Just wanted to say thank you so much for making 2010 a great year for Neon Swing X-perience.  We hope it was great for you, too!

We did a lot this past year all because of your support.  We’ve opened up for Max Weinberg and Eddie Money!  We did our biggest east coast tour ever with a bunch of stops at new venues!  We jammed with Billy Price and the Gas House Gorillas!  We played at several of western PA’s biggest festivals!   We were featured on an international compilation from Wolverine Records in Germany!  

…and just this past week at First Night, the Big Bad Wolf came out from lurking in the shadows and made it pretty apparent that he has a grudge against Neon Swing X-perience (we think it’s because he believes  he’s owed royalties for our original song named after him).  More on this story as it develops, but suffice it to say that we hope 2011 keeps all of us and all of you out of any danger from the Big Bad Wolf and other troubling menaces.

But, on the positive side, we’re looking forward to finally getting a chance to go back into the studio and focus more on our upcoming album. And we can’t wait to rock out at Viva Las Vegas (the biggest rockabilly festival in the world) with headliner Jerry Lee Lewis.

And we’re still going to be dedicated to presenting you with pure sax appeal at every single show.  We’ll see you there.

Happy New Year!

Mike

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

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 

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

     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

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