Hey y'all.  Just got out of my final (aced it) and won't have to go back to school until the fall.  I just wanted to drop by to say congratulations to all of this year's winners of the 2008 Detroit Music Awards.  I didn't get a chance to attend myself (missed The Nuge dammitalltohell), but I wanted to give special congrats to some of my long time faves such as Ty Stone (outstanding rock/pop artist or group et al), Nadir (Outstanding Urban / Funk Vocalist et al), Billy Brandt (Outstanding Folk Artist / Group et al), Dave Feeny (Outstanding Country Instrumentalist), Rachel May (who should get an award for most consecutive awards - who does hold that record?), DJ Linda Lexy (Outstanding Electronic/Dance DJ), Liz Larin (Outstanding Electronic / Dance Writer Producer), Vinnie Dombrowski & Crud (Outstanding Rock/Pop vocalist, Rock/Pop Songwriter, Industrial Artist) and Luke Sayers (Outstanding Acoustic / Folk Recording) and to The Hard Lessons (Outstanding Live Performance).  To all those above and all the other DMA winners, sincere congrats to you all.

See ya 'round,

Mitch

"The Night Before Fathers Day" will be an acoustic celebration featuring local Fathers and their children performing songs for the sake of mothers with cameras creating memories. FREE admission for all on Saturday June 20 2009. So far I have 2 coffee houses locked in.

The Plymouth Coffee Bean in Plymouth MI from 8 to 11pm and Solid Grounds Coffee House in Northville MI from 6 to 9pm. Instantly I've received a dozen requests from fathers that want to participate. I didn't even advertize yet. This might be an interesting focus on a healthy Metro Detroit scene that is rarely seen. The Detroit area has a rich musical heritage of all styles. Acoustic music is spread throughout our Blues, Jazz, Rock, Country, Gospel, R&B, Hip Hop, Motown, Reggae, Dance, Metal, Punk, Rap, Polka, Eastern, Ethnic, ect… every single guitar player no matter what style occasionally plays an acoustic-something for self enjoyment. And many fathers simply play guitar yet have never performed on a stage for an audience.

DetroitRockReview.com Presents a Dr2 Music Showcase featuring a full line-up of some of Michigan’s Best Rock Bands Saturday April 18th at The Hayloft in Mt Clemens. Detroit Rock Review otherwise known as Dr2 is an on-line local music site that covers not only Detroit area bands and music, but reaches out to bands all across Michigan offering their  “Dr2 Views” on CD’s & Live Shows. This showcase, their first, will feature the music of Lies Unknown who has been called one of the best new rock bands in Detroit, along with another up & coming band from Houghton Lake, HERD. Also on the bill will be the soulful, Detroit party band, The Beggars along with the indie blues rock of The Vamps. The Hayloft is located at 140 N. Main, in Mt Clemens. Doors @ 8pm, 18+.

Your press release will begin in a moment ... Be sure you click on Read More to see MB Rick's comments when you are finished reading this press release. Now back to your regularly scheduled press release ...

Eddie Leighton, is the lead guitarist of the band "Leighton". Eddie has been in bands, and projects, all around the great state of  Michigan, for many years. Eddie currently has the number one song in the Blues category in world on Broadjams website. The song is called, "Something about love"

Check it out at: Something About Love On BroadJam

Eddie also has six songs in the top ten in Michigan.

Check it out: Michigan Top 10 On BroadJam
Check out the Leighton band website at: www.leightonband.net

This concludes your regularly scheduled press release. Please click on read more to continue ...

Well, this is what you have been waiting for ....
We'd like to introduce Blue Coyote's New Lead Singer .... Brenda Loomis.
This is our new single: "Raising My Standard"

We just found out that we have been nominated for an award by the International Country Music Association. The award we are nominated for is the "TRAIL BLAZER" award for our song "LIGHT IN THE WINDOW." You can visit www.radiocountry.org and then click on the button "about us" to read all about the International Country Music Assoc. Thanks to all of our families for the sacrifice's they've made. WE LOVE YOU!!! We couldn't of done it without your love and support. Brenda, Scott, Bob, Gregg, Dave & Paul

Eclectic, brooding, manic, lyrically-flooded, melodic, sleepy, and occupying his own little world (to which you are welcomed).

The debut release from Melvyn Bernard, The Life You Thought You'd Have, was written, recorded, and mixed in two weeks for rpmchallenge.com, solely with many tweaked layers of acoustic guitar and vocals (the remix doesn't count). Future output will most likely have more. Or less.

All songs are streaming and for free download at alonetone.com.

Even fewer songs can be heard at the Myspace page.

It would appear that Radio Free Michigan is no longer broadcasting. I've checked the site several times over the past couple of weeks and the stream is unavailable. I've received no response from an email sent to them through the contact form on their website which is still active, but the playlist on their site has not been updated.

Hopefully this is only a temporary interruption in service. The station focused exclusively on Michigan Indie music and was a great promotional tool for independent artists from this state

The owners of Radio Free Michigan have not posted any information regarding the interruption of broadcast on their website so any speculation as to the cause would be just that; speculation. We can only hope that they can resume broadcast in the near future.

Michigan Bands ran an article on Radio Free Michigan back in January giving kudos to the new Internet radio station. We will keep you posted if we hear anything.

Jill Sobule asked her fans for help in financing her new album. Jill’s approach successfully raised all of the money she needed for the project through donations. There are lessons to be learned that could help finance your next project. Read on ...

I was listening to Marketplace, a financial show, on Michigan Radio earlier this week and they did a feature on Jill Sobule.

Jill has had significant success over the years. Don Henley asked her to open for him on one of his solo tours. Her albums have been produced by notables such as Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson. Over her career she has released 7 albums with multiple labels (MCA, Atlantic, Artemis, Apple - The Beatles not the computer) and her songs have been included in numerous movies including Clueless (1995) and Mystery Men (1999).

Jill's most recent label, Artemis Records, folded leaving her in the position of finding another one. The record industry as a whole has been dealing with slumping sales for quite a while and the present state of the economy has only made things worse. Many labels are facing tough times and some are going under. That left her with few options. If she was going to continue making records she would have to take matters in her own hands.