December 9, 2008

Widgets Reunion Tour?!?

Well, maybe not a "tour", per se, but for sure David, Doug, Nick and Becki will be reuniting as the Widgets for the first time since their farewell show back in 2005.

The show takes place the day after Christmas, December 26th, at the Space here in Salem. For full details, head over to my new local music blog: SALEMscenester.

You can also check out the new Widgets profile over on MySpace, if you swing that way.

So, see you there! I can't wait!

May 23, 2008

Well, it's been a long time since I updated this site, but I know it still gets the occasional traffic. That being the case, I thought I'd let you visitors know that I've started a new music blog about local bands called SALEMscenester. Please come on by as I'll be talking about a lot of cool stuff, including the widgets.

August 21, 2006

How's your summer been? Mine's pretty good. I'm about a week and a half away from going back to school, but I plan the squeeze a little more fun out of my free time before then. For one, I'm going to see the Decemberists, Violent Femmes and Cake play the State fair Saturday. That's not too shabby. I'm also thinking about driving up to see the Thermals who are playing a free show at Music Millenium in support of their new album coming out tuesday.

On a more local note, I've had a chance to See Typhoon, Eskimo and Sons, Righteous Animal and the Funhouse Strippers over the summer and I'm pleased to see how healthy the local music scene is. The Widgets may be gone, but there's more great music being produced locally than ever before. It's amazing the number of venues for local talent. I remember the time when bands had to rent Salem Heights Hall or the Lion's Hall to put a show together. But after the Governor's Cup started welcoming live music, now you have a pleathora of willing businesses including Sip and the Ike Box.

Speaking of Typhoon, they are the real deal. In fact, all the bands under Boy Gorilla are really cool. I actually wrote a bio for Typhoon in the same vein as the history of the Widgets I wrote for this site. They seemed to like it, so you should be able to see that pretty soon. Get their CD, though, it's pretty amazing.

Of course, the main reason I'm doing this update is because I've finally finished something I've been neglecting for years. I once had an idea to do a kind of sequel to the Widgets' history page. As conceived, it would have been an ongoing serial adventure using a different genre for each installment. I started writing the first part years ago kind of piecemeal, but ran out of creative steam. I finally had my creative drouthers up this summer, though, and managed to finish the initial installment. This will probably be the last one, as well. In any case, I present for your reading enjoyment the Continuing Adventures of the Widgets!

May 22, 2006

Hey, guys and gals. I finally got around to fixing the guestbook/message board thingy which some inconsiderate type had broken with poison html back in Februrary. Feel free to continue normal usage.

I took a look at the usage statistics for the site for the first time in years and was surprised to see we still average something like 1500 hits a month. That's a lot more than I would have expected for a website for a broken up local band. Not bad.

For those of you still coming here, what can I say. MySpace has become the (sometimes seisure inducing) locus for all things local music. My efforts in building and maintaining a domain name for a single band seem almost quiant by comparison. But at least I didn't make anyone's eyes bleed. Sadly The Falcon are claiming to have broken up. It's too bad, really, they were quite good at Wullapalooza, the only time I saw them live. The Nodding Tree Remedies were also very good that night and they're still going strong. Since I'm on a roll, I should plug Seaweed Jack out of Spokane, WA who also played Wullapalooza and were absolutely amazing. I bought their CD, it's quite good.

Speaking of other, not quite as local music, Built to Spill's new CD is pretty good. So is Quasi's. Right now, however, I'm mostly looking forward to the new album from the Thermals which is supposed to be out in August. They're playing in Portland at the Doug Fir Lounge on Saturday the 27th, a show I already have a ticket for.

That should do it for now. If it's actually my pithy comments that keeps you coming back, drop by my Deviant Art site. I post the occasional piece of writing and humor for all to puruse and even mock.

Have a good summer!