recently featured posts we've got 410 articles so far

Blah Blah #072111 7,741

Jul21

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?

Blah Blah #071211 7,782

Jul12

Hello gang,

We are very much looking forward to another annual Nada traditon this weekend.  Our three day stint at The Little Bear in Evergreen, CO!  I guess at this point most of you are either planning to be there or not.  For those on the fence let me just say humbly that for some reason that I wish I could figure out, bottle, and take with me, but can’t, the Little Bear yields some of the greatest shows we play anywhere. For those of you who are planning to be there we look forward to seeing you. Our shows are 9 pm Friday and Saturday and somewhere between 8 on Sunday…we sort of overlapped a private party gig with Sunday so will be starting just a little later than advertised but promise to have you home in bed (if you want) by the time the news is over.

For you Central Iowa folks, come on out to Camp Dodge for a pool party today! (Tuesday, July 12)

 

UPCOMING

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Camp Dodge-Iowa National Guard

7105 NW 70th Avenue , Johnston, IA

Set: 6:30 PM

All Ages

Tickets: FREE

Friday, July 15, 2011 Little Bear Saloon

28075 Hwy 74, Evergreen, CO

Set: 9:00 PM

21+

Tickets: $12.00

Saturday, July 16, 2011 Little Bear Saloon

28075 Hwy 74, Evergreen, CO

Set: 9:00 PM

21+

Tickets: $12.00

Sunday, July 17, 2011 Little Bear Saloon

28075 Hwy 74, Evergreen, CO

Set: 8:00 PM

21+

Tickets: $12.00

Thursday, July 21, 2011 The Hub

402 Main Street, Cedar Falls, IA

Set: 8:00 PM

19+

Tickets: $12.00 adv/ $15.00 dos

Saturday, July 23, 2011 Des Plaines Summer Fling supporting 10,000 maniacs

Ellinwood and Miner Streets, Des Plaines, IL

Set: 7:00 PM

All Ages

Tickets: TBA

Sunday, July 24, 2011 RAGBRAI

Atlantic, IA

Set: 8:00 PM

21+

Tickets: TBA

 

QOTW:

What is your favorite summer tradition?  Did I already ask that?

 

Love and fresh mountain air,

Mike and the Nadas

Blah Blah #070711 7,780

Jul7

Hello Friends and Neighbors – Jason here with your weekly installment of Blah Blah Blah . . .

I trust you are all recovered from our nations birthday festivities. We had a wonderful show on the shores of one of Iowa’s most beautiful blue water lakes. We return this week to a show in our own home town. Well. technically Ankeny, Iowa is it’s own town. Ankeny is sort of like Texas, claims to be it’s own country but we all know it is part of the U.S.A. Ankeny claims to be it’s own town but I challenge you to tell me where Des Moines stops and Ankeny starts on highway 69. Anyway, we are very much looking forward to returning to Ankeny Summerfest this Friday night for our second year in a row. Our good friend, Liz Clark, from Denver by way of Ireland will be doing a short set before us and there is more music and other activities all weekend long. Including Ankeny’s own version of American Idol. uhhhemm, Ankeny Idol. See what I mean. I have been asked to be a judge of this fine competition. I couldn’t be less qualified. I am terrified of karaoke, I have never watched the show, and I am not very good at the old adage “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. I am furiously watching old reruns of past seasons and channeling my inner Randy Jackson, while trying not to let my Simon Cowell show. Honestly I could use a little more Paula Abdul in my public persona. I will be working on that Sunday night. The Ankeny Idol contest will be held Sunday, July 10 at 7 pm in the Northview Stadium. I will be a “celebrity Judge” along with Colin Peterson from the Dead Yellow Canaries as well as a couple of other “celebrities”.

Summer School continues every Thursday at Saints Pub in Beaverdale tonight with 2 for 1 drink specials for teachers and I will be playing music and teaching you everything I know.

Next Tuesday, July 12, we will be playing the Adjutant General’s Summer Concert Series at the historic Camp Dodge pool complex, 7105 NW 70th Avenue, in Johnston. I feel like we should be saluting or covering our hearts with our hands while writing and reading this. This is a very cool thing that the National Guard has been doing this summer at a very cool venue. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. Please bring your lawn chairs. Picnic baskets are welcome, and concessions will be available for purchase. In the event of inclement weather, concerts will be rescheduled, if possible.

Next week we will be in Evergreen, Colorado for our annual Summer Camp 3 day stint at the Little Bear. More on that next week.

Love and Summer Festivals,

The Nadas

 

QOTW – What is your favorite summer festival?

Blah Blah #063011 6,493

Jul1

So from time to time we get to play one of our songs written about a certain day or certain event ON that day or FOR that certain event i.e.: “New Years Eve” on New Years Eve, “St. Pattys Day” on St. Pattys Day, “Here Comes Christmas” at Nada Silent Night.  Less obvious but still fun, “Walk Away” at a Pinks taping, “Templeton Rye” at the State Fair (a state fair romance) “Run in Place” perched precariously on a canyon wall and on and on as my illustration gets thinner and thinner.  I feel like I am forgetting one though….an obvious one…hmmmmmm…. OH…. WE FORGOT TO PLAY “RIVER” AT OUR ANNUAL RIVER SHOW!!  oops.  My most sincere apologies.  To make up for it  we have decided to play a show on the river next June and do that song.  Stay tuned.

We head up north this Friday to Okoboji, my childhood stomping grounds, for another annual show at Arnolds Park Greenspace.  This is a free all ages show so come one come all!

Jason emailed me to see if I could include a note about his weekly residency but wouldn’t it just be easier for me to copy and paste that?

“Hey Mike, when you write the Blah Blah to our fans could you please tell them that my weekly summer school show at Saints Pub in Beaverdale will be delayed by 1hr and start at 8:30. I wouldn’t want my students sitting around waiting for me. Also the reason for the delay is I am playing a “Locally Grown” event at Back Country outfitters. starting at 6pm. Thanks. Write well.”

thanks

jason”

My favorite part is the double thanks there at the end!  Thank YOU Jason and good luck at your Beaverdale super tour.

THIS JUST IN: We booked our release show for the kids record Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed.  It is going to be really cool thanks to a partnership with a very cool venue.

Here are our upcoming shows:

Saturday, July 2, 2011 Arnolds Park Green Space

37 Lake St, Arnolds Park, IA 51331 (United States)

Set: 7:00 PM

All Ages

Tickets: FREE

Friday, July 8, 2011 Ankeny Summer Fest @ Ankeny Summer Fest

1210 NW Prarie Ridge, Ankeny, IA (United States)

Set: 8:00 PM

All Ages

Tickets: FREE

QOTW:

What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever forgotten?

Mike- I forgot to zip up my fly in front of 2000 people at a show in Sioux City and my mom walked to the front of the stage and told me.

 

Love and summer,

The Nadas

Blah Blah #062111 7,868

Jun22

Hello dedicated readers of the Blah Blah and listeners of The Nadas. This is the big week. The big week of our something annual Nadas on the River show. This show is one of our highlights of the summer. Simon Estes Amphitheater is a beautiful setting for any show and ours seem to be particularly magical on the river. I fondly remember one year when it started to rain as Mike sang “take a walk in the rain” during the song Dancing Lucinda. Not only did people stay and listen even though it was raining, several audience members came up on the stage and help umbrellas over our heads to keep us from getting electrocuted. This year the weather and the river look to be cooperating. Please consider buying your tickets in advance with Tikly. https://tikly.co/dsm/index.php/event/live-music/nadasontheriver.html Purchasing them through Tikly saves you 4 bucks from buying them at the door, and insures that you will get in if the event sells out. We have our fingers crossed. Doors are at 7, show at  7:30. Our good friend Mary McAdams is opening the show.

Note- you will likely receive an email that indicates you will receive your tickets in the mail. This is false– you actually can just show up and we will have a list of names of pre-sold tickets via Tikly. Oh, the Internet.

I am also excited to tell you about a few of solo shows I have this week. Yes I am playing a large number of solo shows lately. I am really enjoying it, but also I am trying to keep my chops up since our schedule is a little lighter due to the recent baby boom in our band.

Wednesday – 6/22 – The Gas Lamp – Show starts at 10pm. I am very excited about this new place in town. It is the former home of Blues on Grand. They have totally remodeled the place into an vintage feeling urban honky tonk. I am happy to be playing here and also for the scene they are building for the Americana genre in our city.

Thursday – 6/23 – Summer School at Saints Pub in Beaverdale – This is the 3rd week for a fun weekly music series that is turning into a sort of service industry night for educators of the Greater Des Moines area. Saints has 2 for 1 drink specials for teachers and administrators and those that shape the minds of our youth who are off for summer break. We also give a quiz and give prizes every week. Music Starts at around 7:30pm.

Sunday – 6/26 – I am back at AKs in Beaverdale for Nada Nother Sunday. We have had some great acts on sundays this summer and have many more to come. In the mean time, it’s me.

Reminders from last week . . .

ROCK THE RAILS WHISTLE STOP ACOUSTIC HOUSE CONCERT TOUR PART 2. We will be heading through the midwest and up and down the east coast this fall. We will be doing runs in Sept, Oct, and Nov. Many of you expressed an interest in hosting one of these concerts when we announced it last fall. Many of you followed along as we headed out west and up the coast to the pacific northwest. If you live near AMTRAK and would like more information on hosting a house concert this fall, please email. You can check out some of the posts from last years trip on the rock the rails facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rock-the-Rails-with-The-Nadas/113497748711155 If you attended or even hosted last year please post comments that might start the discussion with the east coasters. We have started an event to discuss tour stops as we book and announce them.  So far we are talking to Atlanta, Raleigh, Chicago, and we have had some interest from Maine, Michigan and a few others. Need help building some momentum for this folks.

BRIGHT EYED AND BUSHY TAILED, our new kids record, is available for pre purchase now. If you want to pre purchase your copy of “Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed” go here:  http://store.authenticrecordsonline.com/category_s/187.htm

 

Love and crossed fingers,

The Nadas

 

QOTW – Do you have something you do for good luck?