New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Formed in 1989 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Superchunk is Mac McCaughan (guitar, vocals), Jim Wilbur (guitar, backing vocals), Jon Wurster (drums, backing vocals), and
Laura Ballance (bass, backing vocals). Since releasing their first 7-inch in 1989, Superchunk has run the gamut of milestone albums: early punk rock stompers, polished mid-career masterpieces, and lush, adventurous curveballs.
The urgency of current events after the demoralizing 2016 election gave Mac, Laura, Jim, and Jon of Superchunk the momentum to make something new sooner than later. "It would be strange to be in a band, at least our band, and make a record that completely ignored the surrounding circumstances that we live in and that our kids are going to grow up in." Enter What a Time to Be Alive, Superchunk's first album in over four years. It's a record, says Mac, "about a pretty dire and depressing situation but hopefully not a record that is dire and depressing to listen to."
Indeed, like so much of Superchunk's music in the band's nearly three decades together, the songs on What a Time to Be Alive meet rage and anxiety head-on with the catharsis and exhilaration of loud punk fire and vulnerable pop energy. Like 2013's I Hate Music, which focused on death, loss, and the role of music in an aging life, What a Time to Be Alive brings spirit to the frontlines of pain-it's as defiant as it is despairing, as much a call to arms as a throwing up of hands.
Written almost entirely between November 2016 and February 2017, What a Time to Be Alive was recorded and mixed by Beau Sorenson, who also worked on I Hate Music. The record also has more guest backing vocalists than any previous Superchunk album, including Sabrina Ellis (A Giant Dog, Sweet Spirit), Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee), Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), Skylar Gudasz, and
David Bazan.
White Eagle Hall is a newly restored and renovated historic theater located in the thriving nightlife scene of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. White Eagle Hall presents live music, theatre, comedy, dance, film, family shows as well as other performances while serving food and drinks. In addition, White Eagle Hall is a warm and intimate event space perfect for weddings, receptions, private parties, fundraisers, corporate meetings and other functions.
As one of the newest and most unique live-performance and event spaces in the Northeast, White Eagle Hall comprehensive overhaul features a roughly 8,000 square-foot flexible space venue and it's capacity is 800 standing, 400 seating or 250 seated for dining; has many historic features including a wrought iron wrap-around balcony, a coffered tin ceiling with two large stained glass atriums. White Eagle Hall includes its very own bar and food service. In addition, White Eagle Hall features two restaurants on the ground level, Cellar 335 and
Madame Claude Bis. White Eagle Hall is located in the thriving nightlife scene of Downtown Jersey City Restaurant Row, where there are many other restaurants and bars to enjoy.
The building opened in 1910, constructed by polish immigrants and craftsmen under the leadership of Father
Peter Boleslaus Kwiatowski, who transferred ownership to St. Anthony's upon his death. The parish managed the venue throughout the 20th century. Embedded in the White Eagle Hall ceiling are two spectacular, hand-crafted stained glass skylights -- one commemorating Frédéric Chopin, the classical music composer, and the other Marcella Sembrich, an internationally renowned opera star. Perhaps White Eagle Hall's most famous achievement is the facility's unique contribution to basketball: White Eagle Hall was the home of the St. Anthony Friars, the basketball team of St. Anthony High School coached by Jersey City native and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Bob Hurley. The original wood basketball floor where the Friars had their famous practice are now used as bar counters and balcony flooring; wood fixtures from Saint
Boniface Church (constructed in 1865), can be found in the window frames, bar sides and balcony railings and ledges; and,
Boniface altar fixtures can also be seen in the box office/merchandise area.
