Positive No : Powers of Ten : New Song Alert!

You can read more about the song here.

"Powers of Ten" will be a part of a 5 song EP we are in the middle of recording with J Robbins at his studio Magpie Cage. This 12" record / digital long player will be available through my record label Little Black Cloud later this summer.

Bands / Musicians Who Have Stayed With Me since 1990

This is a work in progress as I am sure I have missed quite a few bands / musicians but this is the initial list I could think of. Out of nearly three decades I can't say I ever had one bad experience with opening my home to bands. Sometimes only one or a few members of a band would crash at our place sp instead of listing people's individual names, it seemed more logical to list just their band.

I didn't add Yo La Tengo or Silkworm because I lived in their homes (cat sitting) for many weeks rather than them staying with me.

In no particular order:

Jawbox
Treepeople (pre-Built To Spill)
Archers of Loaf
Small 23
Pegboy
Failure
Superconductor (pre New Pornographers / Thrones)
Seaweed
Rye Coallition
Sparkmarker
Heavy Vegeatable
Powerdresser
Isis
Cave In
Jessamine
Karp
Fitz of Depression
Peechees (members of Bratmobile/Rice)
Red Stars Theory (members of Modest Mouse / 764-HERO / Satisfact / Lync)
Refrigerator
Garden Variety
Railroad Jerk
Cloud Room
Narrator
Lync
Sunn O))))/Engine Kid/Thorr's Hammer
Sunny Day Real Estate
Jawbreaker
Walk the Plank (Calvin Johnson)
Sons of Ishmael
Sleep Capsule
Some Girls (American Nightmare / Locust / Cold Cave)
Dharma Bums
The Rapture
Dälek
Haste

The Positive No Cooking Show

Phew! What a year so far. With all that has been going on with the record label and band, I am sad at how little free time I have had to write.

I will get back to writing / posting my music related short story series later this Spring but for now, here is a little light viewing.

We will be posting a brand new single next week and have another exciting band announcement just around the corner too. 

For my old friends viewing this and thinking what the hell happened to you? Life post accident (you know, the whole being run over by a car thing) followed by pneumonia this Winter has meant I have spent a lot of time motionless and stuck in bed. I might be a butterball but I promise you, I am doing really well otherwise. Older. Wider. But still alive and really happy about that. 

French Music Podcast

 If you missed the swinging French music show Sara and I did exclusively for WRIR this past Sunday, here is a link to download it in full. Enjoy! xo

Hosting WRIR Tonight!

It's FUNd drive time at our ole community radio station WRIR! I surrendered the radio show I founded (Cause & Effect) last Fall but I have been asked to come back to help JJ with the whole begging for donations thing.

Independent radio stations don't like interrupting their one of a kind programming to have to ask for your help but as an all volunteer operation that still has bills to pay like rent for the building and equipment to transmit our signal, it has to be done.

The show theme for tonight is how a WRIR DJ is born.

JJ and I will be sharing two hour long sets based on the music of our lives. I have picked songs that represent my life from 1971 to 1990. These will be just a sampling of how as a music obsessed person I traveled from a world of just my parents music and top 40 radio drivel to the eclectic music junkie I still am today. They say a path is formed one stone at a time so my path to becoming a DJ is filled with what I am sure many will consider some surprisingly weird Rock(s).

What I really learned about myself as I meditated on the music that shaped my early life is that I love me some weird Pop songs and it has become clear to me that I was born this way. Tune in from 7PM to 9PM and hear where a DJ's earliest roots are based in. I will also try to explain how some people go to church to be a better, more enriched and wiser person but some of us turn to music and in my case, independent radio stations and record stores. These are my holy places and I am a better person for all of the things these two worlds have introduced me to.

If you feel the same way, then please consider donating to your community radio station. You support local record stores by shopping in them but radio stations don't get your business just as passive listener. We need you to be an active listener and help us keep WRIR alive and thriving.

97.3 FM on your dial for locals or stream us live at www.wrir.org.

I will post my entire playlist with samples of everything plus why I played it after the show is done. I think it will fit nicely into my short story series that I have been sharing here over the past 6 months.

Flogging Molly's Matt Hensley Interview At HOHNER

Here is a video of Matt Hensley, retired pro skater gone Flogging Molly member being interviewed at our office. Some of you might not know this but besides working at a record store and running a record label, my full time day job is with Hohner (fretted department).

Having Matt in the office for the day was terrific and I think his passion for music is really captured nicely here. During this interview he also connects skateboarding to music, something I am always especially interested in hearing more about.

This is me bragging.

I have a record label called Little Black Cloud Records and it just happened to work out that I have not one but TWO amazing records coming out between now and the end of April.

The first record to come out in 2013 is by a Seattle trio called the Universe People and it is called Go to the Sun. The digital will be out 2/19 and the LP will be done by 3/19. They already have one terrific video but here is their brand new one for the song "Druids". I have written about the band here before so I won't dwell but hot damn I love this song. And band.



The next record to come out will be by one of my oldest pals (not in age but in years we have been friends); Stephen Brodsky. You may recognize him as the singer and guitar player for a band called Cave In but he is also a ridiculously talented solo artist. The first single off his Hit Or Mystery EP is called "Real Surreal Beauty" and you can download the single for free via Rolling Stone. This EP will be available in the digital and 12" format 4/16.



Lastly, I want to celebrate a single I put out on Black Friday by the Richmond, VA artist Malhombre. His 7" features two very talented ladies (April March and Melissa Auf der Maur) and it is available for sale at my web store.



You can check out my label's Soundcloud page here. Sorry to brag but I really love these records so much.

This Should Be Interesting

Pacino as Phil Spector for an HBO thing.   

I don't even miss the music,

when the vocals are this perfect. Check out The Ronettes isolated vocals on "Baby I Love You".

Hop Along

Had I discovered this album in real time, Get Disowned by the band Hop Along would have made it onto my best of 2012 list. It is always a treat to hear a female vocalist sing like an exciting runaway train AND put some effort into the lyrics.

Here a list of all of the things I think of when I listen to this album. Backyard fireworks, early PJ Harvey, dive bombing birds in spring, Liz Phair doing gymnastics, Weezer covered by Joy Formidable, the best house show you have ever been to, how do siblings play in a band together and make it work, Wye Oak acorns, and a band I should make sure I see play live.