GOOD DICTION

Regularly booking and promoting shows can sort of make one feel jaded at times--especially if the acts your working with are "developing" or "emerging" ones. Of course that is the mission or purpose of the shows I do with local non-profit DEMO. Great, organic moments can happen unexpectedly, but the opposite can occur just as frequently.... With that in mind, I must say that I'm continually astounded and delighted by the sheer talent and passion of the musicians that have seemingly come out of the woodwork to contact me about performing at my Driftless Music Showcases at Acadia Cafe on the third Friday of each month. DEMO serves an essential & vital role in the music scene; the DM shows simply attract a different crowd.

Local husband and wife folk blues duo Good Diction is a great example of the kind of group that reaffirms my commitment to independent music and provides an ever welcome source of inspiration. The pair describes their sound on their myspace page as "American potatoes churned up in a post-post-modernist hot dish at a Norwegian Lutheran pot-luck held in a African-American Baptist revival tent." After seeing them perform at the DM Showcase on March 19 and subsequently absorbing their five song EP Petulie, that description resonates with me.

HELLO, GOODBYE!

Hey there. I regret the lack of activity on Driftless Music the past few weeks. I've been somewhat preoccupied lately, but rest assured many exciting things lie ahead in the near future. Namely, for those who haven't already heard the news, I've accepted a job as the Station Manager of KPVL 89.1 FM, a community radio station in NE Iowa.

To provide some context, KPVL was the only local news source for residents after one of the largest and most expensive immigration raids in U.S. history took place in Postville on May 12, 2008. Then-Station Manager Jeff Abbas, whose position I fill with the utmost amount of respect, played a very important role in the community during that time and found himself playing talking-head on NPR, Al-Jazeera English, and CNN, in addition to being quoted in the NY Times. This was very much, and still is, a national immigration news story and KPVL is a small part of that story.

Indie filmmakers Luis Argueta and Vivian Rivas are currently in post-production on abUSed - The Postville Raid, a full length documentary that weaves together the personal stories of the individuals, the families, and the town directly effected by the raid. CLICK HERE to view the film's trailer, which features Mr. Abbas' friendly, well-worn, radio baritone in the introduction piece. Naturally, after losing nearly a third of its residents, the town is unfortunately still struggling and in economic crisis. Another documentary called In the Shadow of the Raid was independently released in Sept. 2009.

The past few years have been hard on KPVL as well, but thanks to a few very dedicated community members & businesses, the station has opened a second studio in downtown Decorah and has received a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that has strengthened its broadcast signal so that it now covers the entire four-county area of northeastern Iowa. Needless to say, this is a very exciting opportunity for me to work full-time leading a community-driven nonprofit organization in an area so unique and rich in culture.