As the CCJ transitions to a
model better geared to leverage social networks, we are
moving away from our past use of email notification
services. If you would like to be added to our internal
email distribution, please send your request to
Rick@RARWRITER.com.
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features and news articles.
ABOUT RAR: For those of
you new to this site, "RAR" is Rick Alan Rice, the publisher
of the RARWRITER Publishing Group websites.
Use this link to visit the
RAR music page, which features original music
compositions and other.
ATWOOD - "A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance"-AVAILABLE
NOW FOR KINDLE (INCLUDING KINDLE COMPUTER APPS) FROM
AMAZON.COM.Use
this link.
CCJ Publisher Rick Alan Rice dissects
the building of America in a trilogy of novels
collectively called ATWOOD. Book One explores
the development of the American West through the
lens of public policy, land planning, municipal
development, and governance as it played out in one
of the new counties of Kansas in the latter half of
the 19th Century. The novel focuses on the religious
and cultural traditions that imbued the American
Midwest with a special character that continues to
have a profound effect on American politics to this
day. Book One creates an understanding about
America's cultural foundations that is further
explored in books two and three that further trace
the historical-cultural-spiritual development of one
isolated county on the Great Plains that stands as
an icon in the development of a certain brand of
American character. That's the serious stuff viewed
from high altitude. The story itself gets down and
dirty with the supernatural, which inATWOOD
- A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance is the
outfall of misfires in human interactions, from the
monumental to the sublime.The
book features the epic poem"The
Toiler"as
well as artwork by New Mexico artist Richard
Padilla.
Elmore Leonard
Meets Larry McMurtry
Western Crime
Novel
I am offering another
novel through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Cooksin is the story of a criminal syndicate that sets its
sights on a ranching/farming community in Weld County, Colorado,
1950. The perpetrators of the criminal enterprise steal farm
equipment, slaughter cattle, and rob the personal property of
individuals whose assets have been inventoried in advance and
distributed through a vast system of illegal commerce.
It is a ripping good yarn, filled
with suspense and intrigue. This was designed intentionally to
pay homage to the type of creative works being produced in 1950,
when the story is set. Richard Padilla
has done his usually brilliant work in capturing the look and feel of
a certain type of crime fiction being produced in that era. The
whole thing has the feel of those black & white films you see on
Turner Movie Classics, and the writing will remind you a little
of Elmore Leonard, whose earliest works were westerns.
Use this link.
EXPLORE THE KINDLE
BOOK LIBRARY
If you have not explored the books
available from Amazon.com's Kindle Publishing
division you would do yourself a favor to do so. You
will find classic literature there, as well as tons
of privately published books of every kind. A lot of
it is awful, like a lot of traditionally published
books are awful, but some are truly classics. You
can get the entire collection of Shakespeare's works
for two bucks.
Amazon is the largest,
but far from the only digital publisher. You can
find similar treasure troves at
NOOK
Press(the
Barnes & Noble site),Lulu,
and others.
The track "Taco Night Material" was
recorded with Grammy-winning producer Mark Neill (the Black
Keys, Old 97's) at his Soil of the South studio in Valdosta,
Georgia, and released on the Claudettes' spring 2018 album
DANCE SCANDAL AT THE GYMNASIUM! (Yellow Dog Records).
Currently, the Claudettes are already recording a new album
with another Grammy-winning producer, Ted Hutt (Old Crow
Medicine Show, The Devil Makes Three, Gaslight Anthem).
The song is the confession of a woman who
finds herself trapped in an oppressive marriage. Facing a
future of agonizingly domestic "Taco-Night Tuesdays," she
chooses murder over a life of never-ending wifely
responsibilities. It's a women's empowerment anthem (well
suited to the current national discussion about women's
rights) that doubles as a "killer" Halloween cut. The
imagery in the video references 16th-century vanitas
paintings, but here the still lives are not still. It’s a
fast-paced, surreal romp with murder, intrigue, skeletons,
bugs, rotting taco meat, singing appliances and, slimiest of
all, fetid old gender roles. Created by noted Brooklyn
photographer/artist Kate Stone, the "Taco Night Material"
video was made using stop-motion animation and photographic
cut-outs in a diorama-like set. It was entirely made by hand
with no digital manipulation, and took about eight hours to
animate every 30 seconds of footage.
Ike
Reilly Assassination
Born on Fire
Indie rock raconteur
and singer-songwriter Ike Reilly
has released his seventh studio album, Born On Fire,
on Rock Ridge Music and Tom Morello’s
new label Firebrand Records. Morello who hails from the same
hometown as Reilly (Libertyville, IL), says, “There's
something in the water in my hometown of Libertyville.
Marlon Brando, Adam Jones of Tool, my humble self, and now
Ike Reilly. Ike is not just a great, authentic songwriter of
the highest caliber but he's always ready to throw down at a
union rally... or a bar fight. Ike's songs are a poetic
cracked window into the lives of the heartland heroes trying
to get by, find and keep love, and carve a place for
themselves with humor and dignity. But we love him most
because at the drop of a hat he'll travel 1,000 miles to
play one song for a dying anti-war veteran. We are very
proud to have heartland hero, Ike Reilly, on Firebrand
Records.”
His first release in five
years, Born On Fire features his band, the
Ike Reilly
Assassination, and was mostly recorded at IV Lab in Chicago,
IL. Reilly’s longtime friend and Assassination guitar player
Phil Karnats (Secret Machines, Polyphonic Spree) worked with
Reilly and the band on production and the result is a group
of rock & roll songs that would be hard to put in a specific
era. Reilly said his hope for the record was that it sound
like it could have been made “somewhere between the mid ’60s
and the early 2050’s.”
In explaining the long delay
between albums, Reilly cites the unfortunate loss of 15
complete recordings, and the development of a television
series featuring Ike for the AMC Network kept the band out
of the studio far longer than expected. Not really common
reasons for release delays but not much is really common for
the former doorman and gravedigger.
David Carr from the New York
Times said, “Ike Reilly is a kind of natural resource, mined
from the bedrock of music. All the values that make rock
important to people—storytelling, melody, rage, laughter—are
part and parcel of every Ike Reilly show I have ever seen.
One of the best touring acts in the country, Reilly's band
takes it as a personal challenge to upend and amaze every
room they play in.”
Born On Fire features songs
like “Live Like We’re Dyin’” and “Two Weeks of Work,” which
reflect the influence of John Lee Hooker, Paul Butterfield,
and the electric blues scene out of Chicago that influenced
Ike and inspired him to start playing blues harp as a young
boy. The title track, “Born On Fire,” is an anthem for
anybody who has been put down, categorized, criticized, or
told by some oppressor that they couldn’t be who they wanted
to be or that they couldn’t do the things they wanted to do.
It’s not so much a follow-your-dream song as it is a song
that says “f*ck you” to anybody who tries to bridle or limit
passion in somebody else.
Stephen Paul Smoker
Following the release of an EP in 2010 and
after a year spent coming together as a live force to be
reckoned with, Stephen Paul Smoker emerge with a harder,
darker edge on their upcoming debut LP, Ripe Fruit, out
March 20 via Kilo Records. The first track from Ripe Fruit,
"Green City." Incessant stomp, gutter guitar that evolves to
squall, psychedelic canyon vocals and elements of disco all
appear in "Green City" by Chicago act Stephen Paul Smoker.
This is dirty music for dirty times...
A Lancaster, PA native, musician Stephen Paul Smoker began his
career at an early age, honing his craft as a touring musician and hired gun for
bands like MewithoutYou and the Mint. Smoker relocated to Chicago to join and
perform with childhood friend Grace Kulp and continued to tour with other acts
such as the Loto Ball Show.
Inspired by the bright sun light in his Pilsen attic which
doubled as his bedroom, Smoker created what would eventually become his debut EP
, Violent Sun / Violent Fun, a no-frills, psychedelic DIY take on indie pop.
After releasing Violent Sun / Violent Fun, Stephen formed band
and began to perform his music live. Teaming up with local Pilsen musicians
Michael Kostal, Evan DePue, Bethany Smoker, Paul Roots, as well as Gerald Baily
(Trumpeter/Black Bear Combo) and Emma Hospelhorn (Flute/Hollows) the group began
performing live in late 2010, and spent 2011 preparing for their first full
length release, RIPE FRUIT, which will be available March 20th, 2012 on Kilo
Records.
ARCHIE POWELL & THE EXPORTS
Skip Work - Sounds
good to me...
Songwriter Archie Powell takes
his relocation to the Windy City to a first studio LP.
"Nodding to the likes of Elvis
Costello and Paul Westerberg, Chicago-based Powell and Co.
sway between booze-fueled numbers like “Enough About Me” and
breezier fare like “Loose Change.” The band particularly
excels at capturing the unease of entering your 20s and
struggling with a range of newfound problems…Lyrically
astute and driven by a nervous energy, there's never any
doubt that Powell will overcome these hurdles." - Chicago
Metromix/Red Eye
_______________________________
The Meat
Puppets
Everything is stop action but
for the
grooves!
The Meat Puppets are
currently touring the west coast after returning from Europe where they played Up On The Sun at this years'
Animal Collective-curated All Tomorrow's Parties. The
Kirkwood brothers, joined by Shandon Sahm, are in fighting
form live and bring a mix of their classic tracks mixed with
material from their 13th LP, Lollipop, which eMusic praised
for being "every bit as unique, diverse and melodically
enchanted as their early stuff."
For a sampling of the new
tunes, check out the
trippy video for "Orange" and grab the MP3 of "Damn
Thing." For a glimpse into the current trio's handling of
classic material, check out this live video from ATP of
"Enchanted Porkfist" and "Seal Whales."
BLACK BOX REVELATION
Raw, skanky...Black Box Revelation looks
and sounds like what street rock really has to be. The band
is touring the West Coast and will be fun for those in their
snarling 20s.
NETHERFRIENDS
Netherfriends
is Shawn Rosenblatt (pictured right posing as Harry
Nilsson), a cheeky bugger from Chicago who puts together
albums worth of song samples strung together to create
tracks for his original melodies and vocals.
I have always had deep doubts about the whole
sampling thing, not that I don't admire the creative ways it
can be handled, it just doesn't seem to me to be a
legitimate contribution in terms of moving any art form
forward. If one, for instance, took a photograph of a
Picasso and then cut it into asymmetric patterns and pieced
it all back together in some vaguely logical manner
different from the original, would that be anything?
Well, it might be entertaining, and that's
pretty much what you get with Rosenblatt, who is a whirlwind
of creative impulse looking for any available outlet and
finding it in this sampling thing. Still, when I heard he
was futzing about with Harry Nilsson, whom I revere as a
standard of Pop world vocal excellence, I was under
enthusiastic to hear his work. Rosenblatt is clever, but he
doesn't really sing, at least in the same world once
inhabited by Harry Nilsson. You can
use this link to have a listen and download and judge for
yourself. Along the way, you may discover the following
video, which is a Herculean effort to make a stop action
film with the help of a few friends and an extraordinary
amount of patience from everyone involved. Rosenblatt
reports that it took him a month, and for my money it is
time better spent than picking the bones of poor departed
Harry Nilsson. The video below reveals Rosenblatt to be a
character in his own right, a star of his own inner movie,
the producer of his own imagination, and the engineer of his
wilder dreams. This video is great fun!
Netherfriends is a touring act and the link
provided above to Rosenblatt's Website will put you in a
theater seat near him soon. -
RAR
Model Stranger
With all the "True
Blood" splattered all over this site it seems only right to
have a little Model Stranger
mixed in. The Chicago outfit sings about inner demons in a
most convincing way.
Tipper Experience
Rocks Santa Cruz
It may be music and
is most certainly lights. Check out what these crazy kids will
fall for...er, are up to now!
There are only so many times you can take back
that cheating lover or accept excuses from a lazy scrub. It’s
easier said than done, but one soul band is taking a stand. The
Right Now isn’t going to take it anymore. The Right Now is fed
up. And on their second record, The
Right Now Gets Over You.
The challenging title is a reality check, but
delivered with a smile from singer Stefanie Berecz. “It’s
just a representation of the stories in the songs. Nearly every
track has a cheating character, or someone who’s had enough of
their lover. It’s a mixed bag of empowerment and regret.”
Gets Over You continues the “it’s complicated” theme of
2010′s Carry Me Home,
although this outing shows Berecz in a darker, seedier role.
Recorded in a cathartic, week-long session in
Los Angeles with producer Sergio Rios
(Orgone), Gets Over You takes the Chicago septet’s
soulful sound to the warm, crackling world of analog tape and
vintage instruments. Berecz’s voice, often compared to those of
Chaka Kahn and Joss Stone, takes center stage. The band shines
with raw, gritty performances and elegant arrangements that are
the result of countless hours of performing, rehearsing, and
traveling together.
Berecz’s emotionally-charged vocal performance
has been the band’s calling card at over 200 shows in the past
two years. The Right Now’s electrifying live show — matching
suits, choreographed horn section, and all — has earned them a
reputation as “dynamic, complex, hip and just downright fun”
(Gapers Block).
The past two years saw immense growth for The
Right Now, including a sold-out release party at Chicago’s
Lincoln Hall; tour dates throughout the Midwest, East, and
South; festival appearances at SXSW, North Coast Festival, and
Summerfest; and opening stints for Fitz & The Tantrums, George
Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Bettye Lavette, Otis Clay,
Orgone, Kings Go Forth, Jamie Lidell, and Tortured Soul. USA
Today and mp3.com featured the band as a favorite, and live TV
appearances (WGN) put the Chicago act on the national stage.
Placements in a 2011 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
and promos for Gilly Hicks and other national retailers also
broadened the band’s appeal.
“It takes a man to admit that it’s over,”
Berecz confidently croons on “Half As Much.” “But if you can’t,
I can do it for sure.” While Stefanie Berecz may have gotten
over the man in this song, audiences won’t be getting over her
any time soon.