Dixon News... Good and Bad...

The good news is Don Dixon has a book coming out. It's entitled "Songs 101 - The Lyrics of Don Dixon". The bad news is that Don says he is finished as a performer.

The book sounds cool. If you are a fan of Dixon's work and have always appreciated the lyrical content of his songs then this is a must have. Pre-order and Dixon says he will inscribe it to you or a friend. The page on his web site has all of the info and some early reviews. I'm ordering mine this weekend.

The blog entry on MySpace makes me sad.... and a bit mad. Sad for Don as I know how much he enjoys performing. I mean you can tell it when he is on the stage. I'm not sure he enjoys all of the BS and minutia he has to deal with beforehand but on stage has seems very happy. I'm sad because as a fan I know that I may not have too many more chances to see and hear him perform. I'm also sad because he seems to feel that way about his decision. In a few short sentences he talks about the fun he has had recently and that he will now have to quit doing what he loves.

I was at the arrogance @ 40 show in March. If you told me that night was Dixon was going to write in this blog I would have said you were crazy. The performance was good and everyone had a great time. If anything I would have expected to read about an upcoming show or 2. Not this. I can only hope that something will happen to change his mind. I'm sure we share many of the same medications as we both have a similar health condition. Get your doctor to check those meds Dixon. They can mess with you mind! Yes I can hope.... but in my heart I also understand. And THAT is what makes me mad.

In this digital world many of the things we are fond of are slipping away. Music may be one of them. It has never been an easy life. Most of the musicians on Comboland Radio have eked out a living but they never got rich. Most have had to get "day jobs" to support themselves. A few have been able to find other avenues in the music biz to keep them going. The digital download era we are now in has its pluses and minuses. It is easier to get your product out to the fans. It is also easier to make copies of the song and share them with friends, leaving the artist out. That is not good for anyone. Sure some people get free music but if that happens often enough the artist gets to the point where they can't make a living playing/writing music anymore and has to so something else. Playing at the size venues Dixon has been playing for the past few years won't make you rich either. There are costs involved in playing these gigs. A musician is also a business person. If you can't make a bit of money doing something then you are probably better off doing something else.

Another part of this that makes me mad is the belief I had that my generation would not be as much like those before and loose interest in music as we got older. Not all of us did... but the majority seems to have. I am not condemning anyone.... that's just the way it is. Life happens and interests and priorities change. It's happened before and probably will again.

Don Dixon, and many others, have given us all a gift. We will have their recorded music to listen to and enjoy. All of us arrogance fans have access to nearly everything the band recorded. If you don't own digital copies I encourage you to buy them now. Dixon's library is still mostly available. Buy those too and support his music. Any band you enjoy you should buy their music and urge your friends to do the same. Resist the urge to make copies. Your favorite bands will be around a lot longer if they can make a living doing what they love.

By the way Dixon and the Hanging Chads are playing in Charlotte on May 15th, Dixon Solo in Winston-Salem on May 22nd and in York, SC on June 6th, and with the Jump Rabbits are playing on June 12th. Go see Dixon if you can.

Max Indian, Cirkus, And More...

New to Comboland Radio's playlist is Max Indian. I read about their CD on Peter Holsapple's blog and decided to give it a listen. It's very good! Great hooks, neat lyrics. The recording itself is not what I am used to but it doesn't matter. The songs are good and the production quality may even be an enhancement of sorts. Still I would like to hear what Jamie Hoover, Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey or Don Dixon (or a combination!) could do in the studio with these guys. It is a good CD as it is and I am happy Peter wrote about it or I would not have known about Max Indian.




I have a backlog of stuff to add to the ever expanding playlist. I have been sitting on Will Rigby's CD for a while and finally got a couple of cuts in the database. I was contacted by the band "Blister" and hope to get some new Raleigh Punk on soon.




Cirkus has a reunion gig coming up on May 8th at The Brewery. They played A BUNCH all over the Southeast in the 70's and 80's. In talking with Sean and Steve I did not realize that very little recorded material exists from the band. The best example is from the WROQ LP of a live concert at Carowinds. There were 2 songs from each band which also included Sugarcreek, The Vandals, and a couple of others. The recording was excellent and I sure would know where the masters to THAT are!! I know they recorded a lot more songs than were released on that LP. The 2 Cirkus songs are hot, both are featured on Comboland Radio. If you want to hear some great NC Rock be at the Brewery May 8th and help original lead vocalist Steve Quinney celebrate his 60th birthday and take part in the Cirkus Reunion.



I continue to search for older Comboland music to fill gaps in the library. I had a bunch of stuff in my personal collection but not everything. It has been surprising how much I have been able to find, primarily on eBay. I never had a copy of the H-Bombs but found one and it is on the way!! It'll be on soon, maybe next week.'



I continue to search out new bands too. You can help out by suggesting one or two, of if YOU are a band member/artist just drop me an email. Remember Comboland Radio is devoted to the Rock music scene form the Carolinas, and we do spill over into Virginia. I also suggest that you spend a little time listening to the station to get an idea of the overall sound to see if you fit.



Listen to Comboland Radio often. Top Friend us and tell folks your songs are being played on Comboland Radio!!

There's GOLD in them thar LP's!!!

Stock prices are down. Real estate has hit rock bottom. BUT if you still have you vinyl copy of Arrogance's "Lively" it could be time to cash in!! I was checking on some items on eBay and came across an auction for this classic LP and the price... Buy It Now for $227.77! Click here if you don't believe me! Uh.... NO I am not the seller. It is complete... has the "Dogbreath" EP and the sheet from Notorious listing the other merchandise for sale. Now don't every body flood the market at once. That will just bring the price down! Then we'll have an LP recession and have to get a bailout. (Hmm... I may have just figured out a way to make some dough!) High prices for certain LPs and CDs aren't uncommon. A few years ago an IRS copy of Let's Active's Afoot/Cypress CD was going for nearly $200. The price came down to earth once this was re-released on the "Collectors Choice" label, where it is still available. Now... if $227.77 is a bit steep and you just want clean copies of the songs you can buy them at a VERY reasonable price from the Comboland Radio Music Store. Every Arrogance recording, except "Suddenly", is available as a high quality MP3 download.

I also found a vinyl copy of "Rumors" from Arrogance for sale at a more reasonable 19.99. The listing says the LP features the "ULTRA RARE MONSTER DRUM BREAK LP **LISTEN". Someone may need to educate me on this as it is new to me! The 5'11" CD is on eBay for $75, and there are several "Suddenly" LP's available but at very low prices. This seems odd as "Suddenly" is the Arrogance recording I get the most questions about, yet I see vinyl copies on eBay on a frequent basis. I bought a sealed copy a few years ago for 9.99.

And there is a vinyl copy of "Give Us A Break" for sale. Now this is rare and the price is $300. Again, if you just want the songs this LP is available as and MP3 download from the Comboland Radio Music Store and includes both sides of the extremely rare first Arrogance single.

So if you have a working turntable there are a few LPs available that you might be interested in. If not you may be sitting on a gold mine!

More Gigs!!!!

I just stumbled across this.... The Yayhoos are playing at Slim's Downtown in Raleighwood Saturday night, April 25th! This is one of the band's Terry Anderson plays with and they are HOT! I wish I could be there.... It will be packed so get there early!

The Embarrassing Fruits are playing in Wilmington TONIGHT at the Soapbox Laundro Lounge.

There will be a Cirkus reunion May 8th at The Brewery in Raleigh. This should be fun!!

Hear ALL of these bands and MANY others anytime on Comboland Radio!

Dillon Fence Plays The Cradle!!

Dillon Fence fans need to head to the Cat's Cradle this Saturday Night for the Mammoth Records 21st Birthday Party. Greg Humphreys and his band mates are getting together for the celebration! There will be other Mammoth artists appearing so go to the Cat's Cradle web site to get the info. Get tickets there too.

Greg has some additional gigs coming up both solo and with Hobex. 2 of the Hobex gigs are in Raleigh at The Brennan Station Concert Series on Saturday May 2nd, then at Bandtogether on June 6th at/in front of the Lincoln Theater. to to the Hobex web site and Greg's site for even more, including a stream of his most recent release "Trunk Songs".

Email me updates on what you have going on and I'll gladly pass the word. My crazy day job makes it nearly impossible at this point in time for me to search out info like this.

And... listen to Comboland Radio. Tell all of your friends and fans too so we can promote ALL of our music.

New Spongetones CD!!!

The Spongetones have a new CD out!!! The title is "Scrambled Eggs" and is on Jamie Hoover's "Loaded Goat" records. 13 cuts of new Spongetones material... and it's fab indeed!! Grab it from CD Baby along with other great Cd's from the Spongetones. My 2 faves are "All The Loving" and "Lost Weekend". As usual the musicianship and production on Scrambled Eggs is superb. Jamie Hoover has had a ton of practice in his production techniques but I continue to be amazed at how good his records sound. Even going back to the Sugarcreek stuff he did with Mark Williams his records have a rockin' sound that is not overdone. Loud but not harsh... full but not squashed. They sound great! Jamie is a prolific songwriter too and just keeps coming up with cool lyrics and great hooks. If you are new to the Comboland scene and the Spongetones the new record is a great place to start. Then you can start seeking out their catalogue items and Jamie's solo work, The Van Deleckies, The Jump Rabbits (with Don Dixon and Jim Brock) and you won't find a stinker in the bunch! Get Scrambled Eggs from the Spongetones today from CD Baby.

Comboland Radio is also playing new cuts from Hammer No More The Finger's new CD "Looking For Bruce". This is the second release from the 3 piece group from Durham. Their first CD got a bunch of airplay on CR and we are currently playing two cuts from the new CD in our "heavy current" rotation. This is a band you should have no trouble seeing live as their show schedule seems never-ending. Go to their MySpace page and just look at all of the gigs they have lined up between now and July.

I got an email from the Facebook Group for the dB's announcing that Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey will have a CD release show on June 27th at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. hERE aND nOW is coming put on Bar None Records and if the taste of it we got from the arrogance @ 40 show is any indication it should be great! Someone on the dB's message board gave a URL to a "micro-site" for the CD, and from there is a link to a new site Peter appears to be working on.

The Olympic Ass Kickin' Team has a batch of new shows to announce. Check out Terry's blog, the Doublenaught Records site or the MySpace page for details. I continue to enjoy the new "National Champions" CD and have turned on several folks to it. And they have actually gone to the website and purchased the CD!!! Uh... no I don't make copies for people because the bands/artists actually use the money they make on CD's to enable them to make new music for future CD's/downloads. And remember the CD "officially" goes on sale at Amazon tomorrow (April 21st).

HNMTF - The OAK Team - The Othermothers!!!!

The new CD from Hammer No More The Fingers is now out and available from the usual places. (I still prefer Amazon for downloads.) They have had some of the new cuts playing on their MySpace page for awhile so you may have heard some of the tunes already. Great CD!! Go download it now. Not only will you add some great tunes to your collection but you'll help out a great local band as well. You might even become a fan and decide to go see one of their many appearances! HNMTF is very active and usually playing somewhere. Maybe that's one of the reasons the level of musicianship is so good on their recordings. Download "Looking For Bruce" today!!

Speaking of Amazon I got an email from them today alerting me of the new CD from "Terry Anderson and The Olympic Ass Kickin' Team". They said I could pre-order it from them for the April 21st release date. I hope that went to a ton of their customers. Of course WE all know that the CD is already available directly from Doublenaught Records. This is another "must have" CD from a Comboland band.

The Othermothers are back!!!! Their lone LP "No Place Like Home" on the "Making Waves" label is a staple on Comboland Radio. They were early supporters of Comboland Radio and continue to keep us as a top friend. I really hate I will have to miss this show. It is April 11th (this Saturday... at least from the time this note was written) at The Green Bean on South Elm Street in Greensboro. Go see them!!

And remember these great bands and TONS of others are heard every hour of every day on Comboland Radio.