BEL AIR'S TOUR DE SOUTH!!!

Hey All,

Just a reminder about Bel Air's Tour de South 2009. We'll be heading out on the road for a week starting November 15th! We've got some great shows lined up and we couldn't be more excited about it. So, if you live in any of the cities listed below, we'd love to see you! If not, please feel free to pass on the information to any friends who do. We're grateful.


BEL AIR - SOUTHERN TOUR 2009

Nov. 15th at The M Room - Philadelphia, PA

Nov. 16th at The Juggling Gypsy - Wilmington, NC

Nov. 17th at The Garage - Winston Salem, NC

Nov. 18th at The Bobo Gallery - Asheville, NC

Nov. 19th at 8th and Rail - Auburn, AL

Nov. 20th at Hang Fire - Savannah, GA

Nov. 21st at Slims - Raleigh, NC


Follow us on twitter (www.twitter.com/belairband) if you want to keep up with all the hot gossip from the road in real time.

We'll be back in NYC and playing at Union Pool on December 4th. Fresh off the tour, we should be in good shape. Or, completely busted. We shall see.

xoxoxo,
Allie, Jeff, Wyatt, Turner & Eric
www.belairtheband.com

WHEELS

I just remembered that we were seriously considering naming the band Wheels before we came up with Bel Air. I'm glad someone talked me out of that. It was probably Wyatt.


Photo by Jamie MacKenzie
Sepia nonsense by me. I was bored.

WORLD SERIES

The Phillies? Really? Do they honestly think they're any match for the Yankees? I mean, they're THE YANKEES. THE Yankees. Get real, Phillies!

TOUR NONSENSE

Things to do in the van:

- listen to pre-made mixes
- play Garage Band trivia game
- geek out on music
- video tape each other
- play 20 questions
- play Seinfeld trivia (Allie and Eric)
- eat gorp
- get lost
- back seat drive (Jeff)
- glare at each other
- listen to Pandora
- come up with set lists
- read Twilight (Allie)
- read yellowed Penguin classics (Turner)
- smoke (Jeff and Turner)

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

I listened to Justin Townes Earle's album Midnight at the Movies recently and once again remarked on the female backing vocals on "Mama's Eyes" and "Here We Go Again". I went to allmusic.com to find out who that singer is. It turns out there are no female singers listed in the credits for that album. So, I still don't know who to be crazy jealous of.

I did notice that Cory Younts who is the amazing multi-instrumentalist that JTE tours with is credited with "Whistle (Human)". I love that! It's a very important distinction.

CURRENT OBSESSION

Deer Tick, These Old Shoes

Deer Tick will be doing some dates (though not the NYC-area shows) with Neko Case in November. I would love to see them together.

The new album Born on Flag Day is great. Check it out when you get a minute.

If you can't see this video you can access it with this link.

HELLO AGAIN!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. Everyone needs a blogcation, right?

Despite the blog slacking, we have a lot going on. We're gearing up for the CMJ Music Marathon 2009! Our showcase is on Wednesday, October 21st at the Alphabet Lounge (Avenue C and E. 7th Street) at 10pm. Here's the schedule for the night:

7pm - Heath Street
8pm - Jones Street Station
9pm - Blair
10pm - Bel Air

Notice anything about this list? Two "street" bands and then Blair and Bel Air. The CMJ schedulers have an interesting sense of humor. When Wyatt was in Masculine Feminine he played a CMJ showcase with Junior Senior and Mommy and Daddy.

The weird thing about this bill is that it actually makes sense. Heath Street is folkie singer/songwriter kind of stuff, Jones Street Station (who didn't get to play at last year's ill-fated pig roast) are great country rock featuring our friend Jon Hull on harmonica. Blair's songs are really interesting - influenced by Neil Young and alt-country but not in an obvious way. Then us. You know what we sound like: kind of an amalgamation of all of the above.

Besides CMJ, we (read: Wyatt) have been working on our brand new OFFICIAL WEBSITE!!! It's your new one stop place for all things Bel Air. It has photos, a store, our twitter feed, news and MORE. Check it out! We're excited about it.



We've also been working on our fall tour-de-south. It's coming together. Here are the dates:

15-Nov-09 The M Room Philladelphia, PA
16-Nov-09 Juggling Gypsy Wilmington, NC
17-Nov-09 The Garage Winston Salem, NC
18-Nov-09 The Bobo Gallery Asheville, NC
19-Nov-09 8th and Rail Auburn, AL
20-Nov-09 Hang Fire Savannah, GA
21-Nov-09 Slims Raleigh, NC

I've started chronicling the process of booking/planning/doing a tour in my Eight Million Stories column. You can read the first installment here. The next one will be posted next week (Oct. 16th).

Thanks for reading this long-winded post. I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time!

XOXOXO

ON THE BEAT - TOUR EDITION

Hey there. My September On the Beat column is up! In it, I begin what is looking like it might be a 2 or 3 parter about planning a tour as an indie band.

CHECK IT OUT!

We might be jumping trains if we don't secure a van soon...

CUTE!

Last winter, Bel Air went to see Wilco and Neil Young at MSG. The concert happened to fall on the birthday of Jeff Tweedy's son Spencer. We all sang Happy Birthday to him and then he played drums with the band on... Late Greats I think? Anyway - 13-year-old Spencer Tweedy has a blog in which he quotes his father, philosophizes about hipsters and penguin classics, chronicles his dates with the style rookie and apologizes for going to WalMart.

VMA CRAZINESS

This get-up is just disturbing. Even bastion of human sympathy, Eminem, looks concerned.

WOW!

"Joshua Bell is one of the world's greatest violinists. His instrument of choice is a multimillion-dollar Stradivarius. If he played it for spare change, incognito, outside a bustling Metro stop in Washington, would anyone notice?"

This is a great article from the Washington Post. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend taking a minute to do so.

Here's a video of Joshua Bell doing what he does best: looking cute. Oh, and playing the violin.



If you can't see this video you can access it with this link.

BEL AIR ON THE AIR

Bel Air opens and closes the current episode of Americana Rock Mix! Check it out here! Scroll to the bottom to listen to the episode.