SHOVELS & ROPE

I really enjoy this band. I saw them a year and a half a go in Minnesota with my friends Asia and Catharine and they've been in heavy rotation on my ipod. I like their foot stomping, southern sounding, gritty way of making music. The gal in the band is a sweetheart too. We had a conversation after the show and she was nice as nice can be. They have a new record that just came out too. The video below is a little teaser for their latest record called, "O' be joyful". Get it. How can you not tap your feet to the beat of that music?

THE FELICE BROTHERS





I had a chance to catch a pretty good show last week while visiting Minneapolis. The Felice Brothers happened to be in town while I was there so I took advantage of it. I'm glad I did. I took my good friends Catherine and Asia to the show even thought they were not too familiar with the band and they ended up loving it so that was grand. The Felice Brothers have been on my radar for awhile now. Hailing from New York, their sister happened to be married to one of my favorite musicians, A.A. Bondy, but I think that is in the past. Regardless, they are all great musicians.

It's a rare treat for me to see a band play live these days. Being in Hawaii makes it difficult. That will all change soon enough. The day I move back to the mainland I get to see Ratatat play live for the first time since I saw them at the troubadour in 2006. I'm pumped.

The show was great. Shovels & Rope opened for them. It was my first time being introduced to their music and it was a good introduction at that. I'll post more on them later. The Felice Brothers played a solid set and even though they had a heckler in the crowd make a redonkulous statement that they, "weren't as good as they used to be". The fool who uttered those words actually got the snot beat out of him. It was a bit nuts. It was a mellow show other than that. I talked to James (accordion player) for a bit afterwards and got some info about their album called "Celebration, Florida" which just came out. That was neat. He was a nice guy.

The craziest thing was that the hotel I was staying at was the same one they stayed in that night. It happened to be the bass players birthday so they celebrated by not sleeping in their tour bus and getting a hotel room. I had the chance to chat with some of the guys as they were coming in. Small world. ha. Their song Frankie's Gun was featured in this video I posted a bit ago. Here is another cool video of them.

The pictures (other than the black & white one) were taken by Carleigh Knowles. Thanks again Carleigh, they turned out great.