Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper Nominated for New England Band of the Month - VOTE NOW!

Eternal Otter Records' own Lady Lamb the Beekeeper has been honored with a nomination from Deli Magazine for New England Band of the Month!

If you have ever had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Aly Spaltro perform live, you know this is a well deserved recognition. Please go VOTE for her NOW - http://www.thedelimagazine.com/boston

She is in second place now, so let's move her up to first!

Although I was away from Portland this past weekend, from all accounts Lady Lamb the Beekeeper brought down the house at Samuel James' CD release- an event that was overflowing with talent and good times.

Be a part of spreading the word about one of our generation's finest talents- VOTE NOW! http://www.thedelimagazine.com/boston

Monday, August 17, 2009

What we've been up to...

Besides getting down as the Panda Bandits, we've been keeping busy through the summer here at Eternal Otter Records. A quick round-up:

Although fire code issues have temporarily shutdown the Tower of Song for the foreseeable future, the event lived on during August's Art Walk as the "Building of Song". Patric and Celeste of Arcadia Design Works were kind enough to host the event across the street in their 5th-floor studio. Tower of Song mainstays, Johnny Fountain and Aly Spaltro, both performed great sets, and the evening was topped off with guest Joshua Cristantiello improvising a song about the various pedestrians out on the street.

We all had a blast and the sound was great outside. Thanks again to Patric and Celeste for making this event possible!

We are still waiting to see if we can continue to host the Tower of Song in this new location. But regardless, we promise to keep bringing you interesting collisions of music and architecture.






Eternal Otter Records also recently concluded it's month of live programming at the York Harbor Reading Room. This series included a number of great, intimate performances by the likes of Johnny Fountain, Dominic Lavoie, Denise Dill, Granny Frost, Jesse Pilgrim, Over A Cardboard Sea, and Christian Cuff.

Last Sunday, Alicia and I also welcomed Dana Gross to perform live on our radio program, The Red Telephone. He played a great set and I hope to post a sample track as soon as I find a new music hosting website. In the meantime, I suggest you check him out during his regular Thursday gig at Blue- he is also often joined by Samuel James. The Red Telephone is on the air every other Sunday from 10 am to Noon. If you live in Portsmouth, just tune to 106.1 fm. If not, catch us online at www.wscafm.org

Panda Bandits, Ready?






After disappearing to the woods from the end of July to the beginning of August, Waisely "Scar" Lighthead and Marie "Minnie" Pistola returned as the Panda Bandits to Portland on Wednesday, August 12th.

The show was part of Bryan Bruchman's great series of free concerts taking place every Wednesday at SPACE Gallery in the month of August. You can find out more information at Bryan's always informative blog, Hilly Town.

The Panda Bandits first assembled in February to play a single song for the Johnny Cash Tribute Night (also at SPACE). Since then, we've been biding our time, waiting for the right moment to come back and play a full set. Therefore, we are very thankful to Bryan and SPACE for giving us this great opportunity to perform again.

The show kicked off with great sets from the always dependable Jesse Pilgrim and Boston-based Dan Wholey, who was accompanied by two women playing violin and slide guitar. He had a great voice and good songs and I hope he rolls through Portland again soon.

Then it was time for the Panda Bandits to come back. Besides Minnie and myself, the Panda Bandits include a roster of many of my favorite musicians, who I implore you to check out:

Johnny Fountain (of the Manes) played guitar for us and made sure I started singing at the right time.
Patrick Dennis (of Blaque Boose), in his enigmatic bear mask, kept the beat on bass.
Sontiago produced the beats for Alicia's "Mop Song", rapped on Johnny's song "Henry Ford Is Coming Back", and helped choreograph the mop dance.
Aly Spaltro (of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper) played banjo and, for the first time on stage, electric bass.
Roy Ghim (of Bird in the Rafters) not only played a variety of percussion put also whipped out his Afri-can- a gerry-rigged oilcan that plays like a guitar.
We were also joined by Ian Riley (Anna's Ghost), Don Dumont (Dead Man's Clothes), Lori Dennis, Erin Enberg, and Jesse Pilgrim who all played a variety of instruments (hammers, singing saws, tambourines, flutes, bicycles, etc).

We will likely be returning to SPACE in late September, so be on the lookout for the Bandits. The good fellows at [dog] and [pony] were also there filming, so some footage or audio tracks might come out eventually. Their site is also always worth checking out.

There are also a number of great shows coming up, including Big Blood at the Aphodian tonight. The next Hilly Town Presents Off Stage at SPACE features the killer line-up of Phantom Computers (Phantom Buffalo + Computer at Sea), out-of-towners Happy Machine, and Dead End Armory. It's this Wednesday and it is free.

I will sadly miss the legendary cd release show of Samuel James' third full-length, but you should make a point of being there- Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Sontiago, Dana Gross, White Light, Micah Blue Smaldone, and many others will all be performing songs from the album. And, of course, the man himself will be playing, and he is one of this city's true entertainers.

Until next time.

-Waisely Lighthead