Union Pool – Brooklyn, NY

June 2nd, 2010 · 191 Comments

SUNDAY 5.16.10
UNION POOL – BROOKLYN, NY

Rider and I were up and about around 10AM, when we first saw my Uncle Alan in the kitchen.  Seven hours of sleep was the perfect amount and it was beautiful outside anyhow.  Their house has a great view out to a river that dumps into the Atlantic and we chatted a bit with Alan over coffee and the view.  He then served us French toast, eggs and bacon with fresh fruit, of which we devoured every bit.  Once again, with showering completed we had a bit of time to spare and decided to make a field recording in their back yard.  Joe suggested we play “Oh My God! This Weekend” and so we did just that with Kehoe playing a container of Texmati rice and Rider on tambourine.  Attesting to the power of technology, we had that sucker filmed and available to the world in six minutes flat.  Just like yesterday at the horse ranch, it felt great to be part of a bit of nature and feel the sunshine.  But it was over soon, as we ate the rest of the chicken casserole from last night and hit the road again.  However, we most definitely did not depart without dunking a respectable amount of basketballs and receiving a to-go package of cookies and banana bread.  It’s the tour of bananas now more than ever.

Valentiger – Oh My God! This Weekend from Valentiger on Vimeo.

The drive to Brooklyn went surprisingly fast, considering we’ve learned to turn our brains off and accept the inevitable imprisonment.  We made only one bathroom break; we handed out a few singles and Kehoe took the wheel thereafter.  Due to some congestion coming in through the Bronx, we were actually 21 minutes late for load-in.  In fact, The Waylons were coming in from Boston, where we’d played with them the night before and we just happened to see the guitar player, Carl, walking into a Dunkin Donuts.  We screamed at him for a good minute before he even fathomed anyone would be yelling at him from the expressway.  While also in gridlock, I handed a CD to a guy in an adjacent car and another guy handed me a poster for Skanheads, while I returned the favor with a “Leaving Town” single.  He said he worked for Atlantic.  A few minutes later we could hear our music being “pumped” from behind us and he was signaling for a phone number.  I just yelled, “Website!” out the window and then he noticed it on the disc jacket.

When mentioning Union Pool across the country, we kept hearing from bands (especially those from NY), “Wow!  That is a great place to play.”   So, needless to say, we were excited to see the place and perform.  The soundman was waiting for us outside the backdoor with immediate loading information, which is, in my opinion, the trademark of a legitimate music venue.  So we carried our things through the tiny alleyway into the backstage area, where placed them behind the stage curtain.  The sound guy was projecting video on the wall of a late Black Sabbath concert with Ronnie James Dio, who had just died.  Other than the fact that he was now dead, it was still comical pre-show music considering the style of music billed that night.  This was the music venue half of Union Pool, which was basically just a square room, with a stage at the front and a bar on the side.  The stage was lined with old-fashioned vanity bulbs and was half-enclosed, causing the drums to really project.  It was nice to be playing a venue that pushes pre-sale tickets, but one can also pay at the box office at the public entrance.  The other side of the building is where most people enter the bar, which is a pretty standard room.  I remember hearing both Patsy Cline and James Brown overhead and the bathroom consisted of unisex stalls.  What was really quite incredible about the place is what’s between the regular bar and the music venue, which was a large outdoor area enclosed with high walls.  There was a sea of people out there sitting, chatting on the edge of a large fountain among other interesting seats and coves.  Someone said ?uestlove frequents the place and I could see why.

Our friend Stephen Niebauer, who shot and directed the video for “Leaving Town,” came out to film the show.  We toasted him with a Del Monte (fruit cup with vodka) in the car bar before we went on first at 9:30PM.  We opened with “Have It All,” to which most people filed into the room from the outdoor lounge.  From there, the half-hour set flew by through “Bosses In Their Offices,” and “The Girl That Everyone Forgot.”  “Man On Fire” and “Courses” held an unusually captive audience before we really thumped through “Oh, To Know” and closed with an almost-sloppy “Hard To Let Me Down” and “Leaving Town.”  Kehoe was using The Waylons’ bass amp head due to Bassman issues and I had taped my harmonica holder into position on account of a stripped wing nut.  Things go wrong and equipment goes bad all the time, but its just such a different story when you’re on the road with minimal resources.  But we were happy to play for such an awesome crowd at Union Pool, making good for Stephen’s footage.  Plus, it was good to see him since moving to the city to work for Vimeo.  A lot of other familiar faces also came out, including the infamous Bradford and her parents from the hometown of Rider and myself, Sparta, Michigan.

The Waylons took the stage next while we sold items and generally shook hands.  There were so many people to be meeting and we’re really taking it upon ourselves this time around to make those connections.  Because it’s fun, we want to and we need to.  I really enjoyed two of the Waylons’ newer songs “Make Me A Cowboy” and “We Are Afraid of the Wrong Things” and it is always good to see those cats whom we met several years ago playing in Manhattan.  What a great friendship gang!  We hope you can come to Michigan one day.  Lastly, No Man No Eyes played a hypnotizing set of calming melodies and striking rhythms.  I enjoyed “Frozen” and one of their newer ditties.  Everyone was especially nice and abided by the bar slogan which was depicted spoken from a drinking pigeon, “Please don’t be stupid.”

Rider continued to hand out singles while Kehoe and I wrapped up loose ends, getting paid, packing and loading equipment into the van.  Two groups of people said they came out to see Valentiger play after reading our listing in Time Out New York.  Rider also ran into someone from Hudsonville, where he works back home.  It was really an incredible and productive night, which ended relatively early for NY at 1:30AM.  But we still needed to find parking back at Stephen’s and, after all, it was Sunday and he had work the next day.  Kehoe parallel-parked the beast and we all drug our things up the narrow stairway to Stephen’s place.  We were extra courteous of his roommates, but there was no escaping the awful noise of blowing up air mattresses.  Kehoe took the large one and Joe, the small in Stephen’s room.  I had the skinny but long couch while Rider specifically requested the floor, falling asleep on his back.  He snored at first, but Kehoe and I were good to go after I whacked his feet once with my pillow.  The skylight windows were open and we fell asleep as the city plowed on through the night.

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