http://misstessmusic.com/news.html Miss Tess: News Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:11:34 -0700 http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#19 Visit here to vote ---> http://thephoenix.com/bmp/Boston/Vote/Roots/

]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#19 Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#18 http://misstessmusic.wordpress.com/]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#18 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#17 http://www.vanityfair.com/video?videoID=31395093001]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#17 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#16
We had a fun show in Asheville last night at Jack of the Wood. This is the first time we’ve actually played in town. It’s hard to get a gig there because it’s such a popular spot and Asheville itself is bubbling over with musicians. We wore our jackets for the first time in a while and we are hoping to slowly adjust to non-Florida temperatures. Is it still freezing in Boston?

The night before last we played a gig at the Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community. Had we know it was a late St. Patrick’s Day Party, we might’ve learned some Irish tunes for the old folks. The funniest moment of the evening was when a woman started questioning our drummer about me — was I married (I’m not))? The gentleman says “No honey, that’s a woman of experience”. She says, “ooooooh”. I do write a lot of songs about love, so I guess it’s a reasonable assumption.

We had a great time in Gainesville. One of my dearest friends grew up there and keeps dragging me back to play for her friends. She lives in Boston now, but is still a Gainesville queen. We spent time with some lovely new friends, went to a punk rock party, and swam in beautiful natural springs. Our drummer, Matt, is a jersey boy. When we were walking through the woods admiring the scenery he goes “What’s that smell?” Hazel replied, “trees”.

I have to say we rocked Charlotte pretty hard. Or maybe we lulled it gently side to side. We were one of six bands playing that night, the other five bands performing at ear bleeding volumes. However, after the first layer of our ear drums turned numb, they were pretty decent bands. The sound guy that night was probably one of the most disinterested people I’ve ever worked with. Maybe he was having a bad day.

On to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to play at one our favorite spots, Clementine’s. Then West Virginia, where hopefully we will get some more of that xxx. And then DC, to Blues Alley, a legendary jazz club. Nineteen shows in twenty-four days, and back to Boston. Then we freeze and turn back into snow people at midnight.]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#16 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#15
After nyc, we played a Monday night in Charlottesville to an enthusiastic crowd of about ten (including the opening band) on a frigid Virginia evening. After the show we drove about six hours to Knoxville, so we could play the next morning on the “Blue Plate Special”, a daily live radio show hosted on WDVX radio. We love this show even though we are often dazed by lack of sleep — great sound, great crowd, folks come to watch on their downtown lunch breaks. The next day the black viper (our minivan) got a brand new alternator.

Thursday we returned to JJ’s Bohemia in Chattanooga. I was happy that Shirtless Dave was there, but sad he couldn’t stay for the show. We enjoyed the local chap, Lon Eldridge, who opened up the show (and put up the band) with the sweet sounds of fingerpickin’ blues. We were happy to have made it to the show on time, after the top to our rooftop carrier blew off on the highway. Luckily, all of our luggage landed squarely in the pull off lane so we were able to rescue it. We did lose a couple sleeping pads and some merchandise — if anyone wants a free cd, they might be able to find a couple on the side of highway 81.

Friday we got into some warm weather in Augusta, Georgia. We landed downtown to find ourselves in the middle of a giant party on the streets. We played all night at a friendly place called the Stillwater Taproom. Thanks to Val for letting the band stay overnight.

We went back to Savannah the next day, and were please to see people had returned to see us. It was also nice being remembered and appreciated by the staff of the restaurant. Also thanks to Bill and Sarah for picking up our tab. We think you should have the band play a house party at your place on the island next time”¦]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#15 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#14 “Things don't really dawn on me anymore. They sneak up from behind and brain me. I believe all epiphanies hurt -- you're letting go, after all. Boston's Miss Tess and The Bon Ton Parade caterwauled all Tin Pan Alley over by the jukebox as I slurped coffee, exchanged pleasantries with well-wishers, and admired the pretty girls at Abilene Wednesday night. And you know what I discovered? I don't always like watching bands. Don't get me wrong, Miss Tess was quite pretty and callipygous, and the band looked like it had emerged from a sepia-toned photograph. But the music was just too good to stand there and stare. Music like this is the soundtrack for all that goes on in the joint. The Bon Ton Parade swung sweetly as Miss Tess strummed and crooned with a brisling innuendo, disguised just slightly by her pretty voice. Oh, and the gal dusted off some Fats Waller, too.

Thanks to Barbara, local drummer from the band “Peitzsche Nietzche”, or is it the “Pee Chi Knee Cheez”, or is it the “Peachy Nietzches”? for putting up the band and taking us to the wonderful Rochester farmer’s market, where I purchased probably ten pounds of fruit in hopes to help keep us regular on our travels.

Thursday we drove on to Cleveland, returning to the Beachland Tavern. Proof we ain’t in it for the money, the band made $42 that night. A three-hour drive, Cleveland’s biggest pothole, a crack in the windshield, and $42. Thanks to Mark, one of our truly dedicated fans, for putting us up and keeping us well fed.

Chicago was warm. So began the Midwest heat wave of over-fifty-degrees-in-the-middle-of-February-which-we-are-extremely-grateful-for. We had a cozy show at the Red Line Tap, sharing a bill with local band, The Sons of Susan, a novelty-esque swing and jazz band. Attached to the bar is the Heartland Café, which has been around since the 70s and has some really good vegetarian food. Thanks to Jessie & Matt for putting us up in their wonderful loft again.

Saturday we arrived in Donnellson, Iowa, a small town with a population of about 1000 people. We had been invited to play at a concert series called “Music Under the Water Tower”, which it really just that ¬— music played in the Donnellson American Legion Hall located right under a water tower. We had a great show, playing for about 130 people in small-town America. Doug, the organizer of the series, put us up in his farmhouse, where the band got to enjoy a little rustic solace. We saw a lot of cows and barns in Iowa.

Des Moines was our other Iowa stop. The boys were excited about the all-you-can-eat spaghetti restaurant we found there. The Vaudeville Mews is a pretty cool venue. It might’ve been nice had there been more of a crowd, but the band made the best of the situation and played an intimate acoustic set off-stage, and the eight people watching seemed to really enjoy it. I told them when I am rich and famous, they would be able to tell their friends all about it.

Monday we played for a lucky eighteen people at the High Noon Saloon and shared a bill with some lovely musicians who have formed a local group called the Stellanovas. After the show, we went to see Clyde Stubblefield, one of James Brown’s first drummers, and creator of many classic funk drum beats. For Bostonians, this would’ve been a similar scene to any Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night at the Cantab Lounge.

The next day we walked up and down Madison’s State Street for hours and hours and hours. After that, we tried to get into the top of the capital building. We tried a lot of stairways and walkways, but to no avail. And none of the states people would tell us how to get up there, or acknowledge our presence at all. Stupid tourists”¦

One last night in Madison, and we played a swing dance for a bunch of grad students. They had some good moves. It’s fun being the audience for a change.

Thursday finds us in La Crosse, Michigan, a town we have only played in once before. This time we play at the Pump House, a nice performing theater. One of the best things about my visit to La Crosse was the hot tub in the hotel where we were staying. Rest those weary bones”¦

Friday we journeyed to South Haven, Michigan to play at this place called Foundry Hall. Too bad it was the middle of February or we might’ve been able to enjoy some of the lovely beaches alongside of lake Michigan.

Our last show of the tour was on Valentine’s Day in what one of my fans called “The Squarest Town in America” — Livonia, Michigan “Funny. I looked up your schedule and see that you're playing in my hometown on Valentine’s Day 2009. All of the major roads in Livonia are exactly one mile apart....and they're creatively named: 5 mile, 6 mile, 7 mile. 8 mile, 9 mile and 10 mile roads...the major roads that perpendicular to the 'mile' roads are better named, but also exactly one mile apart...that means that the entire city is perfectly square. It’s 6 miles wide and six miles tall for a perfect 36 square miles. Somebody thought of that a hundred years ago and wanted all of the cities in Michigan to look that way. For a variety of reasons it never happened, except for in Livonia. We all lived in square houses, on square streets in a perfectly square town, literally. Try to play your extra raunchy stuff in Livonia. The folks there will love it.” Despite the squareness of the town, and the icy roads that seemed to surround the town, we had a great last show to a packed house.

And now we drive across Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York as I type on Route 90. Only eight hours to go I reckon”¦]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#14 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#13 http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#13 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#12
Nov. 16 ~~~~ Now I'm split up from the group, left to my own devices in the big apple. I took the scenic route from Midtown down to the East Village. Just wandering aimlessly, I happened to stumble across one of the area's finest mouth trombone men (not actually sure if there is more than one), Lipbone Redding, playing a Sunday brunch gig at some jazz bar. As any of you know from seeing a Miss Tess show, I too attempt to take horn solos with my mouth. I studied closely as I sipped on a Bloody Mary.
Next I drove to DUMBO (that's down under the Manhattan bridge overpass) to stop in a bar to see if a friend was working. On my walk I saw a topless lady in heels being photographed on the sidewalk, amidst maybe fifteen oogling fellas screaming out their window at her. Soon there was a cop car stopped. I thought the man might be in trouble, but the cop was simply asking him what kind of camera he was using. Later on, I learned that women are actually allowed by law to be topless in New York — it was some equal rights ruling. Also, according to the ruling, a policeman is allowed to offer a topless lady his shirt.
We had a good show in Brooklyn at the Jalopy Theater. Finally, a good show in New York. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. We're doing our best here.

Nov. 17 ~~~~~ Today's mission is to visit a true national gem, Coney Island. I made it there with a friend by dusk, just in time to take some photos of the Cyclone, the Parashoot Drop, and my personal favorite, Shoot the Freak. This is a game where you get to shoot paintballs at some poor sap running around in a very confined area. Unfortunately Shoot the Freak is closed for good. What's wrong with this world?

Nov. 18 ~~~~~ Time for free food at the parents' house in MD. If anyone ever comes across a touring musician, feed them. The Bon Tons reunite and the minivan gets four new tires”¦

Nov. 19 ~~~~~ Back to Clementine's in downtown Harrisonburg, VA. Everybody rocks there and the food is really yummy.

Nov. 20 ~~~~~ Today we saw the first snow of the trip, a light dusting in the mountains of West Virginia. We will soon arrive in Kentucky to play at a joint called Al's Bar in Lexington. So far we've heard great things about this place — "it's a great place for a knuckle sandwich" or "a nice spot for a ten dollar blowjob". We'll see how this goes.

Nov. 21 ~~~~~ The gig last night at Al's was actually not too bad, considering it was snowing and really freaking cold. We played for the brave southern souls who attended the show and sampled some fine Kentucky bourbons and whiskeys. Then some nice people let us sleep at their house.
Today we played at a preview for the Good Folk Fest in Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby. I'd like to go sometime. I've heard it's like Mardi Gras. I also heard the Queen of England owns more of Kentucky than we do. She's a big fan of horses. The gig was at a pig-slaughterhouse-turned-arts-center. They actually hired Tibetan Monks to come pray at the center to make the bad pig spirits leave. Some people claim to have chased "pig ghosts".
After our first show, we played another show at this swell place called The Lounge. We were one of four bands playing, including The Traveling Snakes (real-deal mountain music — sorry Boston, realer than your old time musicians), Mad Tea Party (ukulele rock 'n roll, and our buds from Asheville), and Scotty Karate (crazy man from Brooklyn). After the show we ate pizza at a punk rock pizza joint that serves beer and pizza until 5am (another one-up on Boston).

Nov. 22 ~~~~~ A long drive today took us from Louisville to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Alec and I played scrabble in the car today. The game's not over yet, but I'm winning by a lot. We got a picture and a write up in today's paper. Most of the content of the article was taken from my past tour blogs about Chattanooga. So basically, it read "Miss Tess is playing tonight and here's what she thinks of our town." It's funny because most of my commentary as of late has been about people getting' down on the dance floor and not wearing various pieces of clothing we might think are essential in Boston. Our show at Charles & Myrtle's tonight was about the opposite of our usual experiences. It was a quaint listening room and everyone was wearing all of their clothes.

Nov. 23 ~~~~~ Today we returned to Huntsville, Alabama. We visited with our pal Rita (a.k.a. "Helen Keller's Ukulele", aptly named one night by the Jon from "Christabel and The Jons" after some relentless ukulele tuning one night) and played with her at the Flying Monkey. Paul Dilley was having tummy problems all day. Moral of the story: don't eat sushi in Tennessee”¦

Nov. 24 ~~~~~ After one accident (not us) and a lot of rain, we arrived in Knoxville. We stole Christabel's drummer Jon for our show at Barley's Taproom. We made him wear a blonde wig so people didn't miss Gillian too much. I'm not sure if it was us, the two dollar pints, the Monday night football happening on a few small tvs, or the blonde wig, but Barley's was packed on a Monday night. We had a great last show (well, second to last”¦we played on the WDVX "Blue Plate Special" the next day at noon and that was also awesome) of the tour and we love Knoxville.

Until next time”¦]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#12 Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#11 http://contest.flyfi.com/bostonmusicawards08/]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#11 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#10
We started out in Charm City - that's Baltimore for those who haven't been. One day maybe we'll be able to get this city's attention.

Next stop was the Dogfish Head Brewery in Rehoboth Beach. Not only do I love Dogfish Head beer (almost as much as whiskey), but this beach was a frequent vacation spot for my family when I was a wee lass. We ate some greasy boardwalk food, went swimming in the ocean, and might've had a much better gig had there not been an impending hurricane.

The following day our trip brought us to a coffeehouse called Chaplin's, due west of Philadelphia. We had a great show and a packed house. The only unfortunate part was we didn't get to occupy much of the stage, as it was mostly taken up by the headliner's drum set, an amazing semi-circled assortment of drums and percussive elements including chimes, a rain stick, and a gong.

We had an interesting accompanist at our show at Clementine’s in Harrisonburg, VA,— the loudest goddamn cricket you’ve ever heard.

Oh what fun we have at our Monday night gigs in new towns. Today was our first visit to Johnson City, Tennessee. We played at a hang-out hang-in joint called the Acoustic Coffeehouse. I was happy to see Chattanooga is not the only town in Tennessee where people throw down and dance, regardless of how much clothing they’re wearing.

We were happy to return to Knoxville the next day, and play again on WDVX’s “Blue Plate Special” with the Smart Brothers. The show’s host, Matt Morelock, is basically our hero.

Wednesday, we drove back to Norm’s River Roadhouse in Nashville. I think the cricket from Harrisonburg hopped into our minivan and decided to make another appearance. Sad part is you could hear the little bastard.

Now here’s where the broken windshield comes into play”¦On our drive into Savannah on Rt. 17, right before the bridge entering the city, some jerk threw something out his window as he was passing, and smashed our windshield. As an old friend use to say “If assholes could fly, we’d never be able to see the sun again”. We made it to the gig on time, this upscale restaurant called Jazz’d Tapas, which is just that — jazz (us) and tapas. That night we stayed at the seediest hotel in our tour history.

After a two gig run in Savannah, we drove to Charleston, South Carolina. We got our windshield fixed, swam in the ocean, and met up with The Bowmans, perpetually touring identical twins that sing like birds, for a gig at the Tin Roof. The next day we went swimming in the ocean again and enjoyed a few days off.

Driving, driving, driving up to Charlottesville, VA to debut at the Gravity Lounge with fellow Bostonians, Eilen Jewell. Always a good show when we share a bill with these guys. Jason, Eilen’s drummer, got a nice birthday cookie as he made a wish and blew out a candle on stage. After the show we all got to hang out with Moonshine Millie and much merriment was had.

The next day brought us to the Purple Fiddle, in the very small town of Thomas, West Virginia. Bad news, not so many came to the show. Good news, the people that did come were tops - our friend Mark came all the way from Cleveland, OH to record the show, we had an excellent bunch of locals hootin’ and holleran’ and”¦we got to bring back sweet heavenly moonshine. God bless West Virginia.

And then we were back on the Eastern Shore, in Chestertown, MD to a small local bar called Andy’s, who we soon found out is a she. We had some family come out, mom and dad sat in with us on stage, and generally had a pleasant night.

Our last gig of the tour was in Brooklyn, at the Jalopy Theater. This place is cool. The on-stage monitors made it sound like we were singing through an old radio. It was great last show for the twelve people who came out. After the show, we high-tailed it back to our own beds in Boston, where I woke up at 4pm this afternoon”¦]]> http://misstessmusic.com/news.html#10 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Miss Tess Music - Miss Tess - News