“Hymns for the Dreadful Night”

April 24, 2011

“Hymns for the Dreadful Night”, Pinataland’s new album, is mercifully done, and we’ll be celebrating its completion at:

Barbes, Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn
Friday May 13th at 10pm
Robin Aigner and Parlour Game at 8pm

with Robin Aigner and Doug Stone (me) singing, David Wechsler on piano and vocals, Bill Gerstel on drums, Ross Bonadonna on bass, and Deni Bonet on violin.

Here’s the blurb I wrote for the Barbes website:

Pinataland’s lyrics are about the murkier corners of the American past, and they sound like the lovechildren of Stephen Foster and Kurt Weil, or maybe if Up With People covered Laurie Anderson. The subjects of their darkly romantic tunes include digging up the corpse of Thomas Paine, godless 1670s Brooklyn, and the A-Bomb.

The recording of this thing was a fascinating process, and we owe everything to the genius of Ross Bonadonna. From within his cave-like Wombat Studios, Ross recorded, engineered, played multiple instruments (I believe he also sang, though that was later deleted), mixed, mastered, and throughout, acted as a mumbling Buddha of brilliant and elegant ideas that he would then execute with ease. Thanks for making a beautiful record, Ross!

I’d also like thank the fine musicians who played here:

Deni Bonet, whose violin playing gives me literal chills
Gerald Menke with his haunted pedal steel, dobro and mustache
Tubists Dave Hofstra and Dan Nosheny, who are two of the best in the business

David Wechsler and I co-wrote 3 songs here, and they’re my favorite, including “The Dreadful Night” which features a fantastic performance on an intriguingly out-of-tune piano Dave found somewhere.

Robin Aigner sings true on each and every song, and helpfully provides the soul of Pinataland.

And Bill Gerstel, who laid down the foundations of the record with orchestral percussion that gives the whole endeavor its odd and striking feel.

We’ll have the record for you the night of the 13th. Our Kickstarter supporters will be mailed CDs as soon as I get them, thanks so much for your help!

Thanks, and more updates to come soon,

Doug

Tracklist:

1. The Dreadful Night
2. Island of Godless Men
3. An American Man
4. The Death of Silas Deane
5. Oppie Struck a Match
6. Hungry Angel
7. The Oldest Band in Town
8. Hiawatha
9. Border Guard
10. Cemetery Mink

Tyranny of Dave non-solo show

October 28, 2010

It’s just me and Brittany and a whole mess of BBQ at the Horseshoe BBQ over at 4115 N Lincoln in Chicago. It’s free! And I made a special trip to go check out the BBQ a couple nights ago and it’s damn good. So come on by. It’s been forever since I’ve seen you and I miss you horribly. 9:30pm on the dot!!!

Piñataland plays at the Waterfront Books and Authors Festival

June 26, 2010

Come celebrate water and books! (It’s like the opposite of going to a book-burning.) Piñataland will be joining the Waterfront Books and Authors festival at Red Hook’s wonderful Waterfront Museum which takes place from Noon-4:00pm.

Featured authors and books:
Gabriel Cohen, The Ninth Step and The Graving Dock
Trevor Corson, The Story of Sushi, The Secret Life of Lobsters
Jessica DuLong, My River Chronicles: Discovering America on the Hudson
Ben Gibberd, NY Waters
William Kornblum, At Sea in the City: New York from the Water’s Edge
George Matteson, Tugboats of New York
John Waldman – Heartbeats in the Muck
Terry Walton, Harbor Voices
Nathan Ward, Dark Harbor: the War for the New York Waterfront

And Piñataland will pepper the event with a few sets of our water-themed numbers (of which we seem to have quite a few. Who knew?)

$6

Pinataland on the Water

June 21, 2010

We’ll be performing at the Waterfront Books and Authors Festival this Saturday afternoon (June 26th) in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The fest looks like the great way to spend the day – relaxing on a barge, listening to writers and their intriguing insights into the history of cities and water, and listening to 2 sets of waterway-related tunes from us. We’ll be on at 1pm and 2:30, directions and info on the link above.