Dean Ween Group came on ‘like a freight train’ at John and Peter’s Wednesday night

Micky Melchiondo aka Dean Ween and group at John and Peter's in New Hope (Photo: Ralph Smith)

By Ralph Smith

New Hope favorite son Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) brought his Dean Ween Group to John and Peter’s in New Hope Wednesday night to warm up for their upcoming tour, which will kick off at the Otto Bar in Baltimore.

Having not known about the gig until reading about it on Facebook an hour before it was to start, I was not happy about going out in the rain and dragging myself downtown, but boy was I glad I did.
Considering the show wasn’t even announced till about 7 p.m., it was rather surprising that the place was so packed on a nasty Wednesday night, but when the band hit the stage at 10 p.m., it was standing room only.  

And what a night of music it was.

Leading his band through an evening of old and new tunes, Micky and the boys lit the place up for a banging 90-minute set of high-powered rock. Setting a blistering pace with the new killer instrumental Dickie Betts, an ode to the Allman Brothers guitarist by the same name, Mickey and guitar ace Joe Kramer wove a wonderful tapestry of harmony guitar parts. Joe’s thick Les Paul guitar backing Mickey’s Fender Strat tones evoked all the best of the Allman Brothers’ guitar work.  

The band whipped out a few more tunes four-piece including It’s Gonna Be a Long Night, eternal favorite Piss Up A Rope, Ode to Life, and My Own Bare Hands (all with Mick on vocals), then Moistboyz front man and long time collaborator Guy Heller popped onto stage for lead vocals.   
From there on, they tore through an evening of old and new material — Ween songs like a steaming version of Gabrielle and A Tear For Eddie, plus a number of new originals which I believe were being played for the first time in public like Night Crawler (written by Mickey and a John and Peter’s bartender), Bums, and I’ll Take It Break It (a personal favorite), I’m Gonna Get High, and One For Garry. And just for good measure, a few cover tunes, the best of which was a great Sweet Jane complete with a long guitar intro.

I can’t say enough good things about this band: Guy Heller’s naked-to-the-waist, chain-smoking, man-on-fire act is as strong as any other front man in modern rock and his lyrics are brilliant. This was the group’s first gig and they only managed two days of rehearsal, but they came on like a freight train. Ray Kubian on drums, and New York City’s favorite bass player, Dave Dreiwitz, are a sledgehammer rhythm section. Ray’s solid, trip hammer beat is the perfect engine for the act and Dave’s wonderful, spot-on bass cannot be surpassed.

And the guitar playing…well, it’s just too good and their styles so different. Mick’s claw hammer, all-wrong style of playing is perfectly backed by Joe Kramer’s perfect fingering and delicate technique.So different, and yet they play like they are joined at the hip.

I can’t recommend this band highly enough. Check out their upcoming shows and make one if you possibly can. You won’t regret it.

Dar Williams hopes to brighten spirits at the New Hope Winery

Dar Williams (Photo: Amy Dickerson)

By Tara Lynn Johnson

They’re not concerts – they’re “connections” for musician/singer/songwriter Dar Williams.

She’ll be connecting with audiences at the New Hope Winery on Sunday, Dec. 22. She’s soon to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her first album, “The Honesty Room,” so a couple of tunes from that CD may make an appearance. She’ll also feature songs from her 2012 release “In the Time of Gods” and songs related to the holidays.

She’s looking forward to the shows, but even more to simply being among people enjoying music.
“You have the potential to create this relationship and you can feel it when it’s happening,” she said during our telephone conversation on December 12.

Even after more than 20 years, she’s not tired of it.
“There are rarely days when it doesn’t feel right,” she said. “I love performing.”

For a brief time in the mid-2000s, it felt wrong, though. She said everyone on her tour then was in a collective bad mood. The record industry was in turmoil, “but we didn’t see it coming,” she said. “There were about 10 concerts where it felt like work. I thought if this keeps up, I’ll quit.”

Not long after, she played a small venue in Quebec. The audience was laughing, having a good time. The windows steamed up; it was snowing outside. She previously had been terrified of that kind of intimacy with a smaller audience.

“But all that potential that could happen with an audience is the thing that keeps me on the stage now,” she said.

Growing up in New York state, Dar planned on being a playwright. When she moved to Boston in the early 1990s, though, the scene was all about music. She took it all in while working as an opera company stage manager.

“There was a lot of alt rock and punk, folk, even classical music happening,” she said. “I followed the music and secretly had enough passion about it that when I surfaced I could hang with the crowd.”
Since then, she has performed around the world and released more than 11 CDs (and EPs). The latest (“Gods”) emerged from an exploration of power, folly, hubris, and civilization, she said.

Sometimes, when writing, she gets a hit of inspiration and works on something excitedly, but if it’s not working, she puts the pen down, she said. She tries to put herself in a place to be inspired, but she doesn’t sit down with a blank page every day. Sometimes, when she’s stuck, she looks to nature.
“I’ll open the curtains and see the mist on the mountain and that it’s a beautiful day,” she said. “I will feel connected and find something that helps me feel excited.”

And sometimes, she writes with friends, like Rob Hyman, co-founder of The Hooters. Dar and Rob have worked together on several of her albums. He co-wrote four songs on “Gods” and played various keyboards and accordion.

“Rob is so patient. When I feel like I’m tied up in a knot, he’ll quietly sit there and play what we’ve already done and add a new chord or new perspective,” she said. “He’s the perfect collaborative partner. He’s been my muse on more than one occasion.”

Rob loves working with her and he’s impressed with her talent.

“Songwriting can be painful and prolonged sometimes, but never with Dar. She’s a terrific guitarist with a lovely and expressive voice and has a keen and confident sense of melody. She also has a great instinct for what works and what doesn’t,” he said via e-mail. “But one of her biggest strengths is her way with words. Her lyrics are consistently interesting, unusual, intriguing, [and] challenging.”

When not collaborating, writing, or performing, Dar is home with her husband, son, and daughter.

She’s stopping in New Hope one year to the day that she last played the Winery and she hopes people will find respite from all of the holiday hoopla.

She also hopes to bring light to the audience since it’s the weekend of the Winter solstice marking the end of the longest nights and shortest days of the year.

“This is a dark day that we can brighten up,” she said. “I hope people come out.”

Dar Williams
4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22
The New Hope Winery, 6123 Lower York Road, New Hope, PA 18938.
Tickets: $30-$40.
215-794-2331 or http://www.newhopewinery.com/

Local rock band to perform benefit concert for New Hope-Solebury High School classmate and leukemia research

By Charlie Sahner

New Hope band JC Satellite will perform "A Concert for Carly - Destroy Leuk" on Saturday, March 5 to raise awareness and money for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Three of the four bandmembers are classmates at New Hope-Solebury High School of Carly Stephens, who was diagnosed with leukemia in July, 2010.

Radio deejay "Spike" from Philadelphia's WYSP 94.1 FM will emcee the concert, which also includes an opening performance by singer/songwriter Kelly Carvin and special guest Gabby D'Angelo, another classmate from New Hope-Solebury High School.

Doors to the concert will open at 7 p.m. at the Eagle Fire Hall, 46 N. Sugan Road in New Hope. Tickets are priced at $12 and available at the JC Satellite website.

Those who can't attend may make a donation to AML Research at the Childrens' Hospital giving page. 

A Gorgeous Weekend in New Hope PA

Wow, as if the great weather wasn't enough, this weekend is packed with special events and fun, lead by the Fuzzstock Music and Arts Festival today at Union Square in New Hope PA, and the renowned and long running New Hope Automobile Show at the New Hope-Solebury High School all weekend long.

Add in the terrific dining, wining, shopping and gallery hopping, and it's not a bad weekend to visit before the summer begins to wind down!