free your mind
Hey, ‘deeners!
Hope all is well in your corner of the world. Enjoying smore mild winter weather here in Tucson. For a year that may or may not include an Apocalypse, things are starting off nice and easy for us. But remember, this is our reward for dealing with summer heat that’ll melt your fingers into your steering wheel, so there’s that. We’re gonna start up some recording soon so there won’t be any new shows until Feb 18th on the EASTSIDE of town – our first venture out there gig-wise – at Dry River Pizza which is a very cool yummy funky spot. But there’ll be more on that another time. Right now got some booty for ya from our recent adventures. Aaaar!!
LIVE SONG FROM THE WOODEN BALL
The Wooden Ball was a blast last Saturday – not only because we got to switch things up and play familiar songs with different instruments, but we introduced some new tunes, and some new “old” tunes, too. There was Jamie’s ode to overindulging called “Drinkin’ Is A Full Time Job (And I’m Working Overtime)” that he wrote a while back in his NYC days. We also added a new sad country song of mine (where I channel Jeff Bridge’s character in Crazy Heart) called “Hard Work”. Here’s a lil’ fuzzy phone photo (from Bob Lee)
Jamie’s playing my Taylor and I’m playing my ’68 Crown bass (ain’t she sweet?) We recorded the set and it sounded great – but the one I wanted to share with you was the last one – another new/old song of Jamie’s that some of you have heard us do before. But I just loved its ending and double-attack of Dave Prival’s harmonica and keyboards, so you can check it out in the widget at the top of the page or streaming here:
http://www.reverbnation.com/
BONUS: If you *subscribe* to us (just look in the right sidebar there –>) you get the mp3 fo’ FREE (yes, membership has its privileges). And if you already subscribed and want YOUR free mp3, just reply and lemme know “I Want My MP3!”.
ROCKIN’ GOURMET LIVE FROM TUCSON
Back in late November, after our Thanksgiving meal, Jamie and I were chatting and digesting with our good friends Laura Kepner-Adney and Tom Moore and the idea came up of doing a music video party in our living room (which is a pretty unique setting, as you’ll see in a minute). Unlike most chatting-while-digesting sessions, this one had legs and, long story short, it’s become the first episode of a unique music and food show we’re calling “Rockin’ Gourmet”, directed and edited by Tom. This first episode features two side projects of ours: Nightgrilling with The Cleavers and Cocktails with The Cordials. It was a blast to do and we hope to do another one soon. Okay, enough jibber jabber, here it is. If you like it, please pass it around. This ain’t no Rachel Ray show!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m4ilVOUEL0
That’s all for now kids. Be cool, stay in school!
Love,
Cristina Modeena
holiday recap + the wooden ball 2012
Today, we’ll be talking about:
- Beach Boys Blast
- Our holidaze
- Getting ready to record
- Next gig: The Wooden Ball Jan 14th @ Plush
BEACH BOYS FOREVER
Wow, we worked our butts off figuring out the harmonies to various Beach Boys tunes for the Great Cover Up and it was such a (short) blast! But one of my favorite parts was when Jamie, Fen, Courtney and I snuck downstairs to the Green Room with Courtney’s guitar and did an a capella warm up. We were smiling, no, GRINNING, and hugging each other at the sheer sound of our voices. Brian Wilson is a genius.
And my brother and sister-in-law were in town and front row, cheering us on. There was a nice crowd by 11pm and we basked in the glory of the Rialto sound system. There’s just something about performing in a big proscenium theater – on like a REAL STAGE – with a balcony and huge curtains and backstage and everything. Anyway, we made it through to the other side – 20 minutes later – and it was over. Afterwards as Fen passed me on the stairway he said “So we’re doing this again tomorrow, right?” Sigh. BB will be missed but there are a few videos. Um, just so we’re clear, Jamie is dressed as Mike Love with the Hawaiian shirt and fancy baseball cap while Fen is dressed as Brian Wilson with the bathrobe and the extra shaggy hair:
good vibrations
in my room
wouldn’t it be nice
BACK FROM THE HOLIDAZE
So welcome to the new year, yall! Jamie and I had a sweet time having a Southwest Christmas at home including a Holiday BBQ on Christmas Eve. Because one of the awesome things about living in Tucson is the ability to stand outside comfortably in December without a parka! It really was cozy (and filling) as we snarfed up brisket, potato latkes, sausages and delectable fish (and tons of cookies!), washing it all down with mulled wine or pumpkin beer. Lil’ River DiDay looked awwwwful cute in his tiny Santa suit. And I think Jeff’s forgiven me for calling him “Lil’ River Band” on more than one occasion. I just found some photos from my phone. But for some reason I only took pictures of the aftermath when everyone else had left. I seem to only ever take pictures after the pretty is gone. But here you go:
Then for New Year’s Eve we headed down to Bisbee with a bunch of friends and drank and danced our way into 2012. I did a lil blog about it oer on this other website: http://www.cristinawilliams.com/hello-2012
But now the hangover’s dissipated and it’s time to hunker down and get some new music happening. Which is just what we’re gonna do - we’re priming the pump to create some new Modeens tunes for your apocalyptic pleasure!
GUITARS TO THE GRINDSTONE
Normally I keep things hush-hush until we have concrete dates to announce – but a lot of you are curious just how a record comes into the world. Well, there are endless ways this can go down but for The Modeens, we’ve had a sort of rhythm going the past couple of years: we start off the year finishing up some songs we’ve been batting around, churn out some new ones, practice-practice-practice and then schedule a day to lay ‘em down at Chamber of Sounds (aka our living room). What happens afterwards depends on how far we get that one day – we usually take our time doing the overdubs and then Jamie mixes and masters. So we’ll probably go the same route for the third time around. And don’t hold me to this, coz artistic temperament can change on a dime – but we’re looking to include some more bluesy, acoustic-y numbers for the next album.
THE WOODEN BALL @ Plush Jan 14th 11pm $5
We were inspired to add more americana to our rockitude by some acoustic gigs we did last year AND an acoustic set we’re working on for The Wooden Ball next week. The Wooden Ball is a Tucson tradition that started in 1987 where local bands are asked to perform their songs acoustically. It’s a short set and here’s how it’s panning out: Jamie on the Taylor acoustic guitar, me on my Crown 60′s hollow-body bass, Dave on harp and the occasional piano sound (from his keyboard) and Jeff, well, Jeff’s still using his same drum kit, just kickin back a bit. We’ll do some of the usual tunes and then an old song of Jamie’s that you are gonna LOVE! It’s a sweet lineup, too. The festival actually starts the night before at Club Congress and if you’re in town, here are the deets:
Sat Jan 14th lineup: http://www.plushtucson.com/shows.html?band_id=58
Fri Jan 13th lineup: http://www.hotelcongress.com/2011/12/07/the-wooden-ball/
Have a rowdy rockin’ new year!
Love,
Cristina Modeena
http://themodeens.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/themodeens
back in action at sky bar sat dec 12th
jeff’s a tired new dad, but he’ll be back hitting the skins with us as we head back to our favorite solar-powered astronomy themed club! We’ll be playing with our friends Standing Shadows, from La La Land.
We miss rocking with you oh so much. Please come down, drink and boogie with us!
Saturday, December 10th.
Sky Bar on 4th Ave and 5th St, Tucson
Cover is FREE!
new modeen + bandcamp page!
We are mighty pleased to announce a new Modeen brought into the world: our drummer, Jeff DiDay, and his lovely wife Candis are the proud parents of River DiDay as of Nov 2nd!
He’s a bonny one, too: 10 lbs, 6 oz! And just gorgeous to boot. Congratulations Jeff and Candis!
Not quite as monumental but still: we also have a new Bandcamp page! It’s a handy dandy, slightly cheaper way to buy our albums digitally. The interface is sweet so please check it out, “Like” it, share it, all that jazz:
http://themodeens.bandcamp.com
We’re working on selling our Werewolf Attack Tshirts there – but until you then you can still find ‘em here! While supplies last!
http://www.themodeens.com/music/
Since Jeff is a tad busy right now, there won’t be anymore gigs for a few weeks. But we’ll be back in action come December, so stay tuned!
Opening for the Who Shot Rock & Roll exhibit this Saturday!
Get ready to shake, rattle and roll, cats and kittens! This Saturday, we’ll be helping kick off the official exhibit for Who Shot Rock & Roll at Tucson Museum of Art on tour from Brooklyn. We’ll be paying tribute to many of the artists featured in this excellent exhibit of photographers who chronicled rock bands since the fifties for publications like Rolling Stone.
We’ll be doing some Rolling Stones, Ramones, Blondie, Tina Turner and much much more!
Come dressed as your rock n roll fantasy. Ten bucks gets you in. Here are the official details:
Cost: Free for Museum members; $10 for non-members
Dates:
Oct 22, 2011 8:00 pm
other great bands like whole lotta zep to follow!
Celebrate the opening of Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present with an evening of rockin’ events, a costume contest, album cover art making, Guitar hero “jam out” stations, food for purchase, a cash bar and more!
Presented every other month by the Tucson Museum of Art, Art After Dark is when the arts come alive in downtown Tucson. Each event will be infused with creative energy and different art experiences for guests to marvel at and enjoy. There will be food for purchase and a cash bar.
It’s right by La Cocina/Old Town Artisans.
140 N. Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701 | 520.624.2333
videos of “who’s next” concert
Had an amazing time at the Rialto’s benefit for KXCI. You can check out our versions of songs from The Who’s 1971 album “Who’s Next” – just jump on over to the Videos page!
the modeens cover the who
we’ll be playing at the beautiful Rialto theater in downtown Tucson this Saturday – okay, tomorrow – and covering songs from one of The Who’s best albums ever, “Who’s Next”.
These are mighty big shoes to fill and it’s been a real trip living inside these songs that have been in our heads practically since birth! And I have to say, we’re not The Who, but we’re gonna rock the hell out of our 25-minute slot.
Oh, and if you want to watch an excellent documentary about them – with new live footage – check out Amazing Journey: Story of The Who – (also, available for instant streaming on Netflix).
This is a fundraiser for the wonderful KXCI to celebrate albums from 30 years ago (1971), and, folks, they deserve those dollars. Music is running from 5pm to 11pm and we’re in the 8:10pm slot (yeah, the short sets lead to weird show times). Lots and lots of other great local talent playing the hits so check out the flyer below. $10 general admission!
Saturday, August 20th
8:10pm (our slot)
Rialto Theater
Be there or be square!
BLURT online review!
Fred Mills from BLURT online (www.blurt-online.com) just posted a great review of our latest EP! And he really gets us! Here’s a little blurb,
Roll over, Dick Taylor, and tell Gerry Roslie the news. Straight outta Tucson, by way of stints in NYC and L.A., are The Modeens, whose moderne twist on garage ‘n’ psych is simultaneously distaff – courtesy vocalist/bassist Cristina Williams, who brings Chrissie Hynde sass and Mary Weiss class to the table – and thuggish, with brawny R&B and muscular riffage galore. Williams shares mic duties with guitarist Jamie Laboz, the two also collaborating on songwriting duties, and the resulting sonic yin/yang makes for one of the most compelling and pleasant surprises to arrive this year.
And there’s more – so please go and read the whole thing here: http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3173/
we’re headlining 2nd saturdays on Saturday, July 9th AND it’s cristina’s birthday!
we’ll be headlining july’s 2nd Saturdays Downtown‘s monthly extravaganza AND it’ll be cristina’s birthday – so get ready for some extra rockin!
Saturday, July 9
9:15pm – 10:30pm
w/ The Imperial Bluebloods (7:45) and 4th Street String Band (6:30)
Main Outdoor stage at Scott and Congress
http://www.2ndsaturdaysdowntown.com/
This is a free monthly event that opens up Congress to a whole bunch of people from all over town. It’s family friendly and just a lot of fun. So c’mon down and celebrate!
Image by Christopher Verdier via Flickr.
do you dare diss the osmonds?
We just had to point out a very cool event happening tonight in our metropolis to the north, Phoenix – Serene Dominic will be discussing the rockitude of everybody’s favorite white version of the Jackson 5: The Osmonds.
Now before you start screwing up your nose like you smelled something gawdawful – just check out the videos in the article and see how rockin’ those cheesy white boys could be (and Donnie is friggin rockin his little self out on the keyboards!)
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/06/carlys_bistro_nerd_nite_serene.php
The fact that Serene Dominic is giving this talk just adds a whole level of sneering bizarre-ness that we really appreciate. It’s very hard to describe him aptly – so just go to the link and check him out.
Wish we could nerd out in phoenix tonight – but we got rehearsal, so no dice.
Rock on you crazy horses,
The Modeens
Image available from Flickr by Heinrich Klaffs
