This is Nate Ihara, singer/songwriter of We Were Kings, and host for last Friday's Band Battle, held at Jammin Java.
During the show, where I served as a judge, Nate mentioned a number of times that I would be posting pics from the show here at the blog. If that's why you've bothered to stop by, thanks!
Rather than post the pics here, I used them to create a review for my examiner.com column about DC concerts. You can see it here. So, if you'd like to see pics of Lightspeed Rescue, Western Affairs, Flux180 and/or Dale and the ZDubs, that's the place to go.
Tonight will be the final of the Jammin Java Mid-Atlantic Band Battle VII and I will, once again, be at the judges table to help pick the winner. It's always fun, a great chance to hear new music and a challenge to pick one winner when the talent is generally at a very high mark.
The club posted info about the event on its web site, and made me sound kinda cool, which is a little embarrassing but also most appreciated. Not adverse to reciprocal back-scratching, especially if it gives me a chance to promote local music, I mentioned the show in "This Weekend in DC concerts," the preview column I write for examiner.com.
The event is hosted, as ever, by local musician and charmer Nate Ihara, frontman for We Were Kings, who directs people to this blog for pictures and comments on the event. So, if that's how you got here, welcome and thanks for dropping by. The photos will go up ASAP.
In the meantime, here's a fun little video to kick off Friday night...
Tom Waits has been teasing the folks on his mailing list with odd photos and the simple text message "Coming August 7." The day came (I was on vacation) and he released a new video, "Hell Broke Luce," which is, as is his wont, quite an artistic endeavor. The man doesn't mess around.
Funny, just the other night, I was listening to his 1973 debut album "Closing Time," (purchased digitally for $2.99, to take advantage of an amazon.com $2 credit deal) and marveling at how traditionally - but for his voice - SoCal singer/songwriterly it was. One of those artists whose exponential growth is a reminder of what a good musical career can be.
Lately, the links to the right have gone all caddywumpus (I've been waiting to use that word!) so, while I dive once again into the mysteries of HTML to try and fix the problem, I'd like to remind y'all to visit some of my other online activities:
I'm wasting - No, I mean spending! - much of my free music-oriented fun time working to beef up the Set List Site, WhatchaGonnaPlay.com. New additions include recent shows by Rufus Wainwright and Ingrid Michaelson (great double bill) and the always wonderful Wilco. Please spread the word!
At examiner, the concert photos and reviews column has expanded to include upcoming show previews (although not this week, as I'm taking a vacation).
