LouieB Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I know there are still a few Bloodshot fans around here. Now turning 15 Bloodshot is having events all over the US. Starting with Madison, Wisconsinand moving to Minn, Philly, Austin, Boston and a bunch of other places including the Hideout on September 12, 2009. Should be fun times in the various cities. Check it out and not expensive. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Preferred B Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Yeah, the one here is free Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 Yeah, the one here is free I don't quite know how they are doing this. Many of the shows include free food and only a $5 entry fee. I guess this string of shows actually started in Pittsburgh maybe. I can't seem to keep track. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 Wow, this sunk like a stone. Anyone make any of these events? Anyone else going to the Middle East this weekend?? LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
myboyblue Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 These look great. The Madison and Chicago shows particularly interesting. I would have hit the Chicago show but am stuck going to a 20 year reunion that I could give a rat's ass about. Look forward to the reports. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 If I'm able to find out who the 'very special surprise guest' will be at the Middle East, I might head over the river. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 If I'm able to find out who the 'very special surprise guest' will be at the Middle East, I might head over the river.First off - Graham Parker is worth seeing in and of himself. Where does Ryan Adams live? (I have absolutely no idea who the special guest is and I didn't ask the Bloodshot folks to find out either.) If I were him I would show show up...he certainly owes Bloodshot. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 First off - Graham Parker is worth seeing in and of himself. Where does Ryan Adams live? (I have absolutely no idea who the special guest is and I didn't ask the Bloodshot folks to find out either.) If I were him I would show show up...he certainly owes Bloodshot. LouieB I think he is in LA. When I first read about those shows, it led me read the sad news that Exene Cervenka had to share. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 I think he is in LA. When I first read about those shows, it led me read the sad news that Exene Cervenka had to share.Yea, I guess it won't be Ryan.... What did Exene say? Is it on the website? LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Yea, I guess it won't be Ryan.... What did Exene say? Is it on the website? LouieB From Exene Cervenka.com: After some months of not feeling 100% healthy, I recently had some medical tests run and the prognosis is that I am suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Apparently, it has been affecting me for quite some time. Although this is obviously unfortunate news, I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990's;the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992. While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall on Bloodshot Records. My focus will certainly be on maintaining my health--many people remain strong and continue to live their lives as productively as they had before an MS diagnosis and I plan to be one of those people. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 Sad news....it sucks getting old... LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 29, 2009 Author Share Posted August 29, 2009 Anyone coming to the Middle East? Just curious. Beer on me... LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Anyone coming to the Middle East? Just curious. Beer on me... LouieB So who was the very special guest? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 So who was the very special guest?Not Ryan Adams, though he certainly owes them. It was Justin Earle, who was very good. More on this later. I am still in Boston and rather than spend time on here I am going out on the streets before heading back to Chicago. This was a very fun night. The lineup in Philly is going to be amazing, as is the one in Chicago. For some reason the Deadstring Brothers seem to be at every one of these. They were very good last night, so its okay. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted September 5, 2009 Author Share Posted September 5, 2009 Okay so I went to Boston to hang with some of my friends and see how Bloodshot goes over in another town. I had never been to the Middle East before and it is an okay club, much larger than I had expected, with a few sound issues and a significant lighting issue. At no point was the club really full, but that was prefectly okay with me since I am less good with big crowds now than I used to be. IN fact there were precious few folks there by the end of the night, but a significant crowd for Graham Parker. There was free food (chicken kebab and fallafel sandwhiches) during the early part of the evening. Ha Ha Tonka started the night out, with a decent set of run of the mill indie/country type rock material. Nothing wrong with these guys, but they are young and have not yet nailed down their songwriting chops even though their music chops are just fine. Next up was Charlie Pickett playing old style rock/rockabilly/blues. Good enough but not thrilling with an older band (he is older) and some funny and sometimes not so funny between song patter. Sort of full of himself, but entertaining enough. Next up was Graham Parker solo, running through a variety of material from his early hits to his later material and even a few brand new songs, all done with class and alot of energy for an old guy. He just keeps plugging away. For someone who has been there and back, he walked into the ME alone with his guitar on his back, but also got a really nice reception from the crowd, who enjoyed all his material. Wow, 25 years since Squeezing out Sparks?? Seems hard to believe. The Dead String Brothers were up next. These guys (which includes a couple women, one on fiddle) were supposed to be Bloodshots next big thing, but somehow they didn't make it. They started slow, but gained alot of steam by the end of the set; in fact they were the best I have ever seen them. Good rockin stuff, with Exile era Stones and The Band for overtones. Pretty good songs too. I don't know that they will ever get a large audience, but they keep trying. Justin Townes Earle was up next and did his usual fine material. Plenty of discusion on him in the other thread, so check that out for more details. I had a nice conversations with him on the sidewalk and in the club, at which point he revealed some details of his personal life that I can't talk about here. After Justin the place continued to clear out and Bobby Bare Jr. came on and played a loud and energetic set to a handful of people. While Earle's set was careful and rehearsed, Bare ran through a number of his songs as if it was the first time he was playing them. His method is to take chances and wing it somewhat, making for an exciting time. He had Justin's sideman play and sing with him for the first few songs and was then joined by Deanna Varagona on baritone sax (she regularly does this), a guy on keyboards/trumpet and a drummer. While none of Bobby's songs are all that complex, he tends to treat them as an opportunity to improvise, which puts an edge on everything. I was sitting in back taking a break next to his trumpet player who I was chatting with before he came up. This guy hadn't been playing with Bobby that long and when Bobby requested him to play he stood up and started playing trumpet from the back and them moved forward and took his place behind the keyboards. It was a long exhausting, but fun night. Hopefully someone can tell us about the show in Philly and I will talk about the HIdeout event next week. Come see me at the merch table. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I am sure you already saw this, Louie... http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/09/bloodshot-records-celebrates-15-years-an-interview-with-coowners-rob-miller-and-nan-warshaw-.html I thought the below was interesting. Also, you gotta love the H.L. Mencken quote that Bloodshot has on top of their website. Kot: What has been the impact of the declining number of retail stores, from about 7,000 when you started to fewer than 2,000 now? Miller: It means there is less floor space for music, less patience to develop an artist, less likelihood a buyer will take a chance on an artist or label name. They’ll just go to the most recent Soundscan numbers and see what the band did last time, and likely order fewer copies this time based on that. The cycle is spinning so much faster [to make or break a record], everyone looks at first-week Soundscan numbers, and bases their order on that. No matter what the story is, whatever will sell a lot of units right out of the box gets in the store, and that’s it. Warshaw: Top down, dealing with our distributor selling into the chains, it’s that much harder. It’s harder for us to sell those first 1,000 or 2,000 records. There was a day when we could sell 2,000 of anything we put out and that day is long gone. We have to micromanage each release just to get some sales. We’re lucky to get 1,000 into stores on release date. Miller: Now you sometimes have to pay the stores to stock a title. Warshaw: The cost to get stock into any of the chains, certainly all the big chains and even the indie chains, is more than two dollars a disc just to get them in the stores. And there is no guarantee they’ll buy them. Miller: Formerly great national chains like Borders are carrying 30 percent of the stock they used to. There is a lot less space for music than there used to be. Kot: Are on-line sales compensating? Miller: We’re selling more volume on-line, but for a much lower price. We’re constantly discounting things. Which is reasonable, because for a long time the music industry treated customers like suckers and drove them away. Charging $18.98 for a CD is ridiculous and people in the industry are wondering why nobody is buying music? Because the majors treated customers like the enemy, and the customers threw the baby out with the bath water, and now we’re paying the price. Kot: If you started the label today… Warshaw: We wouldn’t [laughs]. If you’re an upstart, doing any physical product it would be impossible to get any decent distribution. Any start-up label today has to start digital only. We were somewhat established when iTunes get started, and we got a direct deal with them to get our music into the store. No one gets offered that today, so they have to go with [independent music Web site] CD Baby or an aggregator, and so they get a much smaller percentage of sales. Miller: To go into the music business as an independent to make money, you’re an idiot. If it happens, you get lucky. You do it for the same reasons you’ve always done it, you love music and you want to get behind these bands and you work at it. You have the freedom to create your own business model. We can’t control how the culture is going to decide what music is worth or how it’s going to be delivered. Personally I think MP3’s sound like [expletive]. But I can’t argue with convenience. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 I had not seen this. If anyone goes to the Hideout this weekend, stop by and say hello at the merch table. Rosie will be there too. The Blacks reunion should be fun. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I would love to take my kids to the Chicago party (it's supposedly family-friendly), but I've plans that day.Too bad, because they would have loved it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 I would love to take my kids to the Chicago party (it's supposedly family-friendly), but I've plans that day.Too bad, because they would have loved it!It will be a long day. Come early with the kids, it is a kid friendly event. It gets less kid friendly after dark. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted September 12, 2009 Author Share Posted September 12, 2009 Sure you can go see U2 today..... LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted September 14, 2009 Author Share Posted September 14, 2009 OMG this was a fun event. We sold tons of merch and the crowd was huge. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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