02/21/09 The New Deal/Quagmire Swim Team @ The Silo, Reading, PA

A couple weeks after our failed attempt at a day of snowboarding and music, we managed a weekend in Pennsylvania capped off by a very lazy day of riding at Blue Mountain. The venue was conveniently attached to the hotel.

12/12/08 The New Deal/Hippocampus/Otherwise @ The Warehouse, Hartford, CT

Having spent much of 2008 seeking out warehouse parties, I took a trip across state lines to Hartford's short-lived former warehouse venue, The Warehouse. The New Deal was one of those bands that guarantees a dance party every time making the two hour trip worth our while.

The opening bands were not shabby either. Otherwise played an electronic-infused dub reggae in a smaller side room and local jammers Hippocampus graced the mainstage with a standard yet effective noodle-heavy set.

It's a shame the venue is no more. It had great New England brews on tap, a spacious outdoor smoking area, pool tables, local art, ample dance room and most importantly a great vibe in a location far from Hartford's seedier side. The next time I saw tND in Hartford was at the grimy Webster Theatre.

05/24/08 The New Deal/Awesome New Republic @ Bowery Ballroom

After Raya Brass Band at Rose, we headed across the Williamsburg Bridge to catch one of my favorite bands at their most frequented NYC digs.

The opener was a high energy dance act in a similar vein that got the crowd moving with renditions of "Eye of the Tiger" and "Thriller."

The New Deal put on yet another wire-to-wire all-out dance party. They may be predictable, but they are predictably awesome, masters of the tension release peak jam.

LISTEN HERE!

02/16/08 The Join w/Clay Parnell & Tom Hamilton/Biodiesel/Glitch Mob/Sub Swara @ Studio B, Brooklyn, NY

This was my only time at the short-lived, much loved Greenpoint dance club. Its anything-goes vibe, paired with its relative inaccessability in the quiet Polish enclave of Northwest Brooklyn made it a destination for fans of quality danceable electronic music.

This President's Day weekend event featured yet another incarnation of the New Deal's amorphous The Join project, pairing the former's keyboardist and drummer with Brothers Past's bassist Clay Parnell and guitarist Tommy Hamilton, a man of many scarves.

Rounding out the bill was Biodiesel, Clay's live drum&bass project with breakneck drummer Johnny Raab, and two glitch and womp DJ collectives, Glitch Mob and Sub Swara.

LISTEN HERE!
MORE PICS HERE!

12/31/07 The Join w/Marco Benevento & Joe Russo @ Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

I almost skipped this show and I wish I had.

With the combination of the Benevento/Russo Duo and two thirds of The New Deal, this should have been a great show, but it had so many factors going against it. This incarnation of The Join was unfortuantely lesser than the sum of its parts. I guess their styles just did not mesh.

To add insult to inury, tickets were pretty expensive, which is to be expected on New Year's Eve in New York City, but still a con. We arrived late and missed the first set, which was our fault, but still on the list. Finally, the show ended at 12:30 on the dot, way too early for a New Year's Eve show. At least there was a nice balloon drop at midnight.

Despite all that, the night managed to be one for the books, thanks almost entirely to the events that transpired after this debacle of a show.

07/28/07 The Join w/Marc Brownstein & Aron Magner @ Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

When the New Deal bassist Dan Kurtz formed an the electropop group Dragonette with his wife, the remaining members of the trio created this collaboration project featuring a rotating cast of the finest improvisers on the jam scene.

This show paired the New Deal's keyboardist and drummer with two members of the Disco Biscuits, Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner.

It was a high energy dance party, just as I would've expected from a mixture of two of my favorite groups. The tunes were mostly jams with a dash of New Deal and Disco Biscuit flavor, along with a couple of choice covers.

This was my first time at the Highline Ballroom, named after the nearby abandoned Highline railroad tracks, which would soon be transformed into an elevated park.

Listen to the show HERE.

12/15/06 The New Deal/Benzos @ Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY

I believe this was the show that The New Deal busted out an unexpected cover of Billy Joel's "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," even eschewing their predominantly instrumental approach for a stab at some of the staccato chorus.

01/01/06 The New Deal @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

Somehow, I ended up going to this show solo, on New Year's Eve (or Day, technically) of all eves.

My suburban friends stayed in the suburbs and my city friends went to a rooftop party in the Bronx. I almost joined them, but I couldn't muster the motivation. I almost stayed in and did nothing as a silent protest against the incessant imperative to party.

But I ultimately decided that, if nothing else, it was best to start the year off right by sticking to my original plans.

At approximately 10pm, I hopped on the train to the heart of the beast - Times Square.

It was a bit surreal sitting in a bar just a couple blocks from the so-called biggest party in the world.

There were about 30 people there and there was free champagne at midnight. I left shortly thereafter to score tickets to the sold out show.

Since they were still clearing the area, and I didn't have a ticket, the police wouldn't let me cross through at 42nd st, where the club is located. So I had to go a few blocks downtown and wrap around.

I was able to buy a ticket pretty easily out front from a group of Jersey heads thanks to one of their friends forgetting to pace herself. For lack of a better option, I decided to hang out with their crew for a bit and hit it off with one of the girls.

A guy behind us on line told us that the greatest writer ever was Tom Robbins, who I had not heard of at that point, but is now one of my faves as well.

The rest of the night was a delightful drunken bar. I remember dancing with my new lady friend and many other lovely people to sweaty breakbeats that only The New Deal can properly deliver.

At one point, I think I got into a verbal altercation with a bartender for reasons I cannot recall.

It was one of my most memorable New Year's and the fact that I had to go at it alone and nearly sat the night out just made it that much more of a triumph.

At some point, I guess I headed home.

Here's a classy shot of me decompressing the next day:

01/01/05 L. Cool Trio w/Mike Gordon @ Knitting Factory, New York, NY

After a uneventful New Year's Eve spent at a friend's parent's house party, this was a nice New Year's Day treat.

The original Knitting Factory on Houston was known, in conjunction with the aforementioned Tonic, as the center of downtown's early 1990s underground alternative jazz scene that spawned such vaunted cats as Medeski Martin & Wood and Steve Bernstein's various projects.

The new location expanded the pallette to include everything from punk to funk, often simultaneously held in any of the venue's three separate performance spaces.

I believe this may have been my first time at the club.

The line-up was a supergroup of sorts comprised of Mark Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits on bass, Jamie Shields of The New Deal on keys and Joe Russo of Benevento Russo Duo on drums. These were (and still are) some of my favorite musicians from some of my favorite bands.

The vibe in the crowd was fairly laid back, fully understandable for the night after the biggest party night of the year.

We secured a spot in the balcony and danced our way through the improvised electronic grooves that the trio laid down in the first set.

At the start of the second set, a familiar face emerged on stage.

It was none other than Mike Gordon, bassist for recently disbanded Phish, who just happened to live in an apartment above the club.

Since Brownie was already holding down the low end, Cactus tried his hand at guitar, capably strumming along to the L. Cool concoctions for the duration of the show.

12/31/03 Disco Biscuits/The New Deal @ Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY

The New Deal opened and played an interlocking set; Set II was a Battle of the Bands with the Disco Biscuits taking the stage under different identities
Set I: Morph Dusseldorf1> Aceetobee, 42> Basis For A Day2
Set II: Basis For A Day3 4 5, Above The Waves6> Svenghali6 7, Svenghali6 7> Above The Waves6, Blame Canada10 8 9, Kyle's Mom's A Bitch10 8, It's Easy MMMKay10 8, Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)10 8, Fuck That Doll10 11, Sweating Bullets10 11, Frog Legs12, Pilin' It High12, Oname' Wa13, Ohio Gozaimasu10 13
Set III: Rock Candy> Voices Insane7> Pygmy Twylyte> Voices Insane7> Rock Candy, Munchkin Invasion14> 42
1 with "Hot Air Balloon" fake-out
2 segued into New Deal set
3 segued out of New Deal set
4 with new years countdown
5 band leaves stage and an emcee introduces the Battle of the Bands
6 Performed as "The Disco Biscuits"
7 dyslexic
8 Performed as "The Cartmans"
9 with Ericalynn Gruenberg on vocals
10 1st time played
11 Performed as "Fuck the Robots"
12 Performed as "The Perfume"
13 Performed as "Panda Power"
14 completes 12/30 dyslexic version

This was my first time seeing the band that would later become one of my favorites, but I went to see The New Deal. It was also my first New Year's Eve concert.

We drove into the city and had a few drinks at a friend's apartment, thinking we had some time to kill.

When we got to the venue, the line was practically around the block, so we sat down to kill some tallboys in the adjacent deli.

We finally got inside and found our balcony seats. My least favorite thing about Hammerstein is the inability to move freely between the balconies and the floor.

I think we caught the last several minutes of The New Deal's opening set, before they segued seamlessly into the Disco Biscuits. Either way, the only music I vividly remember is The Cartmans portion of the Battle of the Bands segment the Biscuits had concocted as a New Year's schtick. "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" and "Salty Chocolate Balls" were the only tunes I knew. I don't even remember what happened at midnight.

Talking to seasoned fans after the show, most were quick to tell me that the band should not be judged by this anomalous performance. Still, it would be a couple years before I would see them again.

Just prior to leaving, we struck up a conversation with some lovely Bisquettes in the balcony, when a young gentleman sat down in front of us regurgitating typical acid gibberish like "It doesn't matter, man!" Sadly, our lady friends jetted when the young spunion began to remove his pants. Shortly later, I saw him leaving the venue on a stretcher.

11/29/03 The New Deal/Brothers Past @ Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY

Set 1: I Feel Love > Juno > VL Tone, Jam > G-Nome > Don't Blame Yourself, Jam > Glide
Set 2: Jam > Dancehall Jam > Jam (?) > Deep Sun > Jam > Delay Tower > Deep Sun, Homewrecker > Ravine > A Little While > Jam > Gone, Gone, Gone
Encore: Home > Back Off

The New Deal is one of my all time favorite bands. Every time I see them, it's just a non-stop dance party. This was also my first time at Bowery Ballroom, consistently ranked one of the top music venues in NYC by those who rank such things. I don't think I've actually gone to the Bowery for any reason other than a New Deal show.

I had already played their self-titled release into the ground and this was their release tour for Gone Gone Gone which was even better.

They always seem to step it up in NYC and at the Bowery especially. This night was no different. They even had a sexy vocalist from the album come out to sing a song or two.

I'm still hooked on these guys.

I don't think I made it in time for Brothers Past, marking the beginning of a long string of near misses with that particular band.