Kickstarter

Hey Kickstarter folks!  Just a quick update on what's news and don't forget - you have the perfect song for the day right there in your cd collection!  "Valentine's Day" is sure to melt all the candy hearts in your pocket.  

We have been super busy.  Here's the lowdown:

Wednesday, Feb 15th
The Bone (formerly The Chicken Bone)
Framingham, MA
8:30 to close

Friday, Feb 17th
The Peddler's Daughter
Haverhill, MA
9 to close

Saturday, Feb 18th
The Pasta Loft
Milford, NH
All night!

Had to get the show info in there first.

OK, next up.  This week is Valentine's Day.  As many of you know - we celebrated last Valentine's Day by getting Tracy's stolen Rickenbacker back and then writing a song about it.  It's the free track in this email.  Please share it with a loved one or loved instrument.  If you want to play along, it's mostly C, F & G.  The violin part is trickier.*

This past week also saw the departure of our longtime keyboardist Geoff Geib.  We are sad, we will miss him.  There's no bitterness or acrimony - we're all still friends and stuff.  Just how it goes sometimes.

This week we are flying to the East Coast for 3 actual shows and 1 radio show.  We will be playing in Massachusetts & New Hampshire.    

We also wrote and recorded a new song this week.  I haven't shut up about it.  I'm really psyched about how it came out.  I always wanted to write an honest type love song without it being real cheesy.  I think we succeeded.  Hell, we drop U2, Elvis Costello and The Ocean Blue** into the song!  It's got to be half good right there!  The song will be available as a single in a few weeks but for now you can hear it streaming on our website - we named it "Massachusetts" because the first line is "Massachusetts is a funny word when you're drunk."

Did you see the Grammys tonight?  Any show where we get to see our friend Rami on stage rocking with the Foo Fighters and getting Grammys is pretty okey dokie in my book.  We felt kind of cool by proxy since he did play on our album too.***

Do you play guitar?  Do you like the guitar magazine Vintage Guitar Player?  Well we are in the next issue out.  It's the next issue that is coming out this month but technically it's the April issue.****

Ok, maybe you're in France?*****  Euterpia Radio in France has been playing us.  I don't understand what they're saying but I think they like it.  I can say Champs-Élysées but don't ask me to explain why it's prounounced the way it is.  

Do you like alt.country/americana rock?  If you've read this far, I'm guessing you do.  Well, you should really look at the website The Alternate Root, not only are these guys super cool, hell - they called me on the phone to tell me how much they like our new album!  Anyway - they put together a Valentine's Sampler Mix and you guessed it - "Valentine's Day" by the Fallen Stars is on there!  Word is they are also going to be doing a feature story on us in their next issue!******

We've also been approached by a company that wants to make a video of us - IN 3D!!!  Seriously!?!  Yes.  So that's in the works.  The last band they did a 3D video of was U2.  So I think they know what they're doing.

Our next video from Spinbridge should be up this week.  We did an interview for Citywide Blackout that is still streaming, We have an interview/live performance Wednesday at noon on Almost Acoustic on Lowell's WCAP/WUML and I'm hoping we get some more plays on WXRV The River this week.  Email them Friday morning for us!  The Billerica Minuteman also did a feature story on us in the current edition.  

AND - If you're coming to one of our shows back east, be the first one to request us on Rita Cary's (DJ for WXRV) Facebook page and you win a free Fallen Stars t-shirt!  The second person to request us gets a free cd.  

These shows that we're playing on this tour, they are all long set, all night type of things.  So we'll be getting there early to have dinner and hang out.  

Back in SoCal - I'll be the guest speaker at Just Plain Folks monthly meeting on Monday, Feb 27th.  Just Plain Folks is a songwriting group that meets and helps each other out.  Really great folks.

And for folks in Arizona - we'll be coming back your way in April.  If you're up the west coast, May.  We've also been offered a show in Berlin, Germany in September but we need more than one show to make that flight worth it!

And the Orange County Music Awards are coming up in March.  We are nominated for "Best Country/Americana Band" and I'm going to say that it doesn't look good for us this year.  I've seen 2 write ups in the local press and in both of them our name is misspelled.  That just can't be a good sign!  Ha!

Thanks so much for hanging with us and I can't believe you're still reading this.  This has to be one of the longest most scattered newsletters I've ever written.

See you soon.

xo

Bobbo, Tracy & Gary
The Fallen Stars

*Violin courtesy of Caitlin Cary of Whiskeytown.  I know I keep saying this, but Whiskeytown's "Stranger's Almanac" is my favorite album of all time.  All time.  Imagine if someone on your favorite album played on your album.  This is why I keep mentioning it.  Also, I like to brag about it.
**The Ocean Blue were not as widely known as Elvis and Bono but I really liked their jangly brand of college rock.  Check out the song "Ballerina out of Control".  It's a fav.
***You are never cool "by proxy".  It's a myth.  Kind of like the younger sister in the movie Some Kind of Wonderful.  She wasn't cool because Eric Stoltz was finally dating Lea Thompson.  The only "cool by proxy" was Kathleen Edwards sitting at the Grammys with Justin from Bon Iver but I digress.
****I'm not even going to pretend to understand how the April issue comes out in February.
*****It's possible. 
******Actual conversation:  Him; "Do you guys play out in the desert?"  Me; "Which desert?"  

Hey folks.

First off - THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!  I trust that you all have received your download codes for our new album and those of you that purchased physical cds should be getting them in the mail this week.  If not - please email me and I'll make it right.  

Why so long?  Well, with everything there's always...something!  When our cds got printed there was a problem at the pressing plant with the tray card and almost all of them had to be sent back to the printer to be fixed.  They are all fixed now.

Oh, Tonight - (Friday, Aug 26th) WXRV The River 92.5 (based out of Boston) will be featuring us at 10 pm EST.  We're hoping that this is just the beginning of some radio play for our new album!  If you're not in Boston - you can still listen along at www.wxrv.com (just adjust for time zones!)

If you know anyone that could use some of our rock and roll - be it a live show, radio show, tv show or whatever - please let us know!  If you book us a show where we get paid - we'll even give you a cut!  We're looking into booking some shows up the coast of California to Vancouver, across the southwest to Texas, hopefully getting back to New England and really hoping to get back to Europe.

Why did the album take so long to get done?  Well, in a world of transparency - here's how it went down.  When we started the Kickstarter program I had it in my head that we were a lot closer to being done then we were, I also underestimated how much a few remaining things were going to cost and anticipate schedules.  I know that's kind of vague but simply put we had a lot more work to do and things cost more than I thought they would.  I'm not upset about it - things cost money and when you want it done right you have to take the time.  The long and short of it is that as of right now we are still almost six grand in the hole on this album.  Yes, Kickstarter was awesome and I'm not asking for money, this is just the reality of being in a band.  We must now work to pay it off.  Major label spend six grand on Lady Gaga's makeup and then hundreds of thousands on advertising - all we have is word of mouth.  

So if you like our new album - please tell a friend!

xo
Bobbo

So it's been a while since we've written.  I apologize.  I've been wrestling technology and it's been winning.  

We keep telling you "Oh, it's almost done..."  And that is true.  We are finishing up the last 4 songs.

Tracy and I should be finishing up the vocals on the last few tomorrow but to tide you over - here's a big rocking number that you may remember from our live show.  "Truckin' Song"  Is our our ode to roadhouse's, Flying J's, Big rigs that let you draft them on a long ride, a wah pedal.  

So, thanks for hanging and we'll keep you in the loop.

xo

Bobbo

Thank you all SO much!  Now to get it all finished and all those great rewards into your hands!

Geoff suggested that we take all the money and blow it in Vegas on hookers but yet again he has been voted down.  

Videos, paintings, live shows, cd finishing...

Thank you again and I'll be in touch very soon about meeting all these needs!

xo

Bobbo, Tracy, Gary & Geoff.