Greetings faithful readers!
So, today we started our new Manhattan gig, which was verry cool, a bit loud, tipped so well (thank you Zack for your confrontational yet cheerful manner of tip jar running) tipped way welll! This was on the east side, lower east side, as in Alphabet city, as in a neighborhood that was pretty darn scary for years...and now, we brunch....cool.
So, let's talk about Morp. morp, morp, morp....what or who is morp? why has morp come the attention of the band? Is morp good, is morp bad, is morp neutral (like Switzerland)?Yeah, morp will unfold as time goes on, morp will make progress. Morp.
So, I think that all these hiphop guys sell alot of records by talking shit about each other, shooting at each other, and making big insulting statements in their albums. Kind of cool really, sort of like bad guy wrestlers and good guy wrestlers I guess. So why not do that in a swing band? Could be cool, but I don't think I could afford a drive by. Jazz bands would  maybe just have throw rocks at each other, cause really, its not like we can afford good weaponry..maybe just a switchblade or something...Or one of those combs that looks like a switchblade. "I'll comb your ass, Bee-yatch!!!" oh yeah...
Till next time
Sayonara!

Brunch @ The East Village Tavern

Yo yo yo what up!
So, we just returned from our Florida tour, and man, it is too damn cold up here, Cmon global warming, do your stuff.
Anyway, we did some great gigs down in the sunshine state, but it was quite a task getting there. Now, apparently, Continental Airlines works sort of like a Continental breakfast.  It sounds really fancy, but in reality, all you get is some stale coffee and some day old donuts....ick. So, we got to the airport, got on our OVERBOOKED airplane, and then were told "We don't have enough seats, get lost" at which point emerged the four Levels of Viper reaction....Thom Abbot, calm, in control, myself(Billy) a bit miffed but expecting nothing less from said crappy airline, Chris Pistorino, slightly more agitated, cursing a bit and visibly angry. And last but not least, David Langlois....Completely. Freaked. The Fuck. Out. "I'm not getting off this plane, I paid to be here, I can't believe this"
         "Sir, you need to get off this plane"
         "Go ahead, what you gonna do?"
         Oh shit, this is the part where they arrest him or something or so we thought. But no, he gets off the plane and starts writing down names of everyone at the desk. Now, what I hadn't realized that David had caught was the fact that while our ticket taker person was on the phone there were three seats left (no assigned seats on this flight) and while our man yapped with someone, one of our seats was given away to someone with a ticket, same thing, no seat assignment. Such nonsense.
       Anyway, we ultimately missed our first scheduled gig at the Parrot in Key West, however, the owner hooked us up with two extra shows and totally showed us love. Not like NY not my problem hard ass attitude, but genuinely hooked us up. John is da man. Can't wait to play there again..We spent the days just sort of goofing off and riding bicycles all over the island. Twas too cool.
     We did a couple other things in the rest of Florida as well, stayed in a hostel in Miami, Mangos in Lauderdale, and a swing dance in Tampa. A fun trip all in all, and the origin of our new catch phrase, fuck me bananas. What the hell that means, I have no idea. None. But its catchy, so go with me on this.
      So, thats big first tour 09. I'm sure there will be many more to come, and many more Viper misadventures to discuss. Ok, and now a slight B reference, give it up for a fine old film serial, Undersea Kingdom. This great serial featured big oilcan looking robots and one fabulous quote "Your mind has been transformed, you just don't know it" Dig that shit baby, they just don't write em like they used to.
Amituofo!
Billy Nemec
 

Yo, yo yo!
So, check it out y'all, yesterday, a sunny beautiful, seemed like a great day to go to work in Sunny Central Park. When we got there, it was a bit confusing though, as spots were taken, and we ran into our new friend in the park, soon to be the subject of many a blog.
Now, I'm sure some of you realize the fact that there's folks in new York with a couple of screws loose. Hell, I'm one of"em! But sometimes, ya meet those special nutcases that really make the day worthwhile, the kind of whackiness that leaves you loving New York, while thanking the stars for your your sanity. So any way, this older "gentleman" sits on the fountain near bethesda regularly, aand plays music. On his radio. Loudly. Sometimes he sort of plays along with his flute. Ok. Yesterday, he sat to himself BLARING his radio (Coltrane) over and over...We tried to just kind of look past it/play past it. However at one point, Chris politely asked him
"Hey can ya turn it down, we're trying to work"
"Man, just stay over there and do your thing, and I'll do mine"
"cmon man, we're trying to make money"
"Money, that's the devil! You're a cop! You're the devil! I been here 70 years playing music! I'm the reason you can be out here!"
"huh?"
"fine, I'll turn it off, cause you're a cop...Everybody out here playin' is a cop!"
"Okay......"
And he turned it off. Thanks to Chris Pistorino, Devil Cop From Hell! OOOOHHHH YYYEAHHHH!
And past that, y'know, a pretty average day past that. Nice to be outdoors again, but I dunno man, if Chris can control the weather and shit, I'll never get a day off again....Devil Cop.
Okay, a quick shout out to Alfonso Rebeiro (spelling?) who played Carlton on Fresh Prince of Belair. But y'all must check out an earlier work he did, a genius piece of horror film called "Ticks". Seems that kids should just not go camping. Ever. Not ever. Or they will die gruesome and painful deaths. In this film, our murderous malice was not one but many, many giant ticks, who apparently got all big by ingesting a plant steiroid meant for some home grown Marijuana up in them thar hills. Those things were huge and gross and scary...Not to mention some redneck pot growers trying to kill everyone off on top of it. Truly, a quality piece of trash worth giving a look to.
Until next time,
Be B, dance well, dig life, and don't break any laws in front of Chris Pistorino. And buy tickets to the USA Shaolin Swing Spectacular! Now!
Sayonara!
Billy Nemec
 

Sunday, Feb. 8th was an unusually warm day. So, being the conscientious street performers that we are, we convened at Bathesda Fountain for a little outdoor concert. No sooner had we started the first tune when a dark cloud rolled in. One of those clouds that looks like they are following some grumpy person as they travel around the city. Well, we were playing "When You're Smiling" and it started to drizzle and we thought it would soon pass. But, instead it got a bit more heavy so we cut the song short grabbed all of our stuff and ran under the Terrace, which by the way I am sad to report was recently tagged by some fool who wanted to put some black spray paint over the recently restored art that awaits the unsuspecting tourist as they stroll down the stairs toward the fountain.
Of course everyone in the area had the same idea so we set up quick and serenaded the literally captive audience. The sound under there was haunting. A lot of natural reverb and we didn't have to play loud to project. A new fan of the band, Stephen Davis Phillips, snapped a few photos and I am going to see if I can include them here somehow. (Not too computer savvy am I.)
The rain cloud quickly passed and with it went our audience so we grabbed all of our stuff and headed back out to the fountain. On the way out I overheard a little boy asking his father with disbelief how I was able to carry my double bass, it's case and a backpack full of CD's all at once. Of course he didn't know it was called a double bass. The father's answer was that if the little boy wanted to be able to carry something that big he would have to start eating more vegetables.The Bethesda Terrace Underpass Sunday Feb. 8 2009. Photo by Stephen Davis Phillips.

Yooo! It is fricikin cold out!
like really cold..like numb fingers if you try to play guitar outside cold. Like playing in the subway kind of sucks cold. Yeah, cold.
So anyway, we are in processes among processes right now. I'm putting on a fundraiser for Shaolin Temple on temple on March 7th. Write it down on your calendars all. The Vipers will be there, Tin Pan Blues Band and the USA Shaolin Demo team, plus a lot of other cool stuff, and Kami willing, a whole crap load of Sake. Lots of Sake. Should be good.
In band land, we're working stuff out, got some gigs coming up, going to Japan soon possibly. May. I have to look this up though, cause if that's giant monster (Kaiju) season in Tokyo, I might not go. Y'know nothing kills a swing dance like Godzilla and Mothra raising hell in downtown Tokyo. The mood just goes downhill from there. Giant Lizards can't lindy. Go figure.
A quick shout out to Nikolai Tesla, who's dead, yet may have preserved his brain inside a radio. Who knows. He is the father of alternating current, and Thomas Edison's nemesis in the science world. Go Tesla!!!
Aside from that, share the love y'all!
billy Nemec.

This evening Billy, Adrian (sax) and I did a little busking on the L train Bedford Ave. platform which is a convenient two stops from mine (Graham Ave.) When I got there Billy was already manning the spot and talking to Cassidy (uprightbassist) who just happened to be passing through and as we were getting ready to play Stephane (saxes) walked up and said hello. It felt like if I stayed there long enough everyone I played with would pass by.
The playing was fun and Williamsburgers are good listeners in general.
Oh it's the slow weeks following the holidays when musicians need to hybernate to survive. The less we consume the longer our holiday gig money will last. Thankfully we will be sojourning to Florida in Feb. to play and hang a bit in the sun. We went there last year because we landed a nice festival called Tropical Heatwave Festival in Tampa. This time so such luck. But we are playing a few clubs and a nice sized swing dance hosted by Swing Time. Also this time we will be trying to get our foot in the door in Key West. We have been trying to get a gig at The Green Parrot but to no avail. So we decided to go there anyway and busk and show up at The Parrot so we can at least meet the right peoples. Kind of an inperson press kit. Wish us luck.

Chris

Free Image Hosting

We have them in cream and silver. Male S, M, L, XL Fem XS, S, M, L only $15 plus $5 shipping contact chrispistorino@gmail.com if you want one.

We have new T shirts available. Thanks to Bob and Ivar and Nico for submitting designs. We decided to go with Bob's. There is a picture of the design on our myspace page. myspace.com/thebluevipersofbrooklyn. In looking for a place to get the T shirts made it quickly became apparent that these things are pricey. Discmakers wants all kinds of money for black and white print on cheap shirts. Then I remembered that a lovely lady named Krisstina saw us play in Central Park a while back and forwarded me the the contact info for a design guy here in Brooklyn. Matt at Werdink Productions, 47 Thames Street, Brooklyn NYC 11237. www.werdink.com
He hooked me up. I just picked up the shirts today and as I am looking at them in a box I notice a big old silk screen of our design set up on this hand press machine. He had silk screened all of our shirts by hand. Now that is craftsmanship. It felt good to suport a local artisan and he gave us a great deal compared to the big companies I checked out.
Buy local. It makes you feel good.

Later,
Chris