As the notoriously itinerant New York artist Cannonball Statman prepares for his nearly 2 month long English & European tour coinciding with the October 22 release of his album Hard to Break, one third and final single from the album has yet to be released to the public: a song called “Pennsylvania” that has become a go-to encore at Cannonball’s gigs in the past year and a half (including his first gig of the 2020s, at Cuicacalli in Oaxaca, México).
The studio recording of this song, which features a full rock band arrangement recorded in Wells, UK in 2022 (shout out to Wells Voice for their recent local coverage of the album), and accordion overdubs from the Oaxaca based Argentinian artist Negrita Yani (who has joined forces with Cannonball for some recent Latin American performances), will be made available on the Cannonball Statman BandCamp page and on streaming services this Friday, October 6th.
Coinciding with the release of the album’s third and final single, there will be two Cannonball Presents! events in Brooklyn this weekend, Friday the 6th at Unruly Collective, and Sunday the 8th at Caffeine Underground. These are the last two Cannonball Presents! events of the year, and I highly recommend attending both if you’re in the area; Cannonball has even agreed to buy you a bagel next time you’re both in Brooklyn if you come to both of these events.
The original plan for these events was to have Cannonball perform at them, along with his friends JD Meatyard and VICE VERA, who he often shares stages with in the UK and mainland Europe. Due to a number of unforeseen circumstances, however, JD Meatyard and VICE VERA have had to postpone their US tours until 2024.
And, as was the case earlier this year, when he had to postpone an entire North American tour he’d been booked to do in August, Cannonball is once again unexpectedly stranded in the UK until he leaves for his European tour in November.
This is due to the same kinds of economic circumstances that are affecting pretty much everyone at the moment; and by nothing short of a miracle, he’s actually able to cover a lot of his expenses these days — except for the great expense of coming home to NYC, and paying the unusually high cost of renting an apartment in his hometown (which is now more expensive than in any city in the UK or mainland Europe!) for the short time while he’s there before he leaves for yet another tour.
As it currently stands, he is not likely to return to NYC any time soon, and he will be joining these events via video call from the UK.
However — now that he’s raised enough to make merchandise for his autumn 2023 tour, he is currently raising funds via the HelpCannonball page to record his next album in early 2024; once he’s raised enough for that, he will start raising funds to make it back to NYC in time for his July 2024 US/Canada tour dates with Adam Rivera. Stay tuned, as Adam Rivera will also be launching a GoFundMe campaign to help make this one possible. In the meantime, you can help him get to that point by contributing to Cannonball’s current crowdfunding campaign.
All this is to say, the lineups for both of this weekend’s events have drastically changed, but, as these are Cannonball Presents! events, the artists who’ve been booked to perform on both nights are no doubt going to put on an incredible show for you. If you’re in NYC this Friday and Sunday, I can’t think of anything better to do than attend both of these events.
The final Cannonball Presents! weekend of 2023, in Brooklyn, NY:
Friday, October 6th @ Unruly Collective (200 Cooper St), 7:30pm
live music from: Joe Bendik, Kung Fu Crimewave, and Thomas Patrick Maguire
Sunday, October 8th @ Caffeine Underground (447 Central Ave), 6:30pm
live poetry from: Ben Tripp, Jane LeCroy, Ashley D. Escobar, Matt Proctor, and Monique Erickson
live music from: Thomas Patrick Maguire, Prewar Yardsale, and Joe O’Leary
See you soon!
Kléo
(flyers by: Thomas Patrick Maguire)