Rockin’ Out with Hey Ocean! and We Are the City at Webster Hall

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Ashleigh and drummerHad a fun time Monday night at the Studio at Webster Hall, where Vancouver bands We Are the City and Hey Ocean! stopped off on their current US tour. I had not seen either group before, though I enjoy hearing them on CBC Radio 3, so it was a real treat to hear both groups live.

We Are the City are a trio led by gorgeously expressionistic vocals from keyboard player Cayne McKenzie, complemented by guitarist David Menzel and drummer Andrew Huculiak. They play an anthemic sort of big-sound pop, with Cayne’s great vocals. They played “Happy New Year,” a favorite of mine from their 2011 EP “High School.” You can hear it and more of their music at their band page on CBC Radio 3. Their first full album will be released this coming June.

By contrast, last night’s headliner, Hey Ocean! have been around longer, with three albums to their credit. At their core, they are also a trio, which they supplement with additional musicians. The central threesome is bassist and producer David Vertesi, guitarist David Beckingham, and spectacular lead singer, and flutist, Ashleigh Ball. She has a great pop/rock n’ roll voice, full of character, inflection and power. She’s also cute and lots of fun on stage, bouncing around like a bundle of positive energy, which is also reflected in the striving message of their lyrics. Hey Ocean! just released their later album, “Is,” which I picked up at the merch table last night. For info on the rest of the US tour of We Are the City and Hey Ocean! visit this page at the latter’s website. Upcoming cities are Akron, OH; Lansing, MI; Chicago; Minneapolis; and Billings, MT. Here’s a video of one of their best songs, “Big Blue Wave.”

Making the night even better, it included meeting a new member of the #R3NYNJ, the local music appreciation group (and Twitter hashtag) I recently started with Steve Conte–owner of Funnybooks, a comics store near Parsippany, NJ– to share information on shows by Canadian artists in the NY area. Our new pal is Kennedy Davey, a transplant to NYC from Vancouver by way of Los Angeles, newly working in advertising after some years in the film industry. She’s only ever lived on the West Coast of North America, so this is going to be a big change for her. Cold winters, late-arriving springs, living on the eastern edge of a time zone–instead of the blessed western edge–with nightfall coming earlier even in summer. She’s an avid show-goer like me and Steve, so it will be fun bumping into her at live shows of Canadian artists, and perhaps at other live musical shows, such as the Brooklyn Folk Festival, which is the next music event I am excited about, April 19-21. Below are my pictures from last night’s fun. Please click here to see all photos.

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Authors are Collateral Damage in Dispute Between B&N and S&S

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I want to inform readers of this blog about an ongoing situation that has authors ensnared in the middle of an unfortunate standoff between Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster. As reported in a number of news outlets, including in this Wall St. Journal story, the bookselling chain and the publisher are in a dispute over charges that B&N wants to assign to their stocking and promotion of S&S titles. While the dispute is ongoing, B&N “has sharply reduced the number of Simon & Schuster titles it carries in its stores as well as the promotion it gives those books.”

As explained in a blog post by novelist M.J. Rose, and in her comments below the post, while B&N is minimally representing most S&S titles, they have cut orders of those books by as much as 90%. Rose happens to be an S&S author herself, and a very skilled book promoter. These authors are collateral damage in a conflict that’s leaving their books under-represented in the country’s largest retail book chain. Rose’s post collects many of the books currently being published by S&S that are being disadvantaged by this unresolved situation. She suggests that if these are books you want to buy and read you can find them for sale via other retailers, whether online or at brick & mortar bookstores. Rose’s own current books are The Book of Lost Fragrances and Seduction. I hope you will support her and these authors. In this screenshot of her blog post, you’ll see she’s used the idea of a missing person on a milk carton to explain the impact of this situation on authors. To read her whole post and see all of the books she’s assembled, please click on this link.MJ Rose blog

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Remembering the Pitch That Killed a Major League Ballplayer

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Sowell front coverSowell back coverThe Pitch That Killed: The Story of Carl Mays, Ray Chapman, and the Pennant Race of 1920 is one of the best baseball books I’ve ever read, or been involved with publishing. It chronicles the only fatality ever caused by injury during a baseball game. Ray Chapman was a great Cleveland Indians shortstop who died after struck in the head by a pitch thrown by NY Yankee Carl Mays. The tragedy occurred in the same season that the Tribe won their first World Series, somehow overcoming the loss of one of their best players. I’m glad that Cleveland Plain Dealer sports writer Bill Livingston, @LivyPD, chose to write about it today, the Sunday before Opening Day. Livingston reports that a film based on the book, “Deadball,” may be in the works.The Pitch That Killed is still in print today, in an edition from Ivan R. Dee, independent publisher in Chicago.

Macmillan, where I worked in the late 1980s, was a hotbed of excellent baseball publishing, anchored by The Baseball Encyclopedia. Titles I was responsible for included Two Spectacular Seasons: 1930–The Year the Hitters Ran Wil and 1968: The Year the Pitchers Took Revenge by William B. Mead and the Twentieth Anniversary edition of Jim Bouton’s classic Ball Four, an edition that’s still widely available today, including from Powell’s Books, the affiliate bookseller for this site. Colleague and friend Rick Wolff, who edited The Pitch That Killed and The Baseball Encyclopedia also worked on You Gotta Have Wa: When Two Cultures Collide on the Baseball Diamond, Robert Whiting’s enlightening examination of baseball in Japan. As baseball season begins, it’s fun to celebrate some great baseball books.

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So Sorry to Lose Jay Smith, Rock n’ Roll Musician

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I’m still shocked and saddened with Wednesday’s news that Jay Smith–guitarist in the great rock band led by Matt Mays–died suddenly, only hours after the group played a live show in Edmonton, Alberta. His death was disclosed in this Facebook message from Matt Mays:

Folks,

Our guitar player and dear friend Jay Smith passed away this morning in Edmonton. As you can all imagine, we are completely devastated. However, in our heart of hearts we know that we need to Play on. Jay’s family as well as the band know he would have wanted it that way. All the proceeds from the remaining shows will be put into a trust for his two beautiful children. Jay’s wit, charm, and unparalleled love of music will never be forgotten.

He was our brother and he will live in our hearts and song forever.

Matt, Serge, Damien, Adam and Matt

A cause of his death has not been announced. Exclaim magazine reports “no foul play is suspected.” Smith was 34 or 35 years old (b. 1978).

When I visited Toronto last June for the North by Northeast festival (NXNE) I heard Matt Mays and band play live at Lee’s Palace, a tremendous show. Jay Smith was a key part of the group that night, and I remember the steaming guitar solos he played. I’m sure the band will be a long time mourning his loss, personally, creatively, musically, and humanly. Photos from that show are published below. Smith had had a lengthy career as a rocker and presence on the music scene of Canada’s east coast, haling from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with a band called Rock Ranger, that Mays featured in a song of his own, “Rock Ranger Record.” In fact, the group played it last June at Lee’s Palace, and Smith seemed to take special delight in playing on a song that was, after all, about an alter ego of his own. Mays is also from Canada’s east coast, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a locale he wrote about in a 2002 song, “City of Lakes.” Unaccountably, the song ends with these lines:

“I lost a friend here in this past year/I miss his guitar playing in my ear/Be a friend, take away all my fears/Nice and easy, nice and easy, nice and easy.”

Those lyrics, in turn, prompted me to reflect on the episode in 1972 when Danny Whitten, then the lead guitarist in Crazy Horse with Neil Young, died of a heroin overdose. I’m not presuming any similar reason for Jay Smith’s death–in fact have heard from someone close to the band since I posted this item that it definitely was not drug-related–only imagining what it’s like for a band to lose a brother in arms, as this extremely tight band now sadly has. To understand the dimensions of their loss, please see the photos below where in one the whole band literally took a bow with arms linked, and then waved goodnight to the jubilant crowd. These reflections prompted me to tweet the message shared above, as a prelude to this post.

Jay Smith album artSmith released a fine solo album in 2011 that I’ve been listening to often in the days since his death. You can listen to it at his bandcamp.com, where I bought a download of it for $7. It’s really a terrific recording, deserving of airplay for such standout songs as “My Luck,” “Partner in Crime,” and “Perfect View.” Please note also that at his website Matt Mays has set up a donation page for those who want to contribute to a trust for Jay Smith’s wife and two children, at this link. My sincerest condolences to his family, friends, and bandmates. RIP, Jay Smith. Please click on this link to see all photos.

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#FridayReads, March 29–‘Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science’

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Saturday update–


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Heretics#FridayReads, March 29—The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by British journalist Will Storr. I posted this book as a #FridayReads March 8, so it should be clear it is not a quick read. However, it should also be clear that I’ve stayed with it because reading it is a very rewarding experience. Storr’s investigation blends spot reporting from such locales as a revival meeting in Australia led by a creationist preacher with consideration of the placebo theory and homeopathy and its detractors. Like Jon Ronson, another British author with whom I’ve compared Storr, the author of this book is an affable guide who successfully inveigles his way on to a tour bus of Holocaust deniers led by disgraced former historian David Irving and in to a conversation with the churlish defender of Hitler. I’m reading the last 40 pages now where Storr probes the question of whether James Randi deserves the status he’s widely accorded as the ‘world’s most noble skeptic.’ Storr, shall we say, has some doubts. I recommend this thoughtful and nuanced book most highly. I first read about this book in the Guardian last January and I’m glad I was able to get a copy from Picador, Storr’s obliging UK publisher.

Please note: you may visit a ‘buy page’ for this book at the website of Powell’s Books–the affiliate bookseller for The Great Gray Bridge–by clicking on this book link: The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science.

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Some Early Spring Hudson River Views

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Looking northward to the GGBFollowing many days of late winter gloom and cold winds off the Hudson River where I regularly ride my bike things brightened up a bit today. With temps edging over 50 degrees and light to moderate winds, I wasn’t forced to don the usual gear I’ve been wearing on my rides since the fall. More lightly clad than usual, I pedaled north along the river, stopping for a break about even with 140th Street. Perched atop an old picnic table I read my current book, Heretics: Adventures With the Enemies of Science by British journalist Will Storr; phoned my sister to wish her a happy Passover; and took these pics of the Hudson and the Jersey side of the river. Even with the noticeable warming, there were still a lot gray, glowering clouds hanging low in the sky, but maybe now we’re in for a spell of fair weather. Please click here to see all photos from my bike ride.

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