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! 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. 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. 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.
We are really, really, really excited about this show. Which isn’t to make other shows feel like second bananas or anything; but when you hear about how awesome this show is, you’ll see why.
First off, the show is so awesome that we had to get INSURANCE. Insurance! Why? Because they know that we rock so dang hard that we could probably (and let’s face it, most likely will) set fire to all of the incredible artwork with our FACE-MELTING AWESOMENESS.
So what’s the gig?
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)’s program called “PAFA After Dark” reminds people that art can be fun and lively and social and unpredictable. So expect cocktails, scavenger hunts, gallery talks, hands-on projects and of course, music from HOT BREAKFAST!… all right on Broad Street in Philadelphia.
On October 27th, the theme of the night is “Home Grown,” which applies to the local beer being served (om nom nom!), the exhibition on view, the demonstrations by an urban farming community. (Jill is hoping there will be chickens.)
Tickets can be purchased at the website above; adult tickets are $10 if you buy them in advance, or they’re $15 at the door. The exhibition is geared more for grown-ups, though it’s not like there’s gonna be real live breastages or anything (unless Matt has more than 3 beers, then all bets are off). We’ve been told we don’t have to keep it clean, so we’ll be singing a new song I wrote called “Fuck You, Fucking Fuckface.”1
PAFA has several buildings, and our spiffy event will be in the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building at 128 N. Broad St. in Philadephia. See you there!
—- 1 No, we don’t have a song called that. But hey, sounds catchy (and classy!), doesn’t it?
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, soda 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. Philadelphia Dramatists Center; purveyors of fine Philadelphia theater since… well… a while ago.
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 their 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, which means that we’ll be playing at the Shubin Theater 6 times in 2012… assuming the world doesn’t end first, of course. And who knows, our EXTREMELY INTENSE ROCKING might just hasten that.
We’ve updated our calendar with the dates, but I’ll toss ’em here too just so you have them in one spot:
November 22nd and 23rd, 2011
February 21-22, 2012
June 19-20, 2012
November 20-21, 2012
We’re playing 30-40 minute set beginning at 7:30pm, and then 15-ish minute set at intermission.
For $5, you get a night of terrific theater, food, beverages, and music. What better way to spend a mid-week night?
As Delaware’s Premier Acoustic Dork Rock Power Duo, we naturally get asked a lot of questions.
Probably the question we get asked the most is, “How is it possible that you both are so darn good looking?” And our only answer for that: Liberal application of only the highest-quality awesomesauce, at least thrice daily.
The second most frequent question we are asked is, “When the heck are you guys gonna play at World Cafe Live, like, for real? None of this open mic stuff.” And our answer has always been, “Patience, Grasshopper.”
UNTIL NOW.
Because we are officially booked at World Cafe Live at the Queen for a LunchTime Live at Noon concert on Friday, September 9th. The show starts at noon, and we play a full hour until 1pm.
The folks at WCL tell us that the show is expected to sell out, so y’all are encouraged to make reservations via OpenTable to make sure there’s a place for your rather cute butt. Click here to make a lunch reservation— it’s free and easy (like your mom).
We’re pretty excited about this, gotta say. We are thiiiis much closer to world domination, yo.
Multiple Sclerosis sucks. My sister has it. You don’t want it. Each year I try to do a little something to raise money for the MS Society; I’ll either Bike to the Bay, I’ll do the MS Walk, or during lazy years I’ll send ’em a check. This year I get to donate my (questionable) skills by participating in a way-cool all-day music festival at a wonderful spot: Aqua Sol Restaurant.
If you haven’t been there before, Aqua Sol is pretty neat. It’s got foodie-quality food with a Cuban flair, really good drinks, and a South Beach vibe. It’s right on the water, and their giant deck is on the marina. It’s the perfect place to start the process of saying goodbye to summer. A mojito on the water? Don’t mind if I do!
There are two stages: An acoustic stage, and a main stage. Hot Breakfast! will be the first band on the main stage, kinda as a bridge between the acoustic acts and the rockers on the main stage. I feel bad that so many bands have to play after us though, because really… how the hell do you follow us?
Now I’ll be honest with you. When I hear “12 hours of music” I think, “Ugh, kill me. That’s a time investment. I could be home watching Aunt Barbara videos on Youtube.” But not this one! There are so many awesome bands playing that you’re not gonna wanna miss it. Bands like Project Edge, Hot Breakfast! (that’s us, yo), The Leslie Carey Band, The Miles, For Wednesday, and The Joe Trainor Trio (they’re pretty OK). The JT3 plays last, and after their set we’re closing out the night with Abbey Road. Sweeeet!
You can buy tickets at the door ($20 per person, $35 per couple), or better yet: You can buy them cheaper if you buy them ahead of time by clicking here: http://musicextravaganza.ticketleap.com/ See? I’m saving you a couple bucks.
Here’s the band lineup as we know it:
Noon – 2:00 – Various acoustic acts
2:00 – 3:00 – Hot Breakfast!
3:00 – 3:20 – Frank Julian
3:20 – 4:20 – 45rpm
4:20 – 5:00 – Edge
5:00 – 6:00 – Omeomy (a variation of The Miles)
6:00 – 6:20 – Johnny B
6:20 – 7:20 – The Leslie Carey Band
7:20 – 7:40 – JT2 (that’s Kerry McElrone and Joe Testa)
7:40 – 8:40 – For Wednesday
8:40 – 9:00 – John Smith and Friends (John is the event organizer and was recently diagnosed with MS; he is fabulous)
9:00 – 10:30 – The Joe Trainor Trio (JT3 plays a 45 minute set first, and then finishes up with Abbey Road.)
Here’s a link to the Facebook Page for the event— you don’t need a Facebook account to see it, just in case you want to learn more about the other sweeeeeet activities (poker!) happening as part of the event.
Hope to see you there! And I hope even more to see you there handing me a mojito with extra mint. 😉
Let Hot Breakfast help you over the workweek Hump Day by playing for you at lunchtime (also known as the workday Hump Hour)!
Wilmington’s Grand Opera House is running their Summer Salon concert series once again, and they’ve asked us to get Market Street rockin’ on July 20th at lunchtime, from noon to 1:30pm.
July 20th also happens to be Matt’s birthday, so you can feel free to bring him a piece of birthday pie.. which he probably won’t eat, but with any luck he will give it to me instead. So make sure you bring me him either apple, cherry, or key lime. 🙂
We’ll be playing right in front of The Grand, which is 818 Market Street in downtown Wilmington.
For those of you who got to your cars last night and realized that your socks were gone, you can thank us for rocking them the hell off. To retrieve them, check with the Bellefonte Cafe staff; we left them in a plastic bag from Target– ask for Frank behind the bar.
Seriously… thanks so much to everyone who came to the show last night. We had a great time, and hearing y’all yell “HOT BREAKFAST!” and singing along makes it all worth while. We’re very lucky that we get to do what we do for appreciative people. So really, we owe you the thanks here.
photo (c) 2011 Joe del Tufo
Also: Woot! As of this writing we’re up to 135 people who like us on Facebook. WORLD DOMINATION IS IMMINENT, PEOPLE. Can you taste it? (We can, and it tastes sorta like the brunch we had at Hank’s this morning. Highly recommended.)
We’ve been getting requests for us to post our set list, so we’re gonna start doing that after each show. The tunes marked with an asterisk are our originals, written by our Hotness, Matt Casarino. Covers have their original artists noted in parentheses.
SET 1:
Can You Picture That? (Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem)
* Defender (Matt Casarino)
Vienna (Billy Joel)
* An Easy Mistake (Matt Casarino)
Wastepaper Basket Fire (Brian Dewan)
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen)
Rock of Ages (Def Leppard)
No Myth (Michael Penn)
Eye in the Sky (Alan Parsons Project)
* Good for You (Matt Casarino)
Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)
Take on Me (A-Ha)
SET 2: Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)
* Hole in Your Pants (Matt Casarino)
Two-Headed Boy (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Downeaster Alexa (Billy Joel)
Kiss Off (Violent Femmes)
Wine – with special guest appearance by Brian Elam (Saul Williams)
* O Hell (Matt Casarino)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel)
The Chauffeur (Duran Duran)
Kiss Me Son of God (They Might Be Giants)
* Gravity (Matt Casarino)
Fairy Tale of New York (The Pogues)
* Yeah Baby (Matt Casarino)
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler)
Encore (thanks so much for that!)
Heaven on Their Minds (Jesus Christ Superstar / Murray Head)
Last night our Founding CLB Brian asked us when our next gig is, because as of now all we have are private shows booked1. Have no fear, folks. We’ll be back at the Bellefonte Cafe soon enough, and we’ll also be playing at Between Books on an upcoming balmy Friday night. We also will be playing at open mic nights (granted, not a lot of bang for your buck there) at The Kennett Flash, World Cafe Life at the Queen, and Legendary Dobbs in Philly. We’re also talking to the people who book shows at Logan House, Mojo Main, and The Tin Angel. Stay tuned for details and dates! Don’t worry, we won’t leave you hanging.
Also: If you’re interested in booking us for a house concert, let us know! We love those.
OK, that’s it for now.
It’s 11pm, and this rockstar has some leftover rice that isn’t gonna eat itself.
Your pal,
Jill
—– 1 Did you know you can hire us to play your soiree/BBQ/wedding? We can class it up if we need to. Email us (scroll down after you click the link) if you’re interested and we’ll tawk!
It’s true! It’s true! Hot Breakfast! is returning to the super-cool Bellefonte Cafe on Saturday June 4th. After such a groovy and jam-packed time in April, the Bellefonte folks signed us up for a second gig that very night… we were flattered because we love that place, and lots of incredible folks have played there. We hope you’ll join us for some coffee, some banter, some tasty food, and a bunch of new tunes, too.
What new tunes?
Here’s a teaser: Do you like Duran Duran? How about A-ha? And what about Alan Parsons Project? And do you like Matt Casarino’s originals? YES YOU DO. So you should come on out and support not only a local business that serves local food, but also live, local indie music played by people who can actually, like, sing in tune without comput0rz.
Besides, how can you resist a new tune called “Hole In Your Pants”? You simply cannot.
The power of pants-holes compels you!
The power of pants-holes compels you!
The power of pants-holes compels you!
The show starts at 7pm and ends around 9, though something tells us they won’t be too upset if we go a little later. For those of you with a schedule to keep (or a touch of OCD), we promise to start as close to 7pm as possible.
Sadly, the folks at the Kennett Flash accidentally double-booked some other bands to play the night that we were supposed to play (May 27th), so… we’re not playing that night. It was an innocent, honest mistake, there are no hard feelings, so it’s all good in the hood. We’ll play there again soon, so stay tuned for the new date.
I suppose it’s a blessing in disguise; it is Memorial Day weekend after all, and we were expecting our usual crowd to be lighter than usual due to vacations. And speaking of vacations, Jill canceled her Memorial Day vacation plans to do the gig, and now she can go camping with her nutty pals in Texas where she can will bitten by fire ants and covered in poison ivy. Everyone loves a Blotchy Breakfast.
Here’s a nice little video of us doing “Kiss Off” from our January 22nd show at the New Candlelight.
Apologies to everyone for having to endure the butt-cam. Had I known my butt was going to be front and center, I would have worn jeans that looked a bit better.
