Life Out East - First quote in!!!

“Joe Yoga has hit his stride; the lyrics are sharp and affecting and couple with the best arrangements he’s ever engineered. The guitar playing is strong and his singing is just terrific… in the end that's the real revelation. Totally moving, absorbing, eminently listenable… the best new record I've heard in a very long time.” – Eric Clark

Grudge Match (Aug 18th)

GRUDGE MATCH: Music vs. Comedy
Wednesday Aug 18th, 2010
doors at 8, show is 8:15 - 10:30
...Marfa Music @ Lucky Cheng's
24 First Ave @ 2nd St (F to 2nd ave)
FREE SHOW

Who says there ain't any good free shows in NYC? I got your awesome free NYC show right here!!

Come witness the madness as Grudge Match returns to Marfa Music/Lucky Cheng's! Comedians and musicians battle it out for your hearts! Winners go home with the trophy and the glory while the losers are taken out back and shamed, and somehow have to face themselves in the morning.

Music by
Joe Yoga
Michelle Leona
Mike Milazzo

Comedy by
John Murdock
Michael Birch
Ed Larson

hosted by Tim Warner

I can act!

For the past two months, I have been working as an actor on Natalie Underwood's Buckle Up: The Journey of a Ride Home. Two shows into a three show run, with the last performance coming up this Sunday Aug 8th, I feel like I am finally able to digest most of it. It's been one of the most rewarding, gut-wrenching, difficult, frustrating, exhilarating experiences I've ever had.

I'm not an actor. I don't act, I've never acted, I've never taken acting classes, and only got about 15 pages into Stanislavski's "An Actor Prepares". I agreed to do Buckle Up because I believe in Natalie and her vision and I believe the fine cast and crew she'd assembled and I wanted to be a part of this so bad for multiple, complex reasons that I would have done anything. But I watched in horror as the role expanded, and there were more lines for me to learn, and more stage time, all of which I just saw as more opportunities to fuck up. And the material! Terrific, passionate writing, but very difficult subject matter.

Under the patient hand of JP Schuffman (our brilliant director), however, I settled in to the role, became more confident in my abilities and now have turned out two awesome performances in a row. It's thrilling, really, to be a part of something that is so important to a good friend of mine and now, to all of us. It's been an honor and a privilege and I hope you can all make the last show. It's going to blow you away.

Get your tickets online now! They will go fast!!

https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=BUC0

Director / Co-Producer: JP Schuffman
Written by and starring: Natalie Underwood
Featuring: Joe Yoga and John Murdock
Lights and Stage Management: Brian "Beezy" Douglas
Props, Costumes, and Backstage Extraordinaire: Jen Perney
Photography: Daniel Michael Rockdale
Choreography: Kimberly Kreps (Canceled due to Natalie's illness)

"While watching this play you feel the pain of everyone involved. It’s hard to tell who the villain or victim is. In the end we see that everyone is flawed. A series of bad decisions lead to everyone's life being turned upside down and changed forever. The true moral of the story as well as the hero of the tale is Redemption, how scared Cassie overcomes everything and everyone. Redemption in this performance is best stated, I am what I am from what I was but I am not what I was before, not now and not ever. If you have any doubts about forgiveness, love, hope, and salvation then Buckle Up is the show for you. This show will make you believe that the human heart has no limits and salvation comes in many forms." - Calvin Roy

Life Out East Tracklist

1. Birth is a Pain for the Baby Too
2. Easy Rider
3. Panic Attack
4. Bad Hero
5. Cheater
6. The Silent Treatment
7. Gone
8. I Think About It
9. Paper Thin Walls
10. Queen Bee
11. Small Hands
12. No Wings
13. Tell the Wind
14. Cody, You're Breaking My Heart

Coming this Wed - July 21: GRUDGE MATCH

Grudge Match: Music vs Comedy to the Death!
July 21 - 8pm
@ Marfa Music
24 1st ave - F train to 2nd ave
...
FREE SHOW

Come witness the madness as Grudge Match returns to Marfa/Lucky Cheng's! Comedians and musicians battle it out for your hearts! The Winners go home with the glory and the lovely Grudgeasaurus while the losers are taken out back and shamed.

Music by
Joe Yoga
Charley Crockett
Eve Blackwater

Comedy by
John Murdock
Nobody's Token
Liam McEneaney

Hosted by Tim Warner

FB invite: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131874830184954

Burgers and Songs (album update)

Had a Buckle Up rehearsal and production meeting yesterday, and afterwards was fairly exhausted. I'd been wanting to get some work done on the album but figured I would have a better chance of getting some quality work in by crashing out and waking up around 9 or 10 and getting right to work rather than trying to force myself to stay up until 5, working (lord how times have changed). So I went for a walk and ended up having a late night dinner at Shake Shack's new 8th ave / Times Square location.

A line 35 deep was certainly not something I was expecting around ten pm, but it moved pretty fast. It was maybe a seven or eight minute wait. When you place your order they give you something that looks like a remote control that buzzles and shakes and lights up when your food is ready. Interesting. My food came fairly quickly as well, which was nice.

I've been to the Shake Shack in Madison Square park a few times but I'm not one of these obsessives. I don't really buy into the whole "experience"... . I think they're perfectly good burgers but there are countless burgers just as good or better out there that I DON'T have to wait an hour for.

So, a food review: The Shack Burger: very tender beef, awesome soft and tasty bun, (not enough Shack Sauce though) and at 4.75 about the same price as a Double Whopper. A bit small. I imagine a double is the way to go. And as I remember it, a perfectly fine burger, safely on the good side of the bell curve.

$2.75 gets you a small, dry, fairly nasty serving of fries (might as well just spend another two bucks and get another burger). I was really surprised. The fries were like cardboard. Tasteless.

The "Fair Shake" (Vanilla and Coffee) might just be the best milkshake in the city. That's hyperbole, sure, but it's fresh on my mind. It's a damn good milkshake. Well worth the $5.25 or whatever.

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And I did get a chunk of work on my album done. In fact, mixed three, recorded new vocals for one and recorded one in its entirety that I have been trying to nail for weeks now. Feeling real good about shit. i have two more to record and then I will probably cut three. Wish me luck!!!

off to band camp

It's been a pretty thrilling weekend. Got to see one of the best bands working today, Hallelujah the Hills, at Union Hall on Friday night. They're starting a tour that's going to include dates with Titus Andronicus. They played some new material that sounded lovely and a bunch of my favorites, including Effie and then shocked the hell out of me by playing "To All My Scientist Colleagues", which was an awesome surprise.

Even better news!! You can now buy my last album "The Dreamless Sea" on bandcamp.com. Sure... you can get it for free from most of my friends or on the internet (if you know where to look...) but at $6 bucks, or 50 cents a song, you might as well just buy it.

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Grudge Match: Music vs. Comedy (Wed. June 16th)

FREE SHOW ALERT

GRUDGE MATCH: Music vs. Comedy
Wednesday June 16th, 2010
8pm-10pm
Marfa Music @ Lucky Cheng's
24 First Ave @ 2nd St (F to 2nd ave)
FREE SHOW

Come witness the madness as Grudge Match returns to Marfa/Lucky Cheng's! Comedians and musicians battle it out for your hearts! Winners go home with the trophy and the glory while the losers are taken out back and shamed, and somehow have to face themselves in the morning.

Music by
Joe Yoga
Jason White
Dustin Edge

Comedy by
John Murdock
Killer Killy Dwyer
Jaqi Furback

Special Guest Host: Tim Warner

Special appearance by Paulina Princess of Power

**FREE CHIPS AND SALSA**

new Grudge Match video!

Video of my set at Grudge Match on May 19.
I really felt like I was on fire that night. Check out how the set started!



This is my song "Cheater". It's gonna be on my album.

EDIT/UPDATE! New video has surfaced... this is my song Humor. I thought this video was gone forever but I rescued it from the bowels of my computer (i.e. iMovie). this is how my Grudge Match Set continued. The last song I played was Urban Planning. I have video of that too but I'm not gonna post it cause I already have a lot of versions of that song up and I'm kinda getting sick of it.

Joe Yoga Lyrics

http://www.songmeanings.net/artist/view/songs/137438985835/

Someday, someone is going to leave a comment.

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PLEASE VOTE FOR MY DEMO!

My demo for "Easy Rider" is on the front page at Epitaph.com!!! PLEASE GO VOTE IT UP!!! Ok... so you need to log in to vote. But everyone has a throwaway email account, don't they? And I never/rarely ask people to vote for me in stupid contests like this. But it's Epitaph! Tom Waits! 90s Pop-Punk! Independent Label! GO DO IT!!

http://www.epitaph.com/demolition/

Thanks, I will love you forever!

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Open Call for Bandmates

OPEN CALL: putting a live band together. biggest need is a cajon player or
suitcase/minimalist drummer, also need a multi-instrumentalist or two.
+ harmonies. if you like my music and can commit to semi-regular
rehearsals and gigs (or know anyone who might), inquire within.