CHEESE MERGE

Miscellaneous historical nonsense

The Cheese.

The things that don't fit neatly into a show, a song, or any defensible information architecture.

In The Beginning...

The First Merge

Porch. Basement. Red wine.

The first night Marc and Brian ever jammed together ended with their first attempt at Pearl Jam's “Porch” in Brian's basement and a spilled glass of red wine. It was not the last mess Cheese Merge would make.

From The Archives

Serious Historical Documents.

Flyers, pictures, setlists, logos and assorted evidence that this all actually happened.

Agostino's Cheese Merge flyer

The Flyers

Handmade gig archaeology from across the years.

Browse the flyers ↓
 One of the stranger Cheese Merge photo experiments

The Pictures

Shows, parties, weddings and whatever else somebody remembered to photograph.

Browse the pictures ↓
 Cheese Merge historical oddity

The Weird Drawer

Logos, manipulated images, unidentified setlists and miscellaneous Cheese debris.

Open the drawer ↓

The Flyers

Promotional materials of questionable restraint.

A few flyers belong here because the planned event took a detour, got canceled, or otherwise became part of the Cheese rather than a normal show entry.

Agostino's flyer for the Cheese Merge show that became a Brian solo showPaws for a Cause flyer

More flyers live with their corresponding shows on the Shows archive.

The Pictures

Photographic evidence.

Not every surviving image came from a gig. Some came from boredom, primitive image editing, and decisions that apparently seemed reasonable at the time.

Marc got boredMarc got bored, negative editionPaint Shop Pro snow experimentKaleidoscope snow experiment

Dated photo collections are linked from the shows they belong to.

The Weird Drawer

No curatorial standards whatsoever.

Old logos. Paint Shop Pro crimes. Strange graphics. Setlists that lost their dates. Things that made sense at the time.

Merge sign Old Cheese Merge logo Cheese Merge magnet artwork Guitar and putter

Continue into the unidentified setlists ↓

The historical junk drawer

Artifacts, logos, and other evidence.

Click anything. Some of this is important. Some of it absolutely is not.

Merge signMerge ahead Vintage Cheese Merge logoVintage logo Cheese Merge logoAnother era of Cheese Cheese Merge magnet artworkMagnet-era design Guitar and putter imageRock. Golf. Obviously. Cheese pop artSubtle branding

Setlists From Parts Unknown

Some survived without their paperwork.

A few setlists turned up without a date or venue we can prove. Some may finally have given up their identities. Others remain exactly where Cheese Merge history left them: somewhere between basement practice, a carefully planned gig, and a plan we abandoned the minute we plugged in.

Undated handwritten Cheese Merge setlistOrigin unknown. This looks very much like the Cheese Merge repertoire circa 2008, but we can't tie it convincingly to one show. Basement practice? Planned gig setlist? Something we wrote down and immediately ignored? Yes. Undated printed Cheese Merge setlistThis one should have been easy. It wasn't. It's typed, organized and looks suspiciously official, yet we can't match it cleanly to any recorded show. It may have been a planned set that got thoroughly dismantled once we started playing. Which, frankly, would explain everything. Undated handwritten Cheese Merge setlistOur best guess: 3/29/13 at Pats Peak. Too many unusual pieces line up to ignore: Late in the Evening → Legs, Moving On → Fluffhead, Spill the Wine, Drifting and Breakdown all appeared that night. Either this was the plan, or we independently came up with almost the same collection of awesome ideas twice. Undated napkin setlistWe may have solved this one. This appears to be the working setlist for 5/28/08 at Tennessee's BBQ. The songs line up remarkably well with the archived set from that night, including the soundcheck. We can't prove it, but we'd put a beer on it. Two handwritten setlist fragmentsAnother likely match. These two napkins appear to be an early plan for 2/20/08 at Doc's. Most of the songs survived into the archived setlist. The order, naturally, did not survive contact with Cheese Merge. Undated handwritten setlistDate unknown. Purpose mostly unknown. Several songs point toward the 2008 era, and the napkin itself is a pretty good clue that this came from a gig, possibly somewhere like Tennessee's or Doc's. Which gig? No idea. It may have been the carefully constructed plan for the night right up until approximately the first chord. Handwritten working setlist from June 18 2008 at Tennessee's BBQ6/18/08 · Tennessee's BBQ. Newly recovered from a random file cabinet, complete with transitions, crossed-out ideas, a fish and what appears to be a bubbling vat of Cheese. It tracks the archived show closely while also preserving several songs that never made it to the final set. A working plan, in the loosest Cheese Merge sense of the word. Planned Cheese Merge setlist for Agostino'sAgostino's · 6/20/14 · The Cheese Merge set that wasn't Setlist dated March 28 20163/28/16 · Found in the pile

THE WRITTEN EVIDENCE

Updates & Pontifications.

Not every old post belonged to a particular show. The rest live here: announcements, recordings, cancellations, questionable promotional decisions, and other preserved Cheese Merge nonsense.

These are original posts from the old Cheese Merge site. They are preserved as they were written at the time.

2014 2 posts
Original Post

Booooo, and sort of yay!

Originally posted June 20, 2014. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Tonight's CM gig at Agostino's is no longer on the horizon, due to a thumb injury on Marc's part. But fear not, Brian will be holding down the fort, performing solo.

We will work on getting another CM date at the same venue sometime this Summer or Fall. That's a promise (threat?)!
Original Post

New venue!

Originally posted March 18, 2014. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

There's a gig on the horizon at a brand new venue for CM. We'll be hitting up the newly renovated bar at Agostino's in Natick, MA on June 20th!



For all you Metro-Westers - You now have no excuse not to come. It's literally in your backyard. The food is great (come early for dinner!) and the new lounge/bar should be a nice and cozy environment for a CM show. C'mon out!
2013 1 posts
Original Post

Poster time!

Originally posted May 29, 2013. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

The first ever fully commissioned, 100% authentic, non-imitation knock-off, CM approved posters have arrived!



Look for them at our next handful of shows!
2012 4 posts
Original Post

Benefit Show Cancelled

Originally posted June 4, 2012. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Because of bad weather predicted in the area, tomorrow's show has been cancelled.
Original Post

Benefit Show!

Originally posted May 30, 2012. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Paws For A Cause: Tuesday, June 5th, 2012



Come support a great cause! CM finally plays an open show in NH. All you NH folk who keep saying we need to play up in your neck of the woods: you got it!
Original Post

And...#2

Originally posted May 9, 2012. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

MCC: Friday, August 17th, 2012!



Summer. Cheese Merge. Yet again.
Original Post

Summer is as Summer does

Originally posted May 8, 2012. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

We're heading back to the MCC on Saturday, July 21st!



Summer. Cheese Merge. You have no excuses. Ok, maybe you do, but I bet they are lame.
2010 1 posts
Original Post

Ramping up

Originally posted March 16, 2010. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

It's been a quiet few weeks, but rumblings are beginning again. The MCC has asked us back in May, and we'll be scouting out some new venues as well. New gigs are on the horizon, rest assured.
2009 6 posts
Original Post

New Tunes

Originally posted December 28, 2009. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Check out the sounds page for an mp3 of "Coventry" from B&Cs wedding back in May. More to come!
Original Post

I couldn't resist

Originally posted April 29, 2009. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

(B:) I had to do something creative for Marc & Kristen.

Behold: The Cheese Merge onesie!

Original Post

Cheese Merge's newest fan!

Originally posted April 20, 2009. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

(B:) Congratulations to Marc & Kristen! Cheese Merge has a new #1 fan: Taylor!

Looks like we need to find some 1 week+ clubs to play. Get her ID ready!
Original Post

Updates

Originally posted April 16, 2009. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Cheese Merge has been ramping up practicing again. There are lots of new songs and segues in the works. Also, there are rumors of headlining a small July festival, along wih other smaller gigs in the near future.

We knows things have been quiet. Settle down. There will be plenty of Merge to go around in the coming months. Plenty.
Original Post

Oh boy

Originally posted February 12, 2009. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

New songs being practiced. Some epic. Some epicly bad. All perfect for The Merge. This could get interesting.
Original Post

Nothing to see here

Originally posted January 29, 2009. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Nothing new to report. Marc is currently sitting on a beach somewhere in Hawaii, and B is working like a sucker. We'll be in the practice zone again next week and hopefully will have some gigs popping up on the horizon. Stay tuned.
2008 7 posts
Original Post

The Basement Sessions EP

Originally posted December 16, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

The first few copies of "The Basement Sessions" have been made and will be handed out to venues soon to promote Cheese Merge and hopefully land us some gigs. All of the songs are available on the sounds page. The EP will be released in a slimline jewel case complete with booklet and CD artwork and tracklisting. We won't be selling these, but drop us a line and we'd be glad to make you a copy.



Tracklisting:
  1. Soul To Soul --> All Along The Watchtower
  2. El Venir Pronto
  3. Moving On --> Fluffhead
  4. Coventry
  5. AC/DC Bag
  6. Creep
  7. My Girl --> Walk On The Wild Side --> I Touch Myself
Original Post

The Basement Sessions, Vol. 3

Originally posted November 20, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Even newer additions to the sounds page: more rough demos from B's basement (11/19/08).

One more track from 11/6 was taken down to make room.
Original Post

The Basement Sessions, Vol. 2

Originally posted November 20, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

New additions to the sounds page: 2 more rough demos from B's basement (11/12/08).

Look for a new tracks from last night up soon!

As promised, one of the tracks from 11/6 was taken down, and more will be removed as newer demos are put up on the site.
Original Post

The Basement Sessions, Vol. 1

Originally posted November 10, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

New additions to the sounds page: 4 rough demos from B's basement (11/6/08). We'll be working on getting the sound quality even better as B is finally getting around to learning the nuances of his multi-track recorder that he has had for, oh, 4-5 years. Grab 'em while you can, because as soon as we get better versions recorded these will be taken down.
Original Post

Who's got a real URL? Us!

Originally posted September 22, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Welcome to our new, official domain: www.cheesemerge.com!
Original Post

Oops, a no show

Originally posted February 14, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Due to a nice case of the flu (or whatever the heck it was), Brian spent Wednesday and Thursday curled up on the sofa with no appetite and a nice case of the shakes, dizziness & a headache. Marc took one for the team and played the slot as a solo gig and did fine.

We're planning our next move. Oh yes, we will be back.
Original Post

Tomorrow is just a day away (thanks Annie)

Originally posted February 12, 2008. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Wednesday, 2/13/08 @ 8:00 - Speaker's Night Club in Marlboro.

B - I've warned you about the consequences of not attending. You'd better listen. Was I right about CFC's? Was I right about the harmful effects of UV rays on your skin? Was I right about how some milk companies tend to be way off on their expiration dates while others hit the nail right on the head? Was I right about global warming? Was I right about the innevitable collapse of the U.S.S.R.? Do you want to see what happens if you ignore me? NO!!!
2006 2 posts
Original Post

The BBQ was a success!

Originally posted July 10, 2006. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

So the "Marc & Brian set" ended up being more of a loose jam than anything, with Brian's buddy Matt sitting in for an impromptu 2 hour jam session. We played Coventry with just the two of us, but then Matt joined in (rather well I might add) on Message In A Bottle, Black, Mrs. Robinson, No Rain, AC/DC Bag, Porch and Creep. Then we just sort of jammed for a while, including one jam based slightly on the 2 opening chords of Inside Job by PJ. A bunch of people were all hanging out in the basement checking us out and playing darts. It wasn't exactly a real 'set' per se as planned, but you can never really plan how a BBQ is going to unfold now can you?
Original Post

A gig is just around the corner

Originally posted July 6, 2006. Preserved here as it was written at the time.

Saturday, July 8th: The Milford BBQ is on! Good friends and good music, what more could you ask for? We'll be playing a good long set to start the festivities, and possibly a looser (drunker) 2nd set later on. Look for some new song debuts!