Boy Howdy! Carrie Elkin is in town!

News FLASH!!!!

Carrie has agreed to return to Bellingham after her gig in Portland on Saturday to play here once more.  She will be playing at Vartanyan Estate Winery, 1628 Huntley Rd., Bellingham this Sunday, August 1, 6 to 8pm.  The show is $8.00 dollars [and it all goes to Carrie]. If you missed her at the tavern, you missed a lot.  Here is the opportunity to see and hear her perform in an entirely different venue.  Don't miss this opportunity.  You won't be sorry. Directions are here.

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Carrie Elkin is a singer/songwriter who hails from Austin, Texas.  She's on the road and she's here!  I know her music from hearing her perform  Whole Wheat Radio Concerts on-line and hearing her music streamed there. I've heard enough to confirm that she has a spirited and joyously infectious presence not to be missed.  She is a gem of a song writer and performer. Do not miss her should she pass through your town.  Here is her tour schedule.  I suggest you get on Carrie's mailing list or friend  her on Facebook to make sure you do not miss her.  

 

For those of you here in Bellingham-town, do yourself a favor and get thee to the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern, 902 State St.  Wednesday, July 28th.  The music starts at 9:30pm and that cold, refreshing beer [No Crap on Tap] awaits you as soon as you cross the threshold!  Sure you can stay home and watch another rerun of CSI with a can of Bud or you could do something for yourself and the health of traveling troubadours all across this great land in supporting artists who live and work where the rubber meets the road. Treat yourself to an earful of great talent and do some friendly canoodling with your like-minded music lovers in the bargain. It's summer.  Come on out and play.

Here's a listen to Carrie singing "Questions about Angels".

Independent Music 101

Marian Call is a talented musician who, after years of studying music, found the music industry lacking. She's one of the first of many musicians raised in a world of technology and entitlement who do not easily buy into existing business models of earning a living. She's wise for her years in that she suspects (I think rightly) that being sponsored and supported by an industry comes at a cost. She is also savvy enough to cultivate her own fanbase through the internet. A tremendous amount of focus and work goes into this on her behalf. Her fans are financing her next album.

There are many singer/songwriters who do this already and many, it seems, where initially forced into learning how to do it for the sake of survival. I find Marian unique (but my no means alone) in that her embracing technology grew alongside her cultivation of her talents. In this short video Marian talks about that process and how it fits her values.

I found as I listened that we have much to learn from those who come after us wanting the same things that we want: freedom, independence and choice. They deserve our interest and support. I'm not so sure that they are not born to bring us greater understanding in how to live large in freedom and prosperity. I think they may be hard-wired for nothing less and I think we should pay attention to what they are doing and saying.




Thanks to "Alaska Dispatch" for posting this video.

Staying Warm

"All at once, the weight has lifted
Forgotten the weeping all last night
She's wearing a frown borrowed from her father
Her head is tilted a little to the right.."
~ Peter Mulvey
Tender Blindspot,
The Trouble with Poets, 2000

Years ago when I first moved to Bellingham WA, I went to a concert that was held in an ungodly hot office up four flights or so in a commercial building in town. I had heard Peter Mulvey on Whole Wheat Radio and found his music great and that is what set me to attend. He was playing with David Goodrich that evening along with a local upstart, Korby Lenker. I recall this concert not only because it was insanely hot in there but because the force of the talent in the room was unrelenting. Peter Mulvey is a musician's musician and, I think, an awe inspiring songwriter and poet. I hear his influences in others music all the time and when I do, I'm always returning in my mind to that steamy little House Concert in back in 2004. When Mulvey plays time stops, period. The relationship that he has forged with his craft is that strong and apparent when he plays. Any chance to see or hear him perform should be sought out and savored.

Fortunately for all of us we can get a taste of this talent without even leaving our comfort zone tonight a 9 pm (PST) because he is playing at Whole Wheat Radio tonight and it is being simulcast for everyone's enjoyment. Just click on this link and you are there and ready to listen in. Information about Peter, his opening act Anais Mitchell, and a chat room to discuss the concert or leave messages for Peter and Anais will appear. I hope you allow yourself the experience of Peter Mulvey. As for me, I'm going to pour myself a glass of wine, listen in and maybe turn up the heat...you know, just for old times sake.

Esther Golton and News from the Northern Lights

I received my CD of Esther Golton's "Aurora Borealis: Conversations with Alaska's Northern Lights" just as I was arriving home from a music festival. I slapped it into the player as I was unpacking the truck. I didn't get very far with the unpacking before I found myself sitting in front of the speaker mesmerized by the music that she was producing. The first thing I thought of was "How in the name of God did she capture so much of that atmosphere so clearly?" How, indeed.

Esther is a fabulously gifted musician but even more, that she can actually translate a natural phenomena like the Aurora Borealis in such an accessible and fantastic way musically is awe-inspiring. She shares here what is essential of a natural occurrence that leaves many of us doomed to observe slack-jawed, wordless and in awe. She just keeps going deeper and deeper into the layers of music and brings us closer and closer to the radiance of that phenomenal experience.

I hear so many different influences in each cut that they rise above mere tunes. They truly are conversations with the Aurora itself, just as the title suggests. She has achieved her goal in this. This is subtly different from what you hear as a ambient music in the bookstore or yoga class. She has listened, observed, received the information and translated it in her very individual way for us to enjoy. I've listened to the CD several times (my favorite mode being intimately on my iPod) and I'm convinced I hear an invitation from the Aurora herself. Aurora, the goddess of dawn and new beginnings, speaks here and this CD clearly invites us to open our eyes and see the natural world with all the spectacular gifts this earth displays every moment, as if it is our first morning and our beginning, too.

Esther is having a special CD release party that anyone can attend on-line on Saturday, September 12th at Whole Wheat Radio. These live concerts can be attended on-line and are as easy to access as clicking a link to listen which can be done here. The party starts at 7 pm Alaska time [fashionably later Eastern - you can do the math here]. These concerts are a lot of fun and they are interactive, if you wish. It is Esther's birthday on that day, too. Judging by listening to this CD and her conversations, she has much to be proud of in the company she has kept this year.

Making Sure That Music Never Dies

I'm not in the habit of posting things on my blog that consume more than 10 minutes of anyone's time but I'm going to post this because sometimes, it takes more than 10 minutes to examine an important issue. Besides I want it handy to refer back to. This issue is close to my heart and it might be to yours too. It is very inspiring as well as insightful, therefore worth the attention. I encourage you to take the time to watch it.

Hardly any of us, even if we do not watch television or listen to radio lives in a vacuum that excludes the lives of the young we mentor or humor or herd through their lives. This video holds within in it a strong message on how we can help understand our role in seeing to it that the talents of the young are not bartered to the highest bidder of popular culture. We have given our children dollars and robbed them of sense in the process. We have also let our guard down as corporations have swallowed up the forums for talent to be shared. This video, shows in no-uncertain-terms how manipulative the record industry has become and how confused young people are. This video shows, too, how powerful the music business is becoming as it separates from the record industry and regains it's integrity. It is deeply inspirational in this regard.

Art and success can be an artist's destiny. The responsibility really falls on us to step up with this knowledge and share it to encourage and support the talented and aspiring in defining themselves.


Before Music Dies



Thank you Whole Wheat Radio for posting this on Facebook and thank you to Annette Shacklett for bringing it to Jim's attention.

Rod Picott Concert

One of the nice things about live music events is the sense of being with the musician in the same room. Doubly nice is the intimacy of a house concert where you get the feeling you have just gathered with friends to settle into hearing some good music. You cannot reproduce that sensation on a recording...even on a live recording. What you may not know is that you CAN share in a virtual real time house concert experience by attending a concert on line. It may surprise you how intimate it feels as you listen in real time. Check it out.


There is a good one coming up this Saturday on Whole Wheat Radio at 8pm (Bellingham time). Rod Picott.


Do this:


Listen by clicking here.


Open this page to find out about the artist.


Open this page to join the fun during the concert.


Settle in with a favorite beverage and try this experience. You may be surprised. There will be a little chat room to discuss what you are hearing as you will be with other listeners sharing the experience, should you desire or have any questions. It is fairly easy and straight forward. Seriously, the hardest part about the whole thing will be getting the cork out of your wine bottle.


I have picked this video to share because one of the things I love about a live performance is the stories that sometimes shake out. Enjoy and join me this Saturday evening.