HowWasTheShow Podcasts ready for prime time!

The September, 2007 HowWasTheShow.com CD Review Podcast recorded for Minneapoliscast.com is now available for your listening pleasure. Each month, the HowWasTheShow staff gathers to share new local music and talk about why they like it. Fortunately for you, they record these conversations so you can listen in.

Listen to the latest edition of the podcast here.

If I don't say so myself (I act as host), the September edition really shows the HowWasTheShow staff getting the hang of this "radio on the internet" thing.

Songs played and discussed this month:

“Solstice” by The Dale Hush Hush, “Happyhappyhappy” by Rich Mattson, “In The Movies” by Glorious Monster, “Eisenhower is the Father” by Best Friends Forever, and "An Imagined Civil State” by Fort Wilson Riot.

Also, the HowWasTheshow podcast interview with Fort Wilson Riot about their indie-rock opera Idigaragua is still available here.

Don't touch that dial! There's a lot more excitement planned for the coming months.

Jan, The Delaminators, The Cates, David Beckey and more - Something to do Thursday

Here's something extremely cool to do Thursday.

The band Jan, featuring Jeaneen Gauthier, begins their month-long residency for Minneseries, sponsored by 89.3 the Current, Reveille Magazine and The Minnesota Music Academy at the Nomad World Pub.

This month Jan celebrates the release of the new album, Everything Must Go (Guilt Ridden Pop, 2007.)

Jaeneen Gauthier was recently interviewed for Reveille Magazine by Jim Walsh. Read that here.

Download some of Jan's older songs, "My Real Family Lives in Canada" or "Fred Rogers." Or click over to her MySpace page to hear "Dumb Guy."

The Nomad World Pub is located on Minneapolis' West Bank @ 501 Cedar.

Indie press covers indie-rock opera - Idigaragua premiers at the Bedlam Theater

Idigaragua, the ambitious indie-rock opera by local band Fort Wilson Riot debuted last night at the Bedlam Theater on the West Bank. The musical and theatrical event, directed by Jeremey Catteron, has quickly become one of the must see events of the next couple weeks. The show runs through September 16th. (See the schedule of performances here.)

Online indie music press sites HowWasTheShow and Reveille Magazine have provided exhaustive coverage of the show. Here's some of what they've assembled:

• HWTS: Podcast interview with Fort Wilson Riot and Jeremey Catterton
• Reveille: Interview and show preview feature
• Reveille: Complete lyrics to the show
• HWTS: Review of preview performance at the Bedlamn 9/6

Song of the Day - "Complicated Fun" by the Suicide Commandos

See you at the Fair on Sunday? Remember it's not only gonna be awesome, it's gonna be free! (Minus your Fair entry, of course.)

"Complicated Fun" by the Suicide Commandos (Rhapsody free play link)

Jim Walsh interviews Steve Almass
Pat O'Brien promises he won't show up at your door to threaten you into going (but he'd like to.)

June 21st, 1977

June 21st, 1977

Elvis stopped, twice; grinning sidelong
That toothy, twinkling, contagious smile,
Then continued on. “Unchained Melody.”

That night he held the world in his arms and squeezed.
“I need your love, I need your love.”
Six Tuesdays later he was still squeezing,

But on Wednesday I got up, and Elvis did not.
It’s 30 years later. We should remember
Our mothers. We should sing for them

While we can.

by David de Young, 8/20/07

Related link:

Youtube Video of "Unchained Melody" from a Rapid City, South Dakota performance taped for the CBS-TV special: Elvis In Concert, June 21st, 1977.

Kari Tauring Book Release Party continues despite bridge collapse

Kari Tauring signs a copy of The Runes: A Human Journey for Maren Amdal

(Minneapolis, Minnesota - August 1st, 2007)

The book release for Kari Tauring's The Runes: A Human Journey took place tonight at Ingebretsen's Scandinavian Gifts on Lake Street in Minneapolis. At about 6:30 p.m. I got into my car and onto 35W heading north. I wondered what was up with the Minneapolis skyline. It was hazy, almost smoky looking, and I thought to myself that the air quality must be particularly bad this evening. Upon arriving at Ingebretsen's I soon found out there was an entirely different cause, that the haze was the result of vehicles burning on the collapsed 35W bridge over the Mississippi River. (It's interesting to note on that Wikipedia link that the entry is being updated minute by minute at this point as the death toll continues to rise.)

Ingebretsen's was abuzz with the news, but all we had at the store was an internet connection and a radio. No TV. I also immediately noticed I had no cell phone service due to the carriers being jammed with people calling their loved ones to see if they were okay. No doubt, you are familiar with the rest of this story from the news as it became the lead story internationally, front page on websites from cnn.com to bbc.co.uk.

This was the backdrop for our celebratory event, a party to mark the release of Kari Tauring's first major book release.

Kari's group Huldre, assisted by dancer Tamara Rogers, performed first outside on Lake Street and then inside Ingebretsen's. Nearly everyone in attendance bought a copy of the new book, and Tauring signed many for attendees.

Below are a few photos from the event. Click here for the full set.

White Light Riot CD Release at The Fine Line

White Light Riot's CD Release Party for their long-awaited album Atomism was such a blowout of a rock show and so packed that the band sent out an apology via MySpace bulletin to fans who were turned away at the door.

The stellar bill at the Fine Line Saturday night, June 22nd, also featured The Alarmists and Chicago's Villains of Verona, who both put staged killer opening sets, making this a night to remember.

WLR's encore featured Jessy Greene on violin. And the show stopper, a cover of The Who's "My Generation" which featured front man Mike Schwandt stage diving into the crowd. "I almost hit the floor," he told me after the show. But this was no Jack Black splat. This was the real thing, and something you don't often see from relatively new local bands.

White Light Riot has been dubbed "commercial sounding" by some, but their musical integrity remains entirely intact as they seem both determined break the mold even while somehow still fitting into it perfectly.

See my full photo set from the show here, that include's Schwandt's leap into the crowd. Also, see Stacy Sandstrom's photos from the entire night.