Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, my duo with Sophia Cacciola, is a band inspired by our favorite TV series, The Prisoner. We are in the process of recording and releasing 17 songs, each based on and named after an episode of the show (five of these musical episodes appear on our debut EP, The New Number 2). Number 6, the The Prisoner's unnamed main character, has few elements of his background revealed in the show's opening credits;not much more information about Number 6's life is provided throughout the series. The Prisoner's introduction included so many compelling images, that Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling decided to take on the absurd task of filming a shot-for-shot recreation of the opening credits as a music video for our first song episode. After more than a year of planning, we have completed 9 of the 10 days of shooting necessary to finish this daunting project. A behind-the-scenes video from these shoots can be viewed on the Michael J. Epstein and Sophia Cacciola blog. While there are dozens of great shots in this sequence, here are my 5 favorite moments from the opening credits sequence of The Prisoner, coupled with a behind-the-scenes look at our recreation of each shot:
1. The Hearse Driver
2. The Office
3. Running from the Ball
4. Smoke
5. The Car
To celebrate the end of the nine to five, a Green Light Go staff member or artist will leave you with their short list of favorite things, better known as the High Five!
This week's High Five! is brought to you by: Michael J. Epstein
Originally, from Connecticut, the black hole for tours between New York City and Boston, Agent Bishop Booking Agency’s “Agent Bishop” moved to Boston in 2003 to attend Northeastern University and kick start his career in the music industry. While attending college, Agent Bishop bought himself a bass starter kit. Within 5 months, he knew he’d make more money selling the instrument than playing it, so he set his sights on booking instead. He explains, “I started booking national tours, then switched to [booking] locally, before settling on Boston alone.” Although they work with a number of venues in town, such as Harper’s Ferry and Great Scott, the Agent Bishop Booking Agency tends to book regularly at Café 939 and Church of Boston. Since he started his booking career, 75% of Agent Bishop’s concerts have either sold out or have had at least 200 people in attendance. This kind of track record has caused a number of publications to take notice, including The Weekly Dig, The Metro, Boston Band Crush, and Ryan’s Smashing Life, who have written up previews or reviews of Agent Bishop’s shows.
Agent Bishop managed to squeeze in a little time in between booking and promoting Boston’s finest bands, including This Blue Heaven, Sarah RabDAU, and Green Light Go’s own Neutral Uke Hotel and The Motion Sick, to tell us what it’s like to be on the other side:
Green Light Go: What is the day-to-day like as a booking agent?
Agent Bishop: I’ve taken a different approach to booking. I book one show a month, that’s it. I feel that bookers in the Boston area spread themselves too thin; they just grab bands and throw them together to [make a profit]. That may work at first, and the venues may love it, but how does that help the scene [evolve]?
I plan my shows months in advance. I pick bands that I would want to see together, bands that can help the club grow, bands I can learn from, and bands that will cause fans to say, “I can’t miss this show!” With a month to plan I can properly devote my time to promotion and marketing. What I’ve learned is that the more time I give press, the more likely I am to get coverage.
I send out my press releases and posters three weeks before a show and I’ll usually follow up via email (or personally) within a week or two of the shows. A personal touch has worked well for me. Whether a press contact gives the show coverage or not, they are on the list…that is my general rule.
GLG: Since Agent Bishop is based in Boston, is that your central market in terms of booking, or do you book national or international shows as well?
AB: I’ve had my taste of booking nationally and I’ve even managed tours while travelling internationally, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I should target a local scene. Boston is a growing market and I want Boston to be a target stop for agencies. I believe that it’s the market’s responsibility to build that confidence.
GLG: What are some of the most noteworthy artists you are currently working with or you've worked with in the past?
AB: Over the years I’ve worked with Jason Mraz, Head Automatica, O.A.R., My Chemical Romance, and TheFutureheads, in terms of promotion and marketing. In terms of booking, I’ve worked with nationally touring acts HUMANWINE, Inoia, (Green Light Go's) The Motion Sick and Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling, and I even did a stint with The Warped Tour.
GLG: What is the best piece of advice you’d give a band that thinks they are ready to head out on the road for a tour?
AB: First, expect to lose money. Tours are money pits. Between renting a car and buying gas, food, and alcohol (we all know that’s part of the equation), a band has to expect to pay what they would for a vacation. A tour is just a vacation that requires you to work. With that in mind, don’t be afraid to ask friends, family, venues, or fans for a place to stay. If you want to save money, look for that third cousin, aunt, or college roommate you barely speak to anymore. Also, when negotiating shows, see if the venue is willing to put you up as part of the deal. Often times, booking agents are more than happy to offer you a place to crash. The same goes for fans.
A band also needs to map their route carefully, put in the work to promote their own shows, bring enough merch, and LOCK THE VAN! I can’t tell you how many of my colleagues have gone on tour and have had their gear stolen. Also, be aware of health coverage. Some bands have members with full-time jobs, but most don’t. If you’re injured on the road and don’t have coverage, that can be the end of the tour and the beginning of years of debt. There are websites designed to help musicians without health care, like Rock For Health, so read them.
Finally, document as much as you can. Every band expects to make it big, so packing up the van and hitting the road is the first step to realizing that dream. In the age where social media rules, fans want to experience life on the road along with the band (after all, they’re stuck behind a desk while you're out living the dream, right?). If a fan can relate to you, they’ll want to support you.
GLG: What is the best thing about booking shows? What challenges do you face as a booking agent?
AB: The best thing is seeing a show sell out, because that means I did my research and followed my instincts. When you believe in something strongly, the results will follow.
Even if a show hasn’t sold out, if I can look around the room and see people smile, or talk to someone afterward and hear them say, “That was an amazing show,” I go home happy. I also want to note that one of the reasons why I love booking all ages shows is because parents bring their kids. Kids have no inhibitions and they’re just as happy watching a show as they are running around in a circles dancing or pretending to be a ballerina. I could have 30 people at a show, and if I saw a group of kids loving the music they are listening to, I leave with a smile.
One of the challenges is finding the right mix of bands. I look for bands that people haven’t seen on stage together before, or bands that will make the fan look at the bill and say, “Wow, why hasn’t anyone put these guys together?!” The whole reason I started booking was because I thought clubs didn’t know who to put on a bill. It’s a delicate balance to find bands that fit together, but don’t sound exactly the same. When I can find that balance, everyone wins.
GLG: In addition to the bands you are working with, what current albums have you been listening to lately?
AB: I’ve been listening to Hey Marseilles’ To Travels and Trunks, Good Old War’s Only Way To Be Alone, Kingsley Flood’s Dust Windows, Aloud’s Exile, and Apollo Run’s Here Be Dragons. Volume 1.
The Other Side highlights the talented folks behind the scenes of the music we listen to. The Other Side features producers, engineers, booking agents, photographers, radio DJs, management teams, and label representatives.
This week’s The Other Side is brought to you by: Lauren Roberts
Michael Epstein has his hand in a lot of things, so it’s not peculiar that he should be playing in two different bands on the same bill. This time around he’s debuting a new project, The Michael J Epstein Memorial Library and playing baritone ukulele in Neutral Uke Hotel September 11th at Café 939.
The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library was formed when Epstein began recruiting band members on Facebook and Craigslist. “Most are intentionally people that I didn’t previously know very well. I wanted people with fresh perspectives and few prior expectations about the operation of a band and about how the music scene and music industry works.” The group numbers ten total: nine women and Epstein. He describes their sound as “Downtempo, indie folk/pop with alt-country and anti/counterfolk tinges”. Intrigued yet? You should be. Because everything Epstein does is designed to be interesting.
Neutral Uke Hotel have been playing sold out shows to enthusiastic crowds who were encouraged to sing along, and they haven’t been shy. Shawn Fogel (vocals, ukulele), Josh Cohen (melodica), Matt Girard (trumpet), along with Epstein, play the classic Neutral Milk Hotel album, In the Aeroplane Over The Sea from start to finish in a stripped down way that makes it that much easier for the audience to shout their favorite album’s lyrics.
Epstein’s band, The Motion Sick, recently played a Boston show entitled “The Rock Primary”, which was promoted by a series of campaign, scandal and faked press videos featuring the all the bands on the bill. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, another of Epstein’s musical projects, is inspired by the 60s spy show The Prisoner. Their EP, The New Number 2 features a song each for five of the show’s episodes.
Neutral Uke Hotel and Michael J Epstein Memorial Library Saturday, September 11th Café 939 939 Boylston Street, Boston, MA Doors: 7:30 PM Show: 8:00 PM Tickets: $10Click Here to Read More..
What's better than one Michael J. Epstein? How about he and his ultimately as fantastic wife Sophia Cacciola? The pair just finished up their summer tour for their band Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,where they brought along an amazing photographer, Kelly Davidson for the ride. We are kind of jealous we didn't get to come along. Sometimes the pit stops on your tour/trip are just as fun as the final destination. Don't tell me you haven't stopped to see the world's largest Teapot or Ball of Yarn.Before Epstein dives directly (too late) into The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library project, the duo offered up this list for Favorite Friday!
Top Six Ridiculous Places Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling Visited on Tour
6. Air and Space Hangar, D.C. Yes, it’s a giant room full of planes and space shuttles! We immediately got busy jumping through the building, but had a somber moment when we stopped to reflect at the Enola Gay (and then promptly sang some OMD “Enola Gay, you should have stayed at home yesterday, oh oh oh...”)
5. Niagara Falls (American side) Niagara Falls is spectacular to see, even if nobody brings along a passport and you have to go to the American side where they hit you with sticks (or so Mike claims). We made trouble by hunting Juggalos (Insane Clown Posse fans) and got a taste of our own medicine by getting photo-bombed on a bridge!
4. Industrial Park in The Flats, Cleveland, OH The Flats in Cleveland only has two things: a venue and an industrial area, so we played at both!
3. Terminator Jesus, Monroe, OH Once dubbed Touchdown Jesus, this Jesus statue has long been a hobby of Michael J. Epstein’s (he stopped there on a past The Motion Sick tour) and when we heard that it had burned down to its skeletal remains, we just had to go. Which of course means we had to tape a few songs (including the debut of a skeletal version of a Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library song) and take a bunch of photos in front of it.
2. Natural Bridge, VA - Escape from Dinosaur Kingdom Natural Bridge, Virginia might as well change their name to “Happiest Place on Earth.” It’s a place where you can pay to have your photo taken with a baby tiger (and our tourmates did just that!). It’s also a place where Dinosaurs eat Confederate soldiers (but also The Gettysburg Address - so those dinosaurs are not entirely consistent) and where bands are hatched out of eggs.
1. Natural Bridge, VA - Foamhenge! Foamhenge is a life-size replica of Stonehenge, but it’s made out of Styrofoam and perhaps holds even more mysteries than the more famous Stonehenge about how it came into existence. We frolicked amongst the bits of foam, danced with the Merlin stature, and taped an impromptu acoustic performance on a rock!
For more photos for the entire tour click here. You won't be sorry. For tons and tons of live videos taken on the tour, visit The Motion Sick's YouTube site. Click Here to Read More..
Green Light Go artists like to keep themselves very, very busy. We wouldn't have it any other way.
I don't know how The Motion Sick's Michael Epstein has time for anything because he's always making up new blogs and new blog posts about various Motion Sick-related things. And sometimes about just weird things. His best side projects has been with his darling Sophia Cacciola for the band Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling. Their insanely cool "concept," album The New Number 2 came out last month and the duo playing their spy songs live this Saturday night.
The Boston Phoenix caught up with the pair who are in preparations to play in Cambridge, MA at the Middle East (Upstairs), this Saturday, May 22. They talked about the TV-show inspired album and why they record as a duo.
"Whereas other bands cram 20 friggin’ persons on stage at their shows, or rely on technology to fill out their sound, Cacciola and Epstein get a lot done with as few tools as possible. The singer doubles as drummer. The bass, jacked into a guitar amp, plays the highs and the lows, though never simultaneously," wrote Barry Thompson. “It’s weird for people,” Epstein observes. “They’re like, ‘Well, there’s no low end at this moment,’ or, ‘There’s no high end at this moment!’ It makes them uncomfortable.”
“We thought about getting a third person, but this way, it makes us more creative,” explains Cacciola. “We really want to build dynamics, quiet parts and loud parts. It’s harder to do that with two people, but it makes it more interesting.”
Epstein: “They get really upset. I don’t think it’s a personal thing. Some people are like, ‘Well, I hear a guitar part!’ ”Click Here to Read More..
Boy/Girl duos seem to be all the rage these days: She and Him, GLG's own Naked Hearts, and now Michael Epstein, lead singer for The Motion Sick, is joining this growing trend. And we like this trend...if that's what it is.
For this new venture Epstein puts down the guitar and takes up the bass alongside his own darling, singer/drummer Sophia Cacciola, for the duo Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.
This is no ordinary album or band; its references to a cult British television series will mostly likely be lost on Americans, but it's still marvelous music, even if you don't exactly know what spies they're singing about. Epstein and Cacciola have found an innovative way to put the classic sci-fi drama The Prisoner (which was only on TV from 19670 - 1968) into a musical form on their debut EP, The New Number 2. Two words. Awe-some.
The Boston Globe recently interviewed Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling about their new EP, and their admiration for the bizarre TV show they have based this project around. Read the entire interview, with both members, on The Boston Globe's website. On the duo's site you can check out the hard-rocking track "Episode 1: The Arrival."
I mean really, how can you go wrong with songs about a British secret agent?
Click Here to Read More..
Posts
