On July 19th, VH1 will air The 2010 Do Something Awards live from the Hollywood Palladium. What does God Street Wine have to do with DoSomething.org’s award ceremony to to
I must admit, I was taken by surprise when I saw God Street Wine on the list of initial artists on board for Jam Cruise 9. As soon as I
During the last full day of Jam Cruise 8 – January 8 – conversations on the MSC Poesia started to include talk of next year as Jam Cruise vets and
We’ve been loving the flood of “new” old God Street Wine audio and video that has found its way into circulation over the past few months. With Winos gearing up
The extremely popular social media guide Mashable doesn’t post about music too often, so it was quite a surprise to see an article about God Street Wine pop up on
We were hoping that this God Street Wine renaissance of sorts we’re experiencing would lead to old recordings coming out of the woodwork and thankfully that’s exactly what has happened.
To conclude our full day of God Street Wine posts in honor of today’s announcement that GSW will reunite for two shows at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City on July 9 and 10 benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, we spoke with drummer Tom “Tomo” Osander about how these shows came together, the group’s plans for the future and just how much the members of the band have kept in touch over the past ten years.
[Photo Courtesy of Tom “Tomo” Osander]
Scott Bernstein: Can you describe the events that led to this reunion?
Tomo: That would go back to the memorial we played for Paul Ducharme in May of 2009. Paul was an early fan, friend and taper who passed away last year. The band got together, without any rehearsal, and played four sets of music that day. It was a pretty amazing day in honor of very special man and everyone there, especially those who stuck around till wee small hours, found themselves in a pretty agreeable place.
I wouldn’t want to pour over any recordings of that day but it was one of those situations where the power and energy of the day took over when our musical memories may have lapsed. For the five band members, I think it rekindled a bit of that spark from our early days and we went away from the experience with the mindset that we’d keep the door open to the possibility of getting together again to make some music.
When Mike sent around an email at the beginning of last October inquiring as to whether we’d be into the idea of doing something in 2010 for the anniversary of Paul’s passing, and perhaps having it coincide with the annual Multiple Sclerosis Walk, I don’t think there was a moment of hesitation for any of us. In my mind it very quickly became, “Where do we do it, under the best possible circumstances, to bring maximum enjoyment for ourselves and everyone involved?”. After that it was just about logistics. Very much like playing Paulie’s memorial, it was a no brainer.
READ ON for more of our chat with GSW drummer Tom Osander…
During the jamband boom of the early ’90s, bands like Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, Phish and God Street Wine found themselves being courted by major labels who saw big dollars
Back in the fall of 1995, the very first notes of God Street Wine music that I heard came via the band’s sophomore studio album $1.99 Romances. The album kicks
Today is the day God Street Wine fans have been waiting for since the band played their “final shows” as a touring unit at The Wetlands in December ’99. The original members of GSW have announced that they will reform for a two-night stand at the Gramercy Theatre in their hometown of New York City on July 9 & 10. Tickets for the shows go on sale to the general public this Friday with a special pre-sale for Winos starting at 10AM on Wednesday and running until 10PM on Thursday if tickets remain.
We started God Street Wednesdays, our weekly look at the band’s music, back in January of 2009 and the reception these columns have received made it clear that no one has forgotten about God Street Wine. Over the past 14 months, we’ve heard from many Winos, members of the band and members of the group’s crew. The first friendship we struck up was with former GSW stage manager, lighting director and close friend Michael Weiss, who had a major role in putting these shows together.
Michael, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system, in 2004, asked the band to come together to raise awareness and funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. As such, both shows will be benefits for NMSS, part of GSW’s incredibly generous plan to no longer be a profit-making entity. We’ll hear more from Michael later, as we’ll be dedicating all of our posts to God Street Wine today in celebration of this momentous occasion for Winos. Does GSW have plans to play more shows? Stay tuned for our interview with drummer Tom “Tomo” Osander this afternoon for his answer to that question. READ ON for a timeline of the events leading up to today’s announcement…
