venangago-go

Daniel Johnston, Robert Pollard and Edinboro’s Frank Marzano have more in common than might be apparent at first glance. What links them is an idiosyncratic understanding of the pop music of the 1960s. Like his more well known peers, Marzano takes the energy, verve and youthful obsession with topics like love, and, well, love mostly, and filters them through a unique psyche and voice to create something that’s not an homage, but a unique understanding of the genre itself.

It’s Marzano’s voice that attracts the most attention on his latest album, But Enough About Me, a follow up to his first album, 1999’s Foul Weather Friend. High, reedy like a tenor saxophone using the strain to push from note to note in the goofy tragic tale of a DUI “Making Up for Lost Time” one moment and then using it as nasally as Kermit on the paean to the “old” (read edgy rather than touristy) West Village “Bleecker Street”, it’s not a voice you’ll immediately open up to, but in a world made flat by Auto-Tune there’s something to be said for a voice that sounds different.

Download "Bleecker Street"

Download "Making Up For Lost Time"

Purchase (and Stream) Enough About Me at CDbaby

Frank Marzano next plays April 4 – Eclectic Etceteras (Edinboro, PA) 5 – 7 pm

Venangoland takes on self made men (and women one would guess...).
Given a whole day, you could never list all the people whose lives and works have made your success possible. Nor could you list every turn at which misfortune could have derailed your life, no matter how great your efforts and determination.

Brother Bean has updated its schedule with some really great picks:

Canopy View (electronica, rock, progressive) March 22
Veteran Status, indie, acoustic, folk rock March 29
Justin Parson Apr 5 2008
Signal Home/acoustic AND FLEETS April 12
Remora Deign April 19
Newmen April 26
Hello Tokyo (power pop, indie, rock) (Playing at SXSW even as I type) May 8
The Illalogical Spoon,experimental, folk, hardcore May 31

Gwen from Brother Bean also passes on that:
the manager at the pretzel place at the cranberry mall (lee polk 676-6420) is looking for acoustic musicians to play. it has to be unplugged (mall rules) and there isn't much room for more than a couple of people on guitars. the pay would be food and tips. so give him a call or drop in and see him. be prepared to give him a demo or your myspace site so he can give a listen to your stuff.

A Wartime Reading List

LIFE ON MARS:The 55th Carnegie International (Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. May 5 through Jan. 11.) has been singled out by the NY Times as one of 3 Exhibitions To Mark Your Calendar For

The Carnegie International, done every three or four years, is the oldest contemporary art exhibition in North America and the second oldest in the world after the Venice Biennial. This year’s version inaugurates the Fine Prize (an award of $5,000 given to an emerging artist in the exhibition), which joins the established Carnegie Prize (a $10,000 award for lifetime achievement, most recently given to the Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman).

Cleveland Wants Hipsters!

City Theatre has announced its 2008-2009 season and I am so excited to see it includes Conor McPherson's The Seafarer- the show I most wanted to direct at the Barrow Little Theatre and never got to.

The Owl & the Bear has added a Wilco Archive to its site, which will feature direct downloads of lossless Wilco performances.

Writer-artist Wilfred Santuago talks to Comic Book Resources about his graphic novel 21, a biography of Pirate legend Roberto Clemente.

The Smithsonian Photography Initiative will end up putting more than 13 million images online and open to the public.

Free and Legal Downloads:

Regina Spektor: 2007-09-16, Austin [mp3] (ZIP file broken)

The Arcade Fire - "Heroes" (David Bowie Cover)
The Arcade Fire - "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Sam Cooke Cover)
The Arcade Fire - "Gimme Me Some Truth" (John Lennon Cover) (via)