Car Shows, Magnolias, EGRESS Productions, Oh My!

   This week was the launch week of EGRESS Productions and if I do say so myself, it went without a hitch. Taylor, Greg Spooner(from Honor Amongst Thieves) and the magnificent Sir Hamburger James were performing sideshow wonders at The Dixie Cup car show in Easton. Now don't be fooled Kiddies, it wasn't hot rods, glasses of beer and flame coated bumpers,.... but more like hot dogs, glass walking and flame coated eyelashes. Needless to say, aside from the success of the performance we had the great pleasure to housing and hanging with Hamburger James for a good portion of the week and we had a blast, and I must say we love that man. We caught The Midway at my favorite pub in Easton "porters" enjoyed great food and even better conversation! At risk of sounding redundant i was again reminded of why i love all of these endeavors and its the splendid people we meet and befriend! 

     Speaking of our friends and great peeps, the wonderful and dear friends of ours; Vanessa and Adam Cohen came out and supported our duo act Oct23rd at Magnolias and it was a splendid good time! Adam was the 2nd place winner of our Freakshow Fridays costume contest and he brought along his severed head in which he had won. The crowd was great, we had an awesome impromptu set by The Midway who were there, and Sir Hamburger James saved the day in a cover of an Asylum Street Spankers song with his scatting and Kazoo solos as well as his dedicating blockhead and sword swallowing acts!!!  Vanessa filmed the foxy burlesque act of Catalina Askew and I'll tell ya ladies and germs,.... she is the "Lady Egress"! Talented, Foxy and so sweet she has been compiling acts to Egress songs and Has performed with us now a handful of times and there will be more a-comin.

Please feel free to check her out under our "Partners in Crime" tab as well as the link to that video Vanessa Filmed of her performing to
"Last Kiss." Well thats about all on the home front,...
til next time kiddies
luv&sLopPy KisSeZ
S
 Catalina Askew in This Way to the Egress' "LAST KISS"

The Week in Revue,(Parkside Lounge, The Fire, Ole Tyme Charleys)

You can quote all the phrases, sayings, points of view,... (it happened so fast my head was spinning, it was over before it started,..time flies when you're having fun etc.) and none of them would begin to explain the chaos and time spent this week in the path of our little Egress train. I haven't had a second to sit down and blog about any of the wonderful musicians, performers, or people we met and shared stages with this week, so at last, I must fit it all in this entry.

   Monday started out with Taylor and I in New York at Parkside Lounge with the fabulous Bitter Ruin! Touring here from the UK, they are here in the states promoting their album "Hung, Drawn and Quartered." They had been in Boston performing with Amanda Palmer before heading down our way and gracing the stage with their dramatic tellings and passionate accords. With their phenomenal harmonies and musicianship they left Taylor and I speechless as we watched. The Night consisted of Bitter Ruin and ourselves with a bit of spooky contortion by The amazing Amy, however the adorable Zoe Boekbinder made a brief cameo during Bitter Ruins set; with her song titled Chocolate Chips which was Georgias (from Bitter Ruin) favorite.

    Then it was onto Philly again with Bitter Ruin where Jason Webley had teamed up with Bitter Ruin for their tour, and I can't begin to tell you folks, what a splendid show it was and the stress and silliness that surrounded booking it for Taylor and I proved to be worth it when all was said and done.
     The night was opened by our favorite crew to team up with, local to Philly favorites, The Absinthe Drinkers, a friend of mine that had never seen them before had described them as Tom waits meets The Talking Heads with guitar stylings of The Ventures,.....either way,...they are wonderful unique performers and really down to earth great people to work with and I would suggest checking them out if you haven't done so yet!
   Then we took the stage, and do to time restraint we had only played 6 songs all with Taylor on the accordion, and joining us on stage was our dear dear friends Honor Amongst Thieves for some sideshow mayhem. We power housed through all of our songs to give the touring acts more time to play, and I have to say lugging all of that gear, setting up, the stress of running over, all for 6 songs was well worth it!
    Following us was the splendid Bitter Ruin with another cameo by Zoe, and soon to follow Jason Webley, who spent his time working the crowd into being his backing band/orchestra and spinning his all encompassing tales to a warm philly crowd.
    Last but certainly not least, Yula and the extended Family came in after being troopers and sitting in traffic, to end the night with amazing energy and soul. The 7 of them took the stage and reminded me of why we are doing this,....why every act there that night was doing it,.....for the love of playing and the people we meet along the way!

   Then there was Friday, Freakshow Friday to be exact, and I must say that it was by far our biggest one yet. The bill was huge, we had Rezlep Open the night,..followed by some of our favorite right hand men ( and women) and some new acts such as Arson, cracking his whip, the Amazing Amy with her contortion, the ever-awesome peeps from White Elephant Burlesque Society, Sir Hamburger James, Little Miss Jordana Rollarhoops,our dear friends Honor Amongst Thieves, and our very own Egress Burlesque lady the lovely Catalina Askew.
The space was so packed you could barely move and everything went with out a hitch. I have to say my favorite part was the Egress Parade and the new musical arrangements, with Jaclyn on Mandolin, John on tuba, Rachel on Violin and dueling Trombones! Alls said and done, we finished our stint at ole tyme charleys on a great note.

    Whew, well that was a mouth full, we will be around and soon to team up with Hellblinki form ashville nc,..... but more then anything working on finishing our album. I highly suggest checking our Bitter Ruin before they return to the UK, after all, its all about the communities we build,... help 'em out get out there and support!!
http://www.bitterruin.com
+S

Out on The Town With Taylor & THE MIDWAY!

So, in light of my little experiment,. Taylor, Myself and two dear friends went out to go see The Midway a local band described as hill billy gut rock, on Friday night at the funhouse in Bethlehem, PA . Egress had just played alongside THE MIDWAY at Magnolias Carnivale and we instantly hit it off so I figured, with all of this talk about building communities and getting out there and actually attending those facebook events I so frequently ignore; why not start with our new hometown friends and i couldn't have picked a better show!. Surrounded by cranberry and clubs we hoot and hollered along as the washboard was scratching, the bass a banging, the saw spinning eerie webs carried by the banjo styling of Mr Jim Daddy. If you have not checked them out yet please do!! I am attaching a video for your liking, however I must apologize for the quality of the shoot. It is a cover of the ole song "Goo Goo Muck" which they soon schooled me in knowing that it was a song long before one of my favorite bands The Cramps covered it. I just need to upload it to YouTube first!!!  Anywho,.....stay tuned; for Egress and The Midway will be teaming up for musical mayhem & Hellion Ruckus and I even think they will be taking a visit to Egress Studios to do some recording, so check 'em out and stay tuned for that!

Wonderfully this week is filled with 3 shows, monday 10/11/10 Taylor and I will be joining BITTER RUIN as a duo on their tour from the UK at the Parkside Lounge in NYC at which The Amazing Amy will be gracing the stage, Followed by the full band on Wednesday 10/13/10 at The Fire in Philly with BITTER RUIN, Jason Webley, The Absinthe Drinkers and Yula Beeri and ending the week will be This Ways 5th Freakshow Friday on friday 10/15/10, where we will be celebrating Jordanas birthday. Unfortunately with all of this mayhem I don't think Taylor and I will be able to get out to any events, but who knows one of our Lovely co- conspirators What Time is it Mr Fox is playing in NYC sat, maybe we can make that, But if not you should!

ttfn kiddies

luv & sLoPpy KiSseZ 

=Saddle=

www.myspace.com/themidway25

Video of The Midway "Goo Goo Muck"

Building an Army. Duo Show (10/04)

Taylor and I spent the afternoon before our duo monday at the delancy, rushing around between little bits of work and stringing up puppet strings wrapping bells and loading the car for our second Egress duo gig to date. I could get into lots of details but really the most lovely part of the show was the friends that came out! Our dear friend, Jaclyn, that recorded mandolin on our album (last kiss sneak peak on myspace) the wonder Jeff Spooner of Honor Amongst thieves played trombone now with us for the 3rd time, our Lovely repeat offender Rich and our many new friends that came out with their smiling faces and wonderful enthusiasm, not to just come and see us play but to be apart of the show with us, by banging pots and pans, dancing, and singing along,..... and I am reminded of whats so wonderful about being a performer and its the amazing people we meet, and the communities we build. So I really want to thank everyone that came out on that rainy dreary evening to jump aboard the egress train with us!! You're just as much a part of this band as we
 and chester are!

Anywhoo,.....still sticking strong to this facebook events Idea,....Taylor and I are going to see The Midway this friday at the Funhouse in Bethlehem!!!!! We will share pictures, audio and wonderful reviews for you all!! We are excited about this little experiment, and we will be singing and dancing with bells on!!
The Midway on Myspace

No Sleep Til Brooklyn,...A Human Experiment!

I have spent most of my last 3days re posting on facebook a last minute show that Taylor and I were booked, for a friend of Mali's. Its been quite exciting actually,....we've been practicing lots of Egress duo stuff full with bells and whistles, kazoos and doo-dads and the dates is tomorrow. However; after all of the excessive "posting"  and watching the of the guest list, I got to thinking about how many events i receive from "facebook friends" that I respond maybe to, it gets buried and i end up not going. I see it all the time with Egress Events,.....events say 108 confirmed 180 maybe and about 5 show up, and yes life does get in the way, but I am going to do an experiment, so hear this---

"from this day until the new year I am going to pick my events carefully, attend and write up little reviews of my experience, this week it starts with two shows I am playing and Ends with my Favorite local band The Midway @ The Funhouse In Bethlehem PA!"

This Should Be Fun!
Perhaps You might want to Try it!!
luv & SloPpY kisSeZ
S.Egress
Link to Egress Event
Facebook Event