Friday night I attended the EP release party for the Grand Ledge band, Jason Alarm (full disclosure: my cousin is the bass player).  They are a group of talented high school kids that I've watched start out in their parents' basements and evolve into the darlings of the Grand Ledge indie rock scene.

I've probably seen them at least a half-dozen times and they just keep getting better.  To celebrate the release of their EP, Engage, they held a show at the always charming Sun Theater in downtown Grand Ledge.  This is not the first time this movie theater had held rock shows, I've seen Jason Alarm play there before as well as a great Pink Floyd tribute band.

The line up for the show on Friday also included Cheap Girls and the Plurals, both great bands that I'm glad I got a chance to seen.  Cheap Girls were fresh off a European tour and rocked the place--loudly.  Plurals kicked out the jams as well (and helped with the release of the Jason Alarm EP, via their Good Time Gang label).

I arrived a bit early and got to watch the band names being added to the marquee outside.  It was amusing, and endearing because all of Jason Alarm was helping the theater get ready for the show, either by selling tickets and cleaning up after the last movie let out (Star Trek) of the single screen theater. Heck, even I pitched in at one point by helping assemble the last of the CD jewel cases.

The $8 admission also included a free copy of their hot off the presses EP, which was recorded in Lansing at Deep Pink studio.  I listened to it on the drive home and was blown away by the quality. The mix was great--especially the guitars--and I felt it captured the band's energy really well.

After Cheap Girls and Plurals finished their sets, the lights dropped down and Jason Alarm took the stage. It is easy to see why they have such a large following in Grand Ledge, their energy and originality draw you in (and their synth player adds a whole other fun layer).

A great show and a great EP, a heck of a way to spend Friday night in Grand Ledge.

Here are the promised photos from our gig a couple Saturdays back, click the cut to see 'em. View even more on my Flickr page. ( click to see photos )

Last night I attended one of the better musical shows I've ever seen--Echoes of Pink Floyd (a Pink Floyd tribute band) playing live at the Sun Theater in Grand Ledge. They played the album Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety--while Wizard of Oz played on the screen behind them. After that set (the album is only around 43 minutes long), they played selections off Animals and The Wall, with their final encore being a super-bizarre Pink Floyd freak-out space rock jam (for die hards only, as this caused a bunch of people to leave).

Assisting the band was a battery of lasers and lights, adding a whole other layer to the experience. It was all kinds of amazing. The band's performance was SPOT ON for each song, even the lady they had singing the lead vocals on the Great Gig in the Sky was on target the whole time. For someone of my generation, this is perhaps the closest thing I'll ever get to seeing Pink Floyd live and I'll be honest, it was worth every penny.

The other great thing about the night was that the show SOLD OUT. This is a 250 seat theater in a small town that usually shows second run films for $2 a seat. They sold out (standing room only) every seat for $20 each. I overheard someone in line saying they came all the way from Flint for this show. I'm usually not that big of a fan of tribute bands and typically don't like paying more than say $5 to see such a thing, but these guys an' girls were something to experience. Covering Pink Floyd stuff note for note (and sounding great) is a heck of a task, and Echoes of Pink Floyd did not disappoint.

As far as the Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz match-up phenomena is concerned, yeah I guess it works. Sure, it was fun and neat to watch but it wasn't mind blowing--the music however, was. I ended up watching the band more than the film, and due to an overactive fog machine even that became a challenge at times. One amusing moment was when the bass player kept making the cut motion across his throat to whomever was working the fogger.

My regular readers (all two of you) will probably remember that I was at the Sun last Friday for a concert and screening of Friday the 13th Part III.  I really like that there is a theater around here doing this kind of neat stuff.  I chatted with those in charge of the place a bit last night and found out that on April 4th they are showing Spinal Tap, and will have bands playing songs from Spinal Tap before it starts.  I'm SO there. Now, if I can get the boys in the band I'm in to learn Big Bottom, maybe we can partake (oh, I'd totally sing it)...On the podcast front, I bit the bullet and bought a microphone/digital voice recorder, the Zoom H2 (which was recommend to me by robininseoul ). My reason for getting this (in addition to Amazon having it for $150 instead of $330) was that it kills more than two birds for me: I can use it as a USB microphone (the main reason) for GarageBand, I can use it record interviews and such for freelance work, I can use it record vocals for the podcast remotely (say, I'm visiting someone and want them to do a line or two), I can use it to record me making sound effects (something I'm very keen on doing), and I can record band practice/songs/shows.  After weighing all my options and what I was looking for, this this was best solution. Portable and multi-functional.  I like that it can record to a SD card as well (I popped for an 8 gig card when I ordered--it was only $11, not bad) as MP3s and I can just drop those into whatever program I want.

This podcast stuff has really rejuvinated me creativly.  I've been popping with ideas all week. I'm toying with having brief breaks mid-episode for promos for fake TV shows, movies, products etc (mostly bad parodies and puns).  Wouldn't be a bad idea, as some of the podcast stuff I've read recommended having 'breaks' here and there. I'm thinking of making the podcast kind of take place in its own world, being produced in River City (where the novel starts out) as a sort of SC TV sort of thing (they had Melonville), and 'cast' members from River City.  My other idea is coming up with 'cast' names for all the voices I do for the Eyri podcast, a la the Dudley Do Right cartoon where they had the cartoon characters played by 'cast' members.

That being said, I need to finish recording the first episode.  To the recording machine!

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