newsletter
March 19th, 2007






Supporting New Jersey's Local Music Scene Since 2000

Read Lazlo's Blog

CD Reviews: The Mother Hips, Hotel De Ville, Full Minute Of Mercury
This week featuring reviews of:

The Mother Hips - "kiss the crystal flake"

Hotel De Ville - Hotel De Ville

Full Minute Of Mercury - CD sampler

(click here to read more)


CD Reviews: Backyard Tire Fire, Drew & The Medicinal Pen, The Crusher, Chow Nasty
This week featuring reviews of:

Backyard Tire Fire - vagabonds and hooligans

Drew & The Medicinal Pen - dream, dream, fail, repeat

The Crusher - deliver us from emo

Chow Nasty - ungawa...the party starts right f**king now

(click here to read more)


CD Reviews: Gary Paul Hermus, Mason Dixon, Kate Hart
If only there were more hours in the day...

I am getting so many good CDs lately, that I'd love to have time to review them all. Today I had time to write up three reviews. Hopefully I'll have more time soon to write up some more...
(click here to read more)

Blog Archives

Broadcast Schedule
(all times are Eastern Standard)

12 noon & 7pm - BlowUpRadio.com Classics (everyday)

8pm - Lazlo's Den (Mon-Fri)

9pm - Jersey Beat Podcast Hosted by Jim Testa (Tues & Thurs)

9pm - Luna Musings w/ Colie Brice (Wed)

9am - The Sunday Morning Hangover 3 hours of acoustic music (Sun)

Album of the Month
Kate Hart
Kate Hart - "natural born wallflower"

All songs were written and sung by me (with the excepction of Great Legs, which is a cover of a Chixdiggit song). HUGE thank you to Dan from Mazeffect & Grover Kent for playing the drums, bass and some guitar parts on these songs, as well as for helping me record them through GarageBand.

http://www.myspace.com/khartmusic
Concert Picks of the Week

Lazlo (BlowUpRadio.com)

This Saturday the BlowUpRadio.com Free Concert Series returns to Buddie's Tavern in Parlin (Sayreville), for an evening of roots rock that you will not want to miss. The show features sets by Tony Tedesco & Damaged Goods, Wiser Time, and The Wag. All three of these bands are great, and were handpicked by me to play on this bill.


Jim Testa (Jersey Beat)

FRIDAY, MARCH 23
WATER UNDER WATER, 33rd Revolution


SATURDAY, MARCH 24
BLUE SUEDE BOMBERS, Lucky Strikes

At: The Iron Monkey, 97 Greene St. Jersey City - 10 pm, No cover, 21+

I don't know anything about these bands but it's great to see there's a rock venue in Jersey City again. The Iron Monkey is a restaurant/bar in the Grove Street area of downtown JC. They were doing acoustic shows for a while but have recently put in a real p.a. and book local rock bands on weekends. WFMU is right around the corner. Check it out if you're in the area. I will be playing there with Roadside Graves on SAturday, April 28 on a night hosted by City Belt, the Jersey City-based politics/culture magazine (www.citybelt.org).


Gary Wien (Upstage)

Our picks this week start off with Friday, March 23rd at the Pollak Theatre in Monmouth University where Roger McGuinn will be headlining alongside Jersey Shore legend Pat Guadagno. McGuinn is a personal favorite of mine - he's a legend from his days as the leader of the Byrds through his solo projects and never fails to give a great show. Meanwhile Guadagno is a truly exceptional singer-songwriter who generally makes other people's songs his own through his own spectacular interpretations. He's not really covering songs, he's making them his own. Then on Saturday, it's Tony Tedesco and Damaged goods along with one of our favorite Jersey bands - Wiser Time - at Buddies Pub in Parlin. Also on the bill is The Wag! It's a great night of local music.


Jared Migden (WRSU)

The curse of not being able to go to the show because you have to go to the show will strike again on Saturday as the Roadside Graves celebrate their latest record release at the Court Tavern and Eastern Anchors returns to the Brighton Bar in Long Branch.




LOCAL MUSIC NEWS
The Finals Announce New Singer For Spring Tour

For the New Jersey based rock band The Finals, 2006 proved to be a pivotal year. With the release of their first full-length album, “Plan Your Getaway,” on Immortal Records, the band was in full swing.

The press raved:

“This is a band with a ton of promise to make an impact on a few different scenes."-All Ages Zine

“There's an occasional twangy guitar or country-fried riff (particularly on "Plague Escapade") that suggest The Finals have a few unexpected tricks up their sleeves for albums to come.”-Spin Magazine

“Once ‘Plan Your Getaway’ makes its way onto your stereo, you’ll have a very hard time wanting to switch it off. -Black Velvet (UK)”

"Difficult to put this CD down once you hit the play button... Reminds me of The Living End and Alkaline Trio." -Euro Punk

But while the band extensively toured the U.S. in support of the album, singer/bassist Matt Reilly faced a life changing decision. After a few months on the road, Reilly decided to leave the band.

Left without a singer, the remaining members (Jason Sazer - Guitar/Vocals, Lou Bottone - guitar, Joshua Sazer - drums, Christian Kisala - keyboards) were unsure of their future. Bottone reveals, “I was relieved and worried at the same time. I knew we would continue to be a band, but with a new record out and no singer I wasn’t sure how we’d recover.” After meeting with management, the band made the decision to move forward by posting anonymous ads online in search of a replacement.

Andrew Seagle, a musician from North Carolina whose band had just broken up, saw one of the posts. Coaxed by his girlfriend, Seagle responded to the ad. With nothing holding him back, Seagle hopped on a plane and headed to New Jersey. Well armed with the four tunes the band requested, he immediately impressed the group, and was offered the position after just a few hours. “He was more than we could have hoped for,” states Kisala. “He's the total package, musician wise, and more importantly... personality wise.”

“Upon the first song, first note, even first greeting, it's felt like I'm finally doing the right thing,” says Seagle. “I'm dealing with professionals with the same goals. I've received nothing but respect and courtesy. It's a unit in which I’m proud to be a part. Even outside of the music, I couldn't ask for more genuine guys to be around.”

The band is currently writing new material for their follow-up to the Heath Saraceno (Midtown) produced and John Naclerio (Brand New, My Chemical Romance, Senses Fail) engineered “Plan You Getaway.” Collectively inspired by a diverse array of artists such as The Beatles and The Cars, to Metallica and Alkaline Trio, The Finals draw from their influences, while making solid and distinct records.

The formula has been successful thus far: The Finals have been featured as Band of The Day on Spin.com and in November 2006, “Plan Your Getaway” was released in Japan via Kick Rock Music. The band has fine tuned their live show into a “powerful and explosive experience,” as Sazer likes to put it, and has been chosen to play with The Ataris, Koufax, The Matches, Midtown and more.

Continuing to tour in support of “Plan Your Getaway,” Seagle reveals, “I know we're heading out to do something important, something meaningful, and I honestly can't wait to see things through.” Sazer explains, “We're all confident and comfortable with the fact that Andrew joining the band is going to help take us to the ‘next level.’ We're all excited to write new songs, and tour as a wiser, more unified band.”




Message From Lazlo




Hi Everyone,

So just when I thought I was over my illness the other week, my cold turned to a sinus infection. So once again I must apologize for the lack of updates to the website last week.

But I'm starting to feel better, so the updates should become more regular to the site again...

...and I plan to be ready to rock this Saturday at Buddie's Tavern for another BlowUpRadio.com Free Concert Series show!



Tony Tedesco & Damaged Goods

You will not find any apologies here. We play becuase we breathe. Until we get in the studio, we'll be posting cuts from live shows. our first show as a band was at the Saint on 11-29-06. Will there be tracks put up here with occassional missed notes, fucked up intros, flat vocals,out of tune guitars? fuck yeah there will be, but dont expect any apologies. Life's too short. No matter how good a band is, life always has the potential to get in the way. There ain't no waiting on perfection when you are grabing life by the balls. Besides, if you aint fuckin up, you aint pushing the envelope, and if thats the case you might as well pack it in as an artist...buy a black velvet elvis paint-by-numbers, throw on the tv and wait for sleep to come so maybe you can dream what it was like to take a chance. So take a listen and enjoy. If it dont sound good, you aint had enough to drink. ****For the record: While you hear me say "Ladies and Gentelmen, Rick Barry' as we are starting "Roll with the pages", please do not be confused. Rick is not playing with us on that one (yet)..If you listen real closely, while Homer's busting my nuts about 'Having to wait for the lead guitar player', you can hear rick say "Yeah dick Hurry up!'... Thats right, rick was right at the edge of the stage like a glassy eyed, wet pantied, knee sock wearing catholic school girl for some of our set...enough to almost make me feel like a rock star..or at least as much as an old short fat guy can feel like a rock star



Wiser Time

Wiser Time originated in the small town of Millington, NJ by singer/songwriter/guitarist, Carmen Sclafani in the spring of 2002. Sclafani had been a fixture in the local music scene, performing in bars and clubs during the evenings, while working as a commercial artist during the days. He had been performing with various incarnations under the Wiser Time moniker when he came across music veteran/producer/guitarist, Anthony Krizan (Spin Doctors, Lenny Kravitz, John Waite), performing at a local club.

The two had shared a similar interest in the classic Rock and Roll sounds of 60s and 70s bands like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, and shortly after meeting began recording songs from Sclafani's catalog and writing material that would eventually become the self-produced 5-song EP titled, Introducing Wiser Time. The EP was received well by audiences, and local radio stations began playing it. Sclafani continued performing regularly in NY and NJ during this time while he and Krizan continued to record and write more material, while also bringing in various other studio musicians and friends for certain recordings.

Sclafani eventually brought in John Hummel, a seasoned studio drummer who was a member of several local bands including The John Ginty Band, featuring John Ginty (Robert Randolph, Santana, Citizen Cope). His powerful style, combined with the Keith Richards/Jimmy Page stylings that both Krizan and Sclafani had both been heavily influenced by, produced a vintage style and sound that hadn't been heard or seen in mainstream music in years.

The trio would eventually be rounded out as a 4-piece with the addition of Todd Lanka on bass. Lanka had also been a well known and highly regarded musician in the local scene, and had performed with a number of acts including Todd Wolfe (Sheryl Crow, Leslie West).

Wiser Time began playing select shows, adding various organ players for live performances, while completing the final few recordings of the debut album, There And Back Again, in the fall of 2006. The response by audiences was immediate, and word began spreading quickly about the bands vintage rock and roll swagger and charismatic frontman.

While preparing for a 2007 push for There And Back Again, Sclafani met drummer Steve Decker, who had been a close friend of Lanka. Decker was an incredibly versatile drummer, combining both power and finesse to create a very musical groove. His soulful and steady groove had been behind such recordings and performances from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keyboardist Bernie Worrell (P-Funk, The Talking Heads), and Grammy Award-winning and Blues Hall of Fame's James Cotton (Muddy Waters), to name a few.

The trio of Sclafani, Decker and Lanka began playing and writing regularly, and connected on all levels, even going so far as to create and jam new songs right on the spot at live gigs, to the amazement of audiences. With the three being so connected to the music, Sclafani decided to make it the core of Wiser Time in place of the hired studio musicians that he'd been using to that point. The trio would continue to bring in Krizan and various other musicians on certain gigs and recording sessions.

With the line-up and the album complete and local buzz spreading quickly, the band is attracting a great deal of attention and is focused on touring in 2007 to promote the debut album.

- by Rachel Irimescu



The Wag

An upbeat four piece based in Middletown, New Jersey, The Wag feature vocal harmonies at the forefront of their sound. Their unique style varies from blues to pop to rock. With three alternating lead singers, there is a different feel to every song.

The evolution of The Wag's songwriting is evident on their brand new CD, Soundtrack to a Silent Movie. This full length release shows emotional maturity from a band that has been together for over eight years.

After years of performing at clubs, theaters and festivals, The Wag are seasoned professionals. This hard-working band has enjoyed local success on radio and television, as well as opening for national acts. The Wag has recently added an acoustic set to their repertoire, further diversifying their sound and allowing them to reach a larger audience.



So come out for a good night of FREE rock and roll!

Peace,
Lazlo

~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the final standings for this month's Jukebox poll:



Check back later this week for new songs on the jukebox, along with our three winners from this month, Kerry, Six To Eight Mathematics, and Kosmic Daydream.





New Songs Added This Week

ARTIST ALBUM
Ashes Are Nutritious frustration+


Concert Calendar

Wednesday March 21st
Bands Venue
Readymade Breakup The Delancey
168 Delancey St.
NYC
(212) 254-9220

Friday March 23rd
Bands Venue
Kosmic Daydream The Underpass
158 Market St
Elmwood Park

Saturday March 24th
BlowUpRadio.com
presents

Tony Tedesco & Damaged Goods

Wiser Time

The Wag
Buddie's Tavern
277 Johnsons Lane
Parlin

Sunday March 25th
Bands Venue
Joshua Van Ness Crossroads
78 North Ave
Garwood



bring it on home


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