Today is the day. Come on down to The Place and enjoy some great, live, FREE music.

7pm — Beckley, WV — The Place (at the United Methodist Temple *directions)  

Contact me (HERE) if you have questions.

If you are a local (southern West Virginia), come out and support one of your own. LeeAnn Sharp is a very gifted woman, and you will be delighted to hear her live.

It’s been a while since I have gotten to hear her and I am really looking forward to it. Bring a friend, or twenty.

There’s plenty of seating, the concert is FREE (no tickets needed), and it will be like ice-cream cake for your ears.

LeeAnn Sharp

LeeAnn’s favorite quotation about music? 

“Quiet music should be played Loud.” –Linford Detweiler

Also, that Eric guy. But I think I’ve mentioned him a few times before.

We are a mere two days from the Eric Peters concert in our very own Beckley, WV.

Friday — December 4 — 7pm — The Place (at The United Methodist Temple). Directions Here.

So, who is this guy?

Who is Eric Peters and why should I come to his show?

Here are some links to get to know him:

Here’s a bunch of interviews with Eric (including one by me).

Listen to Eric describe in brief each song on his new record, Chrome.

Listen to the entire title track from his new record, Chrome.

Check out Eric’s past records and hear samples here.

Buy Eric’s good stuff here. NOTE: He has a HUGE sale going on now!

Here’s Eric’s bio at The Square Peg Alliance.

Visit Eric’s website for anything else.

Finally: Use your imagination. Start with a Mr. Rogers cardigan.

Top photo by Jeff Holland, used with permission.

It’s only two weeks until the Eric Peters concert here in Beckley, WV!
 
December 4 :.: 7pm ::: at “The Place” at United Methodist Temple

Photo by Jeff Holland
 
Funnest Ways You Can Spread the News
 
1. Tell ten friends and two enemies about the event with the mouth area of your face.
2. Send nine interested and interesting people an e-mail about it. Feel free to quote me out of context.
3. Invite your Facebook friends via our Facebook Event page. –For those of you who don’t know what Facebook is, just make a book of pictures of your face and then send it to your friends. It’s kind of like that.
4. Play up the local angle with the opening act –because local singer-songwriter LeeAnn Sharp is amazing! And way prettier than Eric. And maybe taller.
5. Put up a bunch of these posters (attached, also available on www.coalbiter.com). Put some up next to wanted posters because man, those are hard to ignore. Plus I like to have all my posters in the same area.
6. Visit www.coalbiter.com and find out about this Eric Peters fellow and listen to some of his music. He is not bad if I do say so about himself.
7. Rent a Sky-writing bi-plane and go to work over a heavily populated area of southern West Virginia (may be challenging).
8. Blog about it on your website. So your mom will see it.
9. Take a poster to the football game and hold it up during field goals. The poster says “Eric Peters Concert 12.4.09 Beckley…John 3:16.” Or maybe it just says “I wish our team didn’t stink.” Either way.
10. Two words: spraypaint underpasses.
 
Note: Don’t really spraypaint underpasses. I’m looking at you, Stacy Grubb.
 
Make it Happen Cap’n
 
We’re still very much hoping to have some folks help sponsor the event so we can make it work, even while we keep it FREE to the public.
 
If you want to help sponsor the event, even at a low dollar amount, your help is welcome.
 
And don’t hesitate to pitch the idea to youth/college groups or friendly businesses you know of.

Hello and welcome to this edition of Things I’m Quite Fond Of. I’m your host, S.D. “Bumpnose” Smith.

Today I present to you this record.

Check out dude on far left. Coolness.

That’s right, it’s Van Morrison and the Chieftains wonderful record, Irish Heartbeat.

My favorite kinds of music are, I guess, mostly of the folky variety. As for folk, I guess Irish folk music is pretty high on my list, probably right after Americana music (which I’d call a blend of America’s folk music –but I’m no expert).  

You can listen and watch them perform “Star of the County Down,” a brilliant standard, live here.

I am not going to review the record; I just want to let you know that I’m quite fond of it. Especially grand are the standards, but Morrison’s new songs (2, or 3) are pretty good too. The Chieftains are just tops. Love them.

This has been Things I’m Quite Fond Of. Tune in next time when we find out if Sven completes an ollie and get’s in Ulrich’s new skate video.

Romantica – The National Side from Ryan Newman on Vimeo.

This is part 2 (and the conclusion) of our interview with our very own Eric Peters (though he is a free man). Part 1 is right here. Read it and watch out for the unicorns. Stay tuned at the end of this interview for a chance to win your very own copy of Chrome for free.

Photo by Jeff Holland

SDS: How can those of us who are “way in” support your work and is there anything in particular we can pray for you and your family for?

EP: Sure. Work. Preferably in the form of shows and concerts. I don’t want to rehash a dead horse (a rather disgusting and ghoulish image) here, but 2009 has been something akin to sheer crumminess, work-wise, for me. If I’m supposed to be doing this with my life — I’m still trying to figure that one out — then encouragement (not to mention income) comes in the form of bookings. To know that somewhere out there some person connects enough with my songs to invite me to play at their home or church or chili cook-off, that is affirming and edifying. The lack of those bookings combined with what seems like the effect of running into a brick wall in terms of approaching other folks (inviting myself) to play at their church or wherever, has been less than sweet dreams. Personally, it’s been a roller-coaster year; from career, to finances, to news of marriage troubles. I sure don’t want to wish away the days, but I can only hope that 2010 brings brighter light.

How can you pray for me and my family? Pray that I can find identity in Christ. Alone. I’m no good to my wife and my family if I don’t know and believe the richest things that God says about me, how he sees me, how safe I am with him. I need to rely, depend, and rest in this. I’m struggling to do that what with the ongoing conflict of faith, art and commerce. Continue reading

Note: As I am about to demonstrate to the world, I have no idea how to do a real interview. But Eric Peters, in his mercy, agreed to do one with me. Now I’m thinking of a lot of questions I should have asked, but they aren’t really good ones either. So the dumb stuff is my fault. Yet I love that this interview does reveal Eric’s sense of humor and humility and made me even more of a fan than I was previously. EP is rare indeed, like a bloody, tasty steak. If you haven’t bought his new album, Chrome, yet (which I somehow failed to ask enough about) then you should remedy that soon. Some of the songs will appear on the soundtrack for the upcoming film Smith/Peters directed by Opie Taylor. The interview will be posted in two parts. The films will be an endless franchise making millions of buckskins. -sam

SDS: All right EP (this is SDS, by the way), some easier questions may follow, but first things first. What is your favorite color and what do you want to be when you grow up?

EP: Red in the fall. Black in winter. Green in spring. Purple in summer.

I’d like to be you when I grow up. You’re Sam Shepard, right? Do I have to grow up?

SDS: Sam, I am. Occupation: Shepherd. And, keep aiming high; follow your dreams and any unicorns which you may see. Speaking of unicorns, on a scale of one to two, how fun/effective was it to work with Ben Shive in making the new record, which, correct me if I’m wrong, is called “Life in Puebla Georgia As Seen From A Book-shaped Heap of Coal?”

EP: Few people know this about Ben (Shive), but he’s an avid unicorn hunter. It’s slightly different than snipe hunting in that the hunter must offer a reed of salt-cured bamboo to the male unicorn, otherwise, you’ll get no closer than 100 yards to either sex. Or, wait, maybe it’s a Twizzler.

Aside from hunting fantastical forest creatures, working with Ben in the (non-fictitious) making of Chrome (This is the correct album title; you might have had me confused with Erik Estrada) was definitely a 1.9 out of a possible 2. I laughed more making this record than I have in a long time. Since laughter is in short supply these days, I was glad for it, and welcomed it like I would a leprechaun riding a unicorn dragging behind it a pot of gold.

Ben is immensely talented, as creative as anyone I know, and, in the case of Chrome, was a giant for me in the way of encouragement and seeing through some of the dark lyrics to the soul of what I was trying to say, even finding and instilling hope in those places. Ben is absolutely an artist, and is one of the hardest working dudes I know. I am deeply grateful to him for taking on my project even on a shoestring budget, and for treating it as if it were making him wealthy and famous. Which it didn’t. Which it won’t.

SDS: OK, That was the best answer ever in the history of journalism. Probably because of my penetrating question and the presence of unicorns. Continue reading

Note: I rarely/never use all caps or multiple exclamation points. So, you know I’m stoked.

Today’s the day you’ve been waiting for. Chrome is out! Get that.

I love this record. You will as well. It has been tested on me, my wife, and kids and reports are glowingly glowlike. My kid’s, matter-of-fact, came in from playing outside last week and (unaware they were being observed) started dancing to EP’s Chrome. My son (3) said to his sister “Wow, this is really cool music.” And she (6) said, “I know, it’s sooooo cool.”

So there you have it. My case = rested.

I plan to do a review, so look for that sometime. Meanwhile, enjoy Pete Peterson’s review/announcement at the Rabbit Room and this interview Eric gave to “Saving the Setlist.”

I wish I could do an interview with EP. (Sad face.)

Fooled you. I’m doing it right now! Look for that in the very near future.

Most importantly! Today is the LAST day you can get a copy for 10$ (if my sources inside the Government are telling the truth –and who could ever doubt that?). So get yours now.

If you, like me, were a fan of the film Once, and the music of The Swell Season, then you will enjoy this desktop concert from NPR. They have a new record which is, somehow, not called “Once Again.”

Here’s a video from Once, which features great folk music and a fascinating story.

Note: Both the film, and this little concert have “objectionable language.” Most of it is in English, but contains words which can be offensive (which we call “swear” words, or “cursing,” –not always with a great deal of biblical accuracy in my view).

HT: @Jeff_Overstreet

When I was that kid’s age I was, like, really good at wiffle-ball.