August 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

We’re just a band… John Lennon

Blog

August - the dog days of summer and the beginning of the end of not making the playoffs for many of our favorite major league baseball teams - especially my Neu Rotic Mets. Words cannot express my disappointment in their lack of clutch hitting and the ineptness of their front office so I’ll leave it at that, wordless.

After performing our S&G Songbook Show at The Kate in Old Saybrook, CT, Neal and I are looking forward to coming back to play our original songs this Saturday. And besides some other wonderful shows and festivals in August and September, we’ll be performing in Kent, Ohio and Chicago this October 22^nd & 23^rd. Before I forget, our booking agent Bobbi wanted me to mention that If anyone is interested in having us play a private party or hosting a house concert on our way to and fro, we’re available. Also, because of the way the weekends line up for Christmas and New Years this year, we’re available to perform on or around those dates.

And now, a drum roll please........ After ten months of recording and tens of thousands of miles traveling back and forth to Eaton, NH (OK, a slight exaggeration on the millage but not by much) my friend Tommy Dean of Devonsquare and I have finally finished Imagined, our John Lennon Song Project CD. After years of wishful thinking, this is adream come true album for me that features 22 of Lennon’s better known Beatles songs, many of them artfully woven together. The two exceptions are Imagine and Johnny’s An Angel,which was originally on Aztec’s 1986 Living In America album. We’ve gotten nothing but rave previews from everyone who’s heard it so far including my friend John who wasserving in Kabul, Afghanistan at the time, and my band mates Neal and Freddy. And how about this from WFUVs’ Pete Fornatale: One listen to these intelligent, heartfelt covers will convince you that Rex and Tom have been infused with the spirit of John Lennon and that they rank right up there with the very best Lennon interpreters ever.

The official release date is October 9^th - John’s 70^th birthday - but is available to you all now on our ATS website. Tom and I are very excited about the CD and our upcoming 2010 live shows, which kick off on September 17^th at the Gracie Theater in Bangor, Maine. We’ll be performing live with Tom’s band mate Alana MacDonald who sings a heart-wrenching version of In My Life, plus four other terrific musicians. And like the CD, the live show’s instrumentation features bass, acoustic and electric guitars, cello, violin, mandolin, accordion, chromatic harmonica and some crazy cool vocals. For complete details, song samples and such, you can visit our JLSP website.

July 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

"The steady buzzzzzzz of the Katydid chorus,
the bass solo of the croaking Frog,
the steady woof-woof-woof a barking Dog -
a summer night's serenade."
- Michael P. Garofalo, Cuttings

Blog by Rex

I’m sickened by this ongoing BP disaster. We all are. The poor people, the pelicans, the wetlands, the water and sand. It feels worse than the Valdez spill because it is worse, a hundred times worse and counting.

I’ve gotten mail asking why I haven’t addressed this topic. My first thoughts were, this is way too depressing and what difference would it make anyway? In the light of day, today, all that comes to mind is we all need to band together on this and not shirk our individual responsibilities either: being more mindful of our planet, better informed, and more than ever before, working with our elected officials on these matters. Life on earth. We’re all in this together including the oil companies.

We obviously need oil and its byproducts now but we can all do better conserving it and asking our lawmakers to do a better job in regulating its manufacturing. To this end I believe there is some progress being made. Still, I’m disappointed in our president’s response to this ongoing disaster, especially after the lessons of Katrina, and for not using this as a call to arms for congress to assist the private sector in developing sustainable renewable energy sources. If not now then when? In spite of the anguish, the depression and dread, this is a golden opportunity to renew our resolve for a safer cleaner future while creating new and inspiring jobs for our staggering economy. However, I hate the prospect of more nuclear power plants. Please say no to this shortsighted and dangerous policy but yes to wind, tide and solar energy. It’s our only real chance for survival on dear mother earth.

I started thinking about a song lyric I wrote back in the early 80s. It’s startling to me how prophetic it was but we had similar ecological and economic concerns back then as well. It’ll only get worse if we don’t get involved now.

What Would The Indians Say

WELL WE DUMP ALL OUR JUNK IN THE OCEANS
FUNK UP OUR RIVERS AND LAKES
WHILE WE SPEAK ABOUT LOVE AND DEVOTION
I WONDER WHAT WOULD THE INDIANS SAY?

THERE’S GONNA BE FIRE ON THE WATER
AN AWESOME PRICE TO PAY
WE BETTER HOPE OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS
HEAR WHAT THE INDIANS SAY

WE DO RESEARCH ON EARTH’S LITTLE CREATURES
BLIND THEM WITH COSMETIC SPRAYS
WHILE WE GAWK AT THE BLONDES IN THE BLEACHERS
I WONDER WHAT WOULD THE INDIANS SAY?

CHORUS

WELL THE TV KEEP PUSHING ITS PICTURE
TIME IT KEEP TICKING AWAY….
WHILE THE RICH KEEP THE RICH KEEPING RICHER
SO TELL ME WHAT WOULD THE INDIANS SAY?

June 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

"Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June."
~ Al Bernstein (American Author)

Blog by Rex

Well my Amazins’ are holding their own in spite of erratic run production caused by a severe psychological hitting disorder prominently displayed by core players in the middle of the batting order - oh yeah, and the one batting eighth as well. This disorder is especially evident with runners in scoring position (that’s RISP for those of you keeping score at home). Still, there’s a glimmer of hope for our 2010 season; hope being mandatory if you’re a diehard Mets fan, which most Mets fans by nature are. Perhaps the reason we relate almost religiously to our psychologically damaged baseball team, season after season, is that we obviously have a proclivity for that malady ourselves.

Moving right along, ATS is playing some choice new venues this month including a CancerCare celebration in Bangor, ME., the fabulous Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly, RI., then back to Maine, this time Skowhegan, to play a fundraiser for their Opera House. I mean, nothing says OPERA quite like Aztec Two-Step! Throw in a rare house concert sponsored by our lovely and longtime friend Deb McWethy of the Peterborough Folk Music Society, a private WFUV house concert fundraiser with DJ extraordinaire Pete Fornatale, and a private party also in Maine, and we have a pretty lively, fun and fulfilling June itinerary. Please scroll below or visit our website’s tour dates for all the thrilling details. http://www.aztectwostep.com/tours.aspx.

Oh yes and, Let’s Go Mets!!

May 2010 E-News

Quote of the Month

"What potent blood hath modest May."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blog by Rex

Ya gotta believe that The Amazin’s are back in spite of dire punditry predictions for their 2010 season. Understandable (unless you’re a diehard Mets fan!) in the wake of consecutive colossal September collapses’ in 2007 & 8 - and of course last year’s dismal showing brought on (in part) by devastating injuries to several key pitchers and position players. So, when my New York Mets finished off their April home stand with a 9-game winning streak to inch a half game ahead of their turnpike rivals, the Philadelphia “Cheese Steaks,” as the delirious droll WFAN radio host Steve Summers refers to them, you can only imagine the ecstasy in Metsville. I actually have the utmost respect for the Phillies in spite of their pathetic showing in last year’s “Fall Classic” against the best team money always buys, the New York Yankees. Yeah, yeah, we all know about the “Core Four” but please, how pathetic is it to be able buy or discard players at a moment’s whim or whenever the need arises? I’d be embarrassed to be a Yankee fan the way The Evil Empire buys their championships year after year, but of course they never are, always wanting more more more. Now, if only my Mets would go out and pickup a serious free agent thumper this year and another starting south paw or two and…

Speaking of gaming, we hope you’ll come out for our free concert at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den this Wednesday, May 5^th starting at 8pm. We’re playing one long set backed by bassist Freddy Holman and percussionist Marshal Rosenberg. Meet us for a pizza party at Pepe’s afterward!

We’re also back at gorgeous Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT on Saturday, May 15^th featuring our original songs after doing our S&G show there previously.

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!