Daaaaa-a-ay-trotter!

This just in from the lads at Angioplasty Media and GPN's Matt Burr, Daytrotter's Barnstormer series is coming to Vermont. Specifically, the Old Lantern in Charlotte on Sunday August 28.

For the unfamiliar, Barnstormer is like a mobile mini-festival curated by music site Daytrotter that, as its name implies, storms through barns — or in our case, barn-like structures — in random locales around the country, bringing buckets of indie rock cheer where e'er they roam. The VT date features some seriously rad acts, including White Rabbits, Deer Tick (uh-mazing website, BTW), We Are Augustines, Blood Orange and Doug Paisley (no relation to country star Brad Paisley … I think). Ticket info is right here.

Here's a link to a sneak peek clip from Daytrotter that should give you a bit more of an idea what we're in for.

And here is a vid from White Rabbits:

 

  And one from Blood Orange, just cuz.

Blood Orange - Sutphin Boulevard from Blood Orange on Vimeo.

 

 

Parima to Close in September … Sigh.

Well folks, another one bites the dust. And this one stings.

I've just gotten off the phone with Parima talent buyer, Joe Adler, who informed me that the venerable Thai restaurant/increasingly killer music venue will close its doors for good in September. The building was recently sold to another local business, which, for now, will remain anonymous until it has had a chance to inform its employees and make a formal announcement. Adler did note, however, that the plans for the new venture do not include entertainment. What a waste.

Adler said a blowout farewell party is planned for Saturday, September 17 featuring Jen Hartswick, Nick Cassarino and host of other local favorites. "It will be the craziest party you can imagine," he promised.

I don't know, Joe, I can imagine some pretty crazy parties. Although, I've been to several wild shindigs at Parima in recent months. Over the last year-plus, the juke joint has gone from being a fairly awkward place to see a show to one of the more consistently entertaining venues in town. From his weekly Burgundy Thursday series and the monthly Full Moon Masquerade party to puling in big ticket acts such as the Barr Brothers and Marco Benevento and lining up great local artists week in and week out, Adler and company have created a welcome addition to our cozy little music scene. Parima's impending closure will mean a big, honkin' void for local music fans this fall.

"It's been a great ride," he said. Indeed, Joe.

Parima will close its doors in September, but there is still a full calendar on tap in the meantime, including two shows this evening: an early gig with Rusty Belle, Flightless Buttress and Tommy Alexander, and then a late night throwdown with Bonjour-Hi!, Lazerdisk Party Sex, Craig Mitchell, DJ A-Dog, Mushpost, Bass Culture and DJ Disco Phantom.

Hello, Shark!

Unfortunately, news of this show came in too late for me to make mention of or list in the paper this week. But local indie pop outfit Hello Shark are playing Muddy Waters in Burlington this very evening at 10 p.m. Here's hoping the heat has receded to not-life-threatening levels by then and/or that the AC at Muddy's is cranking.

Anyway, to help keep you cool in the meantime, here's a vid of Hello Shark from a recent performance at Foodbar in Portsmouth, NH. Enjoy.

  

Ramble On

This just in from the folks at Ye Olde North End Ramble (July 30), the deadline to sign up to be involved, whether as a performer, host venue, volunteer or sugar daddy financier, has been extended to this Friday, July 15. You can pick up forms at variety of Burlington locations, including Radio Bean, Jamba's Junktiques and Viva Espresso. 

There is also now a Ramble Kickstarter page, which features the promotional video below. A nine-minute-long promotional video. Nine minutes. Seriously. Anyway, they need to hit a grand in the next 16 days. I'm betting they get there.

 

Holy Shit! A Solid State Post!?!

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's been a while. I could make excuses for the dearth of posts this past month. I could offer sincere regrets, guarantees it will never happen again, solemn vows to be a more vigilant blurbsmith. But we both know such promises would, while well-intentioned, ring hollow, much like Hank Moody apologizing to his eternally wounded and increasingly jaded daughter, Becca, for the thousandth time: sincerely remorseful, yet fully aware — as she is — that he will inevitably fuck up again, most likely in boozy and spectacular fashion. (Yes, I've been on a "Californication" kick lately.)

Anyway, in the interest of playing catchup/stopping the bleeding/not doing other work, I thought we'd bust out an old fashioned smattering of randomness to get us relatively up to date. Here goes.

- This just in from Higher Ground: LoCash Cowboys have cancelled their appearance at the club scheduled for this Sunday. Figures, the one time I throw airbrushed pop-country a rhinestone-studded bone, I jinx the show. My bad.

- Wanna see some naked musicians? Local videographer Matt Day, on the heels of a successful opening at the BCA Center last month, finally has an online home for his Naked Musicians video project, nakedmusicians.com.  It's an interesting project, showcasing (mostly) local tunesmiths playing (clothed) in casual surroundings. It's also very well done. Plus, bonus points to Day for the lurid website title, which will undoubtedly draw a bazilion extra hits from pervy Googlers. Well played! Anyway, here's a vid from the project featuring Paper Castles.

naked musicians - Paper Castles from Matt Day on Vimeo.

- Any Amerpunkgrassrockjazzicana fans in the house? Go see the Defibulators at Nectar's on Thursday. Trust me.

- Remember back in February of 2010, when Rapper Big Pooh and his crew nearly died on I-89 when their van flipped en route to a show at Club Metronome? No? Well, they did. Not only that, they still played the gig. Anyway, it seems Pooh's group, Little Brother, recently broke up under some unfortunate and convoluted circumstances, as detailed in this excellent article in North Carolina's Independent Weekly by Grayson Currin, which leads with a description of the accident outside Randolph. (Full disclosure: this story is up for an AAN award this year, which is sort of like the Oscars for alt-weekly journalism. A story I wrote is actually nominated in the same category. But were I a betting man, my money would be on Currin. This is a prime example of arts-related alt-journalism at its best.)  

- I was on vacation when this was announced, but I couldn't be happier about Gillian Welch coming to the Flynn in October. As an aside, Welch's Time (the Revelator) remains the only album my dad has ever borrowed from me and never returned. I don't blame him. Tix go on sale Friday.

- Conan O'Brien gave James Kochalka some love recently.

- Burlington's e-sk (Slanted Black Records) was recently featured on Beatport.

- And last but not least, BURNTmd's track "Smuggler's Notch," featuring Keith Murray was just named a "Banger" by noted hip-hop rag XXL Magazine. I believe that's a good thing … (Seriously though, congrats, B)