News: April, 2010

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE TO APPEAR ON A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION AND HBO’S “TREME” THIS WEEKEND

Set your radios and DVRs for this weekend. Saturday, Justin Townes Earle will appear on Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. A longtime public radio favorite, PHC live this weekend from NYC’s Town Hall. Justin appears along with Broadway actress Kate Beahen and folk singer Heather Masse. Check HERE for local listings and airtimes

Sunday, Justin appears – and performs – on HBO’s Treme.

We can't say a ton, but here's what we can tell you: Justin appears on the episode with his dad, Steve Earle. There's acting. There's performing. And it all starts Sunday night at 10pm EST/9pm CST on HBO.

Treme is the latest effort from David Simon and Eric Overmyer, collaborators on TV shows like The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street. Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, Treme looks at ordinary people as they try to rebuild their lives, homes, and culture in the aftermath of the hurricane. The series has boasted quite a few amazing musical guests, including Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Galactic, Kermit Ruffins, and the Rebirth Brass Band.

If that weren't enough, check out JTE talking clothes, picking out clothes and just being stylish in THIS Barking Irons video

Finally, in mid-May, Justin is heading into the studio to make the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2009 record Midnight at the Movies.

Whew!

In what could be the most awesome thing sent to us all month, here's a video of a Janesville, WI show choir covering Firewater's "This Is My Life" off of their Bloodshot release, The Golden Hour. Says Firewater's ringleader Tod, "It's kind of impossible to describe the feeling I get from watching this."

This show is archived here.

The Blacks will appear TOMORROW (April 28th) on Chicago's local arts/news show 848.  It will air at 9 am Central time.   Listen to 91.5 WBEZ tomorrow in the Chicagoland (as you will likely be sitting in traffic somewhere....) or online HERE.

Maybe they will let the band takeover.  Maybe the band will take it over anyway.  Maybe they will be polite and answer the questions thoughtfully.  Maybe they will grab the mic and scream out the studio window that they're mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore a la Peter Finch in Network.

Who knows?  That's what makes the Blacks so much fun

Here's a grand interview with Exene Cervenka from the The Sunbreak in Seattle.  She talks about working with Ray Manzarek of the Doors, how X would jam to Carl Perkins tunes early on, why record stores are important, what her favorite albums are and so much more.  It's a great, informative read and, as we keep mentioning, that's getting rarer and rarer in the blogosphere.  There's even this little snippet that made us blush (for the record, we did NOT pay her to say this, or threaten her in any way.)

"Tell me a little about your relationship with Bloodshot Records. They're very akin spiritually to the vibe you've always been on."

Exene: "That's the first time I've ever heard of a record label being accused of spirituality--they're usually considered heartless bastards that everyone hates [laughs]. But not in the case of Bloodshot. Spirituality, indeed. They asked me to do a record, and I was thrilled to death, because I love Bloodshot Records, and they've been nothing but good to me. They really have worked hard. Everyone who works there is smart, intuitive, caring. I've done a couple of South-by-Southwests since I've been on Bloodshot. They just work their asses off to get this music out. They really believe in what they're doing, and they're awesome. Best label I've ever been on."

Last Saturday was Record Store Day, and by all accounts it was a rousing success all across the country.  Perhaps folks are coming to a greater realization that shopping for records is WAY more fun than downloading a bunch of ones and zeroes onto their hard drives in the bubble of their bedroom or office.

Several Bloodshot folks participated with in-store performances.  Here  are some field reports from the bands, fans and store owners.

SUPPORT LOCAL AND INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES!

You know, this indie music racket is a tough one.  We struggle, we plan, we do everything we can to mitigate all the travails that are heaped upon our artists in their tour vans.  Blown tires, shot transmissions, snowstorms, unscrupulous promoters, commercial indifference, bird flu, plagues, hangovers, faulty Mapquest directions, stalkers, and a hundred other factors have reared their ugly heads to disrupt tours.

But a VOLCANO?  In Iceland?  ICELAND?

That's a new one on us.  However, it is our duty to inform our European buddies that the Dex Romweber Duo has had to cancel their upcoming run through Spain and France due to the chaos in the air thanks to that F***ING Icelandic volcano eruption.

We're sorry about that (to the extent that we had anything to do with magma shooting out from the center of the earth...) We're gonna try to get them back as soon as we can.

As of this writing, the DRD are still planning on making their festival date in Kilkenny IRELAND.  But that could all change.  Maybe they'll hit by a meteor or something, who knows?

Just in time for Record Store Day—the DVD release of the independent documentary, "I Need That Record! The Death (and Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store" featuring Ian MacKaye, Thurston Moore, Mike Watt ... and Rob from Bloodshot! You can pick up the DVD exclusively at independent record stores starting tomorrow. For more information, visit: ineedthatrecord.com.

We never like to bore you with the ins and outs of this weird little business.  Suffice to say that sometimes we run out of a title and call it out of print.   Then, years later, a distributor (usually some European partner cleaning out their warehouse after they go out of business or something) and they send back things to us we thought we'd never see again.

So it was this week.

ACT FAST, we now have a very limited number of three titles, two of which have been out of print for YEARS, and one LP that disappeared off the shelves in short order after its release last year:

EXENE CERVENKA Somewhere Gone LP

JON RAUHOUSE  Steel Guitar Air Show CD

GRIEVOUS ANGELS Angels and Inbreds CD-EP (man, this one's been unavailable since the Clinton Administration....)

Ain't that the way of the world?  Just before hitting the road to do some dates with Jon Langford, Rosie had a bit of an accident at home and broke her arm.  For an amazing guitar player, a broken arm is a bit of a problem.

Thus, she has had to cancel this week's shows in the midwest.  Jon Langford will soldier on in Berwyn and Springfield, but alas St Louis will have to wait.

Dates in May we're gonna see about.  Stay tuned.

Sorry about that.  We'll get her back to Chicago and St Louis and beyond as soon as she can feed herself again.