A Few Cool Friday Night Happenings

Tonight among all the thousands of shows going on in the valley there are two shows that I will be trying to attend.

What Laura Says Thinks And Feels, Black Carl and Mostly Bears will be playing at the loft. I just did a show for What Laura at Modified for the Phoenix Agenda Launch Party and they were great. I am so pleased that they let us have them on the first months cover. They are truly one of the most promising bands in Arizona, and right now that is a solid list to be at the top of. Mostly Bears from Tucson are gaining some attention and I have been wanting to see them, unfortunately I don't think I will be able to make it to the start of the show, and Black Carl is always a party live.





The other show I will be trying to make it to is Astronautalist at the Trunk Space. Astronautalist is a new freestylist/raper making his buzz on the evil myspace. I saw him at the Eyeball Records showcase at SXSW. He does this thing where he has members in the crowed shout out subjects he should rap on and he ties them into one song. A lot of rappers do stuff like this live but he worked Sir Isaac Newton, Armadillos, Hillary Clinton, Volunteerism and Fruit Pops into the best song on the spot. I can not remember how he tied Newton to Fruit Pops but it blew my mind.


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Find more info on these and everything else worth knowing about at SilverPlatter.info.

Phoenix gets new place to eat music

For the last 20 years Stinkweeds Records has been one of the Valleys greatest supporters of independent music. To say owner Kimber Lanning is one of the most important advocates of local music in Arizona would be a huge understatement. In addition to Stinkweeds she owns local art gallery and venue Modified Arts and has been a curtail player in revitalizing the downtown and the art district. Lanning also is the Director of Local First Arizona (formally AZ Chain Reaction) an organization of locally owned businesses that support locally owned businesses in Arizona.

Now Kimber and the other great people at Stinkweeds have launched SilverPlatter.info, an online blog/concert calendar. Everyone in Phoenix should go take a look. This has the potential to be a great vehicle to promote music in AZ.

If you ever get the chance to talk to Kimber I advise you to do so. She is one of the most passionate and informed advocates for art and music I have ever meet. A lot of how I think about the way the business of music should done comes from my conversations with her. Modified Arts was where I started doing shows in High School and have continued doing so ever since. And Stinkweeds has been the main shop for music.