31 August 1999

Two big topics for this news report.

First, our new CD, With Teeth is back from the plant! It looks great, it sounds great, and it's selling like hotcakes at our gigs. Not only that, but it was the "Philly Local Pick of the Day" on WXPN (88.5 FM in Philadelphia) every day for a week the week after it came out. Thanks are due to Tommy Joyner (our producer) and everyone else at MilkBoy Recording who helped us turn out a new album to be proud of. There will be wads more info about With Teeth on this site soon. (For those who may have been holding their breath since Jim's news report in February, it can now be revealed that the album does include saxophones.)

Second, we had a fantastic time this past weekend at the 1999 Philadelphia Folk Festival. We played four sets (main stage and three workshops) and got to rub shoulders, sometimes literally (as when we were crammed onto the small Tank Stage with the eleven-piece Old World Folk Band), with great musicians of every stripe. Being on the big stage was a great rush - probably the biggest crowd we have ever played to. Other highlights:

• The Ceilidh workshop where we shared the stage with the Wrigley Sisters, Niall Vallely and So's Your Mom.
• Rik Palieri and his amazing Polish bagpipes (made from a deceased goat, but with a better sound).
• Some great concert sets by the likes of Balfa Toujours, John Prine, Great Big Sea, Dry Branch Fire Squad, and (especially) a white-hot Saturday night set by the Eileen Ivers Band that almost left me gasping for breath.
• Jamming into the small hours with Jay Ansill, Michael Mullen and Lief Sorbye from Tempest, Larry Cohen and Mike Agranoff (among others whom I have probably forgotten).
• Running into lots of friends and fans whom we see all too seldom!

Tom Rhoads