Music | mchuge

Radio Woodstock Prompt

Hello! I was listening to the radio yesterday and WDST (Radio Woodstock) has a daytime DJ named Aja and she does a thing called the Lunch Lounge. This is where a theme is chosen and then listeners can make requests either through their facebook page or email. Well, the theme yesterday was Rock – Paper – Scissors! They don’t have an archive or a playlist although they might on Facebook — not gonna look. She played songs like AWB’s “Cut the Cake” and “Rock Lobster.”

Anyway, I took it as a sign to get this sloggy bloggy blog going again! It was kaput for a long time but lo and behold, I had a backup and the restore process worked. I’m going to do a long post soon about Round Top, NY which is where we live now. In the meantime, yes, it has been snowing recently.

A New Smorgasbord

Once again, it’s been a while! Here are some shots from 2016 and 2017. Nothing fancy! I’m getting a new camera soon as my last one was stolen from a bar a few months ago. Not the first camera I’ve lost — but I will definitely keep a better eye on my next one. I downloaded the WordPress app for my phone but it always has problems uploading phone photos. Once I get that sorted I hope to post more random phone shots.

More Music Photos from 2015 and Seu Jorge in 2016

We’re on a roll! Here are some more music photos from 2015. There’s another one of David Luther. Also, we have several of David Wax Museum at City Winery. Sadly, City Winery is not doing their free outdoor shows this summer.

We went to California last October and saw my friends Los Cenzontles play a street fair in Richmond. I’ve known leader Eugene Rodriguez since kindergarten.

I was lucky to catch Death by Unga Bunga from Norway twice when they were in the city. Seems like they’re getting pretty popular in Europe!

I have a couple friends in Mariachi Flor de Toloache who opened for Banda de Los Muertos at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Unfortunately most of my photos didn’t turn out well.

We had a grand funky time with California funk band Orgone live at Brooklyn Bowl. My LA friends can catch them this August 20, 2016 at the Eagle Rock Music Festival headlining with Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever!

Lastly, one of my best shots ever of Seu Jorge live at the Blue Note!

Music Photos from 2015

… And we’re back! We will dispatch the usual excuse and just say sorry again it’s been so long. I will try and post more often!

Below are some photos from 2015. These are heavily edited down from several dozen photos I took last year. The captions tell you what you need to know.

I did not attend Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in 2016. I hope to make it next year! Michael Daves currently hosts a Monday Bluegrass Jam at Rockwood Music Hall (NYC).

The Bang on a Can Marathon did not happen in 2016. They lost their venue at the World Financial Center (NYC). They should have a new venue in 2017.

David Luther plays keyboards and saxophone with Meat Loaf! I am proud to call him a friend having met him at Ding Dong Lounge around ten years when we were both DJing.

More photos (not just music!) from 2015 and 2016 soon!

Losers Lounge, Blondie Vs Pretenders, Mar 5, Joe’s Pub

What?! Two posts in two days? I just had to get all these photos up.

As I said in the previous, Losers Lounge is a great thing to do in New York City. Plenty of live video was shot. Catch them next week doing Joni Mitchell if you’re in the city!

Losers Lounge, Valentine’s Dance Party, Lincoln Center

What’s wrong with me? These photos are from February 13 and it took til now to put them up. If I’m going to be any kind of serious journalistic photographer, I have to get my stuff up faster. I also have photos of Losers Lounge from the Blondie Vs Pretenders show they did at Joe’s Pub, Thursday, March 5. I will get those up in the next day or two.

I’ve been going to Losers Lounge since the Fez shows in the early 1990s. Huffington Post did a full writeup on them last year so I won’t go into too much detail. Leader Joe McGinty does a live karaoke in Brooklyn and I’ve belted out a couple songs badly. I’ve seen them do Roxy Music, Neil Diamond, Heart, XTC, Beach Boys, Abba, BeeGees, Jackson 5, Elvis Costello, and probably a half dozen others. A few of the guest singers are friends of mine. Go see them if you get a chance! You will have a blast! They’re doing Joni Mitchell next week at Joe’s Pub.

This party at Lincoln Center has become a yearly thing around Valentine’s Day and it’s all 70s and 80s disco/funk. You can search for them on Youtube for full performances.

Pledge to WFMU!

I just heard Yo La Tengo cover this during Todd-O-Phonic Todd’s WFMU marathon show.

Where else are you going to hear the original version of this song (on the radio) let alone hear Yo La Tengo cover it? Please help me in supporting freeform radio in the NYC area and all over the world via internet at wfmu.org! Tune in now and see Yo La Tengo destroy more classics live!

Rock Photos! And One Jazz

Hi folks!

I recently bought a Canon 70D and have been out and about fooling around with it. It sure has a lot of bells and whistles! Anyway, I edited down from some 500 photos to some of my best concert/club photos. Live music photography is hard, but I’ll keep plugging away. Full disclosure: some of these people are friends of mine.

Mr. Airplane Man, you know about. I know Larry May of Born Loose through a mutual friend. He’s in two other bands — The Ringleaders and The Virginia Gentleman — the latter of which has a gig tonight in Brooklyn. We both also know Neil Halpin of The Last Throes. Neil is in another band called Earworms with another mutual friend in John Meredith of Mollusk [recording] Studio and MoneyFire Records.

I used to work with Jonathan Goldman at Kaplan and he was on my softball team. Spanglish Fly just keeps getting better and better! They have an LP ready to release but there is an issue with the former singer, I believe. At their website, you can see/hear their song and tribute video to Mariano Rivera, former closer of the NY Yankees.

Of the remaining photos, Mighty High closed the show the same night as The Last Throes LP release party. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have been around since the early 90s and are one of my favorite bands. Elle King opened for James at Webster Hall and just released her debut record. Mike LeDonne has been holding down Tuesday nights at Smoke Jazz Bar in my neighborhood for years. He is behind the Disability Pride organization in New York, which is holding its first pride march in July of 2015.

Finally, I have been playing bass again! Writing songs! Stay tuned! Rock n Roll! I’ll be a broken record and say I will try to post more often.

Mr. Airplane Man Returns to New York

(Happy Thanksgiving! I’ve decided to step back a bit from my social media presence on Facebook so to that end, I’ll try to update this blog more often and will add more photos eventually. The art photo thing is sort of on a long hiatus, derp. Also, I recently found out my Dad back home fell earlier today and sustained a rather serious injury so he is certainly in my thoughts.)

My friends Mr. Airplane Man (Margaret Garrett and Tara McManus Hubbard) have reformed and will be playing a pair of gigs in Boston and New York (Brooklyn) in two weeks! These rockin’ ladies played two gigs at the Ding Dong Lounge during its heyday in the early mid-2000s which I had a hand in producing. Tara asked me to DJ their appearance at Hank’s on Dec. 13 but it turns out they don’t have any sort of a DJ booth–not even a laptop hookup. I’ll be there rocking out! Anyway, enjoy some media. I hope to see any of my (five) readers at the show!

Here’s a video ot them doing a few songs from their last release, C’mon DJ.

Here’s the official flyer:

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And this is a quickie flyer I made when I thought I would be DJing the show…

Funny Old Fogey Joke

I ordered a jack and ginger just now and when the bartender brought it over, she popped in a lemon wedge and said “That’s Eric and now it’s Cream.” Get it? Never mind.

A Few Recent Photos

Here are a few recent photos. I lost another camera a few weeks ago, dang. I still have a Canon G15. I’m looking into getting a decent SLR kit. Any suggestions?

I posted some photos of today’s Climate March over at the vegan site I manage.

I will be producing a reunion show from Mr. Airplane Man this December in Brooklyn! Stay tuned…

E 86 St

Supermoon Sept 2014

Supermoon Sept 2014a

Back In Some Sort of Saddle

Well, I lost my old camera but now I have a new one but I haven’t been using it much. Great! Have a couple recent ones.

As I recall, this is Meade’s — near South Street Seaport.

Greg Cartwright of The Oblivians (and Reigning Sound) bashing it out on a stormy night at South Street Seaport.