Sam Cregger [Artist]

It is truly amazing how an artist can just show up in to your life completely by accident. What is even more amazing is how you can begin to wonder how you ever appreciated music before hearing them!  Such is the case with one of my latest finds, the up Virginia based folksmith that is Sam Cregger.  Here we have a cat that embodies the very spirit of independent folk music that we have, or should have at least, come to appreciate and enjoy.

On his debut, home recorded and very DIY style, album Wanderlust, Cregger exemplifies himself as a true mastermind with brilliant lyrical fortitude with some beautiful country-esque folk tracks that kick at the darkness at times, but also shine a wonderful light at times as well.  His voice echoes like a ghost from older/simpler times.  Drawing on so many obvious influences, Cregger still manages to create a truly unique indie folk vibe, without sounding like a cheesy rip off of something that already as been done time and time again.  This clever.  This is unique.  This is great!

And there is even greater news in this pantomime of doting!  While his home recording was self evident enough of this cat being a fantastic musician, we have to wonder what this man could do in the studio!  Well, we are definitely in luck.  Cregger is running a Kickstarter campaign to help finance his trip to the studio to record this sophomore release.  And in said campaign, Cregger is offering up your chance to help make such a damn good thing possible, while scoring some pretty sweet swag for yourself, and of course the chance to pre-order the upcoming album.  Even just 10 bucks will get you a digital download of the album upon its release.

So head on over to Sam Cregger’s WEBSITE to check some of the tunes he has already shared with us, and then head on over to his KICKSTARTER page to help make his next album possible.

Cedar & Boyer [Band]

Cedar & Boyer, a.k.a. hetero-lifemates Justin and Jen Landis are a very unique duo, to say the very least.  With their mellow, sort of Beach Boys on acid sound at times, this is another amazing modern folk duo that sound just so damn good.  Their songs are sweet, lo-fi, and ultimately very precious.  As Justin’s impressive vocals seem to drift over guitars gently weeping, it is damn near impossible not to feel uplifted in some form or another while this duo is serenading you oh so wonderfully.

Justin and Jen also happen to be another fine duo from my former residence, the same in which I profiled a short time ago, proclaiming my fan boy status of Spokane’s own Marshall McLean and his new band.  And not so ironically Justin happens to be the bassists for Marshall’s latest efforts.  Thus proving once again that the Inland Northwest is a breeding ground for fresh, new talent, yet seems to be an area that just can’t get its shit together.  Although it does seem strange that after a year away from the fair city of Spokane, I seem to be noticing more and more amazing artists taking residents in Eastern Washington or Northern Idaho.  Who knows, maybe it was me?  But nonetheless, Cedar & Boyer is an amazing set of performers, no matter what locale they may choose to claim.

For the perfect down home, indie folk meets Ryan Adams sort of vibe, you really don’t have to look much further than the truly blessed track “Used To Know”, from their debut 4 track EP released last November.  Rumor has it that a brand new full length is in the works, and I have to officially say that this might be one of my most anticipated albums that I will be impatiently waiting to come out.  And even now as I blare their equally enticing down home ballad “I’m Not Sorry I Left But I’m Sorry I Lost Touch”, the anticipation continuously builds at an alarm rate.  All that being said, Cedar & Boyer might just be one of the finest acts to emerge on the indie folk scene in recent years.

This Ain’t No Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995, an Oral History by James Lough [Book]

So just a couple of months ago we shared a feature for an event that occurred in my favorite city of Portland, Oregon in which the great James Lough would be doing a reading from his latest book, This Ain’t No Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995.  And from what I know, the event went well.  And needless to say, I became very drawn to this book.  As I have eluded several times over the years, I am a huge fan of the Beats.  I love the Beats, and the overall bohemian culture in which I will never truly be a part of, in this lifetime at least.  And for anyone who is an adamant follower of the Beats, bohemia, or simply counterculture in general, we all know that the Chelsea Hotel is in so many ways the epicenter of bohemian lifestyle.  It was one place that not only allowed manic behavior and artistic creativity, it condoned it!  To go even further, it yearned for it!  Some of the greatest minds to ever think on this earth have been there.  From prestigious like figures such as Thomas Wolfe, Arthur Miller, and Mark Twain.  To legendary Beat writers and/or junkies William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, and Gregory Corso.  And all the way back to musicians such as Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Sid Vicious (I think we all know that story by now), and Dee Dee Ramone.  And the lists goes on, and on.  Hell, I didn’t even get into the painters, fashion designers, and the entire Warhol clan.  To put plainly: if you were an artist living or breathing around New York City, you wanted to be at the Chelsea.

Author James Lough seemed to have scored a jackpot at some point in his life, probably before he even realized it.  How strange would it be to well educated and well versed in the world of literature, and to not realize that your very own brother-in-law was once a corresponding resident amongst some the greatest minds of our time.  Lough is not unlike a the modest blue collar man who buys a Power Ball ticket on a whim, forgets about, only to have his wife retrieve it before throwing it in the wash, and soon realizing that money was never going to be an issue for them (yes, I know this is a long ass description, but seriously, imagine that scenario).  Yes, Lough’s very own brother-in-law, Robert Campbell, has been through a lot in his life, and so much of it happened at the Chelsea Hotel between 1980-1995.  It shouldn’t take a genius mind to realize that something great had the potential of happening.  And Lough certainly jumped on board, and we should all be so damn grateful that he did.

The years of 1980-1995, may seem like peculiar years to cover.  Several other books and documentaries have been spawned over the years, but tend to focus on the 50’s, 60’s, and to the more infamous events (and deaths) that occurred there in the 70’s.  But, it is as if he were left the thoughts that either (1) things just continued and continue to get even more strange at the Chelsea or (2) the craziness simply died away.  And sadly, at this stage in time, both are actually correct.  But, what about the people?  There had to be plenty of eccentrics and crazy’s living and passing through the Chelsea after Lennon was killed, am I right?  Well, as the old saying goes….it feels so good to be right!

Throughout the pages of this amazing oral biography you will hear from some pretty wild figures who inhabited the Chelsea walls, and of the antics and acts of artistic fortitude that prevailed so heavily.  The stories of the horrid, the advancement, and the degradation of so many great folks.  First hand encounters from such interesting folks as writer and screenwriter Marlow West and his lovely take on how insanity was simple a side effect of brilliance, and vice versa.  Not to mention a few words from the staff who were consistently living in feat of the tyrannical yet good hearted hotel manager Stanley Bard just as so many of the living artists who called themselves residences within these walls.  There are tales of drugs, sex, manivilance, torture souls, and to top it all, a whole lot of fun at times.  Hustlers like original Beat Herbert Huncke who were always looking for a quick scam, while hardly ever seeming to lose their idealization of the fine people around him, and right now to the deranged off again and on again worth ethic of Dee Dee Ramone as he picked up a few friends (including Robert Cambpell himself) to re invent his image in to the blues man he always wished he could be.

Pimps, drug dealers, eccentrics, and weirdos.  These are characteristics they were label to have during their hey day, and still seem to be their most famous attributes, yet they now come with something a bit more than tolerance, a sense of respect.  And it is suffice to say that there could be no better man to characterize these deranged and lovely people so wonderfully than the sociologist means modern day poet/biographer James Lough.  His own descriptions of the time are rivaled in comparison to the likes of the crazies who lived, worked, and dreamed at this severely interesting several story building for the mad and the ambigiously stellar artists who unfortunately may have only received their fame and notarity within these walls.  But, if you have to be known for something, a staple at an American landmark such as the Chelsea isn’t such a bad thing to be.  This is a notion that James Lough develops and routes or minds into the right direction with a great sense of elegance and even playfulness as he never directs you to sympathize with these mad, mad men and women, but just to simply realize that this scene did indeed exist.  And that we should appreciate each and every aspect these characters brought not only to the Chelsea, but to the final days of the great and true bohemian lifestyle.

About the time the book is wrapping up, and you are stirring with depression due to the fact that the stories must end, it can be decidedly thought that Lough has definitely created something so much more than just a simple oral biography as the title suggests.  This man has given us a fresh insight into the world of bohemia, and what exactly it means to live and die by one’s art and how such passion for such insane idealism may not be dead, but it certainly will never be the same as it was in days passed.  It becomes abundantly clear that James and his merry band of eccentrics interviewed in these pages have taken us on a journey through the final days of a certain place and time that seemed has all but dwindled down to nothing more than the memories of a few grizzle old men and dainty old women, of whom we may soon see their light sadly burn out.  The era covered in this wonderful memoir of a doomed time is the epilogue of the wild and free days of the artist.  It is a vision of New York City when the tower’s where in the sky, and capital gains weren’t sought after with a vengeance greater than that of trying to save your soul.  The Chelsea Hotel is definitely the outer core and main focus of the book, but essentially this is a book about artists.  Artists who dared to dream, and the mosaic place that once facilitated their genius.

Find out the joy and splendor of the book for yourself by picking up a copy right HERE.

Marshall McLean Band: Sinking Ships [Single]

A couple of years ago, I absolutely fell in love with a little band that had become renowned in my then residents of Spokane, Washington known as The Horse Thieves.  For a brief period, these guys were stealing shows and hearts of listeners.  But, like most good things, two things happened:  (1) I found out about them just a bit too late and (2) The Horse Thieves would be no more.  After releasing two full length albums (on the same day!) in 2011, the band decided mutually to go their separate ways.  And as their songs remained a staple in my playlists, I continued to metaphorically pray that this would not be the last I would hear from this fantastic band of wordsmiths and folk hounds.

And to my great bemusement, it shall not be!  Sort of.  Former frontman and master of songwriting with a voice that is simply light and dramatizing in some ways Marshall McLean has thrown together a fantastic group of musicians and took off on his own.  Still thriving in the secretly beautiful city of Spokane, McLean continues to prove that he is a master musician, and brilliant mind in his own right.  The enigmatic Marshall McLean Band shares similar sentiments to the days of The Horse Thieves only because it is yet another branding of Marshall’s soul put on digital wax and handed out to the listener.  And we should all be so damn grateful for this.

In support of their upcoming album, Glossolalia, MMB has released their first single, “Sinking Ships”, which is without a doubt a prime example of the beauty that is certain to ensue as this band progresses on, as well as being some of the finest work McLean has put out to date.  With its taunting sort of jingle jangly guitar work and Marshall’s overtly original style of singing, it will definitely be quite the feet to not lose yourself in bewilderment and excitement for the rest of the album to be released.  In the simplest depictions, The Marshall McLean Band is new age folk music at its absolute finest!

Stream “Sinking Ships” for yourself right HERE, and find out for yourself.

You can also purchase the single from the band’s WEBSITE, or receive a free copy of the single with a purchase of one of their sweet t-shirts!  Check it out!

The Sea The Sea [Band]

The rapidly boiling success of new age folk and country-esque/Elliott Smith inspired melodramatic indie bands as of lately is pretty phenomenal.  And if that weren’t specific enough, there is also the male/female dueling vocals that have become quite popular as well.  In the 5 years I have been the internet’s answer to the kid who creates underground music zines in his high school principal’s office to share with his 4 friends, I have watched (or listened to, I suppose) so many of these great acts and frankly, I never get tired of them!  It’s just such a wholesome and enlightening experience to hear such beautiful lyric driven, stripped down, and simply beautiful songs that feel as though they are derived from the soul of a man and woman you don’t know.  And with that being said, I have found a few more gems in the songs of The Sea The Sea.

The Sea The Sea is just about as perfect as new folk groups can get.  And the beauty is in the truly entertaining brand of complicated simplicity they bring to their fans.  Much like their band’s namesake suggests, Mira Staley and Chuck E. Costa are two people who absolutely understand just how far you can go with a great set of pipes and the ability to write one hell of a ditty that gets your toes tapping and your heart burning.  On a personal level, this attributes shine the brightest on a track from their debut album, both of which are titled “Love We Are We Love”.  While the entirety of their debut album of the same title is wonderful, this is the track that does it for me.  It is just so damn catchy and filled with love and hope.  I’ve already had some brilliant sing a long moments with my wife and kids as this song rang throughout my Subaru Outback.

Whilst listening to a group like this, it is hard not to draw comparison to the recently successful Iceland base group Of Monsters and Men, who I can’t say enough good words about.  Except that folks need to realize that they are not a new concept.  They are simple the updated version of Mumford and Sons.  A group that is been individually singled out for one reason or another for doing what so many others have been doing for years.  And in the least pretentious way possible, I have to say that The Sea The Sea is a group that should be a model of perfection rather than a comparison. Then again, none of this really matters.  The Sea The Sea have proven themselves time and time again as they tour across the country having fans fall in love with them over and over again.  This is the sort of success we should be measuring.  The ability to be absolutely genius at what you do, and developing perfect songs about love, fate, despair, and longing for a far prettier world.  And this is exactly what a group as amazing as The Sea The Sea has managed to do.

The Sea The Sea will be performing at the 23rd Annual Rocky Mountain Folks Festival on August 18th.  If you find yourself anywhere near the Rockies around this time, you owe it to yourself to check out what will be your newest favorite band.  You also owe it to yourself to head over the their Website and pick up their beautiful self titled debut album.

Hailer: Anyway I Can [Single]

Although Hailer may have a reputation for simple psychedelic rock and roll with some sort of strange derivative of the obscure scattered amongst their tunes, any wondering if these cats could create a pop-fused masterpiece should be completely dismissed as any chance of being fact when “Anyway I Can” begins to splinter your ear drums.  This is a song that could serve as the “interesting music in the background of any independent film from the 1990’s”.  I can only imagine how much Cameron Crowe would approve of a band like Healer.  This is grandiose stuff, this is fun.

Yes, this is an Australian act.  This fact almost makes me feel bad about the fact that their style reminds me of some of the classic English fuzz pop bands (specifically from Exeter) that I have become such a fan of over the last few years.  But, I will be damned if I didn’t feel as enlightened by their lyrics and mad rush fortitude that I find just as impressive as acts like Simon Bish and National Pastime.  Save for the more hardcore innuendos and electric guitar skills, the sound is similar and simply just as brilliant.  Yes, Hailer is a band that is been killing it for a while, but it definitely feels as though they have truly found their voice and skill.  This a band that the modern ages should listen to, and feel proud that something this phenomenal can still exist in this, our time of dying.

James Lough shares This Ain’t No Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 in Portland, OR [Event]

There really is no other hotel quite like New York’s Chelsea Hotel. During its heyday from the 1960s to the 1990s, the Chelsea Hotel was a home and safe haven for Beat poets rubbing shoulders with machine-gun toting gangsters, performance artists partying with con artists, and film directors riding elevators with directors of drug rings.

This Saturday (June 29th, 2013), author James Lough comes to Portland, Oregon to share his oral history of the Chelsea Hotel “This Ain’t No Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995.” The reading takes place on Saturday, June 29th at the Jack London Bar in SW Portland (529 SW 4th Avenue) at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. for a special free lecture for hopeful authors. Lough will be joined by actor Murri Lazaroff-Babin, best known for his portrayal of Sid Vicious from a stage adaptation of “Sid & Nancy.”

We took a moment to sit down with James Lough to learn a little more about why he decided to write the book, and what makes the Chelsea Hotel such an interesting subject for a book.

Why did you decide to write this book?

I decided to write the book when my brother-in-law, Robert Campbell, kept asking me things like, “Hey, y’ever heard of Herbert Huncke? He was the first Beat writer. I used to live next to that guy at the Chelsea.”  I did know the Beats, but I’d never heard of Herbert Huncke, so I figured he was a very minor figure, peripheral to the movement. Then, two weeks later, while reading a book review, I saw The Collected Works of Herbert Huncke. Turns out Huncke WAS the first Beat writer. He had turned Kerouac and Ginsberg onto the mean streets in Times Square, and as a result they dropped out of Columbia and hit the streets.

From then on, when my brother-in-law said things like “I knew Dee Dee Ramone — I was in a band with him at the Chelsea,” I started to take him more seriously. After grilling him about these things, and phoning people he connected me with, I realized I had great material for a book.

Who are some of the more famous people that you feature in this book?

The most famous people featured in the book are beat writers (Herbert Huncke, Gregory Corso, Marty Matz) punk rockers (Dee Dee Ramone and Johnny Thunders) and various other artist/writers/musicians like playwright Arthur Miller, composer Virgil Thompson, Warhol scion Viva, jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, writer Thomas Wolfe, musicians Tom Waits and Phillip Glass, photographers William Eggleston and Louis Faurer.

What made the Chelsea Hotel such an interesting subject?

The Chelsea was so interesting because it was the biggest, longest-lasting artist’s colony in US history, maybe the history of the world. It provided an encouraging, even libertine atmosphere that encouraged artists to create great art (and to burn out spectacularly if they made some shaky choices.) Not only that, but because management looked the other way when the artists got a little crazy or debauched, it was also an attractive place for criminals. So Beat writers rode the elevators with gangsters, con artists with performance artists, film directors with directors of drug rings.  And this makes of interesting stories galore.

About The Book.

A complete oral history of the famed Chelsea establishment during its grand, final days, “This Ain’t No Holiday Inn: Down and Out At the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995” (Schaffner Press, July 2013) by James Lough peers behind its iconic façade and delves into the mayhem, madness and brilliance that emerged from the hotel in the last decades of the 20th Century. First-hand accounts from former residents and visitors provide a unique and vibrant, behind-the-scenes look at one of New York City’s most celebrated cultural landmarks, and a window with a view of the latter years of Bohemian New York. Residents like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, Mark Twain and Thomas Wolfe, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol loved the Chelsea for its libertine atmosphere, where they didn’t have to put on masks or airs. And it didn’t hurt that Bard was rumored to accept paintings and scripts in lieu of rent past due.

For More Information, Check Out This Facebook Event.

Guilt Monkey: Revolution [Single]

Guilt Monkey is one of those bands that I usually don’t find myself falling in love with.  Although I do enjoy the occasional “hard rock” act time and again, I am generally a softy looking for lovely little melodies that calm the soul.  But, like anyone else, I get a little upset from time to time.  Especially when I see all the violence, hatred, and re-distribution of insanity that occurs on what seems to be a daily basis.  So like many others out there, I find solace in a little bit of politically driven, fist in the mouth hard rock.  And thankfully, there is a gem of a group hanging around Brussels known as Guilt Monkey that is making Rage Against The Machine seem calm and steady.  They are out for blood.  They want the world to hear them.  And if they continue upon this path of construction in which they have laid for themselves, soon the world is going to be all knowing of the power frontman Brin Addison and company have to compel the minority, and to destroy the majority.

In with all that comes their delightfully in your face single “Revolution”.  The message of “Revolution” is clear, simple, and concise.  “Take back your freedom” is a line that can mean so many things, but shouldn’t be too confusing.  And in the Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring movements, it isn’t news, really.  Dictatorships are becoming as useful as VHS tapes these days for those who care to see the world advance.  Even in some “democracies”, we are finding hoards of folks who have realized that not all is well in this day and age.  So the message is simple: there are millions upon millions of us who are affected by the evil deeds of only a few thousand or so, so fucking do something about it!  If only more people would be willing to take some time out of their lives to change the world, we might not have these issues arise.  Sadly, this beautiful theory is without a doubt, bullshit.  But, if there is no fight, there is no chance (i.e.  “a fighting chance”).  The world has never been changed by those who only saw only a light of defeat at the end of the tunnel, it has been changed by those who didn’t care if they ever saw the end of the tunnel.  The world is changed by those who may never actually see the change, but chose to live their lives in a fighting stance, no matter what the future holds.

And the good old boys from Belgium know this is of upmost fucking importance, and want you to take action.  And what can a rock and roll act really do to help?  Well, they can make bad ass tracks that get you hyped and ready to “take back your freedom”, the same way Bob Dylan had the hippies wondering what the hell was just “blowing in the wind”, or the way that Rage made us question was worth “killing in the name of…”.  And better yet, in this new day and age, they will give it to you…..ABSOLUTELY FUCKING FREE!  That is right.

Follow this link HERE and get “Revolution” absolutely free.  For visual stimulation, check out the OFFICIAL VIDEO.  And then  be sure to check out the rest of their sophomore release, World on a Thread, for even more politically driven tracks that are not only thought driven, but fucking beautifully played.  This is hard rock music for people who think they don’t like hard rock music.  Guilt Monkey is loud with reason, and sullen with heart felt melodies that leave you paralyzed with both exuberance and delight.  This is just plain beautiful music with a great reason to get up and shout.

Bike Thief: Live at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR [06.05.2013]

Last Wednesday night I was able to make it out to Doug Fir to check out a few local Portland bands. The newest to the scene was actually the headliner, Bike Thief. That’s saying a lot, considering the quality of the two acts before them. Needless to say, this show was superb. Bike Thief was created by the band’s front man, Febian Perez, who has done an outstanding job of making his songs come to life with an 8 piece ensemble. This being my first time hearing Bike Thief live, I was bit worried that the intimate sound would be lost in the shuffle. I also feared that the crowd would dwindle by the time they came on stage being that it was a Wednesday night.

Right from the start my worries disappeared. This show was so good that I expected Tom Waits to jump on stage in a matching black outfit. Not only did people stick around, but they were loving the music.  Being a more mellow, folky band, than the other two acts on the ticket, I imagined it would be difficult to follow an “indie” pop rock band like De La Warr and keep the place satisfied. Yet they did that and more. Balloons fell, people danced, and from the smiles on their faces, I could clearly see that Bike Thief had made a lasting impression on the crowd. The professionalism of this band is commendable given their short time together.

Be on the lookout for big things in the future. http://bikethief.bandcamp.com.

Brittany Howard & Ruby Amanfu: I Wonder/When My Man Comes Home [7” Single]

It only takes seconds into hearing this cover of Rodriguez’s “I Wonder” before you will realize one simple fact:  This shit is gold.  The pairing of Alabama Shake’s Brittany Howard and Ruby Amanfu, the stunning vocalists we all heard from Jack White’s song “Love Interpretation” a little while ago, is a match that was clearly made in heaven.  Or in a bar.  A dusty old bar loaded with angels of all different varaties.  Their sultry yet sweet takes on two very different tracks are undeniably breathtaking.

“When My Man Comes Home” is technically the B-Side of the single, but clearly it doesn’t matter.  Both tracks are worthy of spotlight notarity.  There are many things that could be said about this B-Side, but sadly a YouTube comment pulled the rug right out from under me describing the track exactly as I was hoping to print – hipster blues ala Jack White.  Damn you grantzprice, whoever you are!  No matter, the point to make here is that Howard and Amanfu are an illustrious duo with the power to ravish your soul, and steal your heart.  This is unique, charming, and just downright soulful to put it mildly.

Pick up your copy of the 7” vinyl on March 12^th from Third Man Records.