ABOUT RAR: For those of
you new to this site, "RAR" is Rick Alan Rice, the publisher
of the RARWRITER Publishing Group websites.
Use this link to visit the
RAR music page, which features original music
compositions and other.
ATWOOD - "A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance"-AVAILABLE
NOW FOR KINDLE (INCLUDING KINDLE COMPUTER APPS) FROM
AMAZON.COM.Use
this link.
CCJ Publisher Rick Alan Rice dissects
the building of America in a trilogy of novels
collectively calledATWOOD. Book One explores
the development of the American West through the
lens of public policy, land planning, municipal
development, and governance as it played out in one
of the new counties of Kansas in the latter half of
the 19th Century. The novel focuses on the religious
and cultural traditions that imbued the American
Midwest with a special character that continues to
have a profound effect on American politics to this
day. Book One creates an understanding about
America's cultural foundations that is further
explored in books two and three that further trace
the historical-cultural-spiritual development of one
isolated county on the Great Plains that stands as
an icon in the development of a certain brand of
American character. That's the serious stuff viewed
from high altitude. The story itself gets down and
dirty with the supernatural, which inATWOOD
- A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliveranceis the
outfall of misfires in human interactions, from the
monumental to the sublime.The
book features the epic poem"The
Toiler"as
well as artwork by New Mexico artist Richard
Padilla.
Elmore Leonard
Meets Larry McMurtry
Western Crime
Novel
I am offering another
novel through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Cooksin is the story of a criminal syndicate that sets its
sights on a ranching/farming community in Weld County, Colorado,
1950. The perpetrators of the criminal enterprise steal farm
equipment, slaughter cattle, and rob the personal property of
individuals whose assets have been inventoried in advance and
distributed through a vast system of illegal commerce.
It is a ripping good yarn, filled
with suspense and intrigue. This was designed intentionally to
pay homage to the type of creative works being produced in 1950,
when the story is set. Richard Padilla
has done his usually brilliant work in capturing the look and feel of
a certain type of crime fiction being produced in that era. The
whole thing has the feel of those black & white films you see on
Turner Movie Classics, and the writing will remind you a little
of Elmore Leonard, whose earliest works were westerns.
Use this link.
EXPLORE THE KINDLE
BOOK LIBRARY
If you have not explored the books
available from Amazon.com's Kindle Publishing
division you would do yourself a favor to do so. You
will find classic literature there, as well as tons
of privately published books of every kind. A lot of
it is awful, like a lot of traditionally published
books are awful, but some are truly classics. You
can get the entire collection of Shakespeare's works
for two bucks.
Amazon is the largest,
but far from the only digital publisher. You can
find similar treasure troves atNOOK
Press(the
Barnes & Noble site),Lulu,
and others.
The City of Brotherly Love has become one of the hottest centers
for Rock in the U.S. Listed below are a few of the bands that
are leading this development. Ryan Muir took the photograph
above of Beach Slang playing a Red Bull-sponsored show.
Beach Slang
Beach Slang
gets compared to guitar bands like The
Replacements and the Goo Goo Dolls. They are a trio of punkers
who issued an EP last year titled Cheap Thrills On A Dead End
Street, which is worth finding. Members also play in the
bands Weston, Crybaby and
Ex-Friends.
Cayetana
Singer Augusta Koch
leads this female trio whose music has been described as we're-all-in-this-together-down-here-in-the-basement sing-alongs
about how fun it is to love and dread everything all at once.
CRUISR
Singer-songwriter
Andy States made CRUISR
happen by sending an email to Youth Lagoon producer Jeremy Park,
who liked States' demo tracks and signed on to help. States
tapped drummer friend Jon Van Dine
to join the band, who then recruited bassist
Kyle Cook and second
guitarist Bruno Catrambone.
They are signed to Vagrant Records
and last year played JZ's Made In America
Festival.
The Districts
The Districts premiered their
newest song, "Peaches", on Jimmy Fallon's Tumblr. They have an
LP coming out, 'A Flourish and a Spoil' on Fat Possum. The
quartet is playing the festival circuit, including Bonnaroo, Hangout Fest and
Governor's Ball. Last year they played Lollapalooza. The Districts' music
has been described as reckless, growling, bluesy, lean,
pushy.
Girlpool
Girlpool relocated from Los Angeles to Philadelphia
earlier this year, following
the release of a self-titled EP. The duo of Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker will soon
be heading out on the road with Waxahatchee. They're signed to
Wichita Recordings.
They have been described as doing shrieky, screamy, bratty, punky indie rock.
Hop Along
Hop Along has taken an interesting route to
notoriety. They headlined a Red Bull Sound Select show in
Brooklyn recently to showcase a song they had developed through
the Weathervane's
Shaking Through program. That program selects an emerging band
to bring
into a pro studio to work on a new song with pro producers. The
Districts and Cayetana have also experienced this development
process. Hop Along is led by singer/guitarist
Frances Quinlin, who is into anthemic rock. They've been working on a new
album in the studio with John Angello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr,
Kurt Vile).
Nothing
Nothing is
in the stable of Philadelphia
area metal label Relapse, which released the band's 'Guilty Of
Everything' album last year, though Nothing is not really a
metal band.
Radiator Hospital
This quartet led by Sam Cook-Parrot,
and they released an album last year titled 'Torch Song' that
featured guest appearances by members of Waxahatchee and
Swearin'
and was recorded by Kyle Gilbride (of Swearin'), who recorded
the last albums by Swearin' and Waxahatchee. Radiator Hospital makes quirky, gritty rock songs about having
dreams and nightmares way too big for their small world.
Restorations
Restorations released a monster of a rock
album last year on SideOneDummy with a very modest name: 'LP3.'
Guess what? It was the band's third album.Reviewers have called
out their battling guitar
melodies and stadium crumbling drums, and their howling and
raucous lyrics about the beginning and the end of the world and
everything in between.
Swearin'
Swearin is
led by Allison Crutchfield
whose sister's band is another local favorite, Waxahatchee. Swearin' signed with Wichita
Recordings in 2013 and re-released their self-titled album to
much praise.
Dr.
Dog
A lot of bounce in this educated
mutt...
Dr. Dog formed as a side project
of songwriters and vocalists Toby
Leaman and Scott McMicken
and matured into the band we have today. One with a nasally
voice (McMicken), the other without, Dr. Dog sets the mood with
their fair share of songs about relationships and lifetime woes.
Borrowing heavily from bands like the Beatles and the Kinks, Dr.
Dog blended the sounds of yesteryear with the low-fi recording
style of bands like the Mountain Goats or the Pink Spiders and
added ample amounts of harmonies and hand-claps bringing a
soothing yet scratchy sound reminiscent of your grandpa’s
turntable that was built into his end table. The short version:
They bring a hell of a lot of charm to their music and the
talent to back it up.
Dr. Dog began gaining traction in
2004 after going on tour with My Morning Jacket. Soon after they
released their sophomore album Easy Beat and continued touring
and putting out more music, often free of charge through their
website. Though Dr. Dog produced their first few albums with a
low-fi sound, they’ve since cleaned up their act a bit and
polished their sound. Their songs have retained their powerful
lyrics and harmonies, bringing forth a matured sound and a
tighter-knit band.
Dr. Dog has made appearances on
the late-night circuit including Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson,
and Conan O’Brien.
Conspirator Builds Allies
Porter Robinson and AVICII Remixes include "Seek
Bromance"
By Wendy Brynford-Jones
Conspirator features Aron Magner
and Marc Brownstein
(The Disco Biscuits keyboardist and bass player) as an
outlet to channel their electronic mad scientist personae.
Formed in 2004 with New York DJ/producer DJ Omen,
Conspirator has taken on many forms through the years. With
the recent addition of virtuoso guitarist
Chris Michetti
and a rotating cast of some of the
country's best drummers – Darren Shearer (the New
Deal), Mike Greenfield (Lotus), KJ Sawka
(Pendulum) and Adam Deitch
(Break Science, Pretty Lights) – Conspirator has
reached another level. The band recently issued web only
remixes of dance tracks from Porter
Robinson and Avicii
that have been garnering lots of attention on the
electronic music circuit.
According to Brownstein, the idea to do remixes happened one
day when hanging out in their studio space in Philadelphia
with Khadafi Dub, a rapper from Philly who has become an MC
for many of the top dub-step artists in the world. “We
mentioned that we would be interested in getting stems from
some of the artists whom he knows and with whom he has
worked. A few days later the stems started to roll in. The
artists included Porter Robinson, Avicii, 12th Planet and
more, which enabled us to get to work straight away. When
stems from "Seek Bromance,” a dance hit of mega proportions
(60 million views on YouTube) come in, you jump on it and
remix it immediately. “
The response to the remixes of Avicii’s “Seek Bromance” and
the Porter Robinson’s track “Say My Name” have been huge,
yielding nearly 85,000 plays combined in a short period of
time on Soundcloud after being posted to the popular blog,
ThisSongIsSick.com. The latter remix of “Say My Name”, from
the 19-year-old electronic sensation Robinson, has already
racked up over 33,000 plays in just two short weeks.
Conspirator is gearing up for a new full-length release
entitled Unlocked - Live from the Georgia Theatre (release
date April 10, 2012), which captures the spirit of these
true genre blenders. The collection is a smorgasbord of
electronic rock bliss, delving, twisting and diving
effortlessly between house, dub-step, drum and bass, and
electro. Coming off of breakout performances at Ultra Music
Festival and Nocturnal Festival, Conspirator has begun to
catch the eye of electronic music aficionados everywhere.
Upcoming tour date highlights will include headlining shows
at Irving Plaza, The Trocadero, The Orange Peel, Georgia
Theater, the Fox Theater and more as well as supporting
slots with Lotus at the Congress Theater and The Pageant.
Yes, it is the Year of the Dragon but barring the Mayan
prediction coming true for 2012, this should be
Conspirator’s year as well.