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The Van Burens are very excited for our Boston/NYC run this weekend as part of NedFest. The whole shabang is put together to honor and celebrate our pal Ned, who’ll soon be walking the plank into the waters of matrimony; what better way to send off his bachelorhood than one crazy weekend of shows? Ned has been the lead singer/guitarist of the bands Pretty Sober and Oneside, members of which will be reuniting with the man himself to split the bill with us at the Cantab in Cambridge this Friday and Sullivan Hall in NYC on Saturday. Ned and his bands have always been a huge influence on the Van Burens; we’ve always admired his great voice, stage presence, and unquenchable Nedness. He even produced our first recording when we were in high school. McGee’s brother, another former member of Pretty Sober/Oneside, is flying out from the West coast to rock the banjo us, so it’s sure to be a great couple of shows.

Come on out this weekend for NedFest: sets from Oneside/Pretty Sober, the Van Burens, and an all-star jam with all the energy and insanity of a co-ed bachelor party. It’ll be like The Hangover but with musical instruments instead of Mike Tyson. Click the pic for the FB event and more info.

The VBs and Ned are also compiling a musical retrospective of the bands, including a few new tunes we’re recording together.  Look for more info soon.

I feel old, and a little concerned.  Though in my day, I was running around telling people, “they can’t touch this” without the slightest idea what I, or Dr. Hammer was talking about.  I did know that when I said it, I squirmed with mischief.  The mystery was only amplified by my big brother telling me that he couldn’t tell me because I was too young.  Well I just listened to the song again–I think I see my brother and the man behind the curtain telling me to pay no attention to them.

Enjoy the weather, and we will see you for a Holidaze weekend as we take NEDFEST from the Cantab in Cambridge Friday night 4/20, down to NYC to perform at Sullivan Hall Saturday 4/21.

Memo?

You may remember our pals Steppin Cerca Banda as the delightful and talented Chilean gentlemen who toured New England and beyond with the VBs last summer.  They’re an awesome hip-hop group and it’s always a pleasure for us to be their backing band; today we’re proud of the boys for releasing their first music video, “The Get Up.”  Click the pic to head to their website and try more tunes, and enjoy Sosoro Sprague, Bolcita, and Gordo in their video debut.

As brewmaster California and I prepare to unveil one of our latest creations this Friday at the Cantab, we’ve been concocting ways to market our fine beverages. We’ve been holed up in the recording studio preparing an accompanying song for what we’re tentatively titling “Neddy’s High Life” after the bachelor for whom we will all gather this Friday. As we prepare an ad campaign, we look to the succesful ad campaigns of yore for inspiration.

Brewmaster California and I are shortly finishing up a house sitting stint in the lower hills of Canton and we’re reminded of these merry house sitters as we search the annals of beer marketing history.

Check back this week for more information about how to get some of Neddy’s High Life for your own goblet.

A man so intense his glasses only stay on for fear of falling off.

In many ways, Disney and Igor Stravinsky were a match made in Hell (or “Heck” for our younger readers).  Disney, the height of youth-centric early-mid 20th-centuryAmerican pop art; he (Stravinsky) the apex of uncompromising iconoclastic Russian folk progressive art music.  And yet, when Disney took on Stravinsky in 1940′s Fantasia, the result was a perfect symmetry of vision and sound.  Rethunk as the soundtrack to the creation of Earth and life itself, Stravinsky’s most famous and controversial piece the Rite of Spring regains its function as an essential expression of humanity’s primitive past.  The Rite‘s Paris 1913 premier as a the score for a ballet depicting Pagan death rituals famously sparked a riot;  the music was an aural summation of a modernity frightening to many of its first (and many subsequent) listeners.  Disney cleverly rewrites the story of ancient barbarous humans by depicting the previous titleholder as Master of the Earth: F’ING DINOSAURS!  TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!  RARRRRRRWWWR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's everyone's favorite dinosaur? Mine's the Stegosaurus because I use my spine as a china hutch, too.

Ahem.

Without any further ado, here’s one of the absolute best couplings of sight and sound ever: Disney’s Fantasia; The Rite of Spring

$2 Pints of Guinness make Martin happy.  Music starts at half 9pm.

The Van Burens have a number of projects going on right now; our fingers are in many a pie so to speak.  While working on our long-awaited second EP (and the wait will be a bit more still) we’ve undertaken several other….undertakings, including recording a blues tune McGee wrote to commemorate the release of his next batch of home brew, a-surely-to-be-delicious pale ale.  The track (available soon) features an odd musical lineup for the VBs; with several of us swapping instruments (McGee plays drums, Jeff plays electric piano bass lines, and I honk away on a sax) plus Emmett wailing away on some sorrowful vocals, the resulting band sounds like a rowdy blues house band in the middle of nowhere, kind of like a Van Buren Junior Varsity team.  It’s perfectly imperfect.

The best part of the track is co-brewer and longtime pal of the band Mr. California’s astonishing whistle solo that quite simply renders every other musical expression in history completely moot.  While Cali’s whistling is one-of-a-kind, it calls to mind the two other great whistlers in history: the mullet guy and Billy Joel.  Here are a few masters practicing their craft:

Extra credit road trip bonus question:  match each of the Seven Dwarfs to the Deadly Sin that he exhibits most!  No doubles!

VB blog reader Hot Carl writes, “You could definitely see your skills in the paintings you write. The arena hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. All the time follow your heart.” Thanks, Hot.

JEFF EDIT: Joel’s show is Tuesday April 10th @ Church! Join us then.

Come celebrate Tearful Tuesday with some off duty VBs at The Somerville Symphony Orkestar concert this evening at Church in Boston.  The Dick Johnson Power Bottom, Joel Edinburg, will be on stage tonight doing his thang–a must see if you haven’t had the opportunity to catch him with us yet.   He will be touring with us this summer, as well as joining us for NEDFEST 4:20 in a couple weeks at the Cantab.  There are also whisperings of some recording projects in Joel’s studio…stay tuned!

It’s a free show, so come buy some Merch and dance your tushes off.  Click on the photo for some info.

Woah, wow, gosh!  Many thanks to the fantastic crowd at Penuche’s in Concord on Saturday night for keeping the energy high and helping kick out our best Penuche’s show to date.  Thanks as well to the many friendly road warriors who made the drive to Concord all in the name of rock; there’s nothing more rewarding than looking into the audience and seeing familiar faces grooving their buns off.  Let’s do it again sometime real soon….

Penuche’s Ale House.  Concord, NH.  3.31.12

Set I: Stinkoff, Pussy Galore, Bledsoe, Pinchback, Tranceformers, Martin I, Cantina, Hey Everybody, Habit of the Spin, Pirate’s Life, Lee Harvey, Dear Prudence, BitterCities

Set II: Jeffrey’s World, Swamp, Shotz in L.A., Killaz, Cheese, Gary Don’t, Rocky Raccoon, Flow, Washington, William Henry Harrison, Turducken, Taft Punk