Tullycraft tour East Coast play NYC Popfest

My god man how the time flies. Here is a photo of Tullycraft from the 1997 Popfest NW in Seattle, WA. Appearing left to right Jeff, some girl not in the band, Sean, Chris, and with cigarette is Gary. This is when Mark and I drove up to Seattle to ask Tullycraft to give us a song for a compilation that would be our first release. It was an amazing experience as I put 10 dollars in the raffle that Steve and Nancy had to help raise money for the festival and won so many times I actually felt bad and even turned down the 4 th time I won. I didn't know any of these guys and I had never met Steve and Nancy. I had never heard of the Indiepop List and actually signed up while there or first thing when we got back. Today is the first day of the Tullycraft east coast tour with Tullycraft headlining the Friday's Popfest show at Pianos. They are posting updates on their blog during the whole trip. Here is a current photo of Tullycraft and their tour dates. I will be in New York enjoying the festivities so be sure to introduce yourself.

Here is a photo of what they look like now. From left to right is Jeff, Jenny, Cori, Chris, and Sean. Here are their tour dates.

June 11th - Winooski, VT at The Monkey House w/ The Smittens

June 12th - Boston at PA's w/ Pant's Yell! & The Smittens

June 13th - NYC at Pianos w/ Pants Yell!, The Besties & From Bubblegum To Sky

June 14th - NYC at Cake Shop - all-ages show w/ The Cannanes (2PM)

June 14th - Philadelphia at at The Barbary w/ Scary Monster & Surefire Broadcast

June 15th - Washington, DC at Red and Black Bar w/ Sprites & From Bubblegum To Sky

Mark hits the road on his bike

Hey all. I, Curt, am the one who is always updating this blog. Mark who also runs Magic Marker is a bit more of a behind the scenes guy (this is a photo of him at work). I am not sure if you remember but Mark biked across the country two years ago to help raise money for cancer research. He also works in cancer research first at Stanford and now at OHSU. Mark and I have been friends for not only the ten years Magic Marker has been around but several years before that in college. Well a few weeks ago Mark's mom died of cancer and I know it has been rough. He had been planning his trip to Glacier Park for some time and he just started a few days ago. He has his own blog with daily updates and photos from his blackberry. I thought it would be okay to post this for people who may have met Mark or are just interested in his trip. Feel free to contact him and let him know you are thinking about him. Awful lonely out there.

Mark's Blog

The Bridal Shop CloudkicK!

As you can see that is Magic Marker's most recent band ,The Bridal Shop, on the top right of this morning's Pitchfork review. We reissued their self released mini-lp "From Seas" recently and they posted a newly recorded song on their myspace page "Cloudkick". Go to Pitchfork to read the review yourself or just click right to their myspace page to hear it. They were also featured in an interview last monday on the Swedish radio program P3 Pop. They were asked about the Sound of Sweden and if Sweden as a whole had a specific sound. Unless you understand Swedish you won't be able to determine what they are saying but Toomas said the comment was like how in Sweden you are more likely to be influenced by The Field Mice and Slowdive than in the US where Pavement is a larger influence. Anyway enjoy and have a great weekend.

UPDATE: BOAT is not in THE PROMOTION

Normally we don't put up trailers for Hollywood movies but this is a special occasion. Now the millions of people that go see The Promotion will hear approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds of BOAT "Free The Birds in the Stall" in the background of a Sean William Scott scene. We haven't seen the movie yet but with John C Reiley, Seann William Scott, and Jenna Fischer starring in the film this has promise. Not only that but according to the music supervisor the director of The Promotion, Steve Conrad, picked the song himself. Here is the trailer and "Free The Birds From the Stall". It is in limited release this weekend and hopefully coming to a cineplex near you. BOAT play on Friday with the All Girl Summer Fun Band and Crayonsmith in Portland at No Exit.

Wait! HOLD ON. After getting the song cleared and the song being personally picked by the director it got cut. We can no longer endorse a BOATless film. Go see whatever movie you want to.

BOAT "Free The Birds in The Stall"

The Story of the Vivian Girls

I have a huge crush on the Vivian Girls well not on the actual girls themselves but the band. Now I think there have been several bands with the name the Vivian Girls including one from Philadelphia, St. Louis, and most notably one from Australia. Well I am not talking about any of those bands. I am referring to the ones from Brooklyn. I was ignorant as to what the name meant or why so many bands had decided to take this moniker. So I did some handy research and found thanks to wikipedia that the Vivian Girls is a reference to the work of Henry Darger. He is known in the outsider art world and wasn't known until after his death in 1973. He was a self taught artist and left a body of work that largely contained his opus the 10,000 some pages of The Story of of the Vivian Girls of The Realms of the Unreal.



This is one of the images from said opus.

Well let me continue on here with what was my original thought. The Brooklyn band the Vivian Girls passed through Portland last week playing one of the worst venues in town which seemed a bit of a theme for their tour. At the top of the post is a photo of them at the Twilight Lounge Cafe. My wife Molly and I met up with Shelflife records Ed and Laura. We showed up supposedly a half hour into the first band's set. In true punk rock fashion not only had the first band not started but no equipment had even been set up. So we bought some of the daily specials which happened to be BL limes. Thats right Bud Light but lime flavored. So delicious. It felt a little weird ordering Bud Light Limes but if it was the "special" it must be cool or punk or something right? Ed and Laura all of a sudden looked at their mixed drinks as boring and mundane and immediately wish they were drinking something as refreshing as a BL Lime as they are called or as the label wanted us to believe. We finished our drinks and decide that BL Limes for $1.50 was really a special treat so we got to get more and Ed follows to get some too. In what I assumed was true punk rock style I held up my hand in a peace symbol and said "I will take two BL Limes". Ed followed suit with a similar motion. As we soon found out the BL Limes we were drinking were not the special because anyone at the bar liked them. They were merely trying to get rid of them which they only had one left. The BL Lime doesn't taste much like beer just so you know. Here is the beautiful design BL label.


So we were back to poor hipster status as we drank our Pabst Blue Ribbons and patiently waited for the Wet Heaves to finish playing what was a truly inspiring set of "songs". Finally the Vivian Girls played what these ears have longed to hear since I first heard the Shop Assistants, Aislers Set, and the One Kiss Can Lead to Another box set of girl groups. No it wasn't the most amazing performance but that sound the one i can't get out of my head was just there. The echo vocal harmonies, the wall of sound guitar, and short fast songs it was just that. So i can only leave you with a recorded song that won't live up to the live experience but will surely draw you in.

Vivian Girls - "Tell the World"


Also here is one of my favorite Walker Kong songs "Vivian Girls"

Also a Comet Gain song titled "The Story of the Vivian Girls"

Basically some of my favorite bands reference Henry Darger so I am definitely hoping to look up info on this artist.

THE MANHATTAN LOVE SUICIDES - CLUSTERF**K

A new video and a limited 7" single from The Manhattan Love Suicides with the a-side "Clusterfuck" as well as 3 others. It is on the band's own label Squirrel Records and here are their own words to describe it. The Manhattan Love Suicides just keep getting better. Their latest 7" on this very label is the roughest one of the bunch so far. Recorded with the needles in the red and without too much polish, but still keeping the pop elements that make them what they are. "Clusterfuck" will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen the band play live, "Detroit Diesel" is three minutes of My Bloody Valentine inspired noise, "Burning Wire" doesn't even hit the 2 minute mark and is raw sounding pop at its best, and finally "Heat And Panic" is rough, noisy, sweet and abrasive all at the same time. It could even be "Sister Ray" condensed into three and a half minutes.
As usual, this single is limited edition, so get your order in before they've gone for good." A generel warning as the video is pretty gruesome. These songs will also appear on a cd compilation due out later this summer on Magic Marker.

BOAT Kelly's Olympian from curt kentner on Vimeo.

BOAT pulled ashore in sunny Portland, OR this weekend. They played Kelly's Olympian Mark, Dave, Jackson, and Ricky filled in on parts to cap off a day of Softball, Lawn Jarts, and BBQ. I was kind of randomly taping songs and I missed the Baba O'riley intro but here is "Make Way for the Genius to Appear" and "kind new shrink". Fantastic show! Can't wait to see them again in few weeks with The All Girl Summer Fun Band.

When summer began the thunderstorms came

First of all i wanted to comment that two blog posts in two weeks is pretty good. Second of all given all that, I am straight up stealing this post from Fred Thomas' blog City Center. There are a lot of good songs on his blog that most of them will never show up anywhere else. He post regularly with half songs and experimentations for that day that sound great even in their rawest form. The song i am posting today is a song he recorded 2 years ago at the K records studio that he never finished. I am not a recording engineer but he states on his blog that it isn't mixed and that the 8 track tape broke but this song just sounds beautiful whatever state it is in. I have been listening to it on repeat while drinking my morning cup of coffee and It just feels like one of those life changing songs. I am not sure what Fred is trying to express here or dissecting the lyrics but to me it just feels so epic and grand that I am swept up in the whole thing. As his blog goes on to say a live version will show up on a Australian release sometime this summer but i am happy that his blog rescued this gem from import rarity. It is going to be hot weekend in Portland so much time may be spent in the basement. BOAT is coming through town and I think they have enlisted Ricky from the Galactic Heroes on saxophone and everyone on shakers. Have a great weekend and checkout Fred's blog.

Saturday Looks Good To Me "When We Die There Will Be More"

Whatever I have is yours and it's right here

So I didn't want to forget Sydney. If you know anyone from either Melbourne or Sydney you know they are in constant competition with each other. While Melbourne feels more organic, bike friendly, and small townish to Sydney's sophistication, tourist attractions, and more big cityness. Sydney was so jealous that Melbourne hosted the Olympics in 1956 that I believe the Opera House was built in response for tourist and cultural competition. Sydney was finally awarded the Olympics in 2000 and no longer feels inadequate to Melbourne. While Melbourne boasts a much larger of "good" bands we met up with some of Sydney's best Darren Hanlon and Sarah Blasko. We were shown the neighborhood of Petersham, backyard bbqs, chocolate bullets and the very popular board game World Domination created by the founder of Candle Records (RIP) , Crouchy. Darren also shared with us a Go Betweens tribute both he and Sarah had participated in that was released by the Triple J national radio station. We are such big fans of the Go-Betweens that it is hard to improve on perfection but we think these two covers are worthy of your ears. Here are two of the tracks off that release.

Darren Hanlon - "Right Here"

Sarah Blasko and Darren Hanlon - "Hold Your Horses"

Opportunities are available in all walks of life in australia

Well I am back from three weeks in Australia. My wife and I had an amazing time and saw many great things. After many years of hosting our Australian friends we were happy to take them up on their offer to stay with them. We went to Melbourne, Tasmania, and Sydney. One of the events we attended was the 2nd annual Velorock. Velorock was a free festival put on by the Brunswick Cycling Club in Melbourne who Joel Meadows (Sugargliders/Steinbecks) is a member. This years festival featured The Icy Poles, The Motifs, Mid-State Orange, The Crayon Fields, and The Lucksmiths. The theme for the day was about bicycles. All the equipment had been brought in by bike and while the equipment was more traditional powered all the proceeds for the raffle and baked goods went toward the bike club. The show was really only promoted along the bike paths and with the clouds looming it brought out a modest crowd. While this show might not have seemed like a big deal to the locals I couldn't believe my luck. Not only were these bands in attendance but I met or was reaquainted with members of the bands The Zebras, The Summer Cats, Fred Astereo, The Cat's Meow, Architecture in Helsinki, and Hydroplane. In between the sets they had bike trailer races and you will notice Joel Meadows with his cousin Tali White in the trailer in the photo above. From there we head to root on the St Kilda Saints in an Australian League Football game and eat meat pies which pretty much sums up Melbourne.

Mark filled in with the orders while I was away and we are back to our regular posts.