Are You Dave?

I’ve been looking forward to this show for quite some time! I love boats, I love the water, I love Hoboken, I love music… so playing music on a historic boat on Hoboken’s storied waterfront was a perfect combination.

If you haven’t visited The Waterfront Museum, check it out. I can wait. David Sharps bought the barge for a dollar, some 20-25 years ago. Since then he’s spent something like a million dollars making it livable (he and his awesome family live aboard) and serviceable as a venue (he hosts a circus every Sunday, among other things).

Shout-outs to Carter Craft for connecting us with David, and to Geri Fallo for working out the details involved in getting the barge to town, and more importantly, getting them a license to serve alcohol aboard (no, there was no booze at the Lemons’ show). We’d been concerned about the show in the weeks leading up to the date because advanced ticket sales were low, but close to 100 people came out see us on the day of… not too shabby.

I have some pretty darn good video of the show, thanks to my friends Guy and Dana and their HD camera. (Guy owed me a solid after I did some music for some of his movies. We’re even, Guy!) The barge had a little stage area complete with a painted backdrop, which David lowered theatrically as we took the stage.

The barge rocked! No, I mean that literally: The barge rocked with the swells and continually slid around underneath us. A few of the Lemons were feeling lime-green throughout the show, and I found that my usual leaping about had to be tapered down a bit, lest I come back down on a floor that had decided it had better places to be. No one fell, no one hurled, so all’s well.

I have to say, I think the Lemons rocked too (in the musical sense). Dave Entwistle did another amazing job on sound, so if we sounded less-than-stellar, it’s our fault, not his. The rocking (boat) did have an effect on the rocking (band). The video reveals some sloppy moments, but it also reveals that our energy was good and our audience was into us. The wooden walls of the barge made for a warm, rich acoustic atmosphere, and the open doors ensured our sound carried across to all of the sunbathers on Pier A. In fact, more than a few people heard us from there and wandered over to get a better look.

High points:

• Julio Fernandez wandering by and shooting me a wink through the hatch. He’s awesome. 
• Dana stepping out from behind the mic to lead the girls in the crowd in “Girls Rock!”
• Bantering with Justin and Kipley between (or even during) songs. We’re getting better at that.
• Rocking the big finish with “If You Are My Friend.”
• All the amazing fans who clapped and cheered and hung out to say hi afterwards (sometimes it seems like there’s a silent stampede for the door).

Up next, three outdoor shows!
~Dave

Wow, the calendar has been gig-free for a few weeks, and I’ve neglected to check in! But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Last week, for example, The Fuzzy Lemons had a great session with Dan McLoughlin in our rehearsal studio–he gave us copious pre-production notes to help us prepare for our next sojourn into the recording studio.

On a personal note, I had two awesome weekends in a row–first I got to go to a ManKind Project bonfire, the first I’ve been to in a whole year, and it was fantastic to connect with some old friends again. Then, last weekend was Memorial Day and I got to take my li’l family up to CT to visit my folks, my sisters, and assorted spouses, nieces and nephews. I even got a waterski run in, as my aching shoulders will attest 2 days later.

And now it’s time to gear up for a whirlwind of activity: I have 5 gigs in the next three weeks!

• May 30: The Fuzzy Lemons at the Waterfront Museum, which is a way-cool restored barge. I’m excited to play there but concerned because ticket sales seem low.
• June 4: Pete Seeger 90th Birthday tribute, featuring some of Hoboken’s top musicians! This is the first of the town’s Thursday-night summer concerts, and it’s an honor to have been invited by Geri Fallo to be a part of it. My original fantasy of doing a duet with Jim Mastro fell through (he’s out of the country apparently) but I’ve been in touch with The Demolition String Band and they’ll be backing me up on a song, it seems. Also, the New York Times asked for photos of the performers for an article on the event. Below is the photo I sent. Exciting!      
    

  Photo by Fred Eisner

• June 6: June-A-Palooza in Jersey City: We just got confirmation that we’re on for 2:30. We’re not getting paid but it’s a big deal in Jersey City and we’re hoping to sell some CDs and build our fan base outside of Hoboken.
• June 7: TFL at the OLG Fun Fest at Church Square Park. Outdoor show #2 of the summer; we’ll be in the gazebo at Church Square (you last saw us there in August).
• June 14: TFL at Kiddiepalooza on Pier A. Outdoor show #3 of the summer! We’ll do three big sets.

 

Then we’ll enjoy some time off until we’re back at the Shipyard in August (and I have sets with Music Together, Erin Lee & Marci, and the Gordys around the same time–everything happens at once!)

Thanks to our highly placed political connections, The Fuzzy Lemons were able to get some tunes into the hands of the good folks at Music Choice, the cable TV music channel. They’ve got a new Toddler Tunes channel and we’ll be on it!

Now you know as much as I do. I don’t know any details of the deal (like, are there royalties as with radio?) but it’s just exciting to know that more people will be hearing our music.
Dave

Hoboken families are awesome, and here’s why:

For a while, many people (even me) thought of this town as simply a place to party. It was commonly felt that the baby stroller brigade — commanded by the upwardly mobile — was killing the town. Now it’s quite clear they were saving it.

Read the rest of Stephen’s interesting and insightful write-up of the Hoboken Music Awards, the local scene, and of course The Fuzzy Lemons!

Wow, what a night! We did two 45-minute sets this evening in a local school gym, not to mention hauling the new P.A. to and from our rehearsal studio. I’m pooped! But it was a magical night. When the lights went down and we saw a sea of kids waving their little glow sticks… well, that was a rock’n'roll moment.

The Spring Dance was organized by the Father’s Group at my kid’s school (of which I am a proud member). The dads and the school did a great job publicizing and setting up the event. There were balloons and glow-sticks, pizza and juice boxes. There was a 50/50 raffle; a dad in our classroom won $200, with the other $200 going to the school.I don’t know the numbers but it sure looked like a lot of families were there.

The gym was an acoustical nightmare, but thanks to the magic of Dave Entwistle I think we sounded pretty good (I’m hoping some of the dough the event raised will help pay for some acoustic tile for the walls in that gym!). People came up to us afterward and gave us lots of compliments, and people stayed until the very end of our second set, which is the biggest compliment of all.

It was fun to realize that we could play two high-energy 45-minute sets without exhausting our song catalog. We have a lot of great-sounding new material, and tonight really reminded me that I can’t wait to record new tracks and finish a full-length CD.

Playing that hard takes its toll; Kipley’s voice was fading, and I could barely stand up by the end. Justin did the nearly impossible: He broke a bass string. But we got good energy from the kids and their families, and made it through to the end. It was an excellent night.