Beatnik 2000 (Sliver Bitch)

In the interest of full disclosure,
I will be performing tonight with Sliver Bitch at Beatnik 2000 @ Cafe 9.
250 State St. New Haven, CT 10:00PM - No Cover.

Sliver Bitch is: Peter Riccio - guitar, Julie Riccio - drums,
Jo-anna Horn - Baritone Sax, G.Gone - Spoken Word.

Come down and finish off the Holiday Weekend with us as I put my money where my mouth is (so to speak).

Elm City Pop Fest

Tonight is the 3rd night of Elm City Pop Fest.

Sadly I cannot attend because I must DJ Radio IndepenDisc tonight.

For those of you who can attend, here's the details...



May 26: Elm City PopFest follow-up show featuring:
Women's Basketball
The Tyler Trudeau Attempt
Horowitz (UK)
Allo Darlin' (UK)
Cafe Nine
250 State St.
New Haven, CT.
9 p.m., FREE. 21+



Thanks to Dan Goodwin & Tweefort (soon to be: February) Records

for bringing these 3 days of Pop-n-Roll to us fans.

I did have the pleasure of attending last Saturday's (05-15-10)
show at ArtSpace New Haven which Featured The Butterflies of Love.

Here's a (lo-fi) video for you...

The Butterflies of Love
05-15-10 Live @ ArtSpace New Haven
Elm City Pop Fest

"Song of the Week"

Here's an example of "& Beyond"...

The IndepenDisc "Song of the Week" for 05-26-10 is:
Magic Hat* by: Tony Stevens Slow Ride
off the CD: Join Together
Featured on IndepenDisc in Nov. of '07

and here's what I (G.Gone) had to say about it then...

-snip-...Tony Stevens, original bass player for Foghat (and before that, Savoy Brown), brings his down and dirty blues based rock music into the 21st century with no bones about the past. Using the title of Foghat’s biggest commercial hit as his new bands moniker, he takes what could be misconstrued as an attempt to cash in on past accomplishments and turns it into a statement that should not go overlooked...-snip-
Read the entire review HERE.

*Link is a direct .mp3 stream of the song.

A Song for your enjoyment

Listen to this: Boy In The Hallway * by: The Who Whos

Early in the century Barbara Sheppard & Kriss Santala were two third of The Who Whos.
Saturday night (5-22) they are two of many New Haven music stalwarts playing as The Shrinking Violets at Cafe` 9 along with even more music scene veterans (and 1/2 The Shrinking Violets) The Peacock Flounders all for the CD release party for Age Of Reason. Their 2nd CD is: "acoustic and live at studio 23" a 45 minute, non-stop, live performance that will be recreated on stage (yes, non-stop).

That's Saturday Night 5-22-10 at Cafe 9
The Shrinking Violets
Age Of Reason - CD release party
The Peacock Flounders.

*Link is a direct stream.

Review: The Big Fat Combo - Chicks Dig It CD

Just released Fri, 05-14-10...


“Hey Hey, My My, Rock-n-Roll will never die.”*

No truer words were ever spoken, and that is why there is The Big Fat Combo.
Nestled away in a tiny little town called Cheshire, Connecticut, The Big Fat Combo has honed true, pure Rock-n-Roll to perfection.

My parents taught me about Rock-n-Roll, they were teenagers in the 50’s. They witnessed the birth of Rock-n-Roll – Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and the list goes on… I was weaned on Rock-n-Roll, and as I grew up, so did Rock-n-Roll. Over the past 50-60 years Rock-n-Roll has evolved into too many genres to count, let alone identify, understand, and appreciate each of them.

If you want a nice hefty platter of hot wax - true, pure Rock-n-Roll – music you can identify, understand and appreciate, The Big Fat Combo brings it. Chicks Dig It is just that; it’s 33 & 1/3 and 45 r.p.m’s of good-time, old-school, early Rock-n-Roll. It’s a record with songs about girls and cars and drinking and heartbreak; all done with the swagger and bravado that can only be Rock-n-Roll. Or as BFC would say: “A little bit a country / a little bit of swing / a little blues and rock / and now we got that thing.” Make no bones about it, The Big Fat Combo doesn’t apologize for who they are, they just Rock your (bobby) socks off.

Just a 4 piece Rock(abilly)-n-Roll Band out there swinging it and laying it down so smooth. With Tom Hearn, the perfect front man, delivering dead-on, dead-pan vocals that know how to croon as well as turn a phrase, sometimes at the same time. Along with rhythm guitar Tom’s the quintessential figure that graced the stages of Rock-n-Roll’s birth. Cary Pollick is the master of Rock-n-Roll lead guitar, tearing off complex notes and runs that pour out of the amps in such fashionable ease that it makes his playing all the more engaging. Tom Murphy on stand-up bass slaps it silly with his precise plucking and down home feel and Jack Murphy on drums keeps the beat that hasn’t quit since 1955. But, the ace in the hole for The Big Fat Combo is someone who isn’t even in the band, 8 of the 14 songs were either written by or co written (w/Tom Hearn) by Ropeburns Russell. Tom calls him one of the greatest songwriters ever, and I have to agree. Try not to sing along with Too Pretty, Sedan de Ville, That’s Why I Call You Darlin and more. Go ahead try, I’ll bet you can’t. What’s that tell you? That tells you they’re great songs, Great Rock-n-Roll songs. They’re true, pure Rock-n-Roll.

The Big Fat Combo IS Truly, Purely Rock-n-Roll.

“My My, Hey Hey, Rock-n-Roll is here to stay.”*

My parents would be proud.

*Neil Young.

Listen: Chicks Dig It / Banned From Sam The Clams

The Big Fat Combo - Chicks Dig It
05-14-10 Live @ C.J. Sparrows
CD Release show

Review: The Frank Critelli Band - The FCB ep CD

Let's continue catching up with some of the latest CD releases on the CT/New Haven scene...

The Frank Critelli Band – The FCB ep

Frank Critelli has been writing Rock-n-Roll friendly folk songs for years. In that time he has always turned a phrase, set a hook, and taken us along for musical jaunts with deep personal meanings. His lyrics consistently detail life’s unconscious conundrums and how each of us must deal with them on our own accord, but if done with love and joy even the most trying of times can turn out alright.

Set to singer/songwriter, acoustic, folk-friendly music, these songs drew us towards that of Woody Guthrie, early Bob Dylan, and James Taylor, but they always seemed to want to give even more, to explode upon us, to make us sit up and take notice more so than just any other folk song(s), to evolve into Rock-n-Roll songs. Frank’s songs were itching for him to plug in, much in the same way that Dylan’s songs needed in 1966. We could see it coming with his 2005 side project Brutally Frank. Then with his 2006 release, Before You Break, Frank began to bring more instrumentation into the fold. 2008’s Waltzing Through Quicksand showed Frank’s affection for both his Folk underpinnings and his Rock-n-Roll sensibilities. Now crediting the band as the artist, The Frank Critelli Band has evolved enough to let loose Frank’s inner Rock-n-Roll Star.

The FCB ep opens with Rich Suarez’s drums front and center, announcing that this is a Rock-n-Roll album. Don “The Don” Horton’s bass jumps in with a pulsing beat that allows Shandy Lawson’s electric guitar riffs to shred through Rolling Stones/Keith Richards territory, and we know we’re not on the Folk stage anymore… but, the circuitry has not been lost.

These 5 songs not only Rock-n-Roll through Frank’s poetic, lyrical, Folk leanings on life, love, vice and virtue, but also lay down the blues (guest musician Bob Orsi, on loan from The Manchurians, tears up several songs with his classic harmonica playing), along with the many musical Rock-n-Roll flavors that can satisfy any true music fan.

Folk evolved into Rock-n-Roll.
Frank Critelli evolved into The Frank Critelli Band.
When The Frank Critelli Band smokes the Folk,
They are Rock-n-Roll.

Listen: Watch The Signs / Messiah

Review: The Lonesome Sparrows - Black Velvet Royalty CD

Now that this Blog has Officially launched, here’s a taste of what will be offered here…

The Lonesome Sparrows – Black Velvet Royalty

On April 10, 2010, I had the honor of emceeing the CD release party for The Lonesome Sparrows. My introduction went something like this: “Back in the summer I had the pleasure of attending The Lonesome Sparrows show at Frank Critelli’s Songs from the Sofa series. As I sat there, the woman next to me leaned over and said, ‘These guys can play.’”

Dubbed the “Acoustic Army,” we have a trio of professional pickers: James Velvet (acoustic rhythm guitar), Johnny Memphis (acoustic lead guitar, fiddle), and Dick Neal (dobro, mandolin, banjo), who have been trading licks, picks, and chops for decades. Anchored by Johnny Java (electrified bass guitar, percussion), who keeps these three from swaying too far off the amazing tightrope they walk, the band takes Velvet’s compositions and pushes each other to expand the limits of what they can do with familiar songs. I say familiar because they have taken songs from various points of James Velvets career (Solo, The Mocking Birds, The Ivory Bills), songs each of them have played on at one point or another, and recreated them in a live setting where each may lead or follow as they please.

Attend more than one performance of The Lonesome Sparrows and you will hear a varied, yet true rendition of any of these songs. The band was put together for this purpose - to continually create and recreate these songs as they feel them while playing together. That is why James decided to record these tracks “mostly live-all-together, under the watchful ear and careful baton of Mr. Dick Neal.” This type of recording suits the Rolling Thunder Revue style presentation in a way that accentuates James’ distinct, warm, whiskey smooth vocals, which deliver distinctly penned tales of life lived in Anytown, USA as experienced by a native New Haven, CT activist. We celebrate holidays, summer, spouses, family, the circus, Jesus, Elvis, and more. We examine human nature, both good and bad, religion, politics, love, life and more.

Black Velvet Royalty is just that. And more.
Sit back, relax and enjoy, because that woman was right,
“These guys can play.”

Listen: The Royal Heart / Gotta Keep Goin'



The Lonesome Sparrows - Mother, O Mother
Live 05/07/10 @ The Huntington Street Cafe`
Shelton, CT