Tributes or Not Tributes V

My friend Angelo over at Power Pop Criminals has done it again, created a compilation of fantastic (and unexpected) covers by the cream of the (power Pop!) crop.

Click the pic above and read all about it!

Rock And Roll Tribe

I just joined a unique social network tailored SPECIFICALLY to us aging hipsters who don't wanna stop rockin'!

The Rock And Roll Tribe, where gathers ALL the Power POP fanatics into one place (is that a good thing?)

Special Guest at last Saturday's Cha Cha's Show

As I had mentioned in my previous post, we were booked for a last minute gig at Cha Cha's on the Boardwalk in Coney Island last Saturday night. Here's my impression;

Rock and Roll Circus as seen on The Twilight Zone! First of all, right on the beach and even at night alot of people are walking around practically naked. Second, the place is filled with eccentrics. The "Master of Ceromonies" was Luigi Babe from All Mobbed Up. One of the "attractions" that night was a bizarre S&M rodeo. You can visualize that for yourself.

Two other attractions that night were welcome ones, the first being Michael Zuko who I've had the pleasure of socializing with (and who rescued me from myself one night for which I will be forever grateful) but never heard play before. My loss because he is a talented singer and songwriter and a great showman to boot.



The second was non other than THE KING OF POWER POP HIMSELF! Paul Collins! who performed a solo acoustic set of his hits (Hangin' On The Telephone, Don't Wait Up For Me, Rock and Roll Girl, etc...) for our very enthusiastic crowd.

what a pleasure it was to meet and to listen to him.

All in all, a splendid time was had by all!

Last Minute Show!

After slaving over preparing our CD for actual sale we can finally get back to what we are in this band for in the first place; playing music!

We were invited to appear at the Wold Famous Cha Cha's on the Boardwalk in Coney Island this Saturday (august 7th).

I'm not supposed to mention this but I heard from a very reliable source that a very special member of power pop royalty is going to be making an "unannounced" solo acoustic appearance that night as well. don't tell anyone I told you...

a rose by any other name...

After our last mixing session I've been experimenting with song orders, volume and tone setting, not to mention cross fades for the new CD. I think we are all in agreement that what I've come up with is THE CD! Nice job from everyone involved, I'm proud of this disk!

In the meantime everyone is wondering what the hell we're gonna call it! We've been using "Crying Town" as a working title for a while but now that push comes to shove we're back to the drawing board.

Joey has come up with what I think is a funny and apropos title and with that in mind, I came up with an appropriately self deprecating cover idea, the details of both not to be divulged at this time! (Yea, I'm a tease.)

I know it sounds arrogant but I think people (meaning you, gentle readers) will really like this album. So with that in mind, if you would like to pre-order it! (half-kidding) send $13.99 via PAYPal to store@buddylove.us and you will be among the very FIRST to have our new CD!

Another review of "Crying Town" from iTunes

by drumgod

For 30 years I've known this band to be the kings of "power pop" but this single is something like a dream. If Jeff Lynn took all the Beatles while they were alive and stripped down George Martin's strings and just let the band play natural. (Remember it's a dream). This would be the new Beatles single. Mr.Kelly nailed the vocals and Doug and the guys come in at the precise time to make the melody hum in your head 24/7. The Harrison/Weezer guitar break is a stunner and no offence to Lady GaGa but this IS THE RECORD OF THE YEAR. And I can't wait for an album(VINYL PLEASE!!!)

Thanks Drumgod. I don't know about vinyl, but our album is almost done. Look for it by the end of the summer...

Mxing the album proceeding nicely nicely, thank you...

Now that all recording for our album/CD is done ( a process that took a year and a half!) we have begun mixing, which for me is the most fun AND the most stressful. Beleive me, after an eight or ten hour mixing session, you can come away NUMB!

The first four songs are done which are Crying Town (the original pre-Tommy Byrnes version), Almost In Tears (Featuring some awesome saxaphone from Joey's pal), Tearing You Down (a song from my late 90's band Radio Flyer) and Tell Me (one of the last of the Milman/Khazzam Buddy Love songs we still perform).

I'm looking forward to finishing the other tracks and assembling the CD. I'm sure everyone in the band has an idea about how the songs should be laid out and as usual, I'm open to any and all suggestions.

By the way, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to Joey for being such an easygoing and inspirational collaborator on this (and our previous) disk. He's DA BOMB!