Monthly Archives: April 2018

The wait’s almost over: First new album from the Schramms in 15 years is finished, awaiting release

Dave Schramm backs up Chris Stamey at Little City Books in Hoboken, New Jersey, on April 20, 2018. (Photo copyright 2018, Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)The Schramms have finished their first new album in 15 years, the band’s founder and guitarist Dave Schramm tells us, and is slated for release sometime later this year.

It’s the Schramms’ first album since 2003’s live “official bootleg” collection, “2000 Weiss Beers From Home.”

Schramm, a Hoboken, New Jersey, -based guitar wizard who has played with Human Switchboard and Yo La Tengo, and is closely associated with the indie music scene centered on Maxwell’s, revealed the news the other day at Little City Books, co-owned by Kate Jacobs, another Hoboken music icon.

“It’s recorded,” he says, adding that it is slated for release sometime this year on Hoboken’s Bar/None Records, which has been busy this year with a sparkling new release “Everybody’s Insecure” from Elk City and a beautiful rerelease of “Shore Leave,” the debut album by Feelies percussionist Dave Weckerman’s Yung Wu.

Schramm said he has been hoping for a spring release, but indicated that didn’t seem likely now.

Nothing’s listed on the Bar/None website so far.

A post on the band’s website dated Dec. 2, 2009, which appears to be the latest update, said a new album was “nearing completion.” It looks like Schramm was a little optimistic about the timetable back then.

The band’s Facebook page, which appears not to have been updated since 2015, lists a lineup of Schramm on guitar and vocals, Andrew Harris Burton on keys and vocals, Jon Graboff on guitar and vocals, Al Greller on Bass, and Ron Metz on drums.

‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ actor J.B. Smoove explains his improvised journey to comedy success ahead of Peekskill gig

Comedian and actor J.B. Smoove was known as Jerry Brooks while growing up in Mount Vernon, New York.Actor J.B. Smoove grew up funny. He’s the first to tell you that his whole family — particularly mom Elizabeth Whitehead — is “hilarious.” So he had a head start on the road to a career as a comedian.

But it took more than luck to hit a peak in his career at age 42, when the Mount Vernon, New York, -raised Smoove was tapped to play Leon, the permanent houseguest, on Larry David’s cringeworthy HBO comedy series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

He talks about his relentless climb up the ladder and reveals the key to his success in my conversation with him for The Journal News/lohud.com in advance of his appearance at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in Peekskill, New York, this Friday evening, April 6.

His standup act it unpredictable and changes on a dime to suit his mood and the vibe of the evening’s audiences.

“I would say this: If you love Leon, you’re gonna love J.B. Smoove,” he says.

Read the interview and get all the details for seeing him live in Peekskill on lohud.com by GOING HERE.

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