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The Gowanus All-Stars is comprised of 6 veterans of NYC's Alt. Country/Americana/Roots-Rock scene brought together by singer Spike Priggen to play an open-ended Monday night residency at Brooklyn's The Rock Shop (249 Fourth Avenue Brooklyn, NY). They'll be playing Honky-Tonk, Country-Rock and other Cosmic American Musics every Monday from 8-11 starting June 11th. Link.
Spike Priggen (guitar/vocals) is a singer, songwriter and recording artist based in Upstate NY. All Music Guide described his most recent CD There's No Sound In Flutes as "beautifully crafted pop-rock, gorgeous on every level" & "some of the prettier country-rock style love songs that this reviewer has heard since Gene Clark left this planet". Priggen has recorded or played live with Malcolm Ross, Dumptruck, Will Rigby, The Liquor Giants, Jenifer Jackson, The Pussywillows, The Schramms, Russ Tolman and The Streams. He has produced/engineered recordings by Mark Mulcahy, The Mad Scene, Peter Salett & The Caroline Know.
Jay Sherman-Godfrey (guitar/vocals) is the proprietor of Able Mobile Recording Lab, a studio and location recording service based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He is perhaps best known for his work producing and playing guitar on Laura Cantrell's debut CD, Not The Tremblin' Kind, and its follow-up, When The Roses Bloom Again. He has also worked with They Might Be Giants, Amy Rigby, Michael Moore, Eric Ambel, Michael Shelley, Tandy, and Mojo Nixon, as well as co-founding the seminal NYC country-rock band World Famous Blue Jays.
Chris Erikson (guitar/vocals) grew up in New Haven, CT, where he met Spike Priggen in the 9th grade, when Spike was sitting on a friend's lawn with a guitar, singing the Who's Substitute. Since then he's gone on to play guitar with Matt Keating, Florence Dore, Tandy, Charlie Chesterman, Will Rigby's Unmentionables, Jay Sherman-Godfrey, Scott McClatchy, Spike Priggen and numerous others. And he's just released his own debut CD, "Lost Track of the Time."
Mark Spencer (steel guitar/vocals) plays pedal steel and keyboards in the band Son Volt. He has recorded and toured with Blood Oranges, Kelly Willis, Wanda Jackson, Aimee Mann, Lisa Loeb, Cheri Knight, Laura Cantrell, Clare Burson, Amy Allison, Amy Rigby, Tammy Faye Starlite, Jay Farrar, Freedy Johnston and Spike Priggen. He also is the owner/operator of Tape Kitchen recording studios, a stone's throw from both The Rock Shop and the Gowanus Canal, his inspiration in giving name to this new supergroup.
C.P. "Charly" Roth (bass) is a multi-instrumentalist/composer based in NYC. He's played keyboards with Ozzy Osbourne, Rick Derringer, Edgar Winter, Suzanne Vega, Garland Jeffreys, Lenny Kaye & John Giorno, bass with Blessid Union of Souls & The Sic Fucks, and currently drums with The Liza Colby Sound, Low Society and Denis Leary. He's also the underscore composer for Bert & Ernie's Great Adventures.
Nancy Polstein (drums) has toured, recorded or played live with Cheri Knight, The Silos, The Friggs, Palmyra Delran, Star City, Will Rigby, Spike Priggen, Jay Sherman-Godfrey, The Wirebirds, The Pillcrushers, The Bedsit Poets, The Y’all Stars and Paula Carino. Nancy wishes she never had to wash the hand that Levon Helm once kissed.
The Streams will play our first show in about 20 years at Cafe Nine in New Haven, CT this Saturday night, performing our 14-song Civil War themed CD "Today I Died" (Recorded at the Original Studio Red in Philadelphia by Adam Lasus).
The Streams are David Brooks - Songwriter, singer and guitarist (Dave was also in Twee-Pop faves The Lean-To's), Bill Beckett on Lead Guitar (Enokizu 78), Baby Huey frontman and Original Miracle Legion member Jeff Weiderschall on Drums, and me, Spike Priggen on bass and back-up vocals.
Although the songs are Civil War themed, the music is not. The influences run the gamut from Prefab Sprout and The Verlaines to Led Zeppelin (in fact Dave composed all the songs in an obscure open tuning he copped from Jimmy Page.) You can listen to a few songs below.
This Saturday Night @ Cafe Nine, 250 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511
Thanks to Charles Rosenberg for sending me these photos he took of my band The Hello Strangers playing at Danceteria. This was one of only 2 gigs we did with this line-up (the other was in New Haven, CT at The Grotto a couple days before), which was a combination of the original Hello Strangers line-up (Me and Nicole Willis and various drummers & percussionists- Jean Caffeine & Mark Mulcahy mainly) and the band that played on my LP The Hello Strangers - Goodbye (original Miracle Legion members Mark Mulcahy & Joel Potocksy).
The Obvious: Sal "Little Iggy" Muolo - vocals, Michael "Spike" Priggen - guitar and vocals, Ray Neal - Guitar, Sara Rubenstein - Bass, and Mark Mulcahy -drums. (Thanks to Hank Hoffman for taping this and many other shows and giving me a copy)
From the late 80's to the mid-90's I lived on Delancey Street, above what is now the venue "The Delancey". My down-the-hall neighbor throughout this period was the multi-talented songwriter and recording artist George Usher. George has played in bands like Beat Rodeo, The Schramms and The Bongos and written songs for Laura Cantrell and Richard Barone. Here's a song we wrote and sang together - I'm kinda guessing on who the band is here but I think it's Doug Wygal on Drums, Me on Bass, Kevin Salem on Lead Guitar and me on Guitars and Vocals, and of course George Usher on Vocals as well. Recorded by Adam Lasus at the Old-School Studio Red in Philadelphia PA. (Polaroid of George Usher by Spike Priggen, Delancey Street, Early 90's)
Dumptruck Live @ the Rat 12.14.85.mp3
My first gig in Dumptruck. Seth Tiven (Guitar, Vocals), Kirk Swan (Guitar, Vocals), Spike Priggen (Bass, Vocals), Shawn "King" Devlin (Drums).
The Caroline Know on WFMU's Live Music Faucet - Nov 1991
Stephen Rand (Guitar, Vocals), Ted Barron (Guitar), Tada Hirano (Drums, Backing Vocals), Spike Priggen (Bass, Backing Vocals).
The Pussywillows Live @ Princeton
I'm on the road but I'll find the actual date of this when I get home. Sometime in the early 90's I guess. Maybe late 80's. This is a 90-minute set so it might take a little while to download.
This version of The Pussywillows was Elinor Blake, Lisa Jenio, and Lisa Dembling (Vocals), backed by Jay Godfrey (Guitar), Spike Priggen (Guitar), Mike Rosenberg (Bass), and Will Rigby (Drums).
(Photo is the same line-up @ CBGBs)
Eli Messinger
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Evansville Courier & Press
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