East Ash St. Band

East Ash St. Band
Saturday, June 7, 2008, 11 p.m. to midnight
Where: The Porch, Lawrence
Cost: Not available
Age limit: Not available
Description

East Ash St. Band brings the funky slap bass and jammy psychedelics to the dancin' crowds in Columbia, Mo. - Lawrence.com

March 22, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST

The Blue Note is going to the dogs this week. Four bands, the Mississippi Flapjacks, Soulshine, East Ash St. Band and Soulstace, will howl for homeless animals to create a fusion of grooving and giving with a benefit concert called Rockin’ For Rover.

“We’ve been working with The Blue Note for a while to get something going,” says Heather Duren, the shelter relations coordinator at the Central Missouri Humane Society. “Honestly, the Humane Society is grateful for anything people are willing to give.”
Event Info

What: Rockin’ for Rover
When: Friday, 8:30 p.m.
Where: The Blue Note
Cost: $5
Related Links
The Blue Note

Kevin Hopkins, an independent promoter for Mojo’s and The Blue Note, decided to host the concert to help the organization. “I recognized that they do a lot around the area,” he says. “It’s a nice organization to get involved with. Also, it’s a benefit for the animals.” Hopkins owns a cat named Alice, whom he’s had for about six years, and a pug, Trucks. Both pets are like band members.

The Blue Note hosts charity concerts three to five times a year such as a benefit for late bluegrass musician and journalist Forrest Rose that was held at Mojo’s, a Bob Dylan tribute and a benefit concert for Kirk Rundstrom, guitarist and vocalist for Split Lip Rayfield who died in late February after battling cancer.

Hopkins has organized charity concerts in Columbia and around the Midwest. The idea for contributing to canines originated from the Jan. 20 Waka Winter Classic at The Blue Note, a winter tour affiliated with Wakarusa, a summer festival that takes place in Lawrence, Kan. The four bands on the Rockin’ For Rover lineup performed at the Winter Classic for a chance to rock out onstage at this summer’s Wakarusa. Columbia’s East Ash St. Band won by audience vote with its music influenced by Muddy Waters, the Grateful Dead and The Band among others. Its sound is a blend of eclectic rock that guitarist and vocalist Todd Wait describes as “psychedelic rock ’n’ roll.”

Another band taking the stage at Rockin’ For Rover is St. Louis-based Mississippi Flapjacks, whose performance style is simple, mellow and reminiscent of days spent hanging out with friends and jamming just for the fun of it. They say their pet goat, Daniel Goonicorn, inspired them to play the benefit.

Band members say that many of them don’t own animals from the Humane Society, but pets still play an important part in their lives. East Ash St. Band has a monkey named Joey. Understanding the power of animal companionship could be the reason they decided to play a few songs that mention animals, such as “Joey,” a tribute to their pet.

“We’ll choose some special songs for the show. We’ll play our original music, but we might throw in a Bob Dylan or a Grateful Dead cover in there,” Wait says.

Motivations for holding and performing at the concert range from the power of the cause to just jamming with friends on a Friday night.

“There are a lot more people that would be more prone to come out and check out a live band or a live event if there is good cause behind it,” says Hopkins.

The concert will cost $5 with a portion of the proceeds donated to the Humane Society and the remainder divided among the bands and the venue. The Humane Society will use the funds to take care of the animals at the shelter, a task that costs around $15 a day for each animal. - By Paula Baker

Published Thursday, March 22, 2007

Sometimes jam bands and their fans get a bad rap, often being associated with laziness and long outros. But then they go and plan and promote a large fundraiser for a good cause - puppies and kittens - to truly redeem themselves.

Hoping to bank on the loyalty of their fans and their want of a good time, The Mississippi Flapjacks and East Ash Street Band, among others, will perform tomorrow as part of a concert benefiting the Central Missouri Humane Society at The Blue Note.

The organization is a not-for-profit group that was founded in 1943 to prevent animal cruelty, treat animal suffering and promote responsible pet ownership through adoption, education and intervention programs. CMHS responds to injured animal calls in Boone County and provides volunteer options.

Last year, CMHS accepted almost 9,000 homeless animals. Adoption donations go toward initial vaccinations, worming, spaying or neutering and other services - Mary T. Nguyen

April 11, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST

Todd Wait was sick of listening to his heady music, chilled out tunes that span genres such as bluegrass, funk, blues, jazz, improv and psychedelic, in the living rooms and basements of friends’ homes. Chris Dohm, owner of Shattered nightclub, was looking to expand the club’s image from dance club to legitimate music venue. Wait spoke with Chris about the conundrum over Thanksgiving dinner last November, and four months later, Heady Fridays, a weekly event hosted at Shattered featuring live bands, vendors and local art, began.

Event Info

What: Heady Fridays
When: Fri., 8 p.m.
Where: Shattered
Cost: $5
Call: 874-0650
Related Links
Club Shattered

“It was born out of the idea that I wanted a steady place where bands I liked could play,” says Wait, lead singer of the East Ash St. Band. “Also, I’d like art to be there. I’d like to see people showing their craft.”

Sure, the event is focused around the band’s interests, but it is anything but selfish. In addition to creating a sort of home for Columbians interested in heady music, Wait envisions a second, community-building purpose. Main Squeeze restaurant was a food vendor for the first event, as was Kayotea Tearoom and Bistro. Two weeks ago, Ninth Street Deli’s owner, Mike Baroli, began making sandwiches for Heady Fridays.

Wait encouraged local businesses such as Klunk Bicycle & Repair and organizations such as the Sierra Club and Peace Works to set up tables during the live show for free.


Karl Kimbel, owner of Klunk, is open to having a table at future Heady Fridays. “I like that [Wait] is trying to incorporate local businesses that are somewhat sustainable,” Kimbel says. “Whether or not it’s the right venue, we’ll see.”


So far, there hasn’t been a lot of hype over the event. Wait is determined to make the event succeed. He advertises on the East Ash St. Band’s MySpace page and bikes around MU with fistfuls of quarter-page fliers.


Dohm is impressed with where Wait has taken the event. He wants to attract a different subculture at the club every night of the week.

“From a business aspect, it doesn’t make sense to try to get the same crowd every night, but we do try and have consistency week by week,” he says.


Future Heady Fridays will feature the local hip-hop and jazz infused FLOTUS and the East Ash St. Band. Wait counted about 100 attendees at the first Friday and 140 the following week.


Matt Dethrow, the band’s bass player, admits it will not be easy to get Shattered recognized as a live music venue. “It’s going to be tough to make the transition, but from what we’ve seen, people show up not expecting this, and they stay and come back the next week,” he says.

At about 11:45 p.m. on a chilly Friday night in March, the band stops playing, and Wait moves to the soundboard, filling the room with music. The club starts to fill with a crowd more Barbie than Birkenstock, concentrated around the pool table in the back. More members of East Ash St. band come in and stand by the bar, across from a photography exhibit by Avery Danzinger, whose work has appeared in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Wait rejoins everyone and points to the photos. He’s laying claim to space for future Heady Fridays-sponsored art. The evening is winding down, but he’s just getting started. - By Brianne Sanchez

East Ash St. Band and The HipNecks: drawn together



MOVE challenges East Ash St. Band and The HipNecks to a Pictionary tournament.



By Sarah Alban

Nov. 11, 2008





Although it takes them 20 minutes to locate The Blue Fugue's only nonalcoholic beer last Sunday, members of The HipNecks and East Ash Street Band give rapid-fire answers in MOVE's newest version of Pictionary: Names of Bands Who'll Appear at This Weekend's First Annual Bluebird Music & Arts Festival.



MOVE does the drawing, and East Ash St. Band wins two notable points for guessing MOVE's artistic renditions of East Ash St. Band (a street) and The HipNecks (a stick figure proudly displaying his anatomy).



The HipNecks were winning by four points until the final round, when EASB nabs the final question. Then EASB guitarist Todd Wait wins the overtime tiebreaker by shouting "Noah Sugarman!" even before the whiteboard "Earth" has flooded underneath Noah's dry-erase boat.



In spite of the curses dropped in good humor after "we-really-should've-got-that-answer"-type losses, the bands realize they have more in common than an inability to sniff out the nonalcoholic beer. They share the music.



"If we get to be old and don't have 7 cents, but we have five CDs out," HipNecks drummer Zack Harrison starts to say before, he is interrupted by EASB's new bassist, Dominic Lee.



"That's so true," Lee says. "I always want to be doing this."



They're lifers, even if that means working second and third jobs to support their passion.



How far will they go? What job won't they do? Here's a sample of some members' alter egos:



Mike Jones - EASB guitarist, carpet cleaner



Pat Kay - HipNecks multi-instrumentalist, employee at The Blue Note



Dominic Lee - EASB guitarist, KMIZ/Channel 17 employee



Todd Wait - EASB guitarist, painter, farm worker, Root Cellar employee



Wes Wingate - HipNecks multi-instrumentalist, piano teacher, magazine printer



Kay says seven days in a week isn't enough time at all, but he tries to make it work.



"Somehow you've just got to find a way to do it," he says.



EASB drummer Ty Ledbetter tries to put Kay's mind at ease.



"We've been talking to Obama about adding on an extra day to the week," Ledbetter says.



The only band member who couldn't make the Challenge, HipNecks bassist Ryan Renne, works in St. Louis on what fellow bandmate Scott Anderson (vocals, guitar) calls "fucking nuclear reactors." Renne has a masters degree from Washington University in St. Louis.



"He once drew frequency wave patterns of a bass wave and how he wanted it to come out of the speakers and onto the audience," Anderson says. "I looked at him and said, 'Man, this is amazing. I have no idea what you're talking about.'"



Jones thinks about what that must mean for Renne's musical abilities.



"He's probably a hell of a bass player," he says.



If the odd jobs will enable them to get there, members from both bands harbor lofty musical aspirations.



"Eventually I want to play music for everyone in the world," Wait says. "This is what I want to devote the rest of my life to."



Harrison points out an obstacle to Wait's plans.



"New people are born every day," he says.



But some of their aspirations are more achievable.



"I want to be the guy that pukes in the little trashcan on the side of the stage," EASB's newest member Adam says.



Wait rethinks his goals with a realistic foresight.



"That's true," Wait says. "I'll probably end up selling fish sandwiches."



Fish sandwiches or not, they all agree that music is in their future.



"Regardless of where the world takes us, we want to keep writing music, composing and getting better," Kay says, with everyone listening solemnly.



In the meantime, the bands share obstacles like getting their names written correctly at venues. (Anyone ever seen the East St. Ash Band play a gig?)



"You guys don't run into that problem, do you?" Adam says to the HipNecks. "Your name's pretty standard."



Kay stands up and objects.



"Our name's pretty standard?" Kay says. "It's not even a real word."



Regardless of how their names get printed, both bands are working to expand on the types of venues they play. EASB has played at a camp for Jewish teenagers, and The HipNecks have played gigs as far away as Colorado.



"We also played a livestock farm once," Harrison says.



They both played on the same dock (at different times), which posed a problem when they tried to play their instruments on the drifting platform.



"It's really cool to be completely removed from your comfort zone," Kay says.



The road to reaching a worldwide audience might not come today or this weekend (especially because EASB and The HipNecks will be playing downtown at the first Bluebird Festival this weekend), but for now they're happy cutting songs together in a changing technological environment.



"Most of our music is bought online," Anderson says.



The HipNecks are going to start new recording sessions soon. They plan to cut songs one at a time and put them for sale on iTunes as soon as they're done.



"Why wait four months?" Anderson says.



The HipNecks wonder if the new approach will take away from the creative, experimental process of working with a song for a long time or if it will be beneficial.



Nobody has an answer, but by the end of the Pictionary meet, everyone is heatedly discussing the future of music. EASB doesn't even hold The HipNecks to their bet when they lose at Pictionary (13-12). Everyone agrees "East Ash Street Band" couldn't possibly be tattooed onto one's forehead. Although, apparently, "EASB" could.












- Move Magazine

From porch and basement jams out of a brick house on East Ash Street to dates at bars, music venues and national music festivals, singer/songwriter Todd Day Wait and lead guitarist Mike Jones melt like butter to fill your dancin' shoes. - Relix Magazine