Evan Hammer's Blog » evan hammer

august letter: The Baobabs – a Proper Introduction

Evan — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:21:26 +0000

it’s time for a Proper Introduction: The Baobabs, pronounced (by us) as ‘Bow-Babs’, are a Thoughtcrime that Matt Jacobs and I started to Construct back in March. Besides being a hard to Pronounce band name, Baobabs are a type of African tree with crazily fat Trunks. now that we have Electricity provided by Tom Grise on his Guitar and Chris Markwood on his Drum Kit, i’m excited to let you know that we’ll be Playing many more shows and releasing some new Recordings into the World as well.

what do we sound like you might ask? when pressed we say we’re an odd conglomeration of Tom Waits, the Black Keys, Joe Cocker, and Kings of Leon. now if that description is confusing, you have two Options – you can come to our big New York show this Thursday at Arlene’s Grocery (9:30p), which is also my 27th Birthday’s Eve (just in case you need some more convincing).

the details are all here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109179369138847

or you can hear two recordings that Matt and I made separately before we met: http://thebaobabs.com (check out Rocking Chair for the Full Tilt experience of Matt’s Voice.)

be well and i’ll see you on the Outside.

Tweet This Post

spiderman and the angry suitcase soldier

Evan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:25:51 +0000

after skipping out of McSorley’s at closing time, arm in arm with two good friends, singing Whisky in the Jar at the top of our lungs, the rest of the gang caught up to us near Tompkins Square Park. i was propped up on a bar’s patio, while two other renegades downed forties from a brown paper bag as they camped out on the adjacent porch. we were hollering Tom Waits and the sleeping boy in the back, holding down our table and ordering more beers, when we heard the yell.

a lunatic thin man ran down the street with a suitcase above his head, screaming his ancient barbarian warcry. before slamming full speed into the SUV in front of us his body halted, and his arms waled the suitcase into the car’s side. he picked up his load and smashed it again and again, then the suitcase was on the ground and he was off around the corner squealing with glee.

i moseyed over to investigate – no damage but a scene far more perilous: a spiderman-clad rickshaw driver (walker?, pusher?) was pulling two chortling girls as replacements for our mysterious warrior. as i approached, he let them down and became enamored with the suitcasewielding soldier story.

meanwhile one of the girls took his place and was carriaging her friend away. i guess he saw tips and i saw two women, as we rushed over the pusher saw divine promise in suddenly letting go of her charge and having her friend’s skull hurtle back towards earth. now the rickshaw was kinda open in the back and her head almost splattered into the concrete – an inch and a bit of cushion saved her – but this peril was no peril to these two – up and onwards and then whipping back down to the street in another near collision. i argued but why should they care? back i went to the bar, and off the girls went like Didi and Gogo (or maybe more like two variants of Lucky with our Spiderman enshrined Pozzo pretending to direct them).

what horrors or heavens launched these folks down our tiny street, and would the evening’s descent into morning finally evaporate my midnight eidolons?

Tweet This Post

poem: nights one two three five six seven eight nine, and ten

Evan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:05:50 +0000

i haven’t presented a poem for a while, and as it is a sunny Fourth of July weekend here in new york, i figured this gentleman would do. this entry is section 1 of a longer poem, as you can prolly see from the title. i thought it a bit much to post all of it here, but let me know if you feel differently. cheers and enjoy the celebrations…

2009.05.01 – night 1

i act like a monkey
and can’t control myself,
orange tulip petals on everything.

i burnt down the brooklyn bridge
then climbed up the charred concrete remains
and read ginsberg’s kaddish from the top,
but i got bored after one line and stopped.

the mississippi can’t make up her mind.
why won’t she die already?
ryan adams can go fuck himself.

i miss sitting in the center seat of the canoe,
i miss slow mornings that last for weeks.

what if i lose my fingers or my precious feet!
some girl’s eyes make me want to leap
through the closest window and the come
down drowns my saning mind.

photo by Thomas Hawk

Tweet This Post

Good Times Magazine Review

Evan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:14:39 +0000

just relaying the good news…Good Times Magazine, Long Island’s Premier Music Paper, currently has a page on Bury Me A Lion and me. a short quote: “A Hot Group, A Creative Mind”…

Long Island Spotlight: Evan Hammer, Bury Me A Lion

Tweet This Post

poem: the bees are dying now

Evan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:09:00 +0000

http://flickr.com/photos/hamed/
CC BY 2.0

to lee: 2006.11.28 00:50

the bees are dying now. i can see them dropping out of the air – no carefully designed spiral descents for them – no no – i follow the bees with my eyes from the wall to an invisible poison sphere hanging a foot away and then shes and hes dive down down down – kamikazes attacking my precious feet! i’m careful not to step on them. not careful enough. all my honey jars are growing hideous fungi – even my sacred tupelo reserves. there’s no one left to serve me my sweet things – i walk outside and wash my eyelids in the abandoned combs and their failed children. perhaps death shall offer no boundary as i absorb the shining golden recipe straight from the tomb.

Tweet This Post

saturdaynight songluck

Evan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:50:24 +0000

on saturday i went into the night with a jacket full of song lyrics and a growler full of beer, and headed over to a friend of a friend’s songwriters’ potluck. more of a songluck than anything else. the music was great – ranging from a folksy sci fi song cycle taking place 300 years in the future, to a tune whose words i couldn’t make out but everybody seemed to be singing along to, and one about a bear and an otter in different decades of their married life together. peculier indeed.

Lyrics from The Lion For Real:
There’s a lion lying by herself
Beside our open bedroom door.
She gazed up at me with
Those rheumy yellowed eyes,
I screamed out Lion For Real!
And I rushed out onto the fire escape,
Looking in I noticed it withering away,
And when she coughed and wheezed,
I cried Eat Me Or Die!
But she stood up, roared, and limped away.
If you walk in and find me wasting away,
Will you still hold me in your arms?

i sung two of my new songs – “The Lion For Real” (whose semitheme comes from the eponymous Ginsberg poem) and “We’re All Disappointed”. though i’m not usually one for singing my own songs, i enjoyed the evening thoroughly. i also played an old tune from 1947, “Cigareetes, Whusky, and Wild, Wild Women,” which I had first heard from the Low Anthem.

Tweet This Post

quad lake studios

Evan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:15:38 +0000

i’m heading over to the Grand Prize Winners From Last Year show in a bit, and i figured i would take a few minutes to send you all an update. although news has been pretty quiet on the BMAL front, we did just have two new songs come out – Harold Called This Morning and Glistening Girls.

Jarett and i headed upstate a couple of weeks ago to mix the tracks with Rob Ignazio. he has been engineering and co-producing the new tunes. the studio, Quad Lake, was on a large lake, frozen solid, with ice fishers and snow mobiles out on it.

Jarett, Rob, the owner of the studio (Lou), and i were eating pizza on a piano during a break, when Rob casually mentioned that the piano was used by John and Yoko for their albums, by Nora Jones for her first album, and was used to write Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer. and there we were, eating pizza off of it!

well we mushed through the long day with few breaks, Sam conference-called in for his good words, our super-focused ear drums and lobes…and now there is new music. so enjoy it and be in touch.

cheers…hammer

Tweet This Post

this friday in boston and next week in new york city

Evan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:11:39 +0000

after leaving Atlanta at 5:30 sunday morning (having stayed up the whole night) and driving 17 hours to get home (you can blame new jersey traffic for much of that) we’re mighty exhausted.

but we must press on. practice wednesday, Long Island on thursday (Lulus Village Pub 9p), Boston on friday (McGanns Pub 9:30p), and then we are back in the New York City for a show at Santos Party House on july 31st (7:30p).

we had a great time in georgia with the Grand Prize Winners From Last Year (www.myspace.com/gpwfly) – they were marvelous hosts. and who knew that luca could sleep for 13 hours straight?

EP release update: jarett is finishing up the vocals for metabolism and we are shooting for a september release…details to follow.

Long Island
———–
THU JULY 23RD: 9p
Lulu’s Village Pub (1509 Main St, Port Jefferson, NY)
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107087232349

Boston
———–
FRI JULY 24TH: 9:30p – $10
McGann’s Pub (197 Portland St, Boston, MA)
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102829077378

New York
———–
FRI JULY 31ST: 7:30p – $10
Santos Party House (100 Lafayette St and Walker St, New York, NY)
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105033032545

take it and care for it,
evan, sam, jarett, luca
www.burymealion.com

Tweet This Post

introducing bury me a lion

Evan — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:44:28 +0000

it is my unique pleasure to introduce you to my new band called Bury Me A Lion – specifically to sam einhorn, jarett gilbert, and luca pironti. now we’ve been working real hard over the last few months to create music – both new and good – and i think the other guys would agree with me, when i say it has been both a struggle and, coming from a man who appreciates some healthy productive tension, a lot of fun. i’m extraordinarily happy with the music we’re playing and for those of you who have been getting these updates from me for some time now, i hope you enjoy our performances of my songs – i’d love to hear what you think.

we have our first big new york city show this friday night at The Bitter End. you’re attendance is requested, desired, and necessary to make the evening be what these evenings can sometimes turn out to be.

btw – we recorded a few demo tracks and put them up on the interwebs for you to partake in: www.myspace.com/burymealion

and lastly, telly and i also wanted to thank everybody who came out to the Middle East in Boston last month…it was a super-shindig and a rainy-evening-riot smashed together…although we don’t have any shows coming up, we still have some surprises in store for you…

BURY ME A LION SHOWS:

05.08 (fri) 6:30p @ the bitter end – $10
147 bleecker st, new york, ny 10012
(between laguardia and thompson)
www.bitterend.com

05.22 (fri) 9p @ lulu’s village pub
1509 main st, port jefferson, ny 11777
www.luluslive.com
opening for Movement

ps…if you can’t make it on friday, we are also playing wednesday evening (05.06, 6p) at the brooklyn brewery…it’s 25 bucks, but open bar…email me for the details…

Tweet This Post

evan & telly on long island this friday

Evan — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:03:32 +0000

we’re videotaping our show this friday at Lulus Village Pub. if you can make it, please come out and bring fellow music lovers. if you know people in the area, tell them about it!

03.06 (fri) 9p – lulu’s village pub – $5
1509 main st, port jefferson, ny 11777
www.luluslive.com
w. Milan, Sheehan, and the Katie Pearlman Band

and one last thing – just booked the first boston show for april 10th…details to follow.

Tweet This Post