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"There’s a timelessness to their deceptively simple, distractingly pretty songs about drugs and despair and dreams (as momentary relief from insomnia)."
The September 29 Juliana & Evan show reviewed at Capital New York.
"the set is a meandering, pleasant enough meander through songs nobody bought for very good reason: because they aren't very good."
This 'meandering, pleasant enough meander' of a review is at Rock NYC.
"On the jaunty likes of 'Hospital' and 'Bit Part,' both Lemonheads tunes, they joined their voices in not-quite-perfect harmony, his resigned, foghorn bellow serving as a foil for her pained, strained -- yet somehow still gorgeous -- delivery."
Last night's Mercury Lounge show reviewed in Spinner.
The songs played at last night's Juliana & Evan show at the Mercury Lounge in NYC. Magnificent stuff and yes, they played the one he wrote about her and the one she wrote about him.
- Paid to Smile (Lemonheads)
- Choose Drugs (Juliana Hatfield)
- Rain (Blake Babies)
- Hospital (Lemonheads)
- Butterflies (Juliana Hatfield)
- Cells (Teenage Fanclub)
- Down About It (Lemonheads)
- Waiting For Heaven (Blake Babies)
- All My Life (Ben Lee)
- When You Loved Me (Juliana Hatfield)
- What Is Wrong (Juliana Hatfield)
- Ride With Me (Lemonheads)
- Brain Damage (Blake Babies)
- Bit Part (Lemonheads)
- Tourist (Juliana Hatfield)
- The End of the War (Juliana Hatfield)
- $1000 Wedding (Gram Parsons)
- It's About Time (Lemonheads)
- Evan (Juliana Hatfield)
- Baby Gets High (Madder Rose)
- My Drug Buddy (Lemonheads)
With thanks to Andrew for the photo and for sharing this list via This Is The Sound.
"Rather than a reunion, I think it's an experiment, trying to unify the two of us.Or an experiment in trying to blend the two of us, which is kind of a new thing. "
Juliana talks about the shows with Evan, plans to go to school, and using julianalogic explains why rock 'n' roll is dead to her in an interview with QRO Magazine.
It's been confirmed that Juliana will be playing another show with Evan Dando, this time in MA at Great Scott, Allston on November 1, 2010.
Forget the expert guitar level, this is wrong on so many levels.
Photo and following quotes from the press release for the upcoming New York shows with Evan Dando:
Juliana:
"In the past when I worked with Evan it was always in a strictly auxiliary capacity – backup singing, bass playing – but now that we will be on equal footing I think we could do a lot of damage. I’ve always thought that Evan was an underrated songwriter...his good looks and anti establishment attitude have overshadowed his skills."
Evan:
"Juliana and I first met and started playing music together when we were 19. Since then Juliana has only gotten better and better. Now it’s like playing with someone I’m a huge fan of and totally revere."
If you missed it the above pic was recently posted on Juliana's official blog.
Aficionados of the air guitar may care to note that for the first time a Juliana song is coming to Rock Band.
Available next week as a downloadable add-on for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, the latest song pack for the game will include Nirvana from Hey Babe.
Makes you wanna go fuck shit up. With buttons.
Due to "overwhelming demand" Juliana is now scheduled to play an extra show with Evan Dando at New York's Mercury Lounge on September 29, in addition to the previously announced (and now sold out) September 30 gig.
Tickets go on sale from the venue this Friday (Sep 10) at noon local time.
UPDATE: This 2nd show is also now sold out.
Juliana will be playing a rare live show with Evan Dando at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on September 30, 2010.
Tickets are now on sale.
UPDATE: Plans for an additional gig in Boston have been shelved, at least for now.
UPDATE 2: The show has sold out and a further date at the Mercury Lounge has been added for September 29.
Ryan Star's album 11:59 is released today. Despite Star's interviews in April which suggested there would be a collaboration with Juliana included, she sadly doesn't feature.
Star told MusicVice.com:
"She actually sang background vocals on “So Ordinary” which is another track from Songs from the Eye of an Elephant, but it won’t be making this album. It didn’t make the cut. I felt like people already have it. I wanted to get the new songs out to everybody first. As much as I selfishly want to have Juliana and my voice together out there in the world, it’s just not happening yet."
To clarify, the version of So Ordinary from Star's 2005 debut album Songs from the Eye of an Elephant does not feature Juliana either. If you have Spotify you can listen to this original version here (link opens Spotify) and ... imagine Juliana's voice on it.
"Before I embarked on this challenging project/experiment, I was totally burned-out on songwriting, burned-out on singing about myself, and now I am completely re-energized and inspired again. In a part of my brain and a part of my heart, I was secretly hoping for this sort of a result — feeling, somehow, that it was never just an exercise in whoring myself out for money."
Juliana has reopened the $1,000 custom song project.
Explaining that she closed the original orders when they reached 11 from the original planned cap of 20, the remaining 9 songs are now up for grabs again. This 'second wave' (as Juliana calls it) includes a further 'lottery ticket' song, this time for free.
For all the details head over to Juliana's blog.
UPDATE: August 17, 2010: The lottery is now closed.
Juliana has picked a lottery winner for her customised song project. If you haven't heard from her by today it's not you.
It won't be me. I didn't apply, fearing I'd likely want to share the song too much, especially if it turned out to be a classic, not to mention the whole self-indulgence of it all! For those without such neuroses good luck to any of you who entered.
The official messageboard at julianahatfield.com is no more. The site admin, Stacee, has confirmed to me that there are no plans for it to return, advising that "Juliana was ready to pull the plug."
Its demise will come as no surprise to members, given that the forum has been 'hidden' for the last year, closed to potential new members and with an admin who candidly admitted her heart wasn't in it any more.
I'd like to thank Stacee for running it while she did, including its previous incarnation as the Some Girls board. Its closure together with its forewarned but still abrupt nature is however a big disappointment. It will be missed.
Although never a high traffic forum, it was the most active community for Juliana's fans. It was the natural home for fan discussion, for the diehards and particularly for newer and 'casual' fans where it would be the first and probably only place they would look for it. Juliana is now a rarity amongst artists in not having a forum on her website.
This is the main reason I've never put a forum on liveontomorrow.co.uk and why at least in the immediate future, I don't have any plans to do so now. I don't think the official one can be replaced.
I hope I'm wrong. As many of us no doubt know, there is nevertheless a messageboard / mailing list hosted on Yahoo called This is the Sound. This board pre-dates the official forum and has its origins in Juliana fan sites that came and went before this one. It was THE place to go for info and discussion and although quieter in recent years has never gone away.
A Yahoo Group may seem a bit ancient in the age of TwitFace social media but this should be preserved. It is after all Juliana fan heritage!
Hopefully enough fans will migrate there now. Although I didn't contribute much on the official one I'll endeavour to contribute now at This Is The Sound, and I'd encourage everyone else to. I'll be putting a more prominent link to it on this site. Hopefully it can take off again and allay my pessimism that the community will wither away over time; inevitable if Juliana's output becomes more sporadic and low profile.
If you have any other thoughts on how best to keep the Juliana fan community active, please leave them in the comments here or indeed at This is the Sound.
Update
on 2011-06-30 11:03 by Craig
A year on and this post still gets Google hits.
Hello there!
Inevitably This Is The Sound hasn't really generated the same levels of discussion as the old board. I still wish, forlornly, that it will come back.
Update
on 2010-06-30 20:33 by Craig
There's been a noticeable spike in traffic to this site over the last week via Google search referrals for 'juliana hatfield message board', rather underlining my opinion that the board was highly valued by a lot of us. A real shame it's gone.
A brief mention of Juliana in an interview with Jody Porter at Green Shoelace:
GSL: You’ve worked with the likes of Albert Hammond Jr., Jesse Malin, Ivy and Juliana Hatfield. How did you decide to work with each of them? Are there any more collaborations you would like to do in the future?
"Well they’re all pals and I’m not that hard to find around the village. Albert and Jules have my digits so it was really just guesting on some friends’ records. I’d like to work with Jesus if he ever shows up."
Yes, this is not that interesting and hardly 'news' but it's posted now. No going back.
"I am making progress on the songs-to-order. Songwriting takes time sometimes. It’s hard to pump out good stuff quickly, at least for me. But I am plugging along, liking what is happening."
Juliana also mentions that the 'lottery' winner has yet to be picked. More on this and other updates from Juliana's world can be read in her latest blog.