Saturday, September 27, 2014

Jose James, Paul Michell Drop By "Live From Studio 5!"

Blog by Seth Hynes Marquette

Final Pledge Drive Show

Jose James

Jose James dropped by Live From Studio 5! this week for the first hour to promote his new CD, Beyond Reason, and play his bass flute to a few backing tracks. Jose’s smooth, milky melodies were laced perfectly with the low, droning synthesizers and slow, rhythmic percussion in the background. 

Jose is a multi-instrumentalist, as well as a singer and songwriter. His music has been featured in movies and television shows such as The Price Of, Daddy’s Girl, Human Giant, Things to Try Before You Die, and more. He has been inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame three times, as a member of Shangoya, Willie & The Bees, and Ipso Facto, and was voted best Brass / Reed Artist at the Minnesota Music Awards in 1994. 


He describes his new album as “music to meditate to”, as the music induces relaxation and a state of calmness, a fantastic way to eliminate stress or focus one’s energy. The overall performance bears an aura to an idealistic, calm summer’s day. However, Jose also knows how to completely switch things up in the best kind of way, in that a few tracks are much more R&B oriented, with some serious groove and romantic ambiance.

Be sure to check out Jose James’ new release, Beyond Reason.Check out the video on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlYjGS8MgT0&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA
You can see the Flickr pix from that show here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157648013806512/

Paul Michell



Singer / songwriter Paul Michell also stopped by the studio for the second half of the show to promote his own new CD, entitled We Keep On Dreaming. Paul was born and raised in Minneapolis, and began his craft at a young age, becoming a fluent pianist and singer and performing throughout the Twin Cities. Paul mentions artists such as Elton John, Ben Folds, and The Civil Wars amongst his key influences. His latest release was recorded with Owen Sartori, amongst others. 

As well as adding horns and strings, the entire album was done electronically, all things that were new for Paul and his craft. As he puts it himself: “The album was done electronically, but made to feel organic.”



Paul is not afraid to be poppy. With his driving piano riffs and brutally honest vocals, he delivers heart wrenching songs about the most relatable incident in human existence - heartache. However, his music is not sorry-for-thyself doom and gloom drudgery, but instead bears distinct undertones of hope and readiness for a fierce approach at a better future. His lyrics are a sorrowful catharsis of broken relationships, life changes and the biggest question of all: what next? Though we’ve heard the skeleton of this kind of story before, Paul stands out in his declaration of a painful situation, but his persistence to make things work out in the pursuit of happiness.

Paul plans to move to New York City soon to continue his music career. 
Check out the video on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9smvKY36ic&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA
Flickr pix are here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157647965995876/ 
You can listen to this entire show at ANY time from ANYWHERE on the planet on our FOREVER archives by clicking here:
https://archive.org/details/222JosePaulPledge

Pledge Update:  Thanks to all KFAI listeners. KFAI has reached its Pledge Drive goal.  This, however, is not enough to sustain KFAI to continue broadcasting the great programs you've become accustomed to.  KFAI still needs about twice the pledge goal to keep us cooking.  All other options will be explored but in the meantime, if you haven't showed your support to KFAI, please do it now to keep us on the air.  All you gotta do is click here:  Pledge Now   And please indicate "Live From Studio 5!" as your favorite program.  Thank you very much!

Friday, September 26, 2014

KFAI Reaches Pledge Goal "BUT"


KFAI has reached its pledge goal, however it is the lowest goal set in a while.  Even after the goal is reached, a shortfall of $100,000 still looms ahead. To counter this and have funds to grow, KFAI needs continual support from all quarters. We need quantifiable numbers to share with grant writers, NPR, and business.  Share the cause everywhere, let everyone know about KFAI, weigh in with comments ideas, and pledges.  A pledge of any size is better than any rating number.  Support your favorite show with comments, pledges and let your voice be heard.  Metro area business, we need you to find a niche within KFAI and support those shows that at the same time will gain you loyal customers.  Underwriting shows or KFAI as a whole will give your business a key role in saving a great resource.  Underwriters will also gain a voice in creating a new and improved KFAI that better serves everyone.  So let’s get together and do the best we can to advance the culture, community and causes we all care about.  No amount is too little.  A pledging gesture goes a long way in keeping community in Twin Cities radio.  If you enjoy listening to “Live From Studio 5!” on a regular basis, then now is the time to show us some love.  Please click here right now: http://bit.ly/1yKUfq4



 

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Still Crunch Time

It's Still Crunch Time
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    KFAI is in a battle to close the gap on a huge shortfall in funds.  The slide has been going on for some time.  For a reality check here is a KFAI news report that puts it on the table:





    Following the report are impassioned comments from Turn Back Now.  This group gets it, and knows what we will lose if we all don’t keep pushing the ball forward.  We need your energy, comments, suggestions and dough re mi.  Even a $5 pledge is a vote for your favorite show.
Going forward, KFAI will have no choice but to juggle the program schedule in favor of what outside raters show as listener numbers.  On a grass roots level I know we can energize word of mouth and social media.  Change must come, but KFAI and the community will be better served if those who support the station and their favorite programs voice their opinion.
    Please pledge, and ask your friends to pledge and weigh in on the stations future.  Some of our listeners and supporters have surplus automobiles, boats, or even audio equipment.  These items can have a new life, converted into funds that can sustain, repair and maintain this media resource.
    With massive support KFAI can grow into what serves the community best.  Access for underserved voices, a training ground for new and emerging media and more.  The bottom line is we need your involvement, share the message, get involved and join the board of decision makers and help chart the course.  36 years is far too soon for a media resource with so much potential to die.  Think about what you can do, and lobby, lobby, lobby.
    For everyone who is pitching in, thank you.  And for those who are not, why not?
    Please share the above story and the links as far and wide as you can.
    By the way when you pledge, be sure and indicate your favorite show
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For all the options go to: http://kfai.org/support-us
Straight to the pledge form Click This Link 
Just to lighten things up.
10 Reasons to support KFAI
1. “LIVE From Studio 5!”
2. You want to bring voices in the darkness into the light.
3. You need a tax write-off.
4. Your mother told you to.
5. Your Dad told you to too.
6. You feel guilty not pledging before.
7. You can’t find the remote.
8. The kids found where you hide the money.
9. You need a live music fix.
10. KFAI continues and grows only because of you!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Turpentine Wine

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Turpentine Wine Puts a Nice Touch on Pledge Drive

    Fall pledge drive kicked off for "Live From Studio 5!" on Wednesday, September 17.  The phones were not ringing off the hook, even so we did get SOME much-appreciated support but we still have a long way to go.
    For those who stepped up, thank you, and for those who have not yet voted for "Live From Studio 5!" with a pledge, you can do so anytime by just clicking here: https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXDONATE/AddDonor.asp?cguid=9941309F-4E3B-4FA6-9CB2-7631936E80C7&sid=49B51E5B-F627-49B0-AFC0-AB85C1F29E99
Now how simple is that?  Do it now, please.
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    Brought together by no real notable world event or strange coincidence, Lisa Rowland and Bronson Bergeson have teamed up to create great new music.
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    This may happen more than I know, but it was a first for me, Lisa and Bronson debuted a brand new song they had just finished writing thirty minutes before going on the air.
15095495819_64985d4c68_z      Lisa was reading the lyrics for the song from an I pad while performing it.  Flawless is all I can say.  I would not have known this was a newborn song if they had not told us.  The combination of Bronson's full bodied guitar, and his smooth style coupled with emotive vocals from Lisa captured our hearts.  When Lisa and Bronson harmonized, I could hear the sound of a single or two in the making.  When this duo gets into the studio to lay down the new tracks, I will be first in line to snag the new C D.
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    Bronson is also a member of Hell Country Truckers, who have been on our show previously.  The Hell Country Truckers consist of:
Bronson Bergeson (Lead Guitar/Pedal Steel/Vox)
Jake Galzki (Acoustic Guitar/Lead Vox)
Tim "Buck" Paulson (Bass/Vox)
Aaron Seevers (Drums/Vox)
Check them out while you are searching for great music.
Here is a video of the Truckers' performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRVCZHKS5X0&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA
Incidentally this video is pushing ONE THOUSAND views!  (I just watched this video for the first time in three and a half years.  I had forgotten how GREAT it is! - Thug.)
The video from that show can be seen here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI-jXGg8I_U&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA
To find out more about Turpentine Wine, go to: http://turpentinewine.com/
     Here are the latest “Live From Studio 5!” Flickr pix from this show which was originally broadcast on September 17, 2014:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157647752695102/ 
    The show was hosted by Cher Dial, Casey Moo, Dew Glass and Doug The Thug and was a Pledge Drive edition.
The FOREVER archives of the show is here:https://archive.org/details/221TurpentineWinePledge
    One more time.  Make a pledge at ANY time. This is highly encouraged. These archives will last forever but if you don’t help fund KFAI, it may be GONE soon.  All you gotta do is click here: 
Do it now.

Friday, September 12, 2014

A Rant of Our Own

    KFAI has been around for 36 years through struggles and challenges from the beginning.  Listeners and support have grown steadily over the years... until now. The digital age, content on demand, the economy, and old ways of tracking the audience, has all but gutted KFAI’s listener support. To be blunt, fewer listeners equal less support, from every sector.
    KFAI cannot sustain this trend, nor can it grow into the awesome resource it has the potential to become. That's why we need YOU more than ever, NOW. By becoming a member you have a vote for the shows and content you value. Going forward, shows that have no listener support will have to step aside in favor of shows that can add value to KFAI. "Live From Studio 5!" knows we have support in the moral sense, but it has not translated into revenue for KFAI. We would not like to see our show fade from the scene. It would be a loss to the community and the musicverse we love. Your support through likes and comments, as well as financial, can help right the ship and chart a course forward. Become a booster and share KFAI wherever you can. Get involved, volunteer, get on the boards and share your skills to keep a 36 year champion of the underserved voices in our community going strong. KFAI can continue and grow into ever-expanding resources for media and culture that no one else will serve. We must have your input, your feedback, your ongoing support.
    We were advised that we should "keep it positive, keep it optimistic" but that's how we've done it for years, and frankly, I'm sick of it and demoralized after every Pledge Drive.  Speaking for "Live From Studio 5!", we pitch and plead and beg and maybe we get three or four pledges per show.  That's from being positive.  Let me make this ABSOLUTELY CLEAR: KFAI is in trouble, BIG trouble.  We set a Pledge goal of $70,000 which is pitifully low, the lowest we've set in a long time.  We did reach that goal and THANK YOU but we still face deficits and since we aren't a "person" or government entity, that's NOT an option.  We'll have only a month or two after that before the dreaded BANKRUPTCY.  And the plug could get pulled. Cold and bold: Pledge up or say goodbye. Sorry to be such a downer but reality is a bitch.  Show us how you feel right now, and click here: 
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Steven Hobert & Friends

Steven Hobert & Friends

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Collaboration was the order of the day as Steven Hobert filled Studio 5 with a diverse group to help celebrate and announce the release of his new album entitled "Ocean Eyes".
15022354390_2a3be93760_zFrom his bio I borrowed what I thought you all might like to know:  Steven Hobert has wandered through musical landscapes as varied as the dazzling corral to the barren arctic, as a composer and soloist as well as with many other groups.  He leads the group FireFly Forest and also plays accordion in Lulu's Playground with the unique combination of trumpet, cello, and guitar.  He recently completed a year tour through Japan, Canada and the United States with the world famous Glen Miller Orchestra.  He has performed with a number of symphony orchestras including Calgary, Detroit, and Buffalo, conducted the band for vocal group 5-by-Design on several tours, played on cruise ships in the Caribbean, and in production shows at Dorney Amusement Park in Allentown, PA.  Steven holds a Bachelor of Music Liberal Arts and minor in Piano Pedagogy from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  He resides in Minneapolis and is a free-lance musician and teacher playing piano, accordion, woodwinds, singing and making people smile.
All of those elements and more were exhibited on  "Live From Studio 5!"
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Steven Hobert on keyboards, Accordion, and Vocals



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Sarah Lawson played, as Doug said the whatchamacallit drum thingy.
15022249879_d914b155fd_zRounding out the group was Jeff Schraw on Drums,






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Tony Axtell on an amazing Godin hollow body acoustic / electric bass.
And just when we thought things could not be  mellow enough,

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Corry Grossman melted us with his Cello.
So dear readers, find Steven here: http://stevenhobert.wordpress.com 
And here: https://www.facebook.com/stevenhobertmusic
And Ocean Eyes here: http://stevenhobert.bandcamp.com/releases
While you are there, ask him to post links so you can check out and fan all the rest of this collaboration.
Check out the Flickr pix of this, hosted by Cher Dial:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157647433010476/
The video of the latest performance is here:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxumPzfSvcU&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA
While your about it consider sustaining KFAI  by signing up for an auto club membership and tell 'em "Live From Studio 5!" sent you.  Please click here to contribute: http://bit.ly/1yKUfq4