Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble Night 4 was the most raucus yet! Tons of people and the single-craziest set I’ve seen so far! It was my first time seeing TRiPLE THiCK and I thought they were awesome – though I have a big soft … Read More
This morning, I am speaking on the panel, Local Media and Culture: What Does It All Mean for the Music Scene? (http://conference.freepress.net/session/505/local-media-and-culture-what-does-it-all-mean-music-scene) I am specifically on the panel to discuss how local media can be used to build up a … Read More
Holy cow are we ready for the day of rest! Night 3 of the Rumble was just as rocking as the previous two! Things started up with The Autumn Hollow Band (whose singer played barefoot – an offense that always … Read More
It’s only Night 2 and this Rumble is kicking my butt…with so much awesome! Full Body Anchor started the ROCK right at 9 Video. Tijuana Sweetheart then charmed TT’s with their all-girl punk rock – Video 1, Video 2. A … Read More
Sophia’s Rock Beat is devoted to taking video of local bands and posting it. Read previous Rock Beats HERE. It has been a busy couple of weeks since returning from Austin for SXSW. Our first stop was the BUFF (Boston … Read More
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble is back and in a big way! There has been some great press leading up to the start:The Boston Phoenix (with a lot of trash talk from Michael J. Epstein’s Mustache)The Weekly Dig FlipbookThe Boston … Read More
Space Balloons is the children’s songs project from Michael & Sophia (see previous bit about it). It was created as part of the pilot for a new show by Rob Potylo called Worried All the Time. They just released a teaser … Read More
This post is a little outside of my intended use of “Sophia’s Rock Beat” but I thought it was the best place to discuss all of my thoughts on SXSW in general. Here is the link to the post where … Read More
Sophia’s Rock Beat is where I blog video of local Boston bands that I saw the week before. (previous Rock Beats). This week is a bit of a departure because I’m going to include video of all the bands we … Read More
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling has been very busy in the studio these past few months working on 7 new songs (previous post with video of me singing in the studio) – we’re releasing these at a very … Read More
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is excited to announce that we’ll be participating in the 2011 Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble! If you don’t already know all about The Rumble it is a Boston institution – read the wikipedia … Read More
Last October, http://blog.michaeljepstein.com/2010/10/most-epic-video-shoot-of-all-time-with.html I gave an update on the bulk of the shooting for our epic music video that recreates the opening sequence of The Prisoner. We’ve had several days of shooting since then. We spent two days shooting the resigned cabinet … Read More
Special Friends is coming! In addition to our musicalious opening – 2 teaser clips have popped up on the interwebs this week. Find out what it means…to be special: and, Goddamn Glenn:
videoing Boston one show at a time. Sophia’s Rock Beat – the mission is simple – go to as many shows around Boston as possible and take video then post it here. Previous Rock Beats are here! Another slim rock … Read More
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling was back in The Moontower (in Q Division) studio with Mike Quinn this week recording bass and vocals for our forthcoming EP, Questions Are a Burden to Others. We recorded drums ALL THE WAY back in … Read More
Space Balloons is yet another project from Michael J. Epstein and Sophia Cacciola. This one, though, is for the kids. We’re working on a collection of children’s songs, primarily on ukulele. Space Balloons was created as part of a TV … Read More
Buy our CD for $10 + $2 shipping anywhere in the U.S. and Canada and $10 + $5 shipping worldwide. We will additionally offer a package deal of 5 copies (they make great gifts!) for the discounted price of $40 … Read More
All right kids, you may remember the last time we posted an interesting fetish video from Youtube featuring the music of The Motion Sick as the soundtrack for a fully clothed guy soaking himself in the bathtub….well, now we’ve got … Read More
A huge, huge thanks from all of the wings of the library for making our sold out CD release a smashing success!!! We really appreciate your kind and generous outpouring of support and we had more fun than we ever … Read More
This week’s edition of Rock Beat is, sadly, very slim. Sophia’s Rock Beat happens every Monday and is a repository for all of the video of local Boston bands I saw the week before. Previous Rock Beats are here. This … Read More
The MJEML is going on tour with our good pals Golden Bloom and Neutral Uke Hotel in April. Tour Dates: Wed. 4/20 – Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA (tickets selling fast!) – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=182411545112392 Thurs. 4/21 – Cameo Art-Gallery – Brooklyn, NY – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115042465240542 Fri. 4/22 – The Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH … Read More
High Resolution 1024 Pixels (large side) 600 Pixels (large side) Please Credit: Kelly Davidson High Resolution 1024 Pixels (large side) 600 Pixels (large side) Please Credit: Kelly Davidson High Resolution 1024 Pixels (large side) 600 Pixels (large side) Please Credit: … Read More
Live photos and video archives
As always, you can find other weeks of The Beat here. This week started out with Boston Band Crush’s One Night Band night at the Enormous Room. The ladies from my One Night Band from last Summer (10 Hours of … Read More
I was really excited to witness a new crop of female rock stars last night at the Ladies Rock Camp showcase. On Friday, around 30 women with little-to-no experience playing their instrument gathered together, formed bands, went through intensive music … Read More
As we approach our CD release show, we’ve got a lot of exciting stuff coming through the pipeline this week. This particular set of videos, from our Sleepover Shows session, is really exciting to us. We had a really awesome … Read More
Photos by Michael Basu – http://michaelbasu.com First, I really want to thank everyone for their support. It has been a really rough couple of days. I really know now how many supportive and caring people there are in my life … Read More
Right before I left for Switzerland, Sophia and I discussed the mustache situation in the best way we know possible, we communicated by song. It was mostly her idea and she started writing this number about wanting a mustache back … Read More
Well, I’m here in Switzerland and they do a lot of fascinating scientific work in this country. I feel like I’m in a spy movie. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about my precise location and who I am being treated … Read More
Here is poster #7 in The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library poster series.
In response to the loss of Mustachey… I am really sad to report that Sophia won’t go with me to the Winter Formal. She is now looking for a new mustached man to take. I was really excited about it … Read More
Photos by Michael Basu – http://michaelbasu.com There comes a time in every mustache’s life when we must wave goodbye to follicular joy and say hello to the bare, unprotected skin of an upper lip. Although I never wanted to say … Read More
In case you missed it – this is the column (this is the third installment!) where I talk about all of the shows I saw the week before and post video. You can read the previous two by clicking right … Read More
Back in the 90s, I used to do a lot of sound collage work under the name M-sli©k da ninjA. The project started as a radio show on WHRW inspired by Ken’s Last Ever Radio Extravaganza and Over the Edge (and … Read More
The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling Space Balloons Special Friends Neutral Uke Hotel The Motion Sick Skippy, The Mummified Squirrel of Elm St. in Somerville The Positronic Rays Michael J. Epstein’s Mustache M-sli©k … Read More
What the heck can I say about this? Here are a whole bunch of dancing cartoon characters – Santa, Fry from Futurama, a banana, and others – all grooving to The Motion Sick‘s “30 Lives (Up-Up-Down-Dance Mix)” for your amusement.
Saturday, Feb. 12th at Great Scott is the highly anticipated CD Release for Naked On Roller Skates‘ debut, I lost my heart in the battle. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is opening up this show, which includes the arena-worthy … Read More
I am quite excited to announce that I will be speaking at The National Conference for Media Reform as part of a session on the connection between a healthy local media system and a vibrant local music community called “Local … Read More
This is the second installment of my new column, Sophia’s Rock Beat. The point of this is to highlight the shows I saw the week before and the video I took at those shows. Here’s last week’s (which recapped most … Read More
Special Friends: Five friends. One show. Zero chance. “What Does It Mean to Be Special (Special Friends Theme)” My Friends are special. What does it mean to be special?Let’s look and see…
<p>&amp;lt;a href=”http://music.themotionsick.com/track/30-lives”&amp;gt;30 Lives by The Motion Sick&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p> Very excited to say that The Motion Sick‘s song “30 Lives” appears in the film The Flying Scissors, a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary examining players in a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament. The song appears in a … Read More
This year has been a little hectic with wrapping up the process of putting out The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library debut album, _Volume One_. There are a number of new regular columns we plan to debut here in 2011 … Read More
The situation is that Michael and I go out A LOT to see our fellow local rockers, well, rock out. And, because we’re awkward and we need to be doing SOMETHING with our hands while being rocked we take a … Read More
We’ve been going through some artifacts from our youth for a top-secret The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library surprise and I found a letter from my French pen-pal. I must have asked her if they have to wear gas-masks in … Read More
Here is Poster #6 in the MJEML Poster Series!
I found this in an old journal of songs I wrote circa 2001-2004. I guess it needed a diary lock. Michael is obsessed with monkeys, just consult the tribute page to his monkey mug for evidence. I think this proves that … Read More
We’ve posted covers of “30 Lives” and “Aquaman’s Lament” before (including Golden Bloom‘s cover on our split 7″ with them)…and even posted a “30 Lives” karaoke session. Heck, we’ve even done weird versions of our own songs. Nevertheless, it’s always … Read More
As you are likely aware, I do have extensive spy training, much of it undertaken to resist information extraction using Sodium Pentothal®. However, after entering the sordid, bibliophilic world of the library, the combination of allergies from book dust and … Read More
…which also happen to be stickers, are now on the way. These will be available to those who qualify for access to our collections. Design by Sophia Cacciola
Here is Poster #5 in the MJEML Poster Series Don’t forgot to come to our CD release on 2/26 (special discounted advance ticket/CD combo here!)