 yup, that's adam on the cover of backstreets magazine... now if he can only make the cover of the new yorker. |
| bloodline |
| I've just returned from the Ropewalk Writers' Retreat in New Harmony, Indiana, which is a historic town established 200 years ago by a group of hopeful Germans, on the conflicting ideals of utopia and communal living (those of you with roommates get me here, I think)[1]. Ropewalk includes a week of writing workshops, private writing council, readings, craft lectures, swimming, bike riding, and talking to famous people with your mouth full off cheese cubes. It hosts established writers each year, and this year was especially good in that area, with names like Michael Waters, Jennifer S. Davis, Bich Minh Nguyen, and more. During the faculty dinner[2], I had a lengthy conversation with renowned poet, Michael Waters, about music, a conversation which led us to Marah (I'm sure most of you here are aware that Adam and Dave are also integral parts of Marah). Now, Waters is the kind of uber-intellectual that you just want to get started on a subject, be it Polish filmmakers or Maryland crab cakes, and whose tastes in most things are pretty sophisticated and are each accompanied by an eloquent defense. So when he names one of your favorite rock and roll bands--of all things--as one of his favorite rock and roll bands--of all things!--your whole lousy existence suddenly feels that much more confirmed. It's kind of the feeling you get when you realize that the musicians Johnny Cash covered on his albums are also your favorite people--these things can't be accidental. All that it's-all-relative-you-like-what-you-like bullshit people who listen to bad music and don't get Seinfeld throw at you is trumped once again. The simple fact is that some things are really good and other things are not as good and other things just fucking suck, and things like Marah and Adam and Dave's Bloodline are way up at the top and if you just don't get it, then sorry, pal, but there's an actual problem with your personal preference. So, for the record, Michael Waters is an amazing poet and gives a hell of a reading, and he loves Marah. He specifically mentioned Round Eye Blues as his favorite song of theirs, and then asked me if I listen to Jesse Malin. This guy is in his fifties or so, so there's no fucking excuse left for you twenty-somethings out there who stopped looking for new music when you discovered Coldplay. Great rock is still out there. The poets know it. -------------------- Footnotes [1]Of possible interest for Pennsylvania natives: The town of Economy, PA, ten miles north of Pittsburgh, was established later, in 1825, by one of the two groups that previously attempted the experiment in Indiana. Not unlike great ideas I've had in Indiana and then attempted to hatch in Pennsylvania, it failed miserably. [2] The faculty dinner is for the writers who give readings and workshops all week, for the staff that puts the whole thing on, and for stragglers like me who somehow slipped through some administrative crack to end up eating and drinking anything I felt a sudden whim to all night. When you've been surviving on pretzel crumbs and drops from discarded beer bottles for months, this is no small miracle, and you quickly forget about tact and just way, way over-order, and later end up breaking out in hives from some lethal combination of different seafoods and alcohols. Anyway, I attended because, as Associate Editor for the Southern Indiana Review, which is an entity of the university that puts on Ropewalk, I had a very small hand in Ropewalk's success this year--in short, it was a gracious mistake on their part to include me, one I'm sure they will never make again. Labels: Jesse Malin, Marah, Michael Waters, poetry, Ropewalk |
| Sunday, June 17, 2007 | chris dickens |
| We did a show in New Jersey the other night... here's a tale of what happened written by the promoter, Jim Cowan: Sorry for the lengthy post, but I've got to tell you folks what went down with the Adam and Dave's Bloodline show the other night. I'm new to this whole concert venue host thing, and I learned a painful, yet very valuable lesson on Saturday: DO NOT HOST A SHOW DURING THE SUMMER ON A WEEKEND IN A TOWN THAT BECOMES A GHOST TOWN DURING THE SUMMER ON A WEEKEND BECAUSE HALF THE GODDAMN RESIDENTS GO DOWN THE GODDAMN SHORE! Now I knew that ticket sales were light. I had only 25 tickets sold, but I hoped for some walk-ups and maybe a crowd of 35-40 people. Well, that didn't happen. Not even remotely close. In fact, the audience just barely outnumbered the band. Needless to say, I was mortified. Why am I telling you all of this? I'm telling you this because of how the band reacted. I'm telling you this because Adam Garbinski, Dave Petersen, Kris Klein, Ryan Hull, and Brian Newell not only didn't give a shit about the crowd (or lack thereof), but they actually appeared to be oddly inspired by it. Bloodline put on a rocking; funny, emotional, charismatic, beautiful, rocking (I had to say rocking twice because, well, you had to be there). When many bands could have and would have simply and understandably, phoned it in, this band shouted it out from a mountain top. They exploded into a 20 song, 2 hour fireball that was easily one of the best shows I have ever seen. To put in succinctly, the band was in complete array (the opposite of disarray, once again, you had to be there). Adam mentioned a number of times how excited he was to be in Soprano's country and even dedicated a song to, as he put it, "the late, great, Christopher Moltisanti." Adam's guitar playing was simply flawless. Dave Petersen showed that he is ready to breakout as a great front man. I was blown away by his showmanship and talent level. He dedicated a song titled Angel Baby to his daughter that just about had me in tears, and Corner Sloop with Hang on Sloopy just blew the freakin' roof of the place. After the show the band thanked me. Can you imagine? They thanked me. For what? The pizza? Just before they left, Adam made sure he had directions to Tony Soprano's house in nearby North Caldwell. He planned on hopping the front gate ala Springsteen at Graceland. Beautiful. As with Marah, the only thing that comes close to matching Bloodline's passion and musicianship is their professionalism. Do yourself a favor and go see Adam and Dave's Bloodline as soon as possible...and bring lots and lots of friends. |
| Tuesday, June 5, 2007 | bloodline |
