American Mars will play the 2010 Green Street Fair in Plymouth, MI on Saturday, May 1. The Green Street Fair is an annual eco-themed street fair with lots of vendors, activities, food, and music. AM will play from 3-4:15 pm right before The Verve Pipe.
Find more details here: http://www.greenstreetfair.com/
Wow. Not a single post for all of 2009. What does that mean? It means it’s 2010 and it’s time to wake up.
Thanks to everyone who made it out the 2009 Holiday Spectacular. It was fun to play.
Bill Hicks was one of my favorite comedians. He was funny in a dangerous way. Edgy, political, irreverent, never safe. He appeared on David Letterman lots during the 80s and 90s but his last appearance was cut for content reasons, an event made more dramatic by Hicks’ death the following spring. This past Friday, Letterman had Bill’s mom on the show to apologize for cutting the bit and to air the spot in its entirety. I missed it, but Paste magazine just posted the whole thing. Check it out here: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/02/letterman-airs-lost-bill-hicks-standup.html
Thanks so much to everyone who made 2008 a great year for our band. If you bought a record, came to a show, booked us at your venue, wrote a reivew, had us play on your show, or just sent good thoughts, please accept our appreciation and gratitude. We’re gonna take a little break but hope to get back to making music soon. In the meantime, here’s a holiday message from our good friend Estevez. We meant to have this up in time for the holidays but it got hung up with the censors. Here’s to 2009!
Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the Spectacular last night. Detroit got pounded with close to a foot of snow. Driving was bad and it was cold. I hope those who came out had a good time. COTS is a great cause and hopefully we made a little money for them in these tough times. Props to all the bands that came out and played and the crafters who brought their wares. Special high-five to David Feeny for putting the whole thing together. He works hard!
My personal highlight of the night: the Hard Lessons. Amazing.
xoxo,
t
Last Fall we recorded a Christmas song called “Little Baby Jesus” for the Holiday Hootenany CD benefitting the Capuchin Soup Kitchen here in Detroit. We’d like to make the song available for free download again this year. Just click the link below. It’s also available on our myspace page and Facebook profile.
Speaking of Facebook, we know have our band page up and running. The page has a music player, video player, event calendar, and comment wall. To find us on Facebook, click here.
The Little Baby Jesus (mp3)
The Little Baby Jesus
There’s a family on the road headed back to their hometown
The governor signed a law that shut the border down
In the back seat there’s a baby with a carseat for a bed
She’s the little baby Jesus , no place to lay her head
A farmer in a field that his family used to till
It fed five generations and paid their doctor bills
The bank closed on the farm; he might as well be dead
Like the little baby Jesus, no place to lay his head
Christmas is a time to remember, when hope, faith and justice surrendered
Christmas is a time to believe, love is more than you receive
Love is more than you receive
The king got in his head it would be good to start a war
But the war kept gettin’ bigger ’til it came knockin’ at his door
His senators and counselors, well they all turned and fled
Now he’s the little baby Jesus, no place to lay his head
Have a Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year
And don’t forget that a baby can break the land of fear
And when you’re on the road may you find shelter from the storm
We’re all the little baby Jesus, just waiting to be born
The song is also available on the compilation Holiday Hootenany, sales of which benefit Detroit’s Capuchin Soup Kitchen. Find out more here.
I just received the press release from the folks over at Thom McCann and Towne Club regarding this year’s Sounds and Spirits Spectacular. I didn’t know we were playing!! Check out the release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2008
The 7th Annual Detroit Sounds and Spirits Old-Fashioned Holiday Spectacular
Friday, December 19
The Magic Stick
4140 Woodward-Detroit
$15, 18 and over
8pm
Metro-area Thom McCan Shoe Stores and Town Club Soda Distributors are pleased to announce the 7th Annual Detroit Sounds and Spirits Old-Fashioned Holiday Spectacular on Friday, December 19 at Detroit’s Magic Stick.
The Sounds and Spirits Spectacular is the Detroit rock community’s biggest holiday event. In homage to Christmas variety shows of yesteryear, the Spectacular features over 20 bands on two stages, celebrity emcees, and new this year, the ‘Handmade Holiday Shoppe,’ which will feature a bevy of DIY crafters selling their wares for last minute stocking stuffers. Special guest hosts this year are Gangplank Recording artists Phil Hall and Kevin Oates, twin brothers of famed chart toppers Hall and Oates. Phil and Kevin will be on hand to host the show but they’ll also perform a few of their famous brothers’ hits, sure to include, “Maneater,” ”Private Eyes,” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”
The first Spectacular was held at C-POP Gallery in 2002 and was conceived as a classy sweater and scarf holiday cocktail party hosted by Blanche, American Mars and Sunshine Doray, all confessed suckers for the Christmas pageantry of television’s second golden age: the 1970’s. It now features many collected original video vignettes, a variety of emcees and a whirligig of the city’s best and brightest bands all performing just one holiday classic. The 2002 show, which sold out in five minutes and featured a now legendary appearance by Jack White, was so successful that the 2003 show was moved to the more spacious environs of the Magic Stick. Now for one night each year, the Spectacular turns the Magic Stick into a rock and roll Christmas palace and it’s the perfect reason for Detroit’s musicians to collaborate and enjoy a yuletide tipple.
All proceeds from the Spectacular will benefit Detroit’s Coalition on Temporary Shelter (COTS). Since 2002, the Spectacular has raised over $15,000 for the Detroit-based organization, which provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for single men, women and families with children who need assistance in becoming economically self-sufficient.
Bands scheduled to perform include:
The Hard Lessons – Blanche – Pop Project – The Javelins – Friendly Foes – American Mars
Sunshine Doray – The Nice Device – The Go – Shadiamond le Freedom – Dutch Pink – Ether Aura
The Barrettes – The Displays – Old Empire – Loretta Lucas – Sean Hoen Sleeps Til Dusk
Mick Bassett and the Marthas – The Pizazz – Danny Dollrod
The Magic Stick is located at 4140 Woodward Avenue in Detroit and can be reached at 313.833.9700. Admission to this event is $15, 18 and older please. Doors open at 8pm with festivities commencing promptly at 9pm. Celebrants are encouraged to bring a dish to pass.
For More Info Contact:
David Feeny, Tempermill Studios
Tempermill@aol.com or 248.399.0550
www.tempermill.com
Ramona Shureb, Majestic Theatre Complex
ramona@majesticdetroit.com
www.majesticdetroit.com
Coalition on Temporary Shelter (COTS)
www.cotsdetroit.org
In this week’s edition of Detroit’s Metro Times, our own David Feeny is named one of 70 locals who rock Detroit. Here’s what it says:
DAVE FEENY
PRODUCER, MUSICIAN, STUDIO & LABEL HEAD
As the Detroit area’s go-to pedal-steel guitar player and a member of local alt-country heroes Blanche, Feeny is part of the area’s musical elite. But what really puts him on this list is his role as owner of Tempermill Studios, which is responsible for a long run of terrific recordings, as well as his main manning the launch of Gangplank Records and new indie recordings by the aforementioned Blanche, American Mars, the Friendly Foes and Sunshine Doray. And his co-production credit (with Jack White) on Loretta Lynn’s last Grammy-winning LP brought him national prominence.
***
Pretty cool. AM.com got in touch with Feeny today at the Tempermill and asked him what he thought of being named. “I’m sure it’s my early work with such notable supergroups as Hippodrome, Hysteric Narcotics, and The Almighty Lumberjacks of Death that has garnered me this prestigious accolade. Seriously though, it’s nice to know that in a small way somebody has noticed and that I’ve been able to exist making music.”
Read the rest of the MT article here.
I love it when old songs take on new meanings. I spent part of my morning spinning around Detroit’s radio dial listening to what folks had to say about the bailout debate. Everyone seems to have an opinion about how we got here but no one has a good idea about how to get somewhere else. A few minutes later and along comes Springsteen’s Pink Cadillac. All of a sudden it sounds very different.
You may think I’m fooling
For the foolish things I do
You may wonder how come I love you
When you get on my nerves like you do
Well baby, you know you bug me
There aint no secret about that
Well come on over here and hug me
And, baby, I’ll spill the facts
Well, honey it aint your money
Cause baby I got plenty of that
I love you for your pink Cadillac
Crushed velvet seats
Riding in the back, oozing down the street
Waving to the girls
Feeling out of sight
Spending all my money on a Saturday night
Honey, I just wonder what you do there in back of your pink Cadillac
Pink Cadillac
Well now way back in the bible, temptations always come along
There’s always somebody tempting you
Somebody into doing something they know is wrong
Well they tempt you man with silver and they tempt you sir with gold
And they tempt you with the pleasures that the flesh does surely hold
They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple
Man I aint going for that
I know it was her pink Cadillac
Crushed velvet seats
Riding in the back, oozing down the street
Waving to the girls
Feeling out of sight
Spending all my money on a Saturday night
Honey, I just wonder what you do there in back of your pink Cadillac
Now some folks say it’s too big and uses too much gas
Some folks say it’s too old and that it goes too fast
But my love is bigger than a Honda, it’s bigger than a Subaru
Hey man there’s only one thing and one car that will do
Anyway we don’t have to drive it honey, we can park it out in back
And have a party in your pink Cadillac
Here’s to new beginnings!
We had a great time last night hanging out with Joe Nick Patoski, author of Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, the first authorized biography of the legendary singer/songwriter, and all around character. We played some tunes before and after Joe Nick talked about Willie and the book and then we had the very good fortune of hanging out for a while over some food and drink. Much thanks to Bill and Laura at the Monroe Public Library for putting together such a wonderful event.
This Saturday, November 15, will be out last proper show of 2008. Wow! We’ll be performing at the Trinity House Theater in Livonia, Michigan. A great band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Juniper Tar will be opening the show and we’re really thrilled they’re coming to town. Trinity House is a great intimate venue to hear music. Music will start at 8pm sharp you early birds can be in bed by midnight.
This year’s Holiday Spectacular will be at the Magic Stick in Detroit on Friday, December 19. Elf #1 Feeny is hard at work on this year’s festivities. Mark the date down on your calendar and get your holiday sweaters down from the attic.
best,
thomas