SAIL ON!: The inaugural edition of the Thursday evening Flicker Deadstream a few weeks ago featuring WesdaRuler, Louie Larceny and UNTLD—with visuals by Arts & Crafts—went off without a hitch and was a total ball. The past two weeks’ episodes have featured Four Eyes, Radiator Hospital, Blunt Bangs and Jim Willingham. Upcoming shows are Hotel Fiction and Garden Club (Oct. 22), Sacred Bull and Multiple Miggs (Oct. 29), T. Hardy Morris and Little Gold (Nov. 5), The Pink Stones and Palace Doctor (Nov. 12), Kalen & Aslyn and Seth Martin (Nov. 19) and Cicada Rhythm and Earle Grey (Nov. 26). The easiest way to tune in is to head to facebook.com/flickerbar.athens and click through on a specific event at that event’s start time. Or, of course, you could head to YouTube and simply subscribe to their channel. Just go to YouTube and search for “Flicker Theatre,” and you’ll find it. During the shows, and of course afterward, you will have the opportunity to tip/donate to the artists and to Flicker itself. Please consider doing what you can, even if you’re that particular type of townie who never pays for shows. Flicker’s ongoing Go Fund Me campaign can be found at gofundme.com/f/qp585h-pay-it-forward.
THROW THOREAU AND REARRANGE: I’ve long held the suspicion that the posters created by the American Library Association and R.E.M. for the former’s “Read” campaign in 1990 spent more time on the walls of college dormitories and suburban bedrooms than they ever did in libraries. Now, the 30-year-old image is reconfigured as a jigsaw puzzle courtesy of the band, the ALA and Athens’ own Very Good Puzzle Company. Proceeds benefit the ALA and Athens charity Books For Keeps, which distributes free books to young children. It is available exclusively via the band’s website, and I’m betting this will be a very hot item worldwide. So if you’re game (pun intended), ya better hop on it. For more information on all the above, please see remhq.com, verygoodpuzzle.com, ala.org and booksforkeeps.org.
CAN’T GET ENOUGH: A sweet little wisp of a record named Love is The Endgame by Razzi King slipped out at the beginning of the month. Containing a mere four tracks, it’s just a nice slice of King’s inexhaustible output. It’s functionally a tribute to the late, great Barry White but isn’t as upfront as all that. It’s just King thoughtfully and smoothly singing his versions. He switches the titles up slightly but plays faithfully with the actual tunes. Check this out over at echobassrecords.bandcamp.com.
SWING SOFTLY: Back during the summer I told y’all about Alex Nicholson’s project, Jarbins. Since that time he’s released a whole lot of songs, largely on a one-off basis. He did, however, collect four of them into a grouping named You Hit A Raw Nerve. These four encompass a short gamut of styles for Nicholson from light acoustic jazz to flamenco and then back again to his gentle, somewhat brittle folk. Not essential, but not bad at all. Check these out at jarbins.bandcamp.com, and expect a lot more from him, based on his previous output.
AND SPEAKING OF WHICH: The aforementioned Nicholson (Saint Syzygy, Jarbins) is joined by his brother Tyler Nicholson (Jet Phase) and Ian Hemerlein (Kwazymoto, Saint Syzygy) in the band Rag Bags. The group recorded and released a new EP named Kudos, which was written by the brothers, performed by the trio and recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Hemerlein at his home studio. It’s not a record that’s immediately graspable, even though its individual parts are quite competent. To wit, the background vocals and production on the largely acoustic title track are really good, as is the swampy stomp of middle track “I Need This.” The record closes with the group’s version of Nicholson’s song, “When We Fade,” which first appeared on his Jarbins EP of the same name back in July. Find this on Spotify.
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