (Thanks, Kevin!):
Anyway, the rest of the night went just as nicely and dorkily, and we were treated to seeing Seasons Greetings and The Santaland Diaries. Afterwards we headed out for dinner (sooo hungry!) and drinks, and our night ended with a high-five of rockitude.
Our set list from Chapel Street Players went thusly:
No Myth
Defend0r (an HB! original)
Fairy Tale of New York
Hole in Your Pants (an HB! original)
Heaven on Their Minds
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Do They Know it’s Christmas (featuring Andrew Mitchell as Bono)
Saturday we met for brunch at a local haunt around 1:30pm (that’s when rockstars eat breakfast!), and afterwards Joe Trainor came over to the ol’ HB! rehearsal space and we ran through “She’s Right On Time” by Billy Joel, which Joe was going to sing with us at our Film Brothers gig that evening.
We loaded into Film Brothers around 5:30-ish, met our opening band Fish Castle (we love them!), did a sound check, and hung out until the show started. Fish Castle played a lovely set– they’re an acoustic folk duo and they play probably 10 different instruments between the two of them– and that’s just for an hour-long set. I wonder how many instruments they’d play if they had a whole two-hour show to fill?
We took the stage right after Fish Castle, and played for a little over an hour. The audience helped us write a spontaneous holiday song (though I couldn’t come up with anything to rhyme with “gift”– argh! — but in hindsight I should have thought of “stiffed”), we debuted a few new songs, and had a generally warm, happy night. After we packed up the car we headed next door to Extreme Pizza where we enjoyed noshes and beverages and a jolly time was had by all.
Here’s our set list from the night:
Wastepaper Basket Fire
Defend0r (an HB! original)
Major Tom
Eye in the Sky
She’s Right on Time (featuring Joe Trainor)
An Easy Mistake (an HB! original)
Merry Christmas from the Family (featuring Cyril Everett on dobro)
Hole in Your Pants (an HB! original)
Gravity (an HB! original)
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Take the Lead
“spontaneous holiday song”
Here I Go Again
Kiss Off
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Thanks to everyone who came out to support us for those shows; it was great to see everyone especially during this nutty-crazy time of year.
Here’s to some happy, relaxing, rocking holidays coming up!
Film Brothers? Fish Castle?What are these nutty two-word phrases?
Well my friends, just like “Hot Breakfast,” these are two-word phrases of AWESOME.
Film Brothers is a downtown Wilmington storefront-turned-performance space– but it’s also a gallery! It’s an internet broadcast center! It’s a screening room! It’s a center for diverse artistic endeavors! It’s a floor wax! It’s a dessert topping! And it’s located at 205 N. Market Street in Wilmington’s new hipsteriffic LOMA district. The atmosphere is intimate– you’ll get to sit up close to the rockstars, and if you’re lucky, you might even get to sit on a couch while you watch the how. A COUCH! Who knew rocking could be so darn comfortable? Hell, go ahead and wear slippers to enhance your comfort… Matt probably will.
Fish Castle is an acoustic duo that honestly defies adjectives. I’ll be honest; I’d never heard them before, but Jeremy from Gable Music told me how much he loved their music, and how much fun a double-bill would be. I checked them out on YouTube and was immediately sucked in. What voices! What melodies! What rad instrumentation! Â I used to run an old coffeehouse a bunch of years ago, and man oh man, I wish I’d known them then, because I’dve had them playing there all the time.
Now, you might be thinking, “Wait a minute. I know that both of these groups are acoustic duos, but Fish Castle is on the folky side, and Hot Breakfast! is on the dorky side. Is this pairing really a good idea?”
To which we reply in all caps for emphasis:
“MY GOOD PEOPLE: BACON AND CHOCOLATE ARE BOTH FOODS, JUST LIKE FISH CASTLE AND HOT BREAKFAST! ARE BOTH ACOUSTIC DUOS. Â BUT LIKE BACON AND CHOCOLATE, AT FIRST YOU THOUGHT MEATY-SALTY SHOULDN’T GO TOGETHER WITH CHOCOLATEY-VELVETY… BUT THEN YOU ATE IT AND HAD AN ANEURYSM OF DELICIOUSNESS. Â SO TRUST US. WOULD WE STEER YOU WRONG?”
/endallcaps
WHEN: Saturday, December 17th, 7pm (That’s early!) WHERE: Film Brothers Movie Co-Op, 205 N. Market Street Wilmington, DE 19801. HOW MUCH: $6. Cheap!
I think this is going to be a KILLER double-bill… their music is haunting, thinkitty, and rich… ours is– well, you know. I am really looking forward to this. Hope you are too!
All two of you readers of this blog have probably noticed that we’ve been getting some theatrical gigs lately. Is it because Matt is such an important and well-connected figure in the Delaware theater community? Is it because Jill’s hair looks so cool under multi-colored stage lights? You’ll just have to ask the people who booked us, I guess.
But either way, we’re playing a pre-game show for Chapel Street Players‘ upcoming production of “The Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris, one of my favorite authors/raconteurs evaaarrr.
The theater which houses the Chapel Street Players is on, as you might deduce, Chapel Street. Chapel Street is in Newark, DE, just off of Main Street. It’s super easy to find, though I will warn you that parking in Newark is kinda poopy (and after midnight, it’s also pukey, thanks to drunk college students), so you’ll wanna leave some extra time to navigate that.
WHEN: December 16th, 2011. HB! plays from 7:45 – 8:15. The play starts immediately after. WHERE: 27 N. Chapel Street, Newark, DE 19711 HOW MUCH: $10. Cheap! NOTE: The show runs 12/16 and 12/17, but we’re only playing the 12/16 show, since we’re playing at Film Brothers on the 17th in Wilmington.
For more info about The Santaland Diaries, ticket info, directions, etc., click here.
World Cafe Live once billed us “Acoustic Theatrical Rock.” While we prefer our usual “dork-rock” descriptor, we can’t deny that we have a penchant for, shall we say, theatricalrocktasticness. So being the house band for a theater group seemed like the perfect opportunity for us.
I’ve said this in a previous blog post (by paraphrasing the theater group’s website), but I’ll say it again:
Philadelphia Dramatists Center; purveyors of fine Philadelphia theater since… well… a while ago.
Philadelphia is known for having a great underground theater scene, and one of the driving forces is Philly’s Primary Stages. PPS is a “down and dirty script-in-hand staged reading series of new 10 minute plays,” where audience members are encouraged to give feedback to the playwrights, actors, and directors. Audience members are even bribed with beer, wine, sodee pop, bottled water, assorted chips, dips, vienna sausages and puddin’ packs. Once in a while a bottle of something and a shot glass, or 2, show up as well.
Being a House Band for a night of 10-minute plays means that we play for 30-ish minutes before the show and for about 10-15 minutes during intermission, too… but we also perform hand-picked segue music between plays. Matt and I come from a pretty strong theater background ourselves, so we love getting to split our time between being on stage and back-stage.
In June 2011, Hot Breakfast! filled in for PPS’ usual house band who had a conflict of some kind. The folks at Philly’s Primary Stages liked what we did so much that they’ve asked us to be their permanent house band.
This month’s shows are happening on November 22nd and 23rd. We play a 30-40 minute set beginning at 7:30pm, and then 15-ish minute set at intermission.
There are different plays each night, so if you’re feelin’ theatery, you could come both nights and see a ton of amazing stuff. I can’t promise we won’t repeat any songs, however. 🙂
WHERE: The Shubin Theater; 407 Bainbridge Street (that’s 4th and Bainbridge), Philadelphia, PA 19147-1526. WHEN: November 22nd and 23rd. Doors open at 7, HB! plays at 7:30, the plays start at 8pm. Different plays both nights! CASH: Five bucks!
For a measly five bucks ($5!), you get a night of terrific theater, food, beverages, and music. What better way to spend a mid-week night?
Every time I’m interviewed by Rolling Stone, I always tell them that I consider Billy Joel to be my first voice teacher. I’m sure you’ve read that by now.
Billy Joel was my first rock and roll love, and I spent many, many hours singing his stuff at the top of my lungs in my bedroom from about 6th grade through college. Now I sing his stuff in my living room, and next week I’ll get to sing and play his stuff at the New Candlelight Dinner Theater in Arden, DE, along with 2/3 of the Joe Trainor Trio, Kerry Kristine McElrone, Chuck Kuzminski, and Steve Manocchio.
We did this show for one night in August, and we knew we wanted to do it for a full weekend when people weren’t away for the summer, so here it is!
On Friday November 4th and Saturday November 5th, Hot Breakfast! will once again join forces with some of Delaware’s best musicians to bring you a night of music by Billy Joel.
We aren’t allowed to divulge the set list (Joe has threatened our lives), but we can tell you that we’ll be singing a “full band version” of a song we’ve been known to cover… so that’s a hint at least. Matt will be playing guitar, alto and tenor saxes, and singing his fabulous lungs out for this show, and I’ll be singing, playing saxes and playing a bunch of percussion, too. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to play triangle, and I’m totally serious.
Tickets are $20, and you can buy them in advance here. It’s general admission seating, so sit where you want. The venue doors open at 7pm, and the show starts right at 8pm. There’s no opening band, in typical Joe Trainor fashion. GOD FOR-FREAKIN’-BID he have Hot Breakfast! open! That would be just insane, wouldn’t it?
Anyway…
Hope to see you there. This really is my favorite music ever, and it’s a childhood dream come true to get to play this for you.
It’d be funny to chalk it up to old age, but I’ve been super-sensitive to loud sounds since I was a kid. When stuff is too loud it’s painful, annoying, and can even be disorienting for me, so I always keep a pair of drugstore foam earplugs in my pocket. As a FREAKIN’ ROCKSTAR, I never know when I’m gonna be in a noisy situation or asked to give an impromptu concert to a crowd of 25,000, so it’s nice to be prepared. Foam earplugs are handy, disposable and cheap, but sometimes they make things too soft, and they always muffle sounds making it hard to hear what musical things are happening. Muffling is great sometimes– sleeping on airplanes, snoring pal, drag racing, weed whacking… but when I’m listening to or making music the muffling is a buzzkill.
Two of my musician pals, Dan Schnelle (a full-time jazz drummer from L.A.), and Kevin Niemi of the Joe Trainor Trio own custom earplugs that are made exclusively for musicians and they both love them, so I decided to look into them.
I made an appointment with Dr. Michelli at Handelman Hearing Aids (my local hearing aid shop) and told him what I was looking for, and he recommended the Westone 49, which is a custom-made earplug with snap-in noise reduction filters depending how much quieter you want your surroundings. The filters are made by Etymotic Research and come in 9dB, 15dB, and 25dB sizes, and they all snap right into your custom earplug. A pair of these earplugs comes with one set of filters (your choice; I went with the 9dB), as well as a snap-in plug that blocks almost all noise (similar to what a good foam earplug would do)– I think I paid $225 for these, and then another $50 for a second pair of filters (I chose the 15dB filters). So overall, we’re talking about $275 for everything, which ain’t chump change I know, but what good is a deaf musician? (Just look at Beethoven, Pete Townshend, and Evelyn Glennie. Completely worthless!)
So here’s how it went down: Dr. Michelli looked in my ears to make sure they weren’t gross, and then he placed a small piece of foam as far into my ear as it would go. (I was worried this would hurt, but it didn’t.) Then he took what looked like a silicone caulking gun and filled my ears with pink silicone and also stuck a thin plastic tube in the silicone so we could remove the molds once they set. I couldn’t hear a thing with all that pink stuff in my ears, which was pretty cool.
This is what my ears look like on the inside. This is way more information than you ever wanted about me, I’m sure. But it’s still kinda cool, right?
And then he sent the molds out to Westone to get created. He asked if I wanted my initials etched into the earplugs, so I said sure. The earplugs themselves are clear, but they each have a different colored teeny dot on them so you can tell them apart. I figured in a concert situation with nutty lighting it would be hard to see the dot, so I took Kevin Niemi’s advice and got two different filter colors to make them easier to discern. I asked for the 15dB ones to be clear (figuring I’d probably use them less often), and the 9dB ones to be red and blue (R for Red/Right, and B for, um… Blue/Bleft?).
About 10 days later, I got a call from the doc to pick up my earplugs. Aren’t they cute? The 9dB filters are in the earplugs in this photo, but you can see the clear 15dB filters in the baggie. And they come with a little carrying case.
He had me try them on in the office just in case they needed to be adjusted or in a worst case, re-done. But yay– mine fit perfectly!
Please forgive the lack of makeup; instead, just look at the earplug. Isn’t it cute?Extreeeeeeeeme closeup!
So how well do they work?
They freakin’ rule; this is one of those “I don’t know how I survived without them” kinds of things. I wore them out dancing to a loud thumpy club and I brought both sets of filters (the -9dB and the -15dB) since I wasn’t really sure which ones I’d want. The music wasn’t as loud as it’s been in other clubs, so I was very happy with the 9dBs. The music sounded great– I heard all of the highs, all of the thumpy bass, all of the tasty midrange just fine. I also use the 9dBs when we’re rehearsing Billy Joel stuff in Jeff’s basement– it’s smaller-sized basement with drums, saxes, four singers, and the Trainor boys with their amps cranked pretty good. I haven’t had a chance to try out the 15dBs, but I imagine next weekend while standing in front of Jeff’s drum kit during the Billy Joel tribute I’ll want them. I’ll keep you posted!
UPDATE:
So I’ve had them now for a while, and they continue to be a must-have. Even as an acoustic duo, there are times when I really need them. (Of course, we’re not a typical James-Taylor-playin’ acoustic duo… we’re an acoustic duo that rocks Violent Femmes tunes in addition to originals like “It Only Takes Two to Rock.” So we definitely turn it up to 11.) For those smaller (but loud) venues, I’ll stick the -9db in one ear and either the -15db or the silent plug in the other, which kinda gives that “finger in your ear so you can hear yourself” effect so I can hear myself. For street gigs where we have very minimal if any amplification, sometimes I’ll throw the 9dB in one ear so I can be hyper-aware of my pitch while not losing any of that “stay connected to Matt” thing. So yeah… these plugs were totally, totally, worth the $275 investment.
