Some Holiday Thoughts. . . December 24th, 2006

And while reading bizarro thoughts. . .do listen to the Wild West Podcast which just released its holiday edition complete with local and some classic holiday rock and roll! - 12/24/06

December, the holiday season is a wonderful time of year. Forget the shopping, sales and that crap. If you can strip that stuff away you can find something. And no I am not talking religion here. Yes I know Christmas and Hanukkah are religious holidays, but for me it is not about that either.

No it is simple. Christmas, Hanukkah, the holiday season is a time to celebrate life. I do latch on to the metaphors that both offer. Birth in the case of Christmas, continuance or overflow, an abundance, in lack of a better words, in the case of Hanukkah. Both come out of the everyday, but yet wonderful in reflection. Look at Christmas, which for many of is celebrated in winter or at least it use to be. And with Christmas and Hanukkah, in the holiday season, we celebrate a birth. Birth also is an overflow or an abundance of life. Move over to Hanukkah and you have what was thought sufficient for one day, lasts for seven. the candles, like life overflow and continue. There is an abundance of light.

Jump from metaphor to everyday and it is just nice to reconnect with family and friends. This year has been very nice as I have reconnected with a range of folks and kept in touch with others and I think of all of these now in the course of this season. Add to that family and it is just a rich brew. If nothing else this season asks us to reflect and consider those connections, those people past and present. This season allows one to mix these various threads, to reach out and say hello again and catch up, break bread and wine with those we encounter.

Those meetings, those get-togethers are the overflow, the celebration and sharing of it. My only thought on looking at the idea above is these things should been done through out the year, a theme I have heard before. It is just hard to do and besides, you have to start somewhere.

Sorry to get new age philosophical but once in awhile it is appropriate.

Enjoy and do have a great holiday season!

The Wild West Podcast which just released its holiday edition complete with local and classic holiday rock and roll! - 12/24/06

Will be in the itunes Podcast section shortly. Previous Wild West Podcast can be found on iTunes today!


Bob Schaffer
bob@wildwestrocks.com

Subscribe to The Wild West Blog by Email

The Wild West Rocks Again!

Mark your calendar kids. Friday, March 23rd, the Wild West rides again down in Yonkers at Barney McNabbs!

McNabbs is a place that is friendly to rock’n’roll. It routinely has metal and hardcore shows. It routinely partners with a local rehearsal/ sound studio for shows, so the Wild WEst is on much more solid ground at this venue. We should not be scaring the regulars away this time when we turn up the amps.

It is not only a change of venues here. No, the Wild West is making some changes in how we do things. This time we will be starting much earlier. no waiting till 10:00 or 10:30. this time the first act will be on at 7:00 or 8:00, and we will have at least 5 bands up in the evening. This time the Wild West, which preaches local talent, is huntng for such talent. This time we will work with local acts and talent from CT, and Westchester, mixing them up with some of the best talent out of NYC.

And regardless of the change of tactics as Mr Bush likes to say, the intent of the Wild West is still to bring some of the best original rock and alternative talent to a Westchester audience. And when I say a Westchester audience, my intent is not to just mingle the bands of Wstchester, CT and NYC and their fanbases. Yes that is a cool starting pont. The Wild West dreams of something else.

Awhile back I read that basically the bands in the city, NYC, play to each other. there is no real audience that indulges original acts. Venues like the oldContinental or the Delancey’s are or were pretty small and much of the audience probably is fellow musicians. I do not think, however, it has to be that way. the Wild West believes it can offer showcases of original rock and alternative music that if properly introducned and hyped up, can be events-the thing to do and check out on a Friday or Saturday night.

Blasphemy to many but that is really what the Wild West is about. See you there at Barney McNabbs on 3/23/07!

Bob Schaffer
December 23, 2006

Subscribe to The Wild West Blog by Email

An Interesting Journey

Well as we fall into the holiday season things are slowing down a bit. Yeah, we are aiming to do a holiday podcasts, but the other stuff; things like chasing after venue owners and managers, and searching for investors for a Torme/ GMT USA Tour, are pretty quiet. There was one semi-relevant happening though this Saturday.

Saturday night, we went to a strip mall in central NJ. Actually, we had been invited to a Holiday Party for a vendor of mine, agroup that provides computer programers and others for my staffing projects = work stuff. This strip mall, though had so much history for me.

Amazing what can be found on the web, here it is from the air: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=85+Lafayette+Road,+Fords,+NJ

Interesting but for myself it does not reveal itself in the image, accept that it probably has not changed all that much since the seventies. Yeah back then the large store on the one end was an A&P which i was routinely dragged to as a kid. Waiting for mom to get the groceries.

Now today, and since the 80's, there is Vintage Vinyl. If you are looking for an import, if you are looking for metal or punk CD, good chance they have it plus a range of other stuff. In February of 2003 I was there one cold night with a friend and wandered out with a White Trash Guitar. The CD was complete with a little flyer about a mailing list, and his website, www.bernietorme.com. The album impressed and the little flyer haunted me. Eventually it became the thought of a US Tour.

And now, three years later, almost four years now, I return to that same strip mall, now at the far end for a holiday event. t was the same strip mall, but three different times, and three very different events.

Bob Schaffer
bob@wildwestrocks.com

Subscribe to The Wild West Blog by Email