Switzerland Tour

While the Icelandic volcano gods were sleeping, resting their firey bellies momentarily, from May 6th to 12th the Red Hook Ramblers slipped over to Switzerland for a quick tour and a successful appearance at the Meilen Jazz Festival (locally known as Meilemer Jazztage).  That combination of stealth and luck was our key to a fabulous time while the odds were stacked against us

Yep, it looked kinda tough from the outset.  In Zurich, a number of venues offered us gigs and then went out of business or bailed on us. We then resolved to do heavy busking to drum up cash, but the weather report was full of rain.  Additionally, our banjo/piano man, Chris/Ceej/Cujo Johnson could not go with us and our road manager's (Tara's) dear grandmother passed away just a day before our departure.  But we kept our chins up, and amazingly, the sun came out blazing.

We owe a lot of thanks to Rolf Schweizer who organized the Meilen festival and took good care of us.  He put us up at a mountainside resort overlooking Lake Zurich where we partied with some local yodelers and Coco (Chris Cortier) jammed on didgeridoo.  The audiences at the festival were great, and we gave them everything: four hours of hot jazz on Friday and Saturday, plus a parade from the train station to Blumentals restaurant, our main hang.  We proudly found our picture in an article in the Zurichsee-Zeitung paper.

From there we moved into downtown Zurich and had our first gig at the zoo.  Kids and families loved us (of course!) and the zoo was very, very generous with the food.  Yes, the Swiss dig good food, and even the zoo's cafeteria featured gourmet salads, wine, beer, steaks...  mmm.  I'd gladly live in a cage there.

On Monday we had a burst of luck while busking down by the waterfront.  A lovely expat named Penny took a shine to us and connected us with restaurant owners that cater to the Swiss bank crowd.  Thanks a ton, Penny!  Give ol' Murphy a pat from us.  Also, our wonderful new friend Uli (who had seen us perform in Meilen) found us roaming around and hooked us up at Zurich University for a big party at their geology center.  From there, we raced across town and fell into the care of Erik Haemmerli at Old Fashion bar.  Erik, we can't thank you enough for your hospitality - wow. 

On Tuesday we played again for the university students and then finished the day at Erik's other restaurant, Bederhof.

Thanks so much to Tara Simmons, our road manager who really made this thing happen, and thanks to all the lovely Swiss people that made the trip spectacular.  We hope to see you all again!

2010 TONY Eat Out Awards

On April 5th we were invited by TIME OUT NY magazine to provide all the music for their Eat Out Awards, where they recognized the latest and greatest restaurants making the scene in the Big Apple.  It was a beautiful night in the chic environs of Le Poisson Rouge where we played a different theme song for each of the award winners as they strode to the stage.  We also got everyone fired up before the event, making the whole thing about three hours total - whoo-ee!  Bonus points if you caught us playing the Star Wars Cantina Band tune for the "Best Hipster Hangout" award.

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Time Out New York D&L Society Mardi Gras Event!

Our friends at Time Out New York have asked us to perform at a very cool event this month. We'll be playing three sets of good old New Orleans jazz to accompany the amazing hors d'oeuvres and drinks being served by the folks at Rye House at this Dining & Libation Society Fat Tuesday event.

Here are the details:
Fat Tuesday, February 16, 7:00pm-10:00pm
Time Out New York Dining & Libation Society Mardi Gras Event
@ Rye House – 11 W 17th St (between 5th & 6th Aves)
Flatiron District, Manhattan
Tickets available at the Dining & Libation Society website.
www.dlsociety.com
ryehousenyc.com

The ad to the left will be running in this week's issue of TONY.

Ramblers Live At Time Out New York!

This week, Time Out New York picked the Red Hook Ramblers to be the featured band on their blog, The Volume. It gave us an opportunity to advertise our show tonight, opening for Squirrel Nut Zippers at Maxwell's (which is now SOLD OUT), plus Nov. 16 at Sycamore Bar and the 18th at The Slipper Room.
All hot stuff - hope to see you at one of 'em.

Here's the video (you might have to sit through an ad first).

Here's a direct link to the TONY page with the video.

Ramblers Opening for Squirrel Nut Zippers!!

We're very excited to announce that we've been asked to open for Squirrel Nut Zippers at their November 13th show at Maxwell's in Hoboken!

Here are the details:
Friday, Nov 13, 9:00pm
Maxwell's
1039 Washington St.
Hoboken, NJ
www.maxwellsnj.com/

You can buy your tickets at the Maxwell's website! We hope to see you there!

Ramblers on TV!

UPDATE! Thanks to the folks from Brooklyn Independent Television, we now have the clip itself embedded in the main page of our website!

We were interviewed a few weeks ago for the "Neighborhood Beat: Red Hook" segment of a series of shows for BCAT TV in Brooklyn. The show will be airing soon! It will be broadcast on Thursday, Sept 3, and every Monday in Sept (7th, 14th, 21st, & 28th) at 12:30pm and 8:30pm on Time Warner Channel 56 and Cable Vision Channel 69. You can also watch it online during these times at http://www.briconline.org/bcat/ Click on BCAT channel 3.

It is also archived online at http://www.bricartsmedia.org/community-media/brooklyn-independent-television/neighborhood-beat/red-hook

You can also download it for free on iTunes.

There were some great still photos that went uncredited in the video. We wanted to make sure to credit the fantastic photographers that took those images. Thanks to Lori Foxworth for the black and white photos us performing, and Raquel Reis for the color photo of us marching in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park.