Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. – Henry James
So summer has come and summer has gone and what we’re left with is a few good memories and grainy camera-phone attempts at preserving them. We had some serious highlights this summer for the band, and dare I say it was one of the best that we, as people, have had the pleasure of enduring.
Let’s recap. We kicked the summer off with the debut of our gloriously successful No Excuses Summer Series presented by WXPN in conjunction with ourselves and Danger! Danger! Gallery. We really want to thank Bruce Warren, XPN, Tristan Palazzolo, and the whole Danger! Danger! crew for all the help with promotions and logistics surrounding the event. We also want to extend very serious gratitude to all the bands that were involved with each night. They came, they rocked the fuck out, and are the reason these events were so special:
Toy Soldiers
Levee Drivers
Conversations with Enemies
Flamingo
Abstract Verses
The Warhawks
Blooming Black
The Reckless Dodgers
El Fuego
We’re really proud of this one.
But that’s not all we did this summer. We were honored to be invited into 88.5 WXPN FM‘s studios to record a Studio Session with The Key and for that we’d like to thank John Vettese and everyone at The Key. Those songs are still available for download and stream fo free!
Let us not forget the time we drove 6,200-some miles all around the eastern half of this fine country we have. We played in Maine, Tennessee, Chicago, Georgia, and everywhere in between. We played to big crowds, we played to small crowds, we played to a crowd of school children, and we played to a packed house of Nashville, Tennessee blues rock lovers on a Tuesday night in a basement. We slept in motels and welcome centers and bar parking lots. We tossed a baseball around in a dozen major cities. It was fucking fun.
In the middle of this tour, we played and hosted, in conjunction with the talented people of Flamingo the annual Caravan Music Festival. Once again it was a kick you in the face punch you in the guts success. Almost 200 people came to the camp site in Belgrade Lakes, Maine and enjoyed three full days of music, sun, swimming, crafts, and whatever else went on up there that will stay up there. Tons of bands played – even more than were on the last list that I saw, but going from what’s written, here’s who we had the pleasure of playing with, plus more:
FLAMINGO
CHEERS ELEPHANT
TJ Kong and the ATOMIC BOMB
CONVERSATIONS WITH ENEMIES
SONNI SHINE and the UNDERWATER SOUNDS
TOUCH
ABSTRACT VERSES
Out of the BEARD SPACE
THE PAT FRIEND FIVE
MOUNT JOY
HELLO CREATURE
THE NEW CONNECTION
VITAMIN CHEESE
THE NONSTOP MINT
THE KNOW
MISTAKES ARE PEOPLE TOO
S.T.O.P.
Until next year, carafriends.
So all in all, we had a good one. We hope you did too. We’re looking towards fall, winter, spring, and another summer soon. In the immediate future, look out for news about us in NYC @ CMJ, and our next record……………………………………..
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