Neon Swing X-perience: NSX Blog Spot

Greetings and salutations, friends, Romans, swing dancers, and rockabilly fiends,

As we are nearing the end of summer, we want to express that we hope that you had as great of a season as we did.  Thank you for making our summer so memorable!  It’s been a dang good summer – and it’s been so hot that we posted our version of Squirrel Nut Zippers’ “Hell” on our website to commemorate all of the sweat that’s been pouring off us while on stage.

This summer we embarked on the longest tour of our career with dates spread over four weeks.  We made a lot of new friends in cities that we’ve never played before such as Lexington and Keyport and had a blast seeing long-term pals again during our regular stops in places like Baltimore and Ocean City (ask Andy about this year’s annual karaoke night on the boardwalk).  Through our website, we’ve also released a couple of never-before-heard NSX chestnuts for your listening and dancing (if you’re keen to dance while holding your laptop) pleasure.  We’ve beefed up our setlist with a bunch of new songs and styles including doo wop, horn rock, and even (gasp) a polka!  And just this week, we ate a lot of ribs and were on the line-up with Eddie Money which was more than a bit random, albeit a whole lot of fun!  Two tickets to Paradise, indeed…as long as they aren’t to Cancun.

It’s funny because a year ago we told you that we’d be slowing down substantially…

And in some ways we have.  We used to release an average of ten songs every two years or so via CD rather than one or two tunes via our website.  That’s unfortunately not going to happen in 2010, however we are working on a new disc for 2011 and it has a really cool feel to it.  We’ve been playing a bunch of new originals from the disc live and are going to include a lot of your favorite covers too.  “Grandpa Tempo and the Chairman of Swing” (as it’s tentatively called) is shaping up to include somewhere around 20 tracks!

We’ve also been lacking in performing as many Pittsburgh shows as we used to.  The facts are that we can’t play live as much as we once did and that when we’ve been able to play out, we’ve been doing it increasingly more on the road.  We’ve been getting so many calls that we’ve had to turn a lot of shows down because of our increasingly tight personal schedules.  Granted, we love visiting new places and meeting new people, but there’s no place like home!  And we can’t wait to do a bunch of shows back in Pennsylvan-I-A in the fall.

Speaking of PA, this week we’re back at Cefalo’s in Carnegie.  Be there!  Next week, we’re at Stone Villa in Acme…uh…be there, too!  (In fact, this is our last scheduled show at Stone Villa and it’s over a holiday weekend, so you know it’s going to be ridiculous!)  And in mid-September, we’re doing a first for NSX – playing at a BOWLING ALLEY!  I’m way too excited about this concept.

So, don’t be a stranger, Pennsylvanians – we have a bunch of new shows listed on our schedule that we want to see you at.

Oh, and did we mention that we’re playing the US’s biggest rockabilly festival in Vegas over Easter weekend with Jerry Lee Lewis?  So many adjectives describe this…but we like to call it randaweslousillinesskick-ass.

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire,

Mike

Top of the morning to you, ace!

What’s the deal with fewer Neon Swing shows and a lack of blogs in MONTHS, you ask?  Feelin’ kind of bummed some of the winter shows were canceled due to the extreme blizzards?  Well, there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes with NSX regardless of the weather and the lack of information that we’ve posted recently.

First and foremost is that the shows we have been playing have been going very well – thanks everyone who came to our Cincinnati debut, lost a couple of bucks gambling to NSX tunes at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, and supported St. Clair Hospital at the Hard Rock Café.  Later this week, we’re excited about making our Kentucky debut!  But, if you haven’t been able to shovel out of your house this winter to make it to a show, never fear!  Steve put most of our entire Cincinnati debut at the renowned Blue Wisp Jazz Club up on YouTube.  Check out the new videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/NeonSwingXperience1.  We absolutely can’t wait to play for you in Kentucky this month and to be back at Swing City at the end of the month – since our December show there was canceled due to weather, it’s been close to 4 months since we’ve been at Swing City and we miss it!  We’ve also been putting together some new dates for our east coast/Midwest summer tour – new dates are being added all of the time, so keep checking our schedule at www.neonswing.net.  But, in the meantime, our YouTube videos should tide you’re missing seeing NSX live.

We’ve also been working on some new recordings.  We have three songs that we recently recorded in the studio, have a couple of live tracks together, and are going back into the studio this summer to record three or four more new originals.  Our plan right now is to keep recording live shows and studio tracks incrementally over the next year or two in order to release a massive new album chronicling our progressions both as a band and individually over the past few months/years.  Right now, we’re using the working title suggested by Andy for the new project: “Grandpa Tempo and the Chairman of Swing”.  Don’t ask.  We’ve also been working with a European swing/punk (interesting but cool combo) record label to potentially include a track on a forthcoming compilation which will be released in a few months.  More details on that as they emerge.

Last, but certainly not least, is the big news.  As you’ll recall, Neon Swing X-perience has been somewhat nomadic since we lost our home (if you can call a former speakeasy “home”) at Sassy Marie’s in 2008.  Well, we are just about ready to announce a new monthly speakeasy-themed party event co-hosted by Neon Swing X-perience in Pittsburgh.  We can’t release too many details yet; only that we’re hoping for some amazing guests, an awesome location, and for folks to come ready for a good time.  We’re hoping to make the event a prohibition-era inspired, moon-shine drinkin’, ruckus of a gin-joint/supper club/dive bar party extravaganza.  There will be various themes from month-to-month and the event is expected to feature vintage cocktails/drink specials and some good old fashioned real American music.  Vintage dress is encouraged!

With all of this going on, we’re sure we’ll see you soon.  And we can’t wait until then!

Sincerely,

Mike

Neon Swing X-perience 

Hi, everyone...

 

We're not doing so well this week in terms of shows being canceled.

 

Unfortunately, Neon Swing X-perience will not be appearing at Swing City this evening due to the weather. 

 

However, Neon Swing X-perience and Bobby D will again join forces on New Years Eve at First Night Pittsburgh.  We hope you will join us there.

 

Our New Years Eve event takes place at the new Trust Arts Education Center at 805/807 Liberty Avenue (in the Pierce Studio - Lower Level).  Buttons to get into all First Night events can be found at all local Giant Eagles, Cultural District box offices, and www.firstnightpgh.com.

 

The schedule on New Years Eve is:

Dance lesson 6:30-7:00

NSX: 7:00-8:00

Dance lesson: 9:00-9:30

NSX: 9:30-11:00

 

 

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

 

Mike, Wally, Joe, Steve, Andy, Tim & Tucker

Neon Swing X-Perience

www.neonswing.com or www.neonswing.net

www.facebook.com/pages/Neon-Swing-X-perience/57447255544

www.myspace.com/neonswingxperience

www.twitter.com/neonswing

www.youtube.com/neonswingxperience1

724-331-7335

Fans & Friends,

     We found out just this afternoon that tonight's show at Buckhead Saloon has been canceled by the venue.  Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.  We will see you Friday at Cefalo's in Carnegie. 

All the Best,

Neon Swing X-Perience

So much has been happening in the world of Neon Swing X-perience recently.

 

Obviously, we’ve gone through some personal changes over the past couple of months in terms of members welcoming additions to their families and others relocating.  But, we’ve still managed to play several shows and look forward to playing a bunch more around the holidays.  But, before we get into the holiday shows…

 

…we want to congratulate saxophonist Steve and his wife Tiff on the birth of Nicholas, their first child.  Steve is the first member of NSX to be a dad while still performing with the band, and we look forward to having Nick around and watching him grow!  Also, we want to recognize drummer Joe Palacki’s marriage to his sweetheart Mary in September.  With the addition of Tucker on guitar at most of our shows, the NSX extended family seems to keep growing!

 

We hope that you’ll be part of our family this holiday season, too, as we prepare for several holiday shows around Pittsburgh.  We’ll be featuring some new tunes that we’ve been writing and arranging including possibly a few Christmas songs.

 

Our holiday shows kick off on November 28^th (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) at Club Café in Pittsburgh’s historic South Side.  We’re hosting “Vintaga Fest” which we hope to make an annual get-together for folks interested in progressing vintage Americana music styles forward.  This year, we’ll be joined by WYEP featured artist Slim Forsythe and the always irreverent rockabilly/old skool R&B sensations the Jason Martinko Revue.

 

The show starts on November 28^th at 8 and NSX will play from 9-10:30.  We hope that you will join us – this is one show that can’t be missed!  And it’s a very cheap ticket for three excellent retro bands!

 

Don’t forget to check out all of our other Holiday Shows by clicking on our “Tour Dates”.

 

Ho, ho, ho!

 

Mike

Neon Swing X-perience

Whew – we’ve been so busy that I’ve barely had time to even think about writing a blog, but with so much stuff going on I think it’s long overdue. At the prompting of keyboardist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Andy, he thought that it would be good to FINALLY blog about the real origins of the band’s name. I also think that it would be great to update you on what the band’s been doing/plan to do…so here goes.

There’s been many many rumors surrounding the origins of the band’s “hokey” name (some of them spread by us). Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the band’s name (strange I know), but the name “Neon Swing X-perience” does make sense knowing our history. I told Andy the true story of the band’s name while we were on tour since he had never heard it before and he immediately said, “You gotta post the REAL story on the website.”

So, 11 years ago I was sitting around the living room at one of our co-founder’s parents’ place after a practice and all of the members (I think there were ten at the time) were trying to come up with a name. Our first show was going to be a talent show with an industrial/metal band called “Halogen”. Being the nerds we were, Tony (our then alto sax player) wanted to also name the band after another Noble Gas on the Periodic Table. I told you we were nerdy. He thought that “Neon” would be the best choice. Someone else thought that we should spell our name wrong – eventually we decided that spelling “Experience” like “X-perience” would be pretty cool. I told you we were nerdy. Then, as an off-the-wall comment, Dan (our then guitarist) said, “How about ‘Captain Spam and the Potted Meat Men’?”. I told you we were nerdy.

Well, to make a long story short, the band took a vote and no clear winner that we all agreed on emerged. Me being the consummate compromiser (the current NSX members might disagree with this), I suggested that we combine all three ideas to become “Neon Spam X-perience” which is how we were billed for our first show. None of the members thought we’d play another, but when we decided to keep the band going we changed “Spam” to “Swing” to avoid copyright infringement and to keep our initials NSX which was already becoming known in some circles for better or worse.

No lie.

That’s a fun little anecdote from the past – now let’s talk about the present and future. If you’ve been following NSX, you’ll know that we just finished up our fourth east coast tour and it went awesome – we’re already figuring out next year’s tour since we’ve been getting calls non-stop and believe us: it’s gonna be bigger and even better! And we made the surprise announcement via Twitter last week that we’ve begun recording again (follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/neonswing). The goal for the recording is to track two or three songs every couple of months and in two or three years have a new album ready to go. So far it’s going great and the new tunes have a really cool vibe! We may also be doing some live recordings and also release some tracks on our website in the upcoming months – so keep your eyes and ears peeled! In the meantime, if you don’t already have your copy of our latest CD “Here To Stay”, make sure you pick one up at shows, Pittsburgh stores, CD Baby, or iTunes.

Regarding band member happenings: Tucker Flythe, a fantastic guitarist who sat in with us a few months ago on the South Side, will be joining us as a regular member beginning at our Swing City show on September 5. We can’t wait to welcome Tucker and hope y’all will be able to make it out to say hi. And, as it turns out, it seems as though bassist Tim might be sticking around Pittsburgh for a little while longer. Neither Tim nor the other members want anyone else playing bass, so we’re happy to have Tim still onboard!

We’ve been doing a bunch of private shows, but our next two public shows are big Big BIG! On September 5th we rock Swing City with new member Tucker Flythe…

…then on September 12th make sure you join us for our final Stone Villa Wine Cellars show of the season. Especially because it will be my last show as a Pennsylvania resident. Selfishly, I hope you can be there because I hope to see all of you before I move to Cincinnati. Remember, though, that the plan is for me to still come back from Cincy to play with NSX.

See you then!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

That's right, folks...summer 2009 has begun. Those of you that have followed the band for some time know that summer means a lot of partying to high-energy swing music.

Before we go into details on that, though, I want to mention two things. The first is to offer a congratulations to long-time NSX guitarist Private Ryan Kuntz (now serving in the US Army) on his and his wife's first baby, Cameron Ryan Kuntz. Ryan says that the new addition is happy and healthy!

The second is to clear up a nasty rumor that's been spreading about the band: NEON SWING X-PERIENCE IS NOT BREAKING UP AFTER THIS SUMMER! Yes, we will have some changes personally and to our line-up which will occur in the next couple of months. While it will force us to play a few less shows here and there, it is our intention to keep NSX together for as long as people will come to listen to us! Starting in September, we will only be able to play 1-3 times a month live, but will be releasing new music via our website on occasion and will continue to play for you as much as possible. Even though we won't be playing live as much, we look forward to seeing your smiling faces and dancing feet at all of our shows!

Phew - now that's over with, summer is heating up, isn't it?!?! Our show with Reverend Horton Heat at the Rex Theater last week was ridiculous. Our set really got the adrenaline going to say the least. Then we helped out a good cause on Saturday and returned to Stone Villa on Sunday to a crowd of over 400 (!) people. I sang and played so hard that I lost my voice and was completely unable to talk after we were done.

Don't worry, though. We didn't play this weekend so I've had a chance to rest my voice a bit. NSX will be full-speed ahead on Saturday at Swing City in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. While we were on break, though, some of the members of the band had the opportunity to check out a few other shows. Slim Forsythe's CD release party on Thursday was great - and his CD's awesome. We've been playing with Slim for years and I'll tell you...I was blown away by his original songs on his new disc. Then on Friday we went and checked out rockabilly night at the Coyote (which is always a good time) to see a "power swing" band we'll be playing with on their next tour through the 'Burgh. It was awesome hanging out at the Coyote again. Steve and I both said how it brought back a lot of memories and how much we miss playing there.

So, other than our annual tour this summer, what else does NSX have on the fire? How about opening up for a member of Asylum Street Spankers at the Thunderbird next month? You heard it hear first - more details to come soon.

In the meantime, see you on your feet Saturday at Swing City.

Mike

This is kind of last minute, folks, but we just found out that we'll be opening for Reverend Horton Heat, the legendary psychobilly/rockabilly international act at the Rex Theater (1602 E Carson St., South Side, Pittsburgh) tomorrow (Thursday, June 11) night! Doors open at 7:30 and we hope that you can join us...get there early because this show sold out the last time they were in town.

Neon Swing X-perience

Howdy again, folks.

First of all, on behalf of the rest of the band, thanks for supporting us at our last couple of shows. We're so happy to finally be back as a seemingly regular fixture at Bobby D's Swing City in Squirrel Hill and thank you for coming and dancing to us there. Thanks also to everyone that came to Cefalo's this week to help make it one of our biggest turn-outs at Carnegie's only ultra-swanky ex-Church.

On another note, we're SO excited for this Friday when we'll be playing a reception prior to the Glenn Miller Orchestra at New Castle's Scottish Rite Cathedral. This is a very special show because this venue (which is home to the Pittsburgh Symphony during the off-season) is being named an Historic Landmark and we're happy to help celebrate. It's also special for us because Glenn Miller has been such an inspiration for our music. When I first started the band 11 years ago, we listened to Glenn Miller a lot in order to figure out what we should sound like. Obviously since we never had enough members (at the same time) to form a 16-piece big band, we never achieved a sound close to Glenn Miller, but still to this day perform a lot of GM's tunes. NSX's goal was always to have people humming our tunes after our shows were over and by Mr. Miller's emphasis on melody and phrasing over jazz improvisation we feel that he had the same goal. We're honored to be a part of this show. Our reception in the Cathedral's basement, which has a "Speakeasy theme" is from 6-8 and the GMO starts at 8. We JUST found out that our reception is open to the public and the cost is $25 which includes food. However, if you email us at SrgntSwing@aol.com by Thursday we can hook you up with tickets for only $12! Note that this does not include tickets for the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

We also have many more shows coming up this summer that we hope you can make. In the fall, we will have a few member line-up changes including a to-be-determined bass player to take over for Tim and adding a new guitarist (and believe me when I say that our new guitarist is amazing!).

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Change is inevitable and Neon Swing X-perience has never been an exception to this rule. But 2009 will bring perhaps the most dramatic changes that NSX has ever experienced…and they’re all happening at once. Those of you that tuned in to my interview on Swingin’ From Coast 2 Coast on Tuesday already know what I’m talking about – and you may have been a bit surprised. To those that weren’t able to listen, here’s what’s been going on behind the scenes with us recently.

First and foremost, NSX band members have much to celebrate. In September, drummer Joe will marry his sweetheart Mary who you can often see knitting/selling CDs at our merchandise table during our shows. The two met at a show we were playing two years back and Joe popped the question at the very same venue exactly a year later. Please join us in wishing this happy couple sincere congratulations!

We also have something else to be happy about (and to offer congratulations to). Soon Neon Swing X-perience will have our first mini-Neon Swinger. Sax player Steve and his lovely wife Tiff (who you also often see smiling and selling CDs at our gigs) are expecting their first child this coming October. Steve will be the first band member to have a child while still performing as a regular member of NSX.

The news of Joe, Mary, Steve, and Tiff is indeed great news! Unfortunately, we do have some bad news (for the band – but great for Tim!). Bassist Tim will be leaving NSX (for the second time since 1998) at the beginning of September to move to the west coast with his girlfriend. Of course we wish Tim the best of luck, but we will greatly miss him. He is an excellent bass player, great friend, worthy beer expert, and all around cool dude. While Tim can hardly be replaced, we will reluctantly start auditioning bass players soon. If you know of anybody that might be interested, please give us a call or email.

Lastly, I will be moving to Cincinnati (about five hours away from NSX’s base in Pittsburgh) in the middle of September.

So, if you do the math…NSX is currently a six member band, and four of our members are about to undergo major life changes. Two are moving out of the western Pennsylvania area, and two are taking steps towards beginning families all around the September-October 2009 timeframe.

What does this mean for the future of the band?

Of course, no one can ever really predict the future and to try is just plain silly. But what I can tell you is what we intend to do. While I will be living a bit farther away, I commit to traveling every once in a while back to the Pittsburgh area to play in the band on a few odd weekends here and there. Likewise, the band agrees to visit me and perform out in Ohio once in a blue moon where we can further broaden our audience. We plan on hiring a new bass player within the upcoming months.

This sounds like some huge adjustments for the band, and it probably will be! But, we all talked it over and want to continue Neon Swing X-perience for as long as we can…as such, we still want to perform for you as often as we can.

However, with all of the changes going on this fall, we can probably only commit to playing live once or twice a month (if that) for at least a couple of months until our personal lives settle down. During this time, we commit to updating this website more regularly including adding blogs about our whereabouts, info about members, new and vintage pictures of our performances, discussions about music in general, and a few surprises. We’re also planning on going back into the studio starting this summer and recording a few songs every couple of months. We don’t plan on releasing a new album anytime soon – but we DO want to share new NSX music with you via our website periodically since we won’t be able to share it with you live as often as we’d like.

What a far cry from just a year ago when we were used to playing twelve shows within a one month time span!

There is a catch to this, though. Since we will not be playing anywhere near the number of times that we’ve been playing after this summer, we are relying on your support now more than ever. This summer will be a “last hurrah” of sorts for the band for a variety of reasons and, as such, we hope that you will join us at our shows as often as you are physically able to be there!

But, not only that, starting this September and beyond – when we are able to only perform once or twice a month – please Please PLEASE come to each of our shows to say hi. We will undoubtedly miss seeing all of your smiling faces (and dancing feet) as regularly as we have come to expect, so we ask you to please support us when we are able to perform live for you.

Because you just never know how long it will be until our next show…

Your humble trumpeter,
Mike

We’ve had a stretch of really awesome shows recently where the band’s been extremely tight. We hope that stretch continues on Friday when we rock the Hard Swing Café…er…swing the Hard Rock Café rather. It all goes down this Friday (the 13th) at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock in Station Square at 9:30 PM. The show’s billed as the Second Annual Swing Your Sweetheart event and it benefits the American Heart Association. We hope you can join us.

In tribute to all of the awesome shows we’ve been playing recently, I thought that I would make an attempt to give a “Top Ten” of my favorite shows. It’s a little lengthy reading, I know…but well worth it. Some funny stuff’s happened to us along the way!

#10: (tie) Sak’s Fifth Avenue Lingerie Section – Pittsburgh, PA (September 2005) / Food 4 Less Sidewalk – Greensburg, PA (August 2000)
A tie’s kind of a cop-out, I know…I just couldn’t choose between these two. They’re tied just because of their sheer wackiness. We played a benefit for some society that I can’t even recall in the Sak’s Fifth Avenue lingerie section – and after we set up, the coordinator told us that she wasn’t sure who we were and that we weren’t really scheduled for the show due to some weird mix-up. We played the show anyhow since we were there, but didn’t get paid except for the $200 that some drunk guy gave Carmen (then our keyboard player) to play an Elton John song he didn’t know. I remember on the way down to the show that Chris (our bassist at the time) had his pants hung out the window to dry while on the parkway because his dryer wasn’t working. The Food 4 Less grocery store show was even more random. We played right on the sidewalk during a classic car cruise in the parking lot…but the store was still open and people kept walking through the band to get their groceries. Plus, some clown upstaged us by making balloon animals right in front of the band. So, we played our tune “Sinister Sideshow” about a killer clown and all of the kids ran away from him. Needless to say, the clown was angry.

#9: 10th Anniversary/CD Release Extravaganza at Club Café – Pittsburgh, PA (July 2008)
Not much more can be said about this gig other than it was the only NSX show thus far to encompass a “multi-media” experience with a short mini-documentary prior to our set and a “Sinister SLIDEshow” of pictures on our break. Plus, it was wonderful seeing so many friends, family members, and even ex-NSXers who’ve supported us throughout the years. Overall, it was a great launch to our latest CD “Here To Stay” which has been doing very well for us since.

#8: Dick’s Den – Columbus, OH (January 2008)
Dick’s Den is always a crazy place (the party REALLY doesn’t start there until at least 1 AM!) which makes it well worth the drive for us. At our January ’08 show, it was wall-to-wall people. The eclectic audience really made it great – there were folks in tuxedoes, cocktail dresses, shorts (in the dead of winter), jeans, t-shirts, bowties…you name it. And the crowd ranged from 21-80. I got pulled off the stage at one point by a lovely lady that wanted a dance and some guy grabbed my microphone and just started screaming into it!

#7: Club Café – Pittsburgh, PA (February 2009)
THE BEST SHOW WE’VE EVER PLAYED. I’ve been saying that about a lot of our shows recently right after we play them, but our shows keep getting better and better. So, y’all better keep coming out to hear us. Technically the band was spot on, and something was in the air that made us all think that we were comedians (as apparent from our groan-inducing stage banter). Club Café is the only venue to make it on the list twice. All of our shows there have been quite noteworthy. You’ll have to make sure to check the next one out.

#6: Sassy Marie’s Monthly Swing Dance – Pittsburgh, PA (February 2008)
For a long time we hadn’t done a lot of swing dances in Pittsburgh. Although out-of-state that’s basically our bread and butter, back home we were mostly booked in rock clubs, bars, or restaurants. The February Sassy Marie’s show proved to a Pittsburgh audience that NSX is indeed a solid dance band. And the people, food, and atmosphere of the place were just perfect. You have no idea how much we miss our steady show at Sassy Marie’s (we’ve recently re-worked the NSX classic “Ghost At The Swingers’ Club” to “Ghost At Sassy Marie’s”).

#5: Hard Rock Café – Pittsburgh, PA (February 2006)
This was the most packed I have ever seen the Hard Rock. We could do no wrong at this show…we seriously just rocked out. Ryan jumped off the stage, people were decked out in black and gold supporting the Steelers’ Super Bowl run, and our bassist claims that he talked to Eddie Veder from Pearl Jam there (we didn’t believe him).

#4: Mr. Small’s Graffiti Rock Challenge Semi-finalist Round (February 2005)
I’ll admit…NSX was not the greatest band out there for many of our first years of existence until this show. When we got accepted into the Graffiti Rock Challenge (which launched bands such as The Clarks, Povertyneck Hillbillies, and Rusted Root) in 2005, we were in shock! Were we good enough? Would a swing band work in this type of environment? We “rocked up” our sound a lot and practiced our butts off until we became one of the tightest bands in Pittsburgh. This show proved to us what we could do and set a level that we had to meet for all future shows. And it also showed the audience that NSX is a force to be reckoned with. As it turns out, we won the evening after playing our most high energy set ever and went on to the finals. Even though we didn’t win in the finals, it didn’t matter. We started taking our music more seriously after this one and got our act together. By the way…notice how three shows on the list happened in the month of February. You better get your tail out to a show this month to see if another one will make the list!

#3: Central Park Swing Dance – New York, NY (July 2008)
Performing at Central Park to about 2000 on-lookers and 400 swing dancers from the same stage that Duke Ellington once played? Yeah…nuff said.

#2: The Derby – Hollywood, CA (September 2007)
When the band first started in 1998, we used to be obsessed with the movie “Swingers” and bands Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Royal Crown Revue. Both BBVD and RCR used to be house bands at the Derby and BBVD was featured in the climax swing dance at the Derby at the end of “Swingers”. In ’98 we used to dream about playing the Derby and then would laugh…it would never happen, right?!?! Nine years later, the dream came true! The dancers here were phenomenal doing all kinds of crazy flips. We filled both the front and the back rooms and for the first time ever, people in the audience had on zoot suits as cool as ours.

#1: Central High School Coffee House Talent Show – NSX’s live debut – Greensburg, PA (April 1999)
There is nothing that can ever compare to the debut night of NSX. Even though the band flat-out sounded horrible, it didn’t seem to matter. We were so young (I was 16) and had so much energy. We practiced for months, but had no idea how different playing to an energetic audience would be then to just screwing around in our high school’s band room. Joe, Wally, and I just watched the video again the other night and couldn’t stop laughing – this was the first time that I ever sang in public (our vocalist quit/got fired earlier the day of the show and I was the only other person that knew the words to our songs!). I was terrified and it showed! What a rush!

There are so many other shows that could make this list. For example: Friday’s Dickinson College dance where I forgot to bring the pants to my blue zoot suit (pretty embarrassing playing in boxers), Penn Brewery where one of our cars got a flat tire at 2 in the morning on the parkway and we had to wait for the tow-truck until 5 since we couldn’t get it off due to a bent rim, the always fun Clarendon Ballroom and Friday Night Swing Dance shows, the time my Jeep’s piston went through the engine block on the way to Somerset and the band made it 5 minutes before our starting time (we still only started 5 minutes late), the times we opened up for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Toasters, the time we were at PNC Park and the police came during “In The Mood” after one dude’s pants fell down after getting into a fight after hitting on some other guy’s wife…the list goes on and on. Every show’s different and fun in its own unique way. You’ll have to come to the next show to see what happens.

See you there.

Mike

It's times like these where it's easy to see why Pittsburgh is so great. Pittsburgh is really a cool place after all. Last night, Steve and I went out to check out two of our favorite bands: the Metropolitans at Club Cafe and Sweatty Betty at Swing City. Almost everyone at both shows was decked out from head to toe in Black and Gold Steelers gear.

It's great that Pittsburghers are so excited about the Super Bowl today. There cerainly is a lot of Pittsburgh pride going around these days by us western Pennsylvanians being so psyched to watch the Steelers win. My prediction for the game today (not that it matters) is 17-10 Steelers.

Well - enough rambling about the Steelers. Not only does Pittsburgh have a great legacy for football. The city also has a great legacy for jazz. NSX just recently found out that we were voted #2 for "Best Jazz Band" in the 2008 Pittsburgh City Paper readers' poll. Wow! Very unexpected. And we're honored to have been voted second especially since first place went to the Boilermaker Jazz Band, a group that we respect so much. Thanks, everyone for supporting us and voting for us - it really is an achievement for the band and it's great to think that (like the Steelers) NSX is in some ways "Champions" from the 'burgh!

So, please come celebrate with us on Saturday (February 7) at Club Cafe at 7 PM. We'll be celebrating both the impending Steelers victory and our being voted as the second best jazz band. We'll also be offering the Neon Swing "Bailout"/"Stimulus" Package - just by coming to Club Cafe, we will give you a ticket to see us on February 13 at the Hard Rock Cafe FREE for the Swing Your Sweetheart Annual Event to support the American Heart Association.

See you soon!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (or are enjoying another holiday that you celebrate) and are looking forward to a prosperous New Year.

Neon Swing X-perience had one helluva year in 2008…but before we get to that, we have two reminders.

First, don’t forget that we’re playing in New York City on Saturday (December 27) at Swing 46 (www.swing46.com). It would be a good idea to make dinner reservations for this one! We hope that you’ll shave some time off over the holidays to spend with us in the Big Apple.

Second, our New Years Eve show(s) will be at Pittsburgh’s First Night Celebration. We play in the CAPA Auditorium (111 Ninth St.) which is perfect for dancing from 7:30-8:30 and 9:30-10:30. Please don’t miss your last chance to see NSX during our tenth anniversary. Just a reminder that you will need a First Night Admission Button to get into the show. They’re available for ONLY $8 at all Giant Eagles and the Theatre Square Box Office downtown. More details are available at www.firstnightpgh.org.

And now for our 2008 re-cap.

NSX started our tenth anniversary by strengthening our member line-up: having just added Andy Leer on keys and welcoming back Tim Palko on bass for most of our live shows and Jared Craig on bass for most recording sessions. Early 2008 saw us completing our sixth album which we entitled “Here To Stay”. It’s excellent, by the way (if you haven’t yet picked-up a copy, check out what Pittsburgh magazine has to say about it in their January issue…).

For a time, we were the house band at two great establishments; Sassy Marie’s and Mountaineer. We released “Here To Stay” over the summer during our busiest month ever (12 shows!). July 2008 kicked off our summer tour throughout the east coast with notable shows such as a huge swing dance in Central Park.

Personally we’ve had quite a lot going on as well. Ryan got engaged and joined the Army, leaving the band for a bit. Andy finished his undergraduate work, got a new job, and started grad school. Joe got engaged. Wally had an operation. Steve made some major renovations on his house. I finished my second graduate degree. We did this all while playing a whopping 60 shows (and opening up for 3 national bands; the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Flatfoot 56, and the Toasters)!

While 2008 was not perfect, what with the economic downturn that partially caused Sassy Marie’s to close and Mountaineer to cut entertainment, we had a great year. It was great mostly because we made so many awesome new friends.

Now, to close out 2008, we have two shows that we’re really excited about – one at the coolest swing venue on the east coast and one back home at Pittsburgh’s biggest New Years Eve party. It seems like so long since we played a public show in our hometown, so we really can’t wait until 12/31.

And we also can’t wait to see you all again in 2009!

Your humble trumpeter,
Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

On behalf of Neon Swing X-perience, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Thank you for being so kind to us throughout our ten years as a band...we hope to see you very soon, whether in New York at Swing 46 on December 27 or back in the 'burgh on New Years Eve for First Night. Since we've been on a bit of a "surgery break" for Wally, we miss you and can't wait to see you again soon!

In the meantime, have a safe, enjoyable, and fun holiday.

Sincerely,
Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

First off, the entire Neon Swing crew hopes that you had a great Thanksgiving and had time to relax with friends and family as well as eat some fine turkey 'n fixins'.

Second, we congratulate our long-time drummer Joe and his fiance Mary (often part of NSX's road crew and merchandise manager) who got engaged last week at our Mr. Small's show. Very fitting - the two met at the venue almost exactly a year ago when NSX performed there. We hope you join us in wishing them much happiness!

Now down to business - we're (finally) happy to announce that Neon Swing will help you ring in the New Year by performing at CAPA (111 Ninth St.) as part of Pittsburgh's official New Years Eve First Night Celebration. Festivities on 12/31 begin with Chris Roth and Steel City Ballroom giving swing dance lessons at 7:30. NSX's first of two sets is at 8:15. We hope you can join us to welcome 2009!

Also, don't forget that our only Christmas show is in New York City this year...and it's at the heppest swing club on the east coast. Swing 46 (www.swing46.com) is a jazz and supper club specializing in hot swing dancing. You'll feel like you stepped back to 1946 with this joint's ambience. While we're there for one show only, some of the bands that regularly play there are George Gee, Crescent City Maulers, and the Big Bang Big Band who we performed with at July's Swing House in Brooklyn.

Don't make yourself a stranger - see us again before our tenth anniversary concludes!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Hi, everyone - let's get the bad news out first.

Yes, we came to a mutual decision with Molly Brannigans this week that we will be no longer hosting our Wednesday swing dances there for a variety of reasons. The room was too small, the floor was too hard, and the whole vibe just didn't have the "oomph" of Sassy Marie's. It didn't really feel like home the same way Sassy's did. At any rate, thanks for supporting us there - we hope to see you at the Toaster's show on November 21.

Now for some good news...Franciscan University on Saturday was awesome! Swing dancers were coming out of the woodwork - doing crazy flips, dancing east coast, west coast, lindy, you name it! The campus was beautiful and we made a lot of new friends there. The folks that have been dancing to us recently during our college treks (St. Vincent, Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, Franciscan) have been some of the most lively, energetic, and downright fun people you'd ever want to meet. Our responses on these campuses prove that swing is alive and well.

So, now that Mollys is canceled, we gotta see all of you folks at Mr. Small's in Millvale on November 21. Talk about a show. In addition to two other local bands, NSX is opening for a celtic Christian punk/metal band (Flatfoot 56) and a legendary ska group from the west coast (The Toasters). Now that's entertainment.

If you miss this show, you might just have to wait until we play New Years Eve (unless you live in the New York City area - word on the street is that we might be back in December)!

As always, thanks for your support,
Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Hi, folks,

It's just come to my attention that there's been some confusion over when Neon Swing X-perience's regular Molly Brannigans (Mt. Lebanon, PA) swing dance occurs.

We are only doing swing dances there every first and third Wednesday of the month.

Therefore, it is not weekly or bi-weekly as some have thought...and there is no dance tonight.

The next dance at Molly Brannigans is on November 5th. Details on the November dances are below.

Sorry for the confusion. Hope to see you again soon!

_____


Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
Molly Brannigan's
8:00 PM
Pittsburgh, PA

www.mollybrannigans.com 412-341-7827


_____


Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Molly Brannigan's
8:00 PM
Pittsburgh, PA

www.mollybrannigans.com 412-341-7827


_____

PS. Thanks to everyone that saw us this past weekend. Sorry we were forced to cut our set a bit short on Friday due to the weather...

Mike Urick
Neon Swing X-perience
www.neonswing.net or www.neonswing.com www.myspace.com/neonswingxperience

Hi friends,

Just thought I'd write to comment on how much we enjoyed playinig at West Hempfield Middle School on Friday. Exposing Middle Schoolers to vintage-style music was a pleasure to us. We got two standing ovations! Hopefully we were able to inspire a few folks there to join the jazz band and to keep practicing their horns. Music education is alive and well at West Hempfield, and that's great because it's so important that students are able to understand music's importance. We'd love to do more "educational events" like this one so that we can help broaden students' minds to different styles of "pop" music.

This weekend we have two great shows. One starts right after work on Friday (6 PM) at Katz Plaza right outside the Benedum and Byham Theaters in the cultural district of Pittsburgh for the 250th Festival of Lights. You won't want to miss this awesome event! And on Saturday, we're playing for Carnegie Mellon students, alumni, and faculty to headline their homecoming celebration.

We hope to see you there!

Your pal,

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Despite the fact that Ryan played his last official show with us over a week ago (even though he did sit in with us on Saturday for a couple of tunes), NSX had a great weekend! Although we will miss Ryan and wish him the best of luck and safety in the military, as a band Neon Swing is trudging forward.

We did more than just “trudge forward” this past weekend when we returned to two of our favorite venues. On Saturday at Cefalo’s the joint was rockin’ and packed to the point where there were no empty seats! We had a lot of fun returning to Carnegie’s version of a Las Vegas hipster hotspot.

But, Sunday really took the cake. We rolled into beautiful Ligonier, PA in the early afternoon (some of us still perhaps just waking up from the late night before) to a huge crowd at Fort Days. I truly believe that our show at the 250th Anniversary Ft. Ligonier Days festival was quite possibly our best show ever. I’ve been hearing glowing comments from everybody…in fact, I went out to eat in a nearby town a few hours after and heard the next table raving about “some really fun swing band” they heard at Ligonier’s bandstand earlier that day. Of course, they didn’t recognize me as a member of the band without my baby blue zoot suit.

We’re very excited about this week. We’re back at our new home base on Wednesday. Please join us for our swing dance this Wednesday (October 15th) at Molly Brannigan’s in Mt. Lebanon. We’re here every 1st and 3rd Wednesday. Dance lessons are at 8 and we go on at 8:30.

Then on Friday we’re playing a semi-educational set to a group of students at West Hempfield Middle School. This should be an interesting event…and one that we’re a little nervous about. We’re not used to playing for this demographic, but hey…we’ll make it happen.

I think I’ll wear my red zoot suit to this one, though, in case the kids decide to throw tomatoes at the band. I won’t have to dry-clean my suit before the next show because the tomato juice will just blend in!

Peace, love, and swing,

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Well, the last time I wrote I gave a somewhat negative update on the band. Now, I’m proud to gave you a very positive update…with one little piece of bittersweet news.

First of all, swing dancing with Neon Swing X-perience is back on Wednesday nights in a new location!

Better room!

Better part of town!

Better beer!

Same great band (that’s us) and same great swing dance instruction (Chris and Jen from Steel City Ballroom).

And the place: MOLLY BRANNIGAN’S in Mt. Lebannon (www.mollybrannigans.com). Molly’s is located at 660 Washington Road, Pittsburgh. The cover is only $5 and we’ll be taking up the entire back room of the restaurant.

Dance lessons begin at 8 PM, NSX goes on from 8:30 to 11 with one break where Steel City Ballroom will give another short lesson.

And the best part – no longer is it only once a month. You can now swing dance to NSX EVERY FIRST AND THIRD WEDNESDAY starting on October 1!

A big thank you to our regular Wednesday night crowd who braved the rain (and the distance) to come see us at Stone Villa last weekend. We hope to also see you this Tuesday at Bocktown Beer & Grill (www.bocktown.com) which is a brand new venue for us. The venue is in the same parking lot as Target and right next to the Pool City in Robinson. We especially hope that you’ll be able to make it, because it might just be Ryan’s last show with the band for a bit.

After over 4 years as our guitarist, Ryan has (again) decided to part ways with the group. About a year ago, Ryan announced that he was leaving, but had then decided to postpone his decision for a couple of months in order to play with the band throughout our tenth anniversary and see our new CD “Here To Stay” be released. Throughout 2008, though, Ryan has had a busy year with having gotten married in February and now more recently deciding to enlist in the Army. Ryan told me that now is the right time for him to go on hiatus as he may be shipped to boot camp in a matter of days and believes that the band has taken a different “less rockin’” direction where we’re now focusing on more traditional styles of swing and a guitar has been increasingly de-emphasized in NSX’s sound. We wish Ryan the very best of luck...and remember, once an NSX member, always an NSX member!

At this time, our plan is to do most of our shows as a six-piece sans guitar with the possibility of a Ryan or another guitarist sitting in from time-to-time. We have no rush to find a new guitarist right away, but if a guitar player does present him or herself in the near future that has the playing ability, style, and personality that suits the band, then we would love to have that person as our latest addition to the NSX family!

Your friend,
Mike

It’s been a while since I last wrote on our blog. We’ve just been so dang busy this summer…

But, I thought that I’d need to write tonight to tell you some bad news.

With a string of Pittsburgh-area restaurants and bars closing due to the poor economy and ridiculous city drink tax, Sassy Marie’s (under its current ownership) has decided to shut its doors effective immediately.

Meaning that there will be no monthly swing dances hosted by us and Chris Roth from Steel City Ballroom from this point on.

Both SCB and NSX are really saddened by this. Sassy Marie’s was a special place to us and one of the places that gave us a shot at playing a regular dance in Pittsburgh. Sassy Marie’s believed in NSX and we truly appreciated that. There really was nothing like playing there – when we took the stage, I felt like we were in a 1930s speakeasy…just like the place actually was seventy years ago. It just had that vibe. Not only that, though; the owners and staff of Sassy’s were superb to us. Sassy Marie’s was truly a first-class establishment all around and for those of you that never made it, you missed out on a lot of fun. Most of all, though, we’ll miss everyone that came out to support a humble swing band on a Wednesday night in not the nicest section of town. We hope to see those of you that were our regulars at other shows that we have on our schedule.

The day after we heard news of Sassy Marie’s, our other home (Mountaineer Casino in WV) called and said that they were dropping all weekday entertainment. Our show this week and all future Jump Jivin’ Tuesday nights are canceled until further notice.

But, don’t get too depressed…all is not lost! NSX is still partnering with Chris Roth and we’ll be making an announcement very shortly about a replacement venue for our Wednesday night swing dances. And, not only that, but since we’re no longer doing our Tuesdays at Mountaineer they’ve asked us back on weekends! Our first show on a weekend there will be in December. As you’ll recall, NSX started at Mountaineer by playing periodically on weekends – that’s how they knew that they HAD to have us as a more regular band. But, weekends were always so much fun there with the energy of the audience! We can’t wait to see what it’ll be like on a weekend now that the tables are in full swing.

And, of course, we have a bunch of other great shows scheduled that we hope you can check out.

At least for September (and possibly October) you may just have to pop in your copy of “Here To Stay” every other Tuesday and every third Wednesday to get your NSX weekday fix. But fear not! NSX will return to new venues for regularly scheduled weekday dances with a vengeance!

Regretfully (yet optimistically),

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

With (finally) releasing "Here To Stay" and just returning from our recent out-of-state excursion, you'd think that NSX would slow down for the remainder of our Tenth Anniversary.

No way!

2008's only just beginning.

Just this month, WYEP (91.3 FM) has played some tunes off of our new CD "Here To Stay" and we scheduled a bunch of new fall shows.

We're so excited to be asked back to the Diamond Bandstand for Fort Ligonier Days in October and we have an awesome New Years Eve show in store for you this year! We've also just been contacted to open for ska legends (who influenced even the Mighty Mighty Bosstones), the Toasters.

And more big news - Neon Swing X-perience is finally on iTunes! If you're like a lot of people now and prefer your music digitized and downloadable, NSX has stepped out of the 1930s and entered 2008!

And if iTunes isn't your thing, we're also on Napster and a bunch of other sites - and of course, for those (like me) who prefer actually holding a physical copy of a CD in your hands, you can pick up "Here To Stay" at all live shows and from CD Baby.

See you soon!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Hey, guys...

Check out my awesome blog that I made of all of our ornery behind the scenes shennanigans while we were on tour.

The link is: http://www.andyleer.blogspot.com/.

Mike promises he'll put up some more "musical related" pictures and whatnot of our tour soon.

Andy L.

Hi, all...

We are so excited that we'll be visiting you in your town this week.

But, for those Pittsburghers who were unable to make the CD Release show on Sunday, you can buy "Here To Stay" through CDBaby (http://cdbaby.com/cd/neonswing2) or through the Borders in South Hills and Monroeville, the Barnes & Nobles downtown (near Duquesne University) and Greensburg (coming soon), and Dave's Music Mine in the South Side.

Also, "Here To Stay" is currently available for download on Napster and will soon be available on iTunes and Amazon - check them in a few days.

For all of our non-PA friends, you can pick up "Here To Stay" at our live shows. Consult our schedule for venue location and times, but below are the venues and dates we'll be at!

July 25 - Friday Night Swing Dance Club (Baltimore, MD)

July 26 - Swing House at the former Galapagos Art Space (New York, NY)

July 27 - Central Park Naumberg Band Shell (New York, NY)

July 27 - Arlene's Grocery (New York, NY)

July 29 - Clarendon Ballroom (Arlington, VA)

July 31 - Mar-Va Theater (Pocomoke, MD)

August 1 - Dogfish Head Pub (Rehoboth, DE)

See you there!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Thank you so very much for your support at our CD Release/Tenth Anniversary Extravaganza last night. It was great to see such familiar faces there – from Rose and Kate (our biggest and longest-run fans) to John, Dave, and Alex (members of the original line-up), to our closest friends and family! Thanks so much, all, for a great ten years.

If you weren’t able to be there…never fear. We highly encourage you to pick up a copy of “Here To Stay” at http://cdbaby.com/cd/neonswing2.

Also, for all of our friends not in the western-PA region – WE’RE COMING TO SEE YOU STARTING TONIGHT!

Our non-PA tour starts tonight with our friends at the Mountaineer Casino in Chester WV and continues to Baltimore, New York City, Arlington VA (DC area), Pocomoke City MD, and Rehoboth DE as well as points in between.

Please join us on our trip – and when you come see us, make sure you snag a copy of “Here To Stay”. You’ll be glad that you did.

See you soon,

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience