The Frost Heaves of summer

TURNERS FALLS -- 'Daniel Hales, and the frost heaves' hosted a CD release party at the Rendezvous on Sunday, July 22nd to introduce newcomers to their new production, You Make a Better Door than a Window. But it was more a multi-media event than a traditional introduction to the new tunes of a band's latest release. The frost heaves were fresh off the stage at the Green River Festival, but kep up the energy for the home town crowd. I was particularly intrigued by the CD title as it was reminiscent of so many idioms of my teenage years, those slightly sarcastic phrases so casually used by teens and adults alike when a simple request might be kinder or more effective. The two sayings that flashed into my mind were not relevant to the cover title (they just amused me) -- responses we winged out when it seemed like someone was not pulling their weight: "I don't see your ass tied to a piano," and "Are your arms and legs painted on?"

Anyhow, the night opened with a short video produced by bass player James Lowe that featured a medly of practice sessions, studio work, short interviews, live performances, and scintillating views of the everyday doors and windows (most were familiar to Franklin County residents). It can be viewed in full at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebZr393--Bs

The audience next heard the recorded version of the CD -- song by song -- accompanied by the overhead projection of the lyrics (as compared to the standard PowerPoint presentation of our current century), followed by reading of poems inspired by each song, and often a brief sout out to an associated art piece hanging somewhere in the Rendezvous. Most of the pieces were collages done by Hales (who's never exhibited his art before), but there were also 'window' pieces by Lowe featuring photos taken by Carol Lawless, and of course a door or two.

Hales, a former Philadelphian, was a graduate of the UMASS MFA program in 1998 -- and, like many who came to Western Massachusetts for a short academic stay, he hasn't left yet. He still meets with a group of fellow writing 'students' monthly where they share their current work. It was at one of those meetings that Hales proposed sending interested fellow poets one of his new songs -- if so inspired, they would respond with a poem. His poetry circle responded eloquently, and many came to the party to read their poems in person. A few stand-ins took over when the authors were not available. The event wound up with the heaves regaling the audience with an acoustic stomp through their new songs.

The CD is largely the work of Hales, drummer Ivan Ussach, and bassist James Lowe, engineered and mixed at Harmonium Studios with Norm Demoura. The auxiliary 'heaves' include Joe Boyle, Emily Brienes, Charlie Conant, Carrie Ferguson, Mark Hoover, Rick Lowe, Heather Maloney, and Hilary Weiner.

Hales lyrics and music are exasperatingly appealing and catching in their own right. But later I found it difficult to separate the songs from the poems, and now i find myself humming the Hales tunes while I re-read the poems written by the contributing artists. I adore the windows these artists have opened in my mind.

This post originally appeared in The Montague Reporter.