August 20th at The Golden West Cafe, we’ve got a kind of reunion show going on. Many years ago, before Austin was in the band, and before Amy came and went, we played a show with our collective bands; Private Eleanor and InEveryRoom. We also had the pleasure of sharing that wonderful night with Homemade Knives from Richmond Virginia. So, on the night of the 20th we shall have Amy performing her solo project Awkward Read, Alex performing with Patty & Andrew Histand on Cellos, and Homemade Knives bring their haunting indie-folk back to Baltimore, with fellow Richmonder Jonathan Vassar also performing. A really great night of music you won’t want to miss! RSVP HERE.

We had a blast at last year’s BiMA Fest. The only problem was we opened first among half a dozen incredibly awesome bands, and everyone showed up after we’d already played. So we asked the organizers if we could play later…so now we’re playing last among half a dozen incredibly awesome bands. Be careful what you wish for!?! Anyways we are excited to be a part of the Baltimore Independent Music & Arts Festival. We’re playing at Cyclops Books on the corner of Maryland & North Ave, basically in the center of the whole festival. You can waste your money paying individual cover charges at all the venues participating, or you can play it smart and buy either a VIP All Access Pass, or 1-Day All Access Passes, depending on how awesome and engulfed by the festival you want to be!

I know there are going to be some killer performances going on all week, including our friends E. Joseph, Mittenfields, The Bellevederes, Bobby E. Lee & The Sympathizers, Forks of Ivy, Gary B. & The Notions, June Star, The Matrimonials, Red Sammy, Victoria Vox and soooo much more!

We might also be unveiling our first You Inspire Us-cover song at the BiMA Fest show. If you’re not familiar, this is a concept we just started. We ask our friends and fans to send us ideas for a song they’d like to hear us cover. We pick one each month, record it with a little Cricket twist and share with you guys. So come out August 26th to Cyclops Books, possibly catch our new cover, and send us your idea for a future song!

Our very own Patty Blanchard came up with the idea for this benefit, to help her meet her fundraising goal of $3,000. She has been training hard for marathons and other endurance events that help raise money for the Society, and she is hoping this show will make a huge dent.

To help promote the event (as well as the label), our local public radio station WYPR, invited label founder Mike Nestor, Dave Manchester from Kadman and myself to talk about the collective, the benefit and about what our own bands have been working on. Besides kind of making an ass out of myself (sarcasm over the air, doesn’t translate as well as in person!), Mike, Dave and I were asked to perform acoustic versions of our songs.

I wasn’t in town to tune into the segment, luckily you can stream it in its entirety online. I was surprised and pleased to find they aired the song I recorded at the end of the segment.
Give a listen!

Also, make sure to check out the songs Mike and Dave recorded at WYPR:
WYPR ~ Maryland Morning Interview

All proceeds go towards the Leukemia & Lymphoma society, so please come out, and help support a great cause. Doors are at 7:30pm, admission is $7 and the lineup includes Kadman, The Seldon Plan, Infinite Honey, E. Joseph and the Phantom Hearts and yours truly! The night will also feature medical artwork by Frank Corl, who has drummed for many of the artists on the Beechfields’ roster.

If you can make it out Saturday night…awesome! If not, you can still help out by making a donation and help Patty’s Goal!