One of these things is not like the other, Or: What a music CD looks like in WorldCat ...

WorldCat is a catalog of about 50K libraries.

One of these images is what a CD looks like there.

If you can correctly guess which one is a WorldCat record, you might find yourself in a drawing for a Local Music CD of our choosing.

Stay tuned, cowgirls!

Venue for Angie Stevens -- NOT!

UPDATE: We are going to have Angie Stevens & The Beautiful Wreck play in the library proper. Trust me there is something vaguely naughty about music in a library after hours! BE THERE: PARKER LIBRARY!!

These are pics and brief video of the gazebo at O'Brien Park in Parker.

That's where, if God and the weather will allow, we WILL NOT be playing host to Angie Stevens & The Beautiful Wreck at our kickoff to the 2009-2010 run of our Live Local Music Series.

Angie Stevens is TO DIE FOR. (She still is. I'm just updating the venue part of this posting!!)

I have had the privilege of seeing her perform live once at the Soiled Dove when she did her CD release show there. She was AMAZING.

Here's the biography section from Angie's website:

For a singer / songwriter to stand out from the pack, they have to possess the kind of magical voice that makes a listener stop in their tracks and pay attention.

Denver's Angie Stevens has that kind of voice, and it's drenched in Americana akin to Patty Griffin or EmmyLou Harris.

Stevens also has the songwriting chops to match, as Westword recently named her Denver's Best Singer / Songwriter.

Now Stevens is back with her third and most powerful album to date, Queen of This Mess, [released] May 19 on Boss Koala Records and produced by Malcolm Burn.

"This album is different from previous albums I have put out in just about every aspect," says Stevens. "The musical arrangements were extremely important on this album and Malcolm kept it unique, simple and raw. We were going for a family style, Midwest-sitting on your porch-album with use of accordions, church style organ, violin, viola, low moaning guitar and delicate yet powerful vocals."

Burn, who has worked with Harris and Griffin as well as Midnight Oil and Patti Smith, wanted to keep things organic with his recording approach, something that intrigued Stevens.

"He didn't use auto tune, kept takes to a minimum and mentored us on how Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and John Cougar Mellancamp used to do it. It left a lot of room for creativity and cut out the need for perfection," Stevens added.

Stevens, whose music combines elements of alt-country, indie rock, contemporary folk and pop, has gained national attention over the last few years following the releases of her first two albums, I'm Okay (2005) and Stand Up Girl (2006).

She's gained attention with a captivating live show that matches or exceeds the intensity on both albums. Her song, "Sleepwalking," was featured on HBO's "Big Love" and her video for "Stand Up Girl" was a pick of the week on CMT's "Top 20 Video Countdown."

Stevens has toured as well, playing venues from Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles to Coors Field in Denver and other venues in 21 states; and has showcased at SXSW, Sundance Film Festival and at the inaugural Monolith Festival at Red Rocks in 2007. Stevens is sponsored by Coors Beer and Cowgirlpunk Clothing.

Originally from the Northern Plains, Stevens pulls her music from her own life experience: The 1991 suicide of her older brother, Steven, the root of Angie's music and from where she gets her stage name, observing the struggle of her mother's alcoholism and trying to find her own way through the day-to-day havoc she has physically, mentally and emotionally endured.

"Go on: Just try to find a single soul who's seen Angie Stevens live and not been completely entranced. Backed by a stellar cast of musicians, Stevens engages audiences in a way that makes every performance feel intimate, like she's playing her songs just for you ... Stevens makes the icicles form on your spine the minute she takes the stage." -- Westword

Instrumentation

Angie Stevens -- lead vocals, guitar
Susan Phelan -- upright bass
Carlos Newman -- drums, percussion
Jon Wirtz -- keyboards/piano

Discography

Queen of This Mess (5/19/2009)
Seven Voices DVD/CD (2008)
Solo Session EP (2008)
Stand Up Girl (2006)
I'm Okay (2005)

Links

http://www.myspace.com/angiestevens
http://www.angiestevens.com

Join us at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29 at PARKER LIBRARY PROPER!

Help remodel our Local Music shelves while promoting yourself as a performer! What could be easier? Uh-huh. I'M SAYING!

LAST CALL: Looking to redecorate our Local Music shelves -- the whole branch that is Parker Library is undergoing a much-needed remodel -- we thought it would be way cool to have different images of local band and solo artists, in various sizes and orientations, signed by the artists.

Give us your old John Hancock, so to speak.

Black-and-white or color. Either. Entirely up to you. You can even email them to us to print so that we pay the postage.

When you are famous we will of course say: We knew them all along. We were there on the way up. We never wavered in our support.

And: He typed as if he were on fire.

Just think of the extra real estate for folks to know you and your CDs, which we probably have if you are a Local Musician with a CD out, and how cool it is to support libraries, especially a public library with such an awesome Local Music collection and Live Local Music Series.

Contact Jeanie at jstraub@dclibraries.org for more info!

Do it before I lose patience!

Catch F.O.E. on the way up -- today Monolith, tomorrow Tokyo Dome!

Today, in regards to powerhouse local artist F.O.E., I had one of those premonitions you have re a musical artist: that you'll be telling someone down the road how you exchanged Twitter postings or spit or something with them. Took baths together as children. Whatnot.

My claims to fame in this regard:

01 I won tix from Independent Records to see Coldplay at The Odgen -- or The Fillmore? (So long ago!)

And I had to BEG my girlfriend Claudia Hibbert to go with me.

That's sort of a claim to fame, isn't it? "Dude: I saw Coldplay when they couldn't give away tickets!"

02 The Beastie Boys. They were in town to play The Gothic when I was about 21, and they ate before the show at the first Taki's on Colfax. (The one that was right next to Denver Drug and Liquor, which is at still at 400 E. Colfax Ave. but under different owners.)

Their debut album, Licensed to Ill, had actually come out about four or five years before, in 1986, so I don't know why they were playing at The Gothic. And I'm not at all dissing The Gothic. Just saying that Licensed to Ill was the first rap LP to top the Billboard 200 chart.

To date, Licensed to Ill still holds the record for the fastest-selling debut on Columbia Records. Those boys sold more than five million copies. (Clearly you will see how me just listening to an artist with a modicum of interest can help catapult a great solo act or band to well deserved fame!)

See, I first heard Licensed to Ill when I was 17. It was during spring break of my senior year. I was in New Orleans visiting my girlfriend, Michele de Lorimier. She was looping Licensed to Ill. Nonstop.

And so, anyway, fast-forward to me being this cute 21-year-old going up to the boys at Taki's.

I see them and go up to them and say: "Hi. Hi. I just wanted to say HI."

They were like: Hi.

I'm sorry but that is a HUGE claim to fame.

I also saw the B-52s at Red Rocks well before they were cool. But anyway. Onward.

I have had this feeling recently during exchanges via Twitter or when emailing F.O.E. via Jewell Tyme Music: the feeling that I will be blabbing on about him in the near future. When he is doing venues like the Tokyo Dome, I'll be saying I saw him at the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks. He'll be there performing this year with The Pirate Signal.

Trust me when I say you're going to want to catch F.O.E. on the way up. Not only did “King of the Mountain” garner high praises, it led to F.O.E. being named one of the “Movers and Shakers of 2008” by Westword. Colorado Music Buzz called him one of the publication's picks for “Artists on the Verge of Greatness." If you are familiar with Westword and Colorado Music Buzz, you know I'm right about this.

Tic Toc!

The power of rock and roll

"You know the power of rock and roll. It can make you forget the economy, your romantic misadventures, all the trouble in your life." -- Bob Lefsetz

Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz

How to get your stuff into Parker Library's LOCAL MUSIC collection ...

This entry covers how to get your stuff into Parker Library's LOCAL MUSIC collection if you are someone other than the Meese kids or the guys in 3OH!3 or another Colorado performer who has, for all intents and purposes, "made it."

I'm writing this mostly because people ask about this, but also because not knowing the deets has prevented a few folks -- namely me* -- from seeing a good CD get into our Local Music collection.

Once I actually was in tears when our ace cataloger Erica once sent a CD back to me.

(No. Not really. But it does hurt to have her send stuff back with a note* like the one she sent me that time. I'll try to dig it up.)

I wrote up some of this in a posting entitled You're not a household name until I say so on the Colorado Music Buzz blog. This is a little more comprehensive.

BTW, on another matter, the guy from 93.3 who does Locals Only has a really good FAQ on his myspace -- http://www.myspace.com/alfradio -- about how to get your CD played during that show. This only covers how to get your CD into Parker Library's Local Music collection, but I would recommend trying to get your CD on the radio more than anything else other than being reviewed in Westword or in Colorado Music Buzz or another publication of merit. KTCL has a ton of power. So does 101.5. GOD I LOVE them.

So ... here are the details from our trusted, ace cataloger Erica on how you can be sure your music will get into our extensive, ever-growing, groove-a-licious Local Music collection at Parker Library, straight from Erica's email to this blog:

*** Begin transmission from Erica ***

As for what we need on a local CD (or any CD) in order to catalog it is:

* Name of the band, tracklist, copyright date. It helps to also have the copyright holder or record label but that's not absolutely necessary.
* We cannot accept anything burned onto a data CD-ROM, like the ones you buy in a 20-pack at Walmart.
* The CDs need to have the information printed upon them (or in the liner notes), not hand-written.
* And we can't accept demo copies (it is the same with advanced copies of books -- they're not the "real" thing, so they don't get cataloged). We're can only accept the end-product.

Any additional information is always great, such as standard identifiers and record label numbers, band members' names, name of recording studio, etc, but the aforementioned are the basic standards to get a CD into the catalog.

*** End transmission from Erica ***

Hope that helps. If you want us to purchase your CD because for some reason we haven't -- note that we are pretty good about keeping up on reviews, but it can sometimes take a while to get from purchase to catalog -- please, please, please do let us know. email me at jstraub@dclibraries.org.

If you would like to donate a copy, you do not even need to email me. Just mail the CD to me with a note that you are donating it.

Please address the package with the CD you would like to donate like this ...

Jeanie Straub
Local Music coordinator
Parker Library
10851 S. Crossroads Drive
Parker CO 80134

If you would like for us to purchase a copy of your CD, just email me and tell me about your CD. Send a link to your myspace so I can just click and listen.

(PLEASE, please: With all your fans, just make it easy. Don't say "Google me." Ever.)

If you were reviewed in Westword or Colorado Music Buzz or The Denver Post or an online publication, do tell. Just send the link.

Any compelling information that will make me want to buy your CD, spill it!

If I want to buy your CD, I will ask you to mail it with an invoice. Same address. Just add the invoice this time.

*** DO NOT SEND ME A CD WITH AN INVOICE UNLESS I HAVE EXPRESSLY SAID I WANT TO BUY A COPY FOR OUR COLLECTION. ***

And don't think I won't remember. I will remember.

Do you want me to come check out your band so I can Twitter about it? Let me know. Don't bombard me with invites. Just one will do.

OK. That should cover it. (Other than please link to us on myspace and follow us on Twitter.)

Thanks for making Colorado's music scene hot. Ciao for now!

___________________________________________________

* I tracked down a few of Erica’s notes / emails to share, mostly because she can be very funny:

Erica 01:

Ugh! Jeanie! I can't put this one in the system. It's not a 'real' recording and there's NO info. on the disc for me to use. How could they do that?!

Erica 02:

You can't kill me for Oblio Duo's lazyass ways. They're the ones who went out, bought a CD-ROM and burned their recording onto a normal disc...then markered their name on it. And you know what? That just pissed me off. I was going to write them to tell them they've been doing this long enough that they know how to get it out there professionally. I mean, come on! They made liner notes! They can't get a real CD? Really? Please.

And that's why their CD will not show up in our catalog. They're only hurting themselves.

Erica 03:

Haha! Getting the information from the band does nothing! If that worked, I'd've been doing it all along. No, I need the discs to be printed (not by hand) with the correct information, such as copyright information, name, title. Pretty much, we just don't accept CDs burned from a computer. It's the same as the "we don't catalog demos" standard. Technically, if I cataloged that CD, I'd have to put the information from the actual CD in the record and I dont think any band wants their album (or band name) to be Magnavox recordable compact disc 250S 1000mb. (I just made that up, btw)

There are a lot of CDs that don't have that information visibly printed on the actual CD (Stone Temple Pilots used to be really good at that, the bastards). But the information is in the packaging. And the CDs aren't homemade, burned from a PC.

Send anything you want over! As you know, if I can't catalog it, I'll just send it back. I'm hoping Oblio Duo and the Archers will re-release their CD from a better source than their basement.

Erica 04:

I have no idea why you have four copies of EAOD's The Great Collapse. I figured it was a replacement copy. I noticed, as I cataloged it, that such was not the case. If circulation doesn't pick up, sneak a copy into Castle Rock's music collection and one into Highlands Ranch. They don't have to know. :)

Angie Stevens & The Beautiful Wreck ...

At left: The cover for Queen of This Mess by Angie Stevens.










I LOVE this cover, and, solo artists, you can't go wrong by looking at Angie Stevens and what she has done with her career.

Angie Stevens -- she's pretty great.

And she's playing here. For us.

Yes. I said it: Angie. Stevens. Here.

WOO!

Angie Stevens & The Beautiful Wreck kick off the 2009-2010 run of Parker Library's Live Local Music Series -- our fifth year if you can believe it -- on Aug. 29 at O'Brien Park across from the library.

If you haven't heard of Angie Stevens, TRUST US: YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO BE THERE. (With a picnic blanket, too.)

This will truly be a "signature" event for our little branch, and if all goes as planned, we'll have a LOT of bodies over there, and it will become something we do every year: have a high-end act at the end of the summer to kick off the nine-month run of our live series.

And please know that I'm not implying that the other bands for which we budget are anything less than "high-end." We don't have anyone BUT high-end performers here. What I mean is established -- folks who have received a lot of press and get a lot of airtime on the radio -- and who are about to cross over or who have already crossed over. To the national scene. On their way to Japan and the rest of the world.

Angie Stevens is Colorado gold: local girl done good. A national / international act to write home about.

Can you tell I'm a fan?

Mark your calendars for Aug. 29. O'Brien Park. Bring a blanket.

UPDATE: Angie Stevens & The Beautiful Wreck will be playing in the library proper. Deets: tinyurl.com/vaguelynaughty -- see you there!

The Motet -- we love you ...

The Motet camp has expressed its sorrow at loss of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson:

“We have all been deeply influenced by him as a musician and performer over the years. … As the news of his untimely death still resonates around the globe, we have received countless requests to [revive] the tribute we paid to his music during Halloween 2005. Because so many of you have asked us to bring that show back, we just can’t refuse. Keep your ears peeled!”

That's just cool.

Stay tuned: The Motet will be announcing the return of the epic Motet Michael Jackson tribute!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: LESS THAN ONE WEEK AND THEN WE'RE AT THE MOTET CD RELEASE SHOWS!

The Motet: "And due to popular demand we are going to pre-release one more track from our new record Dig Deep."

Do check out the following tracks here ...

EXPENSIVE SHIT
ROFOROFO FIGHT

Why am I always pushing The Motet? When I found out that I was taking on Local Music as a collection at my little public library branch, I knew zero about the local scene other than the most totally obvious names that are so totally obvious I'm embarrassed to say they were my only link to Local Music -- except for in the case of 16 Horsepower and a couple others.

(Oh come on, people! 16 Horsepower is not that mainstream!)

Any-hoo: A colleague here who I consider to be a true friend -- and she loves all things music -- said: "Check out The Motet."

And, sure enough, woo, just like that I fell in love with all things Local Music because I fell in love with The Motet.

Really. They are that fabulous. They carry the entire state.

Here's Modern Drummer on the why: "With Instrumental Dissent, the band's horns and deep-pocket bass is thrown into a blender with house beats and trance. Result? Slamming, driving grooves played with skill and fire."

Just finished writing last of three reviews of CDs by local bands or local solo artists for July edition of Colorado Music Buzz

First and foremost:

Above is that KILLER FABULOUS photo of this year's Westword Music Showcase . Gabriel Rovick, director of Focus 4 Design LLP, could easily have charged our little Local Music team a TON of money for the rights to reuse it here in our little Local Music blog and to post it on our little twitter.com/colorado_music feed, but when I told him we were the Local Music team from a little branch of a public library district, he said: "Because you are a public library and [because of] your wonderful comments, I'm willing to give you a photo. ... [P]lease use it. All I ask is that you have a link to my website. Thank you for your flattery.”

WELL GEEZ! Nice! Thanks very much, Gabriel Rovick. Here’s little me plugging your KILLER FABULOUS company that doesn't really need it, Focus 4 Design LLP. And thank you for your generosity and for being such a KILLER FABULOUS artist.

Here's the contact inf0 for Focus 4 Design LLP -- if you see them walking by or in line at the grocery store, please throw* money!

Gabriel Rovick, Director
Focus 4 Design LLP
Focus4design.biz
720-308-9284

OK. Onward: I just finished writing the last of three CD reviews for Colorado Music Buzz, and I must say that that last CD -- stay tuned for details -- was difficult to write because I probably would have LOVED it had it not suffered from poor production.

I will post all three reviews here after the hard-copy of Colorado Music Buzz hits the stands on July 1.

Also stay tuned for a review from one of my colleagues, Scott Stelzer, at Parker Library. Stelzer did an absolutely bang-up job of reviewing Blue Million Miles, a band that recently put out Of Building Walls.

Michael Roberts of Westword -- I cannot help it, I LOVE Westword as much as I LOVE Colorado Music Buzz -- gave high praise to the self-release by Blue Million Miles.

Below is the March review of Of Building Walls by Roberts -- reprinted with permission, of course. (I am a librarian!)

I'll post reviews -- reprints and original work -- as often as I can get around to them. And if you want me to post a review of a Colorado band's offering/s that you wrote or want to write, please just let me know and/or shoot me the text. It doesn't have to be a new CD or even new-ish, because folks are discovering local bands all the time just by seeing them live. Or they want to discover new bands, and you may mention those few keywords that make them check out the CD -- or two.

I'll post anything that is written well, that is well argue and that is interesting and fun to read -- or some combination of those. You also must get permission of the original publisher if it is a reprint. Just forward an email to me from the original publisher and we're in business!

One more tiny item: What Colorado bands would you say sounds like Rise Against? Say a library patron wants Rise Against but no Rise Against CDs are checked in. You, as the local music librarian, would like to recommend local bands for the patron to check out. (He is going on a road trip, so you can recommend more than one.)

What bands would you tell him to check out? I'm going to ask Alf from 93.3 for his thoughts, but I would LOVE to hear yours as well. Shoot me an email.

Blue Million Miles
Of Building Walls
Self-released

By Michael Roberts
Westword

March 19, 2009

Scenesters regularly debate whether or not this fair city has ever produced a signature musical approach, as opposed to the kind associated with borrower bands that just happen to be based here (read: The Fray). In fact, there have been a number of Mile High styles over the years, including the atmospheric, post-rootsy mid-'90s form recalled by Blue Million Miles. Tracks such as "God Is Dead" feature plenty of elements that fit the mold: spectral guitars, simple/brutal rhythms, and doomy lyrics ("Inside the heart of this tired nation!") delivered by Sam McNutt, who clearly has a thing for echo effects. Sure, it's a throwback, but a confident, persuasive one filled with fine songs like "Through the Branches" and "Trees." Listen closely: It sounds like ... Denver.

* I do not mean to suggest that this KILLER FABULOUS company needs extra attention. Because who else gets that kind of treatment and headline -- "Westword Music Showcase: This picture pretty much sums it up" -- from Westword? (Yes. I'm saying!)

Please send us autographed pix of you + your kick-a-- band ...

Yes. That's right. We are looking to redecorate our Local Music shelves, and we thought it would be right kick-a-- if we had different photos of band photos -- in various sizes -- signed by the members of said band. Black-and-white or color. Either. Entirely up to you.

Either way when you are famous we can say: We knew them all along. We were there on the way up. We never wavered in our support. And: He had strange taste. Frozen strawberries on cottage cheese. He wouldn't even thaw the strawberry stuff. And he would pick out the strawberries. And the curd. It was right nasty. On and on.

If money is tight, contact us anyway. You could send an electronic copy of the photo, and then we could print it in color on nice archival paper -- again, not because you are special but because we can sell it on ebay when you do hit your 15 minutes -- and mail it to you and the fellow bandies to sign and send back to us.

We would even be willing to spring for the postage on the return trip. How can you go wrong?

And just think: There you all will be. Celebrities and all way before your time. Decorating the shelves of a kick-ass library that is somewhere on the way to New Mexico.

Contact Jeanie at jstraub@dclibraries.org for more info!

Do it before I lose patience!

BTW: Above left is an advertisement for On Eleven. Playing this weekend. Be there!

GREAT advice for local artists ...

In case you missed it, here is GREAT advice for local artists from industry insider Bob Lefsetz in the Wednesday edition of his newsletter, The Lefsetz Letter (emphases mine):

GIVE YOUR MUSIC AWAY!

Please, if you're an indie artist, if you're not signed to a major label (which probably won't allow you to do this), PLEASE put up downloadable MP3s on your homepage. Put all your tracks on MySpace. It's almost impossible to be recognized, to get any attention in this overloaded world, and you want people to pay first, in order to check your music out?

If someone's a fan, they'll give you ALL their money! They'll buy the CD to display in their home, even if they never fire up their CD player anymore. They'll buy merch to support you, to show how much they love you. And they'll buy music for their friends, trying to share the joy with them! It all starts with the music, but you've got to make the music AVAILABLE!

Lefsetz routinely addresses such issues at the core of the music industry.

To get more sage advice from Lefsetz, who has been writing The Lefsetz Letter for more than 25 years, check out http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

At right: That's generally what our Local Music shelves look like right now. We'd like them to look, um, cooler. Stay tuned on that!

Coming soon to a Delicious + Nutritious shopping mall near you!

This blog, covering all the delicious-and-nutritious aspects of made-in-Colorado music, is going to offer everything, not just hyper-fun reviews of CDs, new and old, that are short and snappy but also reviews of shows as well as hyper-delicious newsy snippets about Colorado bands: all genres from ska to Celtic harp and punk and old-school rap and new-school rap and garage and tape and every sub-genre of indie -- blah blah blah. On and on.

(Want to write a review of a CD by a Colorado band? Don't wait around. Do it and email it to us. Viola! We'll post it. Here and on Twitter if it is short enough for Twitter. You won't get paid, but we'll like you enough to let your new puppy live!)

We'll also have recommendations re whom you simply must read or follow or whatever as far as media folks who cover Colorado's FAB music scene. (Tell us about stuff, please.) Not just links but very CURRENT stuff. Critics. Festivals. Clubs. Just stuff you have got to read before you can go to work or the grocery store or move on with your life in any way ...

And polls and contests and lotta kewl stuff!

Check back soon, please. We're out all the time checking out Colorado bands and solo artists at every stage of their career: from folks who just got back from playing Tokyo to the guy playing his guitar for tips at the local cafe.

If you are an artist, do tell us what you are doing. Remember that you can never do enough in terms of marketing.

Side note: Please don't make it difficult to purchase your CD. Get your CD into retail shops -- Wax Trax, Independent Records, Twist & Shout, Jerry's Records -- and online at CDBaby and amazon just to begin with.

Do not offer your CD only on your myspace page. SELL THE CD. OK? Same language here?

Woo! Check back soon!

Meanwhile: Groove on, brother, groove on ...

myspace.com/colorado_music
coloradomusicbuzz.com

Local CD we recommend: Queen of This Mess by Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck

And remember:

"Never accept images that have been created for you by someone else." -- Malcolm X