Dear Mike: What are Holiday Omens?

Dear Mike: What are Holiday Omens?

by | Dec 20, 2011 | live shows, So Good

What are Holiday Omens? The Holiday Omens are “gifts” for each member of the audience. They portend some aspect of their New Year. How does it work? Audience members are given the opportunity to reach into the Omen Bag, pull out one Omen, and pass the bag. At that point, it is up to the recipient to interpret why it picked them. Do YOU know why it picked them? I do not. Does it work? Oh yes. Are the Omens always “good”? Is anything? How would you define your role in distributing the Holiday Omens? They have come to me, looking for directions elsewhere. Does this go against any religions? Technically, yes. To some it equals idolatry, false witness, or a nod to other, darker arts. Audience members do not need to reach in. Have people ever returned an Omen? A large plastic eggplant was thrown at me on stage at New York City’s Mercury Lounge. It was revelatory, for those of a certain mind. Have you ever been given an Omen? Yes. I have been given Omens a couple of times by incredibly generous people. I was deeply moved. When did this tradition start? Long ago. Are tickets still available? Maybe. Maybe not. I’d check.   Where? Here:...
The Mike Errico Annual Holiday Show and Storewide Sale

The Mike Errico Annual Holiday Show and Storewide Sale

by | Dec 15, 2011 | Free

Full band, special guests, stories and… YOUR 2012 HOLIDAY OMENS Wednesday, December 21st, 7:30p Rockwood Music Hall 196 Allen Street New York City, NY 212.477.4155 21 and over/$15.00 Buy tickets online: CLICK HERE PLUS: Purchase a pair of tickets in advance through Rockwood Music Hall using the promo code HOLIDAYOMEN, and get a third ticket FREE. (Max. 10 free tickets) Facebook Event invite with holiday photos and comments: CLICK HERE Year-End Sale at the Mike Errico Online Store ALL ITEMS are $5, including t-shirts, CDs, posters etc.: CLICK HERE (sale ends January 1st, 2012) Recent Headlines 2012 Sundance Festival Selection: “That’s What She Said” feat. “Daylight” My Favorite Releases of 2011, by Mike Errico Mike Errico w/Raul Midon, “Next Time” (Live Video from Highline Ballroom, NYC) Mike Errico w/Jonatha Brooke, “Someday” (Live Video from the Rubin Museum, NYC) The Mike Errico Podcast, Ep 8: “Wander Away” Producer Ken Rich; “You Shook Me” Live (Free Download) The New Yorker illustrates Mike in Goings On About Town section “You Could Be Anywhere” featured on MTV’s “Teen Mom” (w/free song download) “Pop Up Video” returns to VH1, with new theme by Mike Errico More Tune in for free music, last minute shows, announcements, giveaways, videos and all that stuff, here: Facebook || Twitter || YouTube || Bandcamp || Pandora Tallboy 7, Inc. Box 20463 NY NY...

My Favorite Releases of 2011

by | Dec 13, 2011 | So Good, Video

A few caveats: A) The music industry, now in shambles, has made conversation about music fragmented, confusing and weird. B) A true Best Of list, liberated from genres, agendas and mission statements, reads like Spotify just threw up on your keyboard. C) Spotify did, in fact, throw up on my keyboard, sending me to the farthest reaches of recorded music, only a sliver of which was recorded in 2011. I was lucky to find these gems, and to see some of the bands live. Otherwise I hang on to so-called “common knowledge” only through limited familiarity with the Kardashians. (There are three, one more atrocious than the other.) Battles – Gloss Drop It seems perfectly normal to start an album review with praise for a video, especially when the (literally) trippy “My Machines” (feat. Gary Numan) provides all the gateway drugs required to hook into Battles catalog, live show and angular, restless aesthetic. Drummer John Stanier (ex-Helmet) is a force of nature, and on his foundation hangs a menagerie of Moogs and Marshalls that continue to blur the line between high-minded electronica and knuckle-dragging rock. Vocalists are guests (live, they are relegated to video wall projections), and the choice of ’80s synth pioneer Gary Numan speaks volumes. His disembodied delivery still sends chills, and the rhythm section brings heat. Radiohead – The King of Limbs Thom got…romantic. Or at least this is what I think it sounds like when androids get romantic. It’s lovely, really. All the emotion you’ve come to expect from human interaction, set to the stuttering digitalia you’ve come to expect from alien abduction. Boring choice?...