NEWS FEATURES, Sep 28 edition, Acoustic Americana Music News 2008

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Here are the hottest pieces of up-to-the-minute news. Our editor has just returned from an extended and epic adventure, off-line, in the High Sierra. Hundreds of notices of events arrived in email while we were away, so the next calendar update will be hefty. And in case you were wondering, the annual MILLPOND MUSIC FESTIVAL near Bishop, CA, was wonderful!
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"Tied to the Tracks"
ACOUSTIC AMERICANA
MUSIC NEWS
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NEWS FEATURES for September 28, 2008
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copyright (c) © 2008, Larry Wines. All rights reserved.
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WELCOME to the ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC NEWS, our weekly news feature companion to the ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC CALENDAR. Here, you’ll find news for artists and music fans alike, ranging from the immediately useful to the merely informative, from gig opportunities and festival deadlines to early bird discounts, from venue openings and closings to career tips, and hot tips for acoustic music fans.
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The Acoustic Americana Music Calendar with frequently updated posts of upcoming events well into 2009, is available at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com and various other places around the web. We post links for current editions on our Myspace page, but new editions of the calendar are no longer there. Myspace has made changes that limit the size of posts, and that makes it far too time-consuming and ponderous to post the calendar there in far too many small pieces.
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Our myspace site, www.myspace.com/laacoustic is still the place to go for news of the syndicated “Tied to the Tracks” radio show, and its new TV counterpart that launches soon.
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LATEST NEWS FEATURES always post separate from the calendar.
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MOST RECENT previous News Features posted SEPTEMBER 10, 2008, at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2008/09/news-features-acoustic-americana-music.html
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Most recent previous News Features posted SEPTEMBER 5, 2008, at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2008/09/news-features-sep-5-edition-acoustic.html
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Recent months’ editions are available on Blogspot at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com; older archived editions are available on the myspace page (www.myspace.com/laacoustic), by using the “View All” button and scrolling, and if you don’t see what you want, then journey farther back by using the “older entries” button and scrolling, as many times as necessary. You can go all the way back to when acoustic music was made by trees crashing to the floor of the primeval forests when the dinosaurs got too rambunctious.
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COMMUNICATE WITH US about anything related to the Acoustic Music Calendar & News, or “Tied to the Tracks,” at tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com.
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Please don’t send us anything through myspace email. It’s esoteric, can’t be auto-forwarded into a “real” email account, and we just can’t keep up with it. So, communicate through the above address (except we’ll be gone for a week and a half, so bear that in mind…)
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NEWS FEATURES:
September 28, 2008
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1) SOUTHERN CAL ARTISTS WIN “WESTERN MUSIC GROUP OF THE YEAR”
The TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS, who headline today’s (Sunday) 2 pm fundraising concert for the Western Music Association at the Autry Museum’s Wells Fargo Theatre, just won the top honor Tuesday night from the genre’s other major organization, the Academy of Western Artists. The band’s first recorded tracks debuted on radio’s “Tied to the Tracks.” The Tumbling Tumbleweeds are the 2008 “Western Music Group of the Year,” named by AWA at the awards gala in Garland, Texas. They are also nominated for the 2008 Western Music Association Crescendo (Most Promising Talent) Award, and for the WMA 2008 Duo / Group of the Year.
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There is no Grammy for any aspect of original or traditional western, cowboy, or western swing music, so the AWA and WMA awards are indeed prestigious.
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TUMBLEWEED ROB tells us, “BIG DADDY CADE and I were there at the ceremony to accept the award. We were not expecting to win. We went to show our thanks and extreme appreciation for having been nominated along with the likes of the SONS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN and THE TEXAS TRAILHANDS, both of whom we respect and admire beyond measure, so when they called our names, [we] just sat there with our mouths open for what felt like an hour before we finally looked at each other and got up to make our way to the stage. We stumbled up in a state of shock and said what we could but we definitely want to thank the Academy of Western Artists and Mr. Bobby Newton for recognizing our efforts and making this incredible honor possible! The awards show was held in the Granville Theater and many of our friends in the Western Arts world were present, including JOYCE WOODSON who won the ‘Western Female Vocalist of the Year’ and CAROLYN MARTIN who won the ‘Western Swing Female Vocalist of the Year!’”
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JIM JONES won the Academy of Western Artists "Male Vocalist of the Year." Complete details on all the awards at www.cowboypoetry.com/sincenews.htm#News
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The Tumbling Tumbleweeds began as a tribute to the legendary SONS OF THE PIONEERS. More on the group and Tumbleweeds Rob, Cade, Chris & R.J., at www.thetumblingtumbleweeds.com and www.myspace.com/tumbleweeds4 and get the new CD that brought them the honor at www.cdbaby.com/tumblingtumbleweeds
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For info on the concert at the Autry, see our calendar listing.
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2) SAVING INTERNET RADIO – HERE WE GO AGAIN, WITH LITTLE TIME TO ACT
We have visited this subject often, and always it seems that’s because we’re alerting you to act promptly. Web radio is a tale like the “Perils of Pauline,” with the evil Snydley Whiplash-like villain always determined to do her in. Today, the Pauline of the silent film era is internet radio’s PANDORA, along with LIVE365 and hundreds of other smaller webcasters, including the legendary DR. DEMENTO SHOW.
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This time, word arrives from TIM WESTERGREN (tim.westergren@pandora.com) founder of Pandora, that “PANDORA urgently needs your help: Bill Just Introduced to Save Internet Radio.” If you thought we had already won this one, we haven’t.
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Tim says, “After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, SoundExchange and the RIAA are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio. But just as we've gotten close, large traditional broadcast radio companies have launched a covert lobbying campaign to sabotage our progress.”
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RIAA – the Recording Industry Association of America – is basically the shill of the few remaining big labels, while Sound Exchange was spun-off from it by governmental pressure to become the nonprofit watchdog and gate keeper for digital music rights (along with the for-profit DiMA).
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Pandora’s founder continues, “Friday, Congressman JAY INSLEE and several co-sponsors introduced legislation to give us the extra time we need, but the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which represents radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel, has begun intensively pressuring lawmakers to kill the bill. We have just days to keep this from collapsing.”
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As usual, big money has a vested interest in retaining control. Tim says, “This is a blatant attempt by large radio companies to suffocate the webcasting industry that is just beginning to offer an alternative to their monopoly of the airwaves.”
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Musician CARL GAGE (gage@usa.net) who is proactive in this battle, is succinct when he says, “Internet Radio has been under attack by the major broadcasters since people started discovering that they didn't have to listen to the same 100 or so songs of each genre available on the airwaves, mostly Hip-hop, Rap, Spanish-language stations, Oldies (limited) and Classic Rock & Roll (also very limited).”
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How concerned is Gage? He says, “I don't think I've ever sent an e-mail to all the music lovers in my address book but this one is just way too important.”
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Tim pleads, “Please call your Congressperson right now and ask them to support H.R. 7084, the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 - and to not capitulate to pressure from the NAB. Congress is currently working extended hours, so even calls this evening and over the weekend should get answered. If the phone is busy, please try again until you get through. These calls really do make a difference. Representative Elton Gallegly: 202-225-5811.”
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Carl Gage adds, “I urge you to replace [the call to] Gallegly with [one to] your Congressperson, and either call or go to their web site and send an e-mail. OR BOTH! And, if you are not listening to Pandora, Live365 or any of the thousands of independent Internet Broadcasters, take a little time and find out about all of the great music available, much free, some with a reasonable charge to avoid commercials. GREAT STUFF! I broadcast it all over the house with an FM transmitter hooked up to my computer.”
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So, BOB DYLAN’s iconic admonition that “The Times, They Are A’ Changin” – well, it ain’t necessarily so, unless we all speak truth to power to enable variety, choices, and diversity of music that the public – and we ourselves – can hear.
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3) DOES NEW MEDIA = NEW PARADIGMS?
For the second quarter of 2008, US mobile phone subscribers sent and received, on average, 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month, according to a Nielsen Mobile survey released Sep 22. The fact that American cell phone users originate more text messages than phone calls is certainly not the same thing as the potential of web radio vs the limited offerings of traditional broadcast “appointment” radio programs, but it is indicative of how quickly people will change behaviors when they perceive advantages. We’ll leave it to the psychologists to explain why sending a text message is preferable to risking two-way communication and (gasp) actual conversational exchange and compromise. But this does have one thing in common with web radio: it demonstrates that people want to do what they want to do when they want to do it, with less latitude for delays and interruptions.
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4) STEVE GOODMAN BOOK GAINS ACCLAIM
The late singer-songwriter Steve Goodman has, for decades, been best-known for his authorship of the song, “City of New Orleans,” the railroad ballad that gave ARLO GUTHRIE his biggest hit song and a best-selling album, “Hobo’s Lullaby.” But there was so much more to Goodman and his music, and his live performances were magic. We reported, when author CLAY EALS was in town, the opportunities for artists to appear with him and perform Goodman’s songs during Eals’ national book tour. Now, Eals’ book, "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music," is benefitting from generous and insightful media coverage. Doug Miller of Major League Baseball filed a comprehensive report on the book (that’ll make sense in a moment), and Bob Elisberg of the trend-setting “Huffington Post” penned an extended first-person column as could only be written by someone who saw Goodman perform. The coverage hasn't all been online. Chicago's WGN-AM had Eals on the air for a pre-game interview, and his hometown local weekly, the “West Seattle Herald,” ran a profile. You can read those and more at www.clayeals.com.
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Clay Eals tells us, “It's difficult to concisely convey the good feelings that emerged from my California tour July 25-28, timed for Steve Goodman's would-have-been 60th birthday. In six events over four days, I was joined by 31musicians who contributed 55 performances of 33 Goodman or Goodman-related songs. Whew! The audiences were strong and engaged, and I was on Cloud 10 the entire time. I cannot thank everyone enough.” The musicians’ photos can be seen on the schedule page of his site.
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Catch a soundboard recording of the complete July 28 event at Moe's Books in Berkeley at: www.moesbooks.com/moes/mondayarchive/2008/080728.htm. Clay says, “It's nicely divided into five parts, each labeled according to the songs therein, making it easy to find the segment you may want from the 2-1/2-hour show.”
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Eals also tells us, “Shortly before I left for California, I learned that DR. DEMENTO, the legendary purveyor of novelty songs and other fun fare over the radio for nearly 40 years, was coming to Seattle to put on a live show Aug 1 at the Triple Door. For decades, Steve Goodman's songs have been a staple of the Dr. Demento Show (syndicated on radio and now on the Internet), and Steve even was a studio guest in 1977 and 1983. For the Triple Door show, the Good Doctor (aka BARRY HANSEN) kindly invited me to introduce Chicago newsman BOB SIROTT's ultra-rare 1981 footage of Steve performing ‘A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request’ while dressed in a Cubs hat and jacket and sitting in the Wrigley Field grandstand. You can see photos of this on the schedule page of my site.” Goodman was a huge Cubs fan, with a repertoire of baseball songs.
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Eals continues, “Two weekends later, on Aug. 16-17, DR. DEMENTO devoted a 20-minute segment of his online show to Goodman and to my biography. The Good Doctor's assessment – ‘a remarkable book ... very highly recommended’ - is deeply appreciated. He went on to say, ‘I'm quite a fan of musical biographies. I've read at least 100, but I have to say that this book about Steve Goodman is like no other one I've ever seen. ... The book comes to 778 pages plus a CD, and you might think that's overkill, but the story never lets up, and besides, it's a real pleasure to read.’”
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5) ANOTHER TAKE ON TODAY’S “COUNTRY” VS “WESTERN” MUSIC
It’s been awhile since our editor, Larry Wines, authored a cover story for FolkWorks magazine on the essential differences between western music - as an essential genre of folk music - and country music, which in the hands of Nashville’s Music Row, has morphed into Red State Trailer Park Rock with a ubiquitous, annoying, and essentially goofy fah-ke ack-a-scent. So, we welcome a fresh take on the subject.
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MARGO METAGRANO, founder of CowboyPoetry.com as a project of the non-profit Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry, tells us, “It's a pleasure to have a new feature, ‘What is Western Music?’ at CowboyPoetry.com, with contributions from the WMA's RICK HUFF and DON CUSIC. Your opinions and comments are welcome: www.cowboypoetry.com/whatiswesternmusic.htm. We'll be posting some of the comments received.”
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Margo adds, “We have a companion feature, ‘What is Cowboy Poetry?’ [at] www.cowboypoetry.com/whatis.htm.”
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There are many Western musicians and cowboy poets featured at CowboyPoetry.com, along with a comprehensive collection of Rick Huff's reviews, the latter available at www.cowboypoetry.com/rickhuffreviews.htm and they have other regular columns and features. News posts daily about western music, poetry, radio, gatherings, new releases, publications, awards, and more, at www.cowboypoetry.com/sincenews.htm#Curren.
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Their most recent e-newsletter is available at www.cowboypoetry.com/news.htm and you can subscribe to that newsletter, free, at www.cowboypoetry.com/subscribe.htm.
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Margo adds, “Your news is always welcome.” In addition to the root url, learn more about Cowboy Poetry at the BAR-D Ranch at www.CowboyPoetry.com/aboutus.htm
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6) CHARLIE GARNER BENEFIT
Charlie was bass player & frontman for DEL REEVES of Grand Ole Opry fame, and he is currently Host of the “Grinder's Switch Hour” Radio Show. Charlie is undergoing treatment for cancer - a tumor on his brain stem - and he needs help with the enormous medical bills. Local musicians in Tennessee have scheduled an Oct 4 marathon benefit at the Centerville Church of Christ Annex, from 9 am-9 pm. They say, “It will be a great day of wonderful entertainment as some of Charlie's friends from the Opry will be there, as well as a host of other great entertainment. We invite you all to attend.” In addition to inviting donations, they will also hold a fundraising auction, and invite you to donate a CD, book, T-shirt, etc, that attendees may buy through bid. Monetary donations can be sent to WNKX Kix 96, PO Box 280, Centerville TN 37033, ATTN: Sheila B, Charlie's Benefit. Write checks to “Charlie Garner Fund.” Info, Woody, 615-418-2164.
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NEXT WEEK, we’ll bring lots more news.
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copyright (c) © 2008, Larry Wines. All rights reserved.
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Be sure to check EVERY WEEK for
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+ the extensive and always huge ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC CALENDAR’s event listings at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com, or at www.myspace.com/laacoustic.
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+ news of the “TIED TO THE TRACKS” radio & TV shows coming soon in syndication.
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+ the latest NEWS FEATURES from the acoustic music universe!
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WANT TO CONTACT US?
tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com (Bear in mind, we’re gone for an entire week, plus the bracketing weekends.)
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