It was only a few short months ago that we were standing in the construction site for what would become the new Mississippi Studios, in a light rain (there was no roof at the time), singing “Lovely Mary Dyer” for a video series called “Razing Mississippi“. Now, this coming Friday night, we’ll be playing our first full show under the roof at the new and improved venue. We’re extremely excited about the show, and honored to be sharing the stage with two of the best songwriters in town: the incomparable Chris Robley (a good friend and incredible musician), and the genius behind one of our favorite bands, Dolorean, singer/songwriter Al James. For more info on the show, visit the Mississippi Studios website at http://www.mississippistudios.com.
We’re also extremely excited to annouce that we’ve finished recording our new record, “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry”, and will be sending the album to mastering in a couple of weeks. We’ll be posting the track listing on the blog page soon, but for now, in honor of our first full show back at the beautiful Mississippi Studios, it seemed fitting to post one of the songs slated to be on the new album, “Lovely Mary Dyer”, for you to listen to, download, and share. And, of course, feel free to go back and watch the video from this past November (just click the picture below) as well…the place looks a lot different now!
The Dimes – Lovely Mary Dyer (click to listen)
Hope you have a great rest of the week and weekend, and maybe we’ll see you on Friday night?
Johnny
For over 140 years the Charles Street jail was the last place a person would have wanted to stay the night, much less serve hard time. But over the years, old Charles Street had a number of famous “guests” spend more than a night or two, inlcuding former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, who remained Mayor while in prison, letting the “clerks and the jerks” run the city until his release. And a former conman called Frank Abagnale, who’s name you might recognize from the movie “Catch Me If You Can“, spent a few nights within the famous walls of the Charles Street Jail.
Those famous walls are still there (most of them), but the place is anything but a prison these days. Less than two years ago, after several years of renovation, the old jail reopened as The Liberty Hotel. The building is an amazing piece of historic architecture, and Boston, being the historic place that it is, doesn’t like to see beautiful old buildings torn down. There are many nods to the Liberty’s historic past, such as the hotel bar, called the “Clink“, and the hotel lobby, which looks like it could have been a movie set from “Jailhouse Rock“.
When I read a story, several months ago now, about the old jail’s reopening as a swanky hotel, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a song there – here’s the acoustic demo we’ve been working from for the record version. If and when we get the band to Boston, I’m looking forward to singing this one in the lobby…
The Dimes – Charles Street (Acoustic Demo)
Have a great week and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Johnny
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Charles Street Jail, circa 1930
It was 239 years ago today…the event that became known as the Boston Massacre was like pouring gasoline on an ever growing fire in Boston. The incident involved the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British troops on March 5, 1770, and it began a series of events that helped spark the rebellion in Boston and eventual revolution in America.
Now I’m no loyalist, but this thing wasn’t as one sided as history would have you believe. In fact, a young lawyer, and a favorite patriot of mine, called John Adams actually served as council in defense for the British troops in the trial that followed the incident…and he was certainly no loyalist either. The fact remains though, for me anyway, that the soldiers shouldn’t have been there in the first place, as the British were basically engaged in a military occupation of Boston. An interesting factoid: the picture above was actually a print made from an engraving by a local blacksmith named Paul Revere. Other variations of Revere’s engraving have been made over the years, such as the one below, which was made shortly before the Cival War and emphasizes Crispus Attucks in the foreground of the picture. Attucks, a black man, was the first one killed in the Boston Massacre and is frequently named as the first martyr of the American Revolution.
We’ve had a demo floating around for the better part of a year about Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre…it’s more of a round than a song, but I thought I’d post it given the history of the day…
The Dimes – Crispus Attucks (Demo)
Have a great weekend y’all -
Johnny
