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Hello hello hello hello,
It's been so long since I've written. My apologies. My fingers were snowed in.
This is the year 2011. What do we have in store for you? Plenty! But I'll narrow it down to four things.
** 1. Our new album is imminent. Demos of all the songs have been distributed amongst the band. A plan for recording has been formed, including trying a somewhat live technique. I'm looking toward the sounds of my favorite albums by people like R.E.M. and The Replacements, hoping to capture not just the songs but a mood and a sense of a band having fun making music. It's time that music became more human again, don't you think? Enough with the auto-tune, and samples, and gazillion overdubs. Who cares. Not every song has to sound like it's the last song ever on earth, Arcade Fire. (Disclaimer: I quite like the new Arcade Fire album). The point is, let's just stop and take a breath, huh? We're making songs, not pop-up ads, not everything has to be the latest and greatest and loudest and newest. I don't want to be in-your-face anymore than you want me there.
That's the pep-rally speech I'll give the band before recording. Then they will all laugh in my face and we'll take a waffle break.
** 2. Big shows! Starting with:
Friday, February 18th at The Elevens in Northampton, MA. We haven't played there forever. It's our triumphant return and look at the bill:
The Mitch Easter Band (Yes, Mitch Easter of Let's Active and hey-I-produced-some-of-the-best-albums-ever fame.)
School for the Dead
Boy Genius
Ribboncandy
Starts at 10:00 - Doors at 9:00 - 21+
Thursday, February 24th at The Sierra Grille in Northampton.
The Rub Wrongways Caravan of Stars returns...NOW! With more stars!
10:00 - 21+ - with Whistle Jacket and Young & Old.
Friday April 1 at The Basement in Northampton, MA.
The Official School for the Dead April Fool's Party.
Details to follow at our websites or at http://www.iheg.com
Saturday April 16th at The Montague Bookmill in Montague, MA (Music you don't need in a place you can't find.)
THE SCHOOL FOR THE DEAD TENTH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!
Details to follow at our website or at http://www.montaguebookmill.com
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** 3. Look out for a new solo album from me, Henning. It's a concept album of sorts, and it's almost done. I don't want to divulge too much yet. But I think you'll like it.
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** 4. Cool new shirts. Max has got something up his sleeves and that something also has sleeves. Stay tuned.
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That's enough info for now right? I'll stop, I'll stop. Can you tell I'm excited?
Keep up to date with us at:
http://www.schoolforthedead.com
http://twitter.com/rubwrongways
http://www.new.facebook.com/schoolforthedead
http://www.rubwrongways.com
http://schoolforthedead.bandcamp.com
Thank you,
Henning
School for the Dead
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Happy 1st Birthday to the Third SNTB kid.
From a guilty dad:
Happy First Birthday, Wrong Tree E.P.! I'm sorry that upon your release I more or less neglected you and tended to other stuff. You deserved better. Perhaps you and the other two kids will be re-released by Rhino long after I'm dead.
In the meantime, the dozens who did buy it can feel way ahead of the curve. Or maybe some folks will wanna buy it here or download it here for $5.
Happy First Birthday, Wrong Tree E.P.! I'm sorry that upon your release I more or less neglected you and tended to other stuff. You deserved better. Perhaps you and the other two kids will be re-released by Rhino long after I'm dead.
In the meantime, the dozens who did buy it can feel way ahead of the curve. Or maybe some folks will wanna buy it here or download it here for $5.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Jake Shimabukuro performing Bohemian Rhapsody in Hiroshima, Japan
The other day I was feeling like I was getting pretty good at the ukulele. Then I saw this.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Let's Hear It For The Squirrel
Rick from Group DeVille pointed out to me that today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day.
If you've been following this Rockumentary, you are probably aware that I am a fan of squirrels. In fact, I can honestly say that I appreciate the squirrel everyday. Here's one of our backyard pals now:
If you've been following this Rockumentary, you are probably aware that I am a fan of squirrels. In fact, I can honestly say that I appreciate the squirrel everyday. Here's one of our backyard pals now:
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Facebook and Twitter are Stealing My Attention
Maybe you've noticed that things don't seem to get updated as much here as they used to. I'm afraid to say that Facebook and twitter have kind of stolen some of my attention away.
It used to be that, if I had a little fleeting thought, I'd post it here. Now I tend to head to one of those other places. A lot of this has to do with having a smart phone. It's so easy to update those places on the phone.
I've been trying to figure out a way to have my Facebook status updates and things appear here automatically, but everything I try looks pretty ugly and is clunky at best.
I'll keep working on it. It's important to me that The Living Rockumentary remains vital. It is FOUR posts away from our 5,000th post! We started this thing before we had Facebook or Twitter or Myspace or Flickr or any of those.
Stick with us, I'll make it work out. I'll keep posting here and also you can follow at:
Facebook (School for the Dead), Facebook (me), and Twitter
It used to be that, if I had a little fleeting thought, I'd post it here. Now I tend to head to one of those other places. A lot of this has to do with having a smart phone. It's so easy to update those places on the phone.
I've been trying to figure out a way to have my Facebook status updates and things appear here automatically, but everything I try looks pretty ugly and is clunky at best.
I'll keep working on it. It's important to me that The Living Rockumentary remains vital. It is FOUR posts away from our 5,000th post! We started this thing before we had Facebook or Twitter or Myspace or Flickr or any of those.
Stick with us, I'll make it work out. I'll keep posting here and also you can follow at:
Facebook (School for the Dead), Facebook (me), and Twitter
Monday, January 03, 2011
The Fawns, School for the Dead, The Gay Potatoes First Night Concerts a Recap
New Year's Eve is always an exhausting day/night for me. This is not a complaint. I bring this on myself and I do so knowingly and purposefully.
The music began at seven o'clock. The Fawns were back at Lyman Hall again. Each year, for a lot of years now, we've played this venue as part of Northampton's First Night Celebration. There are performances and exhibits all around town. People buy special buttons and they can go to any of the events. We had a show at 7:00 and a show at 8:00. As Lesa and I walked into town (our equipment had mostly been brought in earlier) the fireworks were going off. The explosions were directly beyond our destination, so our fifteen minute walk brought us closer and closer to the spectacle. As we strolled, we passed several other groups of people gazing up at the sky, finding spots between the trees. It was exciting.
We loaded our stuff in and set up quickly in front of a growing crowd of revelers and before we knew it, we began our show. These First Night gigs are always unusual and a bit surreal. The audience is different than our norm. It is comprised of people who don't often go out to see bands play. It is comprised of people of all ages and from all walks of life. The venue is also quite different than our usual haunts. Lyman Hall is part of a large church in town. The inside feels like the inside of a gingerbread house.
We played our shows and found a pretty good connection with the audiences. These were our most crowded First Night shows to date. There were not enough seats for everyone. Nobody seemed to mind, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Yay, First Night.
After the Fawns set, we lugged our stuff to the next building over where we had a later-night School for the Dead show scheduled. We were playing at The Basement with special guests The Gay Potatoes (me, Brian, Philip Price, and Chris Collingwood). We arrived with all of our stuff ready to load in, but of course, the place was dark and locked. It was like an exact repeat of our Halloween show at the same venue. We waited outside in the cold for about half an hour until we were let in. Once inside, we quickly set everything up as people started filing in.
The Basement is a small venue, but I didn't have any idea what to expect for a crowd, there were so many other things happening that night. It was a wonderful surprise that by the time we were about to start, the room was packed just about as full as it can get. I felt bad for the crowd, since I know how uncomfortable it can be there, but overall I saw mostly happy, eager, and enthusiastic faces.
School for the Dead played a pretty solid, yet strange selection of songs for our first set. The atmosphere was all positive in the room and it was great to be playing as the full five piece again.
When our first set was done, The Gay Potatoes took the stage and we played, musically, our best show to date. We did the same nine songs that we played when we used to play shows seven or eight years ago. At the end of the set we had our Official De-Naming Ceremony where we denamed ourselves. This was symbolically exhibited by slicing a potato in half. We are no longer called that name. We currently have no name.
The band that used to be called The Gay Potatoes finished playing at almost midnight. The room cleared significantly as folks left to go join the throngs in the center of town to watch the ball do it's thing.
School for the Dead began our second set soon after midnight with an unexpected version of Everybody Loves Martha by request. Our second set was exhausted and crazy and musically it was all over the place, but mood-wise it seemed to fit the chaotic mess that New Year's Eves usually bring.
The audience was wonderful. Happy New Year, everyone.
The music began at seven o'clock. The Fawns were back at Lyman Hall again. Each year, for a lot of years now, we've played this venue as part of Northampton's First Night Celebration. There are performances and exhibits all around town. People buy special buttons and they can go to any of the events. We had a show at 7:00 and a show at 8:00. As Lesa and I walked into town (our equipment had mostly been brought in earlier) the fireworks were going off. The explosions were directly beyond our destination, so our fifteen minute walk brought us closer and closer to the spectacle. As we strolled, we passed several other groups of people gazing up at the sky, finding spots between the trees. It was exciting.
 |
| The Fawns at First Night 2011 (photo by Ivan Oransky) |
We played our shows and found a pretty good connection with the audiences. These were our most crowded First Night shows to date. There were not enough seats for everyone. Nobody seemed to mind, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Yay, First Night.
After the Fawns set, we lugged our stuff to the next building over where we had a later-night School for the Dead show scheduled. We were playing at The Basement with special guests The Gay Potatoes (me, Brian, Philip Price, and Chris Collingwood). We arrived with all of our stuff ready to load in, but of course, the place was dark and locked. It was like an exact repeat of our Halloween show at the same venue. We waited outside in the cold for about half an hour until we were let in. Once inside, we quickly set everything up as people started filing in.
The Basement is a small venue, but I didn't have any idea what to expect for a crowd, there were so many other things happening that night. It was a wonderful surprise that by the time we were about to start, the room was packed just about as full as it can get. I felt bad for the crowd, since I know how uncomfortable it can be there, but overall I saw mostly happy, eager, and enthusiastic faces.
School for the Dead played a pretty solid, yet strange selection of songs for our first set. The atmosphere was all positive in the room and it was great to be playing as the full five piece again.
 |
| The Gay Potatoes De-Naming Ceremony (photo by Ivan Oransky) |
The band that used to be called The Gay Potatoes finished playing at almost midnight. The room cleared significantly as folks left to go join the throngs in the center of town to watch the ball do it's thing.
School for the Dead began our second set soon after midnight with an unexpected version of Everybody Loves Martha by request. Our second set was exhausted and crazy and musically it was all over the place, but mood-wise it seemed to fit the chaotic mess that New Year's Eves usually bring.
The audience was wonderful. Happy New Year, everyone.
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