Brand News Band News

All The News That's Fit To Spin

P’diddle won the Advance Music Band Search contest at Higher Ground in early May. Chris from Good Citizen is proud to have already booked them for the next Good Citizen showcase (July 30th at Emerald City in Winooski) even before they won the contest. Rave reviews go out to the bands Adrenaline and Absolute Zero, who also gave up blistering performances.

The Good Citizen Radio Hour Volume One CD has been licensed by MTV for use throughout the new season of their program “Road Rules.” Zola Turn, Chin Ho!, Canine, Kathy Compton, Mindflow, (sic), Dysfunkshun, Solpatch, Motorplant, Jesse, Sugarhigh, Naked Thoughts, Beverage, The Implants, The Smalls, Splendorgrass, Neural Groove, Groovehounds and Joshe Henry will all have their songs featured on the popular series.

Motorplant must be getting used to signing synch-license forms by now as they had ESPN use some of their songs for the 1999 Winter X-Games and they were featured performing live on the national sports network in January.

Jenn Karson has left Zola Turn, and the band is continuing on as a three piece.

Troy Pudvah left Dysfunkshun and got so bored he joined Chin Ho!

Trey Anastasio (Phish) did a solo tour recently featuring Tony Markelis (Unknown Blues Band) and Russ Lawton (Little Sister, Natives).

Matt Vachon has put Twilight Idols on hiatus to play guitar for Chin Ho!

The band Spill has reunited and rumour has it they’re leaving town ASAP.

Joseph Cooper has left (sic) to return to Colorado and marry the wonderful Summer.

The long awaited Chainsaws and Children album is promised before summer’s end.

Invisible Jet got a demo-deal with Capricorn Records but rumours are flying that they’ve got even bigger fish to fry. We’ll keep you posted on the very exciting and much deserved news as it happens.

Strangefolk has been working on their Mammoth Records debut with famed mega-producer Nile Rodgers (David Bowie, Madonna, B-52’s).

Burlington music lost a good friend with the recent death in New York City of Beth Garfinkle. Former door person at Club Toast, Beth also helped Dennis Wygmans get Toast Artists International off the ground and she was instrumental in the success and development of The Pants and Wide Wail. Beth was a good friend and one hell of a good person and she will be sorely missed. A full article about Beth will appear in the next issue of Good Citizen. We’re looking for pictures of Beth for the next ish, so if you’d like to loan us some, please e-mail us at good.citizen@bigheavyworld.com.

More sad news: Drummer Marcus Beninson (Cloud People) passed away in Burlington in June. Marcus had recently returned to Burlington after living in San Francisco and was reportedly working on a new music project at the time of his death.

Colin Clary (Madelines, Four Color Manual) has formed a new project with Javin Leonard (Drowningman) called The Magic is Gone. Speaking of Colin Clary, the Good Citizen Video Hour can be seen Sunday nights at 10pm on Adelphia Cable Channel 15 in the Burlington area and the new episode features an interview with Colin and music from Madelines, Four Color Manual and Colin playing solo acoustic at the last Big Heavy World Women’s Rape Crisis Center benefit. Sudden Shame will release new albums soon from Missy Bly and Stupid Club. The Stupid Club record is being recorded in New York City with the help of former Pinhead Mark Spencer (who also recorded the viperHouse Shed album.) Speaking of Big Heavy World, head-honcho Jim Lockridge was featured in a recent Seven Days article about all the new technology in the music biz.

Local booking agents MT Productions (who book Disco Bicuits, Kingfish,Hipbone, Chin Ho!, viperHouse, Invisible Jet, Smokin’ Grass and many others) are packing their bags and moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Chris Cate has already relocated to the warmer clime, and Tim McGarrie and Tom Baggott will move down soon after Tom’s August wedding to the lovely Cara McKelvey.

Local surf legends Barbacoa have had a song licensed by Adrenaline TV.

Be That Way’s Charlie Messing has just released his first solo album.

Zola Turn played the main stage at this year’s Ben and Jerry’s One World One Heart concert.

Edgewater Productions have licensed a Chin Ho! song for the new David Giancola film, due out later this year.

Jason Dunn reports that The Halogens have a new bass player by the name of Eric Brooker (Dead Hippy) and they’re recording new songs for release this fall. The Halogens were selected to play the City Arts sponsored Battery Park Conert Series this summer.

242 Main has just released the first issue of their new periodical Do Not Open. Simon Brody (Drowningman) is kicking some serious ass over in the basement of Memorial Auditorium and in addition to the new fanzine and a buttload of great shows, he’s organized a Band Workshop series, an upcoming cable access show featuring bands shot live at the club, and even an upcoming in-house drama project that will be staging an original work at the end of the summer. After years of withering, it sure is great to see the incredible energy that Simon and his crew are putting into 242 Main.

Phish’s big annual summer concert event is in Oswego, New York this year. The band has reportedly cancelled plans for a New Year’s Eve show in Hawaii due to time constraints and rumours are spreading that they’re looking at a locale in the “zero tolerance” state of Florida.

With the impending demise of Non Compos Mentis reportedly scheduled for August (?), guitarist Matt Roy has joined the Drowningman line-up. Drummer Greg Beadle is reportedly moving to California in the fall.

Legendary Vermont hair band 8084 have struck distribution deals in Europe and Japan, where the hairspray never stops. Kudos to the long-running rockers for the long deserved success.

viperHouse trumpet player Brian Boyes is fronting a swing band workshop this summer starting in mid-July. Call 563-3338 for more information.

Rachel Bissex and Diane Ziegler were picked to play in the prestigious Falcon Ridge songwriters showcase.

Jim Lockridge (Big Heavy World) has released a new “extreme rock” compilation called Tonic Two: Core Breach Burlington with proceeds to benefit Spectrum Youth Services.

Rik Palieri had the strange honor of playing a Polish festival recently in front of 70,000 rabid Poles. Not only was it the largest audience any of us have ever seen, he had to follow The Blues Brothers one night and Beatlemania the next. Rik sure does get some weird gigs. One of his more normal gigs these days is his new cable show called Songwriters. It’s on TV cable systems all over the country and his guests have included Utah Phillips, Pete Seeger and Vermont’s own Katherine Quinn.