Music

Music Quick Hits | August 2017

Eric Christenson, photos by Luong Huynh |

Idle Empress
Idle Empress

Blugold Radio and the forthcoming Confluence Center announced a special show on August 25 to celebrate the coming school year and the center’s construction progress featuring Dames, Idle Empress, and The Heart Pills. This concert, which is at Haymarket Landing overlooking the arts center construction site, will be free and open to the public. However due to a 250 person capacity, attendees will need to make a reservation through Blugold Radio on their website. A ticket link will be in the banner at the top of the page. Tickets will be available on Thursday, August 10.


And speaking of Dames, the local band released their first new music in a few years with the debut of “Wrangler” in June and now the band (made up of Dan Boetcher, James Ignacio, Evan Middlesworth, Jeremy Holt, and Adam Harder Nussbaum) recently shared a second single called “Riding The Rails,” this time featuring some slick banjo, slide guitar, harmonica, and piano by Phil Cook. The song premiered on Blugold Radio’s blog in July, and you can hear it over at www.blugoldradio.org.


On October 17, a very special show at Pine Hollow Studio will bring together S. Carey and author Michael Perry for a night of storytelling and song at the remote studio outside of Eau Claire. Carey – the drummer of Bon Iver and a songwriter in his own right – will perform followed by some signature readings by Perry. Good luck getting tickets, though – they sold out in about 20 minutes.


Robinson & Rohe, a Brooklyn-based songwriting duo made up of Liam Robinson and Jean Rohe (the acclaimed writer of a new National Anthem) are releasing a new EP on Aug 17 called Hunger, a collection of songs about love and the land. Robinson, a former local, is excited to return to Eau Claire to play a show at the V1 Gallery shortly after the EP release on Aug. 25, along with local band LASKA.