=======================================================================================

April 12, 2007

Dear reader,

With books being so close to our hearts and our lives, I think it's only proper for me to take a small moment today to acknowledge Kurt Vonnegut, who passed away yesterday. He was an absolute legend, and without a doubt, one of my favorite authors of all time. "Cat's Cradle" remains one of my favorite books, and, in fact, it's probably the one book I've read more than any other.

I first started reading Vonnegut while I was in high school and it was such a transformative experience. In retrospect, I can see a lot of similarities between my experience with Vonnegut and many people's (including my own) experience with Harry Potter. These books can literally be life-changing. They can change your perspective, force you to examine your own life, and, in the end, potentially even make you a better person. This is the power of good literature and it continues to amaze and astound me.

Much of Vonnegut's work centers around a humanist philosophy that emphasizes reason and scientific inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, human values and compassion, and a need for tolerance and cooperation. At a time when I was really at odds with organized religions, I found incredible comfort and inspiration in Vonnegut's novels. If this is the only life we have, why not try and and make the most of it? Why not try and live nobly and leave the world a better place then the one we entered? Kurt Vonnegut certainly did that with his writings and for that, I would sincerely like to thank him.

I wish that I had written him a letter he was still alive. I had considered this on multiple occasions, and now I have a slight regret that I missed an opportunity to tell this man how much his books have meant to me. Lately, I've been having a lot of really intense conversations with a couple friends about the power of art and music and literature to change people's lives in such a positive way. It's almost weird for me that one of my personal heroes should pass away at this point in time.
I didn't really intend to write a eulogy or anything. Vonnegut was really just one of my favorite authors and I got a little overwhelmed when I saw the Yahoo news headline that he had died. Do yourself a favor and pick up one of his books. It could change your life. It did for me.

In "Cat's Cradle", Kurt Vonnegut wrote "It is never a mistake to say good-bye." Unfortunately, today we must say good-bye to Mr. Vonnegut's physical being, but his legacy certainly lives on in the wonderful books he published for us during his lifetime.

Thanks Kurt.
Your fan,
Paul DeGeorge

P.S. I almost forgot: in "Timequake" Kurt pretty much wrote his own eulogy. When he finally died, he wanted us to say, "Kurt is up in heaven now." It's a humanist joke. Get it?

March 28, 2007

March has been a ton of fun for us.  The tour was so cool.  We had an awesome time in the Great White North of Canada!  We can't wait to go back. 

Joe and I spent all of last weekend in our parents living room writing and recording songs for our EP for the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club.  It was a TON of FUN!  We put together 14 songs and the CD will probably be about 14 minutes!  There's a song about Harry wanting to eat the enchanted ceiling.  There's another about hugging Hagrid.  There's another about Harry's hair growing really fast after it gets cut.  And another about riding the Gringotts Goblin Coaster.  This EP is totally weird!  You'll love it.  And probably the only way to hear it is to subscribe to the EP club.  We'll only have 200 copies to sell outside the club and those won't be available online.  So subscribe already!  It's for a good cause!

Lots and lots of cool stuff on the horizon for the late Spring and summer.  We'll tell you more about that soon.

Stay cool,

paul

March 6, 2007

We're about mid-way though our Spring Break tour!  It rules!  We've been partying extra hard on this tour. 

We finally got that show set up in Montreal.  It's this Saturday at 8pm at the Ukranian Federation (5213 Hutchiosn).  Don't miss it!

February 23, 2007

Hey everyone!  I'm the guest host of Pottercast #77 this week.  Check it out!  If you have an hour to spare, you can hear me talking about all sorts of stuff ranging from the Wizard Rock EP club, to doughnuts, to Dumbledore, to time travel.  It all makes perfect sense if you listen.

Next week starts our SPRING BREAK 2007 TOUR!  It's gonna rule!

March 2 - Hamilton, NY - Colgate University Bookstore
March 3 - Rochester, NY - A/V Space
March 4 - Cleveland, OH - the Grog Shop
March 5 - Chicago, IL - the Beat Kitchen
March 6 - St. Louis, MO - Webster University
March 7 - Troy, MI - North Hills CRC
March 8 - Toronto, ON - Tranzac
March 9 - Ottawa, ON - SAW Gallery
March 10 - Montreal, QC - TBA

For anyone wondering, the Worcester 2007 tour was an incredible success.  Although to be honest, I think the 7 people we played to in the junk shop was the smallest crowd we've performed for since our very first show in our parent's shed.  That's Worcester for you.

-paul

February 13, 2007

Locals: come check out our WORCESTER 2007 TOUR!  We are playing 3 different shows in Worcester all in 24 hours!  Check out this calendar of awesomeness that we've created for central Mass.

Thursday, Feb 15th, 8pm
Clark University - Goddard Library basement: full-on rock show!

Friday, Feb 16th, 6:30pm
Happy Birthday Mike Leslie - acoustic sing-along show in a junk shop

Friday, Feb 16th, 8pm
That's Entertainment - total DANCE PARTY set in a comic book store

All shows are FREE!  See you in Worcester!

-paul

February 9, 2007

Lots or touring to talk about!

Next week: Worcester 2007 Tour!  At least 2 shows! Thursday is the full-on, sweaty rock set in the basement of Clark Univeristy's library.  Friday is a super-intimate, sweaty, acoustic sing-along in our favorite junk shop, Happy Birthday Mike Lesley.  4 Real.

March: Spring Break 2007 Tour!  Confirmations are coming in slowly.  We've got some upstate NY, as well as hits in Chicago, St. Louis, and Toronto.  Still waiting on stuff to come through in Cleveland, Michigan, Ottawa and Montreal.  Talk to me if you want to help get it set up!

May: UK Tour!  Hurrah!  May 12-19!  I think we'll have most of these confirmed in the next week or two.  It's going to be a BLAST!  Get psyched!

Join the EP club.

Busy busy.

-paul

February 1, 2007

Hey, it's been a while since we updated our website.  Welcome to 2007!  We started the year off right by going on an awesome tour of the southeast with our friends Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin.  It ruled!  We played 16 shows in 14 days!  It was amazing!  We even had fun in Florida (of all places!).  Thanks to everyone who made the tour so special!   Hooray!

Now it's time to continue the awesomeness of 2007.  Did you know that 2007 is going to be the BEST YEAR of our LIVES?  It can be true if we make it true. 

With that in mind, we're happy to bring you the following announcement:

-------------------------

Hello wizard rockers!

It's 2007 and we are planning on making this the greatest year ever for wizard rock! Joe and I have been totally inspired by the awesome community that has sprung up in the wake of our efforts to make the world read and rock a little harder. In the past year or so, we've heard so many incredible songs by so many new bands, and we've even had the good fortune to have some of these bands perform with us. We've met so many new people who are getting involved in wizard rock, both as bands and as fans. There are now websites devoted exclusively to bringing you up-to-the-minute wizard rock news, and there are a number of people working very hard to document this unique moment in time. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming, but then when I sit back and think about it, I realize that it truly does just feel like one very supportive community that we have built. I've corresponded with so many bands and fans, and I really feel like we are just a large, extended group of friends. There is no aspect of celebrity that separates bands from fans and that has enabled everyone to feel included and welcomed by this music and these ideas. Together, we have built a strong and supportive community that is accepting of music at all levels of talent and performance skill. And I think that together, there are even more wonderful things we can make happen.

We have all been affected by these books in one way or another. They inspire us and amuse us and provide us with endless hours of enjoyable debate. This entire phenomena has unequivocally confirmed that books and literature can change people's lives. For so many young people though, access to books can be limited or non-existant. There are many non-profit organizations today that are working to combat this problem, and we are very excited to announce a major wizard rock charity undertaking that will work toward getting more books into the eager hands of aspiring readers.

With this in mind, Harry and the Potters are pleased to present the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club.

For each month of 2007, we will be releasing an exclusive CD from a totally awesome wizard rock band. Members in the club will receive 2 CDs at a time, at six different points in the year. The cost to join the club will be $50 for the year and includes all 12 CDs, plus some cool bonus stuff, I'm sure. Subscriptions will be limited to approximately 750 copies.

The membership fees will be used to cover all costs associated with producing and distributing the CDs to members. After that, all remaining proceeds will be donated to First Book, a non-profit organization that gives children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. If we are able to sell all 750 subscriptions, we should raise close to $10,000 for this charity!

In addition, each participating band will receive 200 copies of their CD for free and they will be able to sell these separately, outside of the club subscriptions. Through these sales, many of these bands will be able to raise money to support future wizard rock endeavors.

Members of the club will receive EXCLUSIVE EPs from ALL of the following awesome bands!

Harry and the Potters
Draco and the Malfoys
the Hungarian Horntails
the Remus Lupins
Remus and the Lupins
Roonil Wazlib
the Parselmouths
Ginny and the Heartbreakers
the Fleur Delacours
the Marauders
Voldemort
and finally, Dumbledore himself!

This list of bands just makes us drool and we are totally pumped to be working together with all of them on this. We are psyched to share some exciting music from our new friends in this community. All these bands deserve special commendation for being willing to donate some of their music to this worthy cause. If this enterprise is successful, hopefully we can continue it into 2008 and include a dozen other great bands in the club. Together, we can keep the world reading and rocking!

One further note: we are not starting a record label. We're simply helping to facilitate and coordinate this effort. We're not interested in running a wizard rock label. One of our favorite things about wizard rock is the completely independent spirit that permeates and fuels the entire community. Anyone can be in a band. Anyone can write and record music. And if you want to put out a CD, anyone can do that too! As a band, we continue to follow this DIY philosophy, and it's been inspiring to see others follow similar paths. Success is that much sweeter when you've achieved it on your own terms and with your own style.

Please consider joining this new club and showing your support for reading, rocking and books - all at once! Let's make this happen!

Your friend,
Paul DeGeorge
Harry and the Potters

Any questions or comments about the club should be directed to wizardrockEPclub@gmail.com

For more information and to subscribe, please have a look at the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club Website!

-----------------------

Thanks for reading!  You're the best!

-paul

December 25, 2006

Happy Holidays to everyone!  Joe and I just finished off a most excellent Christmas hanging out with family and friends.  Playing new board games, singing and whistling christmas carols around the piano, and filling the table with probably enough dessert to feed much of the wizard rock community.  I made cannolis (from scratch!), Joe made a pumpkin pie (following our grandmother's rarely used recipe), Cathy made a banana cream pie that she dropped on the floor (much of it was saved and it was still very tasty) and Angela made a Swedish apple pie.  We are a family of maniacal dessert consumers.  This will all be breakfast tomorrow!

Anyway, we're happy to announce that we have a bunch of cool stuff on the agenda for 2007 and we're kicking it off on DAY ONE with a tour!

Jan 1 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
Jan 2 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
Jan 3 - Chapel Hill, NC - the Nightlight
Jan 4 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Public Library
Jan 5 - Spartanburg, SC - Spartanburg Co. Library
Jan 6 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
Jan 7 - Tampa, FL - Crowbar
Jan 8 - Orlando, FL - Social
Jan 9 - Miami, Fl - California Club branch Miami Public Library
Jan 10 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds Coffeehouse
Jan 11 - Columbia, SC - New Brookland Tavern
Jan 12 - Durham, NC - 108 Morris St. (Durham Co. Library show!)
Jan 13 - Arlington, VA - IOTA Club and Cafe - Day show
Jan 13 - Washington, DC - American University - Night show
Jan 14 - Asbury Park, NJ - Asbury Lanes

Check out shows page for all the sweet details on these dates.  The first two shows are with our dear friend Jason Anderson and then after that, we're joined by one of our favorite bands, Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin.  This will be an amazing way for us to kick off 2007 and we hope you can join us for a show!

Oh yeah, and thanks so much to EVERYONE who came to the Yule Balls!  They were pretty much the greatest events in wizard rock history, so we're so glad that so many of you were there to be a part of them.  In Philadelphia, we raised $860 for First Book and in Boston, we raised $1760 for Reach Out and Read.  Thanks especially to Andrea, Potterdelphia and R5 Productions in Philly and the staff at the Middle East who were there for a 15-hour marathon of a day!  Also thank you to all the bands who made both shows so special.  It's truly a pleasure to be able to share the stage with both our friends and our favorite bands, all at the same time. 

That's the news for now.  Come see us on tour in January and we'll talk about the Deathly Hallows and all sorts of awesomeness that 2007 surely holds.

Happy holidays!
Love,
Paul and Joe

Old news