Okay folks, normally I’m one of those
people who gets frustrated when retail stores cram the last holidays of
the year together and rush into the Christmas holidays right along with
Halloween and Thanksgiving.
I’ve got to make and exception though now because I’ve got to tell
you about a new Christmas album by some guys you may know. They’re a
10-man vocal group formed at Indiana University in the mid 90’s and have just been "found".
Straight No Chaser
was a group of friends at Indiana University and formed the group in
the fall of 1996. In 2006 the original members reunited for a concert
an clips of their performance made it to YouTube, which ended up
getting viewed by Craig Kallman, Chairman of Atlantic Records.
Continue reading to hear how you can win a copy of this album and concert tickets to see them perform live!
Here’s the story of what events came to pass after Craig Kallman saw the group on YouTube.
In a turn of events that the spiritually inclined might
describe as a “higher power” moment, Atlantic Records Chairman/CEO
Craig Kallman happened to be among those millions of viewers. “It was
completely random and totally unexpected,” says Kallman. “I was
surfing YouTube to check out what was new, when I saw this brilliant,
fresh, and totally compelling performance. And then I saw how many
hits they were getting, and I had something of an epiphany. So I
emailed Randy right away.” Randy, not surprisingly, thought it was
some kind of prank. “The head of Atlantic Records emailing me at 8
a.m. New Year’s Day and saying he was interested in our group? I
thought, ‘yeah, right.’” Fortunately, Randy decided to check it out
anyway, and he and Dan soon found themselves having dinner with Craig
in L.A. Within a few days, the entire group flew to Atlantic’s offices
in New York, and a deal was in the works.
Straight No Chaser released their holiday album "Holiday Spirits" on October 28, 2008 and have been getting great reviews.
I received copies of the album to review last night in the mail. I
popped it into the stereo and thought I’d listen to it as I got some
other things done around the house. The album didn’t stop playing until
we’d circled through every song about 5 times. These guys are
TREMENDOUSLY talented and deliver the goods on bringing in in the
"Holiday Spirits" and hits we all have come to love.
They’re one of the few groups I’ve heard re-do "Little Saint Nick"
by The Beach Boys, but I think they sound better than the Boys
themselves, and I love The Beach Boys. The group gives a little
hometown love with "Indiana Christmas" which is a beautiful ballad that
really showcases their harmony and talent.
Here’s the full track listing of "Holiday Spirits":
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Jingle Bell Rock
The Christmas Song
This Christmas
Christmas Wish
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard On High
Little Saint Nick
The 12 Days of Christmas (LIVE)
Indiana Christmas
Sweet Little Jesus Boy
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Carol of the Bells
Silent Night
Auld Lang Syne
Without saying much more, this album has risen to the top of my
holiday album favorites, replacing the likes of Russ Taff’s "A
Christmas Song", Harry Connick, Jr., Trans Siberian Orchestra and "A
Charlie Brown Christmas". This is good stuff!
Win a Free Copy of "Holiday Spirits" Album by Straight No Chaser
I’ve got a couple copies of this album to give away to anyone that’s interested. All you have to do is go visit the Straight No Chaser website, MySpace, Facebook or YouTube
pages and listen or watch them perform a song. Then come back here and
leave a comment about what you thought. I’ll randomly select from those
commenting and give them a copy of the "Holiday Spirits" album.
Win Tickets to See Straight No Chaser Perform in Person
If you write a blog yourself and would like to write-up your own
review of their music and link back to this post I’ve got some free
tickets for you to see Straight No Chaser perform in concert at the
Madame Walker Theater on December 20th. Just be sure to link back to
this post with your review and email me to let me know it’s up, the
free tickets will go to those with their posts up first until I run out
of tickets.
Reposting this for fellow Indianapolis Podcaster Zach "Mothman" Daggy ... show your support for the hometown team and VOTE! The only thing I'll add that he didn't say is LISTEN as well ... he's got a great show featuring some of the best in podsafe music!
- Darrin
Hey Moth Maniacs,
Voting has started at the Podcast Awards, and
as you may have heard, yours truly has been nominated for best music
podcast! It would really be AWESOME to win in this category, but I
can't do it without your help.
Select The Mothpod in the "Podsafe Music" category (It's the 9th category box from the top on the left side.)
Fill in your name and email on the bottom of the page, and select whether you're a Listener, Podcaster, or Both.
Click Submit
That's it! The whole thing takes less than a minute. You can vote once
every 24 hours until November 7th, so PLEASE vote as many times as you
can. :)
SPREAD THE WORD:
Forward this message to friends, colleagues, and family.
Copy this message to your blog, myspace, or other social network.
(If you do this, let me know, and I'll share the love on my site.)
Thanks for your continued support everyone! When voting, please feel
free to vote in the other categories as well. There are a lot of really
talented folks nominated.
Our favorite "little singer girl," Tish Lyndsey (Show #016) just launched a beautifully redesigned website complete with a new blog and some tasty new tunes.
Tinydad.com has published a listing of 22 great websites where you can find the music that you love. Note that some of the sites fall under that gray catgegory of "technically legal" that really irritates the RIAA, but until they get that chip implanted in you that charges your bank account every time you hear "MacArthur Park" in an elevator, I wouldn't worry too much.
It
was a big success and the band had a ton of fun! Hats off to Hugh
Partridge and his family and crew for bringing in over 1000 people to
the event. WOW!!!!
ESW (Show #009) was recently featured on National Public Radio. "Sufi Nightmare", from their self titled debut release, was included on NPR's "Day To Day" with hosts Madeleine Brand and Alex Chadwick. The song appears as a segue at the end of the May 1st, 2008 episode, which consists of an in depth interview with violinist and electronic-dance musician Mike Kelley. To listen to the show in it's entirety go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90096959 and click on the "listen now" tab. The ESW single, "Sufi Nightmare", is available for download on iTunes.
ESW at The Melody Inn
Friday, May 16
w/ Phyllis, Brian Deer and the Achievers and Ruckus
New ESW single "Assload of Pancakes" featuring Dave Devine on guitar now available at myspace.com/eswband.
ESW live recording from Radio Radio featuring Joel Kelsey and Matthew Wilson available for free download at www.eswmusic.com.
Indianapolis has a new music website & a new ongoing monthly songwriters in the round show! This is news!
The
Indianapolis Songwriters Cafe is a community bridge, bringing together
information & resources for both local artists & fans of
songwriter music.
The ISC will host a monthly show every 3rd
Friday of the month at Boulevard Place Cafe, featuring three
songwriters in the round. Creating a true listening room environment
that will give both performers and audience an intimate, memorable
experience where songs can be heard & stories can be told. The
website, www. indianapolissongwriterscafe. com,
is loaded with information on local venues, a community calendar,
promoters and songwriter friendly press/radio contacts, open mic
events, house concerts & more. Between the web presence and printed
information available at monthly shows the ISC will serve as a one-stop
shop for anything songwriter related in Indianapolis.
ISC has
been developed by local songwriter Cliff Snyder in partnership with
Indianapolis Regional Workshop Coordinator Rhonda Thomas for the local
chapter of Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI),
Robin Coleman of Segment of Society Promotions and both Nora Spitznogle
& Cary Fields who support local acoustic music with their work in
print & radio.
The first show begins Friday, May 16th @ 7pm
and will feature Frank Dean (Sindacato), Bill Price (Brains behind Pa)
& Brent Bennett (Brent Bennett & The Movers). As June &
July roll around expect to see songwriting heavyweights like Jason
Wilber (The John Prine Band), Tim Grimm, Stasia Demos (Middletown),
Greg Ziesemer, Cara Jean Wahlers & more.
The long-term
goal of the Indianapolis Songwriters Cafe is simple - to create an
atmosphere & culture where Indianapolis finds more songwriters
performing original music locally and to see more fans connected with
artists & out there at shows.
Findings from a two-year study released Monday by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) indicate that illicit music downloads among young adults are more popular than PB & J, high-fives, and all-around good times combined.
"With such concrete evidence as to the true extent of music downloading, I think it's clear we have an obligation to push forward and properly reprimand the assailants," said RIAA President Cary Sherman in a statement Monday.
The two-year study collected data from a sample of over 5,000 college students across the country. Individuals were asked to record the number of times a day they did a variety of common, college-aged activities including, but not limited to: making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, doing homework, throwing high-fives, rockin' out, riding bicycles, getting hyphy/crunk, eating pizza, skateboarding, being kidnapped, just chillin', enlisting in armed services, and using LimeWire.
"70% of individuals noted they use LimeWire more often than they eat pizza." Continued Sherman, "That's just not right. When I was in school, I ate pizza all-day everyday. Pizza is awesome. Sharing copyrighted material is not awesome."
"At least the results of this study seem slightly more accurate than the other studies we've seen," says EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann via email. "I'll give them that much."
University students have traditionally been targeted by the RIAA for copyright infringement, beginning with the release of Napster, the first widespread file-sharing service. Peer-to-peer proponents fear this data will lead to another overwhelming tide of lawsuits aimed at universities and their students.
in the mid 90’s and have just been "found".
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Findings from a two-year study released Monday by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) indicate that illicit music downloads among young adults are more popular than PB & J, high-fives, and all-around good times combined.
