…and we’re back!

Howdy folks,

it’s been a while since we’ve written but, but Easy Dave’s back from France only one pound heavier and a new French hairdo to boot (I think he watched a lot of Zinadine Zidane clips while he was there) …and we’re getting back in the swing in September with a couple of fun shows for you valley folk: Friday September 8th at Johnny V’s in San Jose (we’re one of four bands so don’t miss our set starting around 8:30); and one we’ve been waiting for for quite some time on September 29th, on beer Friday at Devils Canyon Brewing Company in Belmont.

When we started this band almost a year ago now (really???) we used to have all of our rehearsals there amidst the massive tanks and free-flowing ale, so we really owe these guys a good time. You should definitely try to make it to this one, beer Friday’s at the brewco are a rare treat (click on the home page show link for details).

We had a helluva time on Whiskey Hill playing the Pioneer Saloon; so muc fun we turned around and booked another show right away, so we’ll be back there on November 10th. Whiskey Hill. Whiskey Hill. WHISKEY HILL!

See you out there.

Easy Allen

A Short Break!

Hello folks, Easy Dave checking in!

Well we finally had our first gig in The City at the Rockit Room ! What a great venue this place is. Once the renowned “Last Day Saloon,” the Rockit Room has been nicely upgraded with all the amenities. Awesome stage and sound equipment, nice, roomy dance floor and lots of comfy sitting throughout. Of course thanks to the great staff of Joe, sound man Chris, and bargoddess Rhea, we were treated like kings.

Thanks especially to our friends at InfoWorld, we managed to draw a big crowd including lots of friends and even locals from the Richmond…pretty awesome for a Wednesday night! It was certainly a luxury to have pro sound, and having that extra room on stage meant no more bumping into each other! And of course we ripped some great tunes, including pulling out three new tunes we had never played. Even had a handful of girls on their bachelorette party begging for more dance tunes

EZ Allen sez: EZ Dave split for France before finishing this post so I’ll wrap it up by letting you know we’re taking a brief hiatus for the rest of July to squeeze in some vacations and hopefully a rehearsal or two. Our next official gig is in Woodside at The Pioneer, Saturday August 12 – this one should be a barnburner so please mark your calendar! Friends of EZ Allen: pre-party at my house starts at 6:00!

We’re also very psyched to say that on Wednesday August 9th we’ll be playing for a special private event at Mighty in San Francisco, which will open up to the public later in the evening…more on that one as we work out the details!

ciao

The Pieces Take SF

We're getting fired up for our first appearance in The City next week – at Rockit Room at 406 Clement in the Richmond district. This is a darn familiar place for me, although it's had a quaint face lift since The Strangers used to play there regularly when it was the Last Day Saloon. This is a great club and we're hoping to break a weeknight attendance record so we can be invited back for a weekend gig – so call up your friends and get on out!

We've been working on some new material; mostly some interesting covers this time around but I'll be playing some fresh original material in an acoustic set to open the show. I won't tell you what the covers are but the artists we're covering with the new stuff include Whiskeytown, Dylan, Herbie Hancock and the Stones.

Over the next week we're going to hit the woodshed and work on a whole bunch of new original material, most of which will debut at The Pioneer on Saturday August 12.

But in the meantime we hope to see you city folk at the Rockit Room on Wednesday, and all ye valley dwellers be sure to come out to The Quarter Note in Sunnyvale on Friday July 7!

cheers

Easy Allen

Sunday, Boogie Sunday

Our second show ever, last night at Ike's in San Jose, turned out to be a real barn-burner…thanks to all of you who made it out and hung with us to the wee hours – yes you Jimbo the Maker's Mark ambassador, Robert, AJ, Audrey, Bart, Nancy, Susan, Angel and harp-playin' Johnny the birthday boy!

And thanks to the whole crew at Ike's – the new stage is great and we had a blast breaking it in…

Don't forget this Sunday we're playing a special weekend performance at St. Stephen's Green on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View. They don't typically have music on Sundays but the Urban Campfire Boogie is impossible to resist so they squeezed us in for this special performance. Hope to see you there – we'll start on the early side, around 7:30.

Keep on Truckin

-Easy Allen

A Double Dose!

We're fired up to be playing two shows this weekend; first on Friday for the grand re-opening of Ike's Lounge in San Jose. They've just put in a new stage, light and sound system and we'll be the first band to put it to use. Then on Sunday we'll be playing a special week-ending event at St. Stephen's Green on Castro in Downtown Mountain View. We hope to see some of you out! Also we're close to nailing our first S.F. gig so stay tuned….

Easy Allen

Easy Mark Makes the News!

Our own Easy Mark was interviewed on KRON news last night for a story about the valley housing market softening up a bit (you decide!). I'll try to find a link and put it up…he cleans up pretty well. Hey Mark, couldn't you at least have worn a 5 Easy Pieces hat??? Where's the PR love?

Easy Allen

Correction!!

Just want to quickly correct an error in the email that went out last night – the June 9th show will be at Ike's Lounge in San Jose, not the Quarter Note! The Quarter Note gig is in July. The Ike's gig is a grand re-opening of the renovated club so should be a lot of fun…see you there!

Welcome to our underground lair

You say you want to be a rolling stone

Get your sail out in the wind

Get out on the highway and let it roll on

Roll on back to some place you ain't never been

Hi all! Easy Allen here. Thanks for stopping by to bear witness to the birth of Five Easy Pieces. That opening lyric from the Allman Brothers' Back Where it All Begins seems a fitting way to start this blog…being back in a band after a 10-year hiatus, there's a fun sense of being back where it all began when I moved to San Francisco with my first rock band in 1990.

I don't intend to buy a bus, hit the road and grow my hair down to my waist this time, but 16 years later, no grammys in my trophy case (yet) but plenty of stories to tell, I'm …thrilled… (understatement) to start playing out in the clubs again. Five Easy Pieces first got together in October last year, and between working grueling day jobs, having babies, raising kids, being responsible up-standing and occasionally visible husbands and all the other things that go to make up a life, it's a bit of a miracle we were able to pull this band together.

We hope to see some of you at our first gig at The Cats in Los Gatos (hmm…..) on Tuesday, but if you can't make it there, please mark your calendar for Friday, June 9th when we'll be playing the grand re-opening of Ike's Lounge in San Jose.

After six months we're finally down with a few hours worth of material. We're playing about 1/3 originals…some new stuff and some you'll recognize from my last solo project and a few nuggets from The Strangers, including my favorites from MobileHomecomingQueen and a few numbers the Strangers hadn't touched for years when we broke up in '96.