Le Beat – September 2009
What's Up! Magazine - September 2009 cover
Hello, hello, how is everyone doing this month? I hope ya’ll have had a great summer and are looking forward to the fall… should be a good one, there’s a ton of great music happening.
Before we get into the normal music scene gossip and innuendo, there’s What’s Up! business to tend to. As many of you know, the What’s Up! has been struggling to continue publishing — paying the bills has become very, very hard. This year has been the worst we’ve had in quite awhile, our advertising revenue is down significantly as many businesses were hit by the dramatic downturn in the economy and therefore cut back. As an independent, free publication, we survive SOLELY on ad revenue — it’s how we’re able to publish.
In light of this, we sadly have to announce that unless our ad revenue picks up, significantly, we’ll be halting production in the future. This might sound dire (I’m not sugar-coating anything), but it’s not as bad as it seems. We can survive, even thrive, but we need your help. What’s Up! is a community magazine it’s the magazine for the music community and it just needs some more advertising from the community. We exist for the musicians and music fans of Bellingham and Whatcom County. What we’re asking, is for the community to help us out a bit, help us get through this rough patch. We can get through, but we need YOU in order to make it. There are a couple ways to you can do this. First and foremost, if you are a business, work for a business or are friends with a business owner, let them know about advertising in the magazine. It’s money well spent as thousands of eyeballs view these very pages. We have a loyal following and our readers support those who support the magazine. Secondly, we’re going to have a series of benefits coming up, and we’ll bring the details to you in the October issue. Please consider attending the shows — even paying the cover charge will help us out and hopefully keep us going.
Making this plea for help is incredibly difficult and one I’ve been avoiding for quite some time, hoping things would turn up enough for us, but that hasn’t been the case. I began talking to friends about our plight in mid-September and we’ve already gotten a great response from businesses as well as bands who’d like to support the magazine and keep things going. THANK YOU.
We here at What’s Up! love doing this magazine. It’s been a huge piece of my life for nearly 12 years, and I desperately want to keep it going. I love this magazine and I love providing it for the music community, so I’m asking for your help. We’d love to keep going, but we need you.
If you have any questions, e-mail me at brent@whatsup-magazine.com. We’ll have more details next issue.
Sorry to start things off on such a bummer note… needed to be said, but let’s get to some music.
Booked and Hooked
There are a bunch of great shows happening this month, but one that is special to my heart is Vet’s Fest to Fight PTSD. In its third year (previously a Home For Our Troops benefit), the show brings together fantastic local bands all for veterans who are in need of help. Vet’s Fest is on September 12 at Boundary Bay at 3 p.m. and will have Guinness and the Reparations, The Love Lights, The Holy Tailfeathers, Shawnee Kilgore, Robert Sarazin Blake, David Stray Ney, Candysound and others. It’s going to be a fantastic night, hope to see you all there.
Several shows are coming up featuring non-local bands that should be checked out. David Allan Coe, who will be celebrating his 70th birthday, plays the Wild Buffalo on September 6 while John Vanderslice is on the 18th, DJ Vadim on the 20th and the Pink Mountaintops (featuring Stephen McBean from Black Mountain) on the 25th. The Vanderslice and Pink Mountaintops shows are Nightlight presents. As for the Nightlight, make sure you check out Beach House on the 23rd. The Rogue has Helms Alee on the 25th. All venues this month will be hosting great, great shows, so go have some fun this month, you’ve earned it.
RECORDS AND RELEASES
Bellingham native, Courtney Fortune has released her album Speak Love this month on Origin Records. To be honest, I wasn’t that familiar with Courtney before I received a press release about her, but there are some important folks singer her praise, including Garrison Keillor and Brian Wilson. Yes, Brian Wilson. She’s even being featured in Glamour Magazine’s October issue. Pretty wild stuff. Check her out if you get a chance.
Another band releasing a disc (finally) is Ghost and the Grace. Daniel has formed a full band, including Sara Jerns (Pan Pan), Ian “Sex Tiger” Imhof, Drew Fitchette (Rooftops), Chris Newton (ex-Euphoric), Ryan Soukkala (Idiot Pilot live drummer) and will be debuting their live show September 11 at El Corazon and September 12 at the Old Foundry. Both shows will be CD releases for Behold! A Pale Horse.
Snug Harbor is releasing their debut full length with a CD release party on September 17 at the Wild Buffalo. This is another band that’s been gaining a large following in the funk, jam scene. Good stuff.
The amazing Boris Budd and the Waterboarders are releasing their next disc on September 11. I’ve been told by Boris himself that it is, without a doubt, their best work.
Comings and Goings
A couple bands are calling it quits this month. First off is the Russians, who will be playing their final show on the 5th of September at the Wild Buffalo. The other is the Growers, with Mike Preuss moving out. If you’re fans of either band, catch ‘em while you can.
Donkey Skin has been gaining a following the band features Ariel Zakarison and “Joel” whose played in twigbirdleaf. It’s pretty cool indie-pop, check it out.
AS Pop is launching the Golden Button promotion in September. Throughout the fall, five buttons will be placed in local businesses around the city and riddles will be provided that hint to the buttons’ locations. Riddles will be available on ASP Pop Music’s Facebook, their Web site and in other locations to be announced. The prize for finding a button is a year long pass to all ASP Pop Music concerts. That’s tasty, tasty gravy right there.
This month’s pin up, Femme Uke, are working on their debut EP for Avocado Family, with a release set for this month. Ya know what kind of music they play? Ukulele smut folk music. Pure genius.
On the Road
Acorn Project is hitting the road on a 30 show/six week tour that covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Mountain, California, Wyoming, Colorado and British Columbia. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I love how hard this band works.
Well Wishes
Finally, I screwed up on a name last issue and I want to apologize. I called the JB Quartet, the JD Quartet. It was their first real mention in the mag and I blew it. Sorry guys. Good news is, they’ve got a great CD, check out the review in the CD review section.
This month, we’re losing one of the staff’s best writers, Lane “Mr. 10,000 words” Koivu, to Brooklyn. Lane has been a fantastic contributor over the last two years and he’ll be sorely missed. Good luck to you, my friend!
Well, that’s about it for this month. Thanks as always for reading the magazine, it’s an honor to be able to put this beast out each month. And, with your help, we’ll be able to continue doing so.
Le Beat September 2009
Hello, hello, how is everyone doing this month? I hope ya’ll have had a great summer and are looking forward to the fall… should be a good one, there’s a ton of great music happening.
Before we get into the normal music scene gossip and innuendo, there’s What’s Up! business to tend to. As many of you know, the What’s Up! has been struggling to continue publishing — paying the bills has become very, very hard. This year has been the worst we’ve had in quite awhile, our advertising revenue is down significantly as many businesses were hit by the dramatic downturn in the economy and therefore cut back. As an independent, free publication, we survive SOLELY on ad revenue — it’s how we’re able to publish.
In light of this, we sadly have to announce that unless our ad revenue picks up, significantly, we’ll be halting production in the future. This might sound dire (I’m not sugar-coating anything), but it’s not as bad as it seems. We can survive, even thrive, but we need your help. What’s Up! is a community magazine it’s the magazine for the music community and it just needs some more advertising from the community. We exist for the musicians and music fans of Bellingham and Whatcom County. What we’re asking, is for the community to help us out a bit, help us get through this rough patch. We can get through, but we need YOU in order to make it. There are a couple ways to you can do this. First and foremost, if you are a business, work for a business or are friends with a business owner, let them know about advertising in the magazine. It’s money well spent as thousands of eyeballs view these very pages. We have a loyal following and our readers support those who support the magazine. Secondly, we’re going to have a series of benefits coming up, and we’ll bring the details to you in the October issue. Please consider attending the shows — even paying the cover charge will help us out and hopefully keep us going.
Making this plea for help is incredibly difficult and one I’ve been avoiding for quite some time, hoping things would turn up enough for us, but that hasn’t been the case. I began talking to friends about our plight in mid-September and we’ve already gotten a great response from businesses as well as bands who’d like to support the magazine and keep things going. THANK YOU.
We here at What’s Up! love doing this magazine. It’s been a huge piece of my life for nearly 12 years, and I desperately want to keep it going. I love this magazine and I love providing it for the music community, so I’m asking for your help. We’d love to keep going, but we need you.
If you have any questions, e-mail me at brent@whatsup-magazine.com. We’ll have more details next issue.
Sorry to start things off on such a bummer note… needed to be said, but let’s get to some music.
BOOKED AND HOOKED
There are a bunch of great shows happening this month, but one that is special to my heart is Vet’s Fest to Fight PTSD. In its third year (previously a Home For Our Troops benefit), the show brings together fantastic local bands all for veterans who are in need of help. Vet’s Fest is on September 12 at Boundary Bay at 3 p.m. and will have Guinness and the Reparations, The Love Lights, The Holy Tailfeathers, Shawnee Kilgore, Robert Sarazin Blake, David Stray Ney, Candysound and others. It’s going to be a fantastic night, hope to see you all there.
Several shows are coming up featuring non-local bands that should be checked out. David Allan Coe, who will be celebrating his 70th birthday, plays the Wild Buffalo on September 6 while John Vanderslice is on the 18th, DJ Vadim on the 20th and the Pink Mountaintops (featuring Stephen McBean from Black Mountain) on the 25th. The Vanderslice and Pink Mountaintops shows are Nightlight presents. As for the Nightlight, make sure you check out Beach House on the 23rd. The Rogue has Helms Alee on the 25th. All venues this month will be hosting great, great shows, so go have some fun this month, you’ve earned it.
RECORDS AND RELEASES
Bellingham native, Courtney Fortune has released her album Speak Love this month on Origin Records. To be honest, I wasn’t that familiar with Courtney before I received a press release about her, but there are some important folks singer her praise, including Garrison Keillor and Brian Wilson. Yes, Brian Wilson. She’s even being featured in Glamour Magazine’s October issue. Pretty wild stuff. Check her out if you get a chance.
Another band releasing a disc (finally) is Ghost and the Grace. Daniel has formed a full band, including Sara Jerns (Pan Pan), Ian “Sex Tiger” Imhof, Drew Fitchette (Rooftops), Chris Newton (ex-Euphoric), Ryan Soukkala (Idiot Pilot live drummer) and will be debuting their live show September 11 at El Corazon and September 12 at the Old Foundry. Both shows will be CD releases for Behold! A Pale Horse.
Snug Harbor is releasing their debut full length with a CD release party on September 17 at the Wild Buffalo. This is another band that’s been gaining a large following in the funk, jam scene. Good stuff.
The amazing Boris Budd and the Waterboarders are releasing their next disc on September 11. I’ve been told by Boris himself that it is, without a doubt, their best work.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
A couple bands are calling it quits this month. First off is the Russians, who will be playing their final show on the 5th of September at the Wild Buffalo. The other is the Growers, with Mike Preuss moving out. If you’re fans of either band, catch ‘em while you can.
Donkey Skin has been gaining a following the band features Ariel Zakarison and “Joel” whose played in twigbirdleaf. It’s pretty cool indie-pop, check it out.
AS Pop is launching the Golden Button promotion in September. Throughout the fall, five buttons will be placed in local businesses around the city and riddles will be provided that hint to the buttons’ locations. Riddles will be available on ASP Pop Music’s Facebook, their Web site and in other locations to be announced. The prize for finding a button is a year long pass to all ASP Pop Music concerts. That’s tasty, tasty gravy right there.
This month’s pin up, Femme Uke, are working on their debut EP for Avocado Family, with a release set for this month. Ya know what kind of music they play? Ukulele smut folk music. Pure genius.
ON THE ROAD
Acorn Project is hitting the road on a 30 show/six week tour that covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Mountain, California, Wyoming, Colorado and British Columbia. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I love how hard this band works.
WELL WISHES
Finally, I screwed up on a name last issue and I want to apologize. I called the JB Quartet, the JD Quartet. It was their first real mention in the mag and I blew it. Sorry guys. Good news is, they’ve got a great CD, check out the review in the CD review section.
This month, we’re losing one of the staff’s best writers, Lane “Mr. 10,000 words” Koivu, to Brooklyn. Lane has been a fantastic contributor over the last two years and he’ll be sorely missed. Good luck to you, my friend!
Well, that’s about it for this month. Thanks as always for reading the magazine, it’s an honor to be able to put this beast out each month. And, with your help, we’ll be able to continue doing so.
