July 23, 2008
Lots of news:
Besides the usual, we've had some personnel shifts. Lost a keyboard player. Gained a keyboard player. Gained a guitar/mandolin/banjo player. Holding auditions for tuba ... that kinda thing. I'll change the "official" lineup on the myspace page once things are, well, "official." Very excited about the new additions, though - if I had my way, we'd be a small orchestra.
Still writing songs, oddly enough. If you haven't heard us in awhile, come check out some of the fledgling tunes.
Lates,
Andre
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June 5, 2008
Wow. Busy, busy, busy. Just *bananas.*
But we're getting back to making music. Dave (our guitar/banjo/mandolin player) left us to hike around the world w/ his fabulous wife - we'll miss him a lot, but so it goes. On the plus side, we've roped in a new keyboard player - Jay.
Come see us in our new, Transformers™-like incarnation when we play a new venue next month:
The Open Mic Mouth at Dahlak Restaurant. We'll be appearing as the "featured" band!
Toodles ...
Andre
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April 7, 2008
April rushed in fast. It was hot today, so it made me look to the future of the season. The Crazy Quilt
Festival, in Greenbelt, is coming up on April 19th.
I made a website for them with the full schedule of bands and other information about the day:
www.CrazyQuiltFestival.com
I really hope that you can make it. Our playmate,
Parthenon Huxley, performs at 4:00, so come early to
see him, and stay to see us (and the other great acts of the evening)!
See you there,
Allison
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March 11, 2008
Ok, I never really liked Lennon's solo stuff. But "instant karma" seemed like the perfect way to describe what's been happening over the last couple days.
Unfortunately, the "Tuesday Troubador" series at the Rockville Austin Grill was scrubbed. Which left us without one of our April gigs. So I started poking around, to see what venues other people were playing. One of the people I stumbled upon was
Sarah Fridrich.
I know Sarah's been playing the scene for awhile, 'cause her name keeps popping up on venue calendars. I've always enjoyed her stuff - it's different from the usual "guy/gal with a guitar" stuff. It's clear she puts a lot of thought into her art, and I really appreciate that.
Anyrate, because I have no tact whatsoever, I emailed Sarah about a potentially doing a show in my hometown, Greenbelt. No promises -- I'm not the booking agent for this event -- but I wanted to try to get her on the bill. After chatting a little bit, Sarah graciously offered US a spot at one of HER shows!
I'll tell ya folks - it's
hard to get booked if you're doing original, soft-ish music. I was pretty blown away with Sarah's offer.
The happy ending is, we lost Rockville, but gained
Silver Spring. Thank you, Sarah. :^)
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February 22, 2008
Believe it or not, I don't make my living doing music. Which explains why I'm still alive.
My "real" job has some busy times, and March is one of the busiest. What's this mean for The Able Birds? NO SHOWS IN MARCH. (We are doing some guerrila recording, and hope to have that demo we've been talking about for months available ... uh ... soon.)
There ARE a couple friends I know that DO make their living solely from their art. Rob Hinkal and his band
ILYAIMY are fairly huge in the local folk-derived music scene. Still, I understand they're just scraping by, so why not throw 'em some love, financial or otherwise, today? Buy a CD, hit their Paypal donation button, send 'em a drawing your kid did ...
The other chap that comes to mind is
William Schaff, a visual artist outside of Providence, RI. Will's stuff is challenging and strong, and he works ceaselessly. Even if you don't find a piece that floats your boat, a thoughtful email or small donation would be well-received.
Later gators ...
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January 22, 2008
From time to time, my spouse and I make a "beer bet" (winner buys). My most shameful loss concerns the REM song "Rockville." As in "Don't go back to ..." You know it.
Any rate, my wife was pretty sure the Rockville in the song is Rockville, MD. I smuggly assured her it's not. I mean, why would Mike Mills write about Rockville, MARYLAND? There must be a Rockville in every state of the Union (like Springfield!). What are the odds?
Long story short, yes, it's THAT Rockville. Goddamn REM. Goddamn Mike Mills. Grrrr. Read more
here.
Mr. Mills' poor choices aside, there IS a reason to return to Rockville. (Or go there for the first time if you've never been!) The Able Birds will be sharing a stage at the Austin Grill with local muso
Bob Sima and his herd of
Tuesday Troubadors. See our
Calendar for details ...
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January 7, 2008
Happy New Year! We've really enjoyed making music over the last six months or so, and plan to keep at it throughout the beginning of 2008. We'll be playing the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt in January - see our
Calendar for details!
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October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
Just to reiterate, we'll be returning to the Potter's House on December 7, to do a benefit for the Capital Area Food Bank. The CAFB helps feed thousands of people in the DC Metro area: we're very proud to support their work.
See our
Calendar for more details on these upcoming shows.
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October 10, 2007
Local music impresario Joel Pomerantz has invited us to play at the Songwriters Association of Washington Showcase. We're stoked to represent, and equally as excited to know we'll be sharing yet ANOTHER bill with
Parthenon Huxley! We just played with P. Hux up in Baltimore - he'll no doubt think we're stalking him :^).
We've also confirmed more of the details for our show at the Potter's House in December. We'll be doing a benefit show for the Capital Area Food Bank. Each year the CAFB distributes 20 million pounds of food, including 6 million pounds of fresh produce, through over 700 member agencies! We're very proud to support their work.
See our
Calendar for more details on these upcoming shows.
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September 12, 2007
We are THRILLED to announce an appearance with
Parthenon Huxley! P. Hux is an internationally-acclaimed artist who's had four top-20 hits and received three separate Album of the Year nominations.
The Able Birds will be opening for P. Hux at our first house concert, in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.
See our
Calendar for more details on this exciting show!
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August 20, 2007
Lou Black, of
The Black Finks, has graciously invited us to open for his band at a benefit show for the
The Detention Watch Network. Hope to see you there!
WHEN: Friday, September 7th, starting at 7:30 pm
WHERE: The Potters House, Washington, DC [
map]
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August 8, 2007
During our recent appearance at the WMUC radio, pictures were snapped and video was shot. You can see the results here (warning: we are a SERIOUS looking bunch):
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July 15, 2007
The Able Birds will be on local radio at the end of the month! Tune in and enjoy some local music for FREE, from the comfort of your living room!
WHEN: Sunday, July 29th, from 6 - 9 pm
WHERE: WMUM FM/88.1 - tune in or listen on the web at
www.wmuc.umd.edu
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July 10, 2007
We've played a few local open mics, coffee houses, and the like, and it's time to record a formal demo, so we're taking June and July to go into the "studio" (spare bedroom, actually).
Then, with CD and press kit in hand, we'll start beating down doors, hustling up some gigs. If you'd like us to play at your venue or event,
let us know.
