FAREWELL TRANSMISSION RADIO

*JUST ANNOUNCED* S. CAREY & FRIENDS SUMMER RESIDENCY Artist residencies are not uncommon in the music world at large, but are a rare model for Eau Claire. That’s why it is exciting to announce the first ever summer residency at the newly re-imagined Robert Manz Gibson Street Entry with EC’s own @scareypics . Over three Sunday evenings in June and a final Friday performance in July, Carey will be joined by friends local & not-so-local to perform takes on the S. Carey discography alongside more improvisational explorations. Each of these four shows will be wholly unique featuring different setlists played with different guest musicians, and it’s all taking place in the area’s newest ALL AGES listening room. Sean Carey is a celebrated artist & producer based here in Eau Claire, whose most recent S. Carey album “Break Me Open” came out in 2022 and who also just last year released “Shadowlands” with Grammy-nominated jazz artist John Raymond. In addition to his work as S. Carey, Sean has been a longtime member of Bon Iver. All four of these shows are a $15 requested donation at door for nonmembers OR free to attend with Pablo Center membership. Presented by Farewell Transmission Radio in partnership with @pablocenter . Graphic by @quiettakes

*JUST ANNOUNCED* The Dead Tongues (@thedeadtongues ) will be coming to EC this fall as part of the ongoing series of listening room shows being presented by FTR + Converge 101.9 at Pablo Center — Gibson Street Entry. The Dead Tongues is a project of Ryan Gustafson, a singer-songwriter, musician, and producer. This show will be in support of two new Dead Tongues albums, ‘Body of Light’ and ‘I Am a Cloud,’ which will be out later this summer. The title tracks + accompanying music videos for each song are out everywhere today. Both are available for pre-order now. ‘Body of Light’ will be out digitally June 14 + ‘I Am A Cloud’ will be out digitally on August 9th. The complete 2xLP physical package featuring both albums will be available August 9th. These releases are all via Psychic Hotline (@psychichotline ), an artist-run recording company based in Durham, NC, founded by Amelia Meath & Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso (@sylvanesso ) alongside their longtime manager, Martin Anderson. The Dead Tongues show here in EC will be an ALL AGES event. No advance tickets, just $15 donation at door night of show. Full details including set times and opener tba. In the meantime stay tuned / save the date.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the @convergemediaec booth at Blue Ox this past weekend. Caught up with some familiar faces and met a whole lot of new people too. Especially appreciated hearing from listeners to 101.9 about the whens & wheres you’re tuning in. So happy we can accompany you during your work day, or your relaxation time, your commutes, your morning routine, your evening wind-down, dinner prep, etc. Grateful we get to share in the joy of music with you! Also excited to say our ticket giveaways this year all went to first time attendees who let us know they loved @blueoxmusicfestival and plan to make it an annual tradition going forward. Happy to hear it, but not surprised one bit as it’s truly one of the best festival experiences out there. Thanks to @blueoxmusicfestival for 10 amazing years + having Converge be part of it all, and also to everyone who tuned in over the weekend to catch the festival live on our airways. See you out at @thepines_ec in 2025!

A wonderful weekend in Wisco with Maddy Kirgo + Chris Acker & The Growing Boys. Both @maddykirgo & @chrisacker_growthsprout have new albums out later this year via @gar_hole_records : Maddy’s is titled “Shadow on My Light” and releases 8/16, and the new Chris Acker album, “Famous Lunch”, is TBA.

*TOMORROW* Back at @pablocenter - Gibson Street Entry for Week 2 of the @scareypics & friends residency! @courtneyhartman will be joining among other guests—come on out tomorrow evening to find out the full extent of what Carey has planned.

MN/WI: catch this Growing Boy on pedal steel for @chrisacker_growthsprout all this week! Nikolai is a joy to to see play live, and we’re spoiled this year because he was just through last month with Todd Day Wait. This upper Midwest run for Chris & Co. kicks off tomorrow night in Minneapolis at @cloudlandtheater (with Eau Claire, La Crosse, Madison & Milwaukee to follow), and it’s their Twin Cities debut. @michaelmgay & @sammygelbz will be opening with solo sets. Gonna be an excellent night of music, hope to see ya there!

The first of four residency shows with @scareypics & friends happened Sunday evening at @pablocenter ’s Gibson Street Entry! Each show will be unique and feature varied set-lists + a different roster of accompanying musicians. This first performance was percussion focused, and Carey was joined by his UWEC music professor Dr. Jeff Crowell, a major influence. Ben Lester—a fellow music student from that time and longtime collaborator and bandmate since—also joined, and current student Fletcher Myre rounded out the four-piece. Altogether it showcased a lineage of teacher and student, and celebrated a shared love of & dedication to music across several different generations of players. This theme was most overt when Dr. Crowell (who teaches applied percussion and percussion techniques, conducts the UW-Eau Claire Percussion Ensembles, instructs the Blugold Marching Band Drumline, and leads Jazz Ensemble III) took center stage for a solo performance of “Temazcal”, a piece he learned from one of his own professors when still a student himself. The ultimate result of this beautiful performance was a very personal tribute to all those who teach, foster, and inspire. Full set (song title & composer): “In the Stream” (S. Carey) “Brassy Sun” (S. Carey) “Paralyzed” (S. Carey) “Clapping Music” (Steve Reich) “In the Dirt” (S. Carey) “Island” (S. Carey) “Temazcal” (Javier Alvarez) “4’33” (John Cage) “Light Through the Veins” (Jon Hopkins) …thanks to Pablo Center for partnering with us to make this series possible, and thank you to all who attended for being a terrific audience. We’ll see you this Sunday, June 16 for round two! — photos by @farewelltransmissionradio

Tonight from 5 - 6 PM on Converge 101.9 FM: in anticipation of this week’s run of shows in MN & WI with @chrisacker_growthsprout going to be re-running the interview episode we did in 2022! For this episode Chris picked a few of his own songs to talk about and listen to + selected both influences & contemporaries alike to hear from as well—Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, The Kernal, Steph Green, Ernie K-Doe & more. Two years later it’s still one of the best hours of radio this show has done, and that’s all thanks to Chris being such an insightful and hilarious guest. Also worth mentioning what you’ll hear is the second time we recorded an interview, because after talking for several hours the first time the audio file failed to save and the whole thing was lost. I had to message him back, tail between legs, and ask him to do it all over again…figuring he’d say no or just not respond at all. Almost immediately he instead replied back: “I had a nice time so why not a twice time?” …in other words Chris isn’t just one of our best modern songwriters, he’s also an altogether lovely human being. So excited for many in Minneapolis, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Madison & Milwaukee to catch him & band for the first time ever. I can assure you that you’ll be glad you did! See you all later this week, and don’t forget to tune in this evening. (Note: if you’re outside of the area and want to hear it, best bet is via the TuneIn website or app. The @convergemediaec website is getting an overhaul and a new improved site is on the way, but our current site—including the built-in player—is having a lot of problems at present, so streaming there isn’t working well I’m afraid. Looking forward to launching the new site really soon!) — illustration by @merfolk_katie

Chris Acker & The Growing Boys are Wisconsin bound with fellow @gar_hole_records artist Maddy Kirgo, all coming up to this end of the Mississippi River from NOLA. ——— Eau Claire - 6/13 at Stones Throw (w/ @d.janakey ) La Crosse - 6/14 at Comfortably Lost Madison - 6/15 at Mason Lounge (w/ @spinestealers ) Milwaukee - 6/16 at Cactus Club (w/ @old.pup ) ——— A bit more about the artists: @maddykirgo : Maddy, the newest addition to the Gar Hole Records roster, makes music that is a mix of “swampy Americana and dreamy indie pop”. This will be her first time playing Wisconsin + the very first shows to follow the release of her debut song “Try Harder” on 6/12. @chrisacker_growthsprout : Chris, who will be accompanied by The Growing Boys, is a truly gifted songwriter that deftly blends humor and sorrow to illuminate the beauty in the mundane. “In the tradition of Guthrie and Prine, Chris lends a quavering voice to the half-rotten romance of the unremarkable and unrefined.” -Nick Shoulders. These will also be the the first full band shows Chris will have played in Wisconsin, and first time playing Milwaukee in any capacity. …this is a run with lots of debuts and firsts, so let’s give this talented crew a warm Wisco welcome, eh? Ticket links for EC, LAX & MKE in bio. >>>>> poster art by @sam.kalies <<<<<

The @scareypics summer residency kickoff is just one week from today! These four distinctive shows (three in June & a final show in July) will dive into the S. Carey discography with a different roster of musicians each time. We’re so excited to be teaming with S. Carey & @pablocenter for this, all of which will be in the intimate setting and listening room atmosphere of the newly reimagined Gibson Street Entry. These shows are free for Pablo members (can become one for just $5 a month, BTW!) and a requested donation of $15 at door for non-members. …hope to see you next week!

Between the Summer Series at Stones Throw and the S. Carey residency at Pablo Center it’s going to be a very busy few weeks for FTR & Converge 101.9! …as such we’re teaming up with some pals in the local small business community to say THANK YOU to everyone who supports these upcoming events. Attend one show and get a free coffee at @eaushift + save some money on that record you’ve been meaning to grab for awhile at @abraxaswax . Come to two and you’ll enjoy a free pint from @3rdandvineec + a discount on vintage at @7sunsvintage . Attend all 3 of the Summer Series and you’ll win a mug from @halfmoonclay + be entered to win a free pair of tickets to @blueoxmusicfestival ! (Same deals for residency shows, but the grand prize for that one is TBA) Punch cards will be available at all upcoming events, so make sure to snag one. We hope it’s a fun way to show our gratitude to you + promote some great local spots while we’re at it too. Big thanks to Shift, Abraxas Wax, 3rd & Vine, 7 Suns & Half Moon Clay for being part of this. Also thank you to @quiettakes for cooking this up and helping make it a reality, including designing the actual card itself. Love this community and so appreciate all the mutual support, lots of people all rooting for each other and helping however they can. Long may it continue. 💛

A few of our finest songwriters were both born today! …if you’re not already regularly listening to @willicarlisle or @chrisacker_growthsprout I urge you to do so. And for my fellow Wisconsinites, you have a chance to catch them here this summer: Chris Acker & The Growing Boys will of course be in WI next month (6/13-16), and Willi Carlisle plays @mileofmusicfest in Appleton the first weekend of August (8/2-3) + Madison (8/4). P.S. I looked up what other musical artists share the 5/29 birthday to see if perhaps the date holds some kind of true alchemy, and learned that Noel Gallagher of Oasis/“Wonderwall” fame and one of the Quad City DJs—aka the folks who wrote the masterpiece that is the “Space Jam” song—are also 5/29ers…so seems pretty definitive to me?