April 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~ Robin Williams

Blog

Spring has sprung and thanks to you good people Neal and I have been on a very nice roll lately. Our performances have been great successes both artistically and at the box office in spite of the ongoing recession. We keep expanding our horizons as evidenced with a trip out to Pittsburgh, PA and Kent, Ohio this month and into Illinois this coming October. New playing opportunities keep popping up and we continue to get party inquiries which helps us stay afloat in these turbulent times. Miraculously, we turned 39 last month and if the fates allow we’ll have a brand new ATS studio album sometime in 2011 to celebrate our momentous 40^th anniversary. Meanwhile, my John Lennon Imagined recording with dear friend Tom Dean of Devonsquare is in its final stages. We are shopping it now with hopes of it being available for JL’s 70^th birthday on October 9, 2010. Please visit http://www.tomdeansongs.com/JLSP.html for a sneak preview and to sign up on our facebook page for updates.

Here’s a few more springtime quotes beginning with the greatest of them all:

Hope springs eternal. ~ Alexander Pope (from An Essay on Man, 1732)

The first day of spring is one thing but the first spring day is another. ~ Henry Van Dyke

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus –
Crocus. ~ Lilja Rogers

Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. ~ W. Earl Hall

Spring is not the best of seasons.
Cold and flu are two good reasons;
Wind and rain and other sorrow,
Warm today and cold tomorrow. ~ Author Unknown

April is a promise that May is bound to keep. ~ Hal Borland

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~ Mark Twain

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go. ~ Christopher Morley

The first day of spring was once the time for taking the young virgins into the fields, there in dalliance to set an example in fertility for nature to follow. Now we just set the clocks an hour ahead and change the oil in the crankcase. ~ E.B. White

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~ William Shakespeare

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~ Rogers Hornsby

Let’s Go Mets!

March 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

"Man is as vast as he acts." Yogi tea label

Blog

Our friend Gary Licker from Holbrook, NY designed and launched our first website way back in the ‘90s, then directed a documentary about us called "No Hit Wonder" which was aired on several PBS stations in 2000. Apparently it has been in the top 5 of the most popular short documentaries category on Hulu for the past 8 weeks. I had never heard of Hulu until just now but evidently it's all the rage. If you'd like to see the video in its entirety, or read some flattering comments about it, please click on hulu.com. It's also available on our website Aztec Two-Step store.

The premise of the documentary is that we've had this rather improbable career in spite of never having had a top 10 anything (or top 100 for that matter) in the music business. It's both ironic and cool that Gary's film finally got Aztec Two-Step "charted" after 39 years of playing music together in this our anniversary month. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Gary publicly for his kindness and support all these years.

We are truly blessed.

February 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

"Every smile is a direct achievement." Yogi tea label

Blog

For those of you who were fans of our first album you might recall its dedication to Billy Carey and Richie Callahan. Billy called last week with the sad news that Richie passed away after courageously battling cancer. I have so many fond memories of Richie, beginning with his mischievous twinkling black Irish eyes. Richie worked on the American Stock Exchange back then but you'd never know it by his laid back, easy going demeanor. He and Billy had a "bachelor pad" on the upper east side of Manhattan, and after stumbling upon Aztec Two-Step playing in the open air of Central Park one afternoon, they'd regularly stop by "our tree" near the band shell to hear us perform - the same spot where we were discovered and brought to Elektra Records a few months later. We all struck up a fast friendship so when I suddenly needed a place to "crash" after being in New York City for only a few weeks, he and Billy graciously offered me their living room couch - a much needed sanctuary in the summer of ‘71. Later that summer I moved into a little Greenwich Village apartment on Gay Street with my muse and bride to be Joy, who I also met under that very same tree. That was our doorway I was standing in on the cover of our first album.

Richie liked our upbeat songs the best, especially "Almost Apocalypse," and always requested it whenever he saw us play. He and Billy flew out west and visited us during our first recording sessions in Los Angeles, then rented cars and drove us to gigs with Harry Chapin in New Jersey and The Band in upstate New York. After my son Rufus was born, Richie went on vacation with us to Bermuda which ended abruptly when his wife Barbara broke her hand after crashing her moped into a stone wall that had inexplicably jumped out in front of her on our way back from a night of revelry. Richie and Billy bought me a navy blue woolen pea coat that first freezing winter in New York City and I'll always remember playing "Killing Me" and "Strangers" for them, while they sat cross-legged on the floor of that tiny Village apartment Joy & I shared. Whenever I needed a friend, a career or marriage counselor, money for rent, or just a good laugh, Richie (and Billy!) was always there for me. So long Richie Callahan, farewell old friend.