2020/10/10 Backyard Party @ Jen’s House
Rather than try to escape the unavoidable subtext that is 2020, I choose instead to allow it to frame all that is good and right with an overwhelming sense of appreciation. Such was the case yesterday as the hostess with the mostest authored another picture perfect day on the banks of the Hudson River in Nyack, NY. Now in our fourth month of these intimate gatherings, Mother Nature cooperated anew with a day from the heavens proving that she, too, understands the critical nature of these backyard events. All the right people dancing to all the right songs with all the right energy, this was just what the doctor ordered — again! — or to quote Kira, “another best day ever.”
I simply cannot overemphasize the collective gratitude for our hostess. So much love to Jen for scripting and fine tuning every detail, but that’s quite honestly the least of it. Days like this start and end with love. Period, end of story. People are still hurting in so many ways and days like this help us forget. Better yet, they force us to remember. What will never cease to amaze me, though, is that live music is always the catalyst. We can quite literally gather anytime and anywhere, sharing sandwiches and laughter on lawn furniture while listening to The Lot on Spotify. In the throes of daily life, however, even on a weekend, responsibility calls. Soccer, family, lunch dates, and dinner plans, everybody’s got something. But assemble a band and all of a sudden eighty miles is around the corner and plans get rearranged. Then and only then do the occasional soccer games get missed and the lunch dates get rescheduled. Live music always has been — and always will be — the scaffolding upon which all this goodness is built. Jen built this — twice! — on a foundation of love for her people and I felt that for every second of this gloriously perfect day.
It’s all really simple, actually. Let Dennis Bolger spell it out for you, “It’s all been distilled down to what really matters. Music-love, friendship-love.” Yep, that’s it. While I continue to pray for the return of the live event industry, I’ll always treasure these intimate days with friends and loved ones and hope that we continue to find new ways to manufacture them for a long time to come in what has come to be known as the new normal.
Summerfeet
The undisputed MVPs of 2020, Summerfeet did what they do best yet again, holding their friends and loved ones under the spell of their unique brand of jammed out yacht rock for hippies. {Not for nothing, that moniker may be the best creation of my young writing career.} It’s been super cool to see this band evolve and grow, having now added an upright bass to the lineup they opened the summer with in this same backyard almost four months ago. Even better still is to see the expanded group of friends touched by their spell. I said this after having finished a series of concerts in my own backyard and I’ll repeat it here, while I miss Phish and Pearl Jam and Broadway and my heart hurts for those suffering from the loss of the live event industry, supporting and uniting around the music of our friends is a stage in my music life that I’ll never forget nor wish to shut the door on.
Literally playing the soundtrack to my life, Summerfeet touched upon everything from The Meters, Lou Reed, The Band, Little Feet, and Don Henley, to The Grateful Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic, and Brothers Allman and Avett, both. Even with all that, my personal favorites on the day were a tossup between a cover of Seals and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” and the “Tweezer” > “Manteca” > “I and Love and You” > “Tweezer Reprise” (!) that closed the show. Flashing back to the back seat of my parents Caddy, early eighties, sullenly sitting bitch between two older but smaller sisters as we crossed the Verrazano to visit family in Brooklyn, begrudgingly singing along to music I hated at the time but blankets me in a warm sense of nostalgia now, that is Summerfeet. Raging to “Tweezer” before crying to “I And Love And You” before raging again to “Tweeprise” with friends clad head to toe in sequins and festival glasses, that is Summerfeet.
And then, of course, there are the five awesome humans putting their love on display while their nearest and dearest share in the groove. Thank you Dennis Bolger and Joe Colgan and Todd Nocera and Miles East and Ken Dircks … love all you guys the most!
10,815 steps.
Setlist:
Set One: Hey Pocky Way, Oh! Sweet Nuthin”, Farmhouse, Ophelia, Ooh La La, Sharing the Night Together, Willin’, Jesus Etc., Dixie Chicken, Dire Wolf, Any Major Dude Will Tell You, Summer Breeze, Bird Song
Set Two: Space Wrangler, Atlantic City, Kid Charlemagne, Boys Of Summer, Blaze On, Ain’t Wasting Time, Tweezer > Manteca > I And Love And You >Tweezer Reprise
Dead Meat
Nyack’s best Grateful Dead cover band kept the party going until the early evening hours, putting a fun spin on the best catalog in the land as the rage hit high gear. Opening with “I Need A Miracle”, the six-piece cover band announced their presence loud and proud. Offering my approval by way of the simple praise, “Good start, fellas,” the band retorted with, “That was soundcheck, it doesn’t count. Erase it from your memory.” Ha. But, no. I have the pen and the last word 🙂
A set of funky, high-energy covers followed including the day’s second “Bird Song”, a gorgeous “Half-Step”, a tender “Sugaree”, and a wayyyy fun “US Blues”. The highlight for sure, though, was the “Shakedown Street” that ended as “Stash” on the heals of a face melting guitar solo. A two-guitar band with keyboards and percussion in addition to the rhythm section of bass and drums, the keyboardist frequently doffed his keyboard and donned the band’s third guitar. I apologize for not knowing some of these guys’ names (I tried to do my due diligence but their website needs an “about the band” section) but this band is hiding its best guitarist on the keys. (Update: Ryan Liatsis, aka Shwizz, is the keyboardist to whom I refer.) Something about his solos were just, well, different. They grabbed you in that special place, making you stop and take notice and it was one of these that flawlessly turned the “Shakedown St.” into “Stash”. Just lovely, really.
I’m a self-professed sucker for the bass and Dan Rappaport crushed his five-string accompanied by next level stank face. Super enjoyed his playing and outward display of emotion though I would’ve liked to have seen him take an extended solo. Hand drums were a delicious touch, perfectly mic’d and so delightfully noticeable in the mix. Small bit of trivia brought to you by Kenny and Doc … the percussionist was none other than David Krumholtz, an actor and producer known for The Deuce (2017), The Plot Against America (2020) and Numb3rs (2005). Or maybe he just looked like him and they were fucking with me. Either way, thought I’d throw it out there and I really liked his contributions. He even took a turn with vocals on “Alabama Getaway”, the fourth band member to take lead vocals on the night though he didn’t participate in the lovely three-part harmonies that were so prevalent throughout both sets.
Right before the second set started, I noticed the title “Loose Lucy” on the guitarist’s ipad, excited for the frame to kick off in high gear. Hold that thought. The second frame followed in similar fashion to the first with notable moments including when the keyboardist and guitarist fully switched instruments for “Playing In The Band” > “Layla” and later on, when Shwizz played lap steel for “Ripple”, his talent even more noteworthy than his handlebar moustache. “Morning Dew” is always impressive and this one fell in line, Liatsis on lead vocals. As time grew short, the band announced, “One more,” before unleashing an “Eyes Of The World” > “NFA” > GDTRFB” > “NFA” combo that was clearly not one more. Or does the carat bail them out of that small falsehood??? Another inadvertent falsehood, the “Loose Lucy” never materialized as it was still on the guitarist’s ipad, the set now over. “Oh yeah, I never use that,” he said. Maybe that was up for the whole first set, too, and those were the lyrics he was looking at when he missed the first line of “Shakedown” lol.
14,245 super fun steps shared with the best crew in the land. All the love.
Setlists:
Set One: I Need a Miracle, Brown-Eyed Woman, Feel Like A Stranger, Bird Song, Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo, Sugaree, Alabama Getaway, US Blues, Shakedown > Stash
Set Two: Mr. Charlie, Playing In The Band > Layla, Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Ripple, Hell In A Bucket, Terrapin Station, Uncle John’s Band > Playing Reprise, Morning Dew, Eyes Of The World > Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad > Not Fade Away