Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awesome-sauce Rocking Uncategorized

LAST MINUTE GIG: 3/24 @8PM, Chris White Gallery, Wilmington

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.)

So here’s the scoop:

WHO: Hot Breakfast!, Rachel Schain, and Rory Sullivan

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.

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Ass-kicking Gigs Awesome-sauce Benefit Cool Little Brothers Recording Rocking Uncategorized

Will Matt & Jill ever finish their new album? (also: GIG: March 10 @ 9pm, Film Bros, Wilmington)

Yes.

Yes, we will.

Thank you for your concern.

Seriously, we will. We’re all stocked up with recording equipment, we have a song list, and we even have a little time, for once. So you can rest assured that a new album by Hot Breakfast!, featuring originals (including some brand-new tunes you ain’t never heard, son) and some favorite covers, will be available for your listening entertainment in the near future.

Besides, we can’t let Brian and the rest of our Cool Little Brothers down. We owe ’em!

Until then…we’ve got gigs! Come on down to Wilmington on Saturday, March 10th as the [blank] canvas celebrates Woman’s Day with ARTemis…a weekend event of art and music that benefits Mom’s House! The Wilmington event actually starts on Friday night with a great concert at The Film Brothers Movie Co-op and continues into Saturday with some wonderful events for kids. It culminates in another concert on Saturday night, and that’s where we come in! We’ll be performing at Film Brothers at 205 Market Street, Wilmington. We go on at 9:00, but the show starts at 6:30 and features great local acts like Crossing Oceans, Deadlox, Mean Lady, 205, and Xtra Allta. Join us! Seriously, we’re totally nice.

You can also catch us in April in Philly and Wilmington, as we melt faces at Lickety Split and the Shubin Theater (Philly) and Extreme Pizza (Wilmington).

And our album will be released soon.

We promise.

Have we ever lied to you?

Your pal,

Matt

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awesoming Rocking Uncategorized

That’s what I call a weekend!

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!

Rock on,

HB!

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Rocking Uncategorized

GIG: 12/17 at Film Brothers, with Fish Castle

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!

Your pal,

Jill (aka Breakfast)

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Rocking Uncategorized

GIG: Philly Primary Stages (11/22 and 11/23)

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 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?

See you then!

Your pal,

Jill

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awesome-sauce Rocking Uncategorized

GIGS: 11/4 and 11/5: Two nights of Billy Joel!

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.

Your pal,

Jill

Categories
Rocking Uncategorized

Save your hearing, get off my lawn

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.
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 way more information than you ever wanted about me, I'm sure.  But it's still kinda cool, right?
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.
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?
Please forgive the lack of makeup; instead, just look at the earplug. Isn’t it cute?
Extreeeeeeeeme closeup!
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.

Be cool, stay in school.

Your pal,

Ji11

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Ass-kicking Gigs Awesome-sauce Rocking Uncategorized

Sweet gig: 10/27/11 at PA Academy of Fine Arts

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.)

More information: http://www.pafa.org/Museum/Education/General-Adult-Audiences/PAFA-After-Dark/875/

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?

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awesome-sauce Rocking Uncategorized World Domination

GIG: September 9th at World Cafe Live (ya need reservations!)

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.

Your pal,

Jill

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awesoming Benefit Rocking Uncategorized

Gig: MS Benefit at Aqua Sol – 12 hours of music! August 20

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. 😉

Your pal,

Jill

Categories
Awesome-sauce Benefit Rocking Uncategorized

GIG: July 23rd Zach Lowe BBQ Benefit

We know that not all of you are on The Book1, so we wanted to make sure you had the information for tomorrow’s show at Bankshots on Route 40 which benefits Zach Lowe. We’re pretty sure we’re one of the few non-hard-rock bands there, which makes it extra-cool that we were invited to play. Just because we’re acoustic doesn’t mean we won’t ROCK YOUR FREAKIN’ FACES OFF. We’re glad that people are gettin’ that dang message.

THE CLIFFS NOTES VERSION:
WHERE: Bankshots Rt. 40 (2689 Pulaski Highway, Newark, DE)
WHO: A zillion bands!
WHAT: We’re raising money for cancer treatments for Zach Lowe (the son of Hallowed Cain drummer Brian Lowe)
WHO CAN ATTEND: It’s a 21+ show.
WHEN: July 23rd, 2011. The event starts at 3pm and goes until Bankshots’ closing time. Hot Breakfast! plays at 5pm.

THE VERBOSE VERSION:
This info was ganked directly from the Facebook Page for the Event:

Join us for a fun-filled day of great music, cool spirits, and lip-smackin’ BBQ all while raising money for a wonderful cause. At just 9 years old, Zack Lowe – the son of our very dear friend and Hallowed Cain drummer Brian Lowe – was recently diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a type of malignant bone cancer. He’s currently undergoing extensive treatments at AI DuPont hospital to battle this awful disease. But cancer won’t bring him down. He’s keeping his spirits high and muscling through like the tough kid that he is. Please come out and help us raise money to help him and his family during this difficult time.

We need all the help we can get folks! The event starts at 3PM and runs into the night. $20 gets you free food and beer from 3-8PM. At 8PM, door cover charge drops to $10 and you get to drink beer for free until the kegs are tapped. If there’s any left, Killer BBQ food will be sold at affordable prices from 8PM to close. We’ll have local bands lined up to play throughout the entire event and tons of cool stuff to auction off. If you’re not busy that day, we could use help from our fellow Pit Masters cooking and prepping all the food and also volunteers to help serve it. We are also excepting donations for the Chinese Auction and Raffle. Anything from Phillies tickets, gift packages, gift certificates/cards, baskets of cheer, etc. is most welcome. Your help with anything will be very much appreciated and will certainly not go unnoticed.

CONFIRMED BANDS: Hallowed Cain, My Friends, Von Kull, FelixHunger, Altar of Dagon, The Paper Janes, World Lost, Hot Breakfast, Offset, Solecraft, The Essence of Blues – A Blues Brothers Tribute. (1 more band to be announced).

Thank you to everyone who has already reached out to us! It’s extremely heart-warming having such outgoing, positive people in our lives.

The band line-up goes like this:
Solecraft 3:50 – 4:30
The Paper Janes 4:30 – 5:10
Hot Breakfast! 5:00 – 5:40
FelixHunger 5:40 – 6:20
My Friends 7:00 – 7:40
Essence of Blues 7:40 – 8:20
Altar of Dagon 8:20 – 9:00
Hallowed Cain 9:20 – 10:00
Offset 10:20 – 11:00
World Lost 11:20 – 12:00
Von Kull 12:20 – Close

We hope to see you there for this super-worthy cause.


——–
1 That’s Facebook, yo.

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Cool Little Brothers Rocking Uncategorized World Domination

Looking for your socks? (plus, a set list)

 

photo (c) 2011 Joe del Tufo

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!

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Rocking Uncategorized World Domination

Gig: June 4th at Bellefonte Cafe

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.

See you then? See you then!

Categories
Cool Little Brothers Rocking Uncategorized World Domination

GIG: May 18th at the Blue Parrot (updated!)

Hey Ninjas!

Hot Breakfast! is opening for the Joe Trainor Trio at the Blue Parrot Bar and Grill in Wilmington on May 18th. I’m pretty sure we go on at 9pm, but keep your eyes peeled here and we’ll let you know for sure. Matt’s parents are going to be there, so make sure you say hello to them. (Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever even met them, so maybe if you say hello you can introduce us since you’ll be all buddy-buddy.)

[UPDATE: We start promptly at 9:30. We play until about 10:15. JT3 goes on at 10:30 sharp.]

Rumor has it that we’ll be playing a fairly good-sized set; perhaps 45 minutes to an hour. Of course, knowing Joe, he’ll cut our set down to 12 minutes or something. If that happens, maybe we can ask our Cool Little Brothers (who always have our back) to hold Joe down while we keep playing. We have an artistic statement to make, and we’re not leaving that stage until we’ve made it, golldarnit.

As of this writing, for some reason we’re not showing up on the Blue Parrot’s concert calendar. I’m not sure what that’s all about. We’ll get our people working on that right away. But you can trust us: we’re playing there.

[UPDATE: They updated their website, and our spiffy picture is on their band calendar. Woot! We’re famous! World Domination is IMMINENT!]

If you’ve got any requests, let us know. You can reply here if you want. We like it when you reply here.

OK, that’s all I’ve got to report for now.

Your pal,

Breakfast (aka Jill)

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Rocking Uncategorized

Here. Have some awesome-sauce.

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.

Your pal,

Jill (a.k.a. “Breakfast”)