Scott writes:

It’s always fun when an old friend finds this Web site — and purchases a CD! That has been happening more regularly lately for some reason, which is cool.

To order a copy of Empty Canvas or purchase downloads, go here.

Anyway, I saw a band in New Orleans this week that blew me away. They are called The Palmetto Bug Stompers. If you ever get a chance to see them, definitely go. Great musicians. Fun band.

Scott writes:

My friend Katy, who fronts the fun Northampton band Katyland, told me when she first heard the Steve Earle single “City of Immigrants,” she thought it was Storybox who was backing Earle on it. High praise — humbly accepted.

The backing band actually is the New York City-based, Brazilian-flavored Forro in the Dark, a group you should surely check out if you get a chance.

Scott writes:

When we played the Iron Horse last time, we brought up a gaggle of kids to sing the Clash’s “Let’s Go Crazy” with us. The kid chorus was pretty cool and something we should find a way to do more often.

Above is a photo of the scene.

Scott writes:

With the band getting back into a regular rehearsal schedule — hey, some of us are even working out stuff on a Friday night — and with some upcoming live dates still unannouncable, I thought I would placate you, oh faithful and tireless readers of this blog, with some photos.

Above is a little collage of Ron laying down his groovy bass part when the band recast the Clash’s “Let’s Go Crazy” for The Sandinista Project. Next to him is Mark letting everyone know that Storybox is sounding very good and should be in prime form when we do play out live.

Stay tuned for more news — and more photos!

We apologize for the lengthy absence from the blogosphere and from playing out live. But we have begun rehearsing regularly and are in the process of adding to this collection of folks we call Storybox. Stay tuned for details on a live show coming up in early spring.

In the meantime, check out this nice post about Storybox from Jimmy Guterman, the impressario behind The Sandinista Project.

Oh yeah, and if you haven’t bought our CD Empty Canvas, please do!

Scott writes:

With great sadness, we wanted to let everyone know that our percussionist Kevin Richard died on Friday. Kevin has been a member of Storybox for several years, and his incredible musicianship — as well as his smile and overall enthusiasm for everything and everyone he was involved with — will be missed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Carrie and with Kevin’s family and closest friends.

Services are tomorrow and Wednesday. You can see the obit here.

Kevin played at our CD release party at the Northampton Center for the Arts back in June. When we played the Iron Horse in August, Kevin was unable to be there because he was getting ready for heart surgery due to his lifelong battle with Marfan Syndrome. I mentioned that night how odd it was to be missing a bandmate due to something so serious as opposed to the silly stuff we have all grown used to from our years in bands. But we all thought Kevin would be back with us for our next show.

Hannah wore a home-made shirt that night that said “I Love You, Kevin,” letting him know that while we played without him, we sure wished he was there with us on stage that night.

Kevin was a great drummer and percussionist who made Storybox a better band. He had an amazing ear for music and would hear one of our new songs, listen to it carefully, take notes and then slowly add nuanced percussion parts that would help build the songs in appropriate ways. Sometimes, a subtle tambourine hit would add so much, and other times it was rhythmic percussive parts that ran contrapuntal to Mark’s drum beats.

In the past, Kevin, who was 40, played in other prominent local bands like Jamawokee, Viva Quetzal and others. We always felt very lucky to have him be a part of Storybox because of all the experience, knowledge and talent he brought with him. We had a running joke in our band that Kevin was the best at avoiding Mark’s e-mails about band practice, especially if a practice conflicted with another of Kevin’s great loves: golf.

Mark would write: “Remember, practice is at 7 on Monday.” And Kevin would reply: “OK, I’ll remember,” without, of course, committing to whether or not he would be at the practice. Not that he needed to be. When he wouldn’t show up, Mark would invariably follow up, and Kevin would correctly remind Mark he never said he would be there.

When Kevin did make practices, he was always smiling, usually with a cup of coffee in hand. He was a big fan of both telling and listening to funny stories. His zest for life was contagious.

Below, I have added a few more photos of Kevin from his days of playing with Storybox. We will surely add some more posts and photos in the future.

Scott writes:

I was thrilled when I heard Abra Moore would be playing with us at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton. I have been a fan of hers going way back to when she was one of the founding members of Poi Dog Pondering, one of my all-time favorite bands.

I followed and cheered for Abra through her solo career, and I picked up her latest album, On the Way, which I think is very good.

I told Abra’s manager that we would absolutely love it if Abra came up on stage with us to do an old Poi Dog song that night. To my delight, Abra agreed right away.

We decided on “Living with the Dreaming Body,” the first track off the first Poi Dog Pondering album. We couldn’t find a penny-whistle, so our trumpet player Bob Kuhn played those parts on flute, and it worked. (We also don’t have a fiddle player, but Jared Quinn filled those spaces nicely with lead guitar.)

Abra, who spontaneously picked up a tambourine, remembered the words and the harmony parts. (So did I!) And as you can probably see in the photos above, we all had a really great time.

Scott writes:

World-renowned fashion photographer Andrew Greto took some publicity shots for the band recently. But he also grabbed some great live shots from our recent performance at the Iron Horse in Northampton. I will post more when I have some time. For now, here is a cool perspective shot from upstairs at the Horse.

Scott wrote:

Oasis, the company that printed/pressed/shrinkwrapped our CDs, included a song of ours — “Resurrect the Day” — on its most recent sampler disc. And some DJs have started to play that track as a result. Pretty cool. Now, I am trying to track down those same DJs to thank them and offer them a copy of the whole CD.