We are really excited to be a part of an amazing Harry Potter fandom even happening tomorrow!

Harry Potter fans have joined with members of fandoms from other popular books, movies, and tv series (including Heroes, Lost, True Blood, The Wire and Firefly) to create Helping Haiti Heal, a home-grown effort to contribute to the growing humanitarian aid and charitable relief activities in Haiti.

This Saturday, January 23rd, at 2 P.M. EST, The Harry Potter Alliance’s Potterwatch, PotterCast, MuggleCast, Hogwarts Radio, and FictionAlley will come together for a live fundraising webcast on Livestream to benefit Partners in Health. This four hour live event will feature a donation drive where donors have the opportunity to win prizes (including complete set of signed Harry Potter books anda note from JK Rowling!), live performances from many wizard rockers; leaders in fan communities; personal interviews with Haitian-Americans about the importance of giving to Partners In Health; human rights activists; a representative from MIT’s Media Lab discussing ways that we can donate our time using new media; and much more.

We are excited to be performing as part of this incredible event. We have also contributed to the prizes available to donors! We are donating one of our old busted keyboards!

Be sure to tune in on Saturday to learn more!

Description:

Harry and the Potters’ Badly Used Keyboard
Roland Juno-D model
NON-FUNCTIONAL

Harry Potter Year 4 used this keyboard for nearly every Harry and the Potters show from 7/16/05 to 8/12/06, over 175 shows. It was also used in the recording of Harry and the Potters and the Power of Love. It was replaced after it started detuning mid-song on a very hot day in Dallas, Texas. It does not work (at least properly). It does power up, but won’t output sound. Really smart bidders may be able to fix it though. Does not include a power cable though (that’s long been busted!). We will gladly sign this and provide a certificate of authenticity.

From this picture you can get a sense of how many Juno-D keyboards we’ve used over the years. Ha!

Be sure and tune in Saturday! If you can’t, this auction will be going on until January 31st, so I’ll post more detail later. Did I mention there’s also a complete signed set of the Harry Potter books up for auction! The Mudbloods #1 guitar strap! There is seriously tons of amazing stuff in this auction, so please check it out! More details here!

Boston is expecting 4-8 inches of snow tonight!

Cambridge is still expecting an awesome wizard rock show tomorrow!

Last year, there was like 20 inches of snow before the Yule Ball and we played on! This year shouldn’t be any different. We aren’t scared of a measly 4 to 8 inches. In fact, we will revel in it! We will make a snowman and taunt him from stage - no way can he spoil our holiday cheer!

Doors for the show are at 5:00pm SHARP!

There are currently about 150 tickets left for the show, so if you have not purchased advanced tickets, you’ll will be able to see the show! Just show up at 5pm!

The order of bands is as follows:

Ed in the Refridgerators
Mary and the Grandpres
MC Kreacher
the Whomping Willows
Jason Anderson and 57th Street
Draco and the Malfoys
Harry and the Potters

We are happy to announce that this year, the Yule Ball will feature the debut of WIZARD STAND-UP. That’s right! Don’t miss this special night! In the future, you can tell your children that you were there at the first WIZARD STAND-UP show, long before there was a WIZARD STAND-UP EP of the Month Club or anything like wizstanduplopedia.com.

Also: this year we will be adding four new drinks to our potions-heavy drink menu. Be on the lookout for Amortentia, Pepperup Potion, the Brain Room and some Troll Bogies. These were all road-tested last weekend by your favorite wizard rock bands and they are sure to satisfy your discrimiating cocktail palate.

Once again, the show is still on. Doors are at 5pm! Get there early cause there are a ton of bands and stuff moves fast, so if you blink you could miss Dumbledore’s awesome stand-up routine.

Drive safe! See you tomorrow!
paul and joe

Ladies and gentlemen, witches and wizards, muggle and squibs, you are cordially invited to join us at our

5th Annual YULE BALL!

Sunday, December 20, 2008
Middle East Downstairs
5pm | ALL AGES | $20
480 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA

This is pretty much always our favorite show of the year! We hope you’ll join us once again for our 5th Annual YULE BALL! For the fifth year running, we’ll be celebrating the holidays at the Middle East downstairs.

We’ll be joined by:

Draco and the Malfoys
Jason Anderson and 57th Street
the Whomping Willows
MC Kreacher
Mary and the GrandPres
Ed in the Refridgerators

Formal-wear is encouraged!
$5 from each ticket will go to the Harry Potter Alliance!

Buy tickets through Ticketmaster or service charge-free at the Middle East box office. Be sure and get advanced tickets as THIS EVENT USUALLY SELLS OUT!!!

This is definitely one of our favorite shows of the year and we’re honored again to be joined by so many of our dearest musical friends. The Middle East will be serving up special wizard-themed drinks and we will do our best to test the human threshold of for festiveness. Be sure to throw on your fanciest dress robes, bring some cookies, bring some friends, and most importantly, bring your holiday cheer and join us in making this the best show of the year!

For those who can’t make it, we wish you and yours a most joyous of holiday seasons!

Happy holidays!
Paul and Joe
Harry and the Potters

I’ve been making awesome holiday mix CDs for the past couple years and sharing them with friends. This year is no exception. I’ve been hard at work since Thanksgiving and now it’s time to share some holiday cheer with the world.

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FN655SFH

1. Scott Allen - Winters Wonderland
2. Blasé Splee - Christmas Vacation
3. Julian Casablancas - I Wish It Was Christmas Today
4. Colin Clary - Meow Meow
5. Laarks - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
6. The Flirtations - Christmas Time is Here Again
7. Brett Dennen - The Holidays Are Here (and we’re still at war)
8. The Hives & Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel
9. The Paincakes - Christmasfits / Presents Dude
10. Jackson 5 - Up on the House Top
11. Hello Saferide - Ipod Xmas
12. Detroit Junior - Christmas Day
13. Sufjan Steves - Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance
14. Jason Anderson - Is There Any Way
15 Nellie McKay - A Christmas Dirge
16. From the Future - 8 Days of Christmas
17. My Morning Jacket - Santa Claus is Back in Town
18. The Ebonys - Christmas Ain’t Christmas
19. Bing Crosby - Mele Kalikimaka
20. Eat Sleep - Large Christmas
21. Twisted Sister - Oh Come All Ye Faithful
22. Jason Anderson - Christmas

I also made a facebook group where you can download some mixes that I’ve made in years past!

BLAST IT and HAVE AN AWESOME HOLIDAY.

Also, support these bands by buying their records and stuff.

SEE YOU AT THE YULE BALL!
paul

A NOVA-produced Harry and the Potters music video! Holy cow!

Joe also improved a song about scientists:

And did a song about bicycles:

PBS!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was 10-years ago Ed in the Refridgerators first graced our earth with their presence. Born of middle school boredom and cheap Yamaha keyboards, their influence has been felt far and wide, even prompting David St. Hubbins (of the legendary Spinal Tap) to tell one reporter, “What I like about them is their energy.” A writer from the San Francisco Bay Guardian even once called our house! Why would people in San Francisco give a damn about a bunch of 12 year-olds making a racket in their parent’s garage?

Despite this semi-regional notoriety, Ed in the Refridgerators’ debut recording, Good is Dumb, has been relatively unavailable since the early part of the decade. The 100-or-so original CDr copies seem to have been hoarded away by collectors, difficult to track down, even in this digitally-enhanced music trading environment. So it is with great joy that we bring this legendary recording back into print for the first time since aught-two.

To celebrate 10-years of ED, we are re-releasing Good is Dumb in it’s original CDr format, in an expanded 2-disc, deluxe edition with nearly 60 bonus tracks. Disc one contains the original 10 song album plus 4 demos from early 2000, alongside Ed’s entire February 2000 score for a MassArt student theatre production. Disc two contains complete recordings of the first 2 live shows ever performed by Ed in the Refridgerators: the first, a radio session from WMFO in Medford, Massachusetts, and the second, a live show from Tufts University’s Crafts House, also Medford, MA, both recorded in early October 1999. Also included in this deluxe reissue is an “Ed in the Refridgerators Gave Me Cooties” linocut-printed patch, a certificate of authenticity denoting this package’s scarce availability, a 12 page booklet with extensive liner notes, and a cassette tape featuring 11 Ed in the Refridgerators practice demos from Summer 1999, recorded just before Good is Dumb. All this comes encapulated in screenprinted, octuple-folded cardboard packaging.

This special deluxe edition is available now in a limited edition of 100 copies. You can order it right now for $15 in Harry and the Potters’ online store.

Give the gift of ED to a loved one this Christmas.

Cool, right?

1. We are playing in Chicago on Halloween! Believe it! Beverly Art Center. 8pm!

2. We are playing on the roof of the City Museum in St. Louis. Unbelievable, but true! Sunday, November 1st at 3pm. Free with admission! P.S. the City Museum is the most magical muggle place in the world.

3. Wizard Rock For Equality! The Harry Potter Alliance is joining the fight for Marriage Equality in Maine. In early November, Maine residents will have a chance to vote on Proposition 1, a ballot measure similar to California’s Prop 8 that would repeal the marriage equality laws passed this past May by the Maine legislature. We are planning a one-day event on October 24th that is aimed at getting people to the polls to defeat Prop 1. Our event takes place all day long in Portland, ME, but everyone will be able to participate online.

We want volunteers to join us in Portland for this rock show/canvassing/coffee/donuts/fun/inspirational awesome day.

North Star Cafe
225 Congress St.
Portland, ME

Our Schedule for the Day
10:30am -12:00pm Coffee, donuts, some songs, and some training
12:00-5:00pm Canvassing against Prop 1
5:00-7:00pm Awesome rock show with Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys

If you can’t make it to Portland, we will be broadcasting this event live via ustream. During the canvassing time, we want our online volunteers to join the fight by calling voters in Maine. Get your friends together and be a part of something awesome!

More info on this amazing event at the HP Alliance’s Wrock 4 Equality webpage. Sign up to be a part of this now!

4. Live Dumbledore’s Army call this Sunday! The HP Alliance is hosting a live call to action on Sunday afternoon at 3pm EST to talk about the upcoming Wizard Rock 4 Equality campaign. Participating HP Alliance members will be earning house points through phone banking and canvassing, so we’ll have all the Heads of House in attendance to cheer you on and discuss this event. Your heads of house are: Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies) as Head of Ravenclaw, Paul DeGeorge (of Harry and the Potters) as Head of Gryffindor, Brian Ross (of Draco and the Malfoys) as Head of Slytherin, and Lauren Fairtweather (of the Moaning Myrtles) as Head of Hufflepuff. Please sign up for your House in the HPA Common Room. The meeting will be broadcast via ustream.

5. Some college shows happening in the next month. Some public, some private. Party crashing is encouraged. Tufts/Olin/Alfred. There ya go.

6. We are hard at work on an elaborate 10 year anniversary reissue of Ed in the Refridgerator’s debut CDr, Good is Dumb. Who are Ed in the Refridgerators? Well, way back in 1999, long before the birth of Harry Year 4, Joe DeGeorge was 12 years old and he started an awesome band with his friend Andrew (whom many of you may have seen behind the drumset for Harry and the Potters on previous tours - either as Young Ollivander or Baby Hagrid depending on the facial hair of the day). They played many shows in Boston back in the early aughts, released a few records, and once got a song reviewed by the band Spinal Tap. But their crowning recorded achievement will always be their 10-song demo recorded on a cassette 4-track in August 1999. Issued in the fledgling days of CDr technology, Good is Dumb has long been considered out-of-print as many of the songs were later rerecorded for Ed’s official debut CD, It Could Happen to You. Now, we are planning an elaborate reissue, complete with many additional demos from the time period, two live shows, rehersal tapes, and Ed in the Refridgerators’ score to a MassArt student theater production from early 2000.

We’re hoping to have this deluxe edition ready by their show next Thursday at Tufts University.
Yes, you heard right! Ed in the Refridgerators RETURN! They’re playing live at the very same spot as their very first performance a full decade earlier. Back in the 90’s. If all goes right, this should be broadcast live on WMFO. Ed in the Refridgerators plan to perform Good is Dumb in its entirety. If you would like to attend, the show is free, but you must be on the guestlist. All you need to do to get on the guestlist is email edintherefridgerators@yahoo.com with your name and any of your friends who will also be coming to the show. You will not regret attending this show. You will regret not attending this show. Email now to get on the list!

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ed in the Refridgerators @ Tufts University
Hotung Cafe, Mayer Campus Center, Medford, MA
9pm | FREE! | email edintherefridgerators@yahoo.com to get on the guest list

That’s what’s up. Stay cool.

-paul

Are you a human?  Are you able bodied?  Can you play drums?  Can you pretend that you are a wizard?  Can you play upside down in a rotating cage?  Can you play without an in-ear monitor?  Do you mind jumping on top of your set and throwing up?  If you answered yes to some of these questions then maybe you would like to drum with Harry and the Potters.  If so you would need to learn at least half of the 2,000 songs we’ve written, also would need to commit to playing a handful of shows each month, and live in New England (preferably not Connecticut).  Also be able to commit to light touring.  Drummer must play fast. Bonus points if blast beat can be achieved.  Drummer must be serious but not serious at the same time - but definitely serious about fun.  We are serious about fun.  We ALWAYS have fun.

If you are interested in this opportunity please submit audio or video (preferred) of yourself playing a song of ours and a song of your choice.  Contact us at harryandthepotters@yahoo.com.

Bonus if you are familiar with DEAD MILKMEN, TMBG, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, NIRVANA, JONATHAN RICHMAN, FUGAZI, MANOWAR, ANDREW WK, THE MICE.

Also if you are Jay Weinberg you automatically have the job.

We are playing at 4pm this Sunday at Worcester’s annual stART on the Street Festival. It’s fee and outdoors! Come early and buy local art!

Next week we’re doing another free show outside the Brooklyn Public Library’s Main Branch. MC Kreacher is opening! DO NOT MISS! 3pm!

The Peppermint Patties, Joe’s one-night-band from a couple weeks ago, are making waves in the Boston area. They’ve been getting some quality airplay on WFNX and now they’re the Boston Phoenix’s MP3 of the Week. Boston Band Crush has a recap of their show, complete with video and a write-up by Patties’ drummer Rich Adkins.

We’re busy prepping the 10th Anniversary reissue of Ed in the Refridgerators legendary Good is Dumb CDr. Expect bonuses galore as a simple 10-song demo expands to a 2-disc/1-cassette behemoth capturing the best heard and unheard ED from way back in 1999. In the meantime, if digital downloading is your thing, Ed in the Refridgerators two proper albums are finally available in that trendy MP3 format over at iTunes.

And to finish this trio of updates in “Joe’s Other Band” news, 926 Main St., Apt 2 plays their first show in almost a year.  It’s next weekend in Worcester: September 25th.  House party!

Love, luck, and lollipops,

-paul