In August 2008, the 802 Tour - named after Vermont's only area code, curiously enough - made its way up and down the American coasts (with a couple stops in Canada). Featuring Green Mountain State natives Sam Amidon, Doveman, and Nico Muhly, the shows were collaborative efforts with each musician assisting the others in livening up each others' songs in a casual atmosphere; Sam played folk ballads, Doveman whispered his lamp-rock creations, and Nico performed high-brow, classical "pieces." The shows were a success.
If the previous paragraph induced either nostalgia (assuming you attended) or regret (assuming you didn't), there's good news - it's back. On Sept...
Sycamore, a florist-shop-cum-bar located in Brooklyn's Ditmas Park, has begun hosting live shows. While this may seem like random news at first, we assure you that it isn't. In addition to being located in the borough where Brassland makes its general home and in the neighborhood where multiple Nationals make their specific homes, the new venue semi-frequently brings in the band's own Scott Devendorf to DJ (see left). Jessica, Sycamore's booker (who also happens to be Aaron and Bryce Dessner's sister), explained Sycamore's vibe to Brooklyn Vegan:
"We're starting slowly, to be sure everything is done right. The goal is about 3 to 4 shows a week, and in gen...
The 802 Tour has (sadly) ended. To wrap up the experience, we compiled some reviews from various sources - the Examiner, the Washington Post, and Bostonist all had nice things to say. Björk went on a spiel about the notorious lack of fact-checking in pop music journalism while bringing Nico's name and work up as an example. With all of that extra material for your reading pleasure, we're posting the final 802 Tour Report From The Road, this time from Nico. Enjoy.
Reports From The Road by Nico Muhly (802 Tour, Day Sixteen, 8/29)
We just played the second-to-last show of this tour, in Toronto. We compressed our show (which, in its ideal format is two 60-minute se...
Hello from Montreal! We are having some fun because TODAY is nico's birthday wohoo!! yay yay yay. we got to spend some time in beautiful vermont, wow it was so nice there. we have no actual vermont show for our vermont 802 tour, but we had a beautiful vermont DAY, and for us that was very nice. in the van we have a few activities: dan and nadia are learning chinese; nico and thomas are working through the complete discography of r. kelly and the-dream and cee-lo (not gnarls barkley, cee-lo's solo records - cee-lo is a BETTER producer/dj than danger mouse! cee-lo is a genius!), and oren and i have watched two movies on my laptop in the way back of the van: "pickpocket" (bresson),...
On this tour, we have been variously staying in hotels and with friends - one of my favorite things about staying with people is when they have a dog. We have been very lucky on this trip: our hosts in Sebastopol, CA have a border collie/Australian cattle dog, Ace; our hosts in Portland have a frisky Weimaraner called Castle with googly eyes, and finally, our hosts Eddie and Willie (is there anything more fabulous than gay couples with matching names? I know a Nora and Laura in LA, too) have an eager pitbull, Rider. There is no better thing than being woken up by an eager dog's snout snuffling on one's person; I have been promised "big" dogs at our hosts' house in D.C. tonight an...
Life is wild. That is what we learned when we passed "Casa de Fruit," which turned out to be a sequence of stores to the right of the highway between san francisco and LA, the rest of which were called "Casa de Wine," "Casa de Diesel," and our favorite, "Casa de Restaurant." LA is wild. We played in Hollywood tonight, a lovely show at a tucked away little place near Amoeba records. I bought two DVDs at Amoeba records: "F for Fake" by Orson Welles, and "It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles" by some nice people including some of the remaining footage from said unfinished film. Okay watch this:
that's part two of three. (part one can be vi...
As Sam Amidon, Doveman, and Nico Muhly finish up on the West Coast and prepare to invade the East, they've garnered some attention on the information superhighway. Fuck Bad Music wrote some kind words, stating that the Portland show went "above and beyond my expectations...the feeling you're left with after a show this intimate is simply that you want more." Heavy kudos! In addition, Portland newspaper The Oregonian published a positive review of the August 15th show on their website.
In other (very important) news, the venue for the Washington DC show on August 21st has changed. The show will now take place at the Episcopal Church of The Ascension in Silver Spring, Mary...
While well aware that touring musicians are busy people, we were hoping - following the popularity of Bryan Devendorf's "Reports From The Road" earlier this summer - that Sam, Thomas, and Nico would write up some reports of their own while they trek across North America on The 802 Tour. Well, no worries! Sam's been kind enough to keep us up to date on what's happening out west. So without further ado, here's "Reports From The Road - 802 Edition."
Day One (8/14, Seattle)
hello people! we (nico: lead vox, harmonica, and tambourine; thomas: lead guitar; nadia: synth; oren: hair & makeup; dan bora: choreographer; and me: bus driver and massage therapist) a...
The 802 Tour with Sam Amidon, Doveman, and Nico Muhly kicks off tonight in Seattle. To celebrate, we created a Facebook page for all our "friends." So come socially network with us. Maybe even write on our "wall."
In additional news, a friend of ours not on Facebook named Oren Bloedow from Elysian Fields will join Sam, Thomas, Nico, and Nadia onstage, rotating between drums, keyboards, and guitar throughout the show.
If we learned anything from Bryan Devendorf's "Reports From The Road," it's that the touring life can be difficult - so much so that problems often appear before the tour begins. With that in mind, we regret to inform anxious Vancouverites that...
As previously reported, Brassland artists Nico Muhly and Doveman will be touring North America with their friend and fellow Vermont native Sam Amidon.
To mark the occasion, Brassland, along with 802 Tour partner Bedroom Community, launched a website where you can conveniently find performance dates, artist biographies, pictures, streaming videos, and mp3s to download.
Click here to visit the official 802 Tour website.
Nico Muhly will be touring the U.S. and Canada in August in support of his upcoming release, Mothertongue (in-stores on 7/22, out now on iTunes). He'll be joined on this tour by fellow Vermont-to-New York transplants, Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) and Sam Amidon. We're calling it the 802 Tour.
Previously, these three have appeared in each others shows and played on each others records. The performances will feature music from each of the three of them, as well as some sneak previews of future collaborative schemes. Sam will perform a set of folk ballads interspersed with the occasional Melville reading and some liturgical dance, accompanied by Thomas, with guest plinks by Nico....