I always smile when I hear of a local institution paying its due respect to one of our local artists.  This isn’t a congratulatory smile so much as a visible sigh of relief – a sort of, “oh, thank God one more business possesses some civic sense”!  See, while I don’t promote anyone’s individual sense of entitlement, I do take a position that institutions, both private and governmental, have a level of civic responsibility to promote or support cultural communities.   More specifically, the local arts!  We could all go back and forth I’m sure on to what degree this is a responsibility, but I know many in the arts community think there should be more public opportunities to showcase their art, and I tend to agree.

So how thrilled was I to hear through the grapevine that one of the little guys got to take a swing in the majors!  St.  Paul’s Chris Perricelli (aka. Little Man) scored a playlist slot recently at the new Twins’ Target Field Stadium.  As indicated on the Little Man Blog, Twins baseball music director Kevin Dutcher got his paws on Little Man’s “Lifted Me Like A Curse” and decidedly had to place it in rotation.  Score one more for the little force!

[audio=http://borangutan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/11-Lifted-Me-Like-A-Curse.mp3]

“Lifted Me Like A Curse” by: Little Man

Thank you Target Field for stepping up to the plate and taking a swing for local culture, and since we’re on topic, how about a little dirt kicking to dust some shoes?  What other local businesses or institutions could do a better job of providing some opportunities for local artists?  I think I’d like to see a Best Buy commercial with a home-grown musical backdrop.  C’mon Best Buy, just shoot me an email – I’ll connect with some stellar local artists.  If ESPN could do it, you can do it!  About four months ago I witnessed Sick of Sarah being synched during Sport’s Center.  For those of you familiar with Sick of Sarah, I’m sure the irony isn’t lost here.

Links

Little Man – Website / Myspace

posted May 19th, 2010 at 4:16 pm Music News Little Man, Sick of Sarah

Iconic rock photographer Jim Marshall passed away last night, and we here at Borangutan thought it worth the while to point out, in his memory, the man behind the images that we’ve all become so accustomed to over the years.  Below is a short documentary shot in 2007 on Mr. Marshall highlighting some of his best and most well known photographs.  There are some good stories in there too.  No doubt the man will live on through his photos just as the artists he photographed have.

Links

www.marshallphoto.com

posted March 24th, 2010 at 4:04 pm Music News Jim Marshall

Goodbye, good hero.

[audio=http://borangutan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/02-The-Ballad-Of-El-Goodo.mp3]

“The Ballad of El Goodo” by: Big Star (written by Alex Chilton)

(CNN) — Rock guitarist and singer Alex Chilton, known for his work with bands the Box Tops and Big Star, died Wednesday.

He was 59.

Chilton was having heart problems and died in an emergency room in New Orleans, Louisiana, said longtime friend and business associate John Fry.

“Obviously, we are all stunned and deeply saddened at this news,” Fry said.

Chilton started in music as a teen in the 1960s, as vocalist for the psychedelic soul group the Box Tops, Fry said. They were known for the No. 1 hit “‘The Letter” and songs such as “Neon Rainbow” and “Cry Like a Baby.”

After that group disbanded in 1970, Chilton formed the Memphis rock group Big Star.

Though that band had a short life, breaking up in 1974, its music catapulted the group and Chilton to cult status.

“While Big Star struggled with success commercially, their early ’70s, power-pop sound is often cited as directly influencing bands like Cheap Trick, R.E.M. and the Replacements,” Billboard magazine said in its biography of Chilton’s group.

The evidence of that: a song the Replacements released in 1987, called “Alex Chilton.”

Part of the chorus of that song is “Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round. They sing, I’m in love.”

In the 1990s, Big Star got back together.

Chilton and the band were scheduled to perform at the South by Southwest music festival in Texas this weekend.

posted March 18th, 2010 at 8:19 am Music News Alex Chilton

Yesterday evening’s WCCO newscast featured a story on Kathie “Pony” Hixon-Smith from The Melismatics. Pony has been an established musician in the Twin Cities music scene for over a decade, yet she was also raised by deaf parents. WCCO interviewed Pony and her parents on the subject, which you can watch and read about on their website.

Friendly reminder: You can check out The Melismatics at Sauce on March 26th with The Invincible Kids and Virtual CH.

Links

The Melismatics – Website / Facebook / MySpace / Twitter

posted March 11th, 2010 at 7:12 pm Video The Melismatics

Arguably the biggest band to come out of Minneapolis right now, Motion City Soundtrack is on their way back home after completing the first half of their Spring headlining world tour that took them through much of the US, with an additional series of dates in Australia and Japan. Here’s a video from their final stop in Japan, performing “Everything is Alright”. The audio quality on this raw clip may be a bit rough, but the energy is still through the roof.

Motion City Soundtrack’s tour resumes on March 23rd with a trip the UK before another run around the eastern US through April, culminating in a pair of performances at New Jersey’s Bamboozle Festival on April 30th & May 2nd. They’ll actually be performing an entire set covering songs by Nine Inch Nails (!) at the April 30th gig, which I would actually love to see myself…

P.S. – Didn’t get a chance to see their sold-out show at First Avenue back in January? Well, if you don’t mind a short trip up to Duluth you can see them there on April 6th.

Links

Motion City Soundtrack – Website / Facebook / MySpace / Twitterrrrrrr / Our exclusive guest review of newest release My Dinosaur Life

posted March 9th, 2010 at 4:44 pm Video Motion City Soundtrack

How’s this for nerdy-cool? Minneapolis’s own Mark Mallman just had his song “Do You Feel Like Breaking Up?” approved and added to the Rock Band 2 network, which means you can now buy it and play it yourself! We also found this video of an early play-test of the song on the Interwebs for you, just so you can get a feel for when your hands are going to fall off from the especially intense drum parts.

If only Rock Band included piano in their instruments, then we could really pretend to be like Mr. Serious in this game.

FYI: Do you want to have one of your songs playable in Rock Band 2 and even make money off it? Yes, it’s no joke! Wired has a great article on the step-by-step process for getting a song in Rock Band 2. I could think of nothing better than shredding a guitar solo on a great local rock tune while pretending to be someone like Jonathan Ehresmann from The Notties… except for actually doing that in real life of course…

Linktastic Goodness Galore

Mark Mallman – Website / MySpace / Twitter

posted March 8th, 2010 at 5:18 pm Music News Mark Mallman