Two New Shows at the Calvin Theatre on sale this Friday - Josh Ritter - Whose Live Anyway?

Josh returns to Northampton to headline the Calvin Theatre for the first time! Josh Ritter released what many call his masterpiece in 2006: His folk-rock opus The Animal Years is a meticulously constructed album of protest songs that seem somehow to exist both in the real world and in one of Ritter's own imagination. In Ritter's half-sung, half-spoken vocals and unlikely first-person songs, Bob Dylan's influence shines through, but Ritter is far less sardonic -- and more likely to pull back for a wider view of the way the world's injustices meet up with its beauty. His 2007 album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter adds urgency and distortion to his reading of modern Americana (without losing the anachronistic pop-culture references; one song, "To the Dogs or Whoever," drops Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc and Calamity Jane into the belly of Jonah's whale), and last year's Live at the 9:30 Club puts those songs in front of an audience in Washington, D.C.

Josh Ritter + The Low Anthem, Thursday, December 3rd at 8PM at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton.

Whose Live Anyway is 90 minutes of hilarious improvised comedy and song all based on audience suggestions. Ryan Stiles (Drew Carey Show, Two and a Half Men), Greg Proops (True Jackson - VP), Chip Esten (The Office, New Adventures of Old Christine) and Jeff Davis (Whose Line) will leave you gasping with the hilarious scenes and songs they invent before your eyes. Audience participation is the key to the show so bring your suggestions and you might be asked to join the cast onstage. Whose Live Anyway performs some of the games made famous from the Emmy Nominated TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? plus some new ones.

Whose Live Anyway? Saturday, May 8th at 8PM at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton.

Barefoot Truth at Pearl Street this Friday. Stream the new album Threads this Thursday!

After touring as one band with Pete Francis of Dispatch, playing over 30 colleges plus their first national dates and major festivals, the only disappointing part of 2009 for Barefoot Truth is that they could only put out two new EP’s. Delays in the recording process (perfectionists?) meant the release of their brand new full length, Threads is being pushed to February 2010. In the mean time, BFT are hitting the road this fall to debut some songs from the upcoming release.

Fortunately, anyone who signs up to join The Barefoot Collective – Barefoot Truth’s free rep/fan community – won’t even have to wait that long to get actual previews of Threads. On October 1^st, the band will post the first half of the album to stream for 24 hours in The Barefoot Collective section of http://www.barefoottruth.com/.

Furthermore, on December 1^st, BFT will post the full album to stream for a day, letting its closest fans hear the record months before it goes on sale.

Since its inception in 2005 BFT has gone from a dorm room acoustic duo to a five-piece rock band including Weissenborn lap guitar, upright bass, lead harmonica and didgeridoo, keyboards, plus a drummer who sings lead vocals. The groups studio albums and outlook has grown from stripped-down optimistic sing-a-longs to the environmentally themed songs of their most recent full length, Walk Softly; Barefoot Truth are members of Rock The Earth and 1% For The Planet.

As Barefoot’s sound has changed, their relationship with fans has remained consistent. “It was the people closest to us who convinced us to record Changes In The Weather [their 2005 debut album] in the first place” says Will Evans who fronts the band on drums, vocals and sometimes guitar. “From the beginning we always had this network of people who were willing to spread our music throughout campuses handing out sampler CD’s, putting up posters for shows and generally keeping the buzz going.”

In late 2008, the band worked closely with its growing team of supporters to harness this enthusiasm, forming The Barefoot Collective. The BFT designed a free, reps only “portal” of their website featuring exclusive news, blogs from band members, free download links, access to promo materials, and a sign up to help sell merchandise in exchange for free tickets. Members of The Collective were regularly updated about the track listing, recording and release dates so, as Evans puts it, “When we decided we were no longer going to release it on October 6^th, we all said ‘there is no way the Collective is waiting that long to hear it.’”

Besides hearing Threads months in advance, fans that join the Barefoot Collective will be treated to a free download of the band’s newest EP Life Is Calling.

Click here to sign up: http://www.barefoottruth.com/index.php?s=reps

See Barefoot Truth at 7PM this Friday at Pearl Street with Spiritual Rez and John Beninghof of Old Silver Band. Tickets here.

Richard Thompson and Loudon Wainwright, Tuesday 10/6 at the Calvin.

When I first heard about the “Loud & Rich” tour a few months back my initial reaction was finally a double bill that’s aesthetically pitch-perfect…because whether you’re a Thompson or a Wainwright fan they’re gonna levitate the place! My second thought was that it’s nearly impossible to write anything less than a novel about the significance of either of them that comes close to telling the whole story. Loudon Wainwright & Richard Thompson have long been US/UK brethren, penning tales with honesty, humor & wit. It’s worth noting that the few Wainwright recordings nominated for Grammy awards were I’m Alright (1985) & More Love Songs (1986) – both of which Thompson produced & performed on. Richard also toured with Loudon during the ‘90s and in 2003 Thompson contributed to Loud’s album “So Damn Happy.”

This tour has been a long time coming & a stop in Northampton, a community that has embraced them both for decades, was inevitable. Does anyone else recall Richard’s legendary early show/late show performances – veritable residencies often running 2 or 3 nights straight, at the Iron Horse back in the 80’s? Unreal. Great times & jaw dropping shows, every one.

Loudon Wainwright's adept and humorous songwriting and stage banter have been beloved by his loyal fans, an audience he calls 'small but well formed," since the 70s, with its Dead Skunks and M*A*S*H musical walkabouts. His distaste for most things PC may have secured his obscure position relative to the radar. From early classics like “Rufus is a Tit Man” (yes, that Rufus, and no, not a tit-man after all) to “I Wish I Was a Lesbian,” Wainwright has written whatever the hell he feels like writing with such gutter bravado that it’s impossible not to laugh regardless of your politics and hang-ups.

Richard Thompson is one the finest guitar players alive. From his early years with Fairport Convention he has consistently challenged himself as a guitarist. On acoustic classics like “Genesis Hall” or bone-chilling electric litanies like “Shoot Out The Lights” Thompson delivers with a wry humor & humility not often found in other virtuoso guitarists whose substance usually goes no further than technical prowess. Richard is a songwriter and storyteller, and the guitar is his nicotine delivery system.

On Tuesday Loud & Rich will performing both alone & together. I cannot think of a better way to combat the existential got no public option teabaggers on my lawn overdraft fee new boss same as the old boss blues than an evening with two of the most gifted entertainers on the planet.

Dan Kandel/Jim Neill

Get your seats here.

Win tickets to Seven Nations at the Iron Horse this Friday. Just name a bagpipe song.

We'll draw a random winner to see Seven Nations this Friday at 7PM at the Iron Horse in Northampton. Either comment (if you're reading this on Facebook) or email jneill@iheg.com if you're reading the blog. Just name any song with bagpipes to qualify. The band's name, by the way, refers to the seven nations of the Celtic world, now known as Scotland , Ireland , Wales , Brittany , Cornwall , the Isle of Man , and parts of Spain .

Seven Nations Career Highlights:

• Performed at the Torch Lighting ceremony at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
• Subject of PBS Special “An Evening with Seven Nations”
• Chosen by Extreme Sports to create the music theme for their theme, which airs internationally
• Featured on CNN in a Worldbeat special airing internationally
• Selected by Dewar’s Scotch for a multi-million dollar profile campaign and sponsorship.
• Featured in national print campaign with exposure in over 20 major magazines
• Seven Nations CD flown on the Space Shuttle Endeavor by Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield
• First American band to be asked by the National Trust of Scotland to do a return engagement
• Rolling Stone Presents Showcase and VIP party in San Francisco in 2001
• Performed for the televised opening ceremony of the New York Marathon in late 2001
• National Major-market Hard Rock Café tour in 2001

7N Quotes:

• "Explosive Seven Nations blows Palace into orbit ... you'd be hard pressed to find a more original, unique but accessible group ... powerful self-penned tunes and transcendent live shows. A musical force to be reckoned with, Seven Nations' day has come." - Albany Times-Union
• "Arguably the best independent band in America." - Watauga Democrat
• "Seven Nations is blazing a new path in the "indie" music world for others to follow. Rarely has there been a CD with such variety so skillfully played, a testament to the multi-talented Seven Nations." - Brigid's Feast
• "Full of hooks, addictive melodies, and precise musicianship, Seven Nations may be the next frontrunners for the summer tour feel-good band of the new millennium." - MusicBlitz
• "The music was riveting ... folks were dancing in the aisles ... the cheers were deafening." - Independent Mail
• "Seven Nations, which melds bagpipes and fiddles with blazing electric guitars and drums ... exited their tour bus and walked in to a standing ovation." - San Francisco Chronicle
• "Absolutely hypnotic!" - The Item
• "Wow, what a discovery! Each song is laden with hooks and melodies that stick in your brain, thanks to songwriter Kirk McLeod, who pens the best lyrics since Phil Lynott. This is the stuff of legends."
  - Chaos Realm
• "The band's music is a highly textured blend of sounds, tones, and emotions, all uniting a common theme. " - Jacksonville Times-Union
• "Seven Nations taught a crowd of nearly 10,000 one important lesson: bagpipes rock." - Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
• "Not only does this music make you want to get up and move to the beat, but the band's overwhelming abundance of spirit and energy keeps their audience begging for more." - St. Augustine Record
• "One of America's soon-to-be-most-widely-recognized Celtic bands." - Creative Loafing
• "Billed by Planet Radio DJs as the "Dave Matthews Band with bagpipes," the five man group takes rock and roll, Celtic, and folk music and turns them upside down." - Indie Music.com
• "...if such a thing is possible, the band's stage shows are even more energetic than their recordings."
  -Rambles Magazine
• "The packed house chanted and rocked with enthusiasm. When the opportunity comes to see them again, I know I'll be there." - Global Music Evolution
• "Seven Nations could do for a Celtic and pop music mix what the Squirrel Nut Zippers did for rocked-up swing." - Denver Post
• "This is a group to watch for in the future." - Green Man Reviews

Rescued from the Archives of Oblivion: Anthony More "Judy Get Down"

I was writing a radio commercial to run on WRSI-The River for the Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright "Loud and Rich" concert at the Calvin on 10/6 and used "That's My Daughter" as one of the Loudon songs, which is actually a Peter Blegvad song and was also in the movie Knocked Up. Blegvad is a deft and literate lyricist whose lyrics frequently feature word games, literary references and complex and extended rhyme schemes. He was in The Golden Palominos on some of their best albums. The Palominos were a collaborative of sorts, congregated by drummer Anton Feir, and included Jack Bruce, Michael Stipe, Matthew Sweet, Syd Straw, John Lydon, and so many more. GREAT albums. Before that, Blegvad was also in the avant-pop bands Slapp Happy and Henry Cow and showed up in the Recommended Records stable frequently. His 80's solo albums were often collaborations with Andy Partridge of XTC and contain some great songs. I used to play "Lonely Too" on my radio show Terpsichorean Cacophony on WMUA at UMass in the mid-80s. Blegvad is also a cartoonist. From 1992 to 1999, The Independent ran Blegvad's strangely surreal, comic strip, Leviathan, which blended some of the most interesting elements of Krazy Kat with a coming-of-age-esque story akin to Calvin and Hobbes.

Now, to diverge (almost) entirely from Peter and get to the song that inspired this post, here's a YouTube post of Anthony More's "Judy Get Down." Anthony was in Slapp Happy with Peter. My old pal Jay McCoy (who ran Grape Street Records in the Stop & Shop plaza in Hadley) turned me onto this song when I was still in high school. It's a pip.


Oh why not. Here's Loudon doing "That's My Daughter." A classic already.


Finally, here's a link to a baffling website called Amateur that Peter Blegvad is somehow involved with. For a quarter of a century, the folks at Amateur have been quietly engaged in the exploration and mapping of a territory which can be described both by what it is not: ("not science, not philosophy, not art, not literature") - and by what it is: (here the word 'weird' comes to mind, and 'preposterous'). Take, for instance, Amateur's obsession with 'numinous objects.' These, the website helpfully explains, are objects 'charged' with sufficient 'immanence' to "rip a rent in the fabric of normal awareness." The Amateur website catalogues and grades the numinosity of hundreds of objects, ranging from "a yolk of leather in a tobacco egg" to, in fact, a common doorbell.

Iceland's folktronica darlings múm Sunday 10/25 at the Iron Horse

Iceland's múm are pioneers of “folktronica,” creating some of the most unique and pleasing computerized electronic music of our time. Originally a duo, they have evolved into a collective of musicians. The band mixes musical elements, judiciously combining tape decks, effects, laptops, toy microphones, various instruments, old found recordings, and vocals, with their own recordings, contributions from friends, gypsy folk music, and other ephemera.

Mum’s celebrated debut album Yesterday was Dramatic - Today is OK received glowing press and widespread praise. With the release of three more albums and extensive touring, the band is now decidedly on the musical map with their Icelandic peers Sigur Ros and Bjork but their ever-growing following extends from their native Iceland throughout the world.

In their spare time, the band has pursued projects that stretch the boundaries of your typical pop band activity. They composed their own soundtrack for the classic 1925 silent Sergei Eisenstein film, ‘Battleship Potemkin,’ as well as composing for theater, most notably two radio theater plays (one of which won the Nordic Radio-theater prize). In 2005 they were invited to Amsterdam by the Holland Festival to collaborate with the National Dutch Chamber Orchestra to create a performance piece based around various compositions of the late avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis for one of the centre piece shows at the festival.

In recent years they have returned to making records and recently finished recording their fifth studio album, Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know, which came out in August of 2009. This album reveals a soft, almost restrained collection of tracks, perhaps making up in mellifluous calm what it lacks - sometimes - in the fire and dazzle that characterized much of 2007's Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy.

Most of múm's albums have a central concept that unifies the songs and in this case it seems to be water. From pondering the likelihood of romance between a fish and a seashell, to the underwater sounds running through tracks like the excellent Sing Along, to numerous references in lyrics and song titles like A River Don't Stop To Breathe," a tidal ebb and flow pervades the whole album with the peaceful, beautiful sound they are known for.

Múm has changed over time, but still managed to stay consistent with their amazing sound techniques, beautifully haunting music and vocals, and undeniable skill and appeal which has solidified their place at the top of the electronic folk scene for years.

-Caroline Bastarache