New England Music Scrapbook News
Alan Lewis, Editor

Our Corner of the Rock 'n' Roll Life

June 27, 2007
Issue 2007:228

To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter:
http://www.geocities.com/nemsnewz/subscribe.htm

E-MAIL via:
http://www.geocities.com/nemsbook/fred.htm
(Please do NOT click the Reply button.)

NEWSLETTER's Yahoo Groups Home Page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uridfm/

General CONTACT Information:
http://www.geocities.com/uridfm/contact.htm


We've got Thrills, chills, Dirty Water
What more do you need?
When the big beat hits ya
Comin' from your transistor
Like the T at full speed
When the big beat hits ya...

-- "Boston Lullaby," Dudick/Naihersey.
Copyright c. 1980 by Camaraderie Music, BMI.
All rights reserved. Used with permission.


. . . . .


THIS SPECIAL ISSUE of the New England Music Scrapbook newsletter
doesn't surprise you any more than it surprises me.

Somehow I managed to miss connecting with Boston rock singer-songwriter

EILEEN ROSE

with regards to an article that should have run last Saturday. We may
have since received an account of what happened, but I have been way
too busy to look. She has been recording in my mother's old hometown,
Detroit, so this could be a start toward an explanation right there.

Eileen Rose is about to release an excellent album, "Come the Storm,"
and there are many points in our interview which I believe will be of
real reader interest. Also, she has a Boston-area show tomorrow
evening at Toad.

Middle of the week or not, I was not about to let this article get by me.

Time is really tight, and there are limits to what I can do to
circulate this issue beyond our immediate mailing list. My efforts to
get a newsletter issue out to lots of EXTRA people normally begin with
issuing a stack of individual e-mails: a difficult thing for a person
to pull off, alone, mid-week and with the Toad gig little more than 24
hours away. If there is anything you can do to help, such as
forwarding this issue to friends who may be interested or mailing them
the direct Web address of our newsletter home page

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uridfm/

it would be tremendously appreciated.

This is no small thing. Bostonian Eileen Rose has had, and I believe
continues to have, a substantial following overseas. She is set to
release a CD of such quality that it could be a career album for
someone else. Why would this not be the disc to make her as big a
star at home as she is abroad?

Set a Red Sox cap on Eileen Rose's head, and I can let her wear my
classic 1981 Newbury Comics T-shirt, 'cause this woman is all-Boston
no matter where her 1990s postal mail was sent. You'll see what I
mean when you read this Eileen Rose feature article.

Thanks to Maria for an important inspiration and belated thanks to Gail.


EILEEN ROSE
Drying Tears That Corrode
With a Jumping Night at Toad

By Alan Lewis
New England Music Scrapbook Newsletter
June 27, 2007
Special Issue 2007:228

Eileen Rose can tell some classic Boston rock stories: about
winning her night at the WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble at the Paradise and
thinking she had it made, about getting a lewd comment from
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, and about playing The Rat in Boston's
Kenmore Square. She can critique the Toad sound system, and she has a
niece at the University of Vermont who tells her she's got to play
Higher Ground. She has brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, and
cousins all over the place. Who could be more New England than Eileen
Rose?

But...

Highlights in Rose's career and all of its middle years, so far,
happened in Europe. There has been a literal ocean between Eileen
Rose and her home audience.

"I moved to England in 1991 and stayed there for twelve years, so
I missed a lot of great Boston music," she said.

When Rose returned to the Boston area, the great "Cellars by
Starlight" columnist Brett Milano spoke of "culture shock" and of the
need to restart her career, at somewhere in the vicinity of square
one, here in her native land.

"I got ghatz in the US, to be honest. (That's Italian-speak for
'nothing.') I've had songs in big movies and on TV, got some great
reviews in some big publications (including Rolling Stone); but in
order to really get a foothold here, you need radio or to cover and
recover a huge territory through touring. Both of those things take
time and money. I've never really been on a big money label. I've
been on cool, credible labels and I'm proud of that, but I've never
really had the backing to take on the enormity of the US. I hope that
changes with my new releases." [Notice her use of the plural,
"releases" - Ed.]

"I regret not being able to build musical relationships in Boston
all those years I was away, because it's hard and a bit lonely being
back now," she said. "It feels a bit of a 'closed club' to me here.
Though I wouldn't have missed my time in Europe for anything. Such is
life."

So Eileen Rose's career is marked by odd twists and
contradictions. She has great Boston rock anecdotes, while her resume
is heavy on European accomplishments. She has played big venues
abroad, while her close New England family might well outnumber a full
house at Toad. And you know what? We love it. You know we do. We
live for these contradictions.

Nothing is more beloved in New England's rock-era music community
than the asterisk. This is one corner of the world where an artist
can build a career on exceptions, quirks, and contradictions. The
Berkshires' Arlo Guthrie wrote "Alice's Restaurant," a '60s musical
antiwar comedy, and wound up with an automatic career highlight every
Thanksgiving.

One of the greatest things about Bob Dylan is that, as a music
LISTENER, he has a very, very, very broad range of interests. Eileen
Rose's interview with us is highly suggestive that the same may fairly
be said of her.

"I remember being knocked out by Harry Nilsson's songs and voice
from a young age," said Rose. "He fascinated me. It's a damn shame
we didn't get to [hear] him age.

"I had a massive funk phase in my teens, if you can believe it.
I loved George Clinton. He scared me a little, but it was thrilling.
(I think the funk thing might have had a lot to do with going out to
dance clubs for the first time. I would like to take a moment here to
thank my sister Sharon for letting me nick her ID. Thanks, Sharon.)

"I also remember discovering Kate Bush and thinking that it
sounded like music from under the sea or another planet. Her music
had a kind of sex to it that shocked and captivated me. 'Hounds of
Love' blew my mind open to new songwriting, vocal and sonic
possibilities."

Rose's list of influences and revered musicians went on at some
length, and other favorites popped up elsewhere in our interview. As
a popular music junkie, this woman's got it bad ... and that's pretty
good.

"When I'm writing, I try to accept what comes," she said, in a
related line of thought. "When I'm recording, I refine it, hoping to
approximate the craft of my high-water mark songwriting heroes. When
I perform, I try to will and relive the moment when the song arrived."

Rose's fond use of slide guitar comes up in several spots in her
publicity and press. "I've been lucky enough to work with some
incredible players over the years," she noted. "Rock Freebase (Mark
Sams in real life) from The Alabama Three is a remarkable slide
player. He really makes me feel something with his slide playing. I
often have mixed feelings about slide guitar in general because it can
so easily sound like a beer commercial. But not with Mark - he's just
got that something special.

"I was probably hit first and hardest in the slide department by
Howlin' Wolf. He may not be referenced as a slide god quite so much
as others, but it's the way he uses it with his voice that gets me.
I'm not too keen on virtuosity, really. I'm looking more for guts and
glory in a player."

Once I was singing at a hospital. And you might think the man in
the audience who was crying was reacting to my extreme incompetence as
a musician. But actually I happen to know that his mother had just
died. I was doing the Utah Phillips song, "Goin' Away." And when I
hit Utah's great refrain,

I know she's gone, whatever I say
And it won't be long
'Til I make up my mind
And go away,

the man in the audience started crying his eyes out. Believe me, even
when it happens just once, having someone in your audience shedding a
flood of tears can be a profound experience.

Bringing audience members to tears is a key part of Eileen Rose
lore. "Oh man, I'm going to sound pretentious here," she said.
"Forgive me, I can't help it. I do occasionally make people in the
audience cry. I can't and don't plan it, it just happens sometimes.
But mostly, they're crying because I am, or close to it.

"I have a few songs that are about people I love who are now
dead: one of them, murdered, so that really brings up a lot of
complicated intensity for me. I don't always play them, because
they're heavy and it's not always the right time or place. But when I
do, sometimes its hurting me and I can only assume that other people
have the same hurts and I'm tapping into them in that moment. So no,
I'm not distracted, I've got my own problems going on at the moment
and I'm not aware of anyone else. Ain't I just a barrel full of monkeys?"

Asked about knockout recent listening experiences, Rose recalled,
"There's a band called Anna Kashfi out of Manchester who I love. We
played a show together and became friends. The gal, Sian, has got a
voice that makes you feel like you're collapsing inside. And James
Youngjohns (helluva name, huh?) plays viola like his heart's breaking.
Beautiful. And they're kind people.

"I loved the Jenny Lewis record (Rabbit Fur Coat). I'm also
digging the Feist record. I've been very much in a Guided by Voices
mood lately, so I've been listening to them a lot. There is a band
that my new Detroit pals have turned me on to called Blanche. They're
spooky. Love their videos."

If there could be an ideal double bill including Eileen Rose, who
would the other act be?

"Tom Waits."

Why?

"Duh."

Uh, apparently so.

A question - looking for some experience that came completely out
of the blue and took her totally by surprise - brought this tale to
Rose's mind. "I was touring with Ryan Adams during his 'Heartbreaker'
album. It was just him and myself solo, acoustic, so we were
traveling together, hanging out a lot, etc. I was in my dressing room
one night, writing a song and he flopped down on the couch beside me
and said, 'those are great chords, Rose.' (He's a last-name-calling
kind of guy). I said thanks, played my set, then sat down with
several glasses of wine to watch Ryan (who was amazing every night, I
don't care what anyone says).

"He plays half of his set, then announces that he's going to play
a new song that he's just written with Eileen Rose. And he does - my
chords, his words. It was strange, flattering, and a bit
presumptuous. Then he plays the song again in the encore and asks me
to come up and sing it with him.

"I have a pretty good memory for songs the first time I hear
them, but I'd also had about 150 glasses of chardonnay. The place was
sold out, so I was shaking like a leaf. I'd thought, while I was up
there, that it was terrible. But my sound guy was actually recording
onto my mini-disc. I've since listened back and it's not bad. I'm
sure there is a copy of it floating around out there somewhere. Maybe
I'll let folks hear it some day. I was really impressed with how
brave and spontaneous he can be in front of an audience. That taught
me something."

So why is it that when I speak of Rose's new album, "Come the
Storm," in the singular, she comes back talking about her new
releases, in the plural?

"Well, I'm bouncing off the walls with excitement about my last
month's experience in Detroit," she explained. "In typical non
sequitur ER style, I've been recording my next record - even though my
last one is coming out in a few weeks.

"I've been working at a studio in Detroit called RustBelt with
producers Al Sutton and Eric Hoegemeyer. Al's done the Detroit Cobra
records, some Sheryl Crow records, and has just finished the new Kid
Rock record."

Detroit has long been a hotspot for Boston rockers. Barry and
the Remains triumphed there, when opening shows on what turned out to
be the final Beatles tour. And Detroit was a hotbed of early support
for Aerosmith and especially the J. Geils Band.

"I have absolutely hit something new with this album: both
vocally and in my songwriting," she exclaimed. "But more than that,
not only did Seth, Nick, and Davey Bull put in remarkable performances
on the album, Eric and Al brought in a whole host of incredible,
additional players: slide, Rhodes, Hammond, fiddle, mando...

"We had Vinnie Dombowski from Sponge (and Crud) playing drums -
unbelievable, natural, easy player. We also had folks from The
Detroit Cobras play - really wonderful performers and great folks to
hang with. Davey was the guitarist in Fledgling [Rose's well-known UK
group]. He lives in England, he's British, but he still finds me
wherever I am in the world and plays in my band.

"I was absolutely knocked out by the players there. We've got a
great talent pool in Boston, but there is something in the way these
guys from Detroit play... They talk about the 'Detroit pocket' - a
way of not just playing behind the downbeat, but kicking it in the
ass. It's kind of a depressed town so they NEED their music. They
play with all heart and yet they're highly skilled: a rare
combination. It just killed me and improved my songs to no end.

"Eric Hoegemeyer is on his way to becoming a very successful
producer. I was able to work with him, trust him with the songs, in a
way I [haven't had] with anyone else before. I gave him the reins -
unheard of for me. He just got what I meant and brought it out better
than I could have.

"My older brother, who isn't the healthiest guy, also flew out to
Detroit to play mandolin on a few songs. Really brave thing for him
to do. It was one of his life's goals to play on a 'real record,' so
it was a powerful thing having him there. He played absolutely
beautifully, too. Very moving. Incredible experience. Something
special happened and I can't wait for people to hear it."

This is an exceptionally unusual line of talk when one considers
that not one word of it has a thing to do with the record Eileen Rose
is working right now.

"I'm also excited about 'Come the Storm,'" allowed Rose. "It's
been a long time coming, this US release thing - it's been delayed
many times. It's a dark album and honestly, I'm not mentally 'there'
anymore, but I'm still proud of it. I'm curious to see what Americans
will think of it."

With the coming release of "Come the Storm," Rose creates for
herself a thing that is characteristically American: an opportunity.
"Come the Storm" is easily among the best albums sent here in recent
months. Recent years, for that matter. It features excellent variety
while hanging together in the tradition of classics such as the US
version of The Beatles' "Rubber Soul." The melodies attract like a
magnet, and the varying textures keep it intriguing. A Rolling Stones
piano line flashes here, while some Beatles "White Album" acoustic
guitar-picking sneaks in there. Rose's voice occasionally adds to
notes a catchy little burr. This is really great stuff, and one thing
"Come the Storm" ought to do is sell.

"I know it's not an easy record," admitted Rose, "but I'm hoping
that a few folks will take the time to really listen...." I'm
thinking a lot of folks will.

Rose says she has not played a great deal in the Northeast
outside of New York and Boston. Asked where she might like to
perform, she said, "Hey, my niece goes to the University of Vermont,
and she's been pushing me to play Higher Ground. Guess that's the
place." Listen to your niece would be this Vermonter's advice.

"I'm off to Europe again in late October, but I hope to get into
some of the rooms around here too, if they'll have me. I really do
prefer gigs outside of the major cities, both here and in Europe.
They're usually more fun, relaxed.

"I've played Toad a few times. I really like it. It's a bit
tough to hear my vocals - guess I'm a bit spoiled with PA's at this
point - but I love the feel of the place. I think it's great that it
has such a walk-in crowd. It gives you the chance to capture someone
new, completely at random.

"I haven't played in Boston for nearly a year now, I think. But
my family (I have eight brothers and sisters and many nieces and
nephews) usually show up in some shape or form. So it's always part
gig, part family get together. What's better than that?

"Seth Goodman, guitar player (also my fella) and Nicky Ward, bass
player (also my nephew) will be propping me up for the night. Also -
and this DOES make the night extra special - on drums will be my good
pal, Wes Narron. (He also plays in Noble Rot.) Wes and I played
together for years in my very first band (which would eventually morph
into Fledgling). The last time he and I were on stage together was at
the Marquis Club in London about fifteen years ago, so this will be a
thing of joy for me. I love it when life comes round in a circle.
It's grounding."

Snag a box of tissues (to be safe), grab your best gal or guy,
and hop on over to Toad.

Who: Eileen Rose; Plus, The Holy Wreck
With Greg Klyma
Where: Toad, 1912 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
Massachusetts
When: Thursday, June 28

For more information: http://www.toadcambridge.com/,
http://www.eileenrose.com/


I'D LOVE TO TOSS IN A FEW OTHER ITEMS, but it is approaching 9 a.m.
and time to get to other things.

With luck, we'll see you again Saturday!


E-MAIL US via:
http://www.geocities.com/nemsbook/fred.htm

Please do NOT click the Reply button. Clicking Reply sends your
message to several different addresses but NOT to our main address.
It's Yahoo Groups' system, not ours.


. . . . .


If you have friends who would be interested in any of the items in
this issue, please forward this newsletter to them. Thanks!


As a rule, we do not post SHOW LISTINGS. The reason is quite
simple. Our readers are spread out all over the map. Though our name
is the NEW ENGLAND Music Scrapbook, we have readers all across the
southern tier of states - with large numbers in Florida generally, the
Atlanta area, and Greater Los Angeles. Even within the Northeast, we
have readers in each of the six New England states and many in New
York and New Jersey. The great majority of show listings would be of
no interest at all to most of our readers.

We make exceptions when show listings are part of an item of more
general interest. CD-release events are great examples. For us, the
main point of an item of this sort is that an act has a new record.
The show being announced is of secondary interest to us - if that - as
far as the contents of our newsletter goes.

We also make a few exceptions for shows in the immediate Boston
area. Our single biggest concentration of readers, as far as we know,
is in and around Boston. We understand from e-mails we receive that
we are able to help turn out an audience to many entertainments in the
Boston area. But even in the case of Boston shows, we make few
exceptions.

So, the general rule of thumb is that we don't post show
listings. In the very few, truly exceptional instances where we do...


... Shows can be canceled, sold out, or even moved to another
date or location. We recommend checking the Web, calling ahead or
otherwise confirming details.


Exceptionally long addresses may need to be pasted into the
address field, which is probably toward the top of your browser
screen. Some addresses are so extremely long that they may have to be
pasted in two or more pieces.


To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter:
http://www.geocities.com/nemsnewz/subscribe.htm

E-MAIL via:
http://www.geocities.com/nemsbook/fred.htm
(Please do NOT click the Reply button.)

NEWSLETTER's Yahoo Groups Home Page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uridfm/

General CONTACT Information:
http://www.geocities.com/uridfm/contact.htm


Issue 2007:228

Published no less often than monthly.
We're guessing eventually we'll settle
into an every-other-week schedule.

Copyright © 2007 by the New England Music Scrapbook. All rights reserved.

: : :