HAPPY CASIMIR PULASKI DAY!
March 5th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Put on your Polka dots and broil a few sausages! It’s Casimir Pulaski Day! Who was this Polish American War General and why do we have so many bridges and tunnels named after him? Good questions. Outdated biographies and internet history sites tells us this much:
Born into a wealthy family in Poland in 1747, Casimir Pulaski, as a young man, fought for freedom from Russia in his homeland until 1771, when he was exiled to France. In Paris he met American envoy Benjamin Franklin, who influenced him to help Americans fight for their independence. Washington was so impressed with Pulaski’s abilities during the Battle of Brandywine Creek that he recommended the Continental Congress appoint Pulaski as general of the American cavalry. In 1778, Pulaski organized an independent corps of cavalry and light infantry known as the Pulaski Legion. It is reported that he spent $50,000 of his own money to help train and equip his troops.
"I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it," wrote Casimir Pulaski to George Washington in a letter in which he offered his military services to America during the Revolutionary War. He proved true to his word. At age 32, his heroic death at the Battle of Savannah on October 11, 1779 was received with sorrow across the land. General Pulaski’s life represents the dedication of countless Americans of Polish and other ethnic origins to the principles of personal liberty and independence, which have always defined the spirit of the United States of America.
Amen, brother!
Fast Fact: Illinois is the only state to officially recognize Casimir Pulaski Day, which falls on the first Monday of March. School is out!
In celebration, we’ve decided to post an early home demo of the song “Casimir Pulaski Day,” from Sufjan’s Illinois album, with clumsy banjo and slightly different lyrics. Q. What does the speaker consider doing “when your father found out what we did that night?" A. Pulling his hair and kicking him in the face! Woah. We’re not condoling violence in any way. But perhaps Casimir Pulakski, a remarkable fighter, would approve.
RAFTER: STILL LOVING IT
March 3rd, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Just over two weeks ago, we particpated in the great experiment that was the Rafter Half-Week of Love. To celebrate the release of his Music for Total Chickens, and St. Valentine’s Day, we posted some kind of content each day, be it a song, video, or sidebar. Lost At Sea Magazine even interviewed him!
The half-week ended – too quickly, as half-weeks often do – but that doesn’t mean Rafter has stopped his loving! He sent this sidebar that is half invitation, half exhortation, treatise, and all love! Love on, Rafter. Love on.
AKRADIO: NOW WITH MORE SXSW THAN EVER
March 1st, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
A couple of weeks ago we launched AKRadio, our new internet music player accessible via the link you see just below our logo. We started with a few Rafter cuts, but promised more content. We love to follow up on promises, and so, without further ado, here is a new playlist stocked with SXSW goodness. This carefully crafted playlist features artists from our upcoming Austin, TX showcase, who have generously provided some exclusive content accessible only on AKRadio.
We are also pleased to announce that our showcase is now sponsored by both Daytrotter and KTRU Houston. KTRU Houston will also be sponsoring our Unusual Animals Day Party. See the tour page for more details.
The playlist includes:
- Performances from My Brightest Diamond and Castanets for Daytrotter, a sponsor of our showcase (thanks Daytrotter!)
- A Castanets cover of “Like a Pen” by the ever-popular Scandinavaian band The Knife
- Shapes and Sizes provide an outtake from their forthcoming album “Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner,” due May 22nd
- Rafter offers up the previously unreleased track "Yum Yum”
- A cover of a Baby Dee song from Austin’s Weird Weeds
- "Daemon Meeting," a previously unreleased track by K-Records artists Old Time Relijun
- A two song introduction to the up-and-coming Austin band The Field Guides (they’ve even penned a recent sidebar entry, which you can read here)
KATIE JUNG: SHAPES AND SIZES
February 23rd, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
The video of Shapes and Sizes’ "Jinker/That Fat Hand" is crafted by Katie Jung. The song is available on the Unusual Animals Shapes and Sizes Vinyl Series Volume 1. This exclusive 7 inch is only available in two places: from our mail-order, or from Shapes and Sizes themselves! Hey, they’re stocked with exclusives; they also have a limited print tour EP somewhere in those merchandise boxes. Catch them, this 7 inch, and the exclusive EP on their tour with the Castanets.
ASTHMATIC KITTY AT SXSW
February 19th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty Records is packing our bags and headed to Austin TX this March to join 100’s of labels and 1000’s of bands and 10000’s of music lovers (and several drunks) for the annual SXSW. This year we are pleased to announce that we will be throwing both a showcase and a day party. We even went all fancy and commissioned artists Jared Chapman and Laura Park to draw up some rubberneck-worthy posters.
March 15, 2007
Emo’s Lounge
600 E 6th St. Austin TX 78701
Asthmatic Kitty in conjunction with Daytrotter.com present “GREAT CAESAR’S GHOST:
[Download Laura Park’s poster (PDF) ]
8:00 – The Field Guides (self-released)
8:45 – Weird Weeds (Sounds Are Active)
9:30 – Old Time Relijun (K Records)
10:30 – Rafter and Friends
11:30 – Shapes and Sizes
12:30 – Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond (solo-acoustic)
1:15 – Castanets
Asthmatic Kitty & Friends present Unusual Animals
Saturday, March 17th – 1:00pm-8:00pm
Okay Mountain Gallery (1312 E Cesar Chavez)
[Download Jared Chapman’s poster (PDF) ]
Peter & the Wolf
Castanets
The Weird Weeds
The Shivers
The Theater Fire
W-S Burn
Field Guides
with DJ Future Rapper and video art between sets.
CASUAL (RAFTER LOVE) FRIDAY; AKRADIO LAUNCHES
February 17th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We have had this little old virtual web radio sitting around for a while. We call it AKRadio. Behind the scenes, we’ve been quietly soliciting tracks from our artists, getting a live cut here and a b-side there, slowly building a library of interesting sounds to broadcast over these virtual airwaves we call Internet.
Since it is The Rafter Half-Week of Love, and we realized we should launch AKRadio before the World Wide Web moves to holo-mp3s and leaves us in the lonely dust of obsolescence, we figured we should probably launch this. We asked Rafter if he had anything sitting around. Of course he did, gifting us with some rare tracks he recorded in 1997. That’s ten years ago. Besides, it’s Casual Friday out there on the cubicle front, and that means lots of good people need a little something to get them through the day.
You can access AKRadio by clicking on the the link at the top there, just beneath our banner. We’re starting with some Rafter tracks, but we will rotate out and add new tracks from other artists later on. Until then, enjoy the streaming Rafter goodness!
STITH CONTINUES THE RAFTER LOVE
February 17th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Master remixer David Stith, available via the web and MySpace, recently contributed a haunting remix to My Brightest Diamond’s Tear it Down. But he couldn’t resist adding to the Half-Week of Rafter Love with his own poppy rendition of the Music for Total Chickens track "merchandise." Download the mp3 here. Thanks for the Rafter Love, David!
RAFTER A STAR IN AUSTRIA, PICKED UP BY FREE AGENCY
February 16th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
What a week for Rafter! Just when you thought things were slowing up, Rafter has been invited to play the Vienna Festival in Austria on May 25, 2007. He will be playing at Radiokulturhaus with fork&knives and Baby Zithers.
Also, we are happy to announce that Rafter has been picked up by the Free Agency Booking. He joins an incredible roster of artists including Slim Moon, BARR, Wooden Wand, Excepter, Jana Hunter and labelmates Castanets.
RAFTER VIDEO CONTEST HONORABLE MENTION
February 16th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
As we mentioned before, we would like to showcase some of our favorite entries for the Music For Total Chickens video contest. Here is one by chussell.
RAFTER VIDEO CONTEST QUANTITY PRIZE RUNNER-UP
February 15th, 2007 , by Asthmatic Kitty
With an impressive 8591 views (at last count), we would like to honor this video as the Quantity Award runner-up. These two energetic young woman know the true meaning of rocking out, viral marketing, and tagging with integrity! Hurray for kitty8joe.