a hallowe’en treat from club d’elf
greetings and salutations,
it’s getting to be that scary time of year again, and here at d’elf hq we are gearing up for that most sacred of high holy days, hallowe’en. and we have a special treat for ya’ll. allow me to provide some back-story: when drummer erik kerr was a little tike his mom would sing to him a little ditty around halloween, with words by harry behn. it would scare the young erik to no end, which probably made mom pretty satisfied. flash forward many years to a halloween d’elf gig where erik sang to me this song, providing me with the idea that we HAVE to record it someday with him singing it, for in addition to his considerable drum skills he is a fine singer. we even performed it impromptu at a lizard gig several years ago.
this past july erik was in town and we took the opportunity to book some time at randy roos’s fine studio, Squam Sound (www.squamsound.com), nestled in the bucolic environs of ashland, new hampshire. it overlooks squam lake, where On Golden Pond wasfilmed…not exactly the sort of gothic setting for the song one might envision, but we made do. there in the warmth of a july day we cut the basic track, and added “special flavors” to it over the last month or so, and now we reveal to you the result for your listening and scalpel-slashing pleasure. we present 2 mixes, each w/ a different vocal sound, and ask you, dear reader, to vote for which one you prefer. we have a few other tweaks to do and a final mix will be created and offered in the next newsletter. here’s where to go (and thanks to web guru jeremy v for taking time out of his vacation to upload these):
SPECIAL HALLOWE’EN MP3Mix 1 : http://www.clubdelf.com/mp3/Hal_10-16_mix1.mp3
Mix 2 : http://www.clubdelf.com/mp3/Hal_10-16_mix2.mp3
and if you’d like to sing along, here are the lyrics:
~ HALLOWEEN ~By Harry Behn
Tonight is the night when dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches across the sky,
When elf and sprite flit through the night
On a moony sheen: it’s Hallowe’en.
Tonight is the night when leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home under the ground,
When spooks and trolls creep out of their holes
All mossy and green: it’s Hallowe’en.
Tonight is the night when pumpkins stare
Through sheaves and leaves everywhere,
When ghoul and ghost and goblin host
Dance round their queen: it’s Hallowe’en!
while you’re in the mood, we recommend the duplex planet’s hallowe’en tribute. originally a print-only ‘zine with transcripts of interviews done with residents of jamaica plain’s own duplex planet nursing home (no longer around), you can now find it on the world wide interweb. larry green’s definition of hallowe’en is one of our faves:
LARRY GREEN: To make pranks. Scarecrow. The Devil. Skeleton. Witch. Goblins. That’s all. Play pranks. Set fires. Empty wooden barrels. Bonfires in the middle of the street. Once I got arrested for setting fires, put on probation for the rest of the summer. Set fires. Stealin’ apples. Breaking and entering. That’s Halloween! You always had it in for your enemies. Take a baseball bat and get behind a hedge and wait for your enemies. Your enemies would turn out to be witches and they gave you a bag of candy. That’s where you met your wife. I met her Halloween, took her to a party. It was rainin’ like hell. Soakin’ wet! Put me to bed, gave me a couple of aspirin tablets. I got pneumonia. they put me in Lynn Hospital. That was twenty years ago. It was rainin’ like hell! http://www.duplexplanet.blogspot.com/
SHOWS
Sat Oct 20, 2007…
TONIGHT!!! The Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket, NH 03857.603-659-6321. $10. 18+.FridayF http://www.thestonechurch.com. 2 sets starting at 10 pm.w/ Dave Tronzo (slide guitar), Tom Hall (tenor sax), Mister Rourke (turntables), Mike Rivard (bass & sintir) & Dean Johnston (drums). note: we will have for sale AWESOME, suitable-for-framing posters created by artist alicia lavigne specially for these stone church shows. she designed a TRIPtych of alien-oriented eye candy that you will be proud to display in your space ship, boudoir or s&m chamber. check her out at http://www.myspace.com/allbrightmoments.
Friday, Oct 26, 2007
Festival du Monde Arabe de Montreal, Theatre Corona, 2490, rue Notre-Dame O., Montreal, Quebec, H2S 2K1, Canada.$33 (Canadian). 514-931 2088, 514-790 1245. Info: http://www.festivalarabe.com/fma/content.jsp?sid=31177834210738050241828728902&ctid=ARTICLE&cnid=1000761 Brahim Fribgane (oud, perc & voice), Dave “Fuze” Fiuczynski (guitar), Gavin Castleton (keyboards & beatbox), Mike Rivard (bass & sintir) & Erik Kerr (drums). this is a big gig for us, and it would be most delightful if some of ya’ll could make it. feel free to email me and let me know if you have a ride to offer anyone, or are in need of a ride and perhaps we can hook folks up. it’s quite an honor for us to be invited to play at this festival, especially when such illustrious groups as The Master Musicians of Jajouka are also performing. they have been a huge inspiration to us, and if you’re not familiar with them check out their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jajoukamasters. brahim will be playing again at the festival with malika zarra (www.myspace.com/malikazarra ) on nov 3, so if you’re feeling it check that show out as well.
D’ELF RELATED
Tues Oct 23, 2007
Public House feat. Geoff Scott, Timo Shanko, Mike Rivard & Brian Sayers. Matt Murphy’s Pub, 14 Harvard St, Brookline Village, MA. 617-232-0188. 11 pm – 2 am. 21+. Free! http://www.mattmurphyspub.com.
Monday Oct 29, 2007
Duke Levine Group (w/ Mike Rivard, Kevin Barry & Per Hanson). Atwoods Tavern, 877 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA. 617-864-2792.9 pm – 12 am. Free! http://www.atwoodstavern.com.
MISC
*d’Elf on Youtube*
scott byrnes continues his documentation of our stone church shows with these youtube clips from the august gig w/ dave tronzo, mat maneri, tom hall, mister rourke, dean johnston and mice elf. 2 words: face pelts. enjoy.8/16/07 Pt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijfmUzFgvG48/16/07 Pt 2 (Sand): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=630MqFdjje48/16/07 Pt 3 (Sand cont.) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m29YWaZfSW8
we ARE going to get you to buy this sucker, this, our most recent live cd. why? because it is almost 160 min of what allaboutjazz calls “Pure magic.” and why wouldn’t you want THAT in your life? exactly. not that you need such things as “quotes form the so-called experts” to get you to purchase anything, being the sort of free-thinking freakazoid that populate this e-list, but JUST in case it will help to push you over the cliff, we include a few. then go to http://www.kufala.com/artists/show.php?catnum=190 and do the right thing. you’ll be glad you did. now for them quotes…
“Plowing through dub, world beat, funk, jazz, and just pure sound (both acoustic and electronic), Club d’Elf are an unstoppable, far-out musical force…Duke Levine and Dave Tronzo’s dual-guitar attack leaves heads spinning with their casual virtuosity and restraint…sounding like The Meters jamming with R2D2 after downing a family-size bottle of Robitussin…For those seeking new funky music that isn’t afraid to color outside the lines, this is a great place to start.” – Ben Taylor, Transform Online
“A fun, slightly jocular take on rock-meets-jazz (with) moments of tape-recorded lunacy…Lots of heat, some relative calm, e.g., the smooth/Milesian “Goblin Garden,” even a taste of some 6/8 Eddie Harris tucked into the funky “That Is My Voice.” – John Ephland, Relix
“… suggestions of Northern Africa and superimpositions of charming timbres materialize which let us catch a glimpse into an urban jungle of which each of us dreams in the enchanted mid-summer nights, projecting into the future of its personal world at the limits of possibility…The telepathic contact that is created between the rhythm section and the other musicians engaged on stage is by now legendary…an unending journey to slowly see the surrounding panorama change, like a train which floats weightlessly on magnetic tracks and moves between mysterious worlds of the collective imagination…the formidable empathy which comes to be created in these by now mythical evenings makes every negative tension dissipate and lets only positive energies emerge. Pure magic.” -Maurizio Comandini, AllAboutJazz
*Now I Understand/Bass Player review*
alright, i admit it: i geek out to my favorite “bass porn” mag every month: Bass Player. and one of my favorite writers is this cat bryan beller, who is also a smoking bassist who plays w/ steve vai, dweezil zappa, mike kenneally and others. so i must admit i was pretty giddy when the latest ish shows up at my door with a review of our studio cd, Now I Understand, reviewed by none other than bryan. and not just the usual 3 or 4 lines, but a whole bleedin’ paragraph! yeah, baby! plus in this biz a record is considered non-news if it’s more than a few months old, let alone a year old, so even cooler to get coverage. here’s what bryan had to say:
“More than just a band, Club d’Elf is a rolling consortium of killer players (featuring John Medeski, Billy Martin, Dave Tronzo, Reeves Gabrels, and many more) organized and produced by acoustic/electric bassist Mike Rivard. Their tasty take on trip-hop jazz-rock-funk takes the John Scofield Uberjam and late Medeski Martin & Wood concepts to the next level of experimentation, with samples, unusual instruments, turntable scratching, curious noises and unique timbres scattered across the stereo spectrum, darting in and out of a late-night out-of-control party-jam-band atmosphere. The hat Rivard wears on this project is much more producer than bassist, but the tones and grooves he puts down in the middle of this long strange trip are greasy enough to keep the party going and then some (check out “Vishnu Dub” for a deep low-end carve). Smoke ’em if you got ’em.” -Bryan Beller, Bass Player magazine
if you don’t own a copy and would actually like to support musicians by BUYING a copy (and i don’t mean a “used copy” from amazon…that gets us nothing…), you can order it from us at clubdelf.com, or one of these fine outlets:* iTunes : http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=194113152&s=143441* AMAZON : http://www.amazon.com/Now-Understand-Club-d-Elf/dp/B000H5U6C0/sr=8-1/qid=1158699621/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1036424-8682212?ie=UTF8&s=music* NEWBURY COMICS : http://www.newburycomics.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=103&upc=74343150542* BEST BUY : http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=15153511&st=club+d‘elf+now+i+understand&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1562731* BARNES & NOBLE : http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=743431505422&itm=1you can download a free track from NIUat AllAboutJazz.com: Introduction/Bass Beatboxhttp://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=1712
i am, as anyone who knows me will attest to, a bit of a horror movie aficionado. i love ’em all: cheesy, classic, gory, leave-it-to-the-imagination, new, old, big budget, low budget…bring ’em on. not too much into bland slasher flicks, and the eli roth/new school of “torture porn” leaves me feeling kind of dirty and sullied, but everything else is pretty much right up my strasse. here are some suggestions for you to consider here at hallowe’en time:
Donnie Darko (2001) (www.donniedarkofilm.com) – a no brainer. if you haven’t seen it already, make sure you look for the original, NON-director’s cut. trust us on this. this is one of my all-time favorite movies, and i will watch it again and again. and again.
The Descent (2005) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625)- UK film directed by neil marshall who also did a good werewolf movie called Dog Soldiers. the descent slayed me. saw it first in the theater with the original US ending (not so good), and then later on dvd w/ the original UK ending (much creepier). plays on archetypal fears of darkness, being trapped in confined spaces, and being consumed by cannibalistic, cave-dwelling, humaniod creatures. 6 buff, outdoorsy women go spelunking in an unchartered cave, and these ladies are no bimbos, but rather kick-ass climbers with great personalities. so when things begin to go wrong (and they go VERY wrong), you really feel for them. gives me chills just thinking about it.
Night Of The Demon (1957) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0050766) – also known as Curse Of the Demon. features a totally non-cheesy monster for the time, and a great story about an aleister crowley-type black magician who conjures up a demon to smite his critics, and as someone who also has to deal with “critics”, i must admit i wish i could do the same sometimes. watch this one and then check out our track Hungry Ghosts from NIU. hmmmm…
The Evil Dead (1981) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907) – an old favorite. sam raimi’s first, done w/ some help by the coen brothers. low, low budget but oh-so good. what happens when some young kids rent a cottage in the woods, find a dusty copy of the necronomicon along with a taped translation, and raise ancient evil from the woods. it’s hard when your girlfriend becomes a pencil-wielding ghoul and you have to dismember her. great claymation effects and the awesome talents of bruce campbell. if you’re in the boston area check out the latest The Dig for a hilarious rant by a disgruntled movie-goer who had to contend with some drunken frat boys at a recent showing at the coolidge corner moviehouse.
The Dunwich Horror (1970) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669) – based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, and we love us some HPL. pretty bad movie, but has nostalgic value for your humble narrator, as i first saw it on a hallowe’en night when i was about 10, and was enthralled by the psychedelic effects used to represent yog sothoth, the eater-of-souls, he your basic invisible space god. also the sight of bare female breasts in the orgy scenes was quite a treat for a young lad, and must have escaped the fun-killing eyes of the censors. plus it has dean stockwell totally over the top in the lead role as wilbur whately. nice.
Equinox (1970) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0067055) – another blast from the past, first seen around the same time as the dunwich horror, and with a plot similar to the evil dead: bunch of kids in the woods find a copy of the necronomicon and – you guessed it – call forth nameless forces of ancient evil. features frank bonner from wkrp cincinnati and has some great stop-motion effects, ala ray harryhausen. for some reason this movie just really scared me, and my sister, too.
Dawn Of The Dead (1978) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0077402) – forget the remake. the original is unbeatable for mood and social commentary and – for the time – good gore effects, c/o tom savini, who also plays a cycle gang member. also stars ken foree who we loved in From Beyond (am i geeking out here or what?). directed by the great george romero and filmed -as were/are all of his films – in pittsburgh. will never get that shot of the zombie husband taking a chomp out of his wife’s arm out of my head…oooh, that HAD to hurt.
The Funhouse (1981) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0082427) – i can’t quite explain why this movie has become fodder for my nightmares, but the mutant geek who terrorizes the lovely elizabeth berridge and her 3 friends after hours in a carnival funhouse just shows up quite frequently in my dreams and scares the sh*t out of me. dude, this monster will freak you out, i am so serious.
The Tingler (1959) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0053363) – starring vincent price as a doctor doing studies in fear, and includes possibly the earliest cinematic portrayal of an acid trip! william castle directed, and coming from vaudeville as he did every picture had to have a gimmick. the gimmick for this one? Percepto: certain seats in theaters would be wired to give an electrical charge to the unwitting patron, eliciting shrieks of pain! ah, the glory days of pre-osha. this movie inspired 2 club d’elf tunes!
Freaks (1932) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913) – what can one say about this classic? it was diane arbus’s favorite movie. it features REAL circus freaks and totally was too much for people at the time, who could not handle physically deformed actors being used. it’s still too much for some folks. tod browning directed this a year after he did Dracula w/ bela Lugosi. he died the month and year i was born and i have often wondered if his soul found it’s way into my body. gooba gabba, one of us, one of us!and speaking of Dracula (1931), you can’t go wrong with those old Universal flicks, esp. Son Of Frankenstein. so put some of these on your netflix queue and add some new twists to your nightmares.
pleasant….dreams?
micro
Club d'Elf Bloggings 