Eric Slick with Chris Harford, Scott Metzger, and Dave Dreiwitz at John and Peters in New Hope, PA

That would be Chris Harford and the Band of Changes, featuring Chris on guitar and vocals, Scott Metzger on guitar, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, and Eric Slick on drums; and Eric and Dave doing a bass-and-drums-only-it-sounds-like-a-full-band - Crescent Moon



Cool art shot of Eric, who, as you can see, sings when he plays with Dave in Crescent Moon

So last night's Chris Harford Band of Changes/Crescent Moon shows were amazing. Totally amazing.

I wasn't even going to go. I have a ton of editing work to do and as we were leaving, the dog decided to have an anxiety attack. I've never seen him do this in nine years - he hurled himself in front of the door and wouldn't let us get by; then he began to bark and howl like you would not believe. If that wasn't bad enough, he somehow squeezed outside and we couldn't get him back indoors.

I got spooked that maybe the dog knew something we didn't. I have no idea what I mean by that, but he was acting so adamant that we not go that he scared me and I was this close to saying Forget it, I'm staying home...I'm afraid this dog is going to have a heart attack if we leave him alone.

Anyway...

I'd forgotten how much I loved New Hope. It's been years and years since we've visited that town, even though we were weekly visitors back in the seventies when we were little baby hippies. I was worried that it had been taken over by the usual suspects - Starbucks, Banana Republic, Radio Shack, etc. Nope. Still cool, arty shops, funky restaurants...I need to go back soon and check it out further because I really felt happy seeing that. But walking into John and Peters was the biggest shock of all. It hadn't changed in the more than twenty years since we'd first hung out there. Gary and I gasped; it was like reliving our youth all over again. Every single fixture, booth...all of it...was exactly the same.

If that wasn't totally cool enough, the dj played the most incredible music pre-show...we practically fell off our chairs. Whiskey Train by Procol Harum; Ring in his Nose and a Ring on her Hand by Savoy Brown; Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan -- and then I find out that the dj is none other than Mickey from Ween. So we're totally into this and I'm drinking Kettle One vodka martinis and feeling absolutely no pain when Chris Harford and the Band of Changes took the stage.

Holy shit. Chris' songwriting rocks and this band is so fucking good it's ridiculous. Four incredible musicians, so tight you would not guess that Eric, for one, had never even played half of the first set before in his life...it was all new material or stuff he didn't cover in prior shows. But Chris would say something to him about the beat, Eric would look over at bassist Dave Dreiwitz from time to time, and he aced it all. Both Chris Harford and Scott Metzger (Particle, Rana) are amazing guitarists. Scott plays a vintage Les Paul and really has a cool, unique sound. Chris played a Resonator a good part of the night which I admit to loving. And Dave..what the hell can I say about Dave? He sounds like an entire orchestra when he plays the bass, which brings me to Crescent Moon.

Unbelievable. Just Dave on bass and Eric on drums doing a punk thing with both of them singing and it's impossible to sit still when they play...okay, I was drinking martinis but I still say it's impossible. They rocked so hard it was insane. I have one request: Please, please, please record a CD!

Oh man, one more thing. When I was talking about this being a band of consummate musicians,a couple of times I caught their faces...they all had their eyes closed with half smiles, so into the music they looked enchanted. I think the black and white photo of the band I posted above shows that...except for Eric whose eyes somehow came out looking like Children of the Damned and I have not a clue how to fix it. Note to self: Take a photography class, dork.

Here's some stuff I found on Ween forum board about the show:

"great show last night. Eric 'the kid' Slick was awesome with both the BOC and Crescent Moon in his innaugural performance at John and Peter's. It was only my second Crescent Moon show, and it was great to see Dave do his thing again. 'Fearless' was sick. The BOC also included Scott Metzger, who is always a treat to watch. 'Catacombs of Paris' was super fucking wastey. Some kid from Colorado whose name I forgot ripped on guitar for the show closing 'Leaf of Fall' while Chris free-associated his rap."

"Chris sounded great & really
had an awesome groove going last night.
I love it when those guys just go off on a tangnent...
Double Dip was on fire, & it was the best show I've
ever seen him play...which was totally enhanced by
Eric Slick, who is so talented & fun to watch too.
That "Fearless" did kick ass!
Oh & let's not forget how lucky we all were to have
dj softpack in the house...what a blast."

"Great nite of music! Those guys were on! Chris and Scott tore it up. Kid Slick brought it!

CRECENT FUCKING MOON!
Dave was on fiyah! Thanks Chris and the rest of youse"

So that's pretty awesome. Eric was also stoked to meet Andrew Weiss at the show last night and had a good time talking music and messing around with him and Mickey, or Dean Ween to you, who, oh my god showed up at the gig with bandages on three of his fingers from an unfortunate incident with a barbecue grill. He was going to play with the band last night, damn it, but his injuries made him the designated dj. Hey, going by what he played, I wish he had his own damn radio station -- I'd be listening 24/7.

Here's the link for Chris' My Space page. Every single song is amazing but right now I have a thing for "Teach Me".

******

In other music news, yep, The Adrian Belew Power Trio is playing the Quebec Summer Music Festival on July 11. So I was teasing Eric this morning that he will be in four countries in 18 days - US for the east coast tour late June; Canada July 11; Japan July 13-21; Germany July 28-August 8 with maybe some other countries thrown in between. Also, the Nashville gig is going to be at The Mercy Lounge on June 19. Basically I will not see Julie or Eric from the time Eric leaves for Bonnaroo on June 13 until sometime in late July. Arghh....

Okay, I'm exaggerating. Naturally I'm going to all of the east coast shows in June. But okay, after July 11, I won't see them, especially Eric, for a while. Though I'd love to stow away in their suitcases to Tokyo, I think they are sick of their hapless groupie mom and sadly, they are probably right.

Nah, it's more like Gary and I have a prepaid vacation at a beautiful beach.

But just try and keep us from those east coast shows.

Later,
xo