Attention everyone! Jason here. We just got done playing a midday show for the United Way in downtown Des Moines. It was a perfect day for a show on a plaza in the middle of a city. Hopefully we rocked everyone right out of their cubicles. It was an honor to be invited to play the event and hopefully it kicked their fundraising campaign off to a good start.

I have quite a bit of news for you in this installment of the blah blah.

1st. – I am playing solo tonight at the Peace Tree Brewery in Knoxville, Iowa. I dare you to come down for the show and not leave with a growler of some of the finest beer brewed anywhere. I start at 7:30ish.

2nd – Bad news. There have been rumors for some time that AK O’connor’s in Beaverdale would be closing. Those rumors have finally come to fruition. AK O’ Connor’s in Beaverdale will be closing next week. As many of you know we have had a singer songwriter series there every sunday night for the past 6 years. There have been many magical experiences over the years. To celebrate our run there Mike and I will both be playing the last nada nother sunday night, this sunday. (Sept 18th)

3rd – Good news! We will be continuing the Nada Nother Sunday night tradition at People’s Back Bar on Court Ave in Downtown Des Moines starting on the first sunday in October. Not sure who will be playing the first night but it will probably be everybody who has ever played who wants to continue to play Nada Nother Sunday. hint . . . hint. For more info go here.

4th – GREAT NEWS! We will be playing a full band weekend show at Peoples on Saturday, October 8th. Tickets are on sale now (with a very low fee) via Tikly — $15.00 in advance or $20.00 at the door.

5th – We still have quite a few open days for our east coast Rock The Rails – House Concert Tour. If you are interested in hosting a house concert email: thenadas@thenadas.com We have confirmed stops in Maine, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

6th – I’m a “Scenester“.

Love and Barley and Hops,

The Nadas

QOTW: What is your favorite craft brewed beer?

P.S. – There are some rumors floating around about us working on a new years show. They are true. more info to come soon.

Hello friends of The Nadas – Jason here with your weekly installment of what’s what. First, I feel it is important that I say my hair is unchanged and normal. There. I know you all feel better. I will implore mike to dye his hair back to his “normal” florescent blonde color ASAP so we can all rest easy.

I just got back from a field trip to the Neil Smith national wild life refuge in Prairie City Iowa. It is an amazing native prairie restoration area and it is a treasure for our state. There are wild buffalo and elk as well as one of the largest ecosystems in a national park in our country. Did you know the Monarch Butterflies are flying through Iowa right now on their 3000 mile migration from Canada to Mexico? Many of them stop at the Neil Smith prairie for some wildflower nectar. I hope you spend some time in a wild place sometime soon.

I am getting ready for a solo show tonight at the Gas Lamp in Des Moines, IA. And when I say solo show, it is actually a show with my new side project called The Lamplighters. This is our second show and we are working hard to become the house band there this fall and winter. The Lamplighters are made up of myself, and some of Des Moines’ (or even the world’s) best musicians. Darren Mathews on guitar, Neil Stoffregen on keys, and the Locker brothers on the rhythm section. We play my countryish Nadas songs, cool country covers and I am working on some new original country songs. Yes, I said country…but cool country. Hope to see you there tonight. No cover. Starts late, 10pm.

This week The Nadas are heading to Davenport on Friday night for a show at the Redstone Room. Then, in a stroke of routing genius, the kind only a person with a photographic memory for atlases could have, we are playing Saturday and Sunday at the Little Bear in Evergreen, CO. The whole reason for heading to Colorado this time was to play a festival on a lake on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of 9/11. That show has now been canceled for reasons too complicated and boring to explain. Thankfully, we still have the Little Bear shows to feed our need for performing that drives our lives.

If you aren’t at the show on Sunday, please tune into Iowa Public Television for a 10th anniversary 9/11 special. We performed a song for the special and then came into the studio and filmed it. We are very honored to be invited to be a part of this special.  The highlight of the experience was performing a song with the legendary Iowa opera singer, Simon Estes. If you don’t know who he is, google him. If you think his name sounds familiar, it is probably because we have played his namesake amphitheater every summer for the past 10 years. He is an amazing person. I hope you get a chance to see the show.

HOUSE CONCERTS – We got a great response from last week’s pitch for house concerts. It looks like as of now we will be playing in North and South Carolina, Maine, Pennsylvania, and maybe a stop in D.C., Chicago, and Beaverdale. Keep ‘em coming. Maybe we should start thinking about another west coast run early next year. Let us know if you are interested. email: thenadas@thenadas.com

Next week I will be playing a solo show at the Peace Tree Brewing Company in Knoxville, IA. Come for the beer, stay for the show.

QOTW – Where is your favorite wild place?

Love and purple cone flowers,

The Nadas

Earlier this week, on the spur of the moment, I decided to take one last summer vacation before the leaves turn and fall to the ground. “Where?” You ask?  Nowhere.  “Stay-cation?” You ask? Not really.  “What are you talking about, fool?”  “Get to the point!” You say?  “Quit wasting my time!”  Fine. I decided earlier this week to take a hair-cation.  It was time to get my hair cut and dyed again and the thought of doing so made me want to puke a little. So! I grabbed my trusty clippers and cut it all off.  I cut off three inches and all my blonde. This is Mike, by the way, but I bet you may have guessed that from the “blonde” comment.  I am used to being “the blonde one” I don’t mind being “the blonde one” I kind of like being “the blonde one”…I just need a small break.

Let’s start from the beginning of the blonde story: I was living in Ames during the summer of ’94.  It was 11 pm on a hot, June night and we had just gotten done watching Train Spotting. I thought Sick Boys hair was fantastic so Toft, Ellie, and I did what anyone would have done. We went to a 24-hour Walgreens to get blonde hair dye. Well, attempt one left me what can only be described as Ronald McDonald Orange. Trip two helped, and if I am not mistaken, trip three got me to the point that we could call it “acceptable.” Since then I have dyed my hair pretty much once a month.

If you are looking to go blonde here is my recipe perfected over more than a decade:

Start with L’Oreal Quick Blue Powder Lightner

Activate that with Salon Care 30 Volume Creme Developer

Shampoo in and leave for 45 grueling painful scalp burning minutes (note: the pain of this step goes away after about seven years of consistent hair bleaching)  (note two: I can’t feel anything at all above my ears.  I could be wearing a cowboy hat right now and not even know it.)

Lastly shampoo regularly with Clairol Shimmering Lights.  & Voila!

So now you are most likely asking, “Why is he bringing this up? Who cares?” Well this isn’t my first hair-cation.  I have done this a few times over the past 11 years (it is a wonder I am not completely bald) and people do not love it. Jason is at the top of that list.  If you see me, you may not like it.  Well tough cookies.  I am going natural for a little while. Let’s just let this Blah Blah be the 114 conversations about my follicles and move on.  I vow I will be blonde again before the snow flies.

This week we are playing Artsplash in Sioux City, Iowa. It’s an all ages show that starts at 9 pm. Tickets cost $10. We’ll see you at 1022 4^th Street!

Next week we will be playing the Redstone Room in Davenport, Iowa. This show tends to sell out so be sure to buy your tickets in advance at Tikly. After our show at the Redstone Room, we’ll be hitting the road to Evergreen Colorado for the weekend. Here are the details on that one:

Saturday, September 10, 2011 Little Bear Saloon
28075 Main St., Evergreen, CO
Set: 9:00 PM
21+
Tickets: $10.00

Sunday, September 11, 2011 Evergreen Big Chili Cook-Off @ Evergreen Lake House Grounds
Evergreen, CO
Set: 5:00 PM
All Ages

Sunday, September 11, 2011 Little Bear Saloon
28075 Main St., Evergreen, CO
Set: 9:00 PM
21+
Tickets: $10.00

IN COMPLETELY OTHER NEWS! Our fall 2011 Rock the Rails tour is coming together.  Do you live in the Northeast or South East?  Do you have an Amtrak station close to your home?  Do you want to host The Nadas Duo for a house concert?  See below for info and hit us up at thenadas@thenadas.com for additional information and to book.  We will be in the South East on or around October 13-15 and in the North East on or around October 20-22. Intrigued? Read on for more info…

Booking The Nadas Duo for a living room tour house concert:

For years folk singers have been including house concerts on their regular touring schedules.  It has taken a while but we rockers are just now figuring out how great these shows can be! As musicians, house concerts are a great change of pace and a much more intimate experience, both in playing and getting to know the host and guests.  Unlike many of the club shows you may be used to, these living room shows are all about LISTENING. :] We rarely use amplification so even two people chatting can quickly become louder than the performance. Putting on these “listening shows” is a lot of fun for us. But it’s not all about us! There are quite a few advantages as a host to having a house concert as opposed to going out to a club, where you are most likely used to seeing us play.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a night with our friends and not have to find a sitter, fight traffic, find parking, pay for parking, pay for dinner, pay cover, pay for drinks, check your watch and make it back in time for your curfew to pay for the sitter.  Living room shows bring the fun into your own home and lighten the expenses of a night out on the town.

*Hint: The key to a very successful living room show is setting your guests expectations that when the music is going on they should be prepared to listen.

So, let’s get some questions answered!

Where do you play these shows?  Only in living rooms?

Living rooms do tend to work really well but we have found that family rooms, basements, and the like, make the best listening experience.  Backyards, poolside, cul-de-sacs, community centers, and pretty much anywhere else work but have a less “listening” feel and usually require a PA system.

How do I get people to the show?

You invite your friends, family, and neighbors.  We can also open the show to other Nadas fans who live in your area.  Getting these other Nadas fans to the show is facilitated through our online channels with you having the ultimate say as to who and how many other fans can come.  There may be an opportunity to co-host the party with another person or couple or group in your area as well.

Where is everyone going to sit?

More people than you imagine can fit comfortably in a living room.  By moving around couches and furniture, bringing in chairs, tossing pillows on the floor, and by adding people standing on the fringe you can pack them in without feeling claustrophobic.  Look around your living room and start counting seats on couches and chairs.  Could you pull those couches and chairs away from the wall and put stools behind them? How many people can sit on the floor? Does your dining room open into your living room that if we position the entertainment right both rooms can be used?  Neighbors are a great resource for additional chairs as well as fold up camp chairs and patio furniture.

Do I have to cook all day and buy a bunch of refreshments?

NO WAY!  Almost always it’s a potluck situation with people bringing whatever they want to drink.

How much room do you need to set up the “stage”?

About the same amount of room as a love seat.

What time should we have the party and how long do you play?

Two 45-minute sets seem to work best in this situation.  As far as a timeframe, it’s nice to give people time to get home from work/daily activities before heading out to the show and be home by the time the news is over.  Many times it breaks down like this: 7 pm party starts, band plays from 8-8:45 and again from 9:15-10, at that point you kick everyone out or hang for a while or whatever!

How much?

Less than you probably think.

So, what do you say? Does a living room show sound like something you are interested in? If so, send us an email at thenadas@thenadas.com . We look forward to hearing from you.

Love and hair-cations,

The Nadas

QOTW: What is your worst hair-tastrophy?