Updates

Click HERE for the 10/17/09 Playlist

Click HERE for the 10/24/09 Playlist

Click HERE for the 10/31/09 Playlist

Summer Wasn't That Long Ago... Part 2

A few months ago I headed over to 20/20 Cycle to see a couple Seattle sweethearts perform. Sweet Potatoes and Shenandoah Davis played two beautiful and time warping sets (I mean that in a really good way!).

Playing between them was someone I had never heard of before, but who would unexpectedly take over my ipod for the next few months. Zoe Boekbinder (pic by Beth Hommel) was in town from San Francisco to promote her new album Artichoke Perfume. At the time I was unfamiliar with her other project, Vermillion Lies, with sister Kim Boekbinder so I had no idea what I was in for. Her awkwardness and occasional mistakes were probably given to the fact that this was her first show of the tour, but it didn't matter. It only added to her charm and was quickly overlooked as soon as she started singing. Even with just her guitar and looping vocals she was able to completely captivate the audience. Backed by a full band and featuring songs like Wooden Spoon & Adventures of Turtle and Seahorse (video below), Artichoke Perfume quickly became the most frequently played album in my playlist. And it's been worth every second.



A final word about some of the great new tunes shared on the 10/10 Eden's Hour show ...Kaz Nomura aka PWRFL Power has recently launched his record label, Half Yogurt, with great albums by Dennis Driscoll, Shenandoah Davis, Spencer Moody, Cap Lori and many others who are touring Kaz's homeland Japan. Check out his blog for details.

Summer Wasn't That Long Ago... Part 1

It has been a while ....so where to begin?

I recently spent a couple months in Fairfield, Iowa, home to both KRUU FM & DLF.TV so I was able to do a few live shows in the radio station. First of all, I thought I was only going to be visiting for two weeks and needless to say, the trip was extended so I will be adding a lot of bulk here all of a sudden.

My first choice for the October 10th show was to play song from a few of my favorite new albums I picked up at K Records' annual campout at Helsing Junction, an organic farm just south of Olympia. Let's Build A Roof is the latest album by LAKE (pictured right by Sarah Cass). Now, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous after Ashley and Eli from LAKE dropped me off at my Seattle home and I popped in their new CD ...and no, it wasn't because we shared ghost stories all the way home.

I was nervous to hear their new album because I love its predecessor Oh, The Places We'll Go so much that I could hardly imagine them creating a better record. But I think they did just that. LBAR is a slightly darker and velvety rich album that manages to maintain the catchy pop hooks that drew me into their world in the first place. Golden.

Also contributing on production to LAKE's album is the super talented Karl Blau. Karl has been featured on Eden's Hour many times before so regular listeners and readers (all two of you) will be familiar with him and my love for everything that Karl Blau touches! Fortunately, Karl has a production foot in the door several northwest bands and he has been continuing to expand his personal musical repertoire. Zebra is his latest endeavor, heavily influenced by African music (album cover by Kevin Noonan). Karl has explored and developed new sounds with this album that are funky, bass-heavy, earthy, and totally his own.

And just in case you haven't heard Karl's in-studio performance on Eden's Hour ...allow yourself this one little aural pleasure right here right now.

UPDATE: Karl's music video for Dark Sedan (feat LAKE) debuted on Pitchfork.

Check it...




Click HERE for the 10/10/09 Playlist

Temporary Downtime

Taking a temporary hiatus from the regular weekly shows on KRUUFM.com & Radio23.org to focus on work related projects and DLF.TV

Check back soon for updates on specials and new air times!

xoxo

Eden's Hour -Chris Jordan Feature

It was only hours after I returned to Seattle that I was on my way to do another Eden's Hour Radio interview with celebrated environmental artist Chris Jordan (Interview aired on 04/25). Chris Jordan has been featured in galleries, museums and science centers around the world. One of his more recognizable series, Running The Numbers I, focused solely on American consumerism, but the impact and significance of his work is relevant to every person in every country as his photo series boldly display statistics illustrating the impact that we have on our environment, both collectively and individually.

One piece from his latest series, Running The Numbers II is Shark Teeth, a 64x94" photoshopped work based on a watercolor painting by Sarah Waller. The photo is comprised of 270,000 shark teeth (see detail below) representing the estimated number of sharks killed around the world each day for their fins.




Whether it's documenting the amounts of garbage that is amassed in a given period of time or displaying sociological issues, Chris' work takes a no holds barred look at difficult concepts to grasp and makes them tangible for each viewer. Check out his website for a detailed look at his incredible body of work.

Click HERE for the complete 04/25/09 playlist

Click HERE for the complete 05/02/09 playlist

Click HERE for the complete 05/09/09 playlist

Eden's Hour Is Catching Up

Been a while since I've posted on here. We had a whirlwind of a good time in NYC for the Change Begins Withing benefit concert and then I had a whirlwind of work to catch up when I got back to Seattle. The concert was amazing! You can see some of the highlights below and several interviews with the artists at http://dlf.tv/category/change-begins-within/



I stayed in NYC for almost a week after the concert to conduct some interviews for DLF TV with fabulous people like Ezra Reich, Laura Dawn (Moby's vocalist and Creative Director for MoveOn.org), Ali Stephens (Elite model), and John Hagelin (Quantum Physicist and President of the David Lynch Foundation). These interviews will be posted to DLF TV soon.

Notes From New York -Shepard Fairey Poster & Webcasts

Woo! Things are going well here in New York. My host, Jeff Simmons, of Radio23 is great and he's taught me all sorts of technological tricks that I look forward to applying to my show. But for now I am focused on the big night coming up this Saturday. I can't believe that after so many months of working with the David Lynch Foundation on this benefit concert that it is almost here. And just in time ...Shepard Fairey's poster design for the April 4th Change Begins Within benefit is in!






UPDATE:
You can purchase a signed print of this poster & the t-shirt at DLF TV

Between now and May 31st you can also enter to win the print!

Showing Photos at Dearborn House! 4/4/09

Bill Wolford will be covering my shows for me during the next three weeks while I am in New York, but he will air at the usual Eden's Hour times and I will be on air on Radio23.org a little bit Monday afternoon. The founder of New York-based Radio 23 invited me to be a DJ for the station which launches April 23rd!




While I am away, my honey photos will play:

GOOD PEOPLE + GOOD MUSIC
+ MY PHOTOS = GOOD TIMES!

DLF TV Launch! Enter to Win & Meet David Lynch!

UPDATE: THE CONTEST IS OVER AND WE HAVE SOME WINNERS!
10 PEOPLE WON AUTOGRAPHED COPIES OF DAVID'S BOOK CATCHING THE BIG FISH
& JAMES C. FROM CALIFORNIA WON THE TICKETS SO HE WILL MEET DAVID AT THE CONCERT

CONGRATULATIONS JAMES!


DLF TV launched today!!!! We are kicking off with a ticket giveaway contest. The Grand Prize winner gets to meet David Lynch and can bring a guest to the April 4th, 2009 benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Donovan, Eddie Vedder, Moby, Ben Harper, Sheryl Crow, Betty LaVette, Jim James + special guests!

ENTER TO WIN AT DLF.TV

The DLF TV website is the official production channel of the David Lynch Foundation and will be covering all events including the Change Begins Within benefit concert. I leave for New York in a couple days and will be working with the entire DLF TV crew backstage to bring you live webcasts and Twitter and Flickr updates throughout the concert.

Eden's Hour 3/21/09

Click HERE for the complete 03/21/09 playlist

...more details coming soon.

All of the 2008 Submissions

When I started doing Eden's Hour Radio a little over a year ago, I wasn't entirely sure where it was going to go. We were planning on doing more benefit concerts for the David Lynch Foundation so I thought doing radio would be a fun way integrate the expanding network of musicians that I was speaking with at the time. The show has been an organic process largely driven and inspired by the musicians who have contributed so a huge thanks to everyone who has sent in music. I have a couple volunteers helping me now to upload all of that music to the station's vault so that all the DJ's can spin the tracks.

It's been a great way for me to hear (sometimes really bizarre) music that I wouldn't otherwise get a chance to hear and share it with others. And in regards to sharing music with others ...I am particularly stoked about 2009. In addition to broadcasting on KRUU FM (twice a week), Eden's Hour will soon be airing on Radio 23 (weekly) and Hollow Earth Radio (monthly).

During the first few months of preparing for the show, we received a ton of music from Friends of the David Lynch Foundation Myspace page. I have played a lot of that music on Eden's Hour, but there is definitely more that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet ...so if you sent me music and your band is not listed in one of the playlists below feel free to nudge me.

LISTEN TO ALL OF THE SONGS THAT I RECEIVED & AIRED IN 2008, LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY BAND NAME.


A-D





E-M





N-S





T-Z




LISTEN TO MORE SONGS HERE.

P.S. If you are looking for a band that sometimes has a "The" in front of the name, check the listings in the "T" section as well. If I played your music but your band does not have music on Myspace, I could not add your song(s) to the lists. Sorry buds. Shoot me an email if you upload tunes to Myspace.

Eden's Hour Dreams of Caterpillars 03/14/09

There is a box which sits on the counter at my office and in that box is the latest batch of CDs that have been mailed to Eden's Hour. It has been awaiting my ears for some time now, but I finally had a chance to dig through it this week and in the process I uncovered a couple nifty gems. One was Via Katalin by The Grams.

Another song that I played tonight was Caterpillar Dreams from a CD by Minotaure which I listened to months ago then promptly hung it on my bulletin board because it was so colorful. And of course sound doesn't come out of CDs when they're hanging on the wall so I had completely forgotten what the music sounded like until yesterday. Caterpillar Dreams has a very whimsical, bird-like quality that kinda takes you on an imaginary journey through a Central American rainforest. In addition to the music, he also has a vast collection of paintings and drawings and video projects posted to his blog, like the Baby Ghost Teeth video below. Check em out ...and if you happen to have a cat or two in the room, play Circular Joy really loud. They'll love it ;-)


Baby Ghost Teeth from Minotaure on Vimeo

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/14/09

Eden's Hour Gets Dreamy 03/07/09

Every time I look in the mirror I find more gray hairs ...does this mean I can get all nostalgic for my youth now? Well, if it does I can say that ten years ago, when I was a bright eyed 20 year old, I had a big dream (perhaps more of an obsession really) to organize rock benefit concerts that would help support peace-creating meditation groups being established to help raise the level of collective consciousness. My inspiration came mostly from my own experiences with Transcendental Meditation, but I was also highly inspired by some of the scientific research documenting the positive effects of group practice of the TM Program in war torn areas like this study documenting results in Lebanon.

This has been going through my mind a lot again lately as the entire David Lynch Foundation team is swimming in preparation for our biggest benefit concert yet. I realized that all things that are meant to happen will eventually happen ...even if it takes years. Nature organizes in seemingly bizarre, yet perfect ways.

And I have to laugh at all of the things that I have tried to do that failed miserably. One of these ideas was in 1999. At the time I lived in New England and I had written a proposal to Ben & Jerry's to see if they would consider sponsoring a music festival to support a group meditation project. I even suggested that they create an ice cream flavor combining two of my favorite lassi flavors, rose & cardamom, and they could call it Totally Blissed and the proceeds could support a specific peace project. They kindly wrote back and ...well, I was DENIED!

Not one to give up on weird idea, I also recommended this flavor to a unique ice cream shop that opened up in my neighborhood recently. And to my surprise, I popped in to pick up a pint of ice cream for a dinner party a few weeks ago and voila! They had the cardamom/rose flavor that I had long dreamed about :). You too can custom design your own flavor. They have all the classics, but they also have more unusual flavors like ube, mamey, black licorice, Mexican chili, and even bacon ice cream!

To top that off, Full Tilt Ice Cream (and arcade) fills another void in my hood, by providing a venue space for some great live shows.

The first show that I went to there was during Weird Fest. The only show that I caught was Calvin Johnson! That's right, THE Calvin Johnson, rock n' roll legend and K Records' big cheese. Right there in our little local ice cream shop. And I was one of just a few people there to enjoy it. I have had a few K Records artists as guests on my show and one of them, Dennis Driscoll, happens to live in my neighborhood so he came down for the show as well. Afterwards Calvin, Dennis, Gary, Chris and I set out on a long and unfruitful search for a late night meal.

Just last week, I caught another great show at Full Tilt Ice Cream. Spencer Moody and Corey Brewer were the original two members of the band Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death (consisting of a few members of Murder City Devils). Triumph of Lethargy has grown into a 5 person band, but Spencer and Corey performed an AWESOME and intimate two person set. Personally, I favor Triumph of Lethargy over Murder City Devils, but that's not to say that I don't like them both. The MCD song I'll Come Running is one of my all time favorite songs by any band. I'm just really into the overall sound of TOLSATD. And Andrea Zollo (of Pretty Girls Make Graves) rounds out the band's already kickin lineup with some kickin', yet appropriately understated drum beats!

Last weekend I went to yet another show, but sadly it was a little less intimate. I saw Antony & the Johnsons at the Moore Theater. My only regret was that the theater is so big that I had to strain to see Antony, especially since I was in the very back row on the top floor. But maybe someday I'll get to see Antony Hagerty close up and who knows, maybe someday he'll realize that we are soul mates. Okay, maybe not. But in the meantime ...I'll keep dreamin'!




Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/07/09

DLF TV & Change Begins Within Concert Coverage

Whew! Exciting times in DLF TV land as we are gearing up for the BIG David Lynch Foundation benefit concert, April 4th at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Paul McCartney posted a news update about it on his website.

Premiere ticket packages are already on sale and general tickets go on sale Monday, March 9th at 11am EST! For information visit DavidLynchFoundation.org

DLF TV will be covering a lot of behind the scenes stuff at the benefit concert and Amy and I will be posting things before, during and after the concert so check out Amy & Erin on Twitter. We will also be launching our own blog dedicated to all things DLF TV soon.

In the meantime, follow DLF TV on Twitter for official concert updates!

Eden's Hour Loves Nature's Sense of Humor -playlists

I just stepped outside to enjoy the warm sunny day we're having here in Seattle and to admire the bamboo, koi and honeybees in our backyard. When I was outside, a gorgeous flock of woodpeckers appeared ...and in fact I can still hear the echoey sound of wood being pecked outside my window right now. At the same time that those woodpeckers appeared, I felt a buzz in my pocket as I received a text update from David Lynch's twitter profile about the video below:



Gotta love it.

Anyhow, I just wanted to make a brief post in between shows this week because there are a few new things happening in Eden.

The first new thing is that I am going to be slowly adding links to my freind's arts & crafts stores on the bottom right section of this blog. Because I believe wholeheartedly in supporting local independent artists ...and many of my friends just happen to make BEAUTIFUL THINGS; like Emily's gasket jewelry and Dean's wood jewelry. I will be posting various designers who's work I have picked up along the way as well ...like Faryn's resin art & jewelry and the ridiculously cute hat that I am wearing in the picture to the right ...something that I bought from Muluk at I Heart Rummage.

The second new thing is that I have started creating playlists that you can listen to. Each playlist is from a project I've I've put together while working with the David Lynch Foundation. This includes compilations, radio and concerts ...and will expand to include any other related projects that may blossom in the future. I posted playlists to my Myspace profile and to the David Lynch Foundation Myspace profile.

Click on the links below to hear the musicians involved in the following:

Performing at the April 4th, 2009 Change Begins Within benefit concert -Radio City Music Hall



July 16th, 2008 benefit at The Key Club




November 6th, 2008 Day of the Living benefit at The Viper Room




Some of the musicians who contributed to BRILLIANCE: A Collection of songs and art inspired by David Lynch. Produced in 2006



Purchase these songs on Itunes. Proceeds will go to the David Lynch Foundation



Eden's Hour interviews, in-studios and LIVE broadcasts




A few of my favorite 2008 submissions to Eden's Hour Radio




Stay tuned! I'll be posting more playlists soon :)

Eden's Hour Loves Seattle 02/28/09

It's a really nice thing to love the place where you live. About three years ago I moved back to Seattle, home sweet home, after a ten year hiatus in which I lived in many small towns covering every corner of the US and many points in between. I love each place that I have ever lived, but one thing that I always longed for when I was "abroad" was the DIY/Indie arts & music scene in Seattle and since moving back here I have a HUGE appreciation for how wonderful it is.

What can I say? The northwest is my roots ...it's in my blood. Literally. My mother's side of the family is Native so my ancestry stretches back to these lands for many many generations. There is a picture (left) of my great great grandma in an history book about Native Americans in the Port Townsend, WA area and below the photo there is a description of her as a modern Native woman, because she is surrounded by pots, pans, bulk bags of food and wearing "modern" clothing.

It is rather entertaining to consider her modest lifestyle and little shack on Chimacum Creek as modern, especially nowadays when almost every aspect of our lives is often summed up in series of facebook comments and tweets, but not this kind. Woe is me, for even I have succumbed to the twittering ways.

I am a firm believer that modern technology, if used correctly, has a huge value in that it can support and enhance all of our individual efforts and energies that we pour into building community, both online and in real life. It can enhance regular communication and can be a way to stay connected with those that we know and love, especially amidst the urban sprawl of a city such as Seattle where people live in so many different areas of the city.

A few weeks ago I came down with a nasty nasty head cold that was made a million times worse because I had flown back to Seattle from Iowa, where I spent the holidays, and the airplane pressure DESTROYED my ears. I couldn't get out of bed and could barely hear anything for two weeks. During that time I was not online at all and laid around watching Desperate Housewives, and just about every crime scene investigation show on TV. I'm all about NCIS and coincidentally, Ezra Reich, whom I have interviewed in this blog, is going to appear as a corpse on that show soon!!! I can't wait! To the right is a picture of Ezra rehearsing for his NCIS zombie scenes when he comes back from the dead to hunt down Abby. JK ...that photo is just from when we were goofing around at Venice Beach.

What I realized during that time when I wasn't going out or checking my emails etc., I had absolutely no idea what was happening in Seattle at that time and I kind of felt like NOTHING was happening (admittedly it's kinda nice to do that every now and then. But it seemed like every live show that I had ever been to was just a dream. And the music scene which I thrive on didn't exist at all. And it made me realize how delicate the concept of "community" really is and how vitally important each person within a community is in keeping it lively, because we could all just as easily be sitting at home on our asses watching TV.

I think that's why I have always really loved Seattle's DIY community. People dedicate so much of their time to creating, whether they be a musician, an artist, an educator or just a random freak who likes to make life a little more colorful and interesting. Just to be clear, I by no means am saying that Seattle is unique in this way. It happens everywhere and I have appreciated this in every place that I have ever lived ...it just so happens that I live in Seattle right now, so this is where my day to day attention is right now and what I resonate with.

I love that I get to share some of the beauty that I see and hear in Seattle all the time with KRUU FM, a great little community radio station that sits in the heartland of America, yet reaches the rest of the world through the internet.

Pardon me for waxing poetic here... I just love beauty. And speaking of beauty, there are a couple very beautiful people who's interviews I will be airing tonight.

One is Malaki Stahl, someone whom I have known for ...gosh, almost 20 years now, because he and my brother were high school buddies. Malaki is very instrumental in the DIY scene here because his name is and has been on the lease for a few different DIY venues, in the past it was S.S. Marie Antoinette and currently, he and Jason Glover book shows for The Josephine in the north end of Seattle. I interviewed Malaki back in November when my friend Stefanko had come from Tokyo to play a show at The Josephine (coincidentally, that's where Stefanko and I first met over a year ago). DJ Dearborn, Olie and I had set up a live broadcast of the concert for Hollow Earth Radio so we aired the interviews that I conducted that night, but it was so good I am going to air it again on KRUU FM.

When Malaki spoke during the interview, he really got to the heart of the matter when it comes to creating and maintaining a burgeoning DIY scene and it was so perfect and relevant to DIY scenes everywhere that I had to air it again on Eden's Hour. He pointed out some of the many people that are giving their all to support the local Seattle scene, which you can find out more about at SeattleDIY.com.

In addition to the fact that I made above about how modern technology allows us to stay better informed, Malaki brought up another role that modern technology plays in participating in DIY, a typically lo-fi scene. You don't have to go to shows, you can sit in your room and participate in DIY, and Hollow Earth Radio makes that possible for the Seattle DIY scene in particular.

In these days of commercial radio, true DIY, community radio that plays a diverse range of good music is a rarity indeed. Even southern California's Indie 103 recently left the FM airwaves to go strictly the internet radio route. I can't even imagine not having a station like KEXP to listen to while cruising around the city in my truck.

Seattle based Hollow Earth Radio is also doing a LOT to bring DIY musicians together and give them a home, a place where their music can be heard and appreciated. And Malaki's point of being able to sit in your room and participate in DIY is absolutely spot on because Hollow Earth Radio broadcasts many of the live DIY shows that happen in and around Seattle. Last summer I was working in Los Angeles, but listening to Dennis Driscoll play at What The Heck Fest in Anacortes, Wa. I felt like I was there and it was golden! Who else but community stations like Hollow Earth Radio & KRUU FM would be broadcasting stuff like that?


This Sunday, Hollow Earth Radio is launching Magma Fest, their annual month-long series of benefit concerts (every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights). If you happen to be in Seattle, pick up the $35 pass at hollowearthradio.com that allows you to enter each concert throughout the month of March.

Several of the Hollow Earth Radio DJs are also doing ticket giveaways during their shows this week. This Sunday, Fizzy Business will be giving out two tix to two stellar concerts. The contest details are posted HERE. The Soft Hills will be doing an in-studio performance during that show as well.

I just recently met Garrett Hobba of The Soft Hills when he came by my office to bring me their EP for Eden's Hour. Garrett is fairly new to the Seattle area so I hadn't heard of his band before, but I am wholly impressed by what they have on their EP, Painted World. EEK, I can't believe I'm about to do this (I hate comparing bands to one another) but Painted World is reminiscent of The Album Leaf, Sigur Ros, Iron & Wine and Fleet Foxes, but it's also entered into a realm all unto its own and that realm sounds and feels wonderful and I am glad that these guys have decided to call Seattle their home.



I had a chance to interview Garrett, who spoke on behalf of his bandmates Drew Dresman, Caleb Heinrich and Britton Drake (all pictured above). The Soft Hills are working on their new full length album right now which they will be adding more harmonies and a variety of instrumental tracks to.

But Garrett, an incredibly nice, soft-spoken bookworm, also provided some juicy insights into what he draws inspiration from, including Classic Eastern Literature and his long-term girlfriend and alien soul-mate, Yali, whom he met in a dream years ago [He confessed in the interview that this might sound weird, but this does not sound weird to me at all. Does that make me really weird? If it does ...oh well]. Garrett also mentioned some of the local Seattle artists whom he is really into, including Ross Beamish and Johanna Kunin -both of whom will be on Eden's Hour soon :) ...in the meantime, Johanna emailed me a beautiful version of her string-theory inspired song Bowline to include in this show.

Tune in to hear Malaki & Garrett's interviews, as well as a few friggen gorgeous tracks (some recorded in-studio on Eden's Hour) by other Seattle area artists whom I know and love.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 02/28/09

Eden's Hour Opens Its Box 02/21/09

I kinda dropped the ball this week... February 21st is the birthday of one of my most favoritest persons in the world. Richard Beymer! Don't believe the misinformed websites that for some reason or another always list his birthday incorrectly.

This would have been the perfect weekend for us to air an interview, but we will come through on this ongoing conversation one of these days. (Note to Self: follow through on this once you have fewer projects on your plate). Richard and I have been talking for some time now about doing an interview because he is always up to something exciting, whether it's painting, building amazing sculptures or small zen-like pieces (like in the photo that I sneakily shot of him below), editing one of his movies, writing a book or taking amazing photographs (like his beautiful black and white Twin Peaks photos; pictured right), but rarely does he talk about it in public.


There was of course an exception a while back when a Twin Peaks blogger had asked me if I could get Richard to do an interview for him and it just so happened that I was visiting with Richard so I had the chance to sit down and ask him the questions for the Twin Peaks Archive blog. And Ricky Boo would not be satisfied with giving a straight interview ...oh no. Richard had given me a video camera a while back to encourage my mostly latent, but sure to be illustrious directing career so I had the camera with me to record the interview.

As soon as I started asking questions, he grabbed the camera from my hands and began puppeteering the answers out of the stuffed purple hippopotamus that lives on his dashboard. Recipe for the ridiculous. If you have not yet seen the interview in its entirety, do yourself a favor and take a look at it on Mischa's Twin Peaks Archive blog. Although most of the hippo's great answers were eventually transcribed, we couldn't bare to cut out this priceless answer to Mischa's question about working with David Lynch:


There are a couple reasons that I bring this up. The first is because when Richard and I were speaking Saturday morning I mentioned to him the Mashed In Plastic compilation which I wrote about in my previous blog and we launched into a long conversation about the creative process, something we are quite fond of discussing, and also about the question about ownership of property, particularly artwork. This is something that I, just like anyone else who does anything online, often has to think about as everything online is kinda up for grabs unless you go to great lengths to protect it. And while their is definitely a thriving scene of Creative Commons artists, something that the station that my show airs on is all about, not everyone feels that their artwork is to be messed with. For better or for worse.

One thing that both Richard and I agree on 100% is that collage and collaboration are wonderful things and they can open doors of possibility. And the key to any project or any aspect of life is to be open to the infinite possibilities that the universe can bring our way, just as Richard pointed out in the video above.

About two years ago Richard asked me to help him with some projects as he had many things going on, including the publication of his book and the inclusion of his Twin Peaks photos in the Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition. When I saw the photos I was blown away. I had only watched Twin Peaks after he and I became friends, but I fell absolutely in love with the magic of the series and Richard's photos definitely brought a whole new level of appreciation for the characters that David Lynch had written into the show.

Around that time I began conversing with Grace Zabriskie (photo at left also by Richard Beymer), when I had discovered her amazing woodworking and suggested to her that she use some of Richard's photos in the collages that she puts on her hand made boxes. I was a little late. She had already done that! Check some of them out here. Of course, she has more that are not on her website. In fact she does custom orders and she did end up using one of the photos that Richard had just prepared for the DVD box set.

I was soon to discover that she was not only one hell of an actress, but she is one of the finest woodworkers and collage artists that I have ever had the great fortune to meet. Grace has given me the grand tour of her home and studio a few times now and each time I discover some magical pocket of well crafted detail, like the hidden stairwells in her hideout series, or the perfect little knobby piece of wood placed impeccably in one of her furniture pieces like a wooden bamboo cabinet handle that feels so good in your hand you may just want to walk out the door carrying her cabinet! You might also see a photo of David's face peaking over C Clamps on the set of Twin Peaks woven into a collage (pictured right) on one of her perfect wooden boxes. You can see the larger view of one of her C Clamps boxes on her website. [Note to Self 2: I would love to interview Grace one of these days. Grace?]

Weaving and doing collage is something that I love and has been a huge part of my creative outlet as well and like everything else in life, it's always been after meditation that I have any sense of clarity about the nature of creativity and when I get the best vision for any particular project that I am working on. Although the universe is a vast and wonderful thing that my peon brain can only begin to fathom at this stage in my evolution ...and I can sense myself going off into a whole other dissertation here about my decade long obsession with weaving, spiders, and creation mythology, but I will keep this brief for now.

What got me going on about this was a series of email exchanges I had with one of the creative writers for the Mashed In Plastic website in which we discussed many aspects of creativity and happy coincidences and how much their project, which wove David and his work together in such a strange new way, reminded me of a quote from the Aitareya Upanishads that David is very fond of reading, particularly when he introduced INLAND EMPIRE during his screening tour, as it helps shed light on the mysterious nature of the film. But it sheds light on so much more...

We are like the spider. We weave our life and then move along in it. We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream. This is true for the entire universe.

I am incredibly grateful for all of the wonderful people that have been woven into my life. Some of whom, I can't imagine that I would really be living without. Richard Beymer is definitely one of them and I wish him many many many more birthdays to come. And I promise Richard ...one of these days I will weave together some good stuff with that video camera and that we'll do a proper interview for Eden's Hour Radio, because I know how much you love doing interviews ;-)

(Mosaic of detail pics that I shot of Richard Beymer's paintings, sculpture and random things lying around his yard. View more)

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that on this show I played a few artists who are performing at the upcoming David Lynch Foundation benefit concert including Moby, Ben Harper and Paul McCartney. I also featured some superb Seattle artists and a beautiful MIP mashup by The Reborn Identity. If the playlist below isn't complete with links yet, it will be soon :)

Click HERE for the complete 02/21/09 playlist

Eden's Hour In Strange Love 02/14/09

It's well documented that the Transcendental Meditation Program, which David Lynch promotes through his foundation, is good for your heart's health, but new research also suggests that choosing to watch a David Lynch's film over a chick flick may be an indication of a healthier love life. Go figure!


BBC recently published an article about studies being conducted to research the effect of romantic comedies on expectations in relationships.

Researchers divided the 200 participating volunteers into two groups; one group who chose to watch Serendipity and the other chose a David Lynch Drama. According to the studies, the group that chose to watch Serendipity were more likely to believe in fate and pre-destined love. The study looks at the role of popular media in shaping our view of the world and considers that people who's perception of romance is colored by movies (romantic comedies) may have unrealistic expectations in love and be less likely to communicate with their partners.

Movies. They can mess with your head almost as much as "love" can mess with your heart.

Does this mean that those of us who may choose to watch the oh-so-suave Ben croon In Dreams in Blue Velvet (read on for an explanation of the pic) are more likely to have healthy lasting relationships than those who choose a John Cusack movie? I suppose it depends on our experience of love, because love, especially what is portrayed and perceived as love in the movies, can indeed be ...STRANGE. When you think you're in that kind of love, it can be hard to discern which way is up and which way is down. Yet when you don't have any love, there is no way up.

I am no expert when it comes to love, or David Lynch films for that matter, but one thing I have learned the hard way is that if you have never seen any of David Lynch's films, it's really better to take them in slowly, savoring each one individually leaving room to process them in between viewings. When I met David for the first time, I had only heard of his work and hadn't seen anything other than the Straight Story and Elephant Man. I most often heard his other works described as non-linear, bizarre and pornographic. I knew I had to see more (although I later learned that some of those descriptions were a little exaggerated, and others probably understated)! My (now ex) boyfriend and I had just moved in together and he hadn't seen much of David's work either, so we decided to rent Blue Velvet, Eraserhead and The Short Films Of David Lynch and we watched them all in one sitting.

Bad idea. Not because the movies themselves were bad ...they were brilliant. And intense. Although I will say that as intense and heavy as they could get, each one was also balanced out with quirky humor, love and spiritual insight woven together in such a beautiful way. Each one of his movies and short films is saturated with so many layers of stories, sights and sounds that viewing his movies in one sitting like that was equivalent to eating every holiday meal meant to be spread out over three months in one bite. And it took several days to process what we had just ingested.

The Twin Peaks series is really one piece, so it's definitely an exception and definitely best viewed in a marathon. From the pilot episode on, I couldn't tear myself away. I hid out in my room for a week or two (Joss Whedon's series have the same effect on me), until at long last I was left with the question that all fans of Lynch are still wondering ...How's Annie?

This question and so many others are left unanswered and Lynch's films will probably never satisfy the intellect on such a simplistic level, because he never seems to provide the straight story; in the sense that the subject matters can be abstract and hard to fathom, and at times you don't know what is real and what is the dream or the nightmare of the character. He weaves together opposite elements with an invisible thread that leaves much of a film's content open to the interpretation and imagination of the viewer, which is much more stimulating on an intuitive and emotional level.

David has innate creative genius, and he often speaks nowadays about how his creativity has flourished through his meditation practice which allows him to catch ideas from deeper levels of pure consciousness. In other words he is drawing from a fountain of creativity deep within his Self. This gives his art the potential to effect us on deeper and more subjective levels. In my opinion, this stirring of the imagination is one of the greatest thrills that his work brings and I think it's one of the reasons why Lynch fans are so intently devoted to and in love with his work.

Most modes of entertainment can't even begin to challenge our minds on such a profound level, making David Lynch's films refreshing and (although admittedly sometimes disturbing) they are also deeply inspiring. Working with the David Lynch Foundation the past few years has exposed me to so many talented artist, filmmakers and musicians who's creativity has been directly nurtured by David Lynch's masterful storytelling.

I've heard so much good music that fit into this category, that it's one of the main reasons I started doing this radio program. I've done a few shows this past year highlighting some of the music that falls into this Lynchian genre, like the show featuring BRILLIANCE: a CD compilation of Lynch inspired songs that I put together for David as a birthday present in 06'.

Not all Lynch-inspired artwork is Lynchian in the sense that it could blend seamlessly into one of his movies. Some of the best Lynch-inspired work that I come across have zero cliche Lynchian elements, but are instead crafted in the very unique flavor of the inspired artist. Sometimes however, people draw directly from the existing works of David Lynch (and other artists for that matter), through a cover song or a mashup. And sometimes a cover in a mashup ....you follow?

For example, Miranda Sex Garden's Ben Golomstock (aka Stories From The Moon) did a cover of In Heaven which I included on the BRILLIANCE CD mentioned above, and that same song was also used in a mashup by Phil RetroSpector that I recently came across by happy coincidence via the David Lynch photo pool on Flickr. I immediately fell in love with a couple songs from the Mashed In Plastic compilation.

It's been almost exactly 20 years since Pete Martell declared that Laura Palmer was "dead, wrapped in plastic", but her legend, appeal and mystery live on. Mashed In Plastic brings some of Laura's spirit back to life and also provides some comic relief to the heavier elements of Laura's death ...for example the "cover art" for the compilation is a shopped image of David's coy face over Laura Palmer's infamous corpse. Each track is a combination of audio and visual samples from: Lynch's films and readings of Catching The Big Fish, the music of Angelo Badalamenti (and other Lynch soundtrack contributors), plus various other musicians.

The origin and ownership of mash-ups can be argued as theft or insulting, but Mash-ups are generally intended as a tribute to the original auteur(s). As the Mashed In Plastic "producers" point out on their website: "All content on this website has been created because of our love of film, music and most of all, the work of David Lynch. If you enjoy the music and videos we’ve provided then please support the original artists - buy the soundtracks, watch the DVDs, get yourself an Eraserhead mug and enjoy a cup of David Lynch brand coffee."

Their are so many gems in this particular compilation, which you can hear and see in its entirety at the Mashed In Plastic website, but a couple of my faves du jour are:

-WAX AUDIO's Blue Rigby (pictured -forgive me David, George, John, Paul & Ringo!) - a mashup of the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby & Badalamenti's Main Title (video here)

-COLATRON's I'll Be There In Twin Peaks - (video below)


I'll Be There in Twin Peaks from Mashed in Plastic on Vimeo

If, after watching Blue Rigby, you're wondering what a real life pairing of David Lynch and Sir Paul McCartney would be like ...you can soon find out, because a collaboration is in the works. It's not a traditional collaboration of artists, but a joint philanthropic effort. We've kept it kinda on the down low, but a few stories have leaked here and there. And it's true! The David Lynch Foundation is dedicated to raising enough money to teach one million students how to meditate and we're having one heck of a benefit concert April 4th at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Tickets haven't been officially announced yet, but we expect them to sell out very quickly.

If you haven't already registered for information, be sure to sign up right away at davidlynchfoundation.org

P.S. We'll be announcing a ticket giveaway very very soon. Check back for details.myspace.com/davidlynchfoundation


Click HERE for the complete 02/14/09 playlist

Eden's Hour Interviews Sarah June 01/31/09

Sarah June (pic by J. Hammack) phoned in for a brief interview Saturday, January 31st, 2009. Sarah has recently released a solo album infused with her soft sensibility which transforms some classics like Prince's When Doves Cry and and brings to life her own lyrics which she has written and recorded in her bedroom and yes, sometimes her bathroom (for the acoustics). Her solo album This Is My Letter To The World is now available on Amazon.com. Check back for the archived interview.


Click HERE for the complete 01/31/09 playlist

Eden's Hour Wants To Be Your Candy Bar 01/24/09

It's a new year! I am in a new Jyotish period AND we have a new president. Things are good. This show is good. And this video by Big Little Dipper Dipper (Jason Webley,Caitlin Rippey and Oliver Orion) is ridiculously good.

[UPDATE: THE BIG LITTLE DIPPER DIPPER VIDEO THAT WAS HERE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM YOUTUBE, SO I HAVE REPLACED IT WITH ANOTHER JASON WEBLEY GEM AND YOU CAN STILL ENJOY THE LIVE VERSION OF HOCKEY STAR HERE]



Oh, hey! Check it out ...Hocky Star is back on Youtube:



Click HERE for the complete 01/24/09 playlist

Eden's Hour 01/17/09

Some dance tunes played in tonight's show include M.I.A.'s version of the song Jimmy, from the Bollywood movie Disco Dancer. Check out the original version:


Click HERE for the complete 01/17/09 playlist

"Best" of 2008 Submissions

This show dedicated to all the artists who contributed to Eden's Hour this past year. It was almost impossible to pick out my favorites, but I packed a few of the ones that stuck out in my mind into this week's hour.

THE ENTIRE PLAYLIST FOR 12.27.08 IS HERE

Bill Wolford -Saint of Sound!

WOWEE ZOWEE! I just noticed that it was exactly one year ago yesterday that Eden's Hour aired for the first time. What I haven't mentioned much online is my secret weapon. I'm a technically challenged person and I could NEVER DO THIS BY MYSELF. Obviously, but since I am not a musician myself I know nothing about all the audio equipment and doohickeys that are necessary to make a radio show happen.

In comes my hero! The unsuspecting and oh-so-generous Bill Wolford!!!

Bill and I actually met via the DLF Myspace. His wife had contacted me because she was curious about what the David Lynch Foundation's in-school meditation programs were and we later met through the West Seattle Art Walk where Bill's band Oval League would often play. To fill the void that my skill set lacked, Bill unwittingly agreed to record my shows and believe me, he really did not know what he was getting himself into when he agreed to work with me... Of course, neither did I and I probably would have given up long ago if Bill were not helping me with this show.

Lucky for me, Bill has persisted, even when we were both scratching our heads wondering why the heck we were doing this when we both live pretty full lives with very little free time and we don't make any money doing radio.

And not only has he consistently recorded the shows that we do in Seattle, he traveled with me to the middle of nowhere Fairfield, Iowa (yet oddly the center of seemingly everything and strangely & coincidentally where some of Bill's family lives). In Fairfield, we did a live broadcast from the third annual David Lynch Weekend. (Bill pictured left with Donovan during the sound check)

In recent months we have been focusing more on featuring live performances highlighting the local flavor of Seattle area musicians which has been lots of fun and brought some amazing talent into his West Seattle studio, Vivid Sound.

One thing that I love is that when we bring in a super special talented artist like Karl Blau or Polka Dot Dot ...or any of them featured in this blog, is that I have complete trust in Bill knowing we're in good audio hands. He always gets a beautiful recording because he knows his stuff!

And he's mine and you can't have him!!!! Okay, kidding. He's not mine and even though I want him to continue being there for me forever and ever ...well, as long as I am doing radio anyway ;-) I also think he's too talented for me to keep all to myself even though we have loads of good stuff lined up for 2009! If you ever have a song or story that needs recording, or need a soundscape for a video game, or a musician to play a gig in the Seattle area, or a score written for a movie HIRE BILL WOLFORD.



Seriously. Good. Stuff.

PWRFL Power In Studio 12/20/08

Whether it's theorizing about the impact that apples vs. tomatoes would have if thrown at you, pimping car insurance, or wanting to school you in the ways of holding chopsticks ...PWRFL Power delivers adorable and sometimes just plain kooky lyrics accompanied by his mad guitar skills. Having recently moved to Brooklyn from Seattle I was stoked to get a chance to have a sit down interview with Kazutaka Nomura while he was here playing some shows this past week. A huge thanks to Hollow Earth Radio's DJ Dearborn (below w/ Kaz) for recording this show at the last minute :)


PWRFL Power
on Eden's Hour
Saturday, Dec. 20 (note the date change)
7pm Pacific Time
on KRUUFM.com


In the meantime, seize this opportunity -THIS WEEK ONLY!
You have a window to have Kaz write a song JUST FOR YOU! As part of The Stranger's annual Strangercrombie fundraising auction (the proceed's from which will support Seattle's Treehouse organization for abused and neglected children) you can bid on having PWRFL Power write a song about whatever you want. He will work with you to compose the song or you can just give him a theme to your liking. It will undoubtedly be a fun an very unique prize and I know you'll enjoy working with sweet-natured Kaz!
Auction ends Dec. 12th at 5pm -BID HERE

Also included in the PWRFL Power show are a couple new tunes from two of my most favorite Seattle to Broooklyn transplants, David and Earl of Oars. PWRFL Power recently played with them at the Cake Shop in NYC and coincidentally it was on their Myspace page that I first found PWRFL Power. The duo was once part of a Beep Repaired classic, Wimbledon, whom to this day makes my heart flutter. And for reals ...I don't know who those fools on their Myspace fan profile are who claim to be Wimbledon's biggest fan, because I AM WIMBLEDON'S BIGGEST FAN! Straight up.


_{David Bratton and Earl Muehlenbach of Oars}
I've always loved Earl's voice whether it's in Wimbledon, his crazy dance music moniker Plenty Face or this new found love of mine Oars whom just came out with their first CD which you can and (IMHO) should buy HERE. This CD however adds a whole other element with richer vocal harmonies and off the chart instrumentals and electronic samples. It beautifully showcase their maturing fountainhead of creativity that is blossoming into a blend of pop that mines gold from a variety of musical genres yet they have forged a new futuristic sound all their own. David and Earl do not disappoint in keeping up with their multi-layered, quirky, energizing and absolutely rockin' styles and although we miss them dearly here in the Seattle DIY scene, New York has done good on these boys.

Polka Dot Dot Dot In Studio 12/06/08

Polka Dot Dot Dot (sans one Dot) will charm your rainbow colored socks off!!!! If you have not yet listened to the full band comprising of Olympia, Washington based Colleen, Onyx and (soon to move back to Oly from Pennsylvania) Jordan O' Jordan ....GO TO THEIR MYSPACE RIGHT NOW and indulge in their deliciousness.

Seriously, the first time I saw them perform live I was so awestruck by absolutely everything about them and I have fantasized about having them on Eden's Hour ever since. My dream came true this past week when the girls drove up to Seattle late one weeknight to spend a couple hours in the studio with Bill and me and oh the pretty pretty sounds we heard. They sang a full range of songs from American folk to midieval harmonies and we giggled ...a lot.

Since Jordan couldn't be with us in studio Colleen and Onyx sang some songs they have been working on as Polka Dot Dot that are released on their latest 7" Spring of Alchemy and Amory which is gorgoeus! BUT as soon as Jordan moves back to the Northwest in January and the reunited trio complete their January tour I have high hopes to snatch him up for a solo show :)

I hope you hear this show and you will have more opportunities to do so during the KRUU re-broadcast AND also in the near future on Hollow Earth Radio! As I will be collaborating more with the fantastic Seattle web-based station, bringing more goodness to your ears.

The show aired Saturday Dec. 6th for the first time and will rebroadcast Friday, December 12th at 4am CST (especially handy for European listeners!)
For more details and to listen visit KRUUFM.com

P.S. Thanks to my good friend Steven Lapcevic for adding his magical photoshop touch to the picture of Polka Dot Dot at the top of this blog.

The Solvents on Eden's Hour

It was a special treat for me last week when I got to feature my hometown homies, The Solvents! The Solvents crossed Puget Sound waters from Port Townsend to bring their refreshing folk pop sound to Eden's Hour Radio. Combining Jarrod Bramson's lyrics and vocals with Emily Madden's bad ass fiddle playing and harmonies, the Solvents have evolved their individual musical backgrounds to make one beautiful band. It's a little after the fact, since the show already aired on kruufm.com (and re-aired on hollowearthradio.com) BUT it was a really good performance and interview which will be archived to the KRUU website soon.

Also coming soon is the Solvents' latest album, which their friend and co-producer, the magnificent Karl Blau, has temporarily (and maybe permanently) branded Madonnica. With Karl working with them and a title like that ...you KNOW it's gonna be good.

The Solvents' start their west coast winter tour this weekend so if you're in California, be sure to check their page for details and visit their blog for the behind the scenes stories.

The Dolomites in Seattle 11/15

It's been a while since I've updated the blog here, that's not to say that nothing's been happening. Quite the contrary. We had a BLAST when Stefanko from the Dolomites played in Seattle mid November. He and his sister (pictured left) stayed with me so I got to see every set that he performed that weekend including his DJ set at Free Sheep Foundation and the concerts at the Josephine and Free Sheep. I haven't danced so much in ages.

Since Stefanko is currently living in Tokyo, he toured North America by himself hitting up New York City (where he onced lived and played with a ton of artists including Gogol Bordello), Mexico City and Seattle completing his triangle shaped trip. At each stop he played with local musicians. Seattle's accompanying band included Olie Eshleman (guitar), Cerebral Cortez (drums) and Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser of Orkestar Zirkonium (tuba). They brought the house down!

DJ Dearborn and I did a live broadcast of the Josephine show on Hollow Earth Radio. Between sets I got a chance to interview Jason Webley, Stefanko and I spoke briefly with Josephine booker Malaki Stahl about the thriving DIY scene in Seattle and you can hear part of that interview on DJ Dearborn's Myspace page.

*In the meantime you can hear snippets of the interview with Malaki and watch some of the Dolomites concert footage on DJ Dearborn's Myspace profile.




Yatto Yatta is Japanese for "Hooray, at last!"

Eden's Hour YES! 11/08/08

Wild spirits winds from out your chest
Collides with world and wilderness
It needs a gentle hand to call it home
~TV On The Radio Halfway Home
I don't know about you all, but I'm still reeling from a pretty exciting week. Spontaneously celebrating an historic (and hugely relieving) victory on Capitol Hill this past week with about 4000 other people was a recipe for a night that I will never forget. While I don't think that any one person holds the answer to all of our problems and that we have a long road ahead of us because we each do our part in improving the world by improving ourselves. But it sure is nice when we can all get so excited over the possibility that we now feel real change is in the air and you could call me a believer.

Ironically, I was not in the group when the ginormous street party busted out in a a sing-a-long to Journey's Don't Stop Believing, because I had taken a brief sojourn up the street to see some do-good friends from LA who were performing at Chop Suey. Having recently signed to Island Records, The 88 have acquired a bit more of a budget than they have had in the past which probably means they will no longer be crashing at my place when they tour through town. However, it doesn't mean they've gotten their ties wound around their necks too tightly. I have pretty good faith that The 88 will keep their heads on pretty straight as I've gotten to know them a little bit over the past few years and I have been nothing but impressed with their ability to stick it to the record-label-driven-music-industry-man. Yes, they are on a major label now, but they did quite well for themselves when they were completely independent and landed many spots in prime time TV shows, commercials and probably more Sarah Jessica Parker movies than I care to admit that I have seen (but only because their music was in them ;)



Instead of getting glossy and overly high tech with their new found record label budget, The 88 decided to do their part in bringing hope in hard economic times to their home town where they were once named the Best Band In LA. Spin Magazine featured the new video for their song Coming Home in which they spend the money from their music video budget on others, treating them to ice cream and gas.

I love these guys. And I'm glad that even though I happened to miss the few minutes of the Obama victory celebration that turned into a major dance party, I was dancing and (loudly) singing along to The 88's Coming Home.

Over the next few weeks I'll be playing Coming Home and other songs from their latest Babyface produced album, Not Only ...But Also, out on Island Records.


Click HERE for the complete playlist for 11/08/08

Shark Shark In Studio

_{Pic by Erin Skipper}
On a recent trip to my hometown Port Townsend, Washington I met Josh Lake of Shark Shark who played an impromptu set at our friend's party. A living room show was a great introduction to his catchy tunes and I have been hooked on his lyrical genius ever since.

Josh has released some music through Murder Mountain Records and is planning on recording another album in the near future. But we got a special sneak peek at a few unreleased songs while he was in studio with us this week en route from his home base Portland.
Show aired November 1st, 2008.

Karl Blau In-Studio with Eden's Hour 09/20/08

_{Pic by Erin Skipper}
Karl Blau* stopped by for a special in-studio performance. Karl shared a song with us that he had just written and recorded the night before :) And he started out the set with some tunes from his latest album Nature's Got Away (avail. on K Records Sept. 23rd) including an acoustic version of 2 Becomes 1 that is absolutely stunning! *See what Spin Magazine had to say about Karl. And I can't say enough good things about him myself. He is a truly magnificent artist!

YOU CAN HEAR THIS SHOW IN THE KRUU ARCHIVES RIGHT HERE

#24 Eden's Hour 08/23/08 - 09/13/08

Oh it has been a crazy month! I've been slacking (aka really busy with other stuff) when it comes to posting weekly blogs here and I still owe this space the links to playlists for the last few shows, so here they are:

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 09/13/08

and HERE for the complete playlist for 09/06/08

and HERE for the complete playlist for 08/23/08

#23 Eden's Hour 08/16/08

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 08/16/08

#22 Back From LA LA Land

Ezra Reich (*Pictured with me) was almost true to his word in his June 10th Eden's Hour interview in which he promised to get his full band together for a live show soon. Even though his bandmates Elliot Glass and Eric Starr are still in NYC and violinist Rebecca Cherry is touring with the Jonas Brothers, Ezra managed to pull off a near miraculous feat of rounding up an amazing last minute line up to join him in opening for the July 16th David Lynch Foundation benefit concert in Hollywood. Which was awesome, but it was only one song and I expect more live performances from you Ezra Reich!

(*Pictured at right) Joe Escalante, whom David does the daily weather report for on Indie 103, was a wonderful concert MC and auctioneer. David introduced the concert and thanked all the bands for supporting his foundation ...and in true weather man fashion declared that "it's gonna be blue skies and golden sunshine from here on out". And I think he may be on to something.

Astra Heights(*Pictured) played the first set followed by 8mm, The Bangkok Five, Gods and Monsters, and Nico Vega. As this review points out ...there was no shortage of tight black pants, sweat, and ...um, crack.

But I'll spare you the details on the crack. What I will say is that this concert was such a fun night and came together amazingly well considering we had only been working on it for a short while. Since I work with the musical wing of the DLF I have been wanting to organize benefit concerts for quite some time now, but my attention has always been elsewhere. Shortly after the April 2008 Lynch Weekend I decided I was going to start coordinating a concert and that very same day I got an email from Joshua Reed of Gods and Monsters asking if his band could do a benefit for the David Lynch Foundation. Obviously, I said yes. Joshua and his friends did an outstanding job of coordinating things in LA and getting all the other bands on board.

Thanks again to all the musicians who donated their time to play. And a MAJOR thanks to all of the volunteers and to the sponsors and the donors who provided fabulous auction items. David's lithograph Factory At Night With Nude was a hot item, but there were so many great things to choose from. I only wish that I hadn't been so busy managing the auction table, because I would have been up there during the live bidding to snag Glen La Ferman's limited edition print of Bob Marley. Glen was commissioned by Bob Marley's family to photograph Bob shortly before his death. The print that he donated was from that last and lost collection and it was absolutely gorgeous! One of our volunteers was lucky enough to win it.

Included in the show that I did this week were a couple of the artists who performed at the July 16th benefit and I'll be playing more next week. That will also give me a chance to share some more of Elizabeth Thorp's pictures that she shot that night, like this beautiful and sultry shot of 8mm. *All of the photos in this blog entry were taken by Elizabeth aka thee photoG images. If you're a Myspacer be sure to check out her photos in our DLF album.

If you want to see some footage from this benefit concert, ADD THE BRAND SPANKING NEW MYSPACE PAGE FOR THE SOON TO LAUNCH DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION TELEVISION!!!!!!




Click HERE for the complete playlist for 08/09/08

#21 Happy Birthday Sub Pop 07/12/08

How to sum up 20 years of Sub Pop in a few words?

Grunge + Funny = Fungy?

I already blogged a little bit about this show at KRUUFM.com so I can be sparse with words here. Instead I'll just gush over my Sub Pop comedy crushes... Jemaine Clement? YES! And my favorite sexpert Eugene Mirman ...OH HELL YEAH! Both funny men who I finally got to see live when they performed at the SP20 festival. Eugene sums up the past twenty years best:


Sub Pop's roster keeps getting better and better.
Take the Fleet Foxes for example ...sheer beauty:


Click HERE for the complete playlist for 07/12/08

#20 Eden's Hour 06/28/08

Don't be fooled by Karl Blau's flowery image. The kicking bass from the Port Townsend show pictured above rendered no less than three 911 calls from the neighbors! Nuff said.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 06/28/08

Eden's Hour chats with Ezra Reich! #19

This blog has been a little neglected lately because I've been a little tied up as you can see from the May 24th post. I've been coordinating the first David Lynch Foundation benefit concert coming up July 16th at the Key Club in Hollywood. And I've just been super busy with my assistant being out of town I've been running my shop by myself AND I'm moving AND I'm selling a car AND yada yada.

The car that I'm selling? I don't know what to do about it. The stereo won't give me back my favorite cassette tape! The one tape that I can listen to non-stop and never get sick of ...Crush by OMD. That cassette has gotten more air time than any other that I've ever owned and now it will forever live in the tape deck of my soon to be sold car. I hope whoever buys it has a thing for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

I guess I'll have to let go of that trusty old cassette tape and focus on my latest musical crush ...Ezra Reich! Ezra recently sent me his CDs including a yet to be released album of songs he recorded in 2007 with his New York based band. I admit that at first I wasn't sure if his music was too cheesy for my sensitive pallet, but I loved the feeling. And let's face it, I kinda have a thing for cheese ...OMD's Crush? Hello!

I don't like to compare bands to other bands ...so I won't, but I can safely say that the more I listened to Ezra's latest album it became more clear to me that this could be one of those albums that I could listen to a million times. There is just something so timeless about his music. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Ezra in an ongoing email conversation that slowly evolved into an interview ...the very first Eden's Hour blog interview no less.

_{Pic by Rudy Archuleta}
Do you lace your music with crack or any other illegal substances because I'm seriously addicted to your songs... I'm talking Whitney Houstonesque crack ho addiction.

One hundred percent. Two to three minute high and then you have to repeat. Seriously, I think its a matter of making the best melodies out of each element of the arrangement of a song. And than a certain feeling coming through that.

The 2007 songs that you sent me are golden. Are there any plans to release your latest material as an album?

I am hoping so.

I hope so too! It's seriously good stuff. How do you keep up with your musical projects since you have moved to LA and your band is still in NY?

I hid the band in a storage unit when I came out here and gave them a drip to drink from. No. I actually have taken a little break from performing live. I have been writing/recording/ and producing a few other singers. Its always fun to try writing for other people. My band in NYC included an all female string quartet. I'll get everyone together for something good sometime soon. Promise.


Great. Counting on it! I'm guessing from the range of styles that I hear in your music and some of the timeless inspirations like Roy Orbison and others that music has been a huge part of your life. What shaped your musical interests in your early years?

Music that gets to me makes everything in life better. I used to annoy kids in my class in early grade school by making this droning mantra like sound while I played. Just that kind of vibration and tonality always made me feel more right with the world. I was exposed to lots of classical/ show tunes/ and minimalist new music as a kid. My dad is composer (ed note: hear Ezra's dad here) and his mom had been a pop/stage singer in LA. But it was really around the age of five that I heard Ritchie Valens singing "C'mon Lets Go" on the 1980s radio show 'kids america', on WNYC, that I caught the music bug in a big way. I went out and bought Ritchie live at Pacoima Valley high on audio cassette. About a month after that I heard Roy sing "Only the Lonely" on the radio. That late 50s early 60s pop music has been absolute magic to me since those moments and the innocent yet obsessive quality of it have influenced me greatly. Other early music heroes included Pete Townshend and Tom Petty, who were the reasons I begged for a rickenbacker guitar for my twelfth birthday.

Who are some of the musicians that you could listen to endlessly and is there an album that will be with you to the grave?

I could listen to Roy Orbison sing endlessly. I could also listen to a mix of all the work Phil Spector was invloved in and I'd be OK musically on a desert island. Oh and The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1....That's a take it to the grave kinda record. That and Somebodys Baby by Jackson Browne. And 16 Reasons by Connie Stevens.

Thanks Ezra! A Roy Orbison and Ritchie Valens loving cheeseball... you're a man after me own heart :) Looking forward to seeing what happens with your latest collection of songs.

Ezra Reich - Emily


Click HERE for the complete playlist for 06/07/08 and the re-broadcast on 06/14/08

Eden's Hour 05/31/08

Polka Dot Dot Dot ...they don't just look good, they sing purdy too. I was lucky that they decided to play a small show at my friend's gallery because if I'd blinked I might have missed them before they launched their tour.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 05/31/08

ERIN CAN'T COME TO THE MIC RIGHT NOW

She's a little tied up at the moment, but no worries...
Eden's Hour is in good hands.



You know the time and place.

LIVE FROM DAVID LYNCH WEEKEND 04/26/08

SATURDAY, APRIL 26TH, EDEN'S HOUR WAS LIVE FROM DAVID LYNCH WEEKEND AT MAHARISHI UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT FOR A SPECIAL TWO HOUR SHOW FEATURING CHRYSTA BELL, MOBY AND DONOVAN.

THE CONCERT WILL BROADCAST AGAIN SOON!

P.S. AFTER THE CONCERT WE HEADED OVER TO SURPRISE THE HIGH SCHOOL PROM. DAVID CROWNED THE PROM KING AND QUEEN AND ALL OF THE MUSICIANS FROM THE WEEKEND LINEUP PLAYED A FEW SONGS. FOR ME, IT WAS ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEKEND AND THE ONLY TIME I HAVE EVER BEEN TO PROM. PUKI COMPILED A VIDEO OF THE NIGHT:


ABOVE IS A PIC OF DARON, LAURA DAWN MOBY AND DONOVAN WARMING UP BEFORE WE WENT IN TO THE PART OF THE BUILDING WHERE THE PROM WAS HELD. AND JUST BEFORE WE HEADED OUT, DAVID ASKED MARCUS GRAF (OF CHRYSTA BELL'S BAND) TO PLAY HIS TRUMPET IN THE GARAGE BECAUSE THE ACOUSTICS WERE GREAT. AND YES, IT WAS A VERY LYNCHIAN MOMENT.

EDEN'S HOUR 04/12/08

WOOoooo! I have been waiting for the arrival of a sweet package from Israel based Onili, and it finally came so I can share her tunes with you.
Listen.
Love.

The complete playlist for 04/12/08

Dennis Driscoll joins Eden's Hour 03/29/08

Dennis Driscoll performed live in our studio this week. He currently lives in West Seattle ...and Oysterville where he spends most of his time writing music in the woods on the coast of Washington. A K Records alum, Dennis has since launched his own label Egg Recordings.

Dennis played a variety of songs on the show, including some of his hits and a few songs that he had just written that week. Stay tuned for the archived show!

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/29/08

EDEN'S HOUR 03/22/08

Patty Duke's legacy inhabits the hearts of teenagers young and old. This week we featured some music from the collection of Patty Duke fans who's devotion cannot be rivaled. Top Quality Rock and Roll, out of Detroit, has published several written Fanzines dedicated to all things Patty past and present. I played a few tracks from PDFZ #6: LOVE TO PATTY including a cover of Donovan's song Colours by Los Angeles based the Ettes and a dreamy All Through The Day by Asobi Seksu (pictured).

And thanks to Torbor, I learned a valuable lesson that will never be forgotten. Flaccid and Flatulence are NOT to be confused. Consider yourself learned.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/22/08

EDEN'S HOUR 03/15/08

Well I did it! This week I managed to finish all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is a bittersweet time for me because as much as I LOVE Buffy ...all good things must come to an end. Damnit. Or do they? I think I will have to get my hands on some of the comics that carry the story on past season 7 and find out for sure.

It was my Buffy addiction that initially attracted me to UK band Molloy. Their parody band picture of them as the cast of Shoreditch Vampire Slayers (right) drew me in, but it was their music that made me stay. Jez and Caz were kind enough to send me a cd of some of their favorite Molloy songs so I got a chance to finally play them this week. Their high energy songs are not for those whom are tired and wanting to fall asleep ...I learned that the hard way. Hey, just cuz I like vampire shows like Buffy does not mean that I am one. Of course, it's not just the vampires on that show that seem to have endless energy ...the entire Scooby Gang is always up 24/7 fighting evil. What is up with that? Anyway, if you are in the UK or France be sure to catch Molloy on tour this spring!

Perhaps it was the influence of Buffy working its way into my psyche that drove this week's playlist in the direction it went (with a Magnetic Fields song about Zombies and bands like Vampire Weekend) even though originally I had planned on playing only Twin Peaks related songs this week. I did manage to get in a few songs that were directly Twin Peaks related and some that were very sorta Twin Peaks related.

On the less obvious side of the Twin Peaks songs in this week's show were some songs that Grace Zabriskie (Sarah Palmer on Twin Peaks) turned me on to, like Antony and the Johnsons as well as "Grace Is Crying Her Eyes Out", a song written about her by a former cast mate Jonathan Rundman. While I was getting ready to go to the studio to do the show Richard Beymer (Benjamen Horne on Twin Peaks) called me to chat about stuff and I asked him if he had any special request... always the tricky trickster that he is, he gave me a false band name for his "request" and what I gave him was the 1978 Barnes & Barnes classic, Fish Heads, made famous by Dr. Demento ...and MTV, but who's counting?

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/15/08

EDEN'S HOUR 03/08/08

Hilarity ensued in the station this week ...I'm not sure what it was, but Bill and I got a little kooky. It started as soon as we got on the microphones. Thank gosh that while the songs are playing nobody has to listen to us!

But what really threw us over the edge was Benett's playful quest to find heaven. Now I can't hear "Way To Heaven" without cracking up. Thanks Benett. If I pee my pants next time I listen to you ...you owe me new panties!

On a slightly more serious but equally as blissful note, I ended today's show with a Donovan song in honor of our next big adventure ... Lynch Weekend 2008!!!

This is our third year of doing this fantastic weekend long splurge into Consciousness Based Education. Last year I got to spend a lot of time with and getting to know Donovan and his muse and wife Linda ...they are the cutest. And they are doing fantastic work along with David Lynch to bring Consciousness Based Education to schools around the world.

David, Donovan and some of the David Lynch Foundation crew went on an extensive tour through Europe last fall. Sadly, I did not go with them ...of course when they got home I got a call saying "you should have come with us ...next time!" ..sigh. Because I did not get a chance to write about the tour from first hand experience, I asked Donovan to write a little something about their time in Europe and he just sent me his tale of the trip. Stay tuned to the DLF page because I will posting his stories and some great photos soon!

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/08/08

EDEN'S HOUR HAS A SWEET TOOTH 3/01/08

I was caught with my hand in the Harry Candy jar this week (_{original pic by Tara Gorman}). In other words, I served a couple songs from Ball of Wax Volume 11. Ball of Wax is a compilation, put out by Levi Fuller, with songs as diverse as the 35 Seattle and New York musicians that were randomly selected to write songs together within a 24 hour period as part of the game known as Harry Candy

Most of the participating musicians are a part of the Beep Repaired Records community which extends to Hollow Earth Radio, Dandelion Gold and Whprwhil Records. The one rule of the game: the musicians that end up in the same group can't already be in a band together. The results are tasty.

Pic by Seth Howard.


Click HERE for the complete playlist for 03/01/08

Eden's Hour 2/23/08

Fredo Viola, pictured right, sent me some of his latest recordings, one of which is adorned with a Lion sporting some serious flare in the form of a rainbow-esque mane and I was pleasantly surprised to find the pot of gold that laid behind the catchy and colorful cd covers.

A London born New Yorker, Fredo Viola's skills are well trained and his music traverses through a wide ranges of political, soulful and whimsical styles and they are all gorgeous. After several rounds of listening to his cds and not being able to settle on a favorite I decided to play his song Red States on this week's show, but I could have chosen any of his songs and been equally as happy and look forward to sharing many more of his songs with KRUU listeners.

While I didn't realize it at first, I had heard some of Viola's music before. One of his songs was used in Jonathan Damme's 2004 film The Manchurian Candidate, a movie that I loved so much that I had to go out and buy the original version with Angela Lansbury and Frank Sinatra. Yeah, I'm a sucker for Ol' Blue Eyes.

Speaking of shifty eyes ...do yourself a favor and visit Viola's new website. There you will not only find wonderfully rainbow-clad artwork by Richard Colman, you will discover multiple golden treasures.... and there are sneaky guardians galore who's sly glances will point you in the direction of hidden doors which will open to let you in on their secrets.

After Bill and I wrapped up in the studio we headed out for some live action and to witness a little bit of musical history! That's right, it was the highly anticipated unveiling of the Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame) produced band Evelyn Evelyn!!! I have been a fan of the act, comprised of conjoined twins Evelyn & Evelyn, since hearing them via Jason's Myspace page and was stoked to hear that they were maybe going to appear that night.

Fortunately for us, the girls decided to grace us with their presence and geez I love them. They were really shy at first since it was their debut performance, but with songs like Elephant Elephant and lyrics profusing their desire to be loved as individuals and declaring their need for "my space", AND faces as nervous and cute as the ones below ...what's not to love?


_{stroke the picture above for more twin treats}

I will probably have more to share about the venue that Evelyn Evelyn performed in soon. Even though 608 is a small venue, it proves that size does not mean inability to deliver great shows with big acts. 608 is an artist's space which has seen many incarnations and is currently being run by members of recently relocated band Estradasphere. I didn't know it Saturday night, but a good friend of mine was scheduled to play there the next night so less than 24 hours later I returned to see him perform with Secret Chiefs 3, which is also comprised of members of Estradasphere. Welcome to Seattle Estradasphere. You sure do know how to make an entrance.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 2/23/08

Eden's Hour Saturday February 16, 2008 9pm CST

_{original pic by Tara Gorman}

It's no secret.... I like the Cave Singers. A lot. I played some of their songs on Eden's Hour a couple weeks back, the same evening that I went to go see them live at Neumos. At the time my only knowledge of the band was that they play great old time sounding folk/punk music. I love the lead vocalist and although I can never understand any of their lyrics, everything about them is sweet ...oh, and I also love the guitar playing in their songs and it doesn't hurt that their guitar player is ridiculously cute. To my pleasant surprise I briefly met Derek, their guitar player, by chance recently and afterwards curiosity got the best of me.

I went home and jumped on the internet to figure out how this new mysterious band that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, at least in my radar, managed to get themselves signed to Matador records. Apparently I am always the last to know these things.

It didn't take too long to figure out that the Cave Singers are comprised of former members of Murder City Devils and Pretty Girls Make Graves. Both bands that I also like and have played on my radio show before, but I never saw either of them live because I was not living in Seattle when they were together.

Coincidentally, when I found all this out, I had already put together this week's playlist which included Pretty Girls Make Graves ...and a few other bands that have sent me cd's recently. Bands whom I think are good stuff! Bands like Astral Navigations from the UK who's song A Kleptomaniac Stole My Heart was included in this week's show.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 02/16/08

Eden's Hour Hiatus

Last week was a long week of me trying to figure out if I could go to India for the cremation ceremony for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation Program. He entered Mahasamadhi, or eternal silence on February 5th in his Vlodrop, Netherlands home and his body was flown to Allahabad, India for the cremation and final rites. In the end I decided to stay in Seattle and organize for a beautiful memorial service here so I did not have time to do a radio show.

The cremation ceremony was broadcast on national television in India and it was incredibly moving to see how much reverence and appreciation for Maharishi there is. The news broadcaster kept saying how remarkable his achievements were and how never before has there been a state honored funeral for a spiritual leader. The timing was extraordinary as the ceremony took place during the Kumbha Mehla spiritual festival in India and the four Shankaracharyas, or spiritual leaders, were there to prepare Maharishi's casket for the final rites and his ashes were spread into the holy sangam in the Ganges river. During the 1989 Kumbha Mehla the eldest living saint at that time was incredibly inspired by Maharishi's contributions to reviving the tradition of Vedic Pandits and said that "Maharishi has returned the Vedic Tradition to India, Maharishi single handedly has revived the Vedic Culture".

My parents met on a meditation course in the 60's so I was meditating in the womb and I learned Transcendental Meditation (aka TM) when I was four years old. TM has been a life saver for me. It's not a religious thing or a matter of faith or superstition. Transcending is a very real experience that cannot be put into words ...except I will say that it is absolutely wonderful! It means the world to me and I am forever grateful for all of the love, light, intuition, creativity and profoundly positive influence TM has brought to my life. I am so glad that I was born at a time when Maharishi was alive and even more glad that I have had the opportunity to dive deep into the field of Maharishi's consciousness based approach to education and health care.

It's been great to hear other people's experience this past week as they have shared their thoughts about Maharishi and what he and his programs mean to them. So, even though I did not do a radio show, Howard Stern shared some spectacular stories on his show that can be heard here

Jai Guru Dev

Eden's Hour Exclusive Interview with Jason Webley airing 2/2/08

_{Pic by Erin Skipper}
Jason Webley joins Eden's Hour for a special in-studio interview and live performance. While he may be sans orchestra for this interview, we can expect nothing less than fantastic from this energetic one man band.

Jason was supposed to be launching a tour with his long-time friend and musical comrade Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls. However due to Amanda's need to get surgery, the shows were cancelled unexpectedly. Sad for the artists and the many people who had already purchased tickets to the much anticipated shows, but lucky for us because he had time to share with us his awesome gypsy and punk inspired folk music. And we also got a chance to pry a bit into his personal desire to seduce Leonard Cohen. Do I smell a collaboration? Only time will tell...

Click HERE for the complete playlist for 02/02/08

Eden's Hour learns its ABC's

I took a little trip into the musical territories of bands such as Apples in Stereo, Beirut, and a few songs from the hypnotic folk/punk trio the Cave Singers whom I saw perform live right after the show. Yippee!

All the songs that I played this week ended up in alphabetical order. It was more of a technical glitch than a revealing display of OCD but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Amidst the bands listed above was Morning's Window, one of the many fine songs from Cock and Swan (Johnny and Ola of Cock and Swan pictured) who's pretty songs will melt the most callus of hearts. I also played a simple yet incredibly addictive track that often find myself humming when I wake up in the morning; Marrakesh, by Tennessee boy Spencer Thomson.

Click HERE for the complete playlist for this show originally aired on 1/26/08

EDEN'S HOUR -6 CELEBRATING DAVID LYNCH'S BIRTHDAY

Pic by Kimberly Wright

"I guess I got whacked hard in the mystery department when I was little. I found the world completely and totally fascinating then - it was like a dream."

~David Lynch

The fascinating and dream like way in which David Lynch sees the world has been infused into his unique body of creative work during his 62 prolific years. With David Lynch's birthday coming up this Sunday I decided it was the perfect time to play some songs from a compilation cd that I put together a couple years ago as a birthday present for David.

This particular project started when Ryan Walsh of Boston bands the Stairs, Hallelujah the Hills and the Motel Candlewasters sent me the Candlewaster's song Whacked Pretty Hard in the Mystery Department which was directly inspired by the quote at the top of this blog. The following week Josh Lambert of The Octopus Project mentioned to me that they had named their latest song Bees Bein Strugglin' after David's short film Out Yonder on DavidLynch.com.

Once I asked for a few more songs from people... the ball really got rolling and after a few short days an entire cd was born.To my pleasant surprise Talkshow Boy has whipped up some incredibly zany Twin Peaks inspired IDM. And who would have thought that mariachi, surf music and David Lynch could blend together so beatifully? Well, Gringo Motel, that's who.


BRILLIANCE: A collection of songs and art inspired by the creative genius of David Lynch is loaded with amazingly talented musicians. I am particularly excited to to share some of it on KRUU, because it's a fun and wildly eclectic mix of songs. Since only three copies were made, very few people have heard it in its entirety ...including the 48 contributing bands. There were so many songs in fact, that I cannot play the entire cd in one show so stay tuned for a sequel show. Pic and cd cover design (above right) by Steven Lapcevic

Click HERE for the complete playlist for the 1/19/08 show

EDEN'S HOUR -5

_{original pic by Tara Gorman}
Germany was an unintentional sub-theme in this weeks electrifying show. I played several German bands including Olaf Boqwist, trip-hop duo NeoQi, and Berlin based, French-born electro-pop cuties, the Underwires (and I am not talking about the annoying piece of lingerie that jabs into your sides).The Underwires are twin brothers Aurélien and Théophile (pictured at right) and their friend Arnaud. They sent me their latest cd In Your Room Again which consists of cleverly crafted songs that I could say hints at pop and yet in my mind it settles somewhere in the imagination of a renegade who's whiskey laden thoughts flow out in the form a perfectly pretty and seducing album. They have been getting a lot of radio play in France and although they only have two other US stations listed as having played them, I think that will soon change.

Click HERE for the complete playlist

EDEN'S HOUR -4

My first show of 2008 kicked off with a memorial for a music venue and for a friend ...both of whom left too soon.

A few weeks ago I had planned to go see Robin Pecknold, the lead singer of Fleet Foxes, perform at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle but instead went to the Northwest Film Forum for a live rendition of Andy Warhol's version of A Clockwork Orange. In retrospect I wish I had gone to the Crocodile instead because as it turns out it was the last ever show to be performed at that particular venue. The following day the owner called all of the employees and said that they were shutting their doors forever ...due to financial difficulties. The sudden closure of the club left a lot of employees hanging and scheduled bands I am sure had to be compensated something for the cancellation of their shows.

The Crocodile has been a staple in the Seattle scene since 1991 and although I never went to the Crocodile during its grunge heyday and I did not attend any of the shows that bands like Nirvana, Hole, R.E.M. and the Beastie Boys played there... I will miss the many a nights spent there watching friends of mine play with their various bands and parousing the booths of various local indie artist at I Heart Rummage.

With the passing of the Crocodile Cafe I decided that I was going to do a tribute show to some of the bands that I have heard live there. Admittedly I can't remember who they all are so I had to go with just a few bands that I was coherent enough to recall. I think that the last live show that I went to was The 88. It was the first time that I saw them in person. Afterwards their entire entourage spent the night at my house and not only are they a kick ass powerpop band, they are the nicest guys ever.

I know that I have also seen several Beep Repaired bands there including one of my all time favorite Seattle bands, the now defunct "math rock" ...with emphasis on the word "ROCK" band Wimbledon.

One show that sticks out in my mind the most is Kimya Dawson's (pic at right by Jeff R Williams). It was the first time that I had seen her perform live and I was completely awestruck (practically to tears) by the power, honesty and heart that she pours into her music. I wholeheartedly believe that Kimya is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. I have known Kimya by name and face for several years although it wasn't until right around the time that I first saw her at the Crocodile that I knew she played music. We both partied ...a lot... and lived off and on in the same small community of Port Townsend so some of her lyrics strike at the core of a lot of people from that town. Our friends are interwined into her songs ...and sadly not all of their stories are flattering or worth putting on a pedestal, but fortunately Kimya avoids glorifying them and tells it like it was and in some cases as it still is ...and sometimes it is just plain crazy.

The last time I saw Kimya was just last week in Port Townsend. It was kind of ironic because many of our old friends were there and I got to finally see the movie Juno for the first time. Ellen Page, the lead actress in Juno, hand selected Kimya Dawson and her band The Moldy Peaches as the kind of music that her character would listen to. It was definitely cool to see the movie in Port Townsend. The irony was that day I had been hanging out with people whom are mentioned in some of the songs in the movie, particularly the song that plays during the credits.

But it was all too unfortunate that we were in town for a group reunion forced upon us in the most tragic of circumstances. A good mutual friend of ours passed away very suddenly over the holidays. Robert was an extremely talented musician and a devoted father to his two year old son. It is truly one of the saddest interpersonal losses I have seen in a long time, and I spent the entire week in Port Townsend with our friends, family and widow. Over the years too many of our friends have died from an overdose or other sudden death. I was hoping to play some songs that Robert was particularly fond of to include with this week's playlist, but it was just too soon for all of us. However he was definitely in my thoughts and awareness while I was doing this show.

RIP Robert Treibel 1978-2007.


Click HERE for the complete playlist

EDEN'S HOUR -3

In the very few times that I have dabbled in videography, I ended up making experimental music videos of sorts. It was an excuse to teach myself basic editing so I chose a few songs that I thought worked well with the visual story that I was telling. It made me realize how intimately you get to know a piece of music and how much more you appreciate the special moments in a song when you see them marry a particular visual sequence that you are fond of. Some of the songs that I used during my autodidact editing moments were Love As Laughter's Miss Direction and Yo La Tango's You Can Have It All and I have become so accustomed to hearing these songs back to back that I decided to start this week's show with them.

Speaking of the fine art of mixing audio and visual components ...last year while David Lynch was on tour to promote his book Catching The Big Fish and his latest movie INLAND EMPIRE, he would have local musicians perform at each one of his Q&A's. When we were in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theater someone asked him if there were any musicians that he was particularly fond of. He mentioned the New York based Au Revoir Simone whom had accompanied him at his book reading at Barnes & Noble New York.
At that time I had never heard them, but I have since become quite fond of the pretty songs that these three ladies belt out ...well, to be accurate they do less belting and more sweet and swoonful singing, and I am not complaining.

Au Revoir Simone (picture left by Kevin Abosch) has not only gained the attention and praise of David Lynch, they have been invited to tour with some of the reigning Indie honeys of our day such as Air, Peter Bjorn & John and Voxtrot, although I don't think the notoriety will change these girl's ability to be so damn cute. The last time I saw Annie Hart, Heather D'Angelo and Erika Forster was in the middle of their worldwide tour that seemed to be going on forever and yet they still managed to be upbeat, adorable and capable of carrying on a conversation all night long. Heck, even their Sad Song is about the least sad sounding song that I have ever heard.

Click HERE for the complete playlist

EDEN'S HOUR -2

There are a few bands that I played this week that I wanted to mention, even if only briefly for now... The first band is Webelos, a wedge in the great pie that is the ever expanding Seattle music collective Beep Repaired. I played their song Little Kahuna in this set, but it's not the most representative of most of their music which in my mind evokes a sense of longing and fulfillment of desires all wrapped up in the same package of a pretty pop song sung by Webelo's vocalists Jim and Tonjia in the understated style ala Stephin Merritt.... whew... run-on sentence anyone?

Puerto Muerto is impressively delivering big songs while consisting of only two (talented) people. Christa Meyer and Tim Kelley are a Chicago based husband and wife duo that I heard for the first time recently. A DJ from Dandelion Radio emailed me and told me about them and I am completely sold. Christa's voice is penetrating... kind of like a heavy dose of rich gourmet chocolate laced with chili peppers, which I am sure lends itself well to some of the musical endeavors they have embarked upon. In 2005 Puerto Muerto released Songs of Muerto County a "lost" soundtrack to the 1974 horror flick, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Fortunately for us, they are incredibly prolific musicians and judging by what little I have seen and heard of them my exploration through their world has only just begun. Their next cd comes out in March, 2008. In the meantime I will be counting down the days and digging through their previous catalogs with fever....

The complete playlist for the Dec. 15th show:

little kahuna - Webelos - Webelos
Parasites - Ugly Casanova - Sharpen Your Teeth
A Fond Farwell - Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
Galaxies - Laura Veirs - Year Of Meteors Rock
Relief Next To Me - Tegan & Sara - The Con
Shattered - The Trucks
Snake And Martyrs - TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
You You You You You - The 6ths - Pieces of April Soundtrack
Wages Of Sin - Damien Jurado & Rosie Thomas - Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
Mother Of Pearl - Roxy Music - The Thrill Of It All (Disc 2)
Tennessee - Puerto Muerto
Paris 2004 - Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
So Long - Rilo Kiley - The Execution Of All Things

EDEN'S HOUR -1