247 consecutive friday

Carbondale Colorado, A microcosim of the way it should be. A tiny town with a population of people who support music and art. We were playing steve's guitars. There was a band next door and a sold out grand opening of a 400 seat theater. Steve's guitars is part museum, part living room, part guitar store. You wouldn't beleive the huge names who have played here over the years. They come because it is magical. It is steve's hobbie, or should I say passion. He has had music there every friday for the past 4 1/2 years. It is a tiny room that holds about 40 people and 100 + guitars. He said they were for sale but every guitar we were interested in just happened to be one he wasn't selling. Mike pulled early 60s airline guitar off the wall and played through the matching danelectro amp. I broke a string and pulled a 70's jumbo gibson copy off the wall and started playing it. The radio station KDNK (it streams) plays our music. People listen, they like it, they tell their friends. Steve hears about it and asks us to play the room, it fills up. people listen and respond for two wonderful hours. Everyone buys CDs and asks when we are coming back. They ask us to play a big outdoor fest this summer. This is what it is all about.

Love it.

Static - one of theTop ten albums of the year!

Here it is! Can you believe it?

Top Ten

Okay, so it's not Rolling Stone, it's Benjamin Wagner's Blog. But he is a respected rock and roll journalist and I am honored to make his list. He has turned me on to some good music. He gave me albums that everyone wanted months before they came out. I know what you are thinking. He is on our label and he is just trying to butter us up sp we work harder. Well, maybe. I have no argument. But I am going to take it as a compliment none the less. And I guarantee, you will probably find something else on the list that you will enjoy.

Jason

Bigger and better things . . . .

Our former road manager Elizabeth Andre has gone on to bigger and better things.

In November Polar Explorer Will Steger chose Elizabeth
Andre to join his 2007 Arctic expedition. The
expedition will travel for three months by dogsled
over mountainous terrain and sea ice along the
1200-mile east coast of Baffin Island, visiting five
Inuit villages along the way. The purpose of the
expedition will be to document the effects of Global
Warming as experienced by the Inuit peoples and to
educate the general public about Global Warming. The
team’s findings will be the subject of a documentary
film, an interactive website, a K-12 curriculum,
community outreach and education and media-coverage.
Steger chose Andre because of her background in
Environmental Education and her experience leading
dogsled expeditions for Outward Bound Schools.

Steger has led the most significant feats in dogsled
exploration such as the first confirmed dogsled
journey to the North Pole without re-supply (1986),
the 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland - the
longest unsupported dogsled expedition in history
(1988), the historic 3,471-mile International
Trans-Antarctica Expedition - the first dogsled
traverse of Antarctica (1989-90), the International
Arctic Project - the first and only dogsled traverse
of the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Ellesmere Island in
Canada (1995). Historic feats for which Steger has
received numerous honors and recognitions among others
include: Explorers Club Finne Ronne Memorial Award
(1997), National Geographic Society's First
Explorer-In-Residence (1996) and National Geographic
Society's John Oliver La Gorce Medal for
"accomplishments in geographic exploration, in the
sciences, and for public service to advance
international understanding" (1995). Steger joins
Amelia Earhart, Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen and
Jacques Cousteau in receiving this prestigious award.
Steger has been invited twice to testify before
Congress on polar and environmental issues. He founded
the Global Center of Environmental Education at
Hamline University in 1991 and the World School for
Adventure Learning at the University of St. Thomas in
1993. Steger is the author of four books: Over the Top
of the World, Crossing Antarctica, North to the Pole
and Saving the Earth.


source

Elizabeth K. Andre

Where in the world is Wenatchee, WA?

There we are, played just after noon pacific time. In Wenatchee, WA. I feel like Steve Martin in the Jerk when he finds himself in the phone book. We are somebody.

KOHO radio

And you can listen online. Hey we might not get any airplay in your town, but at least you can listen online. Pretend like you live in Wenatchee, WA, where ever that is.

If a songwriter performs in suburbia . . . does he make a sound?

I am in a stripmall bar, in a suburb, just off the interstate in anywhere USA. From where I sit at the bar with out moving I can see Sally Beauty Supply, Radio Shack, Super Target, B-bops, First Federal Bank, Menards, and Walmart, I shit you not. The lights in the bar are blindingly bright, there are 8 50inch highdef tv's within arms reach each showing a different commercial, there about 50 people competeing to be heard over Josh Davis who is fearlessly perfroming his songs which are some of the best songs I have heard in a long time. I am the only one clapping. I AM THE ONLY ONE CLAPPING! I am pissed off. Not at anyone in particular. You should be able to go where you want and do what you want. I am pissed at the fact that Josh has these songs screaming to be heard by the masses, and he is here playing for people who don't give a shit. What is wrong with this picture. . . . .



Jason

good sports. . . .

Well we may not be climbing the top 40 charts and we don't qualify for your favorites from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and today, but we are popping up on radio in some interesting places. I heard from a few people today that they heard us on KXNO radio in Des Moines. What's interesting about that is that KXNO (they stream the show from 3-6pm) is a sports talk radio show. They have a guest host this week (Jon D. Miller from Hawkeye Nation) who happens to be a new and vocal Nadas fan. He is using our music before and after every commercial. Apparently today he made his way through the whole coming home record. I wish I knew more about sports so I knew what they were talking about, but this is amazing to me and I couldn't be more honored. To me this signifies success. It is different, but more legitimate than some of the other manufactured success you see in the mainstream. This guy has honored us by including us in something he is passionate about and introducing us to countless amounts of people. A few years ago a dedicated fan did the same thing working at a call center. He/she somehow got our music on the hold tape for gateway computers. I can't tell you the number of people who called to tell me about that. This is how a band like us succeeds, if everyone finds their own way to introduce us to a new and unserviced audience, we will succeed. Examples . . . . dental hygenists playing us for patients as the administer the laughing gas, or furniture salesmen handing out fliers with every purchase, or coffee shops playing us while people try to wake up in the morning, the options are endless and we appreciate them all. I guess what I am trying to say is . . . .

THANK YOU!

Jason and The Nadas

Somebody put the peices together. . . . that was people's bar and grill

Ahh, mandy miller can help. Shen sent these pics which brought back a few memories. Let's just say it was a great homecoming and a great way to end a tour. Click, click, click. . . . there's no place like home. It was a heck of a show, not a steller performance, but a good night of ruckus rock. for example. . . . I don't know how to play the piano.



Stephanie got up and sang a song with us. The first time on the people's stage in 8 years.



I am always thankful that those ames kids continue to come to shows even thought we have played hundreds of shows there. Some have even resorted to making clothing to request songs. Sold out everytime for 10 years. How amazing. Thank you.



Jason and The Nadas

open pandora's box. . . .

This one deserves its own post. One of my hey day's of musical discovery as a fan was the early days of napster. I loved it! Napster's power wasn't in giving away free music it was the community that it created. It instantly cross referenced tastes and download histories which allowed me to dicover music I may otherwise never have found. It was amazing. I discovered some my favorite music that I still listen to today.

I recentley disocovered a website that does a good job of creating that same funtion if not better. I said in an email today to the creator . . . .

"I have been digging a little deeper, and I am even more impressed. For
the first decade of my band (The Nadas) we put out records and toured
the country with the mission of winning over new fans. I considered it
my duty to "sell" our music, personality, and story to people, and
convince them to like us. A tireless task. My recent epiphany however
was that our potential fans are out there and our goal in marketing our
music should just be to make those people aware of our existence. A
very difficult thing to do with the millions of titles out there. But
you have created a tool to do just that, only it puts the power in
their hands. How Awesome! It is only one piece of the puzzle, but what
an accomplishment."

I have been listening all day, it is very cool.

check it out Pandora

Knock Knock . . . Who's there?

We are! I did some ineternet scouring just to see if anyone was listening. here are a few peices of good news. . .

Here is where and when we are playing on XM radio


We even charted on the Xcountry channel


Anyone speak Italian (link on the left)


How about portugues?


Anyone for japanese?


I have no idea what this one is, but at least I can read it.

I'll keep looking.

Give me a sign. . . .

It is 11:20. I should be home, sitting in front of my fireplace or thinking about going to bed, but instead I am downtown at Authentic Records headquarters, trying to keep up, trying to dig out and racking my brain trying to figure out how to get ahead in this crazy rock and roll rat race. I'm sitting here in an empty bldg with uncle tupelo playing on the world cafe in the backround behind me, fueling my thoughts as silver dollar pancake sized snowflakes float past the streetlights out the southfacing windows I can't help but stare out of. Give me a sign. Then a flash of light, lightning strikes somewhere in the distance and instantly the glimmer of hope that is KUNI radio . . . . is gone. Nothing but static. What am I supposed to think? Lightning in a snowstorm? I should go home.

Jason

Prepare Ye

Hey, Benjamin Wagner here. I hacked into The Nadas Blog Blog! I'm backstage at Hoyt Sherman in a green room I'm sharing with the Josh Davis Band. The stage is set, and everyone is sound checked. There are a lot of smiles around this place. It feels like one big wonderful family. We just finished rehearsing tonight's big encore. I'm tellin' ya', it's gonna' be an absolute ball. Looking forward to seeing you here!!!