July 2011

Welcome to summer dear friends. Neal and I are making great strides on our Cause and Effect album that we’re recording with our bassist Freddy Holman. We’re putting on the finishing touches now and will harvest it this fall to commemorate our 40^th anniversary. As mentioned before, this will be a stripped down all-acoustic album of our “give a damn” songs including several new ones. It really captures our live power trio sound and may well be the best album we’ve ever made.

Speaking of summer and flies, after 21 months on the golf DL (disabled list) from a rotator cuff injury I was finally able to tee it up for 9 holes with my son Rufus last month. A few days later after no apparent side effects we teed it up again. I’ll skip over our awful scores and fast forward to last week with Tom Dean, my partner in crime with The Nu-Utopians, on his beautiful mountain golf course in North Conway, NH. It was there that I was reacquainted with those tiny silent assassins better known as Black Flies. According to Tom, they are New Hampshire’s unofficial state bird between Mothers and Fathers Day. We were warned that the little buggers were out in mass before teeing off but not wanting to endure that smelly bug spray, I decided to wait until they attacked. Bad idea! 42 bites later I realized I’d been had. Forewarned is forearmed so lather up my friends before venturing out this season! On a happier note, our beloved fireflies are bobbing about in full splendor now.

June 2011 E-News

Quote of the Month

“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” Al Bernstein

Rex’s Blog

Dear Friends, welcome to our official ‘After Rapture’ newsletter. Surprise, surprise, we’re still here and for this I am truly grateful because I have a great idea to share with you and Hershey’s, the manufacturers of Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars. Hey guys, would it be a sin to add a few almonds to the Mounds bar too? I know, sometimes you feel like a nut and all that stuff but by now everybody knows the dark chocolate in a Mounds bar is a much healthier choice than the milk chocolate of an Almond Joy bar, plus an almond or two in a Mounds bar would slow down that devilish sugar spike. I don’t think this modest proposal is heresy, in fact I think it’s a heavenly idea. So if you agree, come on, let’s join forces and start a campaign!

OK, moving right along, we’ve now recorded all sixteen songs slated for our upcoming Cause and Effect album. Neal and I will put the finishing touches on it later this month then harvest it this fall to commemorate our 40th anniversary together. As I mentioned before, this will be a stripped down all-acoustic album that features our good buddy and band mate Freddy Holman on bass. We’re revisiting old and debuting new “give a damn” songs from our vast and varied musical canon. We’re very excited about this record.

I want to give a thumbs up to my friend Alan Gerstel’s mesmerizing memoir “Swing – The Search for my father, Louis Prima.” If you’re a fan of biographies like me, auto or otherwise, this is a fascinating story. I have already ordered six copies to give to friends of mine who were adopted but it’s not a criteria for loving this book. To order please go to www.amazom.com and click on "Books" and then enter "SWING - the...." and the book will pop up. You can also visit Alan’s website www.swingthebook.com that includes a recent TV piece that aired about his search for his father. Alan has inspired me to get back to work on my own memoir tentatively titled, “The B-Side of Success.”

This is my last shout out for The Edna Project by our friends Seth Farber and Liz Queler who have brilliantly set some of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poetry to music.

Please don’t forget about the Imagined CD that celebrates the musical majesty of John Lennon and which is also up for IMA’s People’s Choice Award this July. Please VOTE FOR US ASAP and if you haven’t yet, please PICK ONE UP SOON!

Finally, if you’re planning a fundraiser or a private party and think we’d be a good fit, please contact our agent Bobbi. She is a delight to work with no matter how small or large your event or gathering may be.

May 2011 E-News

Quote of the Month

"What potent blood hath modest May." Ralph W. Emerson

Rex’s Blog

I was saddened to learn that Phoebe Snow passed away last week at the tender age of 58. I remember with awe hearing “Poetry Man” for the first time on WNEW-FM. Her 1975 LP was one of, if not the most impressive debut albums of all-time. My then wife Joy and I literally wore that record out.

Phoebe was discovered at The Bitter End, a landmark folk club on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village where Neal and I had also played before we were discovered busking in Central Park on a sunny May afternoon in 1971.

The scuttlebutt on “Poetry Man” was that Phoebe had a gigantic crush on Buzzy Linhart, a lovely man and extremely talented musician who mentored her back then. I got to know Buzzy personally in the late seventies. He was a truly great singer, performer and songwriter in his own right but as fate allowed, his best known songs “Friends” and “The Love’s Still Growing” were made famous by Bette Midler and Carly Simon.

I feel blessed to have finally met Phoebe at a series of 9/11 benefit concerts in October of 2001 that ATS performed at along with Bruce Springsteen and a dozen other distinguished Jersey artists at The Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ.

On a happier note, Spring is busting out all over and Neal, Freddy and I have already recorded ten songs for our Cause and Effect album. We’re revisiting many of our socially conscious songs as well as some newer ones that fit thematically with this concept. As I mentioned last month, it will be a stripped down all-acoustic record that captures the energy of our live performances. We hope to have it out this fall.

I’m still digging The Edna Project by our friends Seth Farber and Liz Queler who have brilliantly set some of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poetry to music.

Please don’t forget that my Imagined CD celebrating the musical majesty of John Lennon is up for the Independent Music Award’s People’s Choice Award this July. Please VOTE FOR US ASAP. If you haven’t already, please PICK ONE UP SOON!

Last but not least, if you’re planning a fundraiser or a private party, our agent Bobbi is a delight to work with no matter how small or large your event or gathering may be.

April 2011 E-News

Quote of the Month

“April comes like an idiot, babbling and stewing flowers.” Edna St. Vincent Millay

Rex’s Blog

Happy April All, no foolin’!

Speaking of Edna St. Vincent Millay, if you’re a nut for her and her poetry like Risa & Laird Scranton and I are, you must check out The Edna Project. Our friends Seth Farber and Liz Queler have brilliantly set some of her poetry to music.

Sad news: I just learned my Imagined CD that honors the musical legacy of John Lennon lost the Independent Music Awards ‘Best Tribute Album’ competition. Yes we are disappointed but there’s still the equally important People’s Choice Award that will be announced later this summer - so if you haven’t yet, please VOTE FOR US ASAP. Music fans from around the world have until July 11 to cast their votes. I’ve never had an album elicit such passion from so many people since our Elektra album so please, if you haven’t yet, PICK ONE UP SOON!

March was a great month for us Two-Steppers. Our four ATS/S&G combo shows at The Phil in Naples, Florida were a delight, not to mention the 80-degree weather! Plus, our two 40^th Anniversary shows at The Sanctuary in Chatham, NJ with Pete Fornatale and Buskin & Batteau and at The Narrows were a total joy. We’ll be doing another 40^th Anniversary show with B&B at Infinity Hall on June 25. This is a must-see to believe venue and show if I do say so meself!

Neal, our bassist Freddy, and I will begin recording songs for our Cause and Effect (the working title) CD later this week at Paul Guzzone’s Triple Z studio in Pomona, NY. Paul produced our last studio album Days of Horses back in 2004, which many have compared to our 1972 debut album on Elektra. We’re revisiting many of our “give a damn” songs like War, Rabbit In The Moon, Shanty Town and Living In America, as well as some new songs that fit thematically with this concept. It will be a stripped down, all-acoustic, live in studio project that captures the energy of our live performances. We hope to have it ready to folk and roll by summer’s end.

April is rather lamb-like with just two shows scheduled. They include our 40^th Anniversary show at the marvelous TCAN in Natick, MA this Saturday the 2nd, and a Nu-Utopians show celebrating the songs of John Lennon at the equally marvelous Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH on Saturday the 23rd. As I stated earlier, Neal, Freddy and I will put this “down time” to good use by rehearsing and recording for a new CD as part of our 2011 anniversary celebration. With all the political and social upheaval going on here in the U.S. and abroad these days, this seems like a relevant and worthwhile endeavor.