Exene Cervenka

This past spring, Exene Cervenka did a nifty tour of record shops up the West Coast.

It allowed her to play in the afternoon and really connect to her fans in a casual, FREE environment.

Amoeba Records in CA recently posted video of her performance there.  Check it out HERE.

Yeah, sometimes we find out things about our artists that make our tiny little monkey brains spin.  This would be one of them.  Exene Cervenka and Kevin Costner made a movie together way back when, with Dave Alvin and John Doe and a load of others.  Note the fundraising for Gulf Coast charities.

The Degree of Separation betwixt Bloodshot and Kevin Costner has shrunk to 1! Will a Nicolas Cage/Sally Timms duet album from 1986 be unearthed soon too?

From the Huffington Post: "Before he danced with wolves, Academy Award winning actor/director Kevin Costner made a never-before-seen movie  that's being released today after nearly 25 years in a vault: Bad Day, directed by the award-winning rock video director, Modi Frank, and photographed by punk rock queen, singer, poet and visual artist, Exene Cervenka, co-founder of the seminal band X. The duo are releasing the cowboy-themed short as a digital downloaded for a "you decide" amount. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Gulf charities providing aid to both people and the environment."

Have a peek at the trailer HERE

Spirit in the Dark
Monday, July 12 at 8:00

Featuring Yo La Tengo, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, Lambchop, Marshall Allen and the Sun Ra Horns, and Exene Cervenka with headliners the Blind Boys of Alabama

That's some serious star power.

The Blind Boys invite a variety of artists from rock's most cutting edges to bring their lyrical expressions of spirituality to the stage for an unprecedented musical dialogue. This unscripted musical adventure is an evening not to be missed.

For tickets and more information go HERE

Recently, Exene Cervenka stopped by the Philly studios of the venerable radio station WXPN to record an interview for its ongoing series, A Musician's Life. Exene talks to host Tracey Tanenbaum about moving to California, her MS, and talking about punk rock with Dick Clark.

Listen to it in our Giveaways section here.

Here's a grand interview with Exene Cervenka from the The Sunbreak in Seattle.  She talks about working with Ray Manzarek of the Doors, how X would jam to Carl Perkins tunes early on, why record stores are important, what her favorite albums are and so much more.  It's a great, informative read and, as we keep mentioning, that's getting rarer and rarer in the blogosphere.  There's even this little snippet that made us blush (for the record, we did NOT pay her to say this, or threaten her in any way.)

"Tell me a little about your relationship with Bloodshot Records. They're very akin spiritually to the vibe you've always been on."

Exene: "That's the first time I've ever heard of a record label being accused of spirituality--they're usually considered heartless bastards that everyone hates [laughs]. But not in the case of Bloodshot. Spirituality, indeed. They asked me to do a record, and I was thrilled to death, because I love Bloodshot Records, and they've been nothing but good to me. They really have worked hard. Everyone who works there is smart, intuitive, caring. I've done a couple of South-by-Southwests since I've been on Bloodshot. They just work their asses off to get this music out. They really believe in what they're doing, and they're awesome. Best label I've ever been on."

Last Saturday was Record Store Day, and by all accounts it was a rousing success all across the country.  Perhaps folks are coming to a greater realization that shopping for records is WAY more fun than downloading a bunch of ones and zeroes onto their hard drives in the bubble of their bedroom or office.

Several Bloodshot folks participated with in-store performances.  Here  are some field reports from the bands, fans and store owners.

SUPPORT LOCAL AND INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES!

We never like to bore you with the ins and outs of this weird little business.  Suffice to say that sometimes we run out of a title and call it out of print.   Then, years later, a distributor (usually some European partner cleaning out their warehouse after they go out of business or something) and they send back things to us we thought we'd never see again.

So it was this week.

ACT FAST, we now have a very limited number of three titles, two of which have been out of print for YEARS, and one LP that disappeared off the shelves in short order after its release last year:

EXENE CERVENKA Somewhere Gone LP

JON RAUHOUSE  Steel Guitar Air Show CD

GRIEVOUS ANGELS Angels and Inbreds CD-EP (man, this one's been unavailable since the Clinton Administration....)

In anticipation of Exene's West Coast Free In Store Tour, Orange Coast Magazine published THIS extensive profile and interview.  Exene talks about her move back to SoCal, the punk days and her creative process.

We like nice in depth stuff like this...

The legendary (and totally sweet, by the way) Exene Cervenka has confirmed a tour of the West Coast consisting entirely of FREE performances at record stores starting in April!

Why a tour of record stores and not clubs? Exene 'splains.....

"The reason I am touring independent record stores from San Diego to Seattle this April is that I want to play for free, to people of all ages, at a reasonable hour, in a place we love to be. I'm touring at my own expense, because I don't want the economy to stand between my music and people that might want to hear it. Yes, I hope I sell some aprons and a few cds, but bring your X records, the kids, shop independent, and let's have a party!" xo, exene

So, really, you have NO excuse not to come out and see an amazing performer, support your local store and mix and mingle with other folks of outstanding taste and quality.

Bummed that  your city and fave store isn't on this list?  Well, then, tell all your friends, family and total strangers you know on the coast to show up and make this a resounding success and she'll do more and possibly come your way!

Check out the dates HERE.