Coming soon - "The Desk Drawer Tapes"

Live on Russell Hill's Country Music Show!

Honored that Russell Hill's Country Music Show is going to feature a #LiveFromTheLounge session with Jon Fried and me on Valentine's Day! Tune in to Express FM this weekend (11am-2pm UK time.) Here's a photo of Russell modelling his "Somewhere in Blue" shirt. He looks great! Thanks for inviting us on your show, Russell!

A Film AND A Video!

Yesterday wasn so exciting. One of The Cucumbers songs "Don't Watch TV" was in the film The Little Things starring Denzel Washington! AND a brand new video for "Thursday" was premiered in Glide Magazine!

Best of.....

Nice way to end a bad year. So honored that "Some Days" (my recordings with The Poor Man's Opera ) made Jersey Beat - Jim Testa 's Top 10 New Jersey Albums! Thanks so much Jim! And Mark Moran , Rick Wagner , Andy Riedel , Dave Hartkern for being such a great band! Thanks so much to Joe Belock, Mr. Three Chord Monte, for including my song "Thursday" (with The Poor Man's Opera ) on his Best of 2020 broadcast! What an honor to included on one of my very favorite radio shows! And to The Marconi Experiment for including "Dance The Night Away" in their year end podcast.

New Video "Dance the Night Away"

 

"Pop Rock Perfection"!!!

 Many thanks to John Gentile and Punknews.org for premiering my new song and video

"Deena and the Poor Man's Opera take the '80s honky-tonk of Dolly Parton and Joe Ely and run it through a sort of a alien filter. The result is a track that emulates those classic boppers, but maintains a certain plastic self-awareness. Also, it helps that the track is just pop-rock perfection. This is a JAM."

 The whole write-up is awesome and I am thrilled.  Please follow the link to read the full review and see the video.

New Video "Your Lips Were Made For Me"

 Check it out! Jon Fried created a sweet new video "Your Lips Were Made For Me," a song I wrote with David Graham, performed by  The Campfire Flies.

Very First Live Stream!

Here's my very first "live stream" performance (now archived on youtube).  Jon Fried and I performed at a Zero Hour Records Reunion concert to benefit A Leg To Stand On.  We were excited by all the hearts and messages floating by as we performed!  The event was in the middle of stay-at-home lockdown, May 5, 2020.

Benefit For GlassRoots

Jon Fried and I were very proud to take part in an online benefit for GlassRoots.  We were supposed to perform live in  their studios, but covid-19 made us move the party online.  Here's archived version of the concert.

Dear Leader (lyric video)

"....Dear leader, if you could only speak the truth, then the truth would speak for you
we might believe you..."

"Love and Joy"

New holiday single from The Cucumbers released today! Written for a party, hoping to spread some high spirits during the holidays, Jon and Deena (from The Cucumbers) wrote “Love and Joy” specifically for The Hoboken Holiday All Star Band. The band features local heroes Julio Fernandez (lead guitar), Ed Fogarty (guitar), Gary Frazier (bass), Dave Stengel (drums), Bryan Beninghove (sax), and John Keim (keys) with Jon Fried (guitar and vocals) and Deena Shoshkes (vocals and percussion). This fine crew assembles annually at the fabulous annual Hoboken Holiday Banding bash. Jon and Deena wrote the song with this band, this crowd and this party in mind. After they debuted “Love and Joy” live in 2018, Jon and Deena brought the group into the studio to record it under the name The Cucumbers, a band they’ve led with various rhythm sections and other collaborators since forming in Hoboken in the early 1980s. All proceeds from downloads and streaming will be donated to the Community FoodBank of NJ.  Beautiful cover art by Ann Shoshkes.

"Skating on Melting Ice"

Very proud to have my song "Skating on Melting Ice" included on Punx Do Good's Benefit for Amazon Watch. Amazon Watch is an organization that works to protect the rainforest.
Please stop by, have a listen and donate!