The Maple Street Project: Band News

If you are able to do so, please consider attending the upcoming benefit at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham on Saturday night, March 27th. It is called A Celebration of Healing and Life.

This is a benefit concert in aid of our friend Joe Burstein. The Maple Street Project will be entertaining along with Jamie Walker and Alex the Jester. Tickets are $25 each and are available at the door but reservations are strongly encouraged since space is limited.

For information visit http://www.friendsofjoeburstein.com/

To view a recent article about Joe from The Needham Times:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham/features/x692843061/Community-raises-money-to-help-Needham-man-get-cancer-treatment-abroad

When we took the stage a little after 5P on July 3rd, the rains were comin' down and it looked rather ominous. But the sounds of The Maple Street Project quickly drove the clouds away - the sun finally came out and the people began streaming into Memorial Park for the Reminisants concert and the fireworks show to follow.

Check out the photos posted on our Photo Gallery.

Thanks to The Reminisants and the sound guys for allowing us to share the stage and sound equipment! Given the weather, two separate stages would not have been a good idea!

Check out George's "Fathers and Daughters" and Bob's "Long Way Back" on our music streaming page.

"Fathers and Daughters" is a softer ballad complete with piano, mando, and trademark MSP harmonies. Producer/drummer Dave Franz plays percussion on this track.

"Long Way Back" has a much harder edge than previous MSP tunes, owing in part to Dave's drumming. The track features Bob on vocals and electric violin, George on electric guitar and (if you listen closely) Eric on slide guitar.

You're now among the first to know! MSP has been asked to play for the gathering crowd at the town's July 3rd fireworks. We'll be performing at the Gazebo from 5P - 7P. Best of all - it's free!

More info to follow as we get closer. Think it'll be warm by July? (As I write this, it is 33 degrees out).

We've begun a round of fast paced recording with producer Dave Franz - trying to cram in as much productive time as we can access before he relocates to LA. If you want to follow our progress, join Maple Street Project Fans on Facebook where Eric has been posting commentary at the end of each of our evenings at Underground Sun Studio. Photos from a recent session are now posted. Click on the photo link in the left hand column to see us in our studio glory.

We worked with Dave on "Elephants" and "Red Blues" last summer, both of which you can hear on www.myspace.com/maplestreetproject

We're sad to note the passing of Daisy Littman - the official dog of The Maple Street Project. Daisy died after a long illness in January at the age of 11. She witnessed many a rehearsal and recording session, and - unlike the band members - was never judgmental. When she whined, it was always to go "out". She was always the first to bark with glee when band members arrived at the house and was a constant presence in rehearsals. Whether wagging her tail to the beat, nosing an unsuspecting band member in the crotch, or begging for a biscuit (which Mel inevitably had on his person somewhere), Daisy was the consumate band friend. She will be missed.

Our friend Nick Noble, host of WICN-FM's "Folk Revival" show asked us to come in to the studio to share our Chanukah music with listeners. Braving the insane traffic from Boston out to the wilds of Worcester, we played live for about an hour, chatting between songs about our seasonal CD called "Chanukah on Maple Street".

WICN is located at 90.5 FM in the Worcester area and can also be streamed by visiting www.wicn.org We're told it is accessible outside of the USA so... give it a shot! Nick's show is on Thursdays from 7P - 11P EST.

Eric has known Nick since the late '70s (they sang together in The Trinity Pipes of Trinity College) and has been great about playing MSP music as well as Mel Mel & Julian songs on his radio shows. We're delighted to have had this opportunity. It was a blast!

Visit our Music page (in the left hand column) or go to www.myspace.com/maplestreetproject to be among the first to hear "Elephants" and "Red Blues"! These are songs that were recorded for the... political season. Let us know what you think.

MSP recorded these two new tracks working with an outside producer, Dave Franz (of the terrific band midatlantic) who provided valuable advice and technical support. Dave and our friend Rob Sutherland also added various percussion bits.

Last year it was The Maple Street Project opening the Arts In the Park series. This year it was Ben Wilmott. But MSP wasn't forgotten! Read all about it by clicking on the link below.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham/fun/x379994770

Both of our CDs are available on I-Tunes and CDbaby. There are links to each here on our web site - just click on the "products" link in the left hand menu.

If you want the actual CD, click on the CDBaby icon which will take you to a very cool web site devoted to the sale of independent music. You'll love the new songs on our most recent release "Kick Back on Maple Street" - and the eco-friendly cardboard packaging!

If you're into the whole digital music thing, click on I-Tunes and download individual songs or the entire album. The choice is up to you!

Our music is also available at many of the more popular digital download sites.

We're just back from a band retreat weekend where we spent some quality time rehearsing, writing, and working on new and old tunes. And - low and behold - we've got at least a dozen new songs. MSP fans will be pleased to know we've started recording demos and so it won't be long (ha!) until we've got new music for you. We expect to premiere a bunch of the newer material at our Cantab gig on November 23rd (see our "Calendar" page for more info). Meanwhile... we'll keep on doin' our thing!

Two great pieces of news!

"Running Out Of August" from our CD Kick Back on Maple Street has been selected for international play via a cool internet streaming service called Kickradio - with listeners in more than 120 countries worldwide.

Tune into the show at www.Kickradio.com and scroll down to Episode Thirteen. We're about 40 minutes into the one hour show - you can scroll forward to it if you'd like.

And... we're featured in the e-magazine called Indie Islands. Go to www.indieislands.net and - for all artists - you get pictures, music, and information plus... you can click links to get more information and tunes. It's fantastic!

We're in the new Autumn Country and Bluegrass edition, along with some really great artists - including Reba McEntire.

You can get to the MSP article from the index (just click on the MSP blurb and the pages will start turning
automatically). Or you can browse by "turning" the pages yourself - just left-click your mouse, hold, and move the page to the left or right. Don't worry, it's easier to do than it is to explain.

We're thrilled to be in Indie Islands and on Kickradio.

Steven Ryan of The Needham Times shot a short clip of the band performing at "Kickin' Back on the Common". Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnA36BQZCOM

Since October 2006 when we went live with our new web site, we've had many visitors from around the world. This we find truly amazing!! So many, in fact, that we now list them in alphabetical order. The stats show that we've had hits from:

Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovinia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Croatia, Cyprus, Czeck Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Ghana, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatamala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea (South), Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuanea, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montserrat, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nive, Norway, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Phillipines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia.


Whether you're local or a visitor from afar, please leave us a message on our Guestbook and tell us what you think.

Top of page 15 in Friday, April 6th Boston Metro... Melanie's Pick for our gig at The Middle East Downstairs on Saturday night. Melanie has great taste!

The Needham Times and The Hometown News ran feature stories on the band recently in advance of our CD release party! Please check out the Press/Comments section of our site for links to the articles.