Welcome to the greatly anticipated second installment of my top five.This one is for Sly,I have some rules for the top 5,only one movie per franchise allowed.There are others but I pretty much make up the rules as I go.

5.Over the Top (this one made it because of the badass "man to machine"quote.If you don't know what I'm talking about don't talk to me until you have seen this awesomely horrible movie.)

4.Cliffhanger(badass cliffhanging,enough said)

3.Nighthawks(Rutger Hauer and Sly as a badass cop)

2.First Blood(Sly as a badass Vietnam vet,the first Rambo movie for all you sissies out there who haven't seen it)

1.Rocky(I'm sure that wasn't predictable at all,Rocky is just badass in every way)

So basically if you can't somehow fit badass into the description of the movie it can't make the top five.If anybody suggests Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot or Oscar for Sly's top 5 they will be immediately turned in for psychiatric evaluation.

What up all!? I know that we've all been thanking everyone for making our tenth anniversary show a great success, and I'm going to continue the trend. A big thank you to Chris Larose, Nathan Maxey, Rob Howard, Joe Vala and Mike Guinan for forming a film crew the likes of which have never been seen! As we transition from filming to post production, we enter a new realm of creativity. It's an area somewhat new to most of us in the organization that I'm very excited to be a part of. I'm sure most of ya'll out there in internet land have seen us on the road, setting up, performing, tearing down and driving all around this beautiful country. But there exists layers and layers of behind the scenes helpers and workers that make our shows and albums possible. We couldn't do it without your help and support and we can't tell you enough how much we appreciate it. So thank you everyone. Okay, so now that I have all that out of the way, I want to say this----SUMMERCAMP HERE I COME! With the weather shifting (slowly) into spring, I get more and more excited about festival season. This summercamp will be an especially eventful one for me as I celebrate my first anniversary of marital bliss. So if you see me walking around solo Sunday, it means I prob got lost from Angie. And that would be bad news Bears. Hope to see you there!
Also....if you want to find me there, I'll be front row center at Willie freakin' Nelson!
 
-jar

Thought I might clear up some confusion caused by by the recent sory in the Illinois Times.I am the only bass player The Station has ever had. Actually I'm pretty sure this whole band was pretty much my fault ( : So for all of you out there who were confused,my dad John Kerska did not replace me in 2004.Also wanted to thank everyone for making our tenth year anniversary show an awesome experience.Stay tuned for my next top five coming soon!

Ten Years of The Station by Tom Irwin
http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A9818
Please join me in offering hearty congratulations to The Station as they commemorate 10 years together as a working band in 2009. Over the last decade, the Chatham-based group spent about half of that time playing on the road, released three CDs, including a double live set, Speed of Sound (2008), and won in two categories of Illinois Times’ Best of Springfield in 2008, for Original Band and Band Most Likely to Hit it Big.

The nucleus of the group, known around here as the Two Daves — Carter on drums and percussion and Littrell on vocals, guitar and saxophone — are founding members of The Station. Two other original members swapped out with current Stationers, Kevin Lemen on lead guitar and John Kerska on bass, in 2004. According to Carter, that’s when they increased gig dates from 50 to more than 150 per year and began the transition, “from a young band starting out, into a working business with year-end plans, books to balance, and meetings to make.”

Many changes occurred in the music industry over the last 10 years and The Station has seen its fair share at the independent, working-band level. In 1999 most artists didn’t have Web sites, there was no MySpace and digital downloads on handheld personal players had yet to replace CDs as the favored form of listening to recorded music.
“I was 18 years old when we started, so needless to say, everything has changed for me,” said Carter. “Literally everything has changed for us as a band too, from marketing to music.”

Music-wise the band progressed from a jam-band-influenced group barely out of high school to a well-tempered combo of musicians able to perform dozens of originals and countless cover tunes on the spot. Through challenging themselves and their audiences by continually performing new self-penned material and doing fun takes on other music, The Station found themselves growing as a musical group and earning a credible fan base. All that is to be expected after 10 years of playing together, but what the band, or anyone else for that matter, couldn’t anticipate was the vast change of technological advances coming in the information world.
“In the last few years we’ve gotten over any fear of new technology and worked with connecting with fans and making personal relationships,” said Carter. “Understanding how to take full of advantage of all the technology out there now is essential to getting ahead.”

Carter should know. While working at a local Internet provider back in 1999, he started a band Web site just a few months after The Station’s inception. Since then they’ve ridden the wave of Web-based promotional tools available to music artists, including MySpace, Facebook, podcasts, Twitter and a host of other sites and programs, connecting the band to an ever-growing base of fans through the Internet.

“I can get on Twitter and Facebook at 2 a.m. after a show and going through ReverbNation, a Web site for bands, it gets started and immediately posted to everyone who’s connected to us. It’s amazing.”

With a celebration of the past comes an inevitable look into the future and as this quartet of young men, now having fun playing in the band, head toward the inevitable choices of mid-life, what might happen in the next 10 years?
“I see us continuing the trend of fewer and bigger shows, recording more albums, and all of us having families — I’d be ecstatic if we’re doing this same thing,” said Carter. “As long as this band and our music lights a fire in us and we’re constantly striving to create, we’ll keep going.”

The Station celebrates 10 years as a band with an anniversary concert at City Nights Theater in the Capital City Bar and Grill on Friday, April 10, with 56 Hope Road opening the show.

Hey friends!  As I sit indoors with my laptop writing this, I have to be honest: I can't wait to get my work done this afternoon so I can go do ANYTHING outside.  Spring is upon us, the weather is slowly looking up, festival lineups are coming together, and we're all getting ready for summer!  We've got some exciting events before then though.

This week we'll be playing a free acoustic show at Marly's in Springfield, IL tonight.  Friday  4/3 we'll be making our debut at Eamon Patrick's in Peoria, IL.  The Station hasn't been back to Peoria since last summer and we can't wait to get back.  Our Carbondale friends The Rum Runners will open the show at 10pm.  This Saturday 4/4 The Station will be headlining what's sure to be a memorable night of music at the legendary Copper Dragon in Carbondale, IL.  The Rum Runners and DJ Nasty Nate will be supporting.  A crew headed by our own Illuminator, Jared Koester, will be filming the show for an upcoming project, so make sure you come out and get your mug on film!!

Friday April 10th The Station will be playing our 10 Year Anniversary show at the City Nights Theater in the Capital City Bar and Grill in Springfield, IL!  Our brothers 56 Hope Road will be opening the night at 9pm.  We will also be filming this show so come be a part of Station history!

If you've never been to Summercamp in Chillicothe, Illinois, well shame on you.  Go here www.SummercampFestival.com, buy your tickets before the go up in price on Friday, and come check out one of the nation's top music festivals.  The Station will be making our 7th straight appearance.  Other acts include 3 nights of moe and Umphrey's Mcgee, plus Willie Nelson, Los Lobos, Method Man and Red Man, Keller Williams, Les Claypool, MMW, Girl Talk, Gomez, Dark Star Orchestra, The Wood Brothers, and many more.

For more information, pics, podcasts, dates, and more, check out http://www.thestationmusic.com

I'm heading outside now, we'll see you very soon!
Carter
 

Podcast 28 - November 2008 part 2 
Download the mp3 here or subscribe (for free) through iTunes here to get every new episode automatically.

Part 2 of 2 of The Station's Thanksgiving concert at Springfield, Illinois' historical Hoogland Center for the Arts (formerly the Masonic Temple).  Both a mix of young and old songs, as well as the debuts of "Sweet Dreams" and "Prometheus", this show was a hometown favorite.
Mixed and recorded by Warren Taylor, caressed and podcasted by Dave Carter.

Late in Evening, Sinister Duplicity, Questions, Prometheus*
* dong debut

So we had a blast last week as our spring tour took us to (my first trip to) the Carolinas.  I meant to really blog about the trip but time just seems to disappear on the road.  So, here are some things we wrote down on the trip, followed by a bunch of pics we took on our travels and some stories behind them. 
So one day in the van I wrote down topics that were insightful, notable, or just plain funny that I wanted to blog about when we get home.  I couldn't tell you too much about our setlists, but these are the things I'll remember for quite awhile:
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Thoughts on Tour
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* While in North Carolina, I put in "Starbucks" into the Tom Tom gps and it lead me to a target-type store WITH A STARBUCKS front and center when you walk in.  I think this is a GREAT business idea, however, trying to put a "cafe" to hang out in was a terrible idea.  as guinan put it, you're hanging out in isle 9.  I came in with ipod and notebook, sat down, and realized 30 secs in that this wasn't somewhere to be creative in... 
* Kevin announces that Dill Pickle flavored Pringles are the worst tasting chips ever.  Guinan disagrees and takes the can back.
* Possible names for the tour: The "Every Square Inch Tour", referring to the amount of space we were using in the van (this is our first tour with the lighting rig and a lighting designer.  It was a tight fit), prompting the next name: the "Thigh to Thigh Tour".  Another idea was the "Ville" tour, Knoxville, Asheville, Nashville.
* I was very happy to see both the ocean and the mountains, I didn't realize I'd get to see both in one day.  The Carolinas are beautiful!
* Guinan declares that the "Joey's Jr" from the mexican fast food restaurant Moe's has no business being called "Jr."
* I (at the time of writing) have purchased season 5 of The Office on iTunes but have not been near wi fi long enough to download any of them.  Arg.
* Guinan listen to Dream Theater's "Change of Season".  Keving claims it changed Guinan's life, Guinan nods.
* On the wall at Moe's: "A soft taco is like a hard taco but more emotional."  I'm still laughing out loud at this one.
* Our "Land of Lincoln" van just passed you're confederate flag truck.  Ha!
* Josh has Dr. Pepper in his veins.  Kevin suggests hooking up a Dr Pepper "IV" in his arm.
* and finally, we are leaking green antifreeze most places we go.
I don't need to explain why that one was so cool.
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Tour Pics
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This is outside a rest stop in South Carolina.  Rivetting.  I just loved the palm trees, it's those little territorial differences that make new places different.

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We were right be the big yellow area, halfway from Asheville to Charleston.


We rolled into Charleston, SC with a couple hours to kill before load in, so naturally, we headed to the beach.  It was a little chilly, but peaceful nonetheless.
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If anyone has any connections with Hallmark, we have photos to license.
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Dinner at the Cuban place next door to The Pour House.  I tried friend plantanes for the first time.  The were much better than I thought they were going to be!
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On the way to Asheville, Dave made good use of the time by getting to know the Micro-Korg a little better, running its output through the fm transmitter in the van.  It was an 80 mph dance party.
2009'>http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54741529">2009 Spring Tour video 1
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Guinan with his time-killer of choice.
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Kevin expresses his undying love, loyalty, and enthusiasm for the Filet-O-Fish. 
North Carolina.  Ok, so there's been a lot of pictures of us just doing nothing, and here's some more pics of landscapes, but here's why: on the road, more hours than not, we have nothing to do.  It's a game of killing time until the show or the next town.  Sometimes I'll look back and at all of the pics I've taken on a tour and realize most of them are either landscapes while we're driving or pics of us hanging out.  So, I guess this is a pretty good representation of tour.

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We just don't have drives like this in Illinois. 
So for a good chunk of the week we drove back to Asheville after the shows to stay at our friend (and fellow Chatham-ite) Ryan Brown's house.  Having a homebase on the road, even for just a few days is so much more relaxing than hotel after hote.  Here's his place just outside of Asheville.
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I spent a couple mornings on that porch drinking coffee, reading, and playing with Ryan's wonder-dog Tassle.



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Another shot from the porch.
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Nashville's 12th and Porter
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..Well, that's pretty much it for this one.  We had a blast, thank you for everyone who came to see us this tour.  It was great to make so many new friends!..

..Carter (for the record, I hate myspace's blog inputer, all of the ".."s were inputed by it and myspace won't embed it's down videos. arg.