2009 Live Tour Kicks-Off
Live at the North Star Video
Download Us at Itunes, Rhapsody and Anywhere
Fill Tony's Gas Tank
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February 27, 2009
The 2009 live schedule started off very deliberately as we've tried to focus most of our attention on recording the new album - which is coming along fine and should be released late summer or early fall. We played two fun and energetic sets at the Krunch Inn in January and were back at the North Star Bar on February 20th as part of a show that we put together with some friends that turned out to be a great success. For those who couldn't get out to that show, we are pleased to present video of a couple of performances from the North Star (Thanks Kimmy) - Click here to watch us at the North Star! You can also be transported to the wonderful world of YouTube where you can watch these performances and find a whole bunch of other songs from the same North Star show courtesy of "Justin TV", who broadcasted us live that night (Thanks Ronny!) - Click here to watch us on YouTube
We do have a much more active live schedule in the coming month or so including a special appearance at the Tappers Club. Check-out all of the details on all of our upcoming LIVE DATES.All of our CD's and the individual songs are now available as downloads through just about all of the major digital music internet outlets. That's right! Stores like ITunes, Rhapsody, CDbaby, Amazon and Napster, to name just a few, are now featuring our beloved "Purple Monkeys", "Princes of the New Dark Age" and "Hello, Goodbye & Everything in Between" albums. Just go to OUR STORE and check out a few of these internet shops. You can even write your own review of our CD's at some of these locations.
As the last few iconic major record labels scurry to find new ways to survive in today's progressively "less-tangible" music business, there is one final money-poaching entity that still roams freely in bars and clubs around the world. No, it's not Clive Davis. Nor is it Universal boss Doug Morris. It's not even Edgar Bonfman of Warner's. None of these company big wigs are surreptitiously extending their sticky hands into the musician’s pockets as much as every ones familiar old standby. Yes, you've guessed it - 'tis none other than that friendly purveyor of your favorite tunes, the Juke Box. Did you ever stop to think that when you feed a buck into that slot to play a song, how much of that dollar does the artist actually earn? Would you believe it’s less than a dime for every six plays. So after perusing our last royalty statement, we started to wonder how many plays it would take to pay various bills. One of these expenses has now presented us with a "quest-opportunity", and we'd like to ask for your help. How many Juke Box plays would it take to fill Tony's gas tank? The answer = 2,240. So we humbly crawl to you with our guitar and clarinet scarred hands out, and ask you to make an effort to play some of our songs on that snazzy flashing AMI Juke Box every time you enter your favorite local bar or club. And don't be shy, tell everyone around you that may be listening to the song you just played who we are and what we are trying to accomplish. Surly, one tank of gas is not too much to ask for all of that wonderful musical entertainment we are providing. Right? And for all of our fellow struggling musician, writer and actor friends, always remember, "The work is truly the reward and the passionate play on." Tony said that.Finally, we'd like to remind you that we still want to know which of our songs and albums are your favorites. There are a few other things we'd also like to know just for fun. CLICK HERE TO VOTE! Go ahead and do it - you know you really want to.
Our return to the SECOND STREET IRISH SOCIETY was a total success. Thanks to the tireless work of the sound crew, and our wonderful friends who continue to support us with great enthusiasm, we were proud to announce the event as a "sellout". Special kudos to the JONES GIRLS who bravely fought off the flu and opened the show with their beautiful songs and super-sweet harmonies. For our part, we got a chance to do some long requested material that we don't often play live (Holly 1-2-3 / Burn, John Burn / We Called Her St Anne / Logic), and we were finally joined on several songs by my long-time musical partner, DAVID DECCA. (Thanks Dave!)
The show also served as the official debut of our new drummer, 
Our final performance before taking a brief vacation was at the North Star Bar on Saturday August 8, 2008. Kim Falcione was "Johnny-on-the-spot", capturing the premier of our newest song "Sweet Sunshine" which features Steph on lead vocals - Kim acted quickly to get this performance on "youtube" - To have a look just 
Well, I can't say I wasn't warned. When I told a fellow musician that I was planning to take 3 or 4 months off so I can concentrate on recording, he said "there is no way you can just turn off the urge to perform." Sure I can, I stopped from 1989 to 2006. He responded, "I'm telling you, this is different. You've been re-smitten." Well he was right. The offers to play for friends new and old in these great venues are just too wonderful to refuse. The brand new STONEHOUSE PUB; another IRISH SOCIETY bash; an always debauchery laden KRUNCH INN show, WOW! Get all of the details about these 
But we have definitely relocated our base of operation to the Opera House Recording Studios for work on the next album. It is a little different this time since many of the songs have been in our live set for a while. It also seems quite strange not having Dave Decca on board for the proceedings. Dave, as you may know, was my partner for the first three albums.
Co-arranging, co-producing and playing all of the keyboards and harmonica, Dave will be limited to a guest role this time due to other musical obligations he has accepted. We will try to drag "the old man" out for some live work this fall so that you all can see that he really does exist. That being said, 
GarageBand.com is one of the most popular and respected on-line music communities in the world. Its primary objective is to provide a platform for artists and bands of all genres (both signed and unsigned) to expose their music to other musicians and fans of independent music. One of the cool features provided is a system where artists can elect (if they dare) to have several of their songs reviewed. While many of the reviewers are often "hard-markers", we've managed to chart very well - In some cases we've even earned special awards and recognition. Just 
Well, baby steps has been the theme for the last few weeks as we prepare to begin recording a new album while simultaneously staying sharp for the flurry of live shows that we've been offered. It sure has been a long time since the old man has had to balance live performance with his beloved studio antics. So we are finally about to begin and hope to be well into things as the summer progresses. Several of the new songs (Patricia Knows, Which Jenny?, The Happy Hop, Fun and Annie Crime-Fighter) have been a big part of our live show over the past year, but we promise there will many more musical surprises before we're through. We still hope to mix in a few 
Speaking of live shows, on June 3rd we played our inaugural set at the legendary North Star Bar as part of their New Music Tuesday program. After the promoter initially previews (and likes) your recorded music, this event serves as a testing ground for future employment opportunities at the North Star Bar. On a stormy mid-week night over 50 of our faithful friends braved the nasty weather and the eternal temptation to just stay home and watch TV, and attended the show - making it a total success in terms of an incredibly fun evening, and also our future aspirations of playing this great venue again. Thanks to your support, we were asked back for the July 3rd show, and a "prime-time" Saturday show on August 9th. Joe, Steph and I thank you so much, and can't wait to perform for you again - really!
The next time you're at your favorite bar/club, check the jukebox. We finally got our licensing agreement straight, and now all three of our albums are up. And while you're enjoying the songs from "Hello, Goodbye & Everything in Between", "Princes of the New Dark Age" and "Purple Monkeys", take comfort in knowing that we receive a whole 2.5% of every dollar that you put in that jukebox. That means your favorite local Philly artist needs about 50,000 plays to make next month's mortgage payment. You'd be accurate in thinking that I shouldn't depend on those jukebox royalties to cover that next check to GMAC, but at the very least you now know one of the many reasons that the recording industry is a putrid mess that continues to crumble before our very eyes - On that pleasant note, please don't forget to stand-up and be counted by voting for your favorite CD's and songs!
Well, another couple of months have flown by since our last news update and there is much to report. We've met some more wonderfully kind folks while playing at some great places like The Krunch Inn and J.R.'s (both with our good friends DRIVE 56) and Cookies Bar (with old buddy DAN SULLIVAN). We do have a few more 
I guess you can tell by the over-crowded headline that much has happened since our last entry. "The Bar Tour" kicked-off with a history making visit to COOKIES BAR (3rd & Mercy). This was the first time in its storied history that COOKIES has had a live band. And what a great night it was as many friend both old and new joined us for the first show of the new year. Anyone that knows a neighborhood bar owner with an open mind similar to Petey and Donny from COOKIES, and Casey from THE KRUNCH INN - and would like to try live music, please contact us. A quick and much appreciated thanks to all who have bestowed the wonderful compliments on our new songs: "Patricia Knows", "Which Jenny" and "The Happy Hop". We sincerely thank you - as does Patricia, Jenny, Mr. Jimmy and Mrs. Busy.
Hey, we're having so much fun reading your descriptions of our music. If you haven't given it a try, do it now and email it to us through our site. I've already started to use these creative comparisions on a number of important communication tools including my official bio, MySpace, GarageBand.com and more. Very soon I'll post the top ten (with the authors name) on our poll so you can vote for your favorites. By the way, get to that poll now and vote for your favorite CD, songs and a few other things. Finally, we now have web-pages up at GARAGEBAND.COM and CDBABY.COM where you can sample and buy CD's and Downloads from the "Hello..." album. You can also write a review of a song or the album, or just leave a comment - something like 'this album rules' - Hope to see you at one of the upcoming shows!
With the summer shows ending in grand fashion at the Krunch Inn and Gene's Rooftop Theater, we bounced right into the fall program which kicked off with an October outdoor show in Manayunk that featured a start time temperature of 45 degrees (unfortunately, nobody brought a camera to document the wide assortment of winter gear we all sported), and climaxed at the Second Street Irish Society on Black Friday in front of many of our beloved childhood friends. 
The show was captured on digital video and we hope to have some clips up on this site in the next few weeks. Oh, we have been asked back to this wonderful venue, and hope to set a late winter date very soon. We promise more musical surprises, and by all indications (emails and phone calls we've received from many folks that couldn't make the first show) an even larger crowd of both new and old friends - we can't wait!
This time the PRINCES OF THE NEW DARK AGE album was tapped for "The Further Adventures of Annie Helicopter" and "The Girl from the Sand". That's a total of five songs that we've signed this year that are now being shopped to a wide array of national recording artists. Hey publishers, "New Green Shirt", "Boy Meets Girl", "Logic" and many more of our catchy little tunes are still looking for good homes ... What are you waiting for?
From 2nd Street to Manayunk, Cape May to 28th & Reed, the summer leg of the "2007 LIVING ROOM, DECK & SIDEWALK TOUR" rolls on into the fall with the great promise of playing new and exciting venues for great friends both new and old, to whom we extend our eternal thanks and love for thier continued support. We look forward to seeing you at the next show! Check out the 
"HELLO, GOODBYE & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN" was officially released in late march. Both the special deluxe edition of the new CD and individual song downloads are available directly through this site - We sincerely thank everyone who has laid down the $15 to purchase the CD, and then taken the time to write or email us with their heartfelt compliments on the music. As in the business of life, the music industry continually presents an artist with a sack-full-of disappointments and frustrations. And although it may sound like a cliché, it is the kind words and recognition of the folks that we aim to please that keeps us on course in the pursuit of our dreams, and makes this strange journey seem worthwhile.
The "2007 LIVING ROOM, DECK & SIDEWALK TOUR" kicked off on May 19th at Van Blunk's - The live performance was preceded by a very cool CD release party, and the show itself was a total blast that formally introduced new members Lonesome Joe's Owenso (guitar) and 
Stephanie Davis (vocals, clarinet) - 
We are extremely proud to announce that in the very early stages of the "song shopping" process of the "HELLO, GOODBYE... album, we have signed a publishing agreement for the songs "Plain Jane and Average Joe" & "The Night We Danced". Specializing in the promotion and placement of country flavored music, A.D.N. PUBLISHING (Nashville, TN) becomes our newest publishing affiliate and friend. Also, the prestigious international progressive rock publication, PROGRESSION MAGAZINE, once again reviewed our work and awarded HELLO, GOODBYE... 12 of 16 stars - 
while ironing-out the details of a new overseas publishing arrangement. In addition to shopping our songs to other artists for their recording consideration, our European publisher (who is based in the Belgium/Netherlands market) expressed a strong desire to release PRINCES OF THE NEW DARK AGE in those countries. So in January 2007 we will be getting heavy radio airplay on the PRINCES album. The second parcel was delivered (literally) in the mail. The fall issue of PROGRESSION MAGAZINE gave a very flattering review of both PURPLE MONKEYS and PRINCES OF THE NEW DARK AGE (click the ALBUM/SHOW REVIEWS to read the review). We knew that this prestigious magazine would eventually be reviewing the albums - We were a bit concerned because while we are fans, we are certainly not "Progressive Rock" artists. We graciously thank Mr. John Collinge for hearing only the music and not the genre. 
Since our last rant we have made only moderate progress with the recording of the new album. Two weeks were lost to a brutal virus infection that attacked both Dave and Tony. Another two weeks went down-the-drain when Tony inadvertently stabbed himself in the left hand attempting to remove his daughter's new rod and reel combo from the near impenetrable packaging that protects many of today's products. Of course it was probably foolish to attempt this feat with one of those "big frickin' Harley Davidson shanks".
In response to the many requests that we've received for a CD of the old MECCA and HABITS songs, we are now in the process of compiling material , and hope to release a retrospective set that will be available through the web site in the future (thus the new/old pictures now appearing on our photo page). This package will also include many home demo recordings and an entire album of acoustic material that Tony recorded just after the release of the MECCA "FEARLESS" LP. We would love to augment this project with a live CD, and we are currently interrogating fans and friends as to the whereabouts of their old HABITS and MECCA bootleg cassettes. If you have any live audio or video tapes, photos or pertinent documents to validate the existence of these bands, please contact us through this web site. We only want to copy your stuff, and will promptly return your originals. Finally, on the "pretty cool" front, our first ever national/international ad appeared in the Spring issue of PROGRESSION MAGAZINE. 
Thanks to all of our great friends (both new & old) who attended the listening party/performance celebrating the release of the "Prince of the New Dark Age" CD at Van Blunk's. Check the photos from that great evening on the photo page. Much love to Joe, our kind and generous host.
Greetings from Purple Monkey Headquarters! Today will forever be affectionately remembered as the day we finally published our official website – “THE PURPLE PAGES”. That’s right! On this day we boldly open the doors of our humble and intimate family affairs to anyone interested in what we happen to be doing. We encourage you to drop by often and enjoy the photos, music and conversation that we hope to inspire. We encourage you to join our mailing list and regularly contribute your ideas and recommendations for the site. Of course you will be able to link with our record company to purchase our CD’s, and keep up with our live exploits.