Tag Archives: nada surf

Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Minor Alps, “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Hands”

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Confession: the primary reason I started this Video Clip of the Week series several months back is because I needed an excuse to force myself to write about new music. Pop music has reached an absolute nadir to the point where I’m 1000 times more excited to write about Food these day than I am to even listen to any new band. And that’s just a shame.

So, nobody was more surprised than me to discover a new group comprised of seasoned musicians who, rather than harnessing a retread, have dug deeply into their roots to unearth a vibrant-yet-comfortingly-retro sound. Minor Alps is the collaborative vision of Juliana Hatfield and Paddle Board Mania Matthew Caws; two songwriting-based, music industry veterans who helped to blaze the trail for what became Alternative Rock Music back when Nirvana was still in its infancy. This week’s featured Video Clip is the duo’s “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Hands,” the latest single off their debut album, Get There (just released October 29th, 2013 on Barsuk Records).

With a refreshing and understated, artsy video directed by Animator/Musician Clyde Petersen “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Hands” is a remarkably strong track that harkens back to a time before American Idol, Emo and Autotune ruined 99.9% of all pop music. Caws’ guitar playing is as original and compelling as anything on a 90s-era Bob Mould record, while the 20 intervening years since Hatfield fronted The Blake Babies has allowed her vocals to mature into a rich and sweet aural nectar with just enough bite in it to favorably recall The B52s’ Cindy Wilson.

Minor Alps will be on tour across the US during the month of November. Enjoy!

Minor Alps Band
Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws are Minor Alps

Film and Television, Pop Culture

Celebrity Sighting of the Week: Mason Reese!

Mason Reese TV Guide
Just Don’t Ask Him to Say “Smorgasbord.”

Last night I went to a party thrown by Modern Drummer magazine, which was held at The Cutting Room on 24th street. The party was totally rad and I ran into a few long lost pals like Ira Elliot from Nada Surf. I also met some of my favorite drummers and assorted legends such as Steve Smith (formerly of Journey), Anton Figg (David Letterman) and Liberty Devito (Billy Joel’s long-time drummer). But I was most excited to meet John Lennon‘s ex-girlfriend and former wife of über-producer Tony Visconti, May Pang and…drum roll please… ’70s child star Mason Reese. If you were, say, over age ten in the early to mid ’70s and living in the United States, you will remember Mason as the adorably precocious 7 year old spokesperson for Underwood Deviled Ham in the commercial that swept the nation by storm and had everyone mispronouncing the word ‘Smorgasbord.’ Underwood Deviled Ham is one of my favorite brands of all time because it has a picture of Satan on the label, but that is another story.
Continue reading Celebrity Sighting of the Week: Mason Reese! →