Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart, Kaisercartel And Golden Bloom Play Middle East On September 29th

Sharing the stage once with one of Hüsker Dü’s founding members is something to be proud of, but twice in the same week, well that’s just plain awesome. Such is the life of multi-instrumentalist Shawn Fogel, the front-man and mastermind of Golden Bloom, who will be playing two shows with ex- Hüsker Dü member, Grant Hart: September 26th at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live and September 29th at Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA. Brooklyn’s KaiserCartel will be joining Golden Bloom and Hart for the Middle East show.

Golden Bloom is Shawn Fogel’s soaring vocals, shimmering guitar hooks; whizzing keyboards and twinkling sounds. In fact, Golden Bloom is all Shawn Fogel, at least for the purposes of recording. The Middle East show will give audiences a chance to see him solo, too. He has been rapidly adding to his impressive list of bands he’s played with recently to include Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Hey Marseilles, Telekinesis and Sea Wolf.

Fogel is back in the studio with Peter Katis (Frightened Rabbit, The National, Interpol and Tokyo Police Club), to produce some tracks on the follow up to Fan the Flames, which was compared favorably to Summerteeth-era Wilco, The New Pornographers, and Big Star and loved by critics and fans alike. He’s has also been busy with Neutral Uke Hotel, a side project that has been taking the world by storm with live performances of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over The Sea which is played entirely on ukulele.
Grant Hart is best known as being a founding member of Hüsker Dü. His latest album Hot Wax is his first solo studio album in 10 years. KaiserCartel is made up of Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel. Their latest album Secret Transit is full of delicate and sensual but nonetheless punchy folk-pop.


Wednesday, September 29th
Middle East Upstairs
Cambridge, MA
Golden Bloom (solo), KaiserCartel, and Grant Hart (of Husker Du)
Doors: 8:00 PM
Show: 9:00 PM
$10 in advance
$12 at the door
18+
Advance tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3149945&pl=mideastclub
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Michael J Epstein Memorial Library Rocks Out at Church in Boston

Michael Epstein certainly knows how to defy trends. There are boy/girl bands aplenty these days and there have been tons of female-fronted bands. But when was the last time you heard of a male-fronted band of nine women? Epstein’s latest project, The Michael J Epstein Memorial Library, which plays downtempo, indie folk/pop with alt-country and anti/counterfolk tinges, will bring their unique lineup and librarian fashion-sense to Boston’s Church on October 1st.

The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library was formed when Epstein began recruiting band members on Facebook and Craigslist “Most are intentionally people that I didn’t previously know very well. I wanted people with fresh perspectives and few prior expectations about the operation of a band and about how the music scene and music industry works.” This unusual ensemble plays not only your standard acoustic guitar, drums and bass; but also ukulele, flute, trumpet, glockenspiel, melodica, viola, violin and more. The project was designed to be flexible, with any number of participants making up the line-up on any given occasion. “We’re just going to play some songs and have fun. The project is … flexible enough for me to play solo or small shows and also diverse enough to do bigger shows,” says Epstein.

Michael J Epstein Memorial Library
Friday, October 1st
Church
69 Kilmarnock St, Boston, MA
Also on the bill: Highly Personal Trash, The Cinnamon Fuzz, What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?
Doors: 8:00 PM
Show: 8:30 PM
Tickets: $10
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Neutral Uke Hotel and Michael J Epstein Memorial Library Play Cafe 939

Michael Epstein has his hand in a lot of things, so it’s not peculiar that he should be playing in two different bands on the same bill. This time around he’s debuting a new project, The Michael J Epstein Memorial Library and playing baritone ukulele in Neutral Uke Hotel September 11th at Café 939.

The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library was formed when Epstein began recruiting band members on Facebook and Craigslist. “Most are intentionally people that I didn’t previously know very well. I wanted people with fresh perspectives and few prior expectations about the operation of a band and about how the music scene and music industry works.” The group numbers ten total: nine women and Epstein. He describes their sound as “Downtempo, indie folk/pop with alt-country and anti/counterfolk tinges”. Intrigued yet? You should be. Because everything Epstein does is designed to be interesting.

Neutral Uke Hotel have been playing sold out shows to enthusiastic crowds who were encouraged to sing along, and they haven’t been shy. Shawn Fogel (vocals, ukulele), Josh Cohen (melodica), Matt Girard (trumpet), along with Epstein, play the classic Neutral Milk Hotel album, In the Aeroplane Over The Sea from start to finish in a stripped down way that makes it that much easier for the audience to shout their favorite album’s lyrics.


Epstein’s band, The Motion Sick, recently played a Boston show entitled “The Rock Primary”, which was promoted by a series of campaign, scandal and faked press videos featuring the all the bands on the bill. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, another of Epstein’s musical projects, is inspired by the 60s spy show The Prisoner. Their EP, The New Number 2 features a song each for five of the show’s episodes.


Neutral Uke Hotel and Michael J Epstein Memorial Library
Saturday, September 11th
Café 939
939 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
Doors: 7:30 PM
Show: 8:00 PM
Tickets: $10 Click Here to Read More..

The White Ravens Join Multi-Genre Campfire Festival

The historic Club Passim, which boasts past appearances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega, will welcome The White Ravens and their keyboard-driven pop as part its annual Campfire Festival over Labor Day weekend. The White Ravens will be playing Saturday, September 4th at 1:30 PM. The festival will feature 85 musical acts from a myriad of genres spread out over four days.

The Campfire Festival is just one stop on The White Ravens’ first east coast tour. They also have gigs lined up in Philadelphia, New York and Cambridge, MA. A White Ravens show is energetic, designed to get people to move, and the best way to do that is to set an example. With Amy’s spirited vocals and impressive bass runs, and Will’s fingers flying over the keys with maniacal speed and precision, it’s hard to resist the urge to bop along. And why should you?

Campfire Festival
Club Passim
47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA
617-492-7679
1:30 PM
Tickets: $10 day pass/$30 weekend pass
Buy Tickets Online

The White Ravens Tour Dates
8/28/10 Raven Lounge, Philadelphia, PA
8/29/10 Arlene’s Grocery, New York, NY
8/31/10 The Space, Hamden, CT
9/1/10 Borders, Hyannis, MA
9/2/10 All Asia, Cambridge, MA
9/3/10 Campfire Festival, Cambridge, MA
9/4/10 Campfire Festival, Cambridge, MA
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Golden Bloom Headlines Middle East on May 20th

Golden Bloom is set to headline the Middle East (Upstairs) on Thursday, May 20^th with his brand of playful and jangly pop. Golden Bloom’s soaring world of musical wonder will be joined by the bands Sodafrog (Tom Janovitz) and The Backup Factor.  

The show follows up a sold out performance at the Armory on May 7th; Fogel’s live side project honoring Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by way of ukulele.

Thu May 20, 2010:

Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub - Upstairs  

472 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA - [map]
Doors at 9:00 PM
Golden Bloom on at Midnight
18+
$10 cover
Also on the bill:
The Backup Factor, Sodafrog and Corin Ashley

Don't miss out, buy your tickets now!

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