October 11

The Garage

Winston Salem, NC

With Heartdrive

9 PM, $7

October 28
Patrick Sullivan's
Knoxville, TN
With Shalini

October 29
The Nick
Birmingham, AL
With Stinking Lizaveta
10 PM, $6

October 30
Memphis Pops Fest
Memphis, TN
With the Simple Ones and the New Mary Jane
FREE!

October 31
Kavarna
Atlanta, GA
With Shalini

November 12

Tir na nOg

Raleigh, NC

With Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies

and The Catch Fire

November 13

The Werehouse

Winston Salem, NC

With Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies

The Making of Murmur: A Conversation with Co-Producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon

Friday, May 22 8:00 PM at The Garage in Winston-Salem
Revolve Film Festival Event

Hear how R.E.M.’s pivotal album came together. Moderated by ex Rolling Stone writer Parke Puterbaugh. With input from R.E.M. Manager Bertis Downs. Live performances follow by

Don Dixon,solo acoustic

Mitch Easter with his band

Jews & Catholics, Winston-Salem’s premiere duo band

For more information on the Revolve Film Festival, please visit http://www.revolvefestival.com.

MURMUR DELUXE: AN INSIDER'S LOOK

From R.E.M. HQ's Kevin O'Neil - 24 November 2008

Reproduced here with permission.

This Tuesday, November 25th will celebrate the release of the Murmur Deluxe Edition, marking 25 years since Rolling Stone honored Murmur as "Album of the Year." To coincide with this, Universal Music will be releasing a remastered two-disc version of Murmur as part of the Deluxe Edition series. The Deluxe Edition is comprised of classic records re-released in a two-disc format. Previous releases include Elvis Costello and U2, so we are certainly in good company. The first disc in the release is Murmur as it was intended: twelve remastered songs as they originally appeared in 1983 -- no extra bits and pieces and no fluff. The second disc features the perfect companion piece to a great studio album: a live club show recorded only months after the record was released.

We were excited to work with Universal and appreciative of their efforts to give Murmur the treatment it deserves. From R.E.M.'s standpoint, the very first step and most important thing we could do was to get Mitch Easter and Don Dixon involved. As producer and engineer, they were essential to the process of shaping Murmur, and we wanted their ideas, opinions and ears to help present the Deluxe Edition as well. And according to Don and Mitch, the obvious and only choice for remastering was Greg Calbi, who mastered the original Murmur. With this sound team in place we knew we were in good hands... I mean ears. But that's only half the team, as once a great record is finished a whole lot of people work very hard to make sure that record is heard on the radio and stocked on the store shelves (remember this was 1983). In the case of the original Murmur, of course those people were the staff at I.R.S. Records. We were grateful for the help of former I.R.S. employees Michael Plen, Jay Boberg, Carlos Grasso and Sig Sigworth, whose assistance, ideas and recollections were essential to the success of this release. You can hear their stories in their own words on the liner notes of the package.

With Murmur holding such a special place in R.E.M.'s discography, we approached it with two goals in mind: we wanted to maintain the integrity of the original album, and we wanted to make the second disc something of true value, not just added content for the sake of more content. With that in mind, it was important to us that Murmur appear on a disc by itself, as it was originally intended and released. As much as I enjoy b-sides, alternate takes and demo versions of great songs, it would have been a disservice to the record to clutter a cleanly sequenced album with distracting extras. For the second disc, we wanted to offer something we had not released before, but had a cohesive quality which would compliment Murmur, rather than crowding it. Everyone agreed that a live show was the perfect fit. The show we picked is a well-loved recording at a club called Larry's Hideaway in Toronto. It was originally recorded for a radio broadcast in July, 1983, just after the release of Murmur. Nearly all the songs from Murmur are included in the show, as well as song from albums which were not yet appeared on a record. According to diehard fans, this show is not to be missed and has since become one of the most bootlegged and blogged about performances of the band's early career. Now, having been remastered from the original tapes, you'll get to hear an R.E.M. show like it hasn't been heard in 25 years.

Mojo Magazine calls Murmur one of the "100 records that changed the world," and I'm not one to argue with a good review.

Gravel Truck Shows

Gravel Truck is a special Let's Active cover band with Mitch Easter - lead guitar + vocals Tim Lee - electric bass guitar Susan Bauer Lee - backing vocals Chris Garges - drums Shalini Chatterjee - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals. They play songs from all Let's Active records.

Show dates are listed on Mitch's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/mitcheasterband.

The Basics about the Revolve Film + Music Festival:

• Dates: August 6-10, Winston-Salem, NC
• Venues: Drama Workshop at the Salem Fine Arts Center and Carswell Hall at Wake Forest University. Easy, free parking next to both buildings at all times. Theatre seating.
• All screenings, except a few shorts, will be on high res digi beta or 35 mm film.
• Approximately 25 films over 5 days.
• Tickets will be kept at $10 and will be available at the door, like regular movie theatres.
• Films are American and International.

Revolve Film + Music Festival Schedule

Click on a title for more information about that film; program notes are written by Shalini Chatterjee (SC), Mitch Easter (ME), Amanda Philemon (AP), Faye Hunter (FH) and Ghost Wakefield (GW). Tickets will be available at the door and online. Check the Revolve Film Festival Web Site for the latest details.

Wednesday, August 6: Opening Night

EXPIRATION DATE - North Carolina Premiere!
Rick Stevenson
USA, 2006, 94 min.
7 PM
Ticket price includes reception afterward at the Garage with complimentary hors d'oeuvres.

Thursday, August 7

FEET UNBOUND - North Carolina Premiere!
Khee-Jin Ng
Australia, 2007, 87 min.
11 AM

RACHEL: A PERFECT LIFE - North Carolina Premiere!
Fiona Cochrane
Australia, 2007, 90 min.
2 PM

OUT OF OUR MINDS ANIMATION STUDIOS PRESENTS: THE MAKING OF THE MAGISTICAL
John Cernak and Danny Oakley
USA, 2008
4 PM

Reception at Revolve HQ
5 PM

TASMANIAN DEVIL: THE FAST AND FURIOUS LIFE OF ERROL FLYNN - North Carolina Premiere!
Simon Nasht
Australia, 2007, 60 min.
7 PM

4
Tim Slade
Australia/USA/Japan/Finland, 2007, 88 min.
8:30 PM

Friday, August 8

STRANGE CULTURE
Lynn Hershman Leeson
USA, 2007, 75 min.

playing with

MAP OF THE UNDERGROUND (MAR YR UNDERGROUND) - North Carolina Premiere!
Hywel Griffith
Wales, UK, 2005, 4 min.
11 AM

ACROSS THE PLATEAU
Zhang Zeming and Paul Liu
Australia/China, 2007, 95 min.
2 PM

PUTTING THE RIVER IN REVERSE - Triad Premiere!
Matthew Buzzell
USA, 2006, 32 min.
4 PM
Post screening Q & A with filmmaker Matthew Buzzell

TRIANGLE FILMMAKERS PROGRAM
Featuring Nic Beery (Carrboro) and Todd Tinkham (Chapel Hill)
Nic Beery will screen his short VERONICA ALWAYS, and Todd Tinkham will screen his shorts WHAT THE FROCK?! and 4 MINUTES ON AN ABANDONED BRIDGE. Also in attendance: Jeffrey Moore, writer and star of "What the Frock?!"
7:30 PM

SPECIAL MUSICAL EVENT: NEW WAVE NIGHT!
The legendary band PYLON from Athens, GA, will be playing at the Wherehouse, 211 East Third St., in Winston-Salem.

Opening will be GRAVEL TRUCK, featuring local celebrity producer Mitch Easter playing songs of his beloved '80s band Let's Active with a special line-up of musicians.

Tickets: $10 at the door; cash only at club day of show... like the 80s.
9:30 PM

Saturday, August 9

JACK TAYLOR OF BEVERLY HILLS - North Carolina Premiere!
Cecile Leroy Beaulieu
USA, 2007, 52 min.

playing with

THE UNGONE
Simon Bovey
United Kingdom, 2006, 9 min.
11 AM

GREAT WORLD OF SOUND
Craig Zobel
USA, 2007, 106 min.
2 PM

MONKS: THE TRANSATLANTIC FEEDBACK
Dietmar Post and Lucia Palacios
Germany/USA/Spain, 2006, 100 min.
4:30 PM

TELL ME DO YOU MISS ME: A FILM ABOUT LUNA
Matthew Buzzell
USA, 2006, 102 min.
8 PM


Director Matthew Buzzell and ex-Luna guitarist Sean Eden will be present and will conduct a post screening Q & A.

Filmmaker Reception immediately following at Meridian Restaurant, 411 S. Marshall St., Winston-Salem. Socializing, drink specials and complimentary hors d'oeuvres.

Sunday, August 10

STRANGE CULTURE
Lynn Hershman Leeson
USA, 2007, 75 min.

playing with

MAP OF THE UNDERGROUND (MAR YR UNDERGROUND)
Hywel Griffith
Wales, UK, 2005, 4 min.
11 AM

TALES OF THE RAT FINK
Ron Mann
USA, 2006, 76 min.
1 PM

4
Tim Slade
Australia/USA/Japan/Finland, 2007, 88 min.
2:30 PM

HOME SONG STORIES - North Carolina Premiere!
Tony Ayres
Australia, 2007, 103 min.
4 PM

Summer Sparkle Closing Party at Revolve HQ
6 PM

Note from Deaconlight:

Mitch's one-time bandmate Peter Holsapple has a written a piece for the New York Times songwriting blog Measure for Measure that was posted this week. There are a couple of nods to Mitch in the article.

Peter is an engaging writer. Please check out his Measure for Measure contribution as well as the personal essays on his blog at http://halfpearblog.blogspot.com/.

Repost from MitchEaster.com:

Some people know I do this and some don't, so I thought it might be useful to briefly describe what's on offer these days:

Studio recording: You can record at Fidelitorium Recordings, a comprehensively equipped, purpose-built facility in NC. The studio is known for its excellent acoustics and big range of musical instruments. This place is like a mainstream 1990s studio, and therefore is one of a dwindling number of such facilities! And it maintains the friendly and comfortable traditions established long ago in the tiny but legendary Drive-In Studio of yore. Usually we record rock bands, more or less, but the studio can do most anything. We have all kinds of recording gear, analog and digital, old and new; really, it's pretty much all here. www.fidelitorium.com

Mixing: I also mix a lot of projects from outside producers and bands who have recorded elsewhere. There's a Neve VR console at Fidelitorium which is the perfect device for the task. It sounds great and has Flying Faders automation and Recall, so mixes are stored and may be recalled later for revision, or for when you need the re-do the vocal in Icelandic, etc. Our equipment can improve the sound of recordings done under compromised circumstances, which is an increasingly common scenario. And if you recorded at a snazzy place, it'll sound even better when you mix here!

Producing: Occasionally I act as producer or co-producer on sessions. This makes sense when you have a bit of time to try to expand on what you've been doing, and everybody feels comfortable with the extra communication and work involved. For me, there's no absolute distinction between "recording" and "producing" because it's sort of ridiculous to passively press "record" and never say anything useful about what's going on, even on the quickest session. But when you hire a producer, I think it implies that you're going to dig into things more, which means more time and a bigger budget. Plenty of people do a good job of producing themselves, just not everybody.

Instrumental additions: You can hire me to do mail-order overdubs. This could be fun and easy if you've heard me play and think I'm any good. I am not limited to whatever "jangle pop" is supposed to be, although apparently I can do that, too!

Assistance on Home Recording Projects: This could mean any number of things, including all of the above. As more and more people make records at home, they run up against the limitations of working that way. If you are unable to get happy with some aspect of your project, it may be that mixing the tracks you've done at home with some of my services will get things sounding better and closer to your sonic and musical intentions. This could mean mixing your tracks through our analog console and processors, mixing to tape, or adding some instruments at the studio. I find that as you add good-sounding elements the overall effect of the track starts tilting towards that magic "real record" sound and then you're there! It's hard to say exactly what this is but you know it when you hear it.

I generally work out of Fidelitorium Recordings simply because it's my place and I have all the stuff I like on hand but I am happy to work elsewhere if it makes sense!

-- Mitch Easter

For more information: www.mitcheaster.com/contact.html

Note from Deaconlight:

For months I had planned to go to last night's R.E.M. show in Raleigh, but a bad case of poison ivy kept me at home. So my hubby and older daughter (Avalon) went without me. Around 10:40pm, Avalon rang me to say "Guess who's onstage with R.E.M.? Mitch Easter and Don Dixon." Turns out Mitch and Don joined R.E.M. on guitars and vocals for "Sitting Still," the B-side of R.E.M.'s 1st single on Hibtone Records, "Radio Free Europe."

That 7-inch 45 was the first record Mitch and Don produced for R.E.M., followed by the EP Chronic Town. Mitch and Don went on to produce R.E.M.'s first two LPs Murmur (which includes "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still") and Reckoning. Michael Stipe made a point to mention both guys during his acceptance speech when R.E.M. were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Here's a YouTube video of R.E.M. performing "Sitting Still" with Mitch Easter and Don Dixon posted by vastsoul.

From R.E.M.'s Web site posted by the band's manager Bertis Downs:

Last night Raleigh and friends from last year all the way back to Carrboro and Kernersville and Chapel Hill and Raleigh, including most notably Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. We figured out before the show that the last time those 2 guys attended an R.E.M. show together was 1984 at the Park Center in Charlotte. They remain good friends and amazing musicians, and last night they sat in on a song that helped put the band on the proverbial map, Sitting Still, and the extra guitars in the hands of those dear friends, was a very special moment and sound and memory indeed. It was a raucous and rocking show with a hot, sweaty crowd and an inspired band playing one of the best shows of the tour so far (but it is early yet). Check out this review of the show at Newsobserver.com.

A few more notes from Deaconlight:

David Menconi, who wrote that review for the News and Observer review Bertis mentions, has a cool music blog there as well: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/.

Don Dixon has a brand new record out called The Nu-Look. Check out Don's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/dondixonsmusic.

I talked to Mitch a couple of weeks ago after the X show at the Cats Cradle and he told me he has a new record in the works. Stay tuned!

There is a great in-depth interview with Mitch Easter by Fred Mills at his MySpace. Fred is the editor of Harp Magazine and is a seasoned a cutting-edge journalist. Check it out at:

http://www.myspace.com/fredmmills

-- Deaconlight