March 17th, 2010
The good folks at WNYC gave us a friendly nod on the morning of our gig at the Knitting Factory. They even mentioned Matthew’s “captivating banjo,” which is a good way to put it. He picks, people listen. Here’s what they said. Thanks, WNYC. We appreciate it.
Also, the Knit gig is (or was, by the time most of you read this) a benefit for the City Reliquary, which is a great little museum in Williamsburg. It’s dedicated to all things New York and it’s worth a visit if you’re interested in why this city is the way it is. Top-shelf people run it, too, so when you visit, know you’re helping out and rewarding the hard work of good folks.
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February 28th, 2010
Lookout, all you piano-playing cats and talking dogs, Frankenpine’s storming YouTube. We’ve made ourselves a page on YouTube and posted a handful of clips from our New Year’s Eve performance at Pendragon Theatre, in Saranac Lake. We’ve got some footage from our recent gig at Jalopy, too, which we’ll post soon. Enjoy.
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January 19th, 2010
From the Department of Dreams Come True, we’re playing Jalopy, in Red Hook, this Thursday, the 21st. For the uninitiated, Jalopy is one of this city’s choicest joints, a place where you can buy a can of Mexican beer, a bag of fresh popcorn and a 1930s ukulele, make a half-dozen friends and hear top-shelf live music. In short, it’s pretty great.
On Thursday, we’ll be sharing the bill with a handful of terrific musicians, including Potbelly Gumbo, the band our bass player, Andy Mullen, fronts. In fact, it was Andy who put all this together, so hats off to him. The whole deal kicks off at 8. Potbelly goes on at 8:30; Frankenpine goes on at 10; other acts slipped in between. It’ll be epic. Come on out.
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January 8th, 2010
Happy New Year, Pineheads. We’re deep into our residency at the Lakeside Lounge and, by all accounts, so far so good. Friendly crowds, sharp playing, new songs, generous bartenders—what more could a bunch of pickers want? To those of you who have come out to see us, thanks a million times over. To those you who haven’t, that’s perfectly OK, of course, but here are two examples of what you’ve been missing. Recorded at our Jan. 7 Lakeside gig: Convict Grade and Still Here. Both are original Frankenpine songs and totally, fully protected by copyright, so don’t even think about it, Coldplay. Anyway, give a listen. If you dig ‘em, come on down to Lakeside on the first Thursday of a month—any month—from now through the end of spring. And on Jan. 21, we’re playing Jalopy, over in Red Hook, Brooklyn. That’ll be a hoot. Come on by.
Convict Grade
Still Here
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November 10th, 2009
Our latest show at Lakeside Lounge, fast becoming one of our favorite places to play, earned a stellar review, which you can read here. Someone from Lucid Culture wrote us up and gave us a pretty nice pat on the back. So, thanks, mystery blogger; we appreciate it. And speaking of Lakeside, we’ve been booked to play the first Thursday of every month, starting Dec. 3. Come on by and give us a listen or just belly up to the bar and hang with the bartenders, as everyone who works there is wicked nice.
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September 30th, 2009
James Maher, who sings and plays mandolin and guitar in the band, just wrote a great new song, “I Don’t Love You ‘Cause You’re Pretty.” That’s not necessarily, news, as James writes lots great songs. What is new is that he recorded a demo version of the song on his iPhone and, using an app (hate that word) that allows for four-track recording, came up with a nice-sounding take. Remarkable, right? Give a listen to the song and see what you think.
I don’t love you cause you’re pretty
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September 23rd, 2009
We’ll be playing an early set at Googies Lounge above the Livingroom on Saturday, 9/26, 7:30.
154 Ludlow St. in the Lower East Side. We have some new songs we’ll be debuting!
See you there.
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September 18th, 2009
Thursday night we had the ridiculously good fortune to play the City Reliquary, in Williamsburg. What’s that, you ask? It’s a little museum packed full of New York City trinkets, relics, core samples, seltzer bottles, photos and lots more. And out back, where we played, are a big garden, yard, stage, strings of colored lights, a salvaged neon sign, a makeshift bar and a tree house. It’s an oasis, sitting right there where Havemeyer and Metropolitan meet. Who knew? Dave, the fellow who founded the place, is really into the community and big supporter of local music (thus, we were there). He’s also about as nice a guy as you could ever hope to meet. In fact, everyone we met there—from the folks who help run it to people who’d just stopped by to check it out—is top-shelf.
If you are at all curious about New York’s history, about what this place was like before we all got here, the City Reliquary is worth a visit. You’re guaranteed to learn something* and meet someone cool. Win-win, right? Right. So go.
*What did we learn? Looking at an 1865 map of Manhattan, we learned that what’s now known as Roosevelt Island used to be called Blackwell’s Island.
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September 11th, 2009
This is Ned, the guitar player, writing. More and more I’m drawn to those ancient folk/blues songs that seem as if they’ve been around for as long as people have been making music. “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” is one of them, and I’ve been fooling around with it for a while. Here, for your listening pleasure, if you want to call it that, is what I’ve come up with recently. Enjoy.
DeathDon’tHaveNoMercy
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September 4th, 2009
We’ll be playing this great little festival in Saranac Lake. John Cowen of the New Lost City Ramblers will be playing, and Brain Dewan.
We’re looking forward to it!
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