Hello all you blueberry pie baking, cow chip throwing, pumpkin growing, yodeling, tractor pulling, chainsaw carving, craft beer brewing, sheep shearing, sky gliding, stick food eating, ferris wheeling, music listening State Fair attending Nadas fans! Jason here. It is that time of year again. Today is the first day of the 2011 Iowa State Fair. I can almost guarantee you that I will eat no less than a bakers dozen of pork chops over the next 2 weeks. We are excited to be playing the first three nights of this year’s Fair. We are playing 2 shows a night at 7 and 9 pm. The Fair is an incredible study in the culture and history of our state. I highly recommend that you dig deeper than the usual food on the stick and midway rides. If you look a little harder there are so many examples of the amazing skills and talents: world-class livestock and produce, ingenious products, and amazing art that is produced in our state. I would also recommend Kyle Munson’s sour kraut competition taking place on Sunday morning. I am so excited for the fair that not only am I playing the first three nights on the Anderson Erickson stage, I am also playing every other night next week at the Birds Nest Acoustic Stage. For those of you who have been attending summer school at Saints pub on Thursdays we will be field tripping to the Birds Nest for the next two weeks. Come early and check out the butter cow!

Also, we recently started using a great text messaging service by the name of Catchwind. We are excited to stay in touch with you via text and send you some friendly reminders and deals from time to time. If you would like to be a part of our text messaging list, go ahead and text “NadasFan” to 72466.

For State Fair focused Nadas info, text “Nadas on a Stick” to 72466! We will be running special deals and contests throughout our shows.

We are very excited to announce the release of our long awaited (by us) kids record, Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed. We had a very successful launch party last Saturday at the Des Moines Science Center. Thanks to everyone who made it out. If you didn’t make it, check out this video for a taste of the fun. Our good friend, Ian, from 515 productions produced the video:

http://youtu.be/oC6nbLE_k4A

If you are interested in getting yourself or your children a copy of the new record it is available at http://store.authenticrecordsonline.com If you are in the Des Moines area it is also available at Beaverdale Books, Grounds for Celebration, and Backcountry Outfitters. We will be putting it in more stores as time goes on. In the mean time, please share the video and the link to our store with any of your friends with kids who might like it. We are only promoting this record by word of mouth so please pass it on.

Upcoming Shows -

8/11 – 8/13 – Iowa State Fair – Anderson Ericson Stage – 7pm and 9pm showtimes.

8/14 – 8/18 – Jason Solo – Birds Nest Acoustic Stage – set time TBA (Immediately following the main stage acts)

8/13 – Ames Straw Poll – For more information about this show go here: http://iowastrawpoll2011.com/

Love and Pickle Dogs,

The Nadas

QOTW – What is your favorite state fair food?

Buy your copy of Bright Eyed And Bushy Tailed now through the Authentic Records Online Store! Click on the album artwork below to purchase a hard copy of the CD.

For a digital download of the album, go here.

Thanks!

Love and new music,

The Nadas

Llllleeeeeetttttsssss gggeeeeeetttt rreeeeaadddy toooooo rummmmmbleeeeeeeeee!  I am not sure if that is how you spell that but…let’s get ready to rumble!  By “rumble” I, of course, mean play our CD release shows for our new kids record Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed at the Science Center of Iowa this Saturday Aug 6th!! (You can tell I am excited by the number of exclamation points I have already used in this blah blah.) We are playing three shows each to be followed by a scientific demonstration that will have musical ties to it.  Regular Science Center admission gets you in the door for the shows and to run around and burn off steam in the Science Center.  We play at 10 am (possibly our earliest show to date) 1 PM and 3 PM. Hope to see you there!

Here is the commercial that SCI is running to promote the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qe2rh5yg1M

Here are a few upcoming shows we have on our roster…

8/5: Mankato Rib Fest @ Verizon Wireless Center – Supporting Big Head Todd and The Monsters

Set: 8:00 pm, 21+

8/11, 8/12, 8/13: The Iowa State Fair Anderson Erickson Stage

Set: 7:00 pm, All Ages

8/13: Iowa Straw Poll—Join Team Pawlenty for a free show, free Famous Dave’s, and free Dairy Queen. Transportation is available from locations all over Iowa.

Set: 10:30 am – 1:00 pm, All Ages

Hope to see you this weekend and the next!

The Nadas

QOTW: What is your favorite thing about the Iowa State Fair?

Howdy Folks – Jason Nadas here. I just got back from riding three days of RAGBRAI (The Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). If you aren’t familiar with RAGBRAI check this out: http://bcove.me/w3f1xf4k The whole band played a show Sunday, in Atlantic, for a crowd of around 10,000 exhausted, sunburned and sweat drenched riders. It was a great night. I left bright and early the next morning on a bicycle and road the next three days for a total of 204 miles. I road with a different team every day and played acoustic “campfire” shows each night. It was awesome and I hope to do it every night next year. Good luck to all of my fellow riders who are still out there peddling their way across our fine state. Check out the Nadas Facebook page for some of the coverage: http://www.facebook.com/thenadas — We should be adding more pics and videos in the coming days.

Other Nadas goings ons…

Summer School continues every Thursday at Saints Pub in Beaverdale. Thanks to Josh Sinclair for substitute teaching for me last week. This week continues as normal with 2 for 1 drink specials from 7-10 pm and me playing music at 7:30.

Tuesday I will be playing a songwriter night in Nashville, TN at the Family Wash. My set is at 9 pm. This is my first time playing solo in Nashville. I am pretty much expecting to be “discovered” and quickly become a country music star.

Next week we are playing another show with BIg Head Todd in Mankato MN and we will be releasing our new kids record “Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed” at the Des Moines Science Center.

Here is a video commercial for the SCI event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qe2rh5yg1M

Love and saddle sores,

The Nadas

QOTW – What is the farthest you have ever ridden a bicycle?

Hello Friends of The Nadas. Jason here.  I’m spending the day on Spoitfy. It is crazy and cool and perplexing. It might be the future of music, but it reminds me of the old days of napster when you could find out what your friends were listening to. You could find new music and new “friends”.  I found our music on there which I am happy about, although I’m not sure how it got on there or if we will be paid for it to be there. That is the future of music . . . . it will be free and everywhere, Just not sure how we will be able to afford to make it. Enough about spotify, we have a lot going on this week. Are you ready? Wait, first I have to tell you all what a wonderful time we had at summer camp at the little bear in Evergreen, CO last week. Colorado is full of true music fans, many of whom have become good friends. I only hope those of you who came out for 1, 2 or 3 nights had as much fun as we did. I know some of you walked there from your home in Evergreen, some of you drove or flew across the country, either way we thank you. We should do it again next year.

On to the business ahead…

Tonight (Thursday) we will be playing The Hub in Cedar Falls for our only Cedar Falls show of the summer. Should be a great night in CF. We have missed you.

For those of you attending summer school at Saints in Des Moines, we will have a substitute teacher. Josh Sinclair from Little Mojo and Hollywood Burnout will be teaching class.

Saturday we will be opening for 10,000 maniacs in Des Plaines, IL. That is big time folks. I mean 10,0000 maniacs is big time, we are just opening, but . . . still fun to play on a big stage in front of muchos personas.

Sunday we will be joining RAGBRAI or the (Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. We are providing the party for Atlantic, IA. Ragbrai is an annual bike ride from one side of the state to the other that covers about 500 miles in a week. We have been playing it every year and it is soooo much fun. We just pop in, play a show, and then head out. I am always envious of the people who are biking their way across our beautiful state. This year I decided I would pack my guitar on my bike and ride along for a few days. See if I can at least make it home. I am going to play a few shows along the way and play a “campfire acoustic” show for a different team every night. I will be tweeting and posting to facebook and occasionally streaming when time and cell signal allows if you would like to follow along. Should be pretty interesting.

Coming soon! The release of our Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed Kids record on 8/6. More to come. . . .

Love and Spandex shorts,

The Nadas

QOTW – How can I attach my guitar to my bike for hundreds of miles?