We haven’t added to our blog in a while so I thought I would mention that we had a great time in California. We want to thank Nathan Dias in San Francisco, Ron, Dan and Jeanne in Sacramento and Tom’s Aunt and Uncle Christie & Russ Frandsen near L.A. for putting us up for a night or two.
One great bit of the tour was driving from L.A. to San Francisco on Route One. Such a beautiful drive.
One horrible bit of the tour was being cheated out of money promised to us in writing by the evil Bobby Soul. So I want to warn any band looking to play in the L.A. area DO NOT WORK WITH
BOBBY SOUL
Robert P. Mc Lachlan
TALENT BUYER / VISUAL MARKETING
DJ / BOOGALOO ASSASSINS / AMIGO
For that matter don’t ever perform at
CONTINENTAL ROOM
115 SANTA FE AVE. | FULLERTON, CA. 92832 | SOCO DISTRICT
CONTINENTALROOMBOOKING@GMAIL.COM
SOULHUSTLERS@GMAIL.COM
562.900.9135
We know from what happened to us and from talking to the sound man and the manager that Bobby Soul (Robert McLachlan) routinely stiffs the bands out of money they are promised to be paid after they finish playing there.
What happened to us was that they under paid us after the gig and when I pointed this out to the manager he said I had to take it up with Bobby. He also added that this has happened many times. Bobby, of course was no where to be found. I had to repeatedly call him while I refused to leave the manager’s office until this was resolved. Long story short he called me a liar I called him dishonest and the band left.
Later I emailed him the agreement we had and called him again. He said he would mail check to me for the missing balance. That was a month ago and now he is not returning my phone calls or emails.
Spread the word far and wide Robert P. Mc Lachlan is dishonest and should not be trusted. Does anyone out there know the proper agency to complain about this? I don’t think The Better Business Bureau is the proper place.
There I feel better now.

On a happier note we are going to France/Switzerland y’all. In November we will be teaching school children in Bulle Switzerland a little bit about American roots/blues/country/jazz music. Wish us luck.

Chris

We just came back from our second trip to Key West. On the first day there we were checking out some amazing street performers on Malory Square and one them, after asking a member of the audience to do something a little risque, said “Hey It’s Key West.”
That phrase stuck. From then on when ever we saw something crazy on the streets or in the bars we (and often other people) just said “It’s Key West.” We can’t wait to go back.

Chris

The Blue Vipers at Blue Heaven Key West

The Blue Vipers at Hog's Breath Key West

In case you haven’t been to our website in awhile or ever. I wanted to let you know that we have spruced it up a bit.
On the Samples page we have video and audio clips of the band.
On the gigs page we have three ways to to keep up with us.
1. A link to our Blog here on wordpress.
2. An embedded twitter widget that tells what we are doing right now.
3. An embedded google calender with all the details about our up and coming shows.
And, on the Contact page we have updated the contact info so you should be able to get a hold of us pretty easily.

Buona Pasqua!
Chris

Greetings faithful readers!
So, today we started our new Manhattan gig, which was verry cool, a bit loud, tipped so well (thank you Zack for your confrontational yet cheerful manner of tip jar running) tipped way welll! This was on the east side, lower east side, as in Alphabet city, as in a neighborhood that was pretty darn scary for years…and now, we brunch….cool.
So, let’s talk about Morp. morp, morp, morp….what or who is morp? why has morp come the attention of the band? Is morp good, is morp bad, is morp neutral (like Switzerland)?Yeah, morp will unfold as time goes on, morp will make progress. Morp.
So, I think that all these hiphop guys sell alot of records by talking shit about each other, shooting at each other, and making big insulting statements in their albums. Kind of cool really, sort of like bad guy wrestlers and good guy wrestlers I guess. So why not do that in a swing band? Could be cool, but I don’t think I could afford a drive by. Jazz bands would maybe just have throw rocks at each other, cause really, its not like we can afford good weaponry..maybe just a switchblade or something…Or one of those combs that looks like a switchblade. “I’ll comb your ass, Bee-yatch!!!” oh yeah…
Till next time
Sayonara!
Billy

Thanks to everyone who came to our premier brunch show at The East Village Tavern. The place was packed and a bit loud what with all the merry making and what not. The good news is that we will be there every Sunday from 12 noon till 4PM until y’all stop coming and we get fired so lets make that never happen. The drinks and food are well priced and the place felt real comfortable to me. Soon as spring takes hold and New York becomes warm and lovely again the doors/windows will stay open and there will be sidewalk seating. Can’t wait.
Thanks goes to Zack for convincing Owen to let us play there and to Owen for letting himself be convinced.
I will post a few pictures that Angie took as soon as I get them.

Cheers,
Chris

florida tour 09
Yo yo yo what up!
So, we just returned from our Florida tour, and man, it is too damn cold up here, Cmon global warming, do your stuff.
Anyway, we did some great gigs down in the sunshine state, but it was quite a task getting there. Now, apparently, Continental Airlines works sort of like a Continental breakfast. It sounds really fancy, but in reality, all you get is some stale coffee and some day old donuts….ick. So, we got to the airport, got on our OVERBOOKED airplane, and then were told “We don’t have enough seats, get lost” at which point emerged the four Levels of Viper reaction….Thom Abbot, calm, in control, myself(Billy) a bit miffed but expecting nothing less from said crappy airline, Chris Pistorino, slightly more agitated, cursing a bit and visibly angry. And last but not least, David Langlois….Completely. Freaked. The F**k. Out. “I’m not getting off this plane, I paid to be here, I can’t believe this”
“Sir, you need to get off this plane”
“Go ahead, what you gonna do?”
Oh shit, this is the part where they arrest him or something or so we thought. But no, he gets off the plane and starts writing down names of everyone at the desk. Now, what I hadn’t realized that David had caught was the fact that while our ticket taker person was on the phone there were three seats left (no assigned seats on this flight) and while our man yapped with someone, one of our seats was given away to someone with a ticket, same thing, no seat assignment. Such nonsense.
Anyway, we ultimately missed our first scheduled gig at the Parrot in Key West, however, the owner hooked us up with two extra shows and totally showed us love. Not like NY not my problem hard ass attitude, but genuinely hooked us up. John is da man. Can’t wait to play there again..We spent the days just sort of goofing off and riding bicycles all over the island. Twas too cool.
We did a couple other things in the rest of Florida as well, stayed in a hostel in Miami, Mangos in Lauderdale, and a swing dance in Tampa. A fun trip all in all, and the origin of our new catch phrase, “f**k me bananas.” What the hell that means, I have no idea. None. But its catchy, so go with me on this.
So, that’s our big first tour 09. I’m sure there will be many more to come, and many more Viper misadventures to discuss. Ok, and now a slight B reference, give it up for a fine old film serial, Undersea Kingdom. This great serial featured big oilcan looking robots and one fabulous quote “Your mind has been transformed, you just don’t know it” Dig that shit baby, they just don’t write em like they used to.
Amituofo!
Billy Nemec

Devil cop from Hell!
Yo, yo yo!
So, check it out y’all, yesterday, a sunny beautiful, seemed like a great day to go to work in Sunny Central Park. When we got there, it was a bit confusing though, as spots were taken, and we ran into our new friend in the park, soon to be the subject of many a blog.
Now, I’m sure some of you realize the fact that there’s folks in new York with a couple of screws loose. Hell, I’m one of”em! But sometimes, ya meet those special nutcases that really make the day worthwhile, the kind of whackiness that leaves you loving New York, while thanking the stars for your your sanity. So any way, this older “gentleman” sits on the fountain near bethesda regularly, aand plays music. On his radio. Loudly. Sometimes he sort of plays along with his flute. Ok. Yesterday, he sat to himself BLARING his radio (Coltrane) over and over…We tried to just kind of look past it/play past it. However at one point, Chris politely asked him
“Hey can ya turn it down, we’re trying to work”
“Man, just stay over there and do your thing, and I’ll do mine”
“cmon man, we’re trying to make money”
“Money, that’s the devil! You’re a cop! You’re the devil! I been here 70 years playing music! I’m the reason you can be out here!”
“huh?”
“fine, I’ll turn it off, cause you’re a cop…Everybody out here playin’ is a cop!”
“Okay……”
And he turned it off. Thanks to Chris Pistorino, Devil Cop From Hell! OOOOHHHH YYYEAHHHH!
And past that, y’know, a pretty average day past that. Nice to be outdoors again, but I dunno man, if Chris can control the weather and shit, I’ll never get a day off again….Devil Cop.
Okay, a quick shout out to Alfonso Rebeiro (spelling?) who played Carlton on Fresh Prince of Belair. But y’all must check out an earlier work he did, a genius piece of horror film called “Ticks”. Seems that kids should just not go camping. Ever. Not ever. Or they will die gruesome and painful deaths. In this film, our murderous malice was not one but many, many giant ticks, who apparently got all big by ingesting a plant steiroid meant for some home grown Marijuana up in them thar hills. Those things were huge and gross and scary…Not to mention some redneck pot growers trying to kill everyone off on top of it. Truly, a quality piece of trash worth giving a look to.
Until next time,
Be B, dance well, dig life, and don’t break any laws in front of Chris Pistorino. And buy tickets to the USA Shaolin Swing Spectacular! Now!
Sayonara!
Billy Nemec

Sunday, Feb. 8th was an unusually warm day. So, being the conscientious street performers that we are, we convened at Bathesda Fountain for a little outdoor concert. No sooner had we started the first tune when a dark cloud rolled in. One of those clouds that looks like they are following some grumpy person as they travel around the city. Well, we were playing “When You’re Smiling” and it started to drizzle and we thought it would soon pass. But, instead it got a bit more heavy so we cut the song short grabbed all of our stuff and ran under the Terrace, which by the way I am sad to report was recently tagged by some fool who wanted to put some black spray paint over the recently restored art that awaits the unsuspecting tourist as they stroll down the stairs toward the fountain.
Of course everyone in the area had the same idea so we set up quick and serenaded the literally captive audience. The sound under there was haunting. A lot of natural reverb and we didn’t have to play loud to project. A new fan of the band, Stephen Davis Phillips, snapped a few photos and I am going to see if I can include them here somehow. (Not too computer savvy am I.)
The rain cloud quickly passed and with it went our audience so we grabbed all of our stuff and headed back out to the fountain. On the way out I overheard a little boy asking his father with disbelief how I was able to carry my double bass, it’s case and a backpack full of CD’s all at once. Of course he didn’t know it was called a double bass. The father’s answer was that if the little boy wanted to be able to carry something that big he would have to start eating more vegetables.

The Bethesda Terrace Underpass Sunday Feb. 8 2009. Photo by Stephen Davis Phillips.

Hello all,

On Saturday Jan. 31st we had the pleasure of performing at Roey Hershkovitz and Lisa Loeb’s wedding on Saturday Jan. 31, 2009. Here is a link to an article about it:
Lisa Loeb Is Married!
Very cool people.
The party was a blast.

Hello all,

You can now buy our debut CD “Good Night Harry” on CD Baby. Here is the link:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/tbvofbrooklyn2

Chris