Friday, September 27, 2002 Happy Birthday Scott C. who turns 29 today. Denison Witmer will be playing at The Evening Music in Charlotte, NC on Sunday. The show was previously listed as TBA, but has been confirmed. Early Day Miners and Ester Drang one-sided LP audio has been sent off to be mastered. The Early Day Miners LP should be available in stores in December or January, depending on how fast the artwork is ready. The AM/FM holiday one-sided LP should also be ready in time for December, if everything goes according to plan. By the way, on 19 October, Early Day Miners will be playing in Philadelphia in a show that I've set up. More details as soon as the venue is confirmed. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 08:37 AM CST Tuesday, September 24, 2002 Happy Birthday Willis who turns 24 on the 24th. If you know him, send him your birthday greetings peppered with umlauts. He likes those. Denison Witmer's Philadelphia Songs was officially available in stores today. Indie record stores, as well as larger chains should have this in stock. If your local store isn't carrying it, be sure to encourage them to order it in from Redeye. My parents saw Denison on his tour this past weekend and had nothing but great things to say. So, be sure to follow in their footsteps and catch him playing live. His dates have been updated to reflect the most up-to-date itinerary. I also made some slight changes to Unwed Sailor dates. The Trouble with Sweeney dates are set for now and will be updated as soon as I get more details. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:04 PM CST Monday, September 23, 2002 I received the Early Day Miners one-sided LP audio this weekend, so this may be the next LP in the series. There is still the question of artwork, but that's underway, as far as I know. Aspera is slightly delayed since they are working for their folllow up to Sugared and Feathered for Jagjaguwar and are trying to get the album finished in time for the planned January 2003 release. The one-sided LP will most likely come out a little after the full-length. My parents saw Denison play on Saturday in Indiana. He was playing a few minutes from my actual boyhood home. Maybe some day there will be a marker there, along with a museum, much like there is for James Dean in nearby Fairmount, IN. The Dodgers are still hanging in the wild card race, but they still have some ground to make up on the Giants if there is any hope for post-season play. I'm still trying to be optimistic. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 12:41 PM CST Saturday, September 21, 2002 I finally posted the mp3 for "24 Turned 25" from Denison Witmer's Philadelphia Songs. So, those of you interested in hearing something from the new album before you buy it can download the mp3 and take a listen. I also added mp3 links to a track from Unwed Sailor's Marionette and the Music Box and The Trouble with Sweeney's "Karen." Be sure to take a listen. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 12:08 PM CST Friday, September 20, 2002 I've finally re-ordered Burnt Toast Vinyl t-shirts in both black and red in sizes small through extra large. They should be ready next week or so. The new website that is being designed has red as one of the main colors, so I thought new shirts should mimic that scheme. I am also sending the master and artwork for Ester Drang's Goldenwest cd to Gentlemen Records in Switzerland who will be issuing the album for release in Europe. So, the release should be more easily available in Europe once the cds are pressed by Gentlemen. By the way, Unwed Sailor is touring in Europe with a band from Gentlemen Records, Toboggan. I keep following the Dodgers' race for the wild-card bid in the National League. There is still hope, but time is slowly running out. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:02 AM CST Tuesday, September 17, 2002 Lots of new distributed titles added to the on-line store. Be sure to visit. The new Low album ships out next week, so be sure to order and get yours as soon as you can. Dates for The Trouble with Sweeney and Denison Witmer have also been updated. A few shows have been added, a couple of venues have changed, and at least one date shifted for a show with the Sweeneys. Make sure you see them both this autumn. The post office is being kind to me this week. The 4 songs for Ester Drang's one-sided LP arrived today. This will definitely be out by year's end if we can get the artwork complete. The band has been working hard. Also, I received Lost Joy by Camden Joy from TNI Books. It will be added to the on-line store shortly and is apparently a collection of short stories, many music related. If his Little Engines contributions have been a good sign of what is in this book, then it should make for a solid read. Under peer pressure, I gave in and pre-ordered David Eggers' next book. It's being sold exclusively on-line and through select independent booksellers to raise money for a San Francisco-based tutoring charity. It should be arriving sometime soon. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 04:36 PM CST Monday, September 16, 2002 The site has been updated to have information on all of our newest releases. Denison Witmer's Philadelphia Songs cd version has been added to the on-line store. I knew it was a glorious afternoon, in spite of the overcast sky, when I arrived home and found the long-awaited package from Norway filled with vinyl treats. I carefully placed the new White Trash Inc. (Orchestra) 7" Pet Cats Get 2000 Credits on the turntable. The A side consists of a live show from late summer 2001 in two segments "If You're Not on my Called ID I Don't Want to Talk To You" and "Corporate Conglomerates are the Root of All Evil" (featuring Orlando Greenhill on screamy "spray-opera" vocals), the reverse side being "The Dynamic of Film (Silver Screen Remix)" which was remixed by Matthew Chinn of Frolic (Projekt Records). Also in the package was Soul Junk's 1939 7", another special treat from Norway. Oh glorious noise! The on-line store will be the only place to get these in the US for a while... Denison and The Trouble with Sweeney have two more shows together this week before parting ways to continue on their on separate tours. Denison now has the covers for his tour-only live cds, so be sure to see him play and pick up a copy of the cd. It features songs recorded from his Autumn 2001/Spring 2002 tours with guitarist Matt Stone and The Six Parts Seven. All songs were recorded direct to MiniDisc and un-edited. The disc features a couple of originals unavailable on any currently released albums, as well as two cover songs also unavailable. The live versions of many of these songs differ from the originally recorded versions, so this makes for a special cd for the Denison Witmer fan. 24 Hour Party People was no longer playing at the theater, so I saw One Hour Photo instead, the creepy Robin Williams movie where he plays a slightly crazy stalker character who works at a one hour photo stand in a department store. The cinematography was stunning, all of the varied colors and strange scene fade ins and fade outs. The plot was much more restrained than what the previews and ads may suggest, but I think that made for more surprises. Oh well, I'm no movie critic. It was worth the price of admission. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:24 AM CST Friday, September 13, 2002 U.S. Maple hit the stage near 12:30 last night and played more than 45 minutes. For those keeping track, I did call JD for him to hear some of the set. This is one of the most unique bands inventing an entirely new musical language. After the show, Willie and I academically compared and contrasted their sounds with the bodie of work from Storm & Stress, Arab on Radar, and Don Caballero. This is what music nerds do after shows, I guess. Willie seems to identify more with Storm & Stress as a favorite, whereas I am really undecided. So, today, I am a bit tired since I had to get up and actually go to work. Today, I'll be picking up the repress of Circle of Birds' s/t cdeps. The first batch of 1,000 is already sold out through the distributor's orders, sales at shows, and mailorder. This should be serviced to CMJ radio soon, as well. I'll also be getting swanky posters for Denison Witmer's Philadelphia Songs to advertise his tour, albeit slightly later than I was hoping. Covers and inserts for the vinyl version of Unwed Sailor's The Faithful Anchor will be in the shipment as well. I am hoping to finally see 24 Hour Party People tonight in Philadelphia which chronicles Factory Records from its inception with Joy Division to its later end with The Happy Mondays. I've heard lots of good talk about this movie, so hopefully it will be good. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 01:17 PM CST Thursday, September 12, 2002 I met up with Denison yesterday afternoon and helped him load up cds for his autumn tour. He has the live tour-only cds with him and covers are arriving on Friday, so most of you who see him on tour will be able to get these cds. Some very exciting Unwed Sailor news...at least for us...Unwed Sailor's The Marionette and the Music Box will be released on 11 March 2003 to stores on cd and LP from Burnt Toast Vinyl. The LPs will be available beginning in January and the cds will be available from the band for their late winter/early spring tour dates. Ester Drang plans are being finalized with the band entering the studio on 3 November. Plans are for this full-length to also be available in March in stores with LPs available beginning in January and cds from the band during their tour dates. I'll be seeing U.S. Maple play tonight at the Khyber in Philadelphia after I meet up with The Trouble with Sweeney as they leave for their autumn tour. JD, I'll be calling from the show to let you hear a bit of the rock, even though you dissed me and didn't play me any Pretenders or Stones on Tuesday night. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 09:59 AM CST Tuesday, September 10, 2002 I saw The Microphones last night in Brooklyn. Luckliy, I got there before they started to turn people away. I watched Wolf Colonel from just outside the entrance to the back room where the show was. For The Microphones, everyone squished in and I got a better view. Phil, his friend Mike, and Jason from Wolf Colonel played about an hour and 20 minute set. Everyone got their money's worth, especially since it was free. There were several new songs, presumably from the forthcoming Mount Eerie record. Johnathon made it safely to London. He and Nic are getting ready for tour over the next three weeks until Matt Putman joins them for practice the last week in September. Dates for their tour, along with updated dates for Denison Witmer and The Trouble with Sweeney are listed on the shows page. US Maple is in the area this week, I'll most likely be out to see them in Philadelphia, unless some ultra important work arises. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:08 AM CST Monday, September 9, 2002 Denison and The Trouble with Sweeney are both making preparations for their tour. Denison plays a date on 12 September and the two bands will be traveling together starting on 13 September for a few days. Be sure to catch them together if you are nearby. Their schedules separate for now, with plans to travel more together in November on the West Coast. Both Denison and The Trouble with Sweeney will be touring heavily all through September, October, and November. It was a very busy and exciting weekend. Friday, I went to an art closing that happened at the Reset Gallery. There have been discussions about having some more interesting music/experimental events in this space. Saturday was an all day benefit show at Liberty Lands park where The Trouble with Sweeney played with bands like Bardo Pond, Strapping Fieldhands, Sola (members of Need New Body), and more. Lots of friends were in attendance and the refreshments were cheap and plentiful. Sunday, I was subjected, for the first time, to a late night viewing of Six String Samurais. Oh yeah. Tonight is a trip to Brooklyn to see The Microphones at Pete's Candy Store. Johnathon has left Seattle en route to London. He and Nic will be practicing for the Unwed Sailor European Tour that happens in October. Matt Putman will be joining them in a couple of weeks. Unwed Sailor's The Faithful Anchor will be available from stores again starting tomorrow, 10 September. Look for the cd in a record shop near you. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:56 AM CST Friday, September 6, 2002 Last night was the monumental Denison Witmer cd release/tour kickoff show at The Fire in Philadelphia. Thanks to all of the people who came out to see Denison with Adam Arcurago and Audible. If you didn't go to the show, Denison was joined by Steve Yutzy-Burkey on guitar/bass and Scott French (aka Psychotron) on drums. Philadelphia Songs finally made it through customs after subjecting both Denison and I to great amounts of stress. First, the cds were delayed because of the tragic flooding in Prague. Then, the cds arrived last Friday, just after customs closed for the three day weekend. Our shipment was lucky enough to be picked for a detailed inspection on Tuesday and then sat in a warehouse for three days awaiting inspection. After trying many different avenues, a Supervisor in customs had sympathy on our plight and arranged an inspection yesterday afternoon. Denison was able to arrive just in time to pick up the cds before the warehouse closed. For me, this was just the beginning of the excitement. I arrived at the show, quickly packed up several boxes and sent them off to our distributors, the kindly folks at Redeye. After the show, I hauled myself to midtown Manhattan and dropped off cds for Josh at Fanatic. The radio/press campaign start today for the record. So, anyhow, that's my high drama story. It was a great night all the same. Denison is hitting the road on 12 September and show have his live tour-only cds with him then. The cds/booklets are done for this, but the covers are being embossed at the moment. And tour-only means just that, you can only get the from him on tour. The magical Joey Sweeney was at the show last night after band practice. The Trouble with Sweeney are set to do several dates with Denison in September as part of a 2 1/2 week tour and will be going out for several dates in October and some West Coast touring in November. The Trouble will be playing at the Northern Liberties festival on Saturday. It's free. Come on out to the rock. I'm going to Brooklyn on Monday at see The Microphones at Pete's Candy Store. Love that Phil Elvrum. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 12:53 PM CST [ Archives ]