We are all set for our 4th annual SF Black Friday Rock Show on  Friday 11/26/10, 7:00 – 10:00 (make note of the new early start time – SF on at 9:00). This year the show is at the M Room, 15 W Girard Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19123, (215) 739-5577 in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia.  Joining The Successful Failures for this special show will be Stars Apart and Late Night Television   3 great indie-rock bands!  Work off those extra Turkey-Day pounds by rocking out…    $8.00 at the door.

Couple of quick updates and additions to our fall schedule… Our set at the Philadelphia Film and Musci Festival on Thu. 9/23 is at 10:30.  On Sat. 9/25 we’ll be going on at 1:00 at the Spirit of Chesterfiel Festival – two sets of outdoor rock with DJ Randy Now playing tunes before and after!  We’ve added an acoustic show on Fri. Oct 3 (just Mick and Ron) at the Chesterfield Inn.  We’re real excited to be playing as a full band on Sunday 10/3 at the Bordentown Cranberry Fest with Terry Sylvester from the Hollies (you know “Bus Stop”… “Long Cool Woman”…).  Our set time has been moved to 12 noon.  Final Big News – our annual Philadelphia Black Friday Show is on – mark your calendars for Friday 11/26.    More details soon.  Thanks for reading!

Philadelphia Film and Music Festival Three Festival Appearances coming up… 1.  On Thu. 9/23, 9:30 pm  SF will be at Tritone in Philadelphia at the awesome Philadelphia Film and Music Fest!!!  2.  On Sat. 9/25 SF will be at The Spirit of Chesterfield town festival from 1:00 – 4:00 with DJ Randy Now.  This is a free outdoor event in the historic town of Crosswicks, NJ – two sets from the band,  3.  On Sun. 10/3 SF will be performing at the Record Collector outdoor stage at the Bordentown Cranberry Festival (also appearing the Gripweeds and the Doughboys).  SF on at 11:30 a.m. (yes a.m.).  Check out our “Press“ page for some new reviews of the Three Nights CD.  Also, check out “Mick’s Notes” – I recently added my comments on track 7, “College Scholarship Blues”.  Thanks for reading. – Mick

SF Song Board We’re taking the rest of the summer off… as far as live shows.  We do have some cool events lined up in the fall (including an appearance at the Philadelphia Film and Music Festival in Sept!), along with a radio campaign to further promote the new  CD, Three Nights.  So I’m using the time to demo my new songs for the next SF CD.  Check out our studio song list (to the left) – 34 songs I’m working on, 23 recorded so far.  I’m shooting copies of these to Ron, Rob, and John and we’ll start rehearsing them soon.  Fun stuff.  On August 8th I’m recording a 5 or 6 song session with the Successful Failures’ acoustic alter-ego – THE REAL DEFENDERS OF THE ACROPOLIS.  Hopefully that turns out well and will see the light of day in some form (maybe a digital only release… not sure yet.).  So that’s it, enjoy the summer and like I said we’ve got some cool shows lined up for the fall.  Thanks for reading, – Mick

SF will bring the full band show to the NJ State Fair/Freedom Fest on Saturday 7/10 – slated to play from 5:30 to 7:30 expect a large offering of new and old SF tunes and some choice covers from the likes of Social Distortion, Steve Earle, and the Beatles.  For more on Freedom Fest click here.  I just posted my notes on track #6, “Fletcher”, from the new album.  Click here to read my comments.  Lastly, the fine folks at Dagger Zine just posted another fine review of our new album, Three Nights, and they claim we’ve “hit the sweet spot on this record“.  Nice!   Read the full review here.  Hey, thanks for reading, – Mick

Thanks to all who came out to our show at the Record Collector on 5/21 – much appreciated and what a great night!  In other news… I’ve finally posted my comments on track #5 “Houston, We Have a Drinking Problem“, check out the Three Nights tab above or click here.   There’s also a couple of new reviews posted so check those out too.  Upcoming shows?  We’re playing the next two shows (June 11th at the Chesterfield Inn and June 18th at Dublin Sq) as our acoustic alter ego.. THE REAL DEFENDERS of the ACROPOLIS.  Join us.  Last thing – if you’re a Facebooker please add the band and myself to your list of friends – we’ve been keeping busy updating via FB.  Thanks for reading.  – Mick

We are all set for this Friday 5/21 – big rock show @ the little record store in Bordentown, NJ.  Here’s the need-to-know details:  Doors at 7:30, Keith Monacchio at 8:00, SF on at 8:30.  Show’s over at 10:00.  $10.00 in advance, $12.00 at the door.  Expect most of the new album plus classic Failures tunes like “Sun Makes Circles” and “Niki Zerenberg” , Harmonica Tim will be sitting in, plus Greg Potter, some unexpected covers, good times.  TONIGHT (Wed. 5/19) on WTSR Trenton (91.3 fm):  DJ Randy Now will be playing a full 1/2 hour of Successful Failures music.  If you can get the signal please tune in.  Thanks Randy!

“Mick Chorba (Dipsomaniacs) returns with a much more focused third album. The chugging guitars and manic drums of “Armadillo Boy” are supported by solid melody and catchy chorus….When it comes to power, “Leave Me In A Coma” has blasting guitars that dominate the latter part of the album. These guys just keep improving with each release…  “  Nice words about our new album from our friends over at Powerpopaholic.  Check out the full review  here.  Also I’ve added more to my song by song notes on our “Three Nights” page.   I’ll be adding my thoughts, recording notes, lyrically inspiration and more for each song on the new album – a new song each week.  I’m up to track 4: “Waiting for a Ride”.

This is pretty cool – the folks over at Single of the Day.com selected “Houston, We Have a Drinking Problem” as the featured tune for 4/27/10.  Follow the link to read their insightful comments about our song.  Lots of other positive reviews being posted.  Here’s a clip from Jersey Beat writer Phil Rainone – “The songs on Three Nights are memorable without pandering; the playing is simple but never simpleminded. From the quivering “Scream” to the ominous hip shaker “Any Ol’ Thing,” which ends the album, this is a full therapeutic does of mature, unaffected rock ‘n’ roll, recalled from the 50’s and 60’s built strictly in, and for modern times…”  read the full review here.  Check out the “Merch” tab to order the CD.  Check out “Three Nights” tab to read more reviews and to check out my comments (lyrics/inspiration/recording notes etc…) on the first two tracks on the CD.  Thanks for reading – Mick  

Thanks to everyone for coming out last Saturday to the Khyber – it was a blast.  For those who couldn’t attend, get a taste of what you missed via this live version of “All You Had” from the show.  The wicked harp work is courtesy of our friend Tim Martz who sat in on a few songs.  ‘All You Had” is track #8 on the new CD.  Download it here.