An Acoustic Evening with Damien Baldwin of Friends of
Bill Wilson and Dead Fish Handshake - The Saint Asbury Park,
NJ - October 4, 2011
By Stina Marie Harris
On a brisk Tuesday with a middle of the week mindset, I found
myself surrounded by talented local musicians opening for
Hugo Ferreira of Tantric. I was so inspired by the tangible
feel of creativity and passion packed in the small rock star
haven known as The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. I don't pretend
to know how to play guitar or act like I can carry a tune
further than my shower, but I do know something about conviction,
character and craft. An acoustic show is an experience from
beginning to end. The stories between each song and the raw
emotion of words not competing with sound add a certain personal
and intimate element to a show.
Dead Fish Handshake (www.deadfishhandshake.com),
a band forging a solid name on the rock scene in Jersey, melted
words together with haunting riffs exposing their new debut
album Across State Lines to an audience entranced. Before
the band winds down their "Across State Lines Tour"
and heads back into the studio to start work on the next anticipated
album, they've got one more stop in Garwood at The Crossroads
(78 North Ave, Garwood, NJ) on November 11, 2011. Be sure
to check out this rapidly rising band that never disappoints
and understands and appreciates the relationship between the
player and the fan.
Also performing that night was the lead singer and lead guitarist,
front man Damien Baldwin of Friends of Bill Wilson (www.myspace.com/friendsofbillwilson).
This progressive rock band has a huge fan base in New Jersey
and a sound to match its popularity. This experienced player
band is reminiscent of the old rock groups of the 70s that
some of us were too young to appreciate in concert. Check
out Damien Baldwin and the rest of Friends of Bill Wilson
on November 25, 2011 in Hamilton at The Olde Nottingham Pub
(9 Mercer Street, Hamilton, NJ). After spending Thanksgiving
with your family, celebrate Black Friday with friends and
rock-n-roll. Friends of Bill Wilson will take over this truly
old fashioned rustic pub with a jam show unlike any other.
Come out and be a part of the crowd! I came home from this
show inspired to write something from my point of view. As
a listener, a follower of real live local and acoustic music,
but simply as a creative person, it’s easy to appreciate
true talent and pass it on....
Lyrical Honey: Some Thoughts On Appreciating Music
Your littlest toe begins to wiggle and invites your foot to
keep the beat. Beat. Beat. Beat. Your foot keeps the beat
as the ground vibrates with the melodic tap of the crowd that
engulfs you in a sea of perpetual anticipation. Tap. Tap.
Tap. The sensation begs your knees to bounce and shoots straight
up to your hips swaying to each hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. The energy
from your littlest toe explodes upward and into your fingers
as they dance on the glass of Jack glued to your hand. Keeping
beat with your foot, harmonizing with your bouncing knees,
seducing your swaying hips. Feel. Feel. Feel.
Music, whether rain drops on the hood of your car, laughter
on a playground or emotion screaming through an amp, is an
experience. Something meant to be felt. Lived. It is a gift
offered outward to be manipulated inward, individually and
on any level you wish to take it. Once the sound has penetrated
your very being and worked its way up and down your entire
body like a lover kissing every inch of your welcoming and
warm skin, it’s got you. You’re hooked. Every
note suffocates a thought and alters its veracity into a state
of blissful lightness. No matter how cloudy your mindscape
may be, once you allow music to suspend your reality it becomes
a quiet friend and confidant. Each guitar riff lures you further
and further and deeper and deeper into a feeling of perpetual
gratitude as the strings tingle and oscillate in a tangible
way that draws the listener right into the hand of the music.
The facilitator of the lyrics that reach out and grab your
shoulders pulling you into the warmest embrace you have ever
felt. From your tapping toes to your dancing fingers, each
word surrounds you individually as if it was meant for your
ears only. Your eyes only. Solitude in a packed house. Music
is the siren to your temptation of everything in need of a
soundtrack. Lyrics so full of emotion and tangled in the mind
of the listener, yet so clearly offered out by the source.
Given to you to hear as you wish. Experience. Relive.
It’s as if all the air is sucked straight out of the
room and you must breathe in just the sound boasting through
the speakers. You become one with the music and therefore
one with the band. The crowd becomes a singular unit helping
each other stand. Catch your breath. You begin to crave the
next note and need the lyric, the one lyric you’re going
to completely wrap your head around and gain your stability.
The sound rolls in and rolls out like waves on the beach crashing
and grabbing one lonely and tiny sea shell each time to carry
back into the grand and never-ending ocean. We want to be
that tiny sea shell. Broken. Cracked. Begging to be carried
back into the ocean to smooth our rough edges. We want nothing
more than to have the music smooth our beveled edges and carry
us into the majestic. Into the dark abyss of the unknown.
The hand of the music grabs us and pulls us, whether willingly
or unwillingly, farther than we wish to step. The base line,
a soft bed to fall upon, the drum tap, a pillow to rest our
head, and the sound lyrical honey escaping from the heart
of the singer and sticking to your lips. Taste the words and
swallow the feeling. Sweet. z
Turn your speakers up and blast your favorite song as you
dance freely without any preconceived notions of what you
should look like. Sing your favorite lyrics even if you can’t
carry a tune. Escape into the darkest bar or the brightest
club to really feel the sound, passion and power of musicians
offering all they’ve got hoping that just enough with
stick. Honey on your lips. A soft place to fall in the hardest
hallway. Sound sweet enough to wrap itself around you to keep
warm on the coldest day. Keep the beat, sway your hips and
feel. Feel. Let the hand of music guide you blindly or open
your eyes wide and enjoy the ride.
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JerseyBeat.com
is an independently published music fanzine
covering punk, alternative, ska, techno and garage
music, focusing on New Jersey and the Tri-State
area. For the past 25 years, the Jersey Beat music
fanzine has been the authority on the latest upcoming
bands and a resource for all those interested in
rock and roll.
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