[purchase]
Well, we’re back. And it seems fitting to follow the In Memoriam theme and a short period of dormancy with a Resurrection theme. To be honest, the song I chose isn’t really about resurrection, but the title, “Come Back” fits.
Dough was a band that played around New York in the early 2000’s. They put out a nice, self-titled album filled with catchy, uptempo songs. Think Fountains of Wayne. The reason that I am aware of the band is that they replaced their bass player with Tony Maceli. Tony was the music teacher at my son’s school when he was in 4th-6th grade. He might read this, and I am going to maybe embarrass him by saying that he was a great teacher and a huge influence on my son. My kids have been lucky to have had a number of really good teachers when they were in school and very few, if any, real clunkers. Most were good, but a few really stood out, and Tony was one of those special teachers. He taught them to be confident in their new musical abilities and ran an afterschool jazz band where he taught the youngsters music theory, improvisation and more. He pushed them beyond what you would expect from a public school teacher.
For example, he found my son, who played the flute, at the end of 5th grade, handed him a baritone sax and a book and told him that he was going to be the bari sax player in the jazz band the next year. My son learned the instrument, and was, in fact, the bari sax player in the jazz band the next year. And soloed. I know that his time with Tony gave my son the confidence to pick up the guitar, and drums, and even a little keyboard, and helped to foster his love of music of all kinds. Unfortunately, Tony left our district before my daughter had a chance to study with him, and to my knowledge, he is not teaching in schools anymore, instead living the life of a professional musician in Brooklyn. I see pictures of his gigs on Facebook.
When Tony joined Dough, we went to see the band play, with my kids, a number of times, at venues including Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side, and a teen club in Connecticut. I definitely recommend taking your teenagers to rock clubs on the Lower East Side. Really. With Tony, Dough released an EP that was similarly catchy (with, of course, better bass). Dough was good, they were tight, and with a few breaks, they might have made it. But it didn’t happen for Dough, and as best I can tell they went their separate ways.
I don’t really have much to say about the song, except that it is a very good pop song, which is hard to do, and I think that you will enjoy it. And, it is great to be back.