Friday, March 2, 2012

LATEST LISIK NEWS: RECORDINGS AND SHOWS ROUND THE WORLD AND AROUND THE BLOCK



EXCESS BAGGAGE VOL. 9 ISSUE 2

Hey kids,

So here is the deal. I’m not what you would call an astrology expert, but with Whitney Houston dying the night before the Grammys, my phone deciding to jump out of my jacket pocket and take a suicide swim in the Brunswick Police Department toilet, several car repairs taking all my money, and about 4 total inches of snow falling in Northeast Ohio in the middle of February, something definitely must have been in some serious state of retrograde over the past two weeks.


But I’m an optimist – complete with an almost-fixed car, a really cool new LG Enlighten Smart Phone for only $35 after mail-in rebate, and some very exciting music-related items peering over the ol’ horizon this month. So here we go.

JOE WALLER AND I WILL BE PLAYING CANTON FIRST FRIDAY TONIGHT (3/2) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Lynda Tuttle’s Art Center, 209 6th St. S.W., behind the Palace Theater. A very special thanks to Lynda for having us at the gallery – not so incidentally one of my personal favorite downtown Canton spots on any night of the year.

ON MAR. 10, JOE AND I WILL MAKE OUR DEBUT at the Geisen Haus, 6955 Promway Drive, North Canton, at 9 p.m. Mar. 10. So dust off yer lederhosen (Joe will…), grab yer best fraulein (I will…) and join us, won’t you? And oh yeah, if you throw enough money, we just might throw some Scorpions and David Hasselhoff into the set!

CONTINUING OUR BIG EUROPEAN TOUR, Joe and I will next jet off to Flanagan’s Pub of Canton, 1316 Navarre Road, for (in bad Irish accent) St. Patty’s Day! That’s Mar. 17 for all you pagans, and Joe and I will be hitting the stage at 8 p.m. – probably around the time most of the patrons will be hitting the floor. But never fear, the whole thing will be getting streamed live via http://www.whatsupohio.com/ . And hopefully archived…so we can all laugh at you all online until next St. Patrick’s Day!

I WILL BE RETURNING TO ACOUSTIX CAFE IN AKRON, 662 Canton Road, at 7 p.m. Mar. 23 where I will share the stage once again with the amazing Mr. John Markovic. John and I used to play in a cool little combo together and our impromptu “reunion” at Acoustix earlier this year was a blast! Best line of the night, in fact, was when John (and the few beers he’d already had when his set began) said “When I last talked to Brian we both said ‘when’s the next practice? How about in 15 years?’” Which is closer to the truth than either one of us would like to admit. Either way, this one is sure to be another lovably loud, somewhat clumsy, rocking trip back down memory lane. Mallory opens the show at 6:30.

AND SPEAKING OF MANY HAPPY RETURNS, I’ll be traveling back to the Firehouse in Malvern Mar. 31 where Rick and the gang will play host to another night of, well, me at 8:30 p.m. Really looking forward to playing at one of my favorite spots – complete with great food, Newcastle beer, and the world’s smallest (but packed-est dance floor) once the liquor kicks in.

THINGS HAVE BEEN BUSYING UP OFFSTAGE AS WELL lately, including Steve Norgrove and my recording of a brand new song that is slated for possible inclusion in an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary on the life of Clarence Elkins. Turns out Clarence and his wife, Molly, are big fans and asked if I’d like to contribute music to the documentary. I, of course, was honored. We’ll keep ya posted as things develop, but in the meantime, Steve and my first trip into a recording studio in about a year has resulted in one of the best songs I’ve ever written and recorded, if I do say so myself….

IN OTHER STUDIO NEWS the long-awaited greatly anticipated (we hope) follow-up to Happiness Is Boring is slated for a summer 2012 release on Cherokee Queen Records. I’ve been back in the studio with Eddie Tomecko doing post production work this past month and it looks like The Mess That Money Could Buy is finally gonna see the light of day. Stay tuned for release show and tour info as we get closer to the release date. Eddie and I will also be poring over The Wrong Side of the Canal footage, with the hope of releasing the 2010 Lisik documentary, along with originally planned “Part II” material, on DVD in late 2012. Sort of depends on how much the label makes on Mess, but that’s all boring business stuff nobody wants to read about in a newsletter. In the meantime, check out a video of the previously unreleased song “Normalcy” recorded live in Eddie’s kitchen last month.

JOE AND STEVE AND I DON’T PLAN ON WASTING QUITE AS MUCH TIME with the follow-up to Mess, as plans are in the works to possibly record and release a Brian Lisik and The Unfortunates record this year. You know, a six-year wait between releases followed by a six-month wait between releases; we’re nothing if not reliably inconsistent.

AND THIS WILL ALL DOVETAIL NICELY with a complete overhaul of http://www.brianlisik.com/ which we hope to have completed within the next couple months. Meanwhile find us at the links listed at the end of this newsletter.


LASTLY, AND CERTAINLY NOT LEASTLY, the book project I am working on with a long-time former Cleveland-area elected official, rock photographer, and all-around interesting Italian guy continues and is getting more fun by the minute. Sorry again for being vague, but suffice it to say the book is a rollicking chronicle of the ups and downs of small town Midwest politics that I wanted to call “This Story Is So Good We’re All Sure to Get Sued” until my subject respectfully advised me against it. At any rate, the first draft (at least) should be wrapped up by late summer, so be on the lookout for updates and a website/blog devoted to the book coming soon.

SO TILL NEXT TIME, see ya at the shows boys and girls!


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www.cdbaby.com/all/lisik
www.twitter.com/brianlisik
www.myspace.com/brianlisikband

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