Neon Swing X-perience: NSX Blog Spot

We can’t wait until July 20th.

I’ve been listening to my promo copy of our new CD “Here To Stay” for a couple of days now and it sounds awesome. We can’t wait to share it with you when we release it at our Tenth Anniversary/CD Release extravaganza at Club Café on July 20th. If you’ve never seen a Neon Swing show, this is the show to see. If you see NSX every time we play…this is the show to see! If you haven’t had the experience of Neon Swing for a while – THIS IS THE SHOW TO SEE!

In other words…July 20th is the show to see.

But, if you can’t wait that long to listen to a track or two off our new CD…well, we have a treat for you.

WDVE has a couple of our original songs from “Here To Stay” up on their site and you can listen to them by following these links:
http://www.dve.com/cc-common/artist_submission/player.html?art=174312, http://www.dve.com/cc-common/artist_submission/player.html?art=174316, http://www.dve.com/cc-common/artist_submission/player.html?art=174320.

Check them out and let us know what you think.

The full CD is available on July 20th at our CD Release show and is included FREE with the small price of admission! What a deal.

We also have two other shows prior to July 20th. Don’t miss us at Stone Villa Wine Cellars in Acme, PA on Saturday from 1-5 and at our monthly Sassy Maries Swing Dance on the North Shore at 8 PM on July 16th.

Thus far, this summer has been a blast. It has been so nice to be welcomed back to Ligonier Tavern (despite the pitch-blackness of the evening – I guess we were going for the big band version of The Doors at that show), Penn Brewery, Mountaineer Casino, and (especially) the Twin Lakes Arts & Heritage Festival where we rocked the capacity crowd through the rain!

Thanks so much for supporting us.

Later, dawgz.

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Well...it looks like NSX is coming into our home stretch for our tenth anniversary and the end of June is when things start heating up.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, we can’t wait to be back at Ligonier Tavern and Penn Brewery this weekend. Playing both of those venues really means a lot to us as a band – we go way back. We were the house band for a time at Ligonier Tavern and used to regularly play at Penn Brewery until 2004.

And to make things even better, we can’t wait to be back at the Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort on the second and fourth Tuesdays in July.

While we hope to see each of you out at these shows, remember that there are twelve great shows to see us at in July. A lot of our biggest supporters live outside of the Pittsburgh area, and we’re very pleased to again be traveling to your town this summer. If you can’t make it to any of our PA shows, make sure you come say hi when we’re in Baltimore (and other points of interest in MD), NYC, the DC area, WV, the east coast shore (with stops in DE and Pocomoke City).

But, make sure that you remember July 20th. That’s when it all goes down at Club Café. Drop in…say hi…celebrate our ten years…and pick up a copy of our new CD “Here To Stay” that comes out that day.

Can’t wait to see you all at a show!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Looking at our summer schedule, I’m very excited!

We’re doing four public shows at places that mean a lot to us as a band in June.

First, we start off at Stone Villa Wine Cellars where we used to play for jazz festivals in the early days of the band. Stone Villa was one of Joe’s and Tim’s first shows and we consistently played there between 2001 and 2004. But, alas, around this time we shifted to an edgier more rock-like sound that both the venue and band mutually decided didn’t quite fit the setting of the show. But, last year after we came back from the Derby (having once again re-focused our sound towards a more straight ahead swing and vintage-Americana feel), we returned to Stone Villa again for the first time in three years and our four-hour show went over x-tremely well. So well, in fact, that they asked us to return as a regular band this summer. Saturday, June 7th’s show will be our first of four this summer at this wonderful venue near Mt. Pleasant, PA (Acme). It’s a great place with its wonderful homemade wine, beautiful lake, and spacious and rustic outdoor setting. We hope to see you there this summer!

Next, we’re back home at Sassy Marie’s on June 18th. We really can’t say enough about this place. Great food…hip vibe…awesome dancers…nice people...good parking (a rare for Pittsburgh!). Why not come to this show?!?!

Then, we officially start our Tenth Anniversary “Here To Stay” Tour at Ligonier Tavern in historic Ligonier for their 250th Anniversary Celebration (the town’s been around only slightly longer than NSX). It’s great to be back here because we used to be the house band at Ligonier Tavern from 2004-2006 and we always enjoyed the wonderful people that came to see us here. It was always packed and our shows at the Tavern always had an electric feel (particularly that one night during vodka tasting…). We’ll be in Ligonier on June 27th.

The very next night, we return to Penn Brewery on the North Side of Pittsburgh. We played there regularly from 2002-2004 (like Stone Villa until we went for an edgier sound). It’s great to be back at this great venue. It was always packed when we played there (and NSX is fans of good beer which is of course why we really like it here! – by the way have you noticed a trend of us playing at breweries, distilleries, and wineries?). Anyhow, this is our first of two shows at Penn Brewery in 2008 and we’re excited about this show because it focuses on our more acoustic-styled material as we roll to this show sans electric guitar.

And this is just the beginning of our Tenth Anniversary Tour that features stops in Baltimore, Arlington, New York, Delaware, Ocean City, and a bunch of other kick-@$$ places.

PS. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure that July 20th is marked on your calendars. This is our Tenth Anniversary/CD Release Extravaganza at Club Café on the South Side. The doors open at 7 PM and our new album “Here To Stay” is included in the price of admission. This will be an evening full of surprises. And if you only seen one NSX show in ten years, this one better be it!

No doubt, no doubt!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

The recent months have been great for me personally regarding new albums hitting the shelves. Late in 2007, Mighty Mighty Bosstones came out with a new album. This year, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies put out an amazing set of songs as did Presidents of the United States and Flogging Molly. I also heard rumors that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Jethro Tull (!) are all in the studio working on new releases! Wow! Throw in Brian Setzer and these artists make up 95% of my personal favorites.

I guess it’s no wonder that it’s about time for Neon Swing X-perience to release our own latest album on July 20th at Club Café on the South Side of Pittsburgh! “Here To Stay”, in my humble (albeit somewhat biased) opinion, sounds unbelievably fantastic. We just finished up mastering this week and dropped it off for duplication on Friday. The band was listening to it on the way to our show in New Castle yesterday and all agreed…our albums in the past were good, but this one really kicks it up a notch! We feel that it certainly holds its own with any major label swing release out there. We can’t wait to share it with you on July 20th.

Speaking of our show this weekend at the Hoyt Center, we had a blast. Thanks, everyone, for your wonderful support. And a special thanks goes out to Dave Walters (of 3 Bricks Shy fame) who sat in for Joe on drums and did a “bang up job” – no pun intended.

We hope to see you all at Sassy Marie’s on Pittsburgh’s North Side this Wednesday. We have a few surprises for you there including some new arrangements of classic NSX tunes and some brand new cover songs that we’ve never played live before. Their website is www.sassymaries.com and dance lessons start at 8 PM.

Just a reminder that Wednesday will be the last time EVER that the “Late To The Party” and “No Turning Back” albums will be available at live shows. We’re doing this to make room for “Here To Stay”. So, if you don’t have a copy of either album, you gotta get yourself to Sassy Marie’s and pick up one (or a few) before it’s too late.

Eagerly awaiting Wednesday,

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Where’s Neon Swing in May?

Well…we have a lot less shows this month than we did in the first third of 2008 because we’re all tied up practicing new material for our tour and our tenth anniversary show. Some new material on our horizon includes a bunch of covers (“Take the A Train,” anyone?) and a couple of new originals that we’ve been working on.

We’ve also been busy mixing the new CD, which sounds outstanding. Particularly cool are our versions of “Man With The Hex” and “Jump, Jive, & Wail.” So far half of it is mixed and we’re on target for our CD Release Party to coincide with our 10th Anniversary Extravaganza!

By the way, our 10th Anniversary Extravaganza/CD Release Party is shaping up really nicely. On July 20th, we return to Club Café on Pittsburgh’s historic Southside. We’re going to be playing a lot of the songs that really highlight our career. Certainly expect a few surprises at this show. Oh…and the price of admission will include a copy of our new CD “Here To Stay” which will be released that day! The door opens at 7 PM...and YOU’RE invited. We hope to see you there because we are extremely excited about this one. It’s not every day that a band has the opportunity to celebrate its ten year history with some of the best friends that anyone could ask for.

But, in the meantime, we have shows in May (including our monthly stop at Sassy Marie’s) that you’ll want to check out.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

This past week was truly great for Neon Swing X-perience…filled with a lot of good people, good music, and learning on our part.

It started on Sunday when we opened up for the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans at the Byham Theater. Going into this show, we were a little bit unsure (and nervous) of the response we’d get from the audience. We were thrilled that our set went over extremely well! And we were even more thrilled that we were given the opportunity to play the Byham with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. We learned a lot from the Preservation Hall guys…indeed, we learned about jazz but we learned even more about the importance of class and style. Talking with those guys was a great experience…each member is a musical legend in his own right! All of them were so humble, helpful, and genuine. It’s always been a goal of NSX to do a couple of shows down in New Orleans, and the folks from Preservation Hall said they would give us a hand lining up a couple of performances. It was really refreshing that a group of recognized cream-of-the-crop musicians were so kind to a group of young newcomers like us.

Our week continued on Wednesday when we played for a group of Pittsburgh dancers at our home at Sassy Marie’s. As you know, we love playing for swing dances in our own hometown and are happy that we’re starting to build a regular Wednesday-night crew who come and support the show. We’re at Sassy Marie’s every third Wednesday of the month and hope that you’ll join us there as we continue to get used to the room (the hard floor and high ceiling makes playing the room a bit difficult, but we’ve been becoming more comfortable each month) and the likes and dislikes of the dancers that have been checking out the event.

On a personal note, Steve and I went out to the Viking in McKeesport on Thursday to hang out and hear Spider Rondinelli and the Jazz Giants. I never personally met Spider before, though I’ve been enjoying his music for quite some time. Spider asked me to join him for two songs. This was such an honor for me…and, just like on Sunday, showed me that being a part of the music scene means supporting other musicians. Like the Preservation Hall folks, Spider and his crew certainly have a lot of class.

This week concluded on Saturday at the Hard Rock Café. It was nice to see so many familiar faces that have been coming to shows since 1998. This was our fifth or sixth time at the Hard Rock though we hadn’t played the venue for over a year. It was so cool to return because we could pull out a couple of our edgier numbers. Being back was kind of like a homecoming of sorts. With everyone’s eyes on the band at this type of venue, we were really able to highlight the group’s chemistry together!

As our tenth anniversary progresses, we hope to keep learning. And we aspire to be like our new friends from New Orleans. We thank you for being our friends as well!

NSX hopes to see you out at the Mountaineer Casino tomorrow (Tuesday) for our last scheduled show there. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.

Thanks for an amazing week,

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Alright alright…a lot has been happenin’ in Neon Swing-ville.

First of all, to those of you who asked what happened to our Mountaineer shows that are no longer on our schedule…the answer is: “we don’t know”. Our understanding is that Mountaineer is trying to take a new direction with Jump Jivin’ Night where they will be adding a couple more bands to the schedule. So, we’re taking a May hiatus but are expecting to be back (perhaps a bit less frequently) in June…stay tuned on this. But, in the meantime, as APRIL 22 IS OUR LAST SCHEDULED PERFORMANCE AT MOUNTAINEER, PLEASE COME OUT TO SAY HI!

But, before the 22nd, we have three really great shows in Pittsburgh that we’re very excited about.

The first is at the Byham Theater lobby prior to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Louis Armstrong once said that “All the greats play at Preservation Hall”…and Neon Swing X-perience feels very honored (and a bit intimidated) to be playing before this phenomenal band on Sunday, April 13th (we go on at 6 PM). Seriously, there are a lot of bands that I personally think are good but, when I saw these guys in New Orleans right before Katrina, they blew me away. Hands down the best group of musicians I’ve ever seen!

Next, NSX returns to our home-base for our monthly swing dance at Sassy Marie’s on Wednesday, April 16th. Folks in the know have been raving about this monthly show…come see what they’ve been talking about. The weather’s nice out there now, so no excuses on why you can’t make it out. Plus, swing dancing is great exercise to help you lose that weight to fit into your bathing suit before the summer hits. You know what I mean. We’ll see you on the 16th at 7:30 for dance lessons. We hit the stage at 8.

Last (but certainly not least), on Saturday, April 19th NSX returns our “experience” to the Hard Rock Café. You’ve been asking for us back at this venue since last year’s sold out shows, and we’re so excited to once again be sharing the stage with our good friend, Slim Forsythe. We have only a few tickets left for this show…if you still need one, email me ASAP at SrgntSwing@aol.com. Doors open at 10 PM.

The band actually has a lot more news, but I’ve rambled on quite enough for this installment of our blog, so I’ll save it until the next one. But, until then, you have four chances to come see us in the next two weeks. Kudos go to those of you who’ll come to all four! You’re the best!

See you soon,
Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Happy belated Easter to you all and many thanks to everyone who came out to see us at Sassy Marie’s last Wednesday and Mountaineer Casino last night.

Although the weather for Sassy Marie’s was a bit funky again, the weather for our Mountaineer show was great and it was nice to again see all of the seats full for our regular show there since you all didn’t have to fight the elements to make it down.

Just wanted to give you some updates regarding a couple of the members. In March, Tim played just about every show with us so some people have asked where Jared’s been. As you know, Tim and Jared are splitting bass duties. Jared will be back for a few shows in April but is scheduled to perform on a cruise ship for much of the summer. We’re very happy that Tim will be performing with us regularly while Jared is on a hiatus. Similarly, we’ve invited Mr. Barry Testa to sit in for a couple of upcoming shows that Rockin’ Ryan can’t make. You’ll remember Barry as the co-writer of “Rain” and for his incredible blues playing on the “No Turning Back” album. Ryan is of course a regular member of the band, but Barry will be joining NSX’s extended family for a couple of shows here and there.

Things are also looking good for our 2008 east coast summer tour. We’re putting the finishing touches on our latest album “Here To Stay” and will be touring in support of this recording. We’re adding a lot of shows this year including some in the DC area, Baltimore, and New York City. We can’t wait to hit the road again!

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you in the Pittsburgh area in April!

Until then,
Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

Howdy, swing cats.

Neon Swing X-perience has decided on a title for our upcoming CD to tentatively be released this June. Our tenth anniversary album will be called “Here To Stay.” Ryan came up with the name, and we think that it fits our new album for a couple of reasons.

First is that 2008 is the band’s tenth anniversary. Really, NSX started as a bunch of high school kids back in ’98 that (honestly) didn’t know what we were doing then. Ten years later (while personally growing up, gradually wising up to the music business, and increasingly developing our chops), we’ve been through a lot as a group having toured the east coast twice, played at the legendary Derby in Hollywood, recorded a half dozen CDs, and have been through many many member line-up changes. Through it all, our dedication to preserving swing and Americana music and updating it a bit to make it accessible to today’s audiences has not changed. I was talking with (7-year music director) Wally a couple of weeks ago and he asked an interesting question: “Do you think that this band will keep going after you and I aren’t in it anymore?” I thought about this for a second – granted, I shouldn’t speak for Wally, but I don’t think that he’s planning on leaving NSX any time soon. And I know I’m certainly in it for the long haul. That means, then, that he’s talking about some time that would presumably happen a while down the road. After I thought about this, I said, “Yeah…I do think this band will be around after us.” NSX as its own entity is here to stay. That’s really cool to think about. To me, playing in NSX basically means being part of something that’s rooted in a style from 70 or so years ago. And NSX will preserve this history for hopefully 70 more even after the current members have passed on the torch. Being part of NSX is like being a part of a larger ongoing story that’s bigger than any of us individually…the same story that Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman were part of. I’m honored to be a part of this ongoing tradition in whatever small way that NSX has contributed. Not bad for a band that many people thought wouldn’t last to see 1999.

Secondly, the tracks that we are planning on releasing on “Here To Stay” are some of our most mature recordings ever. That’s because we really dug deep into not only the band’s history, but also the history of swing for this album. I’ve heard first mixes of “In The Mood” and “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” which we plan to include on this CD and they sound great…really vintage style. These and a lot of the other songs that we plan to release have withstood the test of time. They are “Here To Stay”.

Thirdly, NSX tends to have “themes” in our music that come and go through the years. For a time, we focused on a lot of really cartoony kooky songs (back in the day when we wrote “Agent Swing” and “Sinister Sideshow”). We had a period when we were writing a lot of break up songs (two of which we re-recorded for this new album). Then, we tried to put a rock spin on our show (think “Late To The Party” and “Country Women”). Now we’re taking all of the things that influenced us in the past and are going back and really recreating swing the way it was meant to be played live – with ENERGY! Gene Krupa wasn’t boring to watch back in the day and Louis Prima certainly didn’t sound like drab elevator music. A lot of modern swing bands have forgotten that. They lost the personality of swing. Swing was exciting and new when those classic artists were alive and performing! It should still be exciting and new! And we’re bringing that freshness back to this music. One of the songs that always gets our audiences really fired up because of its high amount of energy is “Stay Here A While”. Since we recorded it for 2005’s “Late To The Party” album, we most likely won’t re-release it again on our new CD. But, “Here To Stay” is kind of a play on its title since the entire album exhibits the same level of energy. And uncompromising high-energy swing is our latest “theme”.

Here’s to seeing you Wednesday at Sassy Marie’s!

Peace,
Mike
Neon Swing X-perience

As Steve said to me before the show on Friday at Molly Brannigans, “Mother Nature really doesn’t like NSX this year.” And it would seem not – recently there has been really nasty junk falling from the sky before/during many of our shows.

But (at least for most of them), we’ve been able to pull through whether it’s been through ice, sleet, or mild blizzard. Consider last week’s Mountaineer show where we braved the elements to drive from Pittsburgh, PA to Chester, WV for our regularly scheduled show. We were glad we did – it seems that a couple of people had cabin fever and had driven over sixty miles just to see us! Wow! We really do appreciate that kind of support.

The same goes for everyone that made it out to Molly Brannigans on Friday. As you know, Friday was February 29th which happens only once every four years. A co-worker of mine once told me that whatever happens on 2/29 never really actually “happens” – because the day doesn’t really exist. Remember that rhyme? Only TWENTY-EIGHT days in February!

However, I think that following this logic is a shame. It would be sad to think that our Friday show didn’t actually occur. The band played great, and it seemed from our vantage that everyone who braved the slushy mess that was western PA’s 2008 Leap Day had as much of a blast as we did! I would like to mention, though, that I was a little taken aback with drummer Joe Palacki’s kilt that he wore for the entire show. I never knew that Palacki was an Irish name. Go figure – you learn something new every day.

At any rate, we continue to really appreciate seeing you at our shows and hope that you will honor us with your presence at many more.

This week, we’re taking a break from playing out to fine-tune some new songs – yes, we’re hoping to have a new Louis Prima song and “Sunny Side of the Street” ready for the Sassy Marie’s dance this month. And, since some of you were pleasantly surprised that we brought our old school original tune “Ghost At The Swingers’ Club” back from the dead in February, we’ll have a couple more reworked vintage NSX chestnuts coming at you. A new more danceable arrangement of “Late To The Party” anyone?

Also, the band’s debating between two album titles for our upcoming release. Both are equally as cool and we’re having a hard time deciding. The new CD is expected to be released this June and we can’t wait to share it with you.

So…to sum up my ramblings. Western PA weather has been weak thus far in 2008, however everyone who’s been braving the weather to still come out to see us is awesome. Joe Palacki is Irish, we’re looking forward to playing a couple of tunes you’ve never heard from us this month, and we’ll be launching our new album in June right before our next out-of-state tour.

If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’.

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience
March 2, 2008

NSX is really looking forward to playing for you again on Wednesday at Sassy Marie’s. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, Sassy’s is one of our favorite places to play. It has great food, the nicest people, and a really cool old school – vintage – prohibition-era moonshine distillin’ – gangster wearin’ pinstripe feel that you can’t get at any other swing dance in Pittsburgh. That’s probably because the joint used to be an old speakeasy. In other words…it’s the real deal!

Which means a lot to the band. When you play vintage music like we do, it really is cool to play in a place that used to have bands playing the same tunes back in the day. It’s really like re-awakening history if you think about it.

Anyway – we hope to see you there at 7:30 on Wednesday.

By the way, NSX really apologizes for canceling our Tuesday show last week at Mountaineer. Believe it or not, that was only the second show that we’ve ever canceled (on our end) in the entire ten-year history of the band. Not a bad track record. It’s something that we hope doesn’t happen again any time soon – so pray for nice weather on Wednesday.

Before I get going, I wanted to tell you a few tidbits.
1. Some people have been having problems accessing our website through www.neonswing.com due to browser issues. If you’re one of them, try www.neonswing.net instead.
2. We’ve just been featured in the new Sassy Marie’s commercial, but it looks like NSX songs are going to be featured in a couple of other TV commercials for other businesses over the next couple of months. We’ll keep you posted on when/what to look for.
3. Ryan and Jenna Kuntz were married on Thursday, and we wish them congrats. We’re excited that Ryan will be back for the show on Wednesday.
4. We’ve been booking shows like crazy. Make sure you check out our updated schedule.

Well…that’s it for now.

Until we meet again…stay classy.

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience
February 18, 2008

Hi, all.

Just wanted to let you know that our show tonight at Mountaineer Casino has been canceled due to adverse weather conditions.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but we hope to see you on the 20th at Sassy Marie's in Pittsburgh and the 26th when we resume our regular show at Mountaineer.

Please be safe.

Mike
NSX

Hello, friends…

Thanks for your wonderful support thus far in 2008.

I wanted to give you an update on an important band happening.

NSX wants to wish guitarist Ryan and his fiancée Jenna an early congratulations. The couple will be married this Thursday (Valentine’s Day)! We all wish them the best of wishes.

Needless to say that Ryan will not be performing with us for a few shows in February. While Ryan’s on his hiatus, we will have former NSX member Barry Testa back with us on guitar for a couple of shows. For some other shows (including this weekend’s St. James Place Tavern show – which we hope to see you at…), we will be trying a new format. As I mentioned in a prior blog, some venues have been asking us for a band with a few less members. So, we’ll use this opportunity to try out a couple of shows as a six-piece band.

Those of you that have been with us for the past ten years will remember that NSX actually didn’t have a guitar in the band for our first couple of years. So, for some shows, we’ll be kickin’ it old school sans guitar.

Of course, though, Ryan will be back soon…and we look forward to his return.

On behalf of Wally, Joe, Steve, Andy, Tim/Jared, and myself, we wish you the best in getting through the winter doldrums.

And remember that you can always warm up by coming to see NSX live or poppin’ in your copy of one of our CDs!

We’ll catch you on the flipside.

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience
February 8, 2008

Well, Neon Swing X-perience was so busy performing live and recording in the studio that we barely had enough time to rehearse in 2007. But, this past Sunday we all got together to do a little fine-tuning on some of our songs and add a couple of new tunes.

WOW! The practice went great…NSX has never sounded this good. All of the members were pretty much in agreement that our rehearsal last week was one of the best that we’ve ever had. And that’s awesome coming from guys like Joe and Wally who have been in the band for six and seven years respectively and from Tim and Jared who – although currently splitting live shows on bass – have both had a history of playing with the band from the late 90s/early 2000s! The addition of Andy Leer, our newest member on keys, is really instrumental in fine-tuning our blend of old school and new school swing.

This week, we also finished up recording our upcoming album. Our busy performance schedule (and personal lives) will not allow us to be in the studio for post-production as often as we'd like, but we will start the process as early as next week at Studiophonix with Ray, our producer. To put it bluntly – this album is amazing. It will be out in late Spring or early Summer and we can’t wait to share it with you. I haven’t even heard the finished product yet, but I can already say that this is the proudest I’ve ever been of any NSX album.

In the meantime, we’re playing quite extensively in February (and may even be adding another show or two to our schedule by the end of the week). Bottom line: we really appreciate seeing you at our shows – and hope to see you in February.

By the way, just a reminder that our 2007 performance for the Creative Life Support series is now on the Pittsburgh “Our Town”/”Music” section of Comcast On-Demand. Also, we’re featured in a write-up about our favorite venue (Sassy Marie’s) in the February issue of Whirl Magazine that hit newsstands today. Finally, when last I heard, NSX is scheduled to have a write-up in Nightwire Magazine coming out in February. Looks like there’s a lot of ways to get your NSX fix during the cold winter months.

Here’s to keeping warm!

Thanks for your continued support,

Mike
NSX

2008 has thus far been off to a stellar start for me and NSX.

Over the past couple of weeks, NSX has started our steady shows at Sassy Marie’s in Pittsburgh, Mountaineer Casino in West Virginia, and went on the road to visit Dick’s Den in Columbus.

And, as our ten year anniversary continues, February will bring us to Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH as well as some other great venues.

For the time being, I have been busy updating the website. You’ll now find highlights of some of the music that we’ve recorded over the past ten years from all of Neon Swing’s albums. I’ve also begun posting some pictures of the band – both from our current gigs and shows long past. In fact, some of the recently added pictures on our website date back to our very first public gig ever at the Eclectica Coffee Shop in Latrobe, PA. Taking a look at some of these pictures really brought me back…wow were we young when we started!

Some of the old school pictures show Tim Palko and Jared Craig on bass who have been/will be joining us throughout 2008. Thus far Jared has been doing most of the shows and recording sessions and I know I speak for Wally, Joe, and Steve when I say that it’s been great for the band to have such a good “old” friend back in the mix on a semi-regular basis – just like the old times!

As we aged and (seemingly) matured from the NSX in some of those older pictures, so did our music. And the crowds at Sassy Marie’s will tell you that the band has never sounded better. Nor have we ever been more danceable! We hope to see you out to our shows this February, especially if you haven’t seen NSX in a while. Why not come out for some good ole fashion nostalgia? Also, we’ve begun talking with venues about booking shows with different formats of the band including anything from a duo to our current seven-piece full band line-up.

In between shows, we’ve been finishing up our tenth anniversary album. While we haven’t yet finalized a name, it will feature a couple of new originals, a couple of vintage NSX originals that we’ve re-recorded with a new spin, and a bunch of cover tunes. Our thoughts on the new CD are that we wanted to present not just a ten year history of the band, but an historic look on swing music in general by focusing on swing songs written by a variety of talented musicians from a variety of decades. The songs that we’re covering on this recording range from the 1920s through the late 90s and were originally made famous by greats such as Bobby Darin, Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway, Louis Prima, Louis Armstrong, and the Atomic Fireballs. We really hope you like our selection when it comes out in late spring or early summer. We’re very proud of it.

Oh, and by the way…our guestbook looks really lonely. We love to hear from you, so stop by and give the band a shout out.

Here’s to seeing you again soon!

Mike
Neon Swing X-perience
January 21, 2008

On behalf of Neon Swing X-perience, I’d like to wish you a happy welcome to 2008!

This year is the band’s tenth anniversary and we’re very excited about the things that we have in store for you.

New NSX Line-up
We’ve had some changes to the NSX member line-up recently as a couple of members have decided to leave the band either to pursue exciting new careers in other parts of the country, because of creative differences, or to focus on other projects. We wish them all the best in their endeavors. We’re very glad, though, to welcome back former NSX members. Ryan Kuntz (who had announced in mid-2007 that he was leaving the band) has recently informed us that he will stay on with NSX for a bit longer and we’re glad to retain his talents on guitar and vocals. Two former NSX members will be making their returns during the early part of ’08. Tim Palko and Jared Craig will be splitting bass duties for the first half of the year. Those of you who have a copy of our “It Happens Every Day” album of 2002 (or thereabouts) know that these guys are phenomenal musicians and we will truly be honored to once again welcome them to the stage. An outstanding new pianist has joined the band as of late 2007, taking the keyboard slot that opened up last March. We’re very glad to be working with Andy Leer on the keys! As always, your favorite core members of the band will be playing for you at a vast majority of our shows. And we’re very excited to also be joined by sit-ins including former members and others we met along our ten-year journey. So far we’ve performed two shows in 2008 and have had guest appearances at both shows. That means that we hope you can do your best to be at all of our gigs as you never know what’s going to happen during our tenth anniversary! For (at least the first part) of 2008, the regular NSX line-up will be:
• Mike Urick – lead vocals, trumpet, noseflute
• Wally Hunter – various saxes, trumpet, other wind instruments
• Joe Palacki – drums and percussion
• Steve Tomkowitz – various saxes (including his brand new bari!), acoustic guitar
• Ryan Kuntz – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica
• Andy Leer – piano, keyboards
• Tim Palko or Jared Craig – bass

Steady Shows
As we’ve mentioned in late 2007, our steady show at the Mountaineer Casino in Chester, WV has come to fruition. For the time being, we’re scheduled to perform there from 8 – midnight every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. We’re also very excited to perform for you at Sassy Marie’s on Pittsburgh’s North Shore every third Wednesday of the month. Dance lessons begin at 7:30 and NSX goes on at 8. Sassy Marie’s is the old James St. Tavern which was once Pittsburgh’s #1 jazz club. We’re honored to have the “house swing band” slot at such an historic venue. As always, we will be performing at a variety of venues on weekends so keep checking our website to see where we’ll be…and we’ve been kicking around the idea of going on another tour sometime during the summer or fall. Although we’ve been discussing various places we’d like to go, nothing has been confirmed. But we’ll keep you informed on any new developments.

New Website and CD
NSX also has a new website. We hope to keep it as up-to-date as possible so that you can find all of your NSX info in one convenient place. Both www.neonswing.net and www.neonswing.com will lead you to our new site. It’s still in development right now, but expect to see loads of information focusing on the highlights of the band’s history. Don’t forget that we’re also putting the finishing touches on our new CD as well. We have a bit more tracking to do this month and into February, but then it’s off to post production and should be out by the early summer. It’s going to be awesome and unlike any NSX album you’ve ever heard.

Well, I think that’s about it for now – but for NSX’s first update of 2008 we really want to thank you for sticking with us for the past ten years. The band has certainly had its ups and downs (and we’re sure we will in the future as well), but we’ve had a great ride thus far and are glad that you’ve been along with us! Here’s to seeing what the next ten years have in store!

Your humble trumpeter,
Mike Urick
Neon Swing X-perience
January 9, 2008