July 2006

Michael and I went down to New York City this past weekend to see Edie Brickell & New Bohemians perform in Central Park on Friday night. It was the first time I’ve seen them live since high school. They were superb … fifteen years later. The band’s new album is called Stranger Things. It features the New Bohemians’ original lineup plus keyboardist Carter Albrecht. My favorite song on the album is “Buffalo Ghost.” Amazon.com has a great review of the album including this tidbit:

This new recording represents the honest, unadulterated, and utterly charming sound of a longtime band just being itself, with tracks that include “One Last Time” and “Oh My Soul.” Brickell calls this album a “true beginning,” the one effort in which she and her original bandmates perform together as a bonafide group. “It’s as close to the combo’s live sound as a studio recording can get,” she says.

I recorded a little video clip with Michael’s camera at Friday night’s show.

If you use LinkedIn and we’re not “connected” yet, here’s where you can find me if you’d like to conspire over there.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/susankaup

My internet radio station had it’s third birthday a couple months ago. I made a bunch of updates recently to Exploit Boston Radio so it’s up to 20 hours of (past and present) Boston area rock, pop and alternative bands. It streams 24 hours a day, every day. Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by all the amazing bands who are based here. Sure, music is subjective; but there are a lot of ridiculously talented musicians here. And you rarely hear these bands on your radio in the middle of the day.

More than 20% of the music market share is controlled by independents, yet less than 0.005% of (major) radio’s playlists contain independent content (Billboard Magazine, February 25, 2006)

Now that there’s a decent amount of music in the library I’m starting to make special playlists so check the schedule to see what’s playing at various times of the day. I’d also like to see other people contribute guest playlists and live shows. If you share a love for Boston (or at least New England) music, let me know.

A few of the bands you’ll hear:

The Casual Lean

The Snowleopards

Aloud

Bad Saints 

A couple weeks ago Michael and I went to the Paradise, my favorite mid-sized club in Boston to see live music. Bleu was the headliner and was using the show as a farewell to Boston as he prepares to pack his bags for a move to Los Angeles after ten years in Boston. A band I had never heard of called Bang Camaro opened the night o’ music. They started out as a four or five piece band, playing what seemed to be heavy metal instrumentals. Michael and I both looked at each other five seconds into the first song: Oh, no, please, not 40 minutes of heavy metal instrumentals. A few seconds later, 15-20 guys swarmed the stage and took spots around numermous microphones (that I guess we hadn’t noticed earlier were already on the stage).

I have never been so thoroughly amused (in a good way) at a concert. The premise behind the band is that they do mostly guitar solos and choruses. There is no “lead singer.” It sounds ridiculous; but these guys are pros and they sound great.

You can listen to their music on the Bang Camaro website. They’ve got four songs for sale at 99 cents each. My favorites of the four are Lady Lightning and Bang Camaro. But you might as well buy them all. Their music is also playing on my internet radio station at Exploit Boston Radio.

Bang!

My manager at the new jobbyjob pointed that out to me a few days ago. It’s not something I had really thought of before but I think she’s right. The more resumes I look at (all day!), the more I notice that most of us are just regurgitating a job description instead of highlighting accomplishments or telling a story about what we got done at a job.