FontFont News: Hans Reichel 1949–2011.

On Christmas day, songwriter Vic Chesnutt died. Listen here as Michael Stipe recalls Chesnutt’s life. Or listen to Vic Chesnutt on Mountain Stage at NPR.org.

MP3 - Like a Monkey in a Zoo

This is a gratuitous “arts and culture” post and horn tooting, your weekend chance to grab a cup of coffee or a Goose Island and do some art and music browsing.

I really should actually be getting ready for this show instead of writing about it, but hey, it’ll only take a few minutes, right? For those of you who live anywhere near Louisville, you owe it to yourself to go checkout the Unusual Animals exhibit at the 930 Art Center including two drawing by Yours Truly. I had the pleasure seeing the current exhibit when I took my own submission a few weeks ago. Very nice place. What made me respond to the call for entries was not just for the chance to respond to a cool theme, but also the fun knowing that the folks from Asthmatic Kitty were part of it, and, in fact, were part of the judging.

What I hadn’t realized is that Unusual Animals is also an ongoing project of Asthmatic Kitty compilations and events, the most recent of which is, you guessed it, in Louisville. Asthmatic Kitty is a Landers, Wyoming (I had to look, too) based label, but if I recall has strong roots around the country. They’re the home of some of my longtime favorite artists like Danielson (by way of Sounds Familyre and Tooth & Nail back in the day) Half-Handed Cloud, Liz Janes and Sufjan Stevens.

My sister and I freaked out over Danielson’s A Prayer for Every Hour way back when we must have been subconsciously craving sounds like that. That album became for me the standard with which I’d compare many musical first impressions for a number of years, and may actually still be something like an artistic reference point. Visually, as well. I can guarantee you that much of Daniel Smith’s artwork (he has often, if not always, done his own album art) has influenced my own.

So it is no surprise that I’m proud to be putting my two cents in on this exhibit. Go check it out. The show opens April 4th. There is more information at the 930 Art Center website.

Alan Lomax was “the song hunter.” He devoted his life to recording the world’s folk tunes before they would permanently disappear with the rise of the modern music industry. In “Lomax the Songhunter,” filmmaker Rogier Kappers seeks to tell Lomax’s story by interviewing friends such as Pete Seeger, combining it with archival recordings of music greats Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, and gathering footage of the cotton fields, rock quarries and prisons where Alan Lomax captured America’s quintessential music. Finally, Kappers followed the route that Lomax took so many years ago and traveled around Europe in an old Volkswagen to remote villages in Spain and Italy, hearing memories and music from the farmers, shepherds and weavers whose songs Lomax recorded decades earlier.

Kings of New England playing a show in a local garage

Twas a big night for BSB clients and friends at last night’s 11th Annual NAMAs (Northwest Arkansas Music Awards). The Kings of New England walked away with a Best Album of the Year and Best “Plugged” Album. Which all goes to show that if you break up, your chances of winning awards increase greatly.

Wooden Stares also gave a great performance at the show, didn’t win anything, unfortunately. They have not broken up yet and are actually going quite strong.

Moreover, Kelly Mulhollan was up for Best Male Singer/Songwriter and his amazing Never Ending Conversation was nominated for best “unplugged” album. He was denied both awards, indicating an overall decline in justice in the world.

Block, Street & Building had the extreme pleasure of creating the album art for all three of these great acts. And for that we’d like to thank God for pulling us through the hard times, our parents who never gave up on us and encouraged us to follow our dreams, even during hard times. To our Apple computers for remaining faithful even when we asked more than we should of them during hard times. To our friends who have always been there for us in hard times. Firewire for being so fast in hard times. Our vision for remaining something resembling 20/20 even in the hard times. And lastly rock and roll like Tel Aviv, old-timey music like Violet Hensley and underground hip-hop labels like Bru Records. And our producers. The NAMA limo driver. And fondue.

As soon as they become available, I plan on posting some of the photographs that were taken at the show. Twas a great evening.