Sidelines - 10/15/15 - Brooklyn, New York

Thanks to D.L.S. and MC Too Tall who was tending bar this evening for inviting us down.

Our night began in classic fashion as Thomas' car got "tapped" from behind while pulling up to drop off two amplifiers but the offender insisted on filing a police report as opposed to simply exchanging insurance numbers, so much for us being the opening act and we were postponed for well over an hour.

D.L.S. went on first in lieu of the legal activities proliferating outside.

Sylvester (Vocals), Brian (Guitar), Sal (Guitar), Rob (Guitar), Andy (Bass), Phil (Drums).

I was listening from outside but whenever a band performs "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (and many do) I always listen to the Guitar solo for the nuances and Rob nailed it.

From London, England. Steve White with Phil on Cajon and Brian Dillon on Guitar.

Joe taken from my viewpoint as we had no photographer.

Sylvester (D.L.S.) was kind enough to post some photos on "Facebook" as it happened. And happened it did, premiered tonight was the Levi Presley hit "Dont Be Cruel".

The New York Mets beat the Dodgers 3-2 during our set and much Ballyhoo ensued but Joe obliged with kind and knowing sarcasm thanking the crowd for all the applause. We were asked for an encore which was the B.B. King/Lucille Bogan standard "Sweet Little Angel".

Tommy Roberto ready to Rock after the automobile mishegash was cleared up.

"BOY !!!"

Looking more and more like Angus Scrimm, the "Tall Man" from the film Phantasm.

The Pocket Monster. Bop Monroe (Guitar and Vox), Brian (Bass), Eugene (Drums).

Eugene has a unique style of double traditional sticking of which I asked him about after their set, he also provided the Drums which was a tiny, short kit with a thin TAYE Bass Drum and it was a slight challenge to perform on but it was fine.

Eugene and I flanked by a photo bombing Bop Monroe.

Its Only Rock & Roll But I Like It.

Sidelines serves HUGE Pint glasses of Blue Moon or Budweiser but I can swear these are 20 ounces if not more.

Post Gig one a.m. Dinner at the Bridgeview Diner.

Joe and Thomas had Eggs Over Easy and Eggs Over Well.

I had the traditional Cheeseburger Deluxe.

We all had Gravy on the side.

My bandmates stole my large Onion Ring, The Bastards.

Actually I surrendered it wholeheartedly.

This Is Show # 21

- Spike

Recording Session 6/5/15 - HesDeadJim Studios - Queens, New York

The Yegg Array.

As this is being posted four months in deference the memory becomes blurry but it is the Admins (Spike) fault and we do have a gig tonight so I had better get into a Curry Hurry.

We laid down basic Rhythm tracks for "She's Pretty", "We Made This House A Home" and our old warhorse from The Sub-Basement Blues Band Days, a new recording of "Open Skies".

A jerk to work with but a Heckuva guy.

The Great Poska Riffing to "Open Skies" or about to Riff.

About to lay it down.

Gibson Give Us Money.

Is the 347 much better than the revered 338 ?

I shall ask Thomas.

In the Sound Chamber.

Whilst editing this entry I pondered the fact of "Where the heck is Joe ?" well I found a pic and as he is a third of us and a Chief Songwriter in the band he must be represented.

He's the dude to the right in the SUN records t-shirt.

A Gratuitous pic of "Easy Cheese" which was my edible fuel during this Recording Session, Mother's Milk right from the Nozzle, almost finished the whole canister.

THE FILOSA 35TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 5/2/15 Three Jolly Pigeons, Brooklyn New York

An Impromptu photo of The Good Yeggs backstage at the Filosa celebration.

Amongst the roster of 17 bands invited to celebrate the 35th wedding anniversary of the Filosa's was Us, The Good Yeggs.

We played a set of 5 songs and got in and out professionally like a small unit of Special Forces to let the other acts get on with it, of this I was happy. Do not get me wrong but oftentimes there are huge gaps between bands due to tuning up, tuning down, turning on, turning off and just plain "Where the hell is the Guitar player ?".

Our set tonight was "She Made This House A Home", "Another Brooklyn", "Crazy Arms", "Good Enough Is Good" and the premiere of "She's Pretty"

The festivities began with a mini Blues Jam and Joe Filosa was generous to invite me up behind the kit for a number which was Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride & Joy" during which the "button" (angle adjustment) on the right hand Crash Cymbal became undone which was immediately followed by my glasses falling off and careening onto the Floor Tom but being a seasoned musician you must never ever stop so I carried on, well it was that good.

The entire performance from all players concerned ran from 9 p.m. till 2:30 a.m. and as my Drum Kit was the house kit I must say that my Ludwig's were gang banged all evening but came out unscathed and spiritually enhanced.

Truly a fun evening and Everyone (including my Drum Kit) had a Complete Blast.

It was then that Thomas realized he had taken the Bass Drum with him by accident and left his wife Nina standing in the driveway back in Queens.

With Mr. Joe Filosa (the handsomer cat in the background) backstage at Three Jolly Pigeons.

Joe and I share similar Musical tastes (Progressive Rock, etc.) and I kept trying to get a decent photo of two of "The Drummers" but failed miserably, much like trying to play a 16th note paradiddle underwater.

Either way fellow Drummer and a good man of impeccable taste.

I looked at him and he at me wondering what on our plates there might be.

Patti Filosa did not cater the party, she made the food from scratch and fed 17 bands, and if you ever ate with a Musician well,...

Aside from the graciousness of being fed this was Homeade Food and most delicious it was, and I mean,.. DELICIOSO!!!

Well I had Three Meatballs aside from my plate and told her so to which Patti's humorous reply was "O.K. thats it for you, no more, there are more people coming" 

She is so cool and culinarily talented that she must be married to a Drummer or something.

The Newcomer of the Evening Award goes to Puddy Tat.

I returned to the room only to witness Sylvester (and the band) killing it. Now Sylvester often comes to our gigs with Brian Dillon but I had no idea that he was a singer and what a singer and front man he is, I was thoroughly impressed, so much so that I spontaneously joined the back line percussion section (on woodblock) during their take on the Spencer Davis Band's classic "I'm A Man".

The Good Yeggs both collectively and individually would like to thank the Filosa's for inviting us to help celebrate their 35th anniversary together.

This is Show # 19

- Spike

Three Jolly Pigeons 2/7/15 Brooklyn, New York

Thomas' Gibson ES-347-2800 manufactured in 1980 and Joe's "First Bass Guitar" the Ibanez Roadstar ll built in 1982 which in Joe's words was still "When Ibanez made good guitars".

John Paul Skocik opened the nights proceedings with an acoustic set of well written Killer tunes, afterwards I asked him if he was an Elvis Costello fan and he replied in the affirmative. Mr. Costello aint no slouch when it comes to song form so we were all happy unanimously. Thanks John for the Girl To Gorilla CD which was gifted to me and just recorded and will get a play on my Audio Device immediately.

Yeggs Is As Yeggs Be.

We performed a loose, short and Brisket marinated set and at one point the Drummer even dropped his stick only to quickly recover of course. 

Premiered tonight was the Chuck Berry Classic "Memphis,Tennessee", "Cadillac Ranch"  courtesy of THE BOSS of whom Jennie recommended we cover and who me and Joe took about 1 minute to decide on which tune, Paul McCartney's Beatles barnstormer "I'm Down" and a new original tune penned by Joe and dedicated to his wifey "She Made This House A Home".

A couple of Yeggs goofing around.

Taken from my vantage point. Mr. Joe getting ready for his set.

Taken from my vantage point. Mr. Tom getting ready for his set.

Taken from my vantage point. Me thinking I don't know what the hell 

is going on.

Box Of Crayons played a Ramshackle set that had me smiling throughout.

OK, there is something to be said about this. Smiling is possibly the greatest emotion that one can profligate and the Box Of Crayons floored me tonight. It possibly truly began with their rendition of their original song "I Want To Punch My Neighbor In The Nose" but only escalated from that point on. 

Brian Dillon, Need I say More.

Fran Powers, Need I say More.

Jennie ordered a Pizza Pie from a local joint and fed us all. Here is my self centered and Gratuitous photo of FOOD ON DRUMS and this was indeed for the first time "posed" but I was deeply in conversation with my friends so I rushed back to the table, Pizza in hand of course. Forgive me Carl as we do have an intrinsic bond over this behavior.

So as not to tarnish Joe's Remo Drumhead with Pizza grease or crumb tumblings I gingerly nestled my Slice upon the hallowed B.B. King's sweat rag of which lives inside of my gig bag, if my demise is near then please C.S.I. look into the DNA of said rag.

AND Lets give a Salute and "Shout Out" to Jennie of whom I always go to for advice even if she does not realize it and is one of my guiding lights. Plus she takes care of my Brother Joe.

Digital Ad Campaign (Jennie)

Digital Ad Campaign (Spike)

This Is Show # 18

- Spike

Recording Session 10/4/14 HesDeadJim Studios - Queens, New York

How HAL 9000 sees The Good Yeggs

This is about as artistic as one can get with an iPhone camera, or was that autistic.

We reconvened at Thomas' recording studio as we slowly build up our repertoire of tracks for the next CD. This is a photo of the boys re-recording the Guitar and Bass for "Going On Without You" as I was happy with my Drum track.

Two Songs were finished today and all involved were quite happy, Thomas' boy Sonny also gave his seal of approval and they only await mix down and mastering which is Thomas' forte' and then we bitch back and forth about smaller details via email.

Aside from "Going On Without You" we also finished Joe's song "Good Enough Is Good" replete with double tracked 3 part harmony on the chorus backing vocals making us like this crazy six headed Yegg and I also added a 2 bar Drum intro off the cuff, we were all quite chuffed I have to tell you.

A photo from the mid-80s of three quarters of The Sub Basement Blues Band (thats me, Thomas and Franklin, Joe is not in the pic but was probably in the other room playing snooker) that was propped up on the mixing console taken at a RESIDUE gig (Pete Lomenzo, David Stumacher, Ernie Brescia, Bobby Poska & Mike Roberto), thats Thomas' dad in the background talking to very possibly Jamie. 

What is important about this photo is the early implications and usage of the "photo bombing" technique if you look in the background there. I will have to ask Thomas who that forward thinking individual is.

Joe and his buddy Bud getting mic levels before laying down lead vocal tracks.

Tambourine in hand. I wouldnt wear a t-shirt on purpose to a recording session knowing there were photos being taken and then pose in said t-shirt making sure the headphone cable and tambourine was not obscuring the t-shirt graphic now would I ?.

Thomas showing off his Big Board with 24 track capability. He has a nice mixing console too.

You really had to be there but I did get to utilize The Bose Headphones.

We were all in our headphones during the initial warm up and run through and as we are using modern recording techniques the guitars are running direct through the board and there being no acoustic amplification involved we need to hear each other, I spied a little red light on Thomas' headphones and asked peering under my right crash cymbal at Joe, I commented "Joe, Thomas has a little red light on his headphones" (we were sporting the twenty dollar jobbies) to which Tom replied "Well, these are the good BOSE headphones".

Later in the day came time for Tambourine overdubs and I Chose The Bose.

BOSE laboratories can contact me via this Blog for future sponsorship deals.

Upon seeing this photo my friend Kristine commented "You all look like your in the Apollo space ship floating at Zero Gs"

Hello Mission Control from the Yegg 3.

Joe and Thomas had Ham & Cheese Sammiches for our lunch but I went for a Roast Beef & Cheese with Lettuce, Tomato, Mayo and Salt & Pepper on a Roll. I also got rather ill towards the end of our session, I don't blame the Sammich but you never know do you.

On the way to the store I mentioned how I needed to take photos for this here BLOG and Joe said "yeah more pictures, we are just a little older and a little fatter". In the corner Deli as I was seeking my Lipton Citrus Green Tea which I did actually find I came up with "Beers, Bitches & Pork Rinds" as a possible future CD title so we added them together.

"Beers, Bitches & Pork Rinds, A Little Older & A Little Fatter" 

You had to be there but I for one don't want to lose the LP title to the winds of time so I jotted it down here.

- Spike

Peter Maybeck Birthday Celebration - American Bar 9/19/14 New York City

We gathered at Peter's watering hole the American Bar to celebrate his Birthday and I was honored to be invited and welcomed along with my bandmates to provide the entertainment of Music which was secondary only to the BOOZE that everyone was so excited about. I had something called "JD on the Rocks" and 2 helpings of "Cider" Quite refreshing indeed these Earth Drinks. 

Jennie took the photo above at the end of the evening.

(L to R) - Joe, Peter the Birthday Boy, Spike and Thomas.

Rocking it out at a new venue for us. Joe is about to do the Chuck Berry Duck Walk here.

Premiered tonight was the Elvis tune "That's Alright Mama"

Joe resplendent in the spotlight but then the microphone wanted to eat his eye, How Dare it, We Own These Mic's and provided them. 

Digital Ad campaign for the gig.

My Pepperoni Slice from a Pizzeria that needs not be named because I found it quite Horrid, Everyone else seemed to enjoy theirs, Maybe I got "The Bad Slice"

Exterior of American Bar on the upper east side.

This Is Show # 17

- Spike