Venus DeMars, Lady Tobalyas, and Timothy Donahue on “Live From Studio Five!”

By Brian P. Rubin

Week Two of KFAI’s fundraising initiative hit Studio Five this past Wednesday, resulting in this week’s show featuring music coming live from Studio…Three. But despite the change in location, the performances from Venus DeMars, Lady Tobalyas, and Timothy Donahue kept spirits high. They were joined as ever by Doug the Thug, Dewglass, and Nicole Jean Rode, who took on co-hosting duties for the second week in a row.

The first hour of music was handled by the duo of Timothy Donahue, of the Eclectic Ensemble, and Lady Tobalyas, two musicians who have appeared separately on “Live From Studio Five!” and were playing together for the very first time. The music was an avant garde soundscape that was both relaxing and engaging at the same time, and was all the more impressive since it was improvised during the duo’s inaugural performance.

During the second hour, Venus DeMars took up her guitar and played her haunting original tunes like “Damage and Razorblades,” and Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” by request from Doug the Thug. She also took on a challenge from some friends and tackled an impressive cover of “Love Hurts.”

In all, the three musicians provided an amazing backdrop for KFAI’s fundraising drive, proving exactly why the station and its shows are an important part of the Twin Cities music scene.

And don’t forget to check out the websites for Tim Donahue’s Eclectic Ensemble, Lady Tobalyas, and Venus DeMars.

If you missed this show, you can listen to it at ANY time from ANYWHERE on the planet on our PERMANENT archives here:  https://archive.org/details/livefromstudio5

Check out the video of that show on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/KFAIRocks

You can see the Flickr pix from that show here (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157643810022955/) and here  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157643810436415/)