Came into work today and discovered a stack of posters for the Sebastian Ensemble performance sitting on my desk. BEAUTIES. Designed by Rosa McElheny and Hilary duPont, each one is hand-silkscreened and unique and THE BOMB. The perfect Christmas gift!
As we look back on 2012, here’s a good Friday jam, from a true legit workhorse band.
Kiss with their families for a New York Magazine cover story at Madison Square Garden, February 1977. Photo by Ken Regan, who recently passed away. Via Rolling Stone.
“Writing about us, people have said: “Do we need another album by this band?” What the fuck is that? That only matters if you’re just listening to sound. It’s this pathetic era we’re in where people are like, “I’m done with them, I need a new sound; I’m a baby, I need something every five minutes.” A lot of people listening to music now don’t listen to the songs at all. They just go, “Good tones…” and that’s it. But we’re obsessed with songs. Sometimes, I feel like people aren’t listening to our songs, they’re just listening to the sound.”
— Beach House’s Alex Scally
(via Pitchfork)
The amazing Beach House plays Marfa, April 21, at the Crowley Theater. Tickets on sale Friday, December 14, at 10 AM CST.
Lee Moses. A new discovery.
We are honored to host Texas Vaquero and all-around ambassador of Texas music, Gary P. Nunn (and player in The Lost Gonzo Band, which backed Jerry Jeff Walker in the ’70s), at Ballroom Marfa on February 15. More details here, and special thanks to Janie and Dick DeGuerin for making it happen.
Until February, check out this video of Gary and Jerry Jeff on The Texas Connection, telling the story of how he came to write “London Homesick Blues” (which Austin City Limits used as its theme for 20 years).
We continue our (pre) New Year’s silent film tradition with a screening of the Swedish masterpiece The Phantom Carriage, with a live soundtrack by Brooklyn-based guitarist Noveller, on December 30 at the Crowley Theater. The Phantom Carriage (1921) is based on Körkarlen, a novel by the 1909 Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, and directed by Victor Sjöström (best known for his performance as Professor Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries).
As always, the screening is free, doors at 7 pm, show at 7:30 pm. You can read more about the film here, and check out Noveller’s excellent session with Liz Berg at WFMU at the Free Music Archive.
Mix courtesy of M1 of Dead Prez. Africa in Your Earbuds #32: M.A.M.A. Vol. 1, conceived by M1 of Dead Prez, and mixed by DJ/producer mikeflo, features hits and classic tunes with ties to Africa, featuring D’banj, The Very Best, Estelle, D’angelo, LL Cool J, R. Kelly, Youssou N’Dour and more.
Wendell Stuart & the Downbeaters’ cover of the Supremes “My World Is Empty Without You.”
On a video roll over here at Ballroom, but check out this video of Future Islands’s “Grease,” which documents their last tour, and features Marfa’s very own David Beebe. I really feel that Future Islands is doing something amazing, almost radical. Support them.
