poster

And so… circular! The latest Tater CD menagerie is finally here! They came in on Monday, along with new posters, download cards and shiny new display units! The stickers arrived today, so the UPS guy is very aware of us at this point!

Hope to have them in all the online locations as soon as possible - they’ve already shipped off to CD Baby and Amazon, and DigStation will have it up very soon for download as well. If you want a CD copy and just can’t wait until it wanders online, contact me and I’ll work out how to get it to you. It’ll have to be check or Paypal at this point, as I don’t have a way to take credit cards outside of the usual channels (like CD Baby).

Theresa Pollak Awards for Excellence in the Arts

I don’t think this has made it to the blog yet - The Taters won this year as Best Ensemble (and I don’t think it has anything to do with our wardrobe. Although, with Greg’s shirts…?). Here’s a bit about the prize, from the Richmond magazine website:

Richmond magazine invites you to celebrate the artists whose words, fine art, music, choreography, acting, directing, film and photography enrich the cultural life of our regions. Since 1998, readers have been asked to nominate artists to the panel of selectors, made up of former honorees and arts leaders, who then choose the honorees for recognition with the Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts at our awards ceremony in October.

It was a huge surprise to us, since we had no idea we were even up for a nomination. There’s a write-up in the October issue of Richmond Magazine, which is on the stands now, and you can also read about it on the Richmondmagazine.com website. And while we’re at it, here’s a bit more about Theresa Pollak. Thanks to all who nominated us, whoever you may be!

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I’m sitting in the studio now listening to final and near-final mixes on menagerie. There have been a few setbacks, but it’s still alive and kicking, just taking longer (always!) than I thought it would. I’m also working on finishing the cover art, liner notes, all the publishing stuff, etc, and working with the pressing plant to get that all setup. But all that notwithstanding, I’m hoping for a Halloween release, so keep your bony fingers crossed!

On a related note, watch for the October release of  Virginia Creepers: THE HORROR HOST TRADITION OF THE OLD DOMINION.  It’s a documentary featuring stories and clips of classic Virginia late night horror show TV shows. The Taters have a song in the soundtrack, a menagerie cut called “Wolfman Told Me Tonight”, so you’ll want to get a copy of the film ! A lot of you know the song from our shows over the years, but this is the debut of the recorded version. On an inexplicable note, the website for Virginia Creepers lists our tune as a “romantic ditty” (??), so I don’t know what to tell you about that. Not a big Valentine tune to my way of thinking but hey, it made the cut so we’re happy!

Spread a little Tater around

Think about the last time you bought something from a friend’s recommendation, or because you read a review of a book, movie, album, whatever. Chances are that review or recommendation made more of an impact on you than any “official” advertising from the manufacturer. One of the most beneficial aspects of the web is this ability to spread “word-of-mouth” recommendations across a much larger audience.

Same is true with Tater tunes. We have all sorts of people who come to see us or buy the CDs because someone told them about us, or they read a recommendation from someone. You could be a big part of spreading the word about The Taters, not only by telling your friends but also by posting reviews of our music or shows on the web. Nearly every place that sells the music online - CD Baby , iTunes , Amazon , you name it - has some way for you to post reviews and comments. It would be a great help to what we’re trying to do (merely get every single individual on the planet to hear us) if you’d add some reviews of your own. Say whatever you like, tell about your favorite song on an album, what you like about the music, etc. If you use iTunes, make a playlist that includes the Taters music and share the list so others will find it! Every single voice helps, believe me!

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Overall I’m loving what everyone has come out with on this. There’s been a lot of work done by everyone, and I hope it shows.

or, sounds, I guess…

We’ve had dozens of shows over the last few months, and that’s kept us out of the studio quite a lot, but I’m hoping we’re nearly wrapped up on this. 4 shows this weekend, including a very fun “Christmas in July” day to help raise money and awareness for the Central Virginia Food Bank. We got to play a whole evening of Christmas tunes, in the middle of summer. Ho ho ho! We also got to do this with our pals from Offering, so we had the benefit of Jeanine’s beautiful voice and a whole stage of very talented players - even strings & flute, so we were truly culture filled! These folks did a beautiful job on the music, and with organizing the whole thing. Chris had a relaxing 15 hour day of setting up & running the stage sound, so I know he was wiped out by the end of it! A big Tater thanks, though, for all his hard work. Mike came down from Stafford to help out for the evening, we even pressed Cole into service, and everyone’s help was needed and appreciated. The event was by all accounts a big success, and I think the Food Bank got lots of donations and exposure.

OK, back to work. I’ll try to post some of the results of the mix later this week

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