{"id":55976,"date":"2013-07-16T13:30:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T17:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=55976"},"modified":"2013-07-16T13:40:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T17:40:26","slug":"the-feelies-at-maxwells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/","title":{"rendered":"The Feelies at Maxwell\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_55845\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Feelies-600x466.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55845\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-56144\" alt=\"Feelies-600x466\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Feelies-600x466.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Feelies-600x466.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Feelies-600x466-300x232.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-55845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: Seth Ditchik.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Minutes before the Feelies take the stage at Maxwell\u2019s for the last time ever, the room is packed tightly enough to induce heart palpitations in a fire marshal.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s small, the back room of Maxwell\u2019s, with a capacity of two hundred. From the bar and surrounding area it\u2019s hard to glimpse the stage, even though the room is only about the size of a rural post office. The lucky fans at the foot of the stage must sacrifice drinking privileges, as going to the bar and returning to the front is impossible. The room is hot. No one who\u2019s ever been to Maxwell\u2019s has praised the venue\u2019s air circulation.<\/p>\n<p>In no way is Maxwell\u2019s an ideal place to see a show, except that it is.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eKvpOww7tlI?feature=player_detailpage\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/> <em><small>The highlight of a Feelies show is often the blistering combo of \u201cRaised Eyebrows\u201d and \u201cCrazy Rhythms.\u201d The booming, oddly-metered bass drumming of \u201cEyebrows\u201d was inspired by the rapid and arrhythmic explosions of the grand finale of a July 4th fireworks show.<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In a few weeks, Maxwell\u2019s, the Hoboken music venue almost always described as \u201clegendary\u201d or \u201cvenerated,\u201d will close its doors permanently. Beleaguered by issues municipal and demographic, the club has become too much of a hassle to run, says Todd Abramson, the co-owner and booker. The parking in Hoboken is abysmal; the population is changing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just time,\u201d says a weary Abramson, who will close Maxwell\u2019s on July 31.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps no band will miss Maxwell\u2019s more than the Feelies. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Feelies are practically synonymous with Maxwell\u2019s. The club, which opened in 1978, right around the time the Feelies got going, has played a significant role in the the band\u2019s personal and musical lives. It\u2019s where the Feelies played their annual Fourth of July shows for many years (tonight being the final night of that tradition), where they played countless times as Feelies spin-off bands, where they played their last gig as the Feelies in 1991 and their first gig as the reunited Feelies after a seventeen-year hiatus. Maxwell\u2019s is where Feelies\u2019 guitarist and singer Glenn Mercer met his wife, and where the two had their wedding reception. It\u2019s where the band rehearsed for a number of years, and where they shot their \u201cAway\u201d music video with Jonathan Demme. The first owner of Maxwell\u2019s, Steven Fallon, even released the Feelies\u2019 music on his label, Coyote Records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like our little clubhouse,\u201d Feelies percussionist and self-appointed historian Dave Weckerman says of Maxwell\u2019s. \u201cIt\u2019s governed our whole lives personally for the past thirty-three years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what could replace it,\u201d says rhythm guitarist Bill Million.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5MpaY8EnGrQ?feature=player_detailpage\" height=\"360\" width=\"600\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/><em><small>The Feelies\u2019 second album, <\/small><\/em><small>The Good Earth<em>, was released in 1986, six years after <\/em><\/small><small>Crazy Rhythms<em>. With songs like \u201cHigher Ground\u201d (this version comes from July 4, 2013, at Maxwell\u2019s), their second album had less frantic, nervous energy and was more in the jangly, college rock vein. By the time of <\/em><\/small><small>The Good Earth<em>, &#8220;The musical landscape had changed, and more influences were able to seep in,&#8221; says Dave Weckerman.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<p>For the uninitiated, here\u2019s a quick primer on the sound of the Feelies, a New Jersey band comprising Glenn Mercer (vocals, guitar), Bill Million (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brenda Sauter (bass, backing vocals), Stanley Demeski (drums), and Dave Weckerman (percussion): the band of \u201cso-straight-they\u2019re-cool weirdos\u201d (Robert Christgau) makes songs shimmering with \u201cneurotic energy\u201d (the <em>A.V. Club<\/em>), music that is \u201cjittery, thumping and volatile\u201d (<i>Rolling Stone<\/i>), \u201cexudes a principled charm\u201d (Trouser Press), and sounds \u201ca lot like a classic band called the Velvet Underground\u201d (Christgau again)\u2014in other words, music perfect for those who like \u201cminimalist, mildly self-absorbed rock groups\u201d (<i>Entertainment Weekly<\/i>).<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, that doesn\u2019t really tell you anything. Best to try and catch a Feelies show.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QI4m0PZF1kw?feature=player_detailpage\" height=\"360\" width=\"600\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/><em><small>\u201cAnybody who ever saw the Feelies at Maxwell\u2019s knows that there\u2019s never been any greater American band\u2009\u2026\u2009everybody knows that if they\u2019ve experienced them firsthand, especially at Maxwell\u2019s,\u201d says Jonathan Demme, who directed their 1988 music video for \u201cAway.\u201d Demme wanted to make a movie about the Feelies, which he described as <\/small><\/em><small>Night of the Living Dead<em> meets <\/em><\/small><small>The Last Waltz<em>, but he couldn\u2019t find investors for a movie about an obscure New Jersey band who wrote songs like \u201cThe Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness.\u201d Instead, Demme made <\/em><\/small><small>Stop Making Sense<em>.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<p>In the back room of Maxwell\u2019s, where the stage rises only a few feet above the main floor, stand the Feelies superfans. They\u2019ve been hanging around Maxwell\u2019s for hours. Or, more accurately, for years.<\/p>\n<p>Take Paul Anderson, who\u2019s been seeing the Feelies at Maxwell\u2019s since the mid-1980s. Anderson stands squarely in front of the stage, puffing an e-cigarette, and you get the feeling that if a fire broke out while the Feelies were playing, Anderson would risk staying.<\/p>\n<p>Anderson even wangled his way into the first Feelies reunion concert in 2008, a friends-and-family show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a dry eye in the house,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cIt was just like everybody was just so overwhelmed and happy. It was a great feeling in this room then.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Over there by the merch table is the creator of the de facto official Feelies Web site, Night of the Living Feelies. Massimo de Vecchi lives in Brussels. He is affable, laid-back, and extraordinarily sane for someone who flew from Europe to New Jersey just to see a band. This isn\u2019t even the first time de Vecchi has come to America to see the Feelies. He\u2019s flown to see them in Boston, DC, Philadelphia. De Vecchi is apparently unable to find a more geographically-appropriate band for to follow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike when you fall in love, you cannot choose,\u201d says de Vecchi. \u201cIt happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E5u-vucSiTw?feature=player_detailpage\" height=\"360\" width=\"600\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/><small>Here Before<\/small><em><small>, released three years after the Feelies reunion in 2008, marked the band\u2019s first new material in twenty years. It\u2019s a largely mellow affair, with the band sounding their prettiest on the album\u2019s final song, \u201cSo Far.\u201d<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Without fanfare, the show begins.<\/p>\n<p>The Feelies start with \u201cWhen Company Comes,\u201d from their 1986 album <i>The Good Earth<\/i>, \u201cBluer Skies\u201d from 2011\u2019s <i>Here Before<\/i>, and a cover of the Velvet Underground\u2019s \u201cWho Loves The Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They sound great, of course, because here\u2019s the thing about the Feelies: they\u2019re a remarkably consistent band. They seem incapable of performing their music badly. This isn\u2019t to overpraise them, or claim that they are the greatest band in the world; it is to say that they have their sound down so well, and play their stuff so tightly, that it would be hard to point to a Feelies show as better than the previous night\u2019s, except maybe in terms of song selection, which doesn\u2019t vary that greatly anyway.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, their playing tonight is excellent. Over the course of almost four hours, they offer up the propulsive frenzy of their first album, the mellower and more textured soundscapes of their later albums, the back-porch serenity of songs like 2011\u2019s \u201cSo Far,\u201d and plenty of the searing, soaring interplay between Mercer\u2019s lead guitar and Million\u2019s rhythm, which is the key to so much of their music. The band throws in a couple of their usual covers, like the Stones\u2019 \u201cPaint it Black\u201d and the Stooges\u2019 \u201cI Wanna Be Your Dog,\u201d as well as the Beatles\u2019 crowd-pleasing \u201cTicket to Ride\u201d and Patti Smith\u2019s \u201cDancing Barefoot,\u201d one of the covers they do best, sung by bassist Brenda Sauter.<\/p>\n<p>In between sets, Domenick Stampone, the mayor of Haledon, New Jersey, the Feelies\u2019 hometown, takes the stage to introduce the band.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m actually here on a bit of diplomatic mission,\u201d says Stampone. \u201cIf Hoboken will not have you, or doesn\u2019t want you, Maxwell\u2019s, you can always set up shop in Haledon\u2014we\u2019re about fifteen miles west of here. Bill wanted me to read the Gettysburg Address. Instead I\u2019m introducing a band that\u2014for me at least\u2014was, is, and always will be Haledon\u2019s own. Please welcome the Feelies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the most talking that occurs on stage all night. The Feelies are not much for banter. (\u201cI don\u2019t talk much \u2019cause it gets in the way,\u201d goes a lyric from \u201cCrazy Rhythms,\u201d and on stage that seems to be a guiding principle.) Playing the last night at a cherished venue might inspire some sentimental speech or an acknowledgement, but with the Feelies you get none of that.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe a very little bit. Glenn Mercer does introduce one song by saying, \u201cThis song is dedicated to tonight.\u201d The comment elicits scattered <em>aw<\/em>s from the crowd, something that isn\u2019t often heard at a Feelies show.<\/p>\n<p>During one of the many encores, the Feelies reveal a bit of a hidden gift for stage banter when an unannounced special guest takes the stage: a cockroach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly at Maxwell\u2019s would there be a cockroach crawling across the stage,\u201d says Million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe owners and the bands come and go, but the roaches stay,\u201d says Mercer.<\/p>\n<p>But the best quip goes to Andy Peters, the Feelies\u2019 longtime soundman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are never playing here again,\u201d says Peters.<\/p>\n<p>No one can top that, and no one tries.<\/p>\n<p><em>Josh Lieberman is the creator of the travel writing site <a href=\"http:\/\/www.letscarryon.com\" target=\"_blank\">Carry On<\/a>. He most recently wrote for the <\/em>Daily<em> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/16\/early-writhings\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dave Matthews Band and\u00a0juvenilia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minutes before the Feelies take the stage at Maxwell\u2019s for the last time ever, the room is packed tightly enough to induce heart palpitations in a fire marshal. It\u2019s small, the back room of Maxwell\u2019s, with a capacity of two hundred. From the bar and surrounding area it\u2019s hard to glimpse the stage, even though [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[11375,11374,11373,620,621,11371,11372],"class_list":["post-55976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-bill-million","tag-dave-weckerman","tag-glenn-mercer","tag-hoboken","tag-maxwells","tag-the-feelies","tag-todd-abramson"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Feelies at Maxwell\u2019s by Josh Lieberman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"July 16, 2013 \u2013 Minutes before the Feelies take the stage at Maxwell\u2019s for the last time ever, the room is packed tightly enough to induce heart palpitations in a fire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Feelies at Maxwell\u2019s by Josh Lieberman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 16, 2013 \u2013 Minutes before the Feelies take the stage at Maxwell\u2019s for the last time ever, the room is packed tightly enough to induce heart palpitations in a fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-16T17:30:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-16T17:40:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Feelies-600x466.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"795\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Lieberman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Lieberman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Lieberman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c91eadb2d4904a9b69536a78e3adb3a7\"},\"headline\":\"The Feelies at Maxwell\u2019s\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-16T17:30:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-16T17:40:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/\"},\"wordCount\":1585,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/the-feelies-at-maxwells\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Feelies-600x466.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bill Million\",\"Dave Weckerman\",\"Glenn Mercer\",\"Hoboken\",\"Maxwell's\",\"The Feelies\",\"Todd Abramson\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts &amp; 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