On Festivals of a Musical Nature

In which independent troubadours regal us with beautiful melodies…and sweet guitar riffs.

A few years ago some dudes that I know decided that they really like making music.  They also enjoyed it when other people listened to the music that they made.  So in an effort to make their music available to the masses (or at least to a few hundred people) they decided to start a record label.  And thus, was Crossroads of America Records born¹.

As they toured around the region they met some other like minded individuals and soon new bands were added to the label.  Time passed and bands came and went.  One day these fine young men decided that it would be really awesome to get all of the bands on the label in town (Bloomington) together and place a really sweet show or series of shows².  And thus, was XRA Fest born.

So now here we are, one week away from XRA Fest, Bloomington’s only two-day independent music festival³.  And I really think you should go to it.  The first night is Friday, September 24th at Russian Recording⁴, the second night, predictably enough, is Saturday the 25th at the Bishop⁵.  Who will be playing at these shows?  Glad you asked, let’s run down the roster.

Friday, 8:30 pm, Russian Recording

Alexander the Great




Metavari




Frank Schweikhardt

 


Either/Or
 

Saturday, 9:00 pm, The Bishop

husband&wife

Rodeo Ruby Love

Brother Stephen

Homecomings & Vollmar

Osteoferocious

So there is your line up.  Still not sold?  I asked Rodeo lead singer Zach Melton what he was most looking forward to at this years XRA Fest.  Here is his response: "I am mostly excited about seeing Frank Schweikhardt play at XRA Fest because it's the only time he's actually quiet."

If that doesn’t get you to the show I don’t know what will.  Oh wait, I do. FREE TICKETS!

CONTEST ALERT:

One of the goals of this post is to raise awareness, and attendance, of XRA Fest, and I will need your help.  So I am going to bribe you with two free passes for both nights of the Fest.  To be entered into the drawing all you have to do is re-post, tweet, or link this blog on Facebook.  Once you have done that just leave a comment on this page with your name, a link to where you shared it, and your email or mailing address.  I next week I will draw a name from all those who entered and contact that person.

Go forth and spread the word.

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¹ This, and other facts found throughout this blog, may be fabricated.

² Can two shows be a series?

³ This may be a total lie.
⁴ 1021 S. Walnut St Bloomington, IN
⁵ 123 S. Walnut St Bloomington, IN

On a Fun Day at the Cineplex

In which we investigate a marvelous moviefilm.

So I have been working on a pretty intense and thoughtout¹ blog post since last Wednesday.  However, it has been slow going and I felt the need to get some writing done.  Plus I wanted to share some love for the movie that Tim, Carrie, and I saw today.

For the last three week I have been asking Tim and Carrie to go with me to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  It was never a matter of them not wanting to go, but rather finding the time to make it happen.  I have been jazzed to see this movie for months now, loyal readers may remember that I talked about it back at the beginning of the summer.

Often times when you are excited to see a movie and you see some previews and hear some reviews you end up walking away disappointed.  Let me tell you, that did not happen with this movie.  It was incredibly well done; funny, action packed, original² with some great actors and a great director.  It is certainly not a movie that is going to be for everyone but if you ever played video games growing up³, or are familiar with the indie rock scene⁴, or like to see bombastic fight scenes that don’t make much sense but are still well choreographed⁵ then this movie is going to have something for you.

I highly recommend that you check it out while it is the theater, you can catch it for $5 throughout the week here in Bloomington.  And as a bonus, if you want, let me know and I will go see it with you.  If all of this doesn’t sell you then I will let my friend Carrie try to.  When we were driving away one of the first things she said was: ‘That was so good.  I want to watch it again right now.’  No lie, but we went to Lowe’s instead.

P.S. In the coming weeks look for the following blog topics (blogics?): biking round the world: or maybe just town; Glenn Beck, Jesus and you; and XRA Fest 2010 with or without interviews.
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¹ Maybe not as thought out as I would like, but definitely thought about a lot.
² As original as a movie based on a comic book can be.
³ Nods to Mario, Zelda, role-playing games, DDR and others.
⁴ “We should totally play a secret show.” “All of our shows are secret shows.”
⁵ I didn’t have a footnote for this one, but I didn’t want it to feel left out.