The 2Late Blog

It’s been a long wait. We whined last December about losing all our venues, and we weren’t kidding. But we have not been idle. We’ve been working hard on new music both original and “borrowed.” First we borrowed, but lately, we’ve been digging into Mike’s trove of compositions. He’s been actively pursuing his new career as an unsuccessful songwriter and has a lot to show for it, besides the scars.

And Saturday, we’ll be trotting out a lot of our new music IN PUBLIC! With an audience (that would be you, hint, hint). And it’s for a good cause. We’re hosting the Build a “Coffee” House at St. Madeleine Sophie on Carman Road in Guilderland Saturday, May 12 from 7-9 PM. $5 at the door ($10 for your family). Proceeds go to the SMS Youth Group, who are bound for Monson, MA to help tornado victims rebuild (we have a song about that we are debuting Saturday). These kids are getting very skilled with hammers, so be nice to them. Wait, that didn’t come out right. We’re opening for 4ever1. I have to say that 4ever1 is confused. See, 2late has two people, and 4ever1 has, not one, not four, but seven people. And a PowerPoint guy. But it doesn’t matter how confused they are, they make great music. This is a show you will not want to miss.

And if two groups isn’t enough for you, then how about 25? That’s what you’ll get for one admission price at Rhythm on the Ridge, June 9 all day and well into the night. Including 2Late. All original and traditional music. All day. Great food, great fun and great music. Nothing like it. Details available on our web site.

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook. We’ll have some goodies over the summer, since we’re headed back to the studio. for all our Facebook friends and likes and whatever the right terms are.

We had a great time at the Hudson River Coffeehouse on Friday with Rob Jonas. Anton liked us enough that we’ll be back soon. Just walking in the place and inhaling is a wonderful experience. Mike agrees with that even though he doesn’t drink coffee! In fact, it’s kind of ironic how much time he spends in coffee houses considering.

We’ve been practicing hard and introduced six songs to our set list. including a few originals, so be sure to catch us next time if you missed us this time. And of course, there was a request for Duct Tape My Heart, so we couldn’t disappoint. DTMH is now officially our most requested songs. We don’t know what that says about Duct Tape (or the rest of our songs!)

Next up, we’ll be playing at St. Madeleine Sophie at the Build a “Coffee” House, a concert benefit the SMS Youth Group, who is headed to Monson, MA this summer to help the residents of Monson, MA rebuild after sever tornadoes. We are opening for special guests 4ever1. We’re very excited about it, and hope to see lots and lots of you there. It’s $5 at the door, or $10 for the whole family. Refreshments will be available, as well as great music.

On June 9, we’ll be just one of 25 bands playing at the Rhythm on the Ridge festival at Maple Ski Ridge. Tickets are $15 for all day. We’ll be on about 1:15 on one of the stages they have going. This is the 4th year for the festival that celebrates original and traditional music. We’ll be playing all originals, and if practice goes well, six or seven of them will be brand new.

Visit our CD page to see the new feature that lets you purchase singles or whole albums from CD Baby. They charge less than we do, so it’s a good way to get our music! You can purchase digital or CDs.

The long wait is over. We’ll be playing on Friday, April 27 at 7:00, along with Rob Jonas and another act at the Hudson Valley Coffee House on Quail Street in Albany, just south of Western Avenue. It’s a new venue for us, so you’ll have to wait for the food and beverage review until next time. We have not been idle during our “vacation,” and will be trotting out a lot of new music, originals and otherwise. We won’t abandoned the old favorites, unless someone takes up a collection to avoid Duct Tape My Heart, something we might actually recommend!

Saturday, May 12 at 7:00, we will be opening for 4ever1 at St. Madeleine Sophie’s Parish Hall. 4ever1 is a local Christian band, with tens of thousands of fans on Facebook. Samples of their great music are available on their web site. Visit our calendar for the link. The performance benefits the SMS Youth Group, who will be spending a week this summer helping tornado victims in Monson, MA rebuild their homes. Join us for a great cause and a great evening of music.

Did you know: you can hear our music on Jango and Spotify? You can download 2Late tunes from iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon, either entire albums or individual tracks, which gives you the opportunity to avoid Duct Tape My Heart once again!

Did you know that Duct Tape My Heart is our second-most requested song, after Hotel California? Scary, isn’t it?

Like us on Facebook.

Until Friday. See you then.

The amazing weather in the Northeast continues, and now they’re worried about not enough water, this after 15 inches above normal last year. It’s been mighty strange around here.

And it’s been mighty quiet, too, although that is about to change. Mark your calendars for April 27. We’ll be playing with two other bands at the Hudson River Coffeehouse on Quail Street in Albany, a new venue for us. The show kicks off around seven and we’re on first, instead of Who (that’s an Abbot and Costello reference for you young’uns).

In the meantime, Mike’s been writing songs like mad, and then recording them like mad so Vicki can listen to them like mad to learn them like mad so we can get together and practice like mad. It’s paying off, and we will have a set next Friday that has a lot of new material in it, just another reason to come out and see us, as if you needed one!

We miss you guys! See you soon.

AND DON’T FORGET TO DO YOUR TAXES!

We hope you had a lovely Easter. We spent it watching golf. Well, we did other more Eastery things, but we did watch the final round of the Masters together. Mike hardly ever watches golf, and Vicki never does, but we did this year, and found it quite compelling.

It reminded us of 2Late. How we drive, how we combine woods and irons (actually the strings are bronze, but go with us here!), how we never hit the “green,” how hard it is to play on Saturday and Sunday, how often we have to hit saving shots out of the trap when we’re performing live. How nice our venues are. And of course, the huge, adoring crowds. And how Mike wishes he was called Bubba.

It also reminded us to tell you that we usually don’t use so many puns during our live performances, so you should be safe.

And speaking of live performances, we are coming up on one. April 27, with Rob Jonas, at the Hudson Valley Coffee House on Quail Street in Albany. It’s a new venue for us, which makes us doubly excited. And we have already worked up six songs we have not played live, including two originals, plus we have two more weeks, so we can promise that the show will fresh on so many levels.

And we miss you guys! See you there!

Mike reports that he worked outside in short-sleeves yesterday. Vicki reports she, caught in an office, didn’t really want to hear that! But that might mean that our brutal, three-day winter is over! We’ve seen robins and red-wing blackbirds. And kids playing basketball. It’s all good.

We have landed a new venue, after months of losing places to play. We will be joining Rob Jonas at the Hudson River Coffeehouse in Albany on April 27. Our friends who have played there tell us it’s a very nice place. We are looking forward to it.

And we’ve been working hard, so when we are out playing again, we can promise lots of things you haven’t heard, and promise equally that you will enjoy the new songs. We think, after eight years, we have finally found our sound. Come out in April and tell us if you agree!

In the meantime, enjoy the fine weather we are having here in the Northeast, and work up an appetite for some satisfying home-grown music.

Upcoming:

May 12 a benefit for the St. Madeleine Sophie Youth Group

June 9-10 Rhythm on the Ridge

We saw snow this weekend!

Of course, Maple Ski Ridge had made the snow, but there is was, white and … white. Right on the side of the hill.

We were at Maple Ski Ridge to play, along with Peter Yakel and Flood Road, and right after Kevin Wayne and the Retrobillies. It was a lot of fun. Outside, MSR was holding their Snowbox Derby. Kids (of many ages) had built and designed fabulous cardboard contraptions which they raced down the hill. The winner barreled down the hill in 6.2 seconds and took out the people at the bottom (who were there to stop speeding cardboard boxes and children) like a bunch of bowling pins. Not all racers had so much success. The dragon came down the hill slowly, and backwards. But the Dragon won the design contest, so any hurt feelings were assuaged.

Outside it was windy and cold. Inside, the music was hot. 2Late’s performance was described as “great harmony” with “blistering guitar.”

It was a good day.

Our next public performance is in May. We’ll keep you up-to-date.

In the meantime, feed your 2Late fix with Music Madness. Vote for your favorite 2Late song. This week’s Sound-Off is between It’s Raining, from A Little 2Late and Molly Dancing, our Celtic Rock song from Just 2Late. Listen to the songs, then make your choice for the song to advance to the Elitish Eight or So ^non-TM.

If you can’t wait for May to see live music, may we recommend a concert that benefits St. Madeleine Sophie’s scholarship program? Hair of the Dog is playing March 24th. It’s $15. To reserve seats, call 356-0172 and leave a message. 2Late is eternally grateful to HotD for recommending portable foot pads. They are wonderful when playing standing up for long periods of time! (Also, Mike is a member of the SMS Men’s Association, the group that is putting on the concert.)