Resonance at Your Inner Vagabond

Resonance celebrates their CD Release party at Your Inner Vagabond this Friday, November 14th. Check it out!

Rock the Block with WYEP

Tomarrow night, celebrate the presence of one of the best independent stations in the country! WYEP is a listener-supported public radio station that streams all over the US. Mostly AAA (Adult Album Alternative) formatted, some of my favorite WYEP moments have come in late at night. Many of my current favorite artists (Devotchka, Baja Boulat, Trevor Hall) are played regularly, and DJ Cindy Howes often features local artists on her show.

Saturday will be a great chance to give back! Cracker will be the featured artist, also playing live will be Pittsburgh's own Donora. Visit wyep.org for more details, and be sure to make it out! See you there.

COME SEE MY BAND!

That's right folks! I'm a singer too! OK so I'm sure most of you knew that, as I talk about performing a lot. But, I have a lot of fun singing with Between Liberties, and I want to share this experience with you!

As much as I could write all day about music, *nothing* can compare to the live experience. You can turn it into an essay, you can think about it, you can tell your friends. Again, *nothing* compares to the live experience. Even CD's, as amazing of an experience as they can be, they just can't beat a good old fashioned live show.

And, on a personal level, I must admit that I love the range of emotions being on stage can put you through. In the set we'll perform tomarrow, there's a distinct shift in our storytelling. Sure, there are at least a half-dozen new songs since the last show we played at Club Cafe, but it's the order you put them in too. With this said, I hope that everyone leaves with the enlightened and hopeful sense with which we are phrasing this set.

Club Cafe, 10pm. $7 at the door. Also featuring Zack Simmen and the Electric Lemonade Stand, with openers The Lost sea. See you there!

Consider the Source - best thing to do on a sunday

These guys are just flat-out awesome. If you see ONE more YIV show for the rest of the summer, for your own sake, make it this one. I will personally refund anyone who leaves unsatisfied, whatever your musical taste may be. This is the first stop outside of NYC on what will be a monumentally amazing 2-month tour.

Gabriel, a herald in his own right, played a double-neck guitar. But if I hadn't seen it, one may have thought it was a sitar. It also sounded like it may have been Jesus himself playing guitar. These are not compliments I throw out lightly. If he had not looked like an angel on stage, these would not be my chosen words. And the music he was making was even more impressive than his stage presence.

The caliber of musicianship in this three-piece does not decrease by order of appearance in this story. Instead, the three musicians interwove their instrumentation to a degree that was moving. Like shake-the-ground-you-walk-on moving. Like this-is-the-feeling-I-get-when-I'm-on-top-of-the-world moving. I applaud these guys for finding harmony within themselves that extends out in every direction to the corners of the universe.

John keeps the funky bass backbone going through all variants of quick turnarounds and polyrhythmic variations, and is one of the few electric bassists I've seen do a truly kickass bass solo. Like "wow, is that Jimi reincarnated as a bassist or what?" He seemed to be having a really great time on stage too, enough to almost spark a "man, I wish I were singing with these guys" twinge of jealousy.

James has a set full of various percussive elements, and you can hear him play doumbek on "Dumbekistan". Being able to switch off on the pieces of his kit without batting an eye, and still keep the foundation of the rhythm so solidly tight is a truly amazing feat. There is no lack of drummers who are able to do only one or the other, but this will not be a case of that. Instead, he gave me renewed excitement that, given enough dedication and love for an art, anyone can be a (musical/painterly/dancing) DaVinci.

Did I mention that they're also very friendly, humble guys? This is, again I reiterate, something I *never* take for granted.

The fact that Club Cafe wasn't sold out was obviously no measure of their skill. Of the uncountable shows I've seen at Club Cafe, this is one of the two best ever. The other, being very stylistically different, was John Hayes' Midnight Cabaret live. CTS could easily sell out the Peterson Center, give it a few years and 2 more albums. And, while their recorded music is really great, their live shows are even better. How often does that happen??

Honestly, if they're not picked up by a major label on this tour, I will lose all hope for the major players in the music industry. Or perhaps I'll offer to pick them up on my label, though there is simply no way I could do them the justice they deserve at this point in my career. They are Consider the Source, from NYC, after all.

PS - if you want to see me spin or eat fire at the show, just make a request here!

Buddy Nutt & Ukelizzy at the Children's Museum

What is the best meat to put in a day-sandwich, stuffed between slices of pouring-rain-on-a-bike and paying-a-sh*tton-of-loochie-to-get-your-license-reinstated? Ukelizzy and Buddy Nutt performing at the Children's Museum!

What an awesome backdrop for Buddy and Lizzy - less the kids, and more their parents who were totally engrossed. There was an explosion of kid-cheers from the side of the stage which got Lizzy to stop in the middle of the song, saying "I could've just kept going, but I wanted to hear that one through". And Buddy performed some of his more experimental songs, slightly reminiscent of the first Globalista Jam, which were perhaps more appropriate for kids, employing birdcall, saw and slide-whistle just slightly more than the delicious witty satire we've come to expect.

As usual, I hope to see much more from this delightful duo! Buddy performs this weekend at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern with House of Assassins and the Gothees

WWWWWhy: July 21st - 27th

If you're looking for things to do this week, feel free to join me...

W/W/W/W: SIC ALPS, Centepede E'est, Harangue, and Dean Cercone
Tuesday, July 22nd @ Garfield Artworks
Why? I've been told I need to check out Centepede E'est, a local experimental rock group making thick and solid glass-like waves on the underground scene. And because, as you may well know, the most strangely beautiful things come out of concerts at the GA.

W/W/W/W/: Buddy Nutt & Ukelizzy at the Children's Museum - Lunchtime Show

W/W/W/W: Sound and Vision: A Night With Barry McGee, Japanther, and PAPER RAD
Thurs., July 24, 8:30 p.m.: Discussion; 9:30 p.m.: Concert
Sculpture Court (rain location: Carnegie Music Hall)
((Curator Douglas Fogle teams up with Carnegie International artist Barry McGee for a conversation about his work and about artists’ responses to the phrase “life on Mars.” ))
Why? Centepede E'est is performing (See above). Also, artists talk!, seeing a concert at the CMoA, and an international exhibit bound to impress your inner rock star.

W/W/W/W/: Encyclopedia Destructica:: Release Party & Open Studio ~~ 156 41st Street, Lawrenceville
Friday, July 25th at 7:30 pm
Why? These are the same people who brought you "Wolfman's Got Nards! A compendium of New American Monsters". Also recommended if you like reading 'zines whose names are difficult to pronounce, and even more amusing to define.

W/W/W/W: Documentaries & Discussion at Your Inner Vagabond, July 25th: King Corn, The High-Price of Low-Cost; This Film is Not Yet Rated
Why? Showing your disgust with Wal-Mart by only shopping there at Christmas (maybe just a few other times a year)? The ghosts at Dixmont have been staging their own, more successful, rebellions.... And because my boyfriend owns a cornfield.

W/W/W/W/: Intro to Dragon Boating @ the Fox Chapel Yacht Club, 10am on Saturday, July 26th
Why? When else are you going to go Dragon Boating?

W/W/W/W/: House of Assassins, Buddy Nutt and the Gothees
WHY? House of Assassins, Buddy Nutt (and the Gothees)

W/W/W/W/: Blueberry Pie Hike with Venture Outdoors: Sun Jul 27: 3PM
Why? (insert any excuse for eating blueberry pie here)

W/W/W/W/: Blues Fest @ Hartwood Acres


Monday and Wednesday, Between Liberties will be in the studio recording a few extra tracks for our first little album due out in September. Stop by our myspace page to send your love!