FRENCH TV

Well! I suppose it's safe to say 2007 can be written away as "The Year Nothing Significant in the World of French TV Happened".
Can the same be said of 2008? You be the judge...

As I write this [August, 2008], a tour of Europe in November of this year seems to be taking place.
2 confirmed dates for now, with more on the way: November 14-15 [not sure which day yet, though I've asked for the 15th], we'll be performing at the AltrOck Festival in Milan, Italy. Other announced acts include Picchio dal Pozzo and Hostenaten. I have inside info on some of the other bands invited to be a part of this fabulous event, but I'll leave it to organizer and good friend Marcello Marinone to announce the remainder of the roster.
The other date is November 13th, at the legendary Le Triton in Paris! Very excited about this one. Most of my French musical heroes have graced the stage at Le Triton at one time or another, and I feel honored to be a part of this history.
Other cities we are working on are Bordeaux, Bonn, Strasbourg, Barcelona, Madrid, and Frankfort. Any Europeans out there willing to have us inflict tunes from our more recent cds (as well as 3 tunes from the one we're working on now) on their local venue, please contact us for a list of our unreasonable demands.

The line-up for our tour: holdovers Chris Smith on guitar/violin; Paolo [YUGEN] Botta on keyboards and grappa; and, introducing Michael Hazera, the talented drummer for French bands Sotos and Zaar. Michael has been a vital part of organizing part of this tour in addition to learning the tunes, and I'm quite excited to be exploring where in tarnation the "one" is in playing French TV music with him. Regular FTV drummer Jeff Gard is unable to join the tour due to being too vital to Louisville's WHAS News to be allowed to escape temporarily.

French TV 10 [provisional title: "I Forgive You For All My Unhappiness"] chugs along. Little Atlas keyboardist Steve Katsikas has finished all keyboard [sorry about the redundancy] tracks minus the tune Paolo has recorded; Chris Smith has finished one tune and is working on 2 others; newcomer Adam Huffer has recorded sax for 2 songs and will be recording at least one more, with the remainder of the sax parts to be recorded by former FTV member Warren Dale, and Little Atlas guitarist Roy Strattman has recorded some DELIGHTFUL guitar tracks for one other-shame we can't seem to coax more out of him at the moment. Two more tunes call for some sort of guitar, but I STILL haven't decide who to ask!

The side project I've recorded with famed guitarist Shawn Persinger [Boud Deun; Prester John] and equally-famed keyboardist Guy LeBlanc [Nathan Mahl; Camel], along with not-as-famed-as-he-deserves-to-be drummer Chris Vincent [French TV] has been finished for months, and currently resides in flakey-non-committal-label-interest Hell. I've pretty much decided I'll have to put this one out myself [too bad, as I think this one could make some $$$ in the right hands---larger hands than mine, that is]. However, the tour is tying up much of my finances and is a factor in when this comes out.

Also recording with a progressive band out of South Carolina known as 9 On Bali, featuring guitarist/keyboardist Dan Sweigert, from Chicago favorites Star-Period-Star. Dan's an old pal from way back, and has written some PHENOMINAL tunes I feel honored to be allowed to corrupt with my bass playing.

Well folks, the tour's a'happenin' --I'm leaving November 4th, and here's what we got:

11/07/2008 DAX, FRANCE: Private concert/recording session; e-mail miczoz@aol.com for details

11/08/2008 REIMS, FRANCE 8pm @ Le Centre Culturel du Crous
34, bd Henry Vasnier BP275
WITH: EIDÔLON plus SOMNA
http://www.crous-reims.fr/culture/le-centre-culturel-du-crous/

11/09/2008 WüRZBERG, GERMANY (EARLY SHOW: 5pm) @ Omibus
Theaterstraße 10 97070 Tel. 0931 / 5 61 21
http://www.omnibus-wuerzburg.de/konzerte/french-tv.htm

11/12/2008 8pm - STRASBOURG, FRANCE @ Le Café des Anges
42, Rue Krutenau  67000
WITH: CAMEMBERT

11/13/2008 8pm - PARIS, FRANCE @ Le Triton
11 bis rue du Coq Francais; 93260 Les Lilas
http://www.letriton.com/fiches/1113-FrenchTV.html

11/14/2008 8pm - LYON, FRANCE @ Boulangerie du Prado
69 rue Sébastien Gryphe 69007
http://www.boulangerieduprado.org

11/15-16/2008 MILAN, ITALY @ ALTROCK FESTIVAL; Spazio MIL
Via Granelli 20099 Sesto San Giovanni (MI)
Also featuring: CHANCE:RISIKO, DFA, RATIONAL DIET, SPALTKLANG, ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI, HOSTSONATEN, PICCHIO DAL POZZO
www.spaziomil.it

Our line-up for this tour:
Mike Sary bass
Chris Smith guitar
Paolo Botta [of YUGEN] keyboards
Michael Hazera [of SOTOS & ZAAR] drums

ALAVOT!