A MN Metal Thanksgiving with JJ Snell

by Doug MacRostie

For a special Thanksgiving Edition of Centerstage MN turkeys will rain from the sky and the cranberries will flow like blood as we give thanks to MN Metal!!! I'll be joined by JJ Snell of Borotva Promotions; he organizes and promotes many of the concerts and events in the Grand Rapids area and we'll talk about the bands and scene he's a part of. JJ has been played music in multiple bands and has worked on Grand Rapids events for years. The next show he has lined up is THIS Sat, the 28th, at the Ground Floor in Grand Rapids with Take Cover, The Jamestown Story, Cities Never Sleep and more starting at 6pm.

One reason I think it's worth spending a full hour with JJ on this topic (and actually, it isn't ALL metal, but indie and pop-rock as well) is I'm a huge metal-head as well and too often this music is overlooked, ignored or feared. And beyond that, JJ brings in bands that have a positive message (even if you would never guess it with song names like 'Napalmed Bodies,' hehehe) and gives kids a fun, badass and safe place to rock out and have a good time with friends instead of going out and causing trouble. I hope that presenting this music and concerts on KAXE will help give credibility and build parent-support for the metal scene that is getting stronger each day in Grand Rapids. You need to look beyond the black clothes, crazy haircuts, growls and tattoos, people!

And, if you don't believe I'm a metal head, here's a vid of the band I was in back in college at UMD, Alone (I'm stage left...aka the right of your screen :D). P.S. the guitarist on stage right is Chad Snell from Marcell, now bass player with Take Cover.

Centerstage MN is Thursday evenings at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org and the show is rebroadcast Sunday mornings at 6.

Have a Shot of Love with Willie Murphy

by Doug MacRostie

Willie Murphy is one of the most influential musicians ever from Minnesota; he was one of the original three Charter Members of MN Music Hall of Fame (along with the likes of Bob Dylan and Prince) and he helped define the sound of R&B and Blues since the 70's through today, including his work with The Angel Headed Hipsters and Willie and the Bees, not to mention his other solo projects and releases. His new double CD is called "A Shot of Live in a Time of Need / Autobiographical Notes" and Willie will talk with me about it this Thursday night at 6 on Centerstage MN.

Willie Murphy creates thought-provoking, fun music and"A Shot of Love in a Time of Need" (his first release with Redhouse Records) is a sizzling soul, funk and R&B album complete with horns, funky rhythms and grooves beyond all boundaries. While this album doesn't have as much political content as some of his other work, the theme of caring for each other and helping each other is strong. "Autobiographical Notes" is a collection of mostly folky miscellaneous tunes he's collected over the years that never seemed to quite fit the project he was working on at the time, and it definitely shows another, and perhaps more personal, side of Willie. With this double CD featuring soul, jazz, funk, rock and folk, this wildly eccentric album embodies the best of Willie Murphy and is sure to be an instant classic.

We'll also hear new music from another outstanding Redhouse Records' artist, The Pines. From Iowa and operating out of MN, The Pines new album "Tremolo" is definitely going to be in my Macedelic Music Awards Top 10 of the Year (that's right, the REAL MMA's will be back agian this year :D).

And we'll hear a song from The Brother Burn Mountain's debut release from a few years back called "The Blood of a Thousand Clouds." BBM is one of the most exciting bands I've discoverd since hosting Centerstage MN (they've been on 3 times) and they've got some gigs coming up this weekend in the area: Thursday the 19th at The Iron Horse in Nevis starting at 7. Friday, the 20th at Bensons in Walker at 7 and on Saturday the 21st they’ll be at Brigid’s Cross Irish Pub in Bemidji starting at 8.

And the show will end with a live/acoustic recording of Take Cover performing on Centerstage MN to help us get ready for our Thanksgiving Special next week: Turkeys will rain from the sky and the Cranberries will flow like blood as we give thanks to MN Metal :D

Centerstage MN is Thursday evenings at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org and the show is rebroadcast Sunday mornings at 6.

Hobnobbin' w the Hobo Nephews

by Doug MacRostie

This Thursday night at 6 on Centerstage MN I have an exclusive interview with Ian and Teague Alexy of The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank about their limited edition EP 'One for the Time Capsule.' This will be an extended conversation ranging from making music to the best Dylan album ever... The Hobo Nephews will be performing at the 5th Annual 91.7 KAXE Mississippi River Festival on July 18th. Having established a foundation of roots music to build on, the Hobo Nephews spent some time experimenting with 'One for the Time Capsule' and it's sure to be an interesting conversation. Oh, and yes - they are brothers, and they do have an Uncle Frank back in Jersey...

I'll also be talking with Grace Opal-Saxon. From Bemidji, she is a founding member of The Blue Ox Cooperative, a recently formed group working to establish a dedicated working space for area and traveling musicians and artists not only to perform, but potentially for practice space, lessons, workshops, PR/Marketing and other potential uses. They first major fundraiser is coming up Fri. June 26th starting at 2 at the Wild Rose Theater in Bemidji and Grace will tell us more about that.

If you missed it, last week my guest was Take Cover, pop-rockers out of Minneapolis (their bassist Chad Snell grew up in Marcell) and they performed a live acoustic set and you can here it by clicking here (plus a debut of a song off their new CD).

Next week my guest will be Jason Edmonds from Bemidji. He's songwriter, singer and guitarist w The Magic Castles, a psychedelic rock band out of the Twin Cities that is truly independent; they do their own album covers with screen prints and recorded the music themselves...very cool!

Centerstage MN is Thursday evening's at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org and the show is rebroadcast Sunday mornings at 6.

Take Cover! Live Music Comin' @ YA!!!

by Doug MacRostie

This Thursday night at 6 on Centerstage MN I'll be joined in-studio by pop rockers Take Cover for an acoustic set of music! It'll be 4 guys, 3 guitars and 3-part harmonies!!! Out of Minneapolis, they are having a CD release party at the Ground Floor in Grand Rapids that night for their new EP "The Last Word." Their bass player, Chad Snell, grew up in Marcell and Grand Rapids and it is going to be a lot of fun having these guys in-studio tomorrow! Most of the time w them will be spent playing some tunes, but we'll also talk a bit about the band and what draws them to making music. Do you have anything you'd like me to ask?

After that I'll be featuring The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, Clawthroat and Sick of Sarah - those band, along with Hans Blix and the Weapon Inspectors are the line-up for the 5th Annual 91.7 KAXE Mississippi River Festival, which is going to ROCK! I hope to see you there!

Also, new music from The Magic Castles latest "Dreams of Dreams of Dreams," and singer, songwriter and guitarist Jason Edmonds will be my guest (again) in a few weeks on Centerstage MN.

AND, when the Brothers Burn Mountain came in last week for a live performance (which was AWESOME, btw - if you missed it, you can listen to it here, it was definitely one of my top experiences bringing bands in the studio) they dropped off a copy of their first CD which came out in 2005 called "The Blood of a Thousand Clouds," and we'll hear a song off of that.

Centerstage MN is Thursday evening's at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org and the show is rebroadcast Sunday mornings at 6.

An Acoustic Edition of Centerstage MN... (not really)

by Doug MacRostie

Tonight on Centerstage MN I'll be joined in the studio by local singer songwriter Pat Deal, he'll bring along his guitar for some live music and conversation. Pat writes his own music and also does covers ranging from The Beatles to They Might Be Giants. His original music (that I've heard) ranges from an indie rock sound similar to Sean Lennon to more of a pop-punk feel similar to Green Day. I'll talk with him about songwriting and the music scene in Grand Rapids.

I've got a new CD from Bill and Kate Isles called "Matching Baggage," which has that classic Bill Isles friendly-folk sound. His wife Kate has sung with him on previous CDs, but I believe this is the first time they have co-released an album. And I've got a brand new recording from Kiki and Greg of Dancing Light that they recording while in Florida last month.

Take Cover, the pop-rockers out of Minneapolis w/ bass player Chad Snell from Marcell, have recorded an acoustic version of one of their songs, and we'll hear that along with another new song from the all female indie rockers Sick of Sarah self titled debut release.

And, not only will we see the light, we'll love it, fear it and get over it all in one set of music with The Ophovens Family Band, Charlie Parr and Two Many Banjos. Also Haley Bonar, Matt Hoskins and Hattie Peterson.

Oh, and some exciting news - I've got an interview/in-studio performance scheduled with The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank which will be coming up in June - they're latest EP release is One for the Time Capsule and we'll hear a new song off that tonight as well.

Centerstage MN is every Thursday evening at 6 streaming live at KAXE.org, or 91.7 in Grand Rapids, 89.9 in Brainerd and 105.3 in Bemidji. All interview from Centerstage MN are also archived at KAXE.org, and the show is rebroadcast Sunday mornings at 6.

Nature-Inspired Spontaneus Musicial Creations that Rock (get it? Rock?)

by Doug MacRostie

Ryan and Jesse Dermody of The Brothers Burn Mountain will talk with me this week on Centerstage MN about their latest release "Wild Cat Road." Poetically and sonically reflecting the images and sounds of nature through spontaneous music creation, The Brothers Burn Mountain is like old Moody Blues back around "On the Threshold of Dream" but in a new form from two brothers pushing their songwriting boundaries. The music is creative with thoughtful lyrics and a fresh experimental presenation, and I am looking forward to the conversation with Ryan and Jesse.

Also, I''l be playing a new, previously unreleased song from Bob Dylan's upcoming album "Together Through Life" due out April 28th. From there, new music from Bob Mould (you know, the guy who helped define punk music in the late 70's w/ Hüsker Dü...yeah, before I was born), his new CD is called "Life and Times." And since we are playing some of the MN greats, might as well go ahead put on a song from the new Peter Himmelman album "The Mystery and the Hum" (remember, he played guitar with reggae/calypso band Shangoya and then performed under the pseudonym Sussman Lawrence...some of which also was before I was born :D).

A couple upcoming highlights: I will be having Rich Mattson and Tony Derrick of The Tisdales to talk about their debut release "Bakers Dozen" coming up in May. I don't know what to call it other than a kickass rock album and that is going to be a lot of fun having them on to talk about it. Also, pop-rock band Take Cover are planning to come in for a live acoustic set in June as they gear up to release a new album. Very cool.

Centerstage MN is every Thursday evening at 6, streaming like at KAXE.org; or 91.7fm Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. All interviews are also archived at KAXE.org, just click on Centerstage MN on the left.

Read more of my blogs about MN music at myspace.com/macedelic.

Sisters w/ Their Songs and Brothers w/ Their Beats

by Doug MacRostie

Tonight on Centerstage MN I'll be talking w/ Shannon Murray, a singer, songwriter and activist from Bemidji about the 2nd Annual SisterSong Concert: a Celebration of Women and Their Music (this Sat @ Wild Rose in Bemidji starting at 6:18). Shannon founded and organizes SisterSong, which is a fundraiser for scholarships of the same name for young women musicians. I asked Shannon to bring her guitar along with the hope that she'll play a song for us live in-studio :D

Also, new to the show tonight will be Take Cover, a pop-rock band out of the Twin Cities. Their bass player is Chad Snell, he graduated from Deer River High School in '00, and before moving down to the Cities was very active playing music in Duluth, Grand Rapids and various places around northern MN. In the spirit of full disclosure, Chad has been my best friend since kindergarten and I am pumped to be playing music from his band tonight. BUT, that's not why I am playing Take Cover - their music stands on its own. Oh, and here is a little sneak peak for you: I am planning to have Take Cover perform a live acoustic set in-studio coming up in June (when they'll be having a CD release party at the Ground Floor in GR, muahahahha).

Another new band to the show will be My My Misfire out of Minneapolis - while well produced and with actual singing, I still call it hardcare thanks to the loud guitars, badass drums and occasional SCREAM!!!!! :D They'll be at the Elks Club in Bemidji Sat night.

Also Clawthroat, Podipto and the Gypsy Prophets...in fact, you can read more about my plans for the show tonight in my Previous Blog :)

Centerstage MN is every Thursday evening at 6p - streaming live online at http://www.kaxe.org, or 91.7fm Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. CSMN is also rebroadcast Sundays at 6a, and all interviews are archived at KAXE.org.