Add a message : Houserockers Guestbook : Search
There are now 3026 messages in our guestbook.
<<< 1 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 303 >>>
Viewing messages 1411 to 1420.
Lynn S.
|  |
|
Finally a Philly gig!! Please - don't keep us hanging to long for the details.
22 September 2006 - Philly
|
|
zeke
| |
DVE Coffee House
Joe Solo acoustic
- A Good Life
- show tonight will start at 9:00 ish
- no opening act
- Randy from DVE will be playing
- show will not start until Jimmie kren gets there.
22 September 2006 - working
|
|
Bob Benjamin
| |
Today-hometown A GOOD LIFE release party
10/7 Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ
11/18 The Iota, Alexandria, VA
TBA Philadelphia, Chicago, NYC
22 September 2006 - NJ
|
|
Joe G
|
|
On the morning show with Randy and Jim on DVE around 9:30 tomorrow morning
21 September 2006 - Pburg
|
|
ZEKE
| |
Thanks Johnny and Dan. I always like to know what I miss.
D & B Ground. Love that song.
21 September 2006 - damntawn
|
|
Danny G
|
|
FYI. Sunday's set ended with Dark and Bloody Ground.
21 September 2006
|
|
Bob Benjamin
| |
Grushecky's 'Good Life' re-energizes local star
By Regis Behe
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Perception and reality often are wildly divergent.
Take Joe Grushecky, one of Pittsburgh's most-accomplished musicians. He's been gracing local stages for more than three decades, but there are still some who think he's one step removed from a cover band.
"We're probably perceived as a bar band," he says. "One of the reasons is I've had to make my living playing bars over the years. But if you look through the records -- on "Coming Home," "1945" -- what bar band in the world can write that?"
Nor could a bar band come up with the songs on "A Good Life," one of the best albums of his career. It will be featured during a performance Friday at the Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square.
Like his 2002 release "Fingerprints," "A Good Life" is a solo album. Although the Houserockers are still the backbone of his music, Grushecky thinks that leaving his comfort zone -- as his longtime friend Bruce Springsteen does, recording sans the E Street Band -- is challenging and stimulating.
"What I did with these last two records is I stepped out of my role of band leader with the Houserockers and dug a little bit deeper into my bag of musical tricks and musical knowledge," he says. "I started off as a crazy fan. I just love music, and my knowledge of music and affinity for it runs pretty deep."
That diversity shone through on "Fingerprints," which included some songs, notably "Lucky Man," that had a rhythm-and-blues vibe. For "A Good Life," Grushecky adds pop shadings to "Is She the One" and "A Good Life."
Working with Weirton, W.Va.-based producer Rick Witkowski, Grushecky says, has allowed him the freedom to expand his range. Other musicians, including bassist and guitarist Jeff Garrison, drummer Tony Morra, vocalist Margot B and keyboardist Randy Baumann (of WDVE-FM's "Morning Show") made contributions to a record that Grushecky says was one of the easiest of his career to make.
"The songs were just coming. I was coming up with good arrangements. I was singing good, and we were playing good," he says. "It was like, wow -- one of those things. When we're doing it, I was thinking, 'Is it good as I think it is?' ''
The album's most novel and interesting track is the next-to-last song. At 9 minutes and 23 seconds, "Safe at Home" is the longest song Grushecky has committed to record. It's also one of his best, a meditation on the precarious nature of family:
Where is my Johnny/Is he afraid and alone/When will this be over/When will he be safe at home
"It's a plea for your child's safety," he says, noting that the song does refer obliquely to the plight of parents whose sons and daughters are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other points of danger across the world. "Every time they walk out the door at night, when they take the car for the first time, if they're playing football or fighting with their girlfriend or someone is picking on them at school, as a parent, that concerns your whole life. That concern for their safety, that's what I was trying to convey."
Of course, it also helps that Grushecky can call upon Springsteen as a contributor. Notably, Springsteen told his Pittsburgh pal that he thought it was a good idea to record "Code of Silence," the knockout rocker that opens the disk. The duo wrote the song years ago, and Grushecky says while Springsteen has been performing the song live since 1999, he's never put it on a record.
"It was Ricky's idea to put it first (on the CD)," Grushecky says. "When he played it for people, it burst out at them. It's like, OK, you want a rock 'n' roll song, here it is. If you don't like it, I might as well go home."
Springsteen also contributed vocals and guitar to "Is She the One," "A Good Life" and "Searching for My Soul," which rivals "Code of Silence" as the best outright rocker on the disk. But Grushecky hesitates -- just for a second -- when asked if playing with Springsteen means he has to be at his best.
"I thought I sent him my 'A' game," he says. "I thought the songs I sent him were real strong, I felt real confident when I was making the record. The whole way through I felt I was doing something that was really good. And getting Bruce involved was just icing on the cake."
Regis Behe can be reached at [email protected] or (412)320-7990.
21 September 2006 - nj
|
|
Johnny G
|
Zeke,
Here are the songs I remembered they played. I was doing merchandise at the time, so I couldn't pay full attention to the performance, but this is what I remember. They only played about 25minutes.
Dance With Me
Homestead
A Good Life
Pumping Iron
20 September 2006 - Pittsburgh
|
David Kitchen
| |  |
|
Joe ant is playing 22/09/06. Don't miss this one. Seeya all there!
20 September 2006
|
|
Shel
|
Code of Silence heard on radio in CT today... 
20 September 2006
|
<<< 1 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 303 >>> |