October 30, 2009

"Jackhammer" music video.



Created by the wonderful Phil Davis.

October 26, 2009

Dickerbocker of the Day Award

One of the pleasures of touring is traveling about and being introduced to daily doses of new places and new faces. Sometimes, the new faces strike a chord and leave an imprint in our consciousness that needs a title. We have decided to title these people the Dickerbocker of the Day. The Dickerbocker of the Day excels in such talents as cutting you off on the highway, disrespecting your friends, walking away while you ask a question, or trying to steal your credit card number. Some days, it is tough to choose a winner of the Dickerbocker award, but other days, it takes some serious deliberation to narrow it down. We usually gather the selection committee in the van after the show, and as we drive to our nightly lodging, attempt to decide on the dickerbocker of the day.

For example, the Dickerbocker of the Tour (so far) goes to the Dickerbocker of the Day for last Friday (pictured below).



This dickerbocker-supreme happened to be behind a bar we stopped at with friends. We ordered some drinks from this man (shown here with a hoodied accomplice) and then ordered more drinks and sat at his bar for quite a while. During this time, it became apparent this guy was a total dickerbocker. He ignored us, and pretended to not remember who we were... He also charged us different amounts for the same drink! In the end though, he won the award for his contorted facial features and hand gestures that led us to believe he had a little baby raccoon that would squirm about whenever someone ordered a drink.

Runner up (so far) of the Dickerbocker of the Day is a guy attempting to steal a Credit Card number by offering a gift certificate from wal-mart. The committee apologizes to this man, if he called sincerely with a gift certificate, but found it hard to believe he lived in Nevada, but didn't know where Reno was when we asked.

The selection committe doesn't stop at the Dickerbocker Daily Award. They go the extra mile to award someone the prize of GOOFENBACKER OF THE DAY. Goofenbacker of the day is awarded to the person who excels in such traits as intoxicated flirtation with the waitress, actions resulting in wife or girlfriend sitting at least 40 feet away, over-competitiveness in non-competitive gaming, and an overall obliviousness to all actions. In summary, the goofenbacker of the day usually thinks, in his own head, that he is the coolerbacker of the day.

For example, the Goofenbacker of the Tour (so far) goes to a tremendous Goofenbacker. He won the award, almost sealing a lifetime achievement award in the process. It was a stranger (artistic rendering to the right) who ran away with bocker of the Day for last Thursday. Again we found ourselves in a bar, minding our business, when a neighboring patron approached us with a toast. Before any of us knew it, we were drinking to the following, "Cheers to being single, seeing double, and sleeping triple." It is important to note that Goofenbocker made this toast while sitting next to his wife and sister.That was just the start of the goof. Other amazing feats this gentleman accomplished were:

-Doing pushups in the middle of the bar
-singing Eye of The Tiger at maximum volume
-telling the waitress, "keep an eye on me! I'll be needing you a lot tonite."
-Utilizing erratic postures while attempting to dance with his wife, forcing his wife to exit the dance floor.

The list goes on from there, but the committee wants to let it be known that to win either Goofenbocker of the Day or Dickerbocker of the Day, one must portray unique traits not mentioned in this post as the most important feature of any Dickerbocker or Goofenbocker is the ability to make us laugh about them on the drive home.

We will be announcing the awards daily via our Twiiiittter feed.

October 8, 2009

Our Triumphant Return to America!



In celebration of our newest release, Slim & Slender [now available in record shops and digital outlets!] we have decided to tour almost half of the U.S.A. Only half? Well, we here at the Spinto Band offices like to keep things conceptual. Since Slim & Slender is almost half of an album [in terms of quantity!] then it follows that we do almost half of a tour.

But upon reflecting we wondered, "How can we make this more than almost half a tour?". We came to a unanimous decision: recruit only the best and brightest of touring partners! Now, we've written about these greats before so some of you may already be familiar with them, but in case you're not, here's a refresher [with illustrations courtesy of Johnnie Cluney for Daytrotter]

Earlier this year Generationals busted onto the scene with Con Law, a record of almost insurmountable pop music that has caused music makers around the globe to 1) Be inspired or 2) Give up.

Pepi Ginsberg is a mysterious yet whimsical lady and her music conveys this. We were lucky enough to spend a week with her in the Highlands of North Carolina this summer and even got to be extras in a music video for her next single on her upcoming 2010 album! Her songs are musical bee-hives that leave you with memorable stings if you dare approach them.



As you can see we've got to step up our game. We'll be playing tunes from the new record, as well as some older tunes we haven't played in years, perhaps along with some fun covers? We're pretty excited about it. This'll be a "last hurrah" before we hibernate in the Garden Center this winter. So here it is, the Park The Van Family Values Tour:

OCT 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
OCT 22 - Cambridge, MA - TT The Bear's
OCT 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall [Park The Van Showcase]
OCT 24 - Washington, DC - Rock 'N Roll Hotel
OCT 25 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
OCT 27 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle Tavern
OCT 28 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
OCT 30 - New Orleans, LA - The Marginy Theatre [Park The Van 5th Anniversary Celebration]
NOV 01 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree Cafe
NOV 02 - Nashville, TN - The Basement
NOV 03 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
NOV 04 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's
NOV 05 - Urbana, IL - Illini Union Courtyard Cafe
NOV 06 - Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room at Crofoot
NOV 07 - Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks


Also of note: In addition to having some copies of the new 10" EP for sale, we'll be having a Spinto Band rummage sale full of old, odd, and out-of-print T-shirts for 5 bucks each! Also, you may noticed the lovely tour poster above which was designed by Strawberry Luna. We'll have a limited edition screen print for sale at all of the shows above (while supplies last!)

So please, drop by and say hi!

October 1, 2009

Oct. 1 2009 Yo! Noid goes down.


For the past few months, Jon has been dedicating a few days out of the week for Yo!Noid training. Today he accomplished what everyone knew was coming:




for those of you unaware, Yo! Noid is a platform video game released in the United States for the NES by Capcom during November, 1990. It stars the Noid, the claymation mascot of Domino's Pizza in the late 80s, traipsing through fourteen different side-scrolling levels throughout various locations of New York City to battle his evil duplicate, Mr. Green, for the public good, and for the massive pizza reward[4]. The game is a modified version of an earlier Japanese release called Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru.