| News |
 The runup to our final summer show last Thursday was chaotic, with three bands dropping out in the homestretch. Of course, it's not that hard to find bands willing to jump in last-minute, especially to play The Cutting Room. Daso threw down with unique and catchy latin/hip-hop flava, followed by Spear & Magic Helmet, who debuted a compelling all-original set despite the unavailability of their lead guitarist. A large crowd helped (1) Gremmie's Noisebucket bid a fond (and rockin') adieu to drummer Mike Marinello, (2) celebrate the birthday of Princess Rainbow (a/k/a Minx), and (3) cheer on the debut of SOL (who also busted out at least one of their own compositions). Astute readers of the Flurry have noticed lots of new faces and names in the last couple of months, as well as the increasing number of bands performing original material - both of which add vitality to our scene. To those who've recently rocked: We salute you.
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Cinema
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 If you love music and loathe big-budget Hollywood fare, you can probably do no better with your time than to see Once, a small movie as lovingly and passionately crafted as the songs within. Glen Hansard (The Frames) and Marketa Irglova make such beautiful music together that it's hard to tell where art ends and life begins. As it should be.
Once is currently playing at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema. |
| Business |
As of August 13, the highest grossing Jam bands of 2007 are: 1. The Rolling Bones 2. Square Feeet 3. No Mersey4. Brooke5. Princess Rainbow & The Crown Victorians 6. Gremmie's Noisebucket 7. Complicated Lady8. Jackie 9. Newspaper Taxis 10. Lodestar 11. Dave Sasscer & The Mojo Conga Jam12. Dueling Elvis 13. Sand Storm14. August West 15. Ninonne 16. Planet Girl17. SOL 18. Toast 19. Blue Moxie 20. Mood Swings 21. Obscure 22. Cropduster 23. Limelight 24. The Craig Jantz Band 25. Spear & Magic Helmet As Jam veterans know, 11 or so of our top-performing bands (as of the end of the year) get nominated to appear at the 2008 Jammy Awards, where they will perform and compete for more than $10,000 in prizes. You can view this as crass commercialization, but I doubt you'll get a Grammy without moving at least a few hundred thousand CDs either. The more positive approach is to think of a Jammy invite as a reward for your effort in promoting and gigging - which in turn benefit the entire Jam community. And before you get your panties in a bunch over the unfairness of life, ponder this: If you got 42 fans to a $10 gig, you'd instantly be in contention at #11. So get moving! |
Postscript
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 "Whatever it is about English, it's very musical. You can bend
in a
certain way so that it just works. It doesn't sound silly when you sing
with English. It flows very beautifully ..." -Marketa Irglova
The Dalai Jama a/k/a Gregg Raybin
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