Nice little piece about the Taters in this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, written by Melissa Ruggieri:

The last record from The Taters, “Just One Night,” came in 2007. The next one should come this year, as the band has been in the studio adding vocals to the songs “No I Don’t,” “Such a Good Day,” and “Spend a Little Time with Me.”

The Richmond Faves, whose live shows are renowned for their rollicking combination of roots rock, pop, Americana and a little skiffle, are only playing about one show per month as they continue to work on their album.

The band, led by singer-bassist Craig Evans and guitarist Brad Tucker, will do its January duty tomorrow at 8pm at Ashland Coffee & Tea.

Thanks, Melissa, for the PR.  Always appreciated!

As a side project, I’ve been working on a video for the VA Dept of Taxation, to promote their online filing options. Here’s their first video. I helped storyboard and write the script, did the voice-over and the closing music.

And my hand is on the cheese. What more can I say? Go watch, give it wonderful ratings, link to it, whatever!

Check out this article about New York band The Dictators -

During this period the band was christened with their nickname, “The ‘Taters.” This culminated in an incident during a tour with Uriah Heep and Foreigner in which Foreigner’s roadies strung a net filled with potatoes above the stage and released it during the Dictators’ set.

For those that can remember back that far, we had something similar happen back at a U of R Dance concert some years back. Strange, but true!

This week in the studio we added more vocals to the songs, putting lead & background vocals on No I Don’t, Such a Good Day, Spend a Little Time With Me, and adding more background parts to Cat in the Window. The songs are starting to take shape now with vocal there!

It was a long time in coming, but here is the poem that came with our anonymous gift (see the posting on Dec 23rd to read about this Christmas mystery!). This was included in the envelope, and I’ve been meaning to type it out and include it here, but just kept getting sidetracked. I finally enlisted the help of the better typist in the family, so here it is:

The Night Before Christmas-Tater Style

Twas the night before Christmas
And around Richmond town
All the music was quiet
There wasn’t a sound

And the Taters were snuggled
All warm in their beds
With visions of new
Dancing in the heads

They’d been very good boys
Throughout this whole year
They were nice to other people
But they had one big fear

They wanted to make
This brand new CD
But they needed money
And they needed plenty

They worked very hard
They sang and they played
But there wasn’t much money
There were bills to be paid

But as they slept,
So peaceful and nice
Came the sound of loud scratching
Like possums or mice

The door to the studio
Was flung open wide
And a very strange creature
Ambled inside

It was wearing a shirt
With The Taters logo
And all of their pins
And it was carrying dough

“I’m here to help
Those fine Taters boys
Finish their CD
And make some new noise!”

“I’m leaving something
For the boys in the band
Don’t ask who I am
I’m Anonymous Fan”

“I just want to hear
This brand new CD
Cuz that Tater-type music
Is special to me”

So Fan lay down
Its little old packet
And tried to sneak out
Without making a racket

But It was kind of klutzy
This anonymous fan
And it tripped on its feet
As away it ran

The noise woke The Taters
And they sprang from their beds
Rubbing their yes
And shaking their heads

First Craig, then Buz
Then Greg and Brad
Then Mike who said
“Wow that sound sure was bad.”

And then they saw Fan
As it ran out the door
And Fan turned and said
“Uh-oh” and more

“Here’s something small
I want to do my part
I wish it were more
But it comes from the heart”

And then Fan was gone
Yelling with glee
“Merry Christmas you guys
And a great new CD!”

(Thanks to Tammi for typing it out)

So there you have it. We roll into the new year with this mystery remaining … mysterious! But meanwhile, we’re working to try and honor this wish for a “great new CD”. So far we’re pretty happy with most of what’s been done, and I hope “anonymous” and everyone else will be too!

We had a great session in the studio last night, including a visit from a few old friends of ours (Click the link below to listen to one such instance). And thanks, too, to our mystery damsel in distress for her help on Wolfman!

Cruel to be Cruel

Besides this one, the other Taters put down vocals on several songs, including Wolfman Told Me Tonight, Cat in the Window, Oceans Apart, Lonely Like That, and Feet Start Walkin‘ (an old Gary US Bond tune). And by the way, once Dino had a go at his tune, Brad stepped in to show him how it’s done. Several of the tunes are getting pretty close to done, so we’re excited about that.

Got a few shows this weekend, at Positive Vibe tomorrow night in Richmond, and 2 shows on Saturday at Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville, including a Tater Tots show for kids in the afternoon, and a blow-out with Scuffletown for the evening set. Back next week to the studio for more work – who knows what will come from that one?

We finished up the year with a very productive recording session on Tuesday night in Ashland, and then a great (but freezing!) show last evening up in Winchester. But at least we were inside for this one (some of you may remember a New Year’s Eve in Fredericksburg a few years ago where we were playing outside! Never again, I hope!). It was bitter cold, and one person said they heard that winds got near 60mph yesterday, so all in all we fared pretty well!

At the recording session, we started on some vocal parts, including lead and backgrounds for “Wolfman”, which is coming along nicely. Still several instrumental parts on some songs to go, and we’re just getting going with the vocals, but it’s really starting to take shape. Greg brought his banjo in on a song, so things continue to stay interesting (!)

Got a few days off to thaw this weekend, but then we’re back with shows next week, and more recording. Details on the shows are over at our site, and I’ll keep you posted on the recording progress here. Also I hope to be able to post some stuff soon, including a few clips from some live shows. Maybe I’ll have to get Cole to show me how -- he’s now sort of “running” the Taters’ MySpace page, since I don’t have time to keep everything out there updated!

Ok, off to start a new year…

just a quick posting before I sign off for the evening (finally!). I hope everyone reading this has a great Christmas, no matter how you choose to celebrate!

Another unexpected and much appreciated gift towards the new CD, this one from “Anonymous Fan” came in the mail today! Don’t even know who to thank for this one, but I hope whoever it is reads this blog so I can say how much all the Taters appreciate it! It’s no exaggeration to say that this will really help us keep things moving, especially as we enter into the bleak midwinter (or, as I like call it… January!). The gift came with a great poem as well, and I’ll post that as soon as I can type it all out (or persuade other family members to help

I’m always happy when people come up at the shows and say how much they enjoyed it, or when I hear from people who’ve enjoyed the CDs. It means much more than a lot of people probably realize. When you consider how much music is out there in the world, how many shows there are to see on any given night, and all the competition from TV, radio, etc, it’s pretty encouraging to know how many people are actually choosing to spend their time with us. I don’t often take the time to thank everyone individually, especially those who come out regularly, or who buy all of our music, but just know that it’s all absorbed and appreciated. I’m sure the other Taters would echo me on this!

So, “Anonymous”, thanks again for your gift, and I hope you’ll enjoy the fruits of it when the CD comes out!

I think you will!

And I’ll leave you with a quote from the good Dr. himself,

"Welcome Christmas, Bring your cheer
Cheer to all Whos far and near
Christmas Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp
Christmas Day will always be
Just as long as we have we"

or rather, one fine evening was had on Saturday, at the 5th (6th? 8th?) annual TaterSons Christmas Party show in Ashland. We’ve been doing these shows for sometime now with our Tater pals from up the road apiece, the Grandsons, and it gets more fun each year. At several points in the evening there were 4 or 5 Taters, 4 Grandsons, and I could swear I saw at least a few ladies dancing, and a lord or two a’ leaping on stage (or maybe that was just Harry. It gives us a chance at least once a year to pull out the stops on most of the Christmas songs we know, and a few that we don’t -- would you expect any less from a Taters show? Some of the best parts are trying new arrangements on the fly and having them work!

Here’s an example -- Greg was riffing around on guitar with “I Can’t Turn You Loose” as we were about to start a song, and Chris (from the Grandsons) picked up on it, so Silver Bells turned into a most unique rendition! Take a listen -- Silver Bells

We hope to be having some of the Grandsons on the new CD, doing some horn parts, and after this show I’m especially excited about the prospect. As a lot of you know, there were on several cuts on our live CD Just One Night, and that was a blast as well.

Thanks to all who came out and making it a fine, fine evening. I’ll leave you with this for now (no, we didn’t actually do this song, but in the future…?)

Just finished a live radio show here in Richmond. Trying to sing at 7am is not without its share of hurdles, but if you want to hear what it came out like, you can find the songs here. Bill & Shelly have had us on each year on their Christmas show, along with dozens of other local artists, and we want to thank them for continuing to do this each year. We’re always grateful for folks who go out of their way to support local musicians & artists. If you heard the show, or just like the idea, be sure to write and let them know!

We had a great show yesterday at the Virginia Home, playing a very informal Christmas concert for some of the residents there. Even had a guest vocal from one of the folks in attendance, so that was great! Thanks to Billy, Betsy, Robbie, Jody and others who live & work there for giving us the opportunity to come and play. I love getting a chance to do Christmas songs as often as possible!

Got a bit more recording to do this week.  We’ve had a week off due to all the shows (6 shows in the last 7 days), and with Christmas & New Years just around the corner, we may not get a lot done in the studio for the next few weeks, but we’ve made good headway so we’re happy with what we have so far.

A few more big shows coming up before the end of the year. This week, on Saturday, Dec 20, we’ll be hosting our 5th or 6th annual Christmas with the TaterSons show, at Ashland Coffee & Tea. Can’t remember offhand how many of these we’ve done, but everyone has been fun, so I’m looking forward to it. On stage with us will be our pals from the north, The Grandsons. If you’re within driving distance, call the venue and see if there are still tickets available! And, on New Year’s Eve, we’re up in Winchester VA for the First Night celebration, sharing a stage with singer/songwriter Andrew McKnight. This is an all-ages celebration, and a great way to finish out the year!

One of these days we’ll finish a Christmas album (maybe after we finish the current album… focus… focus…), but for now we do have 2 songs up for sale on a Taters MP3 page, as well as several free downloads. Still testing out a few ways to handle the free downloads, including Box.net, so let us know what you think.

In the meantime, you can also listen to the song for free on MySpace  – go to http://www.myspace.com/tatermusic add “My First Christmas” to your MySpace playlists as well!