Hockey Party (Brooklyn Style)
The Danglers/The Zambonis/America’s Sweetheart//Freddy’s//6/24/06
That pic was from 7/10/04. (Take a wild guess which 2 other bands are also on that CD.) Yeah, that means that the Freddy's sched from July that's still on my wall cause there was another awesome show there 20 days later was from that show. I cannot remember the last time I saw the Zambonis before this, (Pete’s Candy Store?) but I do know it was before the new Hockey Monkey and the last time they were supposed to play Freddy’s there was a blizzard and they cancelled. I’d gotten an email from Dave and he told me to call his cell. It was an emergency. How many people did I think would go, besides me, because they had to cancel. The snow was worse in CT. Well, I was all set to go. A little snow wasn’t gonna stop me. In other words, it’s been way too long.
So when I woke up to potential thunderstorms, I was freaking out. What if the roads were flooded? I checked my email all morning, checked their website, checked their Myspace, and there’s something wrong with the Freddy’s site and I can’t get the music schedule. Probably my stupid computer. When the thunder came at 1:15, I was devastated. Well, they better leave now. Of course I’ll have to leave early in case the subways flood, like the time they played the Mercury Lounge. There was a water condition on the tracks on top of reroutes and I ran out of the subway station, fell and hurt my knee, and got there late. I played Chippy all day. OK, if you cancel, you have to give me a lift to Plattsburgh. That’s where the northernmost SUNY is and you don’t want to be doing that. Would they really cancel? I mean, there’s another band coming in from CT. Another downpour started at 5:30. I hope they didn’t call the bar and leave a message, thinking I’d be smart enough to call ahead of time. You’d be surprised how smart I’m not. I was a complete wreck before I left. My heart needs a shot of cortisone! I can’t take this anymore. I saw their orange sticker on the lamppost and it had turned yellow. They have to be showing up.
The Danglers, also from Connecticut, put the psycho in psychobilly. I was sitting off to the side and planning to sneak over to the front seat in between songs, but just then the lead singer jumped on the table. I’m kinda glad Roger ended up missing this because it probably would’ve just given him ideas. Unless bands have jumped on the tables before and I missed it. There was an older couple sitting at the table and the guy just crawled over and sang right in the woman’s face. So be forewarned: Do not sit too close to The Danglers. Because later on he crawled under the table and sang. “This is the soccer rock part of the evening; coming up next is the hockey rock part,” he promised. Well, we’re in the right place for that. Their little sister, Darla, played bass and because we seemed like nice people, she felt she could share with us that she’s carrying their cousin’s child—though later on she said that she wasn’t sure it was his. And their drummer had a tale of Bobby Orr looking for Dave Zamboni outside Freddy’s because he had a message for him: It’s gonna be a psychobilly freakout! Indeed.
Bob told me that every time he finds a band he likes, they end up breaking up. The Zambonis are the last holdout. Story of my life, too. “We’re playing a very small room at a high volume,” Dave announced, and while he worried that they were too loud, it sounded fine to me. Then again, I’m a little hard of hearing anyway and wear earplugs, so maybe I’m not the best one to judge. I think The Fall-inspired Beware of the Trappa had the best reception I’ve heard so far; maybe it’s Brooklyn and their indie rock sensibilities. So while I might not have been the best one to judge how loud the keyboard was, Dave however, was. A few songs in he couldn’t take it with the keyboard and threw it on the ground and stepped on it. Totally stomping on it. Then America’s Sweetheart’s guitar player started ripping it up. Punk rock returns to Freddy’s at last. Bands, take note: the more stuff you break, the less you have to load out and pack up at the end of the night. But it turns out it was just the cord, which Dave could’ve stomped on and spared the keyboard, which toured with Guster. So if Guster ever asks them to tour w/them again, they’re screwed. The Zambonis are going to be on a split 7” w/Harry and the Potters, and wrote (and played) Harry Potter & His Magic Hockey Stick. It ended up being a total sit-down night, which sucked because I wanted to dance, but the dancing section was in the back and no way was I going to stand all the way in the back. I would’ve tried standing but I see the Zambonis so infrequently as it is that I wasn’t about to risk pissing people off and getting bad vibes directed at me, ruining the whole thing—but I danced to Breakaway. Oh, and the new hockey monkey is very cute and considerably less mangy-looking than the previous model. They did Greatest Season for me, because Dave looked like he was sweating the list and I suggested it. Of course because I haven’t seen them in so long I totally forgot Johnny Got Suspended.
I saw America’s Sweetheart at Siberia w/The Zambonis, but it was so long ago after a late night and I totally forgot what they sounded like. They’re female-fronted rock that would fit work for Death Disco, but I rarely see The Zambonis as it is, so I spent half their set catching up. After their set, Dave and Jon joined the Sweethearts and covered Beatles songs, calling themselves Killing The Classics. For the second KTC song, Dave played drums and like a good photog I of course ran out of film. It was Dave’s first turn at the skins and he wasn’t bad. And by not bad I mean better than I would be at the drums.
I awoke at 7 to find my contacts plastered to my eyes and the most recent batch of memories plastered to my thighs.
I guess its proof of how much I love a band if it takes me a while to actually post the review. I still get nervous about it, about putting it out there. I don’t know why. Everything has to be right and good and perfect. And then I want to have other posts after it. I guess I'm still weirded out by this whole thing. It’s sad, but since Brownies and Tribeca closed down I rarely see the Zambonis anymore. I’m getting sad just thinking about it, but maybe it’s just the time for it. 11 years. That’s longer than I’ve been in college, where I 1st heard of them, longer than any job I’ve had, and, of course, longer than I’ve been seeing the bands that I do.
That pic was from 7/10/04. (Take a wild guess which 2 other bands are also on that CD.) Yeah, that means that the Freddy's sched from July that's still on my wall cause there was another awesome show there 20 days later was from that show. I cannot remember the last time I saw the Zambonis before this, (Pete’s Candy Store?) but I do know it was before the new Hockey Monkey and the last time they were supposed to play Freddy’s there was a blizzard and they cancelled. I’d gotten an email from Dave and he told me to call his cell. It was an emergency. How many people did I think would go, besides me, because they had to cancel. The snow was worse in CT. Well, I was all set to go. A little snow wasn’t gonna stop me. In other words, it’s been way too long.
So when I woke up to potential thunderstorms, I was freaking out. What if the roads were flooded? I checked my email all morning, checked their website, checked their Myspace, and there’s something wrong with the Freddy’s site and I can’t get the music schedule. Probably my stupid computer. When the thunder came at 1:15, I was devastated. Well, they better leave now. Of course I’ll have to leave early in case the subways flood, like the time they played the Mercury Lounge. There was a water condition on the tracks on top of reroutes and I ran out of the subway station, fell and hurt my knee, and got there late. I played Chippy all day. OK, if you cancel, you have to give me a lift to Plattsburgh. That’s where the northernmost SUNY is and you don’t want to be doing that. Would they really cancel? I mean, there’s another band coming in from CT. Another downpour started at 5:30. I hope they didn’t call the bar and leave a message, thinking I’d be smart enough to call ahead of time. You’d be surprised how smart I’m not. I was a complete wreck before I left. My heart needs a shot of cortisone! I can’t take this anymore. I saw their orange sticker on the lamppost and it had turned yellow. They have to be showing up.
The Danglers, also from Connecticut, put the psycho in psychobilly. I was sitting off to the side and planning to sneak over to the front seat in between songs, but just then the lead singer jumped on the table. I’m kinda glad Roger ended up missing this because it probably would’ve just given him ideas. Unless bands have jumped on the tables before and I missed it. There was an older couple sitting at the table and the guy just crawled over and sang right in the woman’s face. So be forewarned: Do not sit too close to The Danglers. Because later on he crawled under the table and sang. “This is the soccer rock part of the evening; coming up next is the hockey rock part,” he promised. Well, we’re in the right place for that. Their little sister, Darla, played bass and because we seemed like nice people, she felt she could share with us that she’s carrying their cousin’s child—though later on she said that she wasn’t sure it was his. And their drummer had a tale of Bobby Orr looking for Dave Zamboni outside Freddy’s because he had a message for him: It’s gonna be a psychobilly freakout! Indeed.
Bob told me that every time he finds a band he likes, they end up breaking up. The Zambonis are the last holdout. Story of my life, too. “We’re playing a very small room at a high volume,” Dave announced, and while he worried that they were too loud, it sounded fine to me. Then again, I’m a little hard of hearing anyway and wear earplugs, so maybe I’m not the best one to judge. I think The Fall-inspired Beware of the Trappa had the best reception I’ve heard so far; maybe it’s Brooklyn and their indie rock sensibilities. So while I might not have been the best one to judge how loud the keyboard was, Dave however, was. A few songs in he couldn’t take it with the keyboard and threw it on the ground and stepped on it. Totally stomping on it. Then America’s Sweetheart’s guitar player started ripping it up. Punk rock returns to Freddy’s at last. Bands, take note: the more stuff you break, the less you have to load out and pack up at the end of the night. But it turns out it was just the cord, which Dave could’ve stomped on and spared the keyboard, which toured with Guster. So if Guster ever asks them to tour w/them again, they’re screwed. The Zambonis are going to be on a split 7” w/Harry and the Potters, and wrote (and played) Harry Potter & His Magic Hockey Stick. It ended up being a total sit-down night, which sucked because I wanted to dance, but the dancing section was in the back and no way was I going to stand all the way in the back. I would’ve tried standing but I see the Zambonis so infrequently as it is that I wasn’t about to risk pissing people off and getting bad vibes directed at me, ruining the whole thing—but I danced to Breakaway. Oh, and the new hockey monkey is very cute and considerably less mangy-looking than the previous model. They did Greatest Season for me, because Dave looked like he was sweating the list and I suggested it. Of course because I haven’t seen them in so long I totally forgot Johnny Got Suspended.
I saw America’s Sweetheart at Siberia w/The Zambonis, but it was so long ago after a late night and I totally forgot what they sounded like. They’re female-fronted rock that would fit work for Death Disco, but I rarely see The Zambonis as it is, so I spent half their set catching up. After their set, Dave and Jon joined the Sweethearts and covered Beatles songs, calling themselves Killing The Classics. For the second KTC song, Dave played drums and like a good photog I of course ran out of film. It was Dave’s first turn at the skins and he wasn’t bad. And by not bad I mean better than I would be at the drums.
I awoke at 7 to find my contacts plastered to my eyes and the most recent batch of memories plastered to my thighs.
I guess its proof of how much I love a band if it takes me a while to actually post the review. I still get nervous about it, about putting it out there. I don’t know why. Everything has to be right and good and perfect. And then I want to have other posts after it. I guess I'm still weirded out by this whole thing. It’s sad, but since Brownies and Tribeca closed down I rarely see the Zambonis anymore. I’m getting sad just thinking about it, but maybe it’s just the time for it. 11 years. That’s longer than I’ve been in college, where I 1st heard of them, longer than any job I’ve had, and, of course, longer than I’ve been seeing the bands that I do.
posted by heather @ 11:59 PM
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