Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
The Deedle Deedle Dees are back!
2016 is a big year for the Deedle Deedle Dees. We're putting out our first album in five years, a record that explores the history of science and discovery. Release dates for singles, videos, and the album itself coming soon.
The Dees will be playing a bunch this year. We just added our dates at SXSW in Austin, TX, to the calendar as well as our annual appearance at the River's Family Music Meltdown & Book Bash in Northampton, MA. I'm now listing all full-band Dees shows and my own solo shows all on the same calendar on my site, lloydhmiller.com, in the interest of trying to confuse you all less (but I realize even this sentence I'm finishing now is confusing).
- Lloyd H. Miller, leader of the Dees / eater of peas
The Dees will be playing a bunch this year. We just added our dates at SXSW in Austin, TX, to the calendar as well as our annual appearance at the River's Family Music Meltdown & Book Bash in Northampton, MA. I'm now listing all full-band Dees shows and my own solo shows all on the same calendar on my site, lloydhmiller.com, in the interest of trying to confuse you all less (but I realize even this sentence I'm finishing now is confusing).
- Lloyd H. Miller, leader of the Dees / eater of peas
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
The Deedle Deedle Dees play for free this Saturday, April 18th
We'll be at Hudson Eats at Brookfield Place. Basically the World Financial Center with a facelift and a new name.
11am show
Details here.
11am show
Details here.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Halloween Costumes Inspired by Deedle Deedle Dees Songs
Here's a brief list of costume ideas inspired by the songs of Lloyd H. Miller and the Deedle Deedle Dees . I've organized them roughly according to difficulty. Some brand-new unrecorded songs (like my new tune about Diana Nyad) are here to give you even more options. I've also included some suggestions for spinning boring store-bought costumes as something a bit more Dee-lightful (sorry).
EASY costumes
Diana Nyad - a cap and some goggles
John Muir - wear some pants and a shirt and some boots then add a long beard made out of whatever you've got lying around: your dad's old socks, a dishtowel, some construction paper, some yarn, etc.
Blood - wear all red clothing and say you're dressed as the "River of Blood." if people look at you funny, look all put-out and tell them about the Deedle Deedle Dees' song about the circulatory system. act like it's crazy they've never heard it.
Cool Papa Bell or Satchel Paige - put on your little league uniform. replace the name of your team on the jersery and the logo on the hat with the name and logo of some awesome Negro League team that Cool Papa or Satchel played for: the Kansas City Monarchs, the Homestead Grays, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, etc. where to get the logo and name? just draw 'em on heavy-duty paper and tape 'em on.
Subway car - get a box, decorate it like a classic Bluebird subway car, cut a hole for your head and arms. rule Halloween. tell people the history of the Bluebird you learned from our song.
Tenzing Norgay or Matthew Henson - Put on every piece of winter outerwear you have. say you're Tenzing Norgay leading the way to the top of Chomolungma AKA Everest. Or Matthew Henson on your way to the North Pole.
Diego Rivera - put on some pants and a button-up short sleeve shirt. put a pillow under your shirt to create a giant belly. get a paint brush. tell people you're Diego Rivera. if possible, have someone else in your family dress as Frida (but this costume is kind of labor intensive)
Wilma Rudolph - wear your school P.E. uniform or gym clothes. tell people you're Wilma Rudolph.
STORE-BOUGHT SPINS
Elsa or Anna from Frozen - say that you're Marie Curie after working with radioactive material. or Eleanor's Roosevelt's nightmare of what it meant to be First Lady (a party hostess). or a bird (consult the song "Birds of America Don't Care-Oh" for a bird name you like to say).
A bear costume - Say you're dressed as the bear from "Growl Growl," our song about the creation of the Alaskan flag and the constellation configuration (that appears as a big spoon or a bear depending how you see it) that helps us find the North Star
Buzz Lightyear - Pick one of the four female astronauts mentioned in my new tune, "The Rocket Went Up" (Valentina Tereshkova, Christa McAuliffe, Mae Jemison, Sally Ride) and say you're dressed as her.
The classic two-person horse costume - say you're dressed as Baldy, the Civil War horse we salute in hip hop song
Pocahantas or any of those gross Native American girl costumes - Tie a baby doll to your back with a sheet. Tell people you're Sacagawea and that Lewis and Clark were your assistants as you led an expedition across the country.
HARD COSTUMES
Everything here is period stuff you'll have to gather or sew.
Nellie Bly - look up her picture and you'll see the challenge she presents. you'll need a long skirt, a hat, that fancy shirt, an umbrella if possible. maybe some stuff that looks like this is hidden in your basement or closet from a grandmother or something. or maybe you're a master of the sewing machine and can make it.
other period costumes with an accompanying Dee song:
Harriet Tubman
Theodore Roosevelt
Abigail Adams
Henry Box Brown
Edgar Allan Poe
Sojourner Truth
EASY costumes
Diana Nyad - a cap and some goggles
John Muir - wear some pants and a shirt and some boots then add a long beard made out of whatever you've got lying around: your dad's old socks, a dishtowel, some construction paper, some yarn, etc.
Blood - wear all red clothing and say you're dressed as the "River of Blood." if people look at you funny, look all put-out and tell them about the Deedle Deedle Dees' song about the circulatory system. act like it's crazy they've never heard it.
Cool Papa Bell or Satchel Paige - put on your little league uniform. replace the name of your team on the jersery and the logo on the hat with the name and logo of some awesome Negro League team that Cool Papa or Satchel played for: the Kansas City Monarchs, the Homestead Grays, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, etc. where to get the logo and name? just draw 'em on heavy-duty paper and tape 'em on.
Subway car - get a box, decorate it like a classic Bluebird subway car, cut a hole for your head and arms. rule Halloween. tell people the history of the Bluebird you learned from our song.
Tenzing Norgay or Matthew Henson - Put on every piece of winter outerwear you have. say you're Tenzing Norgay leading the way to the top of Chomolungma AKA Everest. Or Matthew Henson on your way to the North Pole.
Diego Rivera - put on some pants and a button-up short sleeve shirt. put a pillow under your shirt to create a giant belly. get a paint brush. tell people you're Diego Rivera. if possible, have someone else in your family dress as Frida (but this costume is kind of labor intensive)
Wilma Rudolph - wear your school P.E. uniform or gym clothes. tell people you're Wilma Rudolph.
STORE-BOUGHT SPINS
Elsa or Anna from Frozen - say that you're Marie Curie after working with radioactive material. or Eleanor's Roosevelt's nightmare of what it meant to be First Lady (a party hostess). or a bird (consult the song "Birds of America Don't Care-Oh" for a bird name you like to say).
A bear costume - Say you're dressed as the bear from "Growl Growl," our song about the creation of the Alaskan flag and the constellation configuration (that appears as a big spoon or a bear depending how you see it) that helps us find the North Star
Buzz Lightyear - Pick one of the four female astronauts mentioned in my new tune, "The Rocket Went Up" (Valentina Tereshkova, Christa McAuliffe, Mae Jemison, Sally Ride) and say you're dressed as her.
The classic two-person horse costume - say you're dressed as Baldy, the Civil War horse we salute in hip hop song
Pocahantas or any of those gross Native American girl costumes - Tie a baby doll to your back with a sheet. Tell people you're Sacagawea and that Lewis and Clark were your assistants as you led an expedition across the country.
HARD COSTUMES
Everything here is period stuff you'll have to gather or sew.
Nellie Bly - look up her picture and you'll see the challenge she presents. you'll need a long skirt, a hat, that fancy shirt, an umbrella if possible. maybe some stuff that looks like this is hidden in your basement or closet from a grandmother or something. or maybe you're a master of the sewing machine and can make it.
other period costumes with an accompanying Dee song:
Harriet Tubman
Theodore Roosevelt
Abigail Adams
Henry Box Brown
Edgar Allan Poe
Sojourner Truth
Monday, September 22, 2014
Help Deedle Deedle Dees leader Lloyd H. Miller make a grown-up musical
The show Lloyd H. Miller, leader of the Deedle Deedle Dees, has been working for over two years with Roy Nathanson was chosen for a residency in Brooklyn this fall. This means they get 10 days to workshop the show culminating in two intimate workshop performances on Nov 7 and 8 (you can come).
The show is called Trashed Out and features Roy's longtime band, the Jazz Passengers. It's inspired by Exiles in Eden, Paul Reyes' book about the foreclosure crisis in Florida. Is it depressing? Yes, in parts, but it's also exhilarating -- imagine a live band of virtuosos (many who come from behind their instruments to act) plus an ensemble of actors plus video projections all working together at once, performing all brand-new songs written by Roy and Lloyd, telling a story of homelessness and heartbreak but also one of love and family. It's the kind of show that's never been done before (have you seen a musical with a live jazz band that improvises and becomes part of the show?) but also the sort of show we don't see too much any more, an old-fashioned song-and-dance musical with big themes and a love story at its center.
Will you help us make it happen? We have to raise money to fund the residency and the performances. Visit our Kickstarter, watch our video, read all about the project, then donate what you can. We have some cool rewards even for small donations.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1307311692/trashed-out-bric-residency
The show is called Trashed Out and features Roy's longtime band, the Jazz Passengers. It's inspired by Exiles in Eden, Paul Reyes' book about the foreclosure crisis in Florida. Is it depressing? Yes, in parts, but it's also exhilarating -- imagine a live band of virtuosos (many who come from behind their instruments to act) plus an ensemble of actors plus video projections all working together at once, performing all brand-new songs written by Roy and Lloyd, telling a story of homelessness and heartbreak but also one of love and family. It's the kind of show that's never been done before (have you seen a musical with a live jazz band that improvises and becomes part of the show?) but also the sort of show we don't see too much any more, an old-fashioned song-and-dance musical with big themes and a love story at its center.
Will you help us make it happen? We have to raise money to fund the residency and the performances. Visit our Kickstarter, watch our video, read all about the project, then donate what you can. We have some cool rewards even for small donations.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1307311692/trashed-out-bric-residency
Saturday, April 12, 2014
The Dees play the Lower East Side April 27th
The drummer had a baby, I've been working on a very involved school project, and it's just been hard to schedule a show. So we're thrilled to announce our return to the stages of NYC Sunday, April 27th. We're playing the Manny Cantor Center on Lower East Side. mannycantor.org 11am.
See you there?
See you there?
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