You've seen Memphis Evans all over this site.
My longtime friend and collaborator in Great Uncle Helmer.
www.memphisevans.com
Memphis and I together are
Great Uncle Helmer. With fifteen years and twenty-seven double-platinum albums behind us,
this is the acoustic geek-rock duo at its best.
www.greatunclehelmer.com
Also, try going to greatunclehelmer.net,
for a competing site.
I play guitar and sing with Shotgun Johnson & the Mississippi Seven.
MS7 is a rockingly good old-time group, featuring such notables as Memphis Evans on percussion,
A. Honigman on bass, Scuffy Pucker on the banjo, $2 Bill on Keys, and Chazz Vader on the squeezebox.
We are fronted
by the semi-legendary Shotgun Johnson. MS7
is currently not longer banned in the Twin Cities. See details here.
www.shotgunjohnson.com
Scot Ninnemann is a
Billings based singer-songwriter. Think
Belle & Sebastian, Trip Shakespeare, Matthew Sweet. One of my
great friends and collaborators. I especially recommend his album Slight Change
of Plans, and not only because I'm on it.
www.scotjohn.com
I am part of the Indianhead Chorus, the Polk &
Burnett County chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
If you like to sing, and have never tried barbershop harmony, do not delay.
Nothing compares to the 'lock and ring' of close harmony.
www.indianheadchorus.com
Also, check out the national barbershop site:
Barbershop Harmony Society
Doc's Kids is made of J. Bell, BPZMAG and T&A.
Words cannot describe their strange, chaotic beauty. See their
show, buy their CDs, love them.
www.zatchymusic.com/docs/index.html
Closely associated with Doc's Kids is Justin Bell and the Lazy Susan.
A great twang rock band, you'll never have a better time. They gig pretty regularly, so get
out and see them now!
www.zatchymusic.com/lazy/index.html
You'll never hear anything like Milk & Honey. In fact, you'll never hear
Milk & Honey at all. But you can visit them here:
http://www.milkandhoney.kaptainkarl.com
Honigman is a band. A rocksy-folksy-cinematic-reaphlicarted-type band. Not quite
folk, not quite rock, certainly not folk-rock, they are insidiously satisfying.
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Honigman/
Kevin Higdon is one of the finest contemporary acoustic musicians in the
business. Heartful performances, catchy hooks, thughtful lyrics... If you're ever in Chicago,
catch him live, or buy his new CD, "Normal."
http://www.higdon6.tripod.com/
I first met Cody Weathers in Denver, though now he's now at home in the
Pacific Northwest. At that time, he played solo and with the band Flip Nasty. Their entire
catalog is quality music. This is his official site:
www.geocities.com/cody_weathers/
This is his label - Checkmate Records:
www.geocities.com/checkmate_records/
Carl Unbehaun, is (in his own words) a "purveyor of poignant ballads, bent ditties & other
strange songs." He plys his trade across the Midwest.
www.strangesongs.com
I used to hang out with Michael Wagner when I was teaching in Ann Arbor.
It was a crazy time, and Mike was one of my few sanctuaries of sanity. I met him one night playing music
in the Quad with a couple of homeless guys. If you want to catch him live, head out to the Big Apple.
He plays there in the band Chappy. His revolutionary ukulele
stylings alone are worth a click.
http://www.chappymusic.com/
Joel Kraft hails from Kansas City. Aside from being one of the nicest guys you'll ever
meet, he's a great musician. There is a sense of wonder and surprise in his music
that few people dare attempt.
www.joelkraft.net
With chops on keyboards, sax,
guitar and much more, J.T. Nolan is a one-man entertainment machine.
See him in and around Kenosha-Chicagoland, the largest metropolitan area in the world
that currently houses Trem Nolan.
www.jtnolan.com
Cafe wren recently hosted John Charles. Unconventional, catchy, playful,
and full of heart, he plays songs I wish I wrote.
http://johncharlesongs.com/
This quartet from Bordeaux, France is called The Happy Barbers
or something of that nature. They combine the best of 1920s jazz vocals with a little bit
of Spike Jones and a little bit of Jerry Lewis. They're the best performers I've seen in years.
Their website has some video and audio clips, neither of which entirely do them justice.
http://www.barber-shop-quartet.com
From their website: "The sound of Trio Tipo...
makes people feel good and is a blend of acoustic rock, jazz,
latin, world, spanish, classical, and fusion ... a genre all to itself which the band calls Acoustic Fusion."
From me: Good stuff! Check them out here:
www.triotipo.com
Thanksgiving, 2006. Amanda and I are early for our flight.
Lifting us all calmly above the bustle is harpistReuben Correa. Harp music
isn't alwaysmy thing, but Reuben has such an easy, friendly manner, and he plays so well
that, though we spent only twenty minutes with him, he gets a hearty recommendation.
www.reubencorrea.com
Spiv Narky is a bizarre group from I don't know exactly where. They submitted a song to the
Garbage Project from a P.O. in Chapel Hill, NC. However they no longer answer mail there. Their website
has a reference to somewhere that might be Colorado. In general the site is hard to make sense of. Nonetheless,
here is the link:
http://www.spivnarky.4t.net
Places
Cafe Wren is a community hub
in Luck WI, on Hwy 35 at the north edge of town. They've got music and other social events
events several times each month. If you're paying attention, you can't miss it.
If you're not paying attention, wake up.
www.cafewren.com
The Old Gem Theater,
located in downtown New Richmond, WI
features music, comedy, and theater for children and adults. It's great, entertaining stuff, so
don't go only to support the local scene. Check out their special holiday shows and
their monthly comedy nights. Also, they have recently begun a free music series on
the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month.
www.oldgemtheater.com
Dave Frank is the friendly and knowledgable owner of Redbird Music Store
in St. Croix Falls. Good ol' acoustic instruments, plus the usual assortment of strings and other
necessaries are available at this comfortable, pleasing place. Enter below The Buzz.
http://www.redbirdmusicstore.com/
The Buzz is now open for business in downtown St. Croix Falls (the former Goochy Noochy's).
Music on Friday nights in this intimate room, which is located near the Post Office (which is seemingly the c
enter of a booming arts scene).
http://www.the-buzz-scf.com/
Planet Supply has served many purposes over he years - music venue,
antique/curiosity shop, artits' co-op. With a rock wall backdrop, it is now one of
the coolest music venues around. Planet Supply hosts a range of local and national
musicians - rap, folk, alternative, country, heavy metal, and anything your hand-size
heart desires. Under the Post Office in St. Croix Falls.
http://www.myspace.com/planetsupply
As much as possible,
Brickhouse Music, located in River Falls, WI, has a wide selection of intruments, gear and
accessories; a great bunch of teachers; in-house repair service; recording facilities; and a
knowledgable and helpful staff. Patronize this establishment.
http://www.brickhousemusic.com
Friends' Sites
Not that the musicians aren't my friends, nor these friends musicians. These sites, however, are not primarily music related.
Ever thought about building your own airplane? Bill Turner has.
Follow his homebuilt (not steam-powered) areoplane progress here.
http://conquark.blogspot.com/
S Edeal is a Reneiscance Man of many secrets. You will be intrigued by what
he has to say, and obsessed by what he keeps to himself. Check him out here.
This is one of the few blogs I read regularly
http://chazzvader.blogspot.com/
John Kepler is, among many pursuits, a Chicago blogger recently
relocated to the Bay area, an actor, a Mac wunderkind. This site is
now mostly technical stuff, but it's got a great picture of his head.
www.relpek.com
D Johnson helps put away the bad guys down in Rice County, and
raises Baby A with husband E. Enjoy her blog.
http://prosecution.blogspot.com/
Fairy Princess? Freelance Toy Designer? International Mermaid of Mystery?
Elizabeth Hauser is worth knowing, whether you're interested in
mythology, toys, or simply things pink. She will help you make every day sparkle.
http://elizabethingrid.com
"In my opinion there is no better therapy than spending an evening with a canvas and brush,
a bunch of lovely oil colors, and some great music. Everyone should be so lucky to do so from
time to time and I feel extremely fortunate to have spent the majority of the last decade doing
just this." So says Megan Bell whose paintings are like autumn rain. They're not
of autumn rain, they are like autumn rain. Or even spring rain. Ojectively
very few of her paintings are reminiscent of rain; her paintings do for my eyes what a good cool
rainstorm does for my nose. I think this is the longest, strangest endorsement I've ever given.
So, why don't you skip all that stuff, and just go to her site...
www.meganbell.net
Tim Uren helped build this site. He acts, he webs, he writes,
he does it all. For the 2006 Minnesota Fringe Festival, he did a crazy-good one-man performance
of the Lovecraft story, Rats in the Walls. (Tim, substitute your own copy here, man.)
www.10000comicbooks.com
A writer, traveler and
self-proclaimed "Dying Poet," Karolis Zukauskas has gotten his website up.
Check out his timeline of the most important things that have ever happened to him.
It's good reading. In response to a not-so-subtle hint on this site, I am now mentioned there.
Thanks Karolis!
http://web.mac.com/dyingpoet/iWeb/Site/Home.html
Online Only
I've never met Dennis Halvena, but I enjoy his site immensely.
He is a DIY instrument builder from the UP. From a bass kalimba made
of rake tines, to a kora-harp made of a hollow core door, Mr. Halvena has it all.
Many articles on different instruments. A lot of good sound files as well.
http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/
Musical Instrument Makers Forum is another great builders' site.
This is just what it sounds like, and if there are any aspiring luthiers out there,
I urge you visit. The members range from the very beginners to masters.
http://www.mimf.com
If you haven't visited Homestar Runner do not delay. This is
hardly a secret treasure of the net any more. I'm still a fan, even if it is
cool.
http://www.homestarrunner.com
A"Sweet Land" is a beautiful film. It's creeping through art house theaters, and is now on DVD.
www.sweetlandmovie.com
All content © Kaptain Karl