The Hideout closing reception and GARFO Perforum tonight

The Oh Nancy Collaborative‘s The Hideout exhibition at the GARFO Art Center (1838 South 1500 East, SLC) closes this evening with another public reception, 6-9pm. The Hideout continues the Oh Nancy narrative with pieces created by artists from Salt Lake City and Boston, including Hankie Frankie’s Mary Toscano and Andrew Shaw, Sri Whipple, Fionn McCabe, Arthur Henderson, Nate Wellman, Allison Baar, Tj Nelson, Jared Steffensen, and others.

The closing reception will also feature the debut of GARFO Art Center’s Perforum, a series of panel discussions about performance art. Cara Despain will moderate the discussion with Oh Nancy co-creator Fionn McCabe and artists Micheal Handley, Clyde Ashby, Allsion Barr, Sam Hanson, Kate Meehan, TJ Nelson, Andrew Shaw,  and Morganne Wichfield will discuss how their performative and artistic practice intersect with the Oh Nancy narrative. The performances will take place from 6-9pm with a break at 7pm for the discussion.

Music @ Main Summer Series

The Salt Lake City Public Library‘s Music @ Main Summer Series (sponsored by SLUG Magazine and hosted by Hankie Frankie‘s Andrew Shaw) begins tonight with rock tunes from the kids at the Rock N Roll Academy! The full line-up brings so many of Salt Lake City’s great loud rock bands (and a handful on neo-jazzy types) to Library Square’s outdoor amphitheater. Most of these bands are used to playing in bars downtown, so bringing their sounds outside to an all-ages crowd will give them a new experience and great exposure. So bring the whole family down to experience great local music at an amazing venue. (UtahFM.org will simulcast a bunch of these shows, but we’re not exactly sure which ones yet. So tune in tonight at 7pm MT to see if we’ve got it all set up!)

And afterward, let’s all head over to Urban Lounge to watch The Platte open for Cars & Trains and Josiah Wolf.

Show Poster: Josiah Wolf, Cars & Trains, The Platte at Urban Lounge

Show Poster by Andrew Shaw for Hankie Frankie

The full Platte band will be opening for touring acts Josiah Wolf (drummer for Why?) and Cars & Trains next Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 10pm, at Urban Lounge. Andrew Shaw of Hankie Frankie designed the poster and is also the frontman for The Platte, whose live line-up also includes Tyler Ford (drums), Glade Sowards (keys), Jesse Ellis (trumpet), Patrick Commiskey (euphonium), and Wren Kennedy (guitar).

Cara and Mary: Artists for Corroon

Cara and Mary attended an Artists for Corroon event on Friday. Peter Corroon, the current Salt Lake County Mayor, is campaigning to become the next Governor of Utah. You can learn more about Peter Corroon, his values, and his campaign by visiting votecorroon.com and corrooncountry.com.

Also note the amazing works by Cein Watson hanging on the walls of Kayo Gallery in this video. Cein is soon leaving Salt Lake City for Vermont, so make sure to track him down before the end of May to buy a print or drawing, or even just to get a hug. (He’ll be showing works at Kayo Saturday, May 15, and will be at the Captain Captain open studio at the end of May.)

Thanks to Artists of Utah, Shawn, John, Josh, Nate, Benjamin, Cein, and everyone at the event. The music in this video is an instrumental version of The Platte covering David Williams’s “Cretaceous Sea.”

Recording Cathy, day 1

Cathy Foy, the ultimate sea monster

I started recording Cathy Foy’s debut solo album today. Cathy is known around SLC as a ferocious drummer, playing with bands like Future of the Ghost, Bluebird Radio, and back in the day, The Downers. But recently she bought her first guitar and has started playing, singing, and writing her own songs. There’s something wonderful about her songs — they’re simple and focus on a few chords each, but they also flow from tempo-to-tempo, crafting interesting song structures in a way that I envy. In her acoustic demos, played on a nylon-stringed classical guitar, I can hear influences from the musicians she’s played with (a little David Payne, a lot Will Sartain).

the recording set-up at Cathy's place

This will be my second project to record as a producer, and taking on these infant songs is a fun challenge. Cathy’s leaving the door wide open for my interpretation, and I only hope I can do beautiful things with the songs. We’ve talked about The National, Neutral Milk Hotel, Wilco, Rock Plaza Central, and many others. Of all the bands we’ve discussed wanting the project to sound like, none have female lead singers. But all are dark in a way, simple and contemplative. We don’t really have any clue where we’ll end up with this project, what the final product will sound like, or what kind of timeline we’re looking at. But we’re both excited to be taking it on, recording in our homes, and we hope we don’t lose any cats along the way.

Record Store Day 2010

Saturday’s the big day, Record Store Day and the release of the two latest Hankie Frankie recordings: The Platte’s Bantam Brother EP and Pocketknife’s self-titled debut EP!

"Bantam Brother" cover image by Andrew Shaw

Bantam Brother is a local covers EP, seven songs written by Salt Lake City musicians recorded by Andrew Shaw under his pseudonym The Platte. Since Record Store Day celebrates the independent record store, often a big supporter of local music, Shaw found this the perfect time to release a collection of songs by fellow local musicians. Recorded at home (with drums recorded at Salt Lake City’s Kilby Court), each song was selected to honor the friends who wrote them, to show off some of the great songwriting talent in Salt Lake City. Bantam Brother gave The Platte an opportunity to experiment with new sounds and musical concepts. At times, Bantam Brother emulates to the minimalist, ambient folk sound established on the debut Platte LP Grus, featuring the baritone ukulele and strong vocal harmonies. But on other tracks, Shaw incorporates more percussion, faster tempos, stronger

beats, and even electronic sounds, a possible indication of future directions for the musical project.

"Pocketknife" cover image by Sarah Martin

Trever Hadley has gained notoriety for playing bass guitar in several Salt Lake City bands, including Band of Annuals, Future of the Ghost, and Bluebird Radio. Pocketknife catalogs his first foray into songwriting, six songs of modern folk music following a theme of unrequited love and longing. Pocketknife was produced by Andrew Shaw for Hankie Frankie with additional vocals by Sayde Price and BOA’s Jeremi Hanson and steel guitar by BOA’s Brent Dreiling. Recorded in Hadley and Shaw’s apartments over the course of a month, Pocketknife is an intimate recording, intended to capture vulnerable performances. Traditional percussion was omitted, which highlights the percussive elements of the acoustic guitar, and Hadley’s doubled vocals create a warm depth of sound.

Both recordings will be available for purchase at Slowtrain Music, 221 East Broadway in Salt Lake City, starting Saturday, April 17, 2010. Pocketknife and Bantam Brother will be available for $5 each, and Bantam Brother will also be packaged with Grus for $10.