Here’s the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/286161178120443/

For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about…

Twenty years ago, I was in a pretty bad-ass college rock band called “Snaggletooth”. We paraded our Classic Rock Tunes all over Ithaca, Cornell, Binghamton, Syracuse, etc and had a pretty damn good time doing it.

We were tight and became good friends and even made a bit of money in the process. But, we broke up after trying to play for a while in Boston as an original band. I’ve never forgotten the feeling of camaraderie that we had together; you know, the feeling that anything was possible.

So, after 20 years, Snaggletooth is reuniting for one night only at The Nines in Collegetown!

This is scheduled to coincide with Ithaca College’s “Fall Splash” (better known to many as Fall Homecoming Weekend). Jim Yeskewicz ’92, Pete Moulthrop Auslan ’91, Tim High ’92/93, Mike Rogers ’92 and Joe Iadanza ’93 will perform two rousing sets of the classic rock covers you all know and love. This concert will be the first time Pete and I will play together since I took over guitar duties after Pete’s graduation.

All I’m saying is make your hotel reservations now my friends, because this is a once in a lifetime event you will not want to miss!

I’m excited to announce that I’ve found a great space and have partnered with the Glenwood Arts Society to revive the monthly open stage that I used to run with Canvas Magazine.

If you’re local, I hope you can become part of the community. If you’re a touring musician and need a Thurs night filler gig, drop me a note. I’m looking specifically for regional touring artists.

Starting on March 22nd, and scheduled the 4th Thursday of every month at Myachi HQ in Glenwood Landing, NY, I challenge creators of performance art — music, poetry, comedy, and more — to share their gifts with the community. You know how I roll… It’s gonna be fun and I’m excited to share this new space with you all!

Check out additional details at http://www.glenwood-arts.org/

Location: Myachi Center – 1 Shore Road (See the Warehouse looking space) – Glenwood Landing, NY.
Date/Time: Thursday March 22nd
Sign Up at 7pm
Show Starts – 7:30pm

I went back and forth with making it a pristine and new-looking guitar, vs relic’ing it a bit. My environment was not optimal for creating a perfect guitar using Nitro-Cellulouse lacquer in winter. It was cold and damp and my garage is communal and dusty. By the time I rubbed out the dust between layers of paint and clear coats, It just started to wear in areas. At that point, it became more of a glorious art project. I love the way it came out! It feels like the guitar I always wanted it to be…

Specs: 1986 Fender Squier Alder Body (Japan), StuMac Black Nitro and Clear Coat, Warmoth Vintage Modern Maple Neck (1 5/8″ nut, Clapton V profile, 6105 Frets, Aged Vintage satin Lacquer that was subsequently and seriously distressed – followed by more satin clear coat), Callaham Vintage Strat Hardware Kit, Lollar Special S Series Pickups.

Here’s How it came together…

Before Pix

Oh yeah! I almost forgot… Here’s how it looked originally:

And how it looked through most of the 90′s (sprayed with a can of red spray paint and with Bloom County characters painted on it by my old high school girlfriend

A few years back I sanded it down. It’s the white guitar/black pickguard tucked in there. It had no finish on it and by then it had been sitting unprotected for years in my closet, the neck was pretty warped and shot. I don’t remember where I even got that replacement neck or who installed it.

Guitar #1: Black Strat Relic – “Dukehouse Classic Custom”

My original first guitar is now well on it’s way to becoming a black reliced strat. It’s finished in gloss black nitro lacquer and I just finished the wet sanding process. The guitar body is resting for a couple of weeks to let the lacquer finish harden before final polishing. Most of the new hardware has been received and I figure I’ll have the guitar up and running by the last week of this month.

For folks who are interested in such things, I’ve got a Callaham Vintage Bridge Assembly, split shaft vintage tuners and other related hardware going in, as well as a nice set of Lollar Special S Series pickups to install. A maple neck and parchment white pickguard will finish complete the build.

Guitar #2: Hot Rod Telecaster – “Dukehouse Phat Classic”

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Springsteen fan. The Boss loves his Telecasters and I’ve had my eye on a few butterscotch-blonde-colored models for sometime. After doing some calculations, I figured I could build my own Telecaster – and a more desirable one – for half of what Fender was charging. Plus, I’d learn something and have fun doing it!

So, I bought me a nice neck and vintage shaped body from Warmoth, then got to finishing it up. The strat above is finished in a very stinky and unenvironmental lacquer. This tele is much more eco-friendly with a water-based-stained body and a tru-oil sealed finish. I even mixed the stain color myself with a combination of 4 different colors

My tele build will get a nice mini-humbucker in the neck pickup and a Lollar 52 Series T-pickup in the bridge. Callaham hardware will be all over this one too. If I ever decide to build another guitar, I’ll try some other folks out too…

This one is already dry. I’m just waiting for the pickguard to finish it off and it should be ready for playing by the end of next week.

That’s all for now! I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks for listening,
Joe

Heidi Ho

Weary Hearts

Wrecking Ball

While not being one for official New Year’s Resolutions, I do notice that I tend to shake up my hobbies and habits this time of year. Certainly it feels like a new start, and there’s no reason not to take advantage of feeling like there’s a clean slate to etch upon. Winter has finally come to Long Island and, since I’ll be spending a little more time indoors for the next few months, I figured it was finally time to take on a little project I’ve been wanting to complete for some time.

My parents gave me my first electric guitar on my 15th birthday. It wasn’t fancy, but it was mine; an off-white Squier Stratocaster that would follow me around through high school, off to college and beyond before being shoved into my closet and largely forgotten about. It was haphazardly painted, stripped, paired with other parts, beaten up and modified so many times that there really was nothing left of the original other than the body.

Since then I’ve bought, sold and traded countless guitars, but I was never willing to part with that ol’ Squier, even though I never played it or felt musically bonded to it. I finally wondered, “why do I put this guitar through so much trouble?” Only recently I realized that, for a number of reasons, my Squier was always the guitar I thought I was supposed to chose, but it was never the guitar I really wanted.

So, finally after 25 years, my 1986 Squier Strat is getting a full and well-deserved makeover. Last weekend I stripped the body and ordered a vintage style replacement neck. Over the next month, I’ll slowly and carefully fill the grain on the body, seal, sand, spray it glossy black, and sand some more until it’s time to lacquer it up and let it rest before final polishing. Then I’ll outfit the ol’ dog with some really tasty electronics and hardware and get it ready to play.

I’ve done some modifications on guitars before, but never a full rebuild. I gotta say… I’m pretty excited.

Enjoy your clean slate, check out the upcoming shows, and thanks for listening!

Much Love,
Joe

As opposed to the very-rehearsed natures of our usual projects, “The Solid Citizens” is semi-jam-based, semi-rehearsed, and semi-open-format as we invite fellow touring musicians who we know to be skilled players – and who we know are going to be at an event with us – to come up and make music with us, using songs from folks like Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, etc, as the vehicle.

In this format, anything is possible. It can be magic or a train wreck, and even a little bit of both. The key is to leave the agenda and ego at the door and to just listen and play. The audience is encouraged to sing and play along, and Mark brings a big conference-room-style flip chart with Chord Changes and key lyrics on it.

We did a little rehearsal at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival a couple of weeks back, and we had a debut performance at Huntington Folk Festival last weekend. As you can see from the pictures, it was a blast.

Thanks to Craig Akin, Honor Finnegan, Kath Buckell, Carolann Solebello, Mark Allen Berube, Julia and Ira Levin, Paul Sachs, Bill Wisnowski (and My Dad’s Truck), Elaine Romanelli, and the rest of the folks who joined in spontaneously, for lending your time and talent… You made it just perfect!

Finally, many thanks to Gordon Nash for taking these great pix! There are more pix here, and he has an insanely cool weblog that her writes called “Wise Madness“, here.

I’m not gonna lie to you… I’m loving my summer. I’ve been catching up on some quality time with my beautiful wife and daughter. I’ve recharged my yoga and contemplative practices and I’m just feeling generally groovy all around. The belly is still a little more “buddah” than I like, but it’s hard to say no to cold ice cream when it’s being shared on a hot summer day with my girls.

Even though the summer is quiet, it’s not at all without music. I spent the first week of the summer sorting through my 50,000 song hard drive and have pulled some damn good music to my iphone. I finally installed an ipod docking adapter into my Jeep’s radio, so now I’m really digging my driving time. There’s so much good music!!! I forgot how much I love this stuff! I feel like a kid again.

As you can see from the photo above, I’ve been playing a little bit too. Last weekend included my annual visit to Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

As usual, Pesky J. Nixon’s Thursday night lounge stage was totally hopping. I got to play a few tunes in the round with Hugh McGowan and David Glaser jumping in to back up a few tunes. Everything was recorded, so here’s a new tune for you from my set (link below). It’s a tounge-in-cheek blues tune in open C titled, “Heidi Ho” and will eventually make it to a “Devil Makes Three” session this fall.

http://joeiadanza.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Joe-Iadanza-Heidi-Ho.mp3 Click to listen, or right click (option click – mac) to save the file.

So that’s where I’m at… I just wanted to stop in and say “Hi”. I’m doing well and I hope you are too. Stay cool, and hopefully I’ll see you soon enough.

Much Love,
Joe

Phew! Let me sit back here a moment…

I realize that I’ve been pushing steadily for the last five years. True, I haven’t been on the road nearly as much as some of my other colleagues in song, but I have spent the majority of that time in musical persuits of one kind or another… Between writing, rehearsing, performing, recording, promoting, networking, looking for work and other opportunites, hanging out at concerts and conferences and festivals – I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished.

I’m feeling a great inner-pull to take a little break and spend some time listening for guidance on what to do next. For the first time in years, I don’t really have a goal. There’s an album that is lacking in real direction, booking that has become random and without meaningful purpose, and a family and home that need a little TLC.

So, unless some great opportunity comes-a-calling, I’m taking the summer off from booking and networking and just playing the few shows I have on my calendar to keep things fresh. In it’s place I’ll be spending some needed time with my family, getting rid of this pot-belly that I’ve picked up, and sitting in reflection to get some guidance on where to go next.

It’s been a great ride so far, and I want to do what’s necessary to ensure it continues. As always, feel free to drop me a line if you feel like checking in. Don’t worry, I’ll drop a note if something earth-shattering happens. Until then, have a great and fun-filled summer! I’ll see you in the fall.

Much Love,
Joe

It’s a rainy day in Helenaveen, a quaint little town in south-central Netherlands. I was planning to do some sight-seeing and maybe stretch these legs a little, but it seems the weather had other plans for me. So, I sit in the cafe of the Hotel De Halte with a recently discovered free wifi connection and it is from here that I give you this update.

The tour has been great so far. I’m grateful for the time I’ve had with friends met on the last tour… Jan, Maria, Lisa, Yvonne, Paul (two Paul’s!), Marcel… Wonderful souls from all over the country. I’m grateful, as well, for my new friends… David, Thomas (two Thomas’s!), Hans, Kara, Simon.

If you’re interested in following the tour more closely, you can check out some of my pictures (below) and also pix and streams that were posted by folks met along the way:

Radio Stream – First Show

Here’s a stream of the first concert at Blueprint radio. http://www.rootsparadise.nl/blueprint/index.php.

It’s a long stream – 2hrs. I play eight songs, but they’re in groups of four in the middle and end of the program. I share the show with David Phillips, a very talented Englishman who lives in Barcelona. Some contemporary album cuts are played, then David plays, then I play, and then we do it all again in the second hour.

Pix

Marcel Houweling is a crazy-talented photographer and can be found at concerts all over the country. He’s an incredibly dedicated music lover and I’m grateful that he came by to say hi and take some pictures at my show in Heerlen on 4/26.

You can see the set here at http://www.marcelhouweling.nl/photos/photoset.html?id=72157626138290121.

And some of my pix from the road:

Thanks for listening!

Joe