Fever to Sing

Digging up old favorites

2008-06-08T20:30:00.010-06:00

Last night was an amazing night of epic musical proportions at Plan 9 records in Roanoke, the one located at Grandin. I'm talking about The Sad Cobras, Hot Lava and The Bastards of Fate playing there last night.

Being a retired music promoter, I have booked The Sad Cobras and The Bastards of Fate countless times, they have always been favorites of mine. Although I haven't seen them in a while, they seem to have gotten exponentially better since the last time I have seen them play. Hot Lava, I've only really seen once at the XYZ Gallery in downtown Blacksburg and anyone who has ever been to shows there would probably agree with me about the space being cramped as hell. I mean, it's a great venue, but sometimes when the turnout is better than expected and the shows are promoted a lot, too many people end up showing up causing the space to be too congested for me to enjoy the bands. But I guess mainly being an art gallery, space isn't too big of an issue when an art show is going on, because people come in and leave after a while.

Anyway, back to the music. Due to horribly confusing directions (thanks to a certain map website), I ended up getting there a little late, thus missing the bulk of The Sad Cobras' set. Nonetheless, I'm sure it was excellent. I caught the last couple of songs, full of shoegazy goodness as always. They closed the set with "Bodycast", which is a dance song that ironically sings about not being able to dance because the character in the song is stuck in a bodycast. This song always makes me sad, because people like to dance and the character is unable to and that's just really sad. I was really hoping to catch my favorite song off of the new album, which is the album title track "No More Graves" but I guess I'll just have to wait until I see them play next. But I'm going to save my raves about their first full-length for another post, because there are just too many good things about it.

Next was Hot Lava, garage-pop band from Richmond. I was surprised that they were playing a free show, because they were touring. Their slogan "Virginia is for Lavas" fits them quite well, because Virginia is for Lavas of music who will drive from Richmond to play a free show without any concrete expectations of being reimbursed for gas expenses. I don't know if it was my lack of personal space at their last show in Blacksburg at the XYZ Gallery, but I was not really expecting a good set. Luckily, they proved me wrong and I danced the whole way through their set. Their songs echoed with happy feelings of lazy hot summer afternoons at playgrounds and 100% fruit juice popsicles. I was all smiles!

The last band was The Bastards of Fate; it had been moons since I have seen them perform and I had missed them so. I had high hopes for their set and the band did not let me down, which seems to be pretty typical of their performances. They kicked off of with a crowd pleasing favorite "Digging up Dinosaurs" during which their fans cheered. The song starts with a random sampling of a woman speaking a foreign language. I've seen them play many times, but I have still yet to figure out what the foreign phrase means. Knowing the band though, it's probably something really silly. Their songs are intensely multi-layered, I still have a hard time realizing the fact that frontman Doug Cheatwood used to perform the majority of these songs solo before he met the rest of the band around two years ago. The rest of the set was filled with perfect pop melodies like "Police 9000" and "No one Ever Died", with the exception of "Harlequin Fetus". Now, this song is usually performed at a very speedy tempo, but this was the first time I saw them perform it at a slower tempo. Bassist Jason Wells announced, "This is Harlequin Fetus, as performed by Neurosis" and it indeed sounded very sludge metal at times. The Bastards of Fate wrapped up the set with "The Sweet Touch", a catchy song which popular yo-yo champion Drew Tetz used for one of his videos.

The band was ready to pack up, but the crowd would not let them go without an encore. They seemed a bit skeptical, but finally gave in and performed one more song. Which is when we all had the opportunity to witness "Zero Hour" in all of its wonderful melodrama. The song always made me think of thriller movies with police chases and quite possibly some explosions with a super hero flying by, carrying children and pets.

If you missed this show, then you missed out on a great show. However, if you'd like to live vicariously through my experience, then I suggest you head over to each band's respective website and purchase their recordings. The Sad Cobras have an excellent new album out called No More Graves, Hot Lava released Lavalogy earlier this year on Bar/None Records and The Bastards of Fate have More Than A Dozen Songs, which is a collection of Doug's solo recordings from the past few years, available on iTunes and through their myspace. The Bastards of Fate are working on their first band release with no release date in mind, just yet. But I'm sure that all of their fans are sitting tight waiting for the day the new album is released.

Also, if you are looking to attend a show at Plan 9 at Grandin, make sure you make it out to tomorrow night's show. Boys Lie of the Magic Twig Community and Mommies (featuring members of the Disappearers Collective and Social studies) are playing.

Kissing the Beehive at Mount Zoomer

2008-05-05T23:25:00.003-06:00

The new Wolf Parade album now out on the prowl. Despite its confusing album art, At Mount Zoomer (former titled Kissing the Beehive) is more straightforward rock from the Canadian quartet. There are definitely some callbacks to Apologies to the Queen Mary on a few of these tracks, but you definitely hear a lot of experimental side of Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown along with the more slower, laidback side of Dan Boeckner's Handsome Furs on this album. Highlights for me include Call It A Ritual (can be listened on their myspace) and the almost 11 minute album finisher Kissing the Beehive. I can't wait till July 24th when they stop by Dallas.

Here is their music video for I'll Believe in Anything off of Apologies; it's a great example of their whimsy and quirkiness.

Triple Power Video Flashback

2008-05-02T23:33:00.011-06:00

It's been almost a month, I know. I'm sorry. In return, here's a triple dose of video flashbacks.

Concrete Blonde - God is a Bullet
Johnette Napolitano's voice makes this song, they're some of of the most powerful vocals I have heard. She also does a lot name dropping.

The Mission UK - Wasteland
I tried to find the extended version of this song, which starts out with a verse of poetry, but I couldn't find it. So here's the normal edit.

The Runaways - Cherry Bomb
One of the most "in-your-face" songs I've heard. Definitely pumps me up to go kick some ass.

In my opinion, these are three timeless songs. I love them so much, they're total power ballads. Seeing as I feel powerful enough to smash a brick wall with my fist whenever I hear them. But I've never really quite attempted smashing a brick wall with my fist and I don't recommend that you do either.

WUVT's 60th Anniversary Bash

2008-04-05T22:00:00.001-06:00

You are cordially invited...

Don't give up on me

2008-04-03T22:38:00.003-06:00

This just in...

New Kids on the Block are Reuniting. Why am I blogging about them? Because they are ridiculous and this is ironic.

BOSTON - They may be pushing 40, but the New Kids are returning to the block. The Boston boy band New Kids on the Block, which sold 70 million albums in the 1980s and early 1990s, has reunited and plans to release a new album and go on tour. The reunion comes 20 years after the release of the group's multi-platinum album, "Hanging Tough."

The fan response to this has been incredible," band member Donnie Wahlberg told the Boston Herald.

Wahlberg said he was convinced to get back together with his former bandmates — Joey McIntyre, brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood — when they decided to record new music. Wahlberg said he wrote 80 percent of the new material with McIntyre and Jordan Knight.

via yahoo music

God help us all.

The Arts need Fine Support

2008-02-23T23:34:00.000-05:00

I might be young, but I've been involved with the Blacksburg music scene for quite some time now and I've seen some places and bands come and go. There is truly an air of general apathy about local arts in the area.

In a college town such as Blacksburg, Virginia Tech seems to be such a powerful factor on how the population in this town is affected. Virginia Tech is an engineering school, there is no doubt about that. The school is also listed among the top colleges in the country, so alumni should be able to get their hands on some pretty decent jobs.

As respected as a degree from Virginia Tech is, it's still lacking one very crucial element in my eyes; arts. Sure, we're required to take an arts appreciation class of some sort to fulfill our Area 6 requirement, but how many students can really say that they've been exposed to a sufficient amount of arts and culture? I mean, Virginia Tech is quite the respectable academic institute, but it's probably not best for students to depend on their one degree from this school to be well-rounded. Here's where extracurriculars come in.

I believe that an immense portion of this apathy about local music and arts is brought upon by the lack of general arts support in this town. Students and locals need to aim to change this by supporting the local arts. Go to music events, go to art exhibits. If you don't help revive the fine arts in Blacksburg, there will be no fine arts in Blacksburg.

The Woove is online!

2008-02-23T18:42:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, remember WUVT's old publication... The Woove? Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that it's back up and running and you should head over there and read some sweet articles! I'll be writing something for it soon. You can find this lovely publication here.

The Woove was Blacksburg original Arts & Culture magazine and I'm sure anyone who's been around this town long enough can tell you about it. So don't let any impostor arts and culture magazines fool you, The Woove was there first!

Also, one more thing...

Please show up to this show at 7:00pm or a little bit before 7:00pm! The show will seriously start at 7:00pm, people or no people. They're making us pay an arm and a leg for the venue so we can't overstay our welcome or we're screwed.

xoxo,

PP

Every show

2008-01-30T01:28:00.001-05:00

For the past four or five years, I have tried to contribute what I could to the Blacksburg music scene. For a little while there, it seemed like it was dwindling and dying out. The old timers told me that it was a part of its regular cycle, it dies out to be resuscitated by someone who has a new sense of enthusiasm. Many of us in Blacksburg have fed and nourished this scene the best we could, only to see it grow bigger and bigger every month.

I remember a time where I was able to make every show because there were so few of them. I would try to give my support to every band. But it seems like this monster has grown big enough to support its own (sort of). The point is, I am mildly disappointed in myself for not being able to make every show like I used to, or used to try to. It seems that now there is a hefty amount of shows every week. Even *GASP* more than 2 per week.

While trying to build and balance my own life, I find it somewhat impossible to "make it to every show" ever again. Even though I'm a little disappointed in myself, I am somewhat overjoyed at the amount of shows this little town of ours is pouring out. Don't let that river ever stop, until it floods Blacksburg and there's music coming out of multiple venues per night. Even then, keep going.

January 11th Roanoke Fire Benefit

2008-01-05T19:31:00.000-05:00

After a prelonged hiatus filled with holidays and an awesome new year's eve, SWVA is faced with quite the problem...

As I'm sure most of you in the SWVA area know already, a building that house practice spaces for many of our beloved Ronaoke bands. These bands lost most of their things and most of them are not allowed back into the building just yet to attempt to recover the rest of their belongings. The Fever to Sing arts collective would like to help, so we're throwing a benefit show at the YMCA Thriftstore next week on Friday, Jan 11th! So please come out and tell your friends to do the same!

So please do come out and support our beloved Roanoke bands in their time of need.

See you there.

Safety in Blacksburg

2007-12-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

Since this blog is quite involved with the Blacksburg music scene, I would like to address the issue of declining nightlife safety. Having been involved with music for the past four, now almost five years, I guess I can remember a time when safety wasn't an issue. I'm sure those who came before me can also tell you more about it.

Why is safety becoming such an issue now? Whether we know the reason behind this or not, I'd like for everyone to be aware of the spread of date rape drugs. It's real and it's in Blacksburg. I don't care how dramatic this statement sounds, but I want everyone to start taking extra precautions. With two rapes in one week (I'm not sure if they were documented or not), resulting from roofies, I'm not really sure I can ever look at Blacksburg nightlife the same way again. I mean, I'm sure we've all heard about it in health class, "Watch your drink" and "Make sure you only get drinks from people you only trust".

However, with Blacksburg being such a small town, I'm sure that all of us living here feel okay trusting most people. My prediction is that this is exactly why many will see Blacksburg as the perfect place to use date rape drugs, it's because no one expects it. To some, I might sound paranoid, but I think it's very true.

I'm not sure if there's a solution for this, but I hope that the Blacksburg music community will work on finding a way to make things better.

AIDS Awareness Week at Virginia Tech

2007-11-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

It’s AIDS awareness week, it seems like this kind of thing happens every year and to some, it’s just another week of some club trying to push their agenda on everyone else on campus to make money. However, the LGBTA at Virginia Tech and the LGBT Caucus have both banded together to design a full week of events to educate Virginia Tech students and whomever is willing to listen about AIDS and the issues that are associated.

Matthew Stoll, a sophomore in Biology at Virginia Tech and an active LGBTA member, explained how AIDS awareness week has evolved over the years. “It used to e AIDS awareness day. In the early 2000’s it was changed to AIDS awareness week, because it just seemed like one day was not enough,” said Stoll.

As a part of AIDS Awareness week Barbara Maberry, an independent social worker, was invited to speak at the Colonial Hall on Tuesday to students about implications of STDs and HIV, sex offenders and social issues surrounding each of these topics.

Maberry is a former health educator for the Council of Community Services in Roanoke. She decided to leave her job to earn her Masters in Social Work degree from Radford University in 2005 in addition to her Associate’s degree in Mental Health from Virginia Western Community College. She has spoken to other students at Hollins University, Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke College, Ferrum College, Radford University and two local high schools. “When I talk, I’ll talk to anybody who will listen,” Maberry said.

Before her speech, she displayed thirty-some pamphlets accompanied by other resources that were free for the attendees to pick up and use. She opened up the speech with a few jokes to capture the audience’s attention, then went straight to the facts.

“When two people who have HIV have sex, they make a new kind of HIV,” explained Maberry during her efforts to dispel myths about the virus. Maberry also explained how this also applied to different types of STDs; when two types are combined, a new unidentified kind is created. “HIV and STDs are not limited to what science knows,” she added.

Mayberry also expressed her worries about increasing rates of STD and HIV infection. She mentioned that there are both anonymous and confidential HIV and STD test sites all over the state.

Club Red Ribbon, The final event for AIDS awareness week, is scheduled to take place in Squires at the Commonwealth Ballroom at 9 P.M. tomorrow night, where free HIV testing will be available. The event is meant to attract those who are not usually reached by AIDS awareness week events.

You too can be a folk musician

2007-11-27T23:54:00.000-05:00

A middle-aged woman opens the door to a vegetarian restaurant in the heart of downtown Blacksburg. She reclines props the door open with her arm because she is trying to load in what seems to be a fiddle case. She pulls up a chair, comfortably sets down her belongings on the opposite side of the table, she exchanges a smile and a familiar nod with a waiter and sits down.

She opens up her case, pulls out an antique fiddle and starts to play. No one objects. She does not ask for permission to begin playing her fiddle, because she has obviously done this many times before. A couple of minutes later a few more people trickled in only to follow the same suit, but with different instruments. Eventually, what seemed to be a band formed by the end of the night, making the corner of College avenue and Draper road echo with reminiscent tunes of old time music.

A group of some of the most dedicated musicians has been keeping the Open Jam session tradition alive at Gillie’s vegetarian restaurant every Tuesday night for the past four years. However, its history reaches far beyond 30 years. In order to stay true to tradition, music practiced during the Open Jam session has been limited to old time music only, rarely allowing bluegrass to be played. “Playing old time music is my way of connecting to all of the music that people have been playing for years and years,” said Bill Richardson, the most experienced musician in the group.

Bluegrass music and old time music are similar, but to an extent. Seeing as bluegrass was derived out of old time, it tends to have a greater variety of instruments and vocals. Old time is more restrictive in instrument use; for example, it would be complete blasphemy for any old time band to have an electric guitarist or a drummer, something that today’s modern bands would have a lot of trouble relating to or even imagining. “It’s within a tradition, it’s about continuity. It’s not self-made or self-invented, it’s very restrictive in that way. Which doesn’t mean it’s not evolving, but you’re always kind of looking into what you learn from it. You don’t try to change it, you have to let it change you, because if you try to change it it’s not Old Time,” added Richardson.

People have gathered around this tradition long enough to give birth to a small subculture in Blacksburg, wrapped around the desire to reminisce about times when things were a lot simpler and purer. The oldest open jam musicians credited the Hoorah Cloggers Virginia Tech campus club for bringing them together as dancers and cultivating their energies to make them the musicians that they have become.

Before the open jam migrated to its current location, it moved around quite a bit. “In the ‘70s, it used to rotate one day a week from house to house and Bill was the one who brought it out to Roni’s,” said Randy Marchany, fiddle player, as he reminisced about the now closed pizzeria which had become the first downtown venue for the Open Jam session.

“It’s moved around town businesses for 25 years. We played any place that would let us have music,” said Cindy Cook, another fiddler who joined in on that evening’s session.

After the Open Jam moved out of Roni’s, it made its way to Champs, Top of the Stairs, South Main Café (currently known as Cabo Fish Taco) and has currently settled at Gillie’s.

But it seems that the forced constant movement of this tradition has affected the way audiences perceived the music, because the dancing aspect was forgotten somewhere along the way.

“People that have had the money never saw the need for more music venues, the university was just intractable when it came to creativity. Good ideas go to the petty bureaucracy,” commented Richardson

Regardless of what hardships this tradition has gone through to stay alive, the Open Jam session has paved and still continues to pave the way for the creation of bands such as The Jugbusters, The Full Nelsons, The Bubbatones, Wild Turkeys and many more to come.

So if you’re interested in witnessing or being a part of the Open Jam subculture, you can find it every Tuesday night at Gillie’s vegetarian restaurant in downtown Blacksburg at 9 p.m., since it is not restricted to those who are already a part of it according to the tradition’s motto, “Music belongs to those who persist at it. You too can be a folk musician.”

(This article has been cross-published at the Collegiate Times' online and print editions)

The Evens Get Even in Blacksburg

2007-11-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

This past saturday night, might have just been one of the most defining moments of my show-booking career; I had the opportunity to host Amy Farina of The Warmers and Ian MacKaye of Fugazi at the Blacksburg YMCA.

This duo wins the "most self-sufficient band" award in my book. They had their own PA, they setup their own equipment, ran their own merch table, packed their own things and it only took them a few minutes. It was simply amazing to see them at work. When they were done setting up, they put two tall lamps on each end, making it look like a living room.

I was still outside and still collecting money at the door when the show started, so I sadly missed a couple of songs. But I guess that sometimes there's a price to pay when you're the person putting the show up. A few members of my staff and some close friends I used to book shows with in the past also showed up, so it was somewhat of a nice little reunion.

I guess my favorite parts of the show were when the 3 and 6 year olds kept on running up and down the hall and when the band asked the audience to sing along when they performed "You Won't Feel a Thing."

I think the interactive portion of the show, in addition the the intimate living room-like setting just made the show for me

I don't mean to toot my own horn when I say this, because having personally put up the show or not, I still think that it was a show that Blacksburg will not forget for a while. It was my first show at the YMCA and will hopefully be followed by many more to come!

I just wish I hadn't forgotten my own camera...

Make Magic sounds

2007-11-17T00:34:00.000-05:00

The Mystic Fortress almost sounds like a fort that a child has built out of toys and boxes. The Magic Twig collective would tell you that this would be a close, but not accurate description of what this place is.

The Mystic Fortress is where Roanoke’s Magic Twig community meets regularly. It is where this community has produced a great number of bands such as the Sad Cobras, Young Sinclairs, Power Animals and Boys Lie. Supported by money made from playing events, selling C.D.s and some personal donations from within the community, members of Magic Twig hope to keep playing music and inspired others to do the same. “We’ve been meeting a lot of curious kids at shows who have heard some of the things we’ve put on C.D.s and they seemed to be really interested. I hope that we influence them a little bit to make sounds,” said Joe Lunsford, seasoned Magic Twig member.

Within this tight-knit community of musicians, artists and producers, Do It Yourself ideals have been emphasized, making it almost self sufficient when it comes to creating, producing and packaging music. This community that could be predominantly be described as a music label, has given a home to creative minds around the area. “We’ve got a lot of material that we’re trying to put out and Magic Twig is a good vehicle to get that out there and to have a name to associate all the projects together,” said Lunsford.

Even though the Magic Twig name has only been established for about a year, members Indianface and John Thompson said that they have been playing with the idea for a while. “We’ve known each other since we were in grade school. I think Daniel and I have known each other for a long time, we grew up in the same town, the same schools. We’re both from Franklin County. We started playing music together around 1998, ” reminisced Thompson. Through networking and regular show attendances, Indianface and Thompson began to meet several like-minded individuals, namely brothers Joe Lunsford and his brother, Sam.

“When Daniel and I were right out of high school, there was stuff going on in Roanoke like 63 Crayons were playing, Joe and Sam were doing The Red Skulls at the time. I remember seeing that and thinking it was different, it was something different and it kind of maybe sparked us a little bit. Then meeting Sam and Joe made it really come to a head. So it made us think about younger kids who are into music or art might come and see us and pick something up from here and it empowers them to maybe do what they want,” commented Thompson.

Lunsford had some recording equipment with no space to use it, while Indianface and Thompson had an empty practice space. So naturally when they all met in 2004, they were able to put the pieces together and form their practice space, which is now supporting a little over eight members and is known as the Mystic Fortress.

It was not until 2006 that all of the collaborative projects in that space were adopted under the Magic Twig name. “I just thought since a lot of us are from the country and I think that magic is fun and trees are fun, so both of them together really work,” said Indianface.

Lunsford, Thompson and Indianface all seemed to agree that the Magic Twig community has no plans of leaving the area anytime soon because of familiarity, creative and financial reasons. “We’ve talked about moving to a city before, but I think a lot of us would just want to be in the country again,” said Indianface.

“I think a part of what lets us do what we do is being isolated. With fashion, style and whatever musical trend is happening, you get beat over the head with that enough on the TV and the internet and stuff like that. I think maybe if we lived in a different place, we would be pressured to maybe follow some trends. Where we are right now, we can pretty much do whatever we want,” elaborated Lunsford.

“I think Roanoke’s pretty affordable and none of us are well off, so to be able to afford the two rooms that we have to do all this stuff is relatively cheap compared to a city,” said Thompson.

In the spirit of confirming that the Magic Twig community’s projects all seem to have a theme of youthfulness about them, “We’re kids. Being a kid is a blast and I don’t want it ever to stop,” said Thompson.

The Sad Cobras, The Young Sinclairs, Sunking and many more of the Magic Twig Community’s bands will be showcasing their talent at the Roanoke Library on Dec. sixth at 6 p.m.

Pinks Turns to Blue

2007-11-12T02:37:00.000-05:00

You know what I find most fascinating about this video? Is that it was filmed the year I was born.

I know, it pretty much boggles my mind too!

The Evens Blacksburg flyer

2007-11-05T01:33:00.000-05:00

The Evens on November 17th

2007-10-30T21:53:00.001-05:00

The next show the Fever to Sing collective is hosting will take place on Saturday November 17th at the YMCA Thrift shop. The Evens will be playing at 8:00pm SHARP and doors will open at 7:30pm and it's open to all ages. Bring $5 to get in.

The Fever to Sing collective will be hosting this show with sister organization WUVT 90.7FM.

Please help us turn the YMCA into a quality music venue. I can't emphasize this enough, please respect the space. I mean, just think about how nice the YMCA is by allowing us to use their space and their building.

They're temporarily allowing us to use a part of their floor until their warehouse is up to code with the town. So if you treat this venue well, you will be playing a major part in preserving the music scene in Blacksburg.

More information will be posted soon, along with a flyer.

He told me

2007-10-21T14:24:00.001-05:00

let the children use it
let the children lose it
let all the children boogie

Gogol Bordello @ The Lyric

2007-10-19T00:58:00.000-05:00

The Gogol Bordello show was amazing Friday night. I'm hoping that since not many bands of that caliber visit Blacksburg, maybe other bands think twice about driving past this town and hopefully they will try to book a tour date here.

Before I went to the show, I felt as though The Lyric might've been a bad choice for a venue for a band such as Gogol Bordello. However, once everyone stood up and violated the fire code, I was much happier. I think the band had a similar ideology to Doug Cheatwood's. You know, bringing back the old meaning of the word "show" and turning it into a full blown performance. It was wonderful.

(Click the pictures for full view)

The opening band was the Dub Trio. Their songs all started out strong and energetic, but they all pretty much failed to follow through. Most of the songs sounded the same and I was really bored. After their first song, I was really pumped. After their second song, man I was pumped to see what they had to offer! But then they just decided to overuse the whole "stoner delay pedal" routine, which just ended up washing out the rest of their set. I stuck around for the rest of the set, only because I hoped to hear something better. But, I was disappointed.

But The Lyric really did surprise me by allowing this show to be booked. I mean, it's not their usual crowd. I love the fact that regular show-goers, students, faculty, townies and pretty much everyone from Blacksburg that had a ticket, was there. I met some people who drove from Richmond and Roanoke. It was pretty impressive for a show in Blacksburg. I mean, people did drive to Blacksburg from Canada for the ex-Dead Milkmen Joe Jack Talcum show I booked over the summer, but it was only a couple and the turnout was not as huge as it was for this show.

There might still be some hope for Blacksburg!

New skate park to open in Blacksburg

2007-08-24T23:25:00.000-06:00

The Blacksburg Skate Park has been a part of the Recreation Center for more than 12 years and has provided a home for skaters of all ages.

Lee Johnson, owner of downtown skate shop The Greenhouse, was inspired to have the first skate park built in 1996 when the town of Blacksburg outlawed skateboarding.

"I guess there were a few incidents downtown involving some kids and an elderly pedestrian. I think two people just got into each others' way," Johnson said. "There was a need for somewhere to legally ride a skateboard."

The original park was a joint project between The Greenhouse, a few Tech students and some other skaters from around the area.

"We all did various fundraisers. I think I maxed out a credit card," Johnson reflected. "With the town's blessing, we got an old access road that used to go back to the parks and recreation buildings on Patrick Henry. We raised some money and built wooden ramps, and the skate park was born!"

Surprisingly, The Greenhouse has been able to maintain the wooden skate park for the past twelve years despite the recent economic hardships that the store, along with most downtown businesses, has been going through.

"We've had different fundraisers to rehabilitate the park, usually in the spring to make additions to the park. The Parks and Recreation [centers of Blacksburg] actually saw that [the skate park] was being used a lot; I think a lot more than expected in the beginning. They started sort of doing a matching of funds; for whatever we raised, they'd match the money." But, the park could only be repaired so much. Johnson figured that there was a need for a brand-new, more durable skate park.

"It's going be a one-of-a-kind park. The new skate park is completely different; that was town-funded. The town stepped up and out-located a bunch of money for a new all-concrete formed park, so this one's much nicer than the old one and all professionally constructed." The new park was built by a company called California Skateparks. They are known for building skate parks across the West Coast, but they have recently been expanding and working more with East Coast clients.

The new and improved Blacksburg Skate Park is scheduled to have its grand opening this Saturday, Aug. 25 on Patrick Henry drive, across from Blacksburg High School. The opening ceremony will feature live music from BoogieBurg's DJ Eclectic and free food, and official Skate Park T-shirts will also be on sale. The highlight of the evening will be the Best Trick contest, which will give skaters of all levels the opportunity to compete.

This article was initially published in the Collegiate Times, both print and online.

Pu22L3, Receptors, and more!

2007-08-21T23:40:00.000-06:00

Expect a good review of this show soon! If you're in the area, you should come out.

Virginia Tech filmmaker keeps reels rolling

2007-08-10T00:31:00.000-06:00

You might recognize this man from his job at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center or maybe the one at Crossroads. However, those would only be two of the lives this man leads.

Jack Bennett should be most recognized for what he does best; film.

Now Blacksburg may be far from Hollywood, but Bennett manages to continue fueling his passion for film through his own independent productions, such as ‘Fool’ and ‘Beast’.

“I think film is the single best medium to create empathy,” said Bennett. “Reading a book filters everything through the author’s voice. You look at a painting and it’s a painting by one person.”

Through film, he says, filmmakers are able to give their audience “a full sketch of a person,” something he describes as “The easiest we’d come to understanding another person objectively and without necessarily have a judgment on them.”

As a young child, Bennett developed a powerful creative interest in photography, painting, acting and writing prose. He credits the aforementioned hobbies for the majority of his progress in film.

As a teenager, he watched a lot of movies, owing to his frequent visits to Video Vault in Alexandria, where he became a regular and began to study the movies he watched: plot, characters, cinematography, story writing and anything he could grasp.

Bennett arrived at Virginia Tech in 1996 and was excited to hear that a Visual Media/Film program existed under the department of Communication.

“This place has so completely shaped my attitude, there are so many kids here and I had to come in and figure out a way to stand out. I had to do everything myself and I had to really learn, from the ground up,” he said, in reference to his college experience.

“Blacksburg is a great place to live and cultivate a skill.”

Bennett started to work on his first movie in 1998, when he did an independent study with film professor Jerry Scheeler.

The plot behind this Robert Altman-inspired “slasher” film is about a college student who had a terrible experience with drugs and, during the course of the film, reevaluates his surroundings during the middle of post-psychedelic depression.

Within the past nine years that Jack Bennett has been making movies, he has worked on more than six independent productions; ‘Fool,’ ‘River of Dread,’ and ‘Beast’ are all complete and cut in feature length, and “The Goat’ and ‘Buried’ have an anticipated completion date of Fall 2007.

During his career, Bennett has also been hired and paid to direct a recruitment video for the Air Force ROTC and paid to direct an ad for the i3 company, thus earning him the title of a professional director. He was also the camera man and editor for ‘Hokie Nation,’ the documentary for Horse Archer productions, which he is currently producing and designing the DVD for.

Recently ‘Beast,’ a movie that he co-produced with musician Patrick Turner, was accepted into the Tupelo film festival in Mississippi, and premiered on May 19th. He says that he has submitted the movie to other film festivals afterwards and looks forward to hearing from them soon.

After being involved in film in this area for so long, Bennett has began to build a reputation as a hardworking filmmaker in Southwest Virginia. Virginia Tech civil engineer student Brittany Stone and star of Bennett’s current music video production, ‘Chains,’ said, “I’m not an actress and I get really nervous in front of the camera. But he’s really good at directing actors and he makes everything flow together.”

The music video, ‘Chains,’ is based on a song by F.M. Turner.

Bennett currently is planning on changing some of the ways he works with film.

“The next movie I make is going to have a paid cast and crew. I don’t really want to be the guy asking favors anymore from the people who are working hard. I want be able to pay the guy holding a boom mic. Not say, ‘Hey, hold a boom mic. Isn’t this great?’”

In this vein, he has started with paying the star of his current project and he plans on doing the same for his future cast and crew.

As difficult as it seems, Jack Bennett is still able to juggle his full-time job and his filmmaking career. “I still work at Tech and occasionally sub at Crossroads because I still need to make money and I need to pay my bills. Since I don’t live in New York and LA, the sacrifice I make is I can’t get these kinds of [filmmaking] jobs all the time.”

He also works odd jobs to be able to afford to continue working with what he is passionate about, creating a great role model for those of us who work jobs that we hate and have tucked our dreams away into the back pocket of our lives.

Recently things have been picking up for Bennett. He says that he has made more money off production than any other source of income.

His next move is planning a big premiere for ‘Beast’ in Blacksburg, which could possibly end up as a double feature along with another one of his films.

But for now, you can watch his editing skills at work at the ‘Hokie Nation’ viewing scheduled to take place at the Lyric movie theater in downtown Blacksburg on August 31st at 7:00pm and 9:15pm.

This article has also been cross-published at the Collegiate Times' website and newspaper.

Joe Jack Talcum interview

2007-08-02T21:54:00.000-06:00

Joe Jack Talcum has played guitar and done vocals (on occasion) for legendary punk band the Dead Milkmen, a band that was popular for songs such as "Bitchin' Camero" and "Punk Rock Girl".

Since The Dead Milkmen have broken up, Talcum has played with bands such as Touch Me Zoo, The Town Managers and is currently playing with The Low Budgets and working on his solo career.

I had the chance of conducting an interview with Mr. Talcum a couple of weeks ago on the WUVT airwaves.

Joe Jack Talcum interview.

It was conducted in the honor of August 4th's show, which where I expect to see all of you on Saturday night, because I'm sure that Baaba Seth at Steppin Out will be no competition to all of you punk rock girls and boy.

The Flyer is posted below, just in case you forgot about the show's details...

See you there!

Facelift

2007-07-28T11:27:00.001-06:00

I know that it's been a while since my last update, but I've been busy working on what this website is going to become. I have decided that Fever to Song shall no longer be just a music blog, but it will also be the home to a new Arts & Music collective currently based in Blacksburg, VA and it is open to expansion to wherever artists, musicians and writers would like to contribute.

The idea of starting a collective has lingered in my mind long enough for me to do something about it, so here I am making this post. This collective is nonprofit, its only goal is to promote music and the arts, to help artist network and to provide a home that will foster and collect works of art and present them here on the internet for you (the reader) to gaze upon. I will still continue to post my articles, but I will also post works of art that are mine and works of art that I find fascinating.

This collective is not limited to the internet, but will also encompass any shows I book and art shows I organize. I am planning on hosting an art show in the Fall, there will more details about that posted soon.

Finally, the collective is looking for members to join informally at any time. I am currently planning the 100 Hands project, which is going to be a huge mural painted by 50 artists and will be donated to our establishment or building of choice. If you are interested, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment and I will be sure to get back to you with more information.

I hereby declare the birth of The Fever to Sing Arts & Music collective!

Doug Cheatwood & The Bastards of Fate: Band Interview

2007-07-16T10:43:00.000-06:00

I know it's been long overdue for an update, so here's more than a thousand words to make up for the last week!

Some people might say that Blacksburg does not have much to offer musically, but that is only because there is more to Blacksburg’s music scene than what meets the eye. Blacksburg has long been home to quite a number of genre bending bands whose sounds are eclectic, they become too difficult to describe. Even though I don’t think that the word eclectic is fitting, since it implies an association with the New Age music genre, I feel like it would be the closest implication to their sounds.

I have been fortunate enough to grow up around Blacksburg and learn about what the local arts had to offer. In high school, I had the opportunity to discover the music of Doug Cheatwood, who frequently visited Blacksburg for solo performances. Ever since then, I have been following every release and have never been disappointed.

In 2006 Mr. Cheatwood made the best decision of his musical career; to recruit a whole band in effort to create a fuller sound and easier execution of performing the intricately multilayered songs he had written. At that moment Doug Cheatwood & the Bastards of Fate came to life, foreshadowing some of the most intense and controversial in Southwest Virginia today.

Cheatwood says that the idea of going back to the old meaning of the word “show” had always appealed to him. He says that a “show” should be both theatrically and musically engaging, which is exactly what this band’s performances make true.

When I had met with the band, there was five of them; drummer Doug Shelor, Guitarist/Trumbonist Benjamin Pugh, Bassist/Saxaphonist Jason Wells, Vocalist/guitarist Doug Cheatwood and keyboardist/violinist Camellia Delk. However, I noticed that a famed member of the band, Bernard, was missing.

Where is Bernard?
-Jason Wells: He’s actually a part of another realm, so he’s not here right now. He’s kind of nocturnal.

I paused for a bit, thinking about how he never actually repeated his name. I wondered if I wasn't even supposed to say his name, kind of like how no one is supposed so utter the words "Lord Voldemort" in Harry Potter. Even though I was a little alarmed, I decided to shrug it off and go through with the interview anyway.

Would you like to describe your sound?
-Doug Cheatwood: We’ve been described as melodramatic pop.
-Camellia Delk: Headless bride-core, I like that one the best.
-Benjamin Pugh: Genre pop.
-Jason Wells: Top 40.
-Doug Cheatwood: But don’t you have to actually break into the Top 40 to be a Top 40 band?
-Jason Wells: WELL, we’re emulating what is popular in the Top 40. Kind of like polka, Slayer and the sound of old people singing.
-Doug Shelor: Old people are cool; they know a lot of shit.

How did you become such a controversial band?
-Doug Cheatwood: We just put on our usual show and sometimes it’s received differently in different places.
-Jason Wells: I think we’re the nicest people you’ll ever meet. It’s just that people have different senses of humor at times.

Any upcoming shows we should know of?
-Doug Cheatwood: Well we are going on tour during the first week of August with Joe Jack Talcum from the Dead Milkmen and he’s performing songs from all of his [previous] projects.
-Jason Wells: He’s the guitarist and one of the singers from an old punk rock band called the Dead Milkmen, best known for “Punk Rock Girl” which got a little bit of MTV airtime a while back.
-Camellia Delk: (laughs) Yeah, I listened to the Dead Milkmen back when I was in middle school. I still can't believe we're going on tour with Joe Jack Talcum from the Dead Milkmen. I remember hearing "Bitchin' Camero" on the radio in second or third grade when I lived in Salt Lake City. I mean, how many chances will I get to go on tour with someone I looked up to as a kid? Thank goodness for the Bastards of Fate!

So I understand that a record label has courted your headless bride-core band?
-Doug Cheatwood: Actually, this was something done through my label, Shadowbuster Records. I’ve had some people help me run it, particularly my friend Todd. Since creating an actual label is such a huge project, he’s been helping me with the business aspect of it.
-Jason Wells: It’s kind of like self-courting, almost. Which sounds very controversial.

How did you all start wearing suits to your shows?
-Jason Wells: Well for our first show it was mandatory, there was just no other way to do it. Then we kind of all just stuck with it. But if I ever get a hold of a cookie monster outfit, then maybe I’ll wear that to shows.

So you were all required to wear suits for your first show?
-Doug Cheatwood: Not really, but for some reason everyone showed up wearing suits and Camellia was wearing a dress.

How long have you been together as a band?
-Jason Wells: We just had our one year anniversary as a band over on the farm on the 4th of July.

Do you have any side projects?
-Camellia Delk: The Slaying Mantis
-Benji Pugh: The Sad Gnostics
-Jason Wells: Eschato
-Doug Shelor: The Situationist

How does it feel, being the only female in the band?
-Camellia Delk: Not bad at all, especially since I have had the same experience in the past having been the lone female in bands like A Fine Line, LaBianca and The Galen Kipar Project. The only thing that REALLY annoys me is when we're playing with another band for the first time and they always shake hands and introduce themselves to everyone in the band BUT me because they automatically assume I'm just a girlfriend or friend of the bandmates'. It’s sad that the thought of a girl playing an instrument seems to be so uncommon.

I understand that the band started out as Doug Cheatwood’s solo work. What made you think of recruiting an entire band?
-Doug Cheatwood: I was really hesitant to get a band because I had a hard time finding people that I enjoyed playing with. Then, these guys kind of fell into my lap. I’ve know Benji forever, we’ve been making noise together since high school.
-Jason Wells: I think it’s always really hard to find people you can get along with musically.
-Doug Cheatwood: and this has basically been my first band, not counting my band in high school that I was kicked out of. They eventually named themselves “Blue Sun.”

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
-Jason Wells: It involves potions in the forest and funny hats.
-Doug Shelor: No, they’re actually dead-serious hats.

Do you have any new releases that people should be aware of?
-Doug Cheatwood: We just publicly premiered our brand new t-shirts, which people can get at our shows. We will also have them available online when we release our new album on September 1st.
-Doug Shelor: They’re pretty smokin’ shirts, we have a pre-sale going on right now for the CDs too.

Doug Cheatwood & the Bastards of Fate are going on tour in August and will be performing at Ceritano’s on August 4th with Joe Jack Talcum, Deral Fenderson and the Lee Street Riots. Doors open at 7:30pm and admission is $5 per person.

Brooklyn Meets Blacksburg: The Aftermath

2007-07-09T15:35:00.000-06:00

It was 7:30pm on July 6th when I walked into Ceritano’s for the music event that was scheduled there. The restaurant was packed with couples of families feasting on the Italian delights, which this place made to order. The owner asked me if I was there for the show and I nodded. He then motioned for me to go into the catering room in the back.

Doug Cheatwood & the Bastards of Fate were setting up their equipment, while Blacksburg producer and sound engineer Tim Kirk was setting up the sound equipment. There weren’t too many people there, but at rock shows attendance usually grows after each passing hour. Even though the show was advertised the start at 7:30pm, it did not seem that it was going to. Since show goers usually arrive late, 7:30pm really meant 8:00 or 8:30pm.

By 8:30pm, everything was finally in place. However, worried that the loud music might frighten his restaurant customers, Mr. Ceritano asked that the music starts half an hour later. Anxious for the music, the audience members started to wander around the block and into the restaurant area trying to waste some time until the bands finally get to perform. At this point, the bands were nervous about losing what seemed to be a disintegrating audience due to the continued time delay.

In the back of the room, there was a merchandise table setup which all three bands shared. I walked over to see what it had to offer. The one lightbulb that lit the table revealed an array of bandshirts, stickers and records; which featured boy/girl’s new album called Secret Secret Secret Singles, Doug Cheatwood & The Bastards of Fate’s t-shirt debut.

The time was now 8:50pm and the bands had finally gotten the motion to start performing. Doug Cheatwood & The Bastards of Fate were the first to play. They kicked off their set with an old time favorite called “The Sweet Touch”, which almost everyone immediately recognized and started singing along to. The audience started growing as people were coming back and new people were coming into the doors. Next was “Mister Violins”, a mellow bouncy and catchy beat that fades into a loud noisy song entitled “Harlequin Fetus”. At this point, the band reached into their theatrical bag of tricks and took out a doll, that was a temporary (however quite memorable) member of the band for the duration of the song. The doll was flailed around, hypnotizing the audience into a deep state of rocking-out.

After the first band completed their set, boy/girl started setting up. A shiny yellow drumset appeared, along with a faded guitar and purple tinted light that formed eerie shadows on the crimson wall behind drummer Lisa Cusak and vocalist/guitarist Eric Stiner. The shadows started to animate as the band started to play spazzy fragmented sounds that seemed to artistically harmonize. This duo from Brooklyn had been touring for a few days and I was impressed with the amount of energy they still managed to inject into their performance. Their set featured some material that Blacksburg has not heard yet, such as “Kill kill kill” when Lisa took a break from drumming to use the triangle.

The last band to play was the Gay Blades, boy/girl tourmates who were also visiting Blacksburg from Brooklyn. Despite these two bands touring together most of the time, they hardly sounded the same. The Gay Blades presented music from the poppier side of the Indie music spectrum. The band was comprised of two members; Clark Westfield on vocals and guitar and Puppy Mills on drums. The people couldn’t help but start dancing when they started playing. Westfield sassed the audience in between songs, which ended the show with everyone laughing in stitches.

After the show, The Gay Blades decided to treat everyone who decided to stick around to a freestyle. All of the bands mingled with the audience to discuss music, touring among many other topics.

It was the perfect recipe for a fun-filled Friday night, especially for summertime in Blacksburg. The Gay Blades and boy/girl had announced plans to make Blacksburg a regular tour stop, which is definitely something to look forward to. Doug Cheatwood & The Bastards of Fate are coming back to Blacksburg on August 4th to play yet another fantastic show at Ceritano’s, which I will be posting more information about at a later date, so keep your eyes peeled.

This article was also published in The Collegiate Times' website and paper, but the article above is how it was written before it was edited.

Brooklyn meets Blacksburg

2007-07-04T23:48:00.000-06:00

In a town where no actual dedicated music venues exist, bands have been under the mercy of bar owners, restaurant owners, basements and anyone who has access to an empty space where they can share their music with show-goers and music enthusiasts. “We need all the venues we can get”, says Bastards of Fate bassist Jason Wells, referring to the scarcity of venues in the area.

Ceritano’s first opened its doors to the public as a traditional Italian Restaurant by day, but lately it has also been providing a home for performances by local bands and touring bands at night. By creating one more option for bands to host their shows, Blacksburg has been quite grateful.

Even though there are fixed performance nights at several downtown bars such as Jazz night at the Cellar and Re:Fill at the Rivermill, punk bands have a difficult time finding places that will be able to handle their noisy amps. Having been to quite a few shows in Blacksburg, I have noticed a divide between punk bands and almost every other kind of bands, where it seems to be a lot harder for punk bands to find venues because there is never really a guarantee as to how many people will show up to watch us play.” Indeed there is no guarantee, but that might be because the public in Blacksburg has not yet been exposed to everything this town has to offer musically.

While many college students might be still hung up on the next Sublime cover band that plays regularly at a Sports bar because it seems like the next best thing to going to an actual live Sublime show, they might just be missing out on some original material that local and touring bands that don’t get the coverage they deserve are bringing to the table.

Two Brooklyn based bands are currently on tour and will be making their way into the streets in Blacksburg soon. The Gay Blades is an indie band that has recently played in the legendary South by Southwest Festival this past March in Austin, TX alongside very well-know performers such as the Buzzcocks, Balkan Beat Box and Kid Koala. As the plan is for most big festivals, the big names are usually only there for turnout, in hopes of helping music savvy fans to discover some hidden gems in the music industry. Noise rock band boy/girl is currently signed to New York-based label Ace Fu Records, also home to The Fatales, formerly of Blacksburg, VA. Virginia Tech alumni and drummer for boy/girl Lisa Cusak says that she is looking forward to visiting Blacksburg again on July 6th.

The last time these two bands came through Blacksburg was when they performed at the WUVT Alumni Homecoming show at the Haymarket Theater in Squires during the spring semester. Boy/girl vocalist Eric Stiner says, “It was awesome playing in Blacksburg. We showed up to the student center hung out a bit and all the kids seemed really cool. There was a really cool vibe... we love playing at universities. The indie rock scene is usually much more cohesive than in the cities we play. The show was in a tough spot during finals or something. We hope to get more people out this time around. “ Despite the weak welcome they received, they have both thankfully decided to try Blacksburg once again this summer.

The third band scheduled to play this event is actually from Roanoke, but the band seems to reach a consensus about their level of comfort in Blacksburg, “Blacksburg is our second home, we feel as though we get a lot support there.” Doug Cheatwood and the Bastards of Fate is a melodramatic pop band, notorious for their controversial stage antics involving styrofoam peanuts and flying pieces of fabric. Band bassist Jason Wells says that he is looking forward to playing with both Brooklyn bands and is interested in seeing what this mix of genres will offer, “we’re psyched to see some bands from Brooklyn.”

The Gay Blades and boy/girl will be performing with Roanoke band Doug Cheatwood and the Bastards of Fate at Ceritano’s in Blacksburg, VA on Friday, July 6th. Doors open at 7:30pm and admission is $3 per person at the door.

Note: This article has also been cross-published at Planet Blacksburg.

Dynamite Club interview

2007-07-03T19:19:00.000-06:00

After a month-long hiatus, I think I'm going to go back to updating this baby regularly. I wouldn't expect more than a weekly update, but there will be times where I have nothing better to do than making blog entries, which would result it more than the promised weekly update.

I'm also actually trying to recruit a couple of friends to help me keep this blog regular.

Without further ado, on to the scheduled blog entry...

Today, I am going to talk to you about an awesome band from New York City. This band goes by the name of the Dynamite Club and they might be one of the most fun bands I have ever met. I had the pleasure of interviewing this very fine band a little over a week ago and the original interview was broadcast on the airwaves of WUVT FM this afternoon (disclaimer: WUVT has absolutely no affiliation with this blog, or anything that is posted on here. The only affiliation might be the content of the interviews I have shared with the station, which are copywritten under my name and are not allowed to be distributed without my permission.)

The Dynamite Club features three talented members, who actually live in three different locations and only get together a couple of times a year to grace the world of music with their awesomeness; Kentaro Saito, Mike Pride and Evan Lipson are the ingredients to this to this trio. If you're looking to get into this band, I would recommend that you head over to their myspace and give the song "12 Questions for" a listen.

Here is a copy of the ~~interview~~ (link expired, please comment for a repost) I did on Monday, June 25th.

Anyway, Fever to Sing is back and here to stay!

The 5.6.7.8.'s - Three Cool Chicks

2007-06-03T19:13:00.000-06:00

I've decided to jump continents and post a track from Japan today. You might recognize this band from a Kill Bill soundtrack, but they have so many more songs than that one song everyone keeps on mentioning when they see the name of this band.

The 5.6.7.8.'s - Three Cool Chicks

This band is a trio from Japan that didn't really know what to name themselves, so they decided to name the band "The 5.6.7.8.'s" because they play music from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. They're very reminiscnient of surf rock and they also do many covers of American rock bands.

Social Studies - So Retro

2007-06-01T22:07:00.000-06:00

This track is another track from another local band, that was unfortunately very shortlived. This dancey keyboard catchy rock trio formed in 2005 and broke up mid 2007 due to the band moving and being seperated. During their time together, they recorded two full-lengths.

Social Studies - So Retro

This band put up pretty amazing live shows, where the band members would swap instruments so each band member would alternate instruments for nearly every single song they play during their set.

Cocorosie - Good Friday

2007-05-31T20:43:00.000-06:00

While I'm on this streak of French, I might as well run with it until I find a new theme to write to. Cocorosie is a duo of sisters Coco and Rosie, whose real names are Sierra and Bianca. These two American sisters came from a turbulent home, where they were seperated as children. By now you're probably wondering where the French part comes in... Well, Sierra went study opera at the Paris Conservatory, while Bianca studied Linguistics and Sociology. Bianca grew impatient with her life and watned to travel, so she searched for her sister and decided to reunite with her. They spent the next couple of months in Sierra's bathtub, recording music and produced an album which they called La Maison de Mon Reve.

Cocorosie - Good Friday

This track is the fourth track off of that album and was also the first song I have ever heard by the band. I accidentally stumbled upon this song, while I was looking up new releases from one of my favorite record labels, Touch & Go, home to bands like Killdozer, Big Black, Slint, Pinback. Touch & Go heard the album after it was released by the duo and decided to rerelease it for them.

Cocorosie is also said to be associated with the New Weird America movement, which is basically folk music with some modern music elements such as noise, distortions and whatnot.

And just because I'm getting back into this band, I'm going to post a bonus track for all of you readers out there.

Cocorosie - Candy Land

Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde

2007-05-30T18:38:00.000-06:00

While the topic of French music is still fresh in your minds, I think I'll go ahead and post about another French artist. Serge Gainbourg is probably one of the most defining faces of French pop music. He has varied his musical styles over the years, so it has become really difficult to actual characterize him using one genre. Mr. Gainsbourg has done everything from directing to acting, and poetry to singing.

Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde

This track by the multitalented artist features the French actress and renowned sex symbol, Bridgette Bardot. This song was originally released in 1967.

Below is the music video Serge picked for the song, which is actually also a movie of its own.

Emilie Simon - I Wanna Be Your Dog

2007-05-28T18:11:00.000-06:00

Before you recognize this artist's name, you should recognize the song's name. Emilie Simon genre bended this song and covered it in a way I have never heard it being covered before; electronically and she did a damn good job at it. When the Stooges did this song, I don't think they ever dreamed of it being covered this way.

Emilie Simon - I Wanna Be Your Dog

Emilie Simon is a French artist who also did the soundtrack to the French version of the popular documentary, March of the Pengins. She only recently released her US debut entitled The Flower Book, which was basically a compilation of "the best" of the three albums that she released in France and Canada. It's really difficult to describe what type of music Emilie Simon makes; it's a mixture of electronic and dark pop.

I've also decided to let you in on the first Emilie Simon song I have ever heard, it was through the video below. Which was very well made, if I might add. Many bands tend to forget about the lost art of videomaking nowadays.

Explosions in the Sky - Yasmin the Light

2007-05-27T20:52:00.000-06:00

Explosions in the Sky is a post-rock band hailing from Texas. If you like bands along the lines of Godspeed You Black Emperor! but find them too gloomy, then you're in luck! Explosions in the Sky provides a more optimistic interpretation of post-rock; one you can listen to without wanting to turn off the lights in your room and stare at the wall while listening to.

Explosions in the Sky - Yasmin the Light

This track is off of their Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever and this is their only release that has successfully caught my attention so far. I've yet to give the others a proper listen.

Luna - The Old Fashioned Way

2007-05-26T23:49:00.000-06:00

Luna is a band that formed in the early 90's after Galaxie 500 broke up, but decided to go their seperate ways a couple of years ago. The track I'm featuring today is off Days of Our Nights, which is my favorite album by the band.

Luna - The Old Fashioned Way

Rolling Stone described Luna as the best band you've never heard of. This particular track is one of their poppier tunes.

Doug Cheatwood - Digging Up Dinosaurs

2007-05-25T21:02:00.000-06:00

This is going to be a unique post. Today's band is a local-ish band that hails from Roanoke, Virginia. I have been following this artist's music for about three years now and I can't say that I have ever been disappointed. Bands like these make shows worth going to. After going to many many shows, I'd like to say that a lot of bands fall into two categories; live bands and recorded bands. Live bands tend to have bad recordings but amazing live shows, recorded bands tend to have pretty amazing recordings, but they also have the hardest time reproducing their sound live. It's really rare to find a band that can carryout both traits at once. But ladies and gentlemen, the music you're about to witness is just as amazing in person.

Doug Cheatwood - Digging Up Dinosaurs

This track is from one of Mr. Cheatwood's solo releases. However, the rad factor was amplified when he decided to recruit a full band for him to work with. Eventually, Doug Cheatwood & The Bastards of Fate came to life. The band, in its current formation, has been together for a little bit over a year now and still continue to evolve. I've been to every single one of their local shows and it has never been the same.

Their music has also been used as background music for videos done by famous athletes, as demonstrated in the video below...

The band is currently in the process of recording their first full-length album, for an anticipated release date in 2020. (Okay, I might have made up that last one).

Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time

2007-05-24T19:44:00.000-06:00

Okay okay, you've made me feel bad enough already, this extra post is to make up for the post I missed yesterday.

This is the first song I had ever heard for Broken Social Scene, which I accidentally stumbled upon while trying to find a Social Distortion song. I have been glad to have made that mistake until this day.

Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time

The main thing that caught my attention was the percussion and the shivering guitars in the background. I've tried to decipher a lot of this band's lyrics, but I really had a hard time making sense out of them. They're either really deep or this band sucks at songwriting; I'd personally like to believe the former, so I will. On that note, you should too.

Broken Social Scene - Bandwitch

2007-05-24T19:28:00.001-06:00

Before I start I would like to admit that I have been a bad blogger and completely neglected yesterday's post, sorry. But dear reader, I shall make it up to you with *twice* the post this time around.

Broken Social Scene might just be one of my favorite bands of all time. I mean, they have so much talent at their disposal and the whole band is just this everevolving fruit salad of catchy goodness. I have never really found a proper way to describe them, because they have fulfilled electronic, post-rock, ambient, acoustic, awesome and I'm pretty sure there are more genres I can't think of at the moment. Being in love with this entire band's discography doesn't really make picking one track for this post an easy task, but alas, it must be done.

Broken Social Scene - Bandwitch

Superconnected is a track from Broken Social Scene's second album, which was self-titled. I think this song ties this album to their first album (which was entitled You Forgot it in People) and the Beehives EP. It has the typical Broken Social Scene with multi-layered and overlapping tracks that aren't too overwhleming and seem to fit together in perfect harmony.

I made a reference to this band in an earlier post, where you got to hear an earlier incarnation of this band. Well, this is what they sound like now and you can probably pick up on how much they have evolved by comparing both songs.

Bedhead - Lares and Penates

2007-05-22T19:13:00.000-06:00

Bedhead is one of the first really shoegaze bands that I have liked. I don't really know much about the band, except that they broke up (sometime in the late 90's)? I think shoegaze is a happy place between post-punk and post-rockm but moreso on the first side.

Bedhead - Lares and Penates

It takes a while to buildup, so be patient. It's worth it.

KC Accidental - Is and Of The

2007-05-21T20:59:00.000-06:00

K.C. Accidental is the name that Broken Social Scene used to go by, before Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin finally formed into their current group. If you listen to K.C. Accidental, you will understand where Broken Social Scene started and what their current sound has stemmed from.

K.C. Accidental - Is and Of The

This track is off of the album Anthems for the Could've Bin Pills, which is more of a simple post-rock release rather than the busy and layered sound that the Broken Social Scene collective goes for nowadays. This release could have actually been an EP if the band had not added six whole tracks of silence. These six tracks doubled the tracklisting for the release, thus turning it into a full-length album instead of an EP. I suppose some things should be looked over with such great musicians at hand.

The Cure - Disintegration

2007-05-20T19:58:00.001-06:00

The Cure is one of the oldest and best sappyass goth rock bands to have ever existed, in my opinion. Even though they fit under the New Wave umbrella, they're a lot sadder than most of their peers who belong to that genre. One of my favorite songs by the band is not considered one of their hits, possibly because it was so damn depressing.

The Cure - Disintegration

This song is the perfect breakup song. I really have nothing more to elborate on, because the lyrics are poetic enough to speak for their own selves.

However I would like to mention that Robert Smith did tour with one of my favorite bands, they go by the name Siouxsie and the Banshees. I will probably end up posting something else by them at some point, but for now I would like for you to revel in the beauty of the song I just posted.

Beat Happening - Indian Summer

2007-05-19T14:36:00.001-06:00

The post-punk band Beat Happening has always been a summer band to me; catchy songs and youthful lyrics. My favorite album by this band is Jamboree.

Beat Happening - Indian Summer

Indian Summer is my favorite song off of the release and it was one of the first Twee songs I have ever heard. Beat Happening only continued my love affair with music released on K Records, which just so happens to be one of my favorite record labels now.

Soundtrack to my summer

2007-05-19T14:30:00.000-06:00

Every blog deserves an introductory post, so here is mine. People have asked me to make music recommendations in the past, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to follow the music-blogging greats' footsteps and start my own. I happen to be be quite opinionated about music, so this would be a good venting space for me.

Happy reading, feedback is encouraged and appreciated.