Barkers CD release extravaganza (Memphis/St. Louis/Chicago)
contents: nothing but self-promotion. This is the last time, I swear. I just got back from the CD manufacturer with a carload of CDs! We are loading up the van for a short trip up the Miss (pruned to 3 dates, but we'll be coming back in July). A few P2'ers have told me they're coming to one show or another, and I want to encourage that sort of behavior to the maximum allowed by law. We are going to Memphis tomorrow, playing at the High Tone if I'm not mistaken, then to St. Louis to play our Big CD Release Show (at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room) with Tinhorn, who are also making that their Big CD Release Show. Saturday night we are at Lounge Ax in Chicago with the Webb Brothers. All y'all who are in town, please introduce yourself. And buy a CD! $10 cheap. If you've never heard [of] us, point your browser at http://www.mp3.com/thebarkers and listen to a song or two. Thanks, Bill Gribble
Re: Jon Emery on KUT Radio
Christopher Adams [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I recently started listening to KUT on the web from Austin. I started with Mark Rubin's "Overnight" show, though it comes on a bit late. Then I discovered Tom Pittman (I believe he is with the Austin Lounge Lizards) hosting live shows on the LiveSet show. This week, Sunday April 25th from 8-9 CST, he will host Jon Emery. Actually, any KUT DJ can host Live Set. They sort of rotate. Overnight DJ Jeff Johnston asked the Barkers to do a Live Set on May 30, which we're pretty excited about. Another show to listen to is Folkways, on Saturday morning. Lots of live local and touring music, and despite the name it's not all folky. There are several DJs who take turns, and they range from Celtic to folky to more bluegrassy in their tastes. Also, KUT carries This American Life on Saturday afternoon, which is my favorite NPR program, and not too many NPR affiliates seem to carry it. Bill Gribble Barkers mp3's at http://www.mp3.com/thebarkers
The Barkers : mp3s, new record, tour, etc.
Hey y'all. I've been pretty quiet on the list lately, I know, but I'm throwing this blatant self promotion out there anyway. My band (the Barkers) have just finished our first album. It's being manufactured right now and thanks to the glorious freedom of self-releasing I can state that the release date is not a Tuesday at all but rather Wednesday April 27th. As we speak I'm uploading mp3's of a few songs to mp3.com. I've never done this before so I have no idea how or when they'll show up there. I'm putting them in the "pop" genre but don't let that scare you. The Barkers do have a bit of ELO-nature but we also have a goodly amount of twang. The album is called Burn Your Piano, and you will be able to get it at selected discriminating record stores (probably Waterloo and Sound Exchange in Austin and Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis) or from the band when we come to your town. Or by mail. Speaking of which, Tues Apr 20Continental Club (Austin) Tues Apr 27Continental Club (Austin) Thurs Apr 29High Tone (Memphis, TN) FriApr 30Duck Room [Blueberry Hill] (St. Louis, MO) SatMay 1Lounge Ax (Chicago, IL) Thurs May 6(unconfirmed) St. Louis FriMay 6(unconfirmed) Kansas City SatMay 7(unconfirmed) Lawrence KS Hopefully we'll get those unconfirmed dates solidified and y'all can come out and see us. In the mean time, check mp3.com for a sampling of songs from the CD. Pre-production CD-Rs available to press and radio types in the towns we're going to. Thanks, Bill Gribble
BMI vs. ASCAP?
I give up trying to look at the applications and figure out which one is which. There are these songs, they are on a record, I want to collect the big $$$ when they break the Top 40, and I have no publishing affiliation... which one of these do I pick, and which forms do I fill out? Thanks, Bill Gribble
Re: Epulse snip
Bill Silvers [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Stumbling upon Austin's charismatic Meat Purveyors at the Yard Dog folk art gallery, where they fired up the crowd with wry hillbilly originals like "We Kill Evil" and "I'm More Man than You'll Ever Be (and More Woman Than You'll Ever Have)." It's a nitpick, but "We Kill Evil" is actually a wry retro arena heavy metal original courtesy of Austin's Pocket Fish-R-Men. Brant Binghamon of the Fish-R-Men was in an awesome chimurenga/zydeco/Western Swing band called the Horsies with guitarist Bill Anderson of TMP, and TMP does several Fish-R-Men tunes, including the crowd pleaser "Go Out Smoking". Bill Gribble
Re: Barkers, Orange Mothers??
"David Markovits" [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Off to Austin next weekend, Can anyone tell me about these bands? They are playing at the Continental Club Thursday evening. The Orange Mothers are something you just have to experience. They have really very little twang at all; their songs are mainly straightforward pop. But that's a little like saying GWAR is just a straightforward heavy metal band. Their front man Ethan Azarian is a certifiable nutcase, and I mean that as a compliment. It's always fun to play with them. I play bass for the Barkers so I don't have a lot of perspective. The songwriting has elements of Tom Waits, Kurt Weill, Harry Nilsson, and Beatles, with a healthy shot of country. Our main singer Alice Spencer has been in rock bands, string bands, convention-and-wedding standards bands, and done Patsy Cline in the "Always, Patsy Cline" musical, and all of that shows up in her singing and songwriting. The show at the Continental is the day before we start mixing our first record! So we're pretty excited about the band and the gig and I'm sure it will be a great show. You should come out and introduce yourself. Bill Gribble The Barkers
majordomo/listproc change in P2?
I noticed that mail from all the mailing lists I'm on that use u.washington.edu as a host suddenly started going into my inbox instead of the correct folder for that list... I split based on the contents of the Sender field, which just changed from POSTCARD2-owner@ to owner-postcard2@ I think that signifies a change from Majordomo to Listproc, but I could be wrong. Anyway, if your P2 mail suddenly is overflowing your inbox rather than overflowing its own box, that's probably why. Bill Gribble
Re: Boot recommendations?
Brad Bechtel [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: But no black, relatively plain, pointy tipped cowboy boots. So what's a good brand? What's a good brand to avoid? Any tips for a finer shopping experience? I have a pair just like you describe (well, almost... they're ropers). They are Justin bullhide and I got em here in Austin. I don't know too much about boot brands but these are of fine construction, fit great, and are comfortable as can be. I had to look a while to find plain ones, too, even in a bootopolis like Austin. Good luck, Bill Gribble
Radio/media for tour/record promotion?
My band is setting up a very short tour up the Mississippi corridor from Austin to launch the record that we'll be finishing any day now. We'd like to have (gasp!) people at the shows, even though we don't get out of Austin too much, so we're trying to find media outlets that we can barrage with hookers and blow. I'm thinking radio appearances, reviews of the record, in-stores, mentions in "recommended" lists, etc. The band is the Barkers; we played at Twangfest II and have a song on the Edges/P2 comp CD. We're more pop than alt-country but there's a significant amount of country in there. It looks like we are going to go to the following cities, in more or less this order: Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Columbia MO, Kansas City, Lawrence/Topeka/Manhattan? somewhere in Kansas. I'm trying to find out what the weekly entertainment rags and left-end FM stations might be pliable; what record stores might be willing to do in-stores for a band with self-released product; what DJs might set up studio appearances in a likely time slot. Any info for me? Thanks, Bill Gribble The Barkers
Re: Tweedy quote
"Chris Orlet" [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: How can anyone say Tweety is reinventing himself by 'creating' tired old 70s pop? Your slam at "tired old '70s pop" is just as ignorant as other people's slams at "tired old twangy country music". Don't be a moron. Bill Gribble
Re: Tweedy quote/alt.country (LONG and IRRITATED)
James Gerard Roll [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I mean how can people deny UT's influence when the Alt. Country Bible (No Depression) is named after one of their albums?? Somebody help me here?? ND is *some* people's bible. Honestly I have never even seen a single issue of it. Last night I read a couple of the interviews in the ND book and I was not blown away by the writing. And I have never listened to a single Uncle Tupelo album. I saw Son Volt on Austin City Limits and they bored me. People's experiences are different, even within a "community" like alt.country/P2. Bill Gribble
Re: Tweedy quote
"Chris Orlet" [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Dare someone try to explain why so many artists/bands (Wilco, Son Volt, Fulks, apparently Old 97s etc) are so intent on distancing themselves from alt-country, even to the point of making 70s/Beach Boy-esque pop albums? Some people like country, and pop, and rock, and jazz, and blues, and opera, and all of these things inform their music. That's what alt-country is about, in my mind (rock and country and other influences being synthesized to create something new). Songwriters have phases and stages and the ideas that move them change over time. I often feel that alt-country as a Thing is way too fickle. People are demanding twangy jukeboxes in funny western shirts instead of creative music and songwriting. That's sort of bogus. I'd want to distance myself from it, too. Nobody wants to be rassled into being a genre cliche. Bill Gribble
