Followers of the local music scene are no doubt familiar with the story of the Exploding Hearts: in 2003, the Hearts were poised to burst onto the national scene – when the band suffered a devastating car accident, killing most of the young band members.
But in the five years since that accident, the Exploding Hearts’ music has continued to impact the local music scene – and the life of Terry Six, the only member to survive the crash.
Six recently played a show at Slabtown with early Exploding Hearts songwriter/guitarist Louie Bankston (a junkyard punk legend in his own right). It was the first time Terry had performed Exploding Hearts songs in public since the accident five years ago.
OPB's Scott Silver has this profile:
August 8, 2008 at 7:12am by
This is just a general comment. Why don't you change the name of your station to portlandcelloradio.org? I can't seem to listen to your station without hearing their music over and over, and they are just trying way too hard. Mark Ronson's cover of "Toxic" is about a hundred times better than theirs, and for that matter even the Britney Spears version is more genuine and less artificially straining to be "hip" than this failed art school "experiment" in "makin' cellos cool, dude!" They just completely suck. I can understand this is a matter of taste, and I probably wouldn't even be this annoyed if you didn't have them on undeserved heavy rotation. Jeezus Crust.
August 8, 2008 at 7:20am by Jeremy Petersen
Thanks for the opinion!
I would like to add that the PCP album was only the 28th most played album on opbmusic in our most recent chart.
And what would you like to hear?
August 8, 2008 at 1:09pm by JM
Thanks so much for your interview with Terry. Its so good to know that he's still making music, as well as to know the Exploding Hearts music lives on.
August 8, 2008 at 11:44pm by
Hi, JP. Looking back on what I wrote, I was obviously taking out frustrations that had nothing to do with your station or Portland Cello Project on your comments section. Sorry for that to both of you. Thank you for running this station as otherwise there would be no music on Portland radio that I would remotely listen to. (I have an HD radio in my car.) Jerko signing out.
August 9, 2008 at 3:18pm by
The most fun I have ever had at a show in Portland was seeing the Exploding Hearts on a new years at the old satyricon. I was trashed and the band was awe inspiringly good. The loss of the Exploding hearts was absolutely tragic. Thank you for the great interview
August 9, 2008 at 4:25pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
OK this is annoying. Posts don't appear. Are they being screened?
August 9, 2008 at 4:27pm by Jeremy Petersen
Umm, no. Really?
I can see this one...
Try again?
August 9, 2008 at 4:30pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
Obviously not. That one was there in a second.
So to reiterate the lost post:
The item on Terry Six & the Exploding Hearts was good radio - not sure it should impinge on your show time though. the Exploding Hearts were good but not so great except to fans.
Blind Pilot are setting off on a 1000+ cycle tour again this time with the band! My interview with them is now posted at nonstarvingartists.com - find out what they would pick on a desert island...
As for PCP - I also thoroughly dislike the Toxic cover, a waste of time. The album is too diverse to listen to, which is a shame because some of it is splendid. I hope they focus in on something, even if it's Apocalyptica style.
August 9, 2008 at 4:47pm by Jeremy Petersen
...good but not so great except to fans.
Doesn't that describe pretty much everyone? For what it's worth, they did have the reviews to back up something more than an obsessed fan base driven release. We could have just hosted the piece here, but I thought it was good enough, and certainly pertinent enough to what we do, to have feature it on radio, too.
I don't think there were any grand statements looking to be made by the PCP and "Toxic." Seems people are expecting them to take themselves too seriously or something- they're doing the complete opposite with that one and taking abuse for it. They'd likely be the first to admit that it's something of a throwaway-- much like the original-- it doesn't change the fact that they (and especially the Gingerbread Patriots' John Brophy) nailed it for what it was. Just my take.
August 9, 2008 at 5:46pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
I agree, it was good radio. Just that your show is too little, not often enough on the actual radio waves...
The toxic debate is not a big deal to me, but if bands expect people to buy whole CDs (which they don't necessarily anymore with downloads) then... ah well, I've got the CD and can't get through a complete listen.
Here's a request - Anne Magnuson, "Some Kind of a Swinger" - she pre-dates Ween, is arguably responsible for creating them...
Keep up the good work JP
August 10, 2008 at 3:06pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
Wow! what a sequence to close the first hour of sunday 10th. Tinariwen sound outstanding in a genre that's seemed pretty full, then excellent Ween followed by the unmatched XTC - have you ever heard 'Complicated Game' by them? For me, one of the best ever.
August 10, 2008 at 3:21pm by Jeremy Petersen
Why, thanks-- "Complicated Game" is at the end of Drums & Wires, isn't it? I remember it vaguely, I'll have to revisit it.
Tried to track down the Anne Magnuson to no avail as of yet, so I figured a little Ween was in order in the meantime.
August 10, 2008 at 3:31pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
Thanks - I found most Ween albums funny but not persistently enjoyable (a bit like comedy albums) until recently - Quebec was both wit-full and listen-able throughout, didn't hear last year's release but that track you were playing about 'my wife and I enjoyed your party" is a gem, can't get over it.
That Ann Magnuson track is on The Luv Show (solo - not a Bongwater release) - exercise caution, there are tracks that would cause the FDC (?) to raise issue. There must be a playable track by her somewhere though!
btw, I just upped my Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter rating to 4, she's growing on me.
August 10, 2008 at 11:59pm by rockandrollbot
I can't get this to play in IE or Firefox; anyone else have troubles? Anyone have an MP3?
August 11, 2008 at 4:56am by Jeremy Petersen
Rockandrollbot--
Do you have flash installed? If you can't see a play "arrow" then that's likely the problem. Otherwise, is nothing happening at all when you click play?
August 11, 2008 at 7:37am by rockandrollbot
I have flash - I see the player (and have actually installed it before on my own sites) but it just sits there with no audio and says 0%. I can get the live stream to play fine (http://opbmusic.org/media/player.html)
I went to High School with those kids, so I would really like to give this a listen!
Thanks!
August 11, 2008 at 8:05am by Jeremy Petersen
This, from our most excellent web guy:
"Can he give any more information? I'd like operating system, browser version(s), flash plugin version (this is the likeliest culprit)."
August 11, 2008 at 4:27pm by karen
Ann Magnuson! Haven't thought about her Bongwater music in years. She was touring one of her many irony-filled comedic one-woman shows in San Francisco years ago when I was working in a PR firm there; we were PR reps for the show. Can't for the life of me recall the name of the show, though!
I assume that you've found her bio by now (to be found on her self-titled web site). She's a rather prolific writer and comedic actress--you'll recognize her from countless TV shows and films--and also, as mentioned, sang and wrote with Bongwater. Her range of talents is pretty remarkable. Her music would indeed be an interesting addition to the show.
Comments are now closed.