Michael Fracasso "Red White & Blue"

Let’s stop to consider all who gave their lives for this country on this Memorial Day. Thank you for dedicating your life to America. For those of us who have not served, we will never know what your days were like. Even the most graphic combat movies can’t speak to the fear, the horror of war, the unimaginable acts of bravery. As a citizen of the United States, I cherish the freedom you have insured for us.

Photo Credit: Aaron LeeToday we bring you Michael Fracasso, with whom we caught up in mid-May at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival outside of Llano, Texas. I should mention that there were so many artists in attendance, even though they weren’t performing, that we were able to record fifteen sessions all told. It was our first time filming Michael, though he has just released his seventh album, Saint Monday. “Red White & Blue” is from his 2007 CD Red Dog Blues. It stops time, which is our intention. Take a moment to remember and say a silent prayer of thanks.

- Jessie Scott

Alessi's Ark "Witch"

On May 28th in 1929, Warner Brothers debuted "On With The Show" in New York City, their first all-color-talking picture. Then on this day in 1953, the first 3-D Cartoon came our way from the Walt Disney company, as the film "Melody" premiered in the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood. Now I don’t know if anyone has done a 3-D website yet, but if ever there was one that should be 3-D, it is Alessi’s Ark. Fun animation for sure, and a great sense of whimsy.

Photo Credit: Max KnightBritish singer/songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke decided to name her project after the boat where everyone is welcome. She started playing drums at 11 and has put out several EPs along the way since 2007. (She was born in 1990. You do the math.) Alessi has been steeped in artistic endeavor seemingly her whole life, and man has she been busy! She put out her second full length album, Time Travel, in April.

The song we are bringing you is “Witch,” that originally debuted on a project called Friend Ships. It features three songs from Alessi's Ark and three from power pop band Thunder Power. The EP came about when both artists shared an Omaha concert bill in 2008. It was the third EP for Alessi's Ark. She played "Witch" for the Threadgill’s WHQ audience when she came by to visit us solo at the Music Fog Marathon in March.

- Jessie Scott

Ian Moore & The Lossy Coils "Tap the Till"

I did some catching up in the pulp paper pile today of recent mail. The Vermont Country Store Catalog caught my eye, mostly for the reintroduction of all manner of licorice candy, and Bonamo Turkish Taffy is back after a 21 year absence. Banana was my favorite, followed by strawberry. And there is also an array of classic scents like Evening in Paris, and Arpege, which held the allure of grown up, inexplicable secrets when I was a preteen.

Next up in the stack was the latest Rolling Stone with the 10 Greatest Dylan Songs, in honor of Dylan’s 70th birthday earlier this week. I have been lost in Dylan’s lyrics since the 60s. They consumed me when I no longer cared about the promise of cheap perfume. It is amazing how prescient these songs were, and how they still hold wonder for their surgical illumination of bits and pieces of human endeavor and behavior, and also for how opaque some of them are to this day.

I love visual songs; I love the angst of this one from Ian Moore and The Lossy Coils. If I was spinning tunes, it would follow “Maggie’s Farm” just perfectly. It comes from Ian’s new record, El Sonido Nuevo. We were fortunate to have him and the Lossy Coils: Matt Harris and Kyle Schneider, during our Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ a couple of months ago. They are about to hit the road for the summer. You should check out the website, too, as it is lush, mystical, and literate. And I like that!

- Jessie Scott