once he found out that he would have access to video and lights for his EP release show at the bryant lake bowl, he had the idea to create a backdrop of photography and art by by some of his friends.  he lined up yours truly (um, me) and jenn barnett, wing young huie, sara montour, alexandra k, john alspach, and stacy schwartz.

my contribution to the show will be from my nyc snapshots series, taken last fall in…obviously…nyc.  i went there in august and it was about 850 degrees.  i brought three cameras and after the first half day, i schlepped it all back up to the hotel room and left in a skirt with pockets, my iPhone, and a credit card. and my room key!  geez.  it then only felt like 820 degrees.  i walked and walked and walked, and took almost all my photos with my aging phone.   i was very happy with the way they turned out – and one in particular caught ryan’s eye.  it was taken about 5 minutes before storms being pushed in from a hurricane further south dropped sheets and sheets of rain on the city for an hour.  i barely made it into a taxi in time, and i snapped the photo while i was hailing one.  i actually took two – this happened during the first half day that i was still toting big camera around, and i took it with both.  this is the one from the iPhone:

ryan said the first time he saw it that he wanted to use it as an album cover.  but!  someone had already claimed it as such the day before.  we stopped talking about it and he picked out one or two of the other photos in the series to use for posters/handbills.  months went by and the musician who originally claimed the photo for a cover went another direction.  ryan had decided to use another one of the series for the cover, a photo of a sign that says “cute souvenirs.”  we were working with the contrast and brightness to get it right for the cover and it wasn’t going well. i remembered i had taken a similar right-before-the-storm image with my nikon, so i pulled that out and sent it to him with a note that said, i just found this.  no one has ever seen it before.  i forgot i had it.  he replied a few minutes later saying, “that’s the cover.”

and so it is.  there’s always a story with these things.  cute story.  cute souvenirs.
please try to make it out to the bryant lake bowl on july 1st for this show – support local art, support local music!  details below,  see you there.

Thursday, July 1 - Vita.mn Presents:
Cute Souvenirs Session EP Release Show -
with guest Janey Winterbauer (and more) and a set by Zoo Animal
Bryant Lake Bowl Theater – Minneapolis, MN
$8 advance – $10 door. Buy Tickets Online (June 1) at BrownPaperTickets.com
or BLB Box Office: 612-825-8949
Doors: 9:30pm

from toothpaste for dinner dot com

well, it’s official.  after spending the last few-and-a-half-years in rural parts, paperlily HQ is now installed in NE minneapolis.  the essentials are unpacked:  the hard drive fleet, the surge protectors, and the panflute flowchart.  the rest of everything is still in boxes, partly because i need to get a shelf to put it on and partly because i’ve been working, working, working like a busy little bee.  i keep hoping that the Puts Away All Your Clothes Fairy would come, but so far no sign of her.

i will post a better picture of the officey area when it looks better, but i think it’s off to a good start:

and! i unpacked in just enough time to find my lenses and my battery chargers and head off again to the james j hill library to shoot the americana showcase.  this is my favorite of those, click it to view the rest.

benson from the Pines

at this point all i can really do is show up and enjoy the show – which is so great because the music is going to be so, so good.  but i did want to take just a few minutes to lay down a few facts about what is going on tonight.

1) jenn barnett is an important local photographer who has **donated** a LOT of her time promoting local music, and shooting great images that local bands use to promote themselves.

2) jenn’s camera died, and she needs a new one.  she’s a single mom that just made it through a horrible recession year as an independent photographer.

3) lots of cool musicians offered to put on a show to help jenn raise some money for a new camera body, and they were more than happy to donate an evening of their time to thank her for all she’s done for them.

i can think of at least 5 other people who will be there tonight who are going through some kind of major life or health crisis, all of whom deserve a benefit of their own.  the thing is though, if you allow a benefit to be thrown for you, you are also agreeing to have your personal stuff written into press releases and sitting out there on the interwebs for all to see.  if anyone thinks jenn agreed to this lightly, please be assured that she did not.  she really, really did not.  this is a show that her friends wanted to do for her to show her that they care, and that they appreciate what she has done for them and their various art forms.

if you can get behind the concept of artists supporting each other to get through difficult times, then please show it by coming to the Jennefit tonight, or by spreading the word about it.

come to the turf club tonight, be there at 9 pm so you don’t miss any of the great lineup.  most details here, but we also have some surprises in store for you.

i book a small listening room in excelsior called the 318 cafe.  we’ve got an ongoing series there called excelsior city limits that, even if i didn’t book it myself, would be one of my favorite things going on.  for most of them, i’ve gone in and introduced the musicians to each other as they were setting up their gear.  i have two strict rules for the series:  you can’t play any covers, and everyone plays on every song.  i’ve seen them all play with their usual bands, or solo – and it’s SO cool to see them playing a song they’ve played hundreds of times and suddenly be surprised, excited and amazed by the direction it’s taking because they’ve got two complete strangers adding their thoughts and interpretations of it as it unfolds live in front of a room full of people.  moments like that are why i am so involved with music.

my friend brandon sampson shares this view.  he fronts a great band called Six Mile Grove that’s based down in rochester.  he started his own rounds series down there called the americana showcase and has had the best of the best in his lineups.  in november i drove down to see him, jeremy messersmith, molly maher, darren jackson, and adam levy play together at this show.  people!  omg!  you *have* to get to one of these, it’s the real deal.  brandon has been working on the lineups to bring the showcase up to the twin cities this um – well, let’s call it spring.  it’s going to be wicked good, check it out:

• March 7th – Martin Zellar/Adam Levy (Honeydogs)/Ben Kyle (Romantica)/Brandon Sampson
• March 27th – Sally Barris/Brandon Sampson/Molly Maher/Erik Koskinen
• April 9th – Martin Devaney and Jake Hyer/Bethany Larson/Asheligh Still and Adam Levy/Brandon and Barry of SMG
• April 30th – Dana Cooper/Dan Israel/David Stoddard/Brandon Sampson
• May 16th – (Grand Finale – Line up Announced Soon)

here’s the scoop – but email me if you want any more info.

photo by david c. weber

on sunday march 7, the james j. hill library in st. paul will inaugurate a unique celebration of american heritage, combining the extraordinary photographic exhibit america the beautiful: the monumental landscape of dedicated environmentalist clyde butcher, with the americana showcase, a southern minnesota-based music series that honors the rich musical heritage of the american midwest. this celebration will include a series of five music concerts which will be performed in the midst of 50 of butcher’s epic photographic images echoing his love of the american landscape.

a five-concert season pass can be purchased for $75; individual tickets are $20 in advance, or $22 at the door. purchase tickets at www.americanashowcase.com. season ticket holders will also receive a discount on tickets to the exclusive after-show meet-and-greets with performers hosted by the saint paul hotel at $40 for all five. individual ticket holders can join the after-party for $10 per show.

you walk into a very dark, rectangular room.  there are five screens, each one with a film of one or two guys playing instruments.  the sound from all the films is synced and piped out through the same speakers;  in every film they are playing a different part of the song.  in one they are both playing acoustic guitars, in one there is a piano, in another there is one guy playing guitar and one playing banjo.  in one there are drums and a guitar.  they are also laced with humor, or maybe sarcasm – for a while, one of the guys just stands there.  then one of them hangs out and smokes a cigarette while the other keeps playing.

okay, i guess that doesn’t sound super funny as i’m typing it out, but i promise, i giggled.

as i stood in the middle and spun in a slow circle, my eyes and my ears tried to align everything, matching up what i was hearing with what they were doing in each film at the time.  i guess it’s actually really similar to seeing a band play live, but without someone elbowing you in the back or someone spilling beer on you.  and with guaranteed humor on a continuous loop!  i listened to it a few times through to try to catch everything they were doing.

the piece had everything i would hope for in an installation:  a banjo, a cool song, wit and/or charm, and a grand piano out in the snow.  my video doesn’t even remotely do it justice or capture all that happens, but here is a glimpse:

the end from e. rader on Vimeo.

i set up his website so that he could take more control of updating it on his own, and shortly after he started working on some of his own handbills and banner ads – timidly and jokingly at first, swearing he couldn’t do it and sending me this ridiculous thing:

but when i just made fun of him, he made this, which is awesome (photo by alexandra k):

this morning he sent me a link, with only a comment saying that his favorite part was at 2:35.  it’s a video on you tube, and it’s for one of my favorite songs on La Vita Nuova, the album he released with his band this last summer.  i asked if his roommate made it, because his roommate makes videos and stuff.  he said “i made it.  really. me.”  and i was so proud!  and impressed.  and i want to share the video, and ask you to to listen to this great song.  enjoy!