Tuesday, July 30, 2002 I spent last night putting UPC codes onto the retail releases of Denison Witmer : River Bends and Circle of Birds : s/t. These will be appearing in stores on 10 September, so get ready. The press/radio campaign for Denison's Philadelphia Songs will be getting underway in mid-August, so there's some work to make sure that the word is getting out. Fanatic and For Play will be handling radio and Fanatic will be handling the press/publicity. The cds are being printed at the moment and should be back from the factory soon, in time for Denison's Philadelphia and Lancaster cd release shows. Sunday, I saw Saxon Shore play at the Fire for a matinee show. We ended up hanging out most of the night and they stayed at my house. They're on tour for the next few days. Their instrumental album, Be a Bright Blue, will be available from the on-line store shortly, along with the cd version of Soul Junk's 1957, and cdeps from Hot Hot Heat and The Shins that I just got in. Saturday, I had dinner with my good, and recently married, friends Nathan and Norma and some of our other friends from their wedding. Afterwards, Nathan and Norma joined me at the Fire to see The Trouble with Sweeney and The Celestial Isles. I was excited to see The Trouble with their new drummer and keyboardist. Unfortunately, some drunken Philadelphia rock stars decided to make the end of the show an opportunity to enact revenge on Joey's less than stellar reviews of their latest major label record. I pretty much lose all respect for bands that decide to challenge opinions from rock critics and Marah is no exception. Philadelphia's Licenses and Inspections Bureau is making it increasingly difficult for all ages shows to happen in the city. They recently shut down shows at the Unitarian Church and at the Rotunda that R5 productions was putting on. R5 has consistently supported the best music in the indie scene in Philadelphia and are worthy of our support. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 11:49 AM CST Friday, July 26, 2002 Last night, I did make it out to see the Mountain Goats, Franklin Bruno, and the Extra Glenns. It was especially great to see John play Mountain Goats songs, as he played a couple older tracks and many new songs. He has written over 400 songs, so it's easy to not hear the exact song that you want such as the older "Cubs in Five" that someone was requesting or even "The Best Death Metal Band out of Denton" from the most recent release. John Darnielle is without a doubt the most metal knowledgeable acoustic performer in existence, which he demonstrates in his truly entertaining zine, Last Plane to Jakarta. John and Franklin joined together to form The Extra Glenns, playing many songs from Martial Arts Weekend, including the amazing "Going to Marrakesh," as well as a couple of unrecorded tracks. For those interested, Keyes was in attendance and did get the previously promised records. I've continued my newly started tradition of leaving performed songs on my friend's voicemail. Ah, the beauty of cell phones with lots of nighttime minutes. I'm not sure if it's irritating yet or not, but it's fun to do. Tonight I am intending to leave some music from the Reels of White Softly Flow performance, which may prove to be difficult from stage. We'll see. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 01:33 PM CST Thursday, July 25, 2002 On Tuesday, I went with Willie, Cake, Jamie, and Anne to see the Icelandic band Múm play with NYC's Interpol. Múm's current record, Finally We Are No One, is one of my favorites in 2002 so far. After waiting for the doors to open for two hours, we finally got in to the super hot room and the show was amazing. Keyes, you should have stuck around. Tonight, Franklin Bruno, The Mountain Goats, and The Extra Glenns are playing at the Khyber in Philadelphia and I am very excited at a chance to see this amazing night of sarcastic rock. I've been a fan of The Mountain Goats ever since I bought one of the records in Austin over 5 years ago. John has been plugging away for quite a while and is quite prolific. I think I have most of the official releases, I am an addict. Anyhow, Keyes will be there for sure this time and I will remember to bring the Jetenderpaul 7" I promised him. Friday, Reels of White Softly Flow and All American Radio are in Lancaster at Zoetropolis Theater, so be there. I haven't gotten to see AAR since they've really gotten going full-tilt again, so I am anxious. And it's always fun to play a show, too. Saturday night, The Trouble with Sweeney are playing at the Fire with The Ceramic Isles (members of The Cave Ins) who may or may not be staying at my house. By the way, The Trouble have a slick new site up that Don from Capsule 9 did. He also did the artwork for their Basement-Life cdep, The Trouble with Sweeney plays Karen and others, that you really should make the effort to pick up at a store near you. The artwork and cd master are on their way to the cd plant for Denison Witmer's Philadelphia Songs. Plans for touring and publicity to press and college radio are underway. My Scandinavian friends are mostly at a music festival today, tomorrow, and the weekend. Nic from Unwed Sailor is there from the UK, too. I am jealous and missing Europe. I'll be back before the end of the year. I am in dismay about the terrible turn of fate that the Dodgers seem to be having after being in first place for so long in the NL West. There is still time, still time, I tell myself. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 04:31 PM CST Monday, July 22, 2002 Ester Drang just did a few shows in Texas and Arkansas. Thanks to everyone who came out to see them rock. The artwork is nearly complete for Denison Witmer's Philadelphia Songs. Everything is on schedule for a 24 September release date. Dates are being worked out for Denison's fall tour which will be booked by Candy Gram Booking who also book The Trouble with Sweeney. The Trouble are also planning some autumn dates starting in October. I saw The Locust, Arab on Radar, Lightning Bolt, and Wolf Eyes on Friday in Philadelphia. I'm a big fan of experimental music and Arab on Radar. Very loud night, for sure. Last night, I saw my friend in Me Without You play. Two members were previously members of The Operation, whose first two releases were on Burnt Toast Vinyl. This Friday, Reels of White Softly Flow plays at Zoetropolis in Lancaster with All American Radio. Be there... :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 09:21 AM CST Tuesday, July 16, 2002 Things are extremely hectic here with all of the new records getting ready to go out to stores. Unwed Sailor's The Faithful Anchor will be distributed by Redeye through btv on 27 August. Circle of Birds cdep and Denison Witmer : River Bends cdep will both go to stores on 10 September. Final packaging designs for Denison's Philadelphia Songs continue. All American Radio's artwork is nearly complete. Lots of touring this fall from Denison, The Trouble with Sweeney, Ester Drang, and All American Radio. Tonight, I'll be at the Khyber to see AM/FM and the Radar Brothers. Progress is being made by AM/FM and Aspera on one-sided LPs. I've heard from both this week, so I'm still excited for early autumn releases for these. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 03:02 PM CST Monday, July 8, 2002 It's been quite a while since the last update to the site. Things have been quite busy and exciting. I was in Puerto Rico for four days for work, working long hours to finish everything before getting to take some vacation. When I returned from Puerto Rico, Reels of White Softly Flow played at the Fire. My parents were in town for my friend Nathan's wedding. I was the best man, so there was a lot to do, tuxedo fittings, rehearsals, barbeques. And, in the meantime, I was orchestrating the arrival of several new btv releases. Thanks to both Willis and Jamie, a new batch of btv releases have safely arrived, including Denison Witmer : Philadelphia Songs LP (white vinyl, gatefold jackets), Circle of Birds : s/t cdep and 10", Denison Witmer : River Bends cdep (new digipak version), Reels' Live LP (no cds, sorry), and the second repress of the Damien Jurado : Four Songs one-sided LP. Nathan's wedding was very exciting as he and Norma were arried on Saturday, 29 June. Immediately the next morning, Reels of White Softly Flow left for some midwest shows. We stopped in Indiana to stay at my parents' house and then went to Chicago where we played an impromptu show with our drummer, Emil, from Norway. Later that night, we played in Rockford, IL with our friends Mercury Radio Theater and Fine China. On Thursday, we played in Illinois with our friends Unwed Sailor, Danielsonship, and the Colemans. Thanks to everyone who came to the show. During the course of the week, I got to meet with Ester Drang, Denison, Unwed Sailor, and a whole bunch of other people. In any case, btv is now back to normal after a bit of a hiatus. On-line orders will be filled today and tomorrow. All new releases will be shipping quickly, so don't hesitate in purchasing the new releases. thanks, :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 01:08 PM CST [ Archives ]