The lovely (missed-on-the-radio) Susan Arbetter is reporting that the savior of Capitol District radio waves has been nominated for “Station of the Year” by Radio & Records! I had a feeling that this station was going to be something great when we received a quick email and phone call from station manager Chris Wienk a few days before 07/07/07 - WEXT’s launch date. He called to let us know that 1). the station was about to premiere (excellent!) 2). the station was going to kick off with The Kamikaze Hearts’ song “Ash Wednesday” (wow)! What a huge compliment they bestowed upon the band! Since then, the station has grown into being a mainstay in my life — I get a nice taste of the World Cafe Live on my way to work (at 4:30am), a decent mix of new songs and old songs all day, and more great programming such as Sound Opinions and Echoes at night. Not only that, but they’ve been kind enough to consider my own music and some of my peer’s music on the same level as national artists, including our songs in the same rotation as some of the hottest music out there today. Humbling, to say the least.

I have one beef with the station — they need to stop playing out-of-print Innocence Mission songs (”The Wonder of Birds”) that are not available anywhere!!

Anyway — good luck to Chris, Dave, and all the other excellent folks behind the scenes at WEXT — thanks for all the support and excellence!

(This post sounds like a pitch / plug / membership drive. Well, it is - of my own volition. Head here to become a member of WEXT. Keep this excellent source of music going!!!)

It’s been eight years since I first heard the Duluth, MN band LOW. I’ll never forget hearing “Two Step” from their album “Secret Name” - time just simply stopped for five minutes and forty-nine seconds. Then, the mad-dash to soak up their back catalog, and the waiting with bated breath for each future release, and the traveling decent -> hefty distances to watch them perform live at least six times since that first listen. I’d say I’m a devoted fan bordering on obsession.

Last week, Pitchfork.TV streamed a recent documentary about the band that follows the married, Mormon band founders Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker to their home in Duluth and on tour for several weeks. The film features live performance snippets, interviews and plenty of family moments that tackle with the complexities of their relationship together, with God and with their community. Despite continuing to release excellent recordings (”Drums and Guns” was one of my favorites last year), there has been some publicized unraveling of Alan’s behavior including a canceled tour in 2005 and subsequent self-hospitalization. I found the candid moments in the documentary that deal with the tumultuous time quite powerful.

The title of the film, “You May Need a Murderer” comes from the song “Murderer” which has two different versions - one appears on “Drums and Guns” and the other on one of my most prized pieces of vinyl - the “Murderer” 10″ released by Vinyl Films (Cameron Crowe’s label). The song is a prime example of what I love about Low’s music, the mystery and dichotemy behind the lyrics, gorgeous harmonies, and a grand tension and release that is just simply unmatchable.

(Click for “Murderer” lyrics and perhaps a little cover of it by yours truly, recorded in 2005 by my lonesome…) More »

Bryan Thomas has some excellent photos of last night’s Triple CD Release at Amrose & Sable Gallery on his website here.
Thanks to everyone who was there to celebrate with Ben, D.J., and Frank & Martha. Today, all of us will be singing a few songs each on WSPN from 1PM to 2PM. After that, myself and the Upstate Kentucky Choir will take to the streets of Saratoga Springs, NY to busk a bit to promote our show at Caffé Lena on June 29th. (Tickets are available now….). If you’d like to follow along with our adventures, head here to be twittered!

Scott Alden hails from the western region of the state of Massachussetts. Since meeting him three years ago, the man has continued to bend my sense of what is possible with his events, ideas and projects. From the twisted, surprise-pop of his band Levelette, to the ridiculous “Vs.” events and now his “Parallelaverse” series of paintings, it gives me faith to think that genius work is out there somewhere, thriving.

The Parallelaverse situation is a series of fifty-five paintings that Scott turned out on to canvas in January and February of this year. In order to fund the amount of time it would take for him to coax the work in his head into the physical world, he held a “Scribblethon” where he drew for 24 hours straight at different coffeeshops, bars and restaurants in the Northampton, MA area. Read posts from MassLive about it here and here. Pledged per hour donations were accepted in advance and for those folks who supported, he offered first cracks at purchasing the “Parallelaverse” paintings.

In perusing the Parallelaverse Picasa Gallery, one can note that many of the paintings are sold already. Although there is barely a descriptor or explanation about the story behind these heroes and villains one can only guess the adventures and hijinx that will occur when the storytelling begins. Some guesses include a love or perhaps familial bond between “Yearling” and “Hayseed” which were required to be bought together and have a curious gaze side-by-side, along with the rivalry between “Monument” and arch-nemesis “Darkitekt“.
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