from yeproc.com:
Electric Fetus
2000 4th Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
(612) 870-1747
www.electricfetus.com
Tuesday August 3rd at 5pm
Aquarius Records
1055 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 647-2272
www.aquariousrecords.org
Saturday August 7th at 5pm
A forum – http://www.kenstringfellow.com/forum/
Also, there will be no updates from July 30 – August 1, as I’ll be out of town.
7.23.2004
Hello all…tour is lovely…please come see me…
The Middle East show I did the other night will be available on their website…http://www.mideastclub.com/…big star is playing a hot festival in NYC…http://www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/festival/index.html
still need keys in cleveland…
best
KS
Merchantsville NJ
The show will be available here and the festival is August 14th.
New KS interview in the Delaware Beachcomber.
REHOBOTH BEACH — Multi-instrumentalist Ken Stringfellow has a busy, busy schedule these days.
The co-leader of Seattle powerpop band the Posies, who will play songs from his third solo album at a free concert at Dogfish Head on Wednesday, is also a member of the reconstituted Big Star. Oh, and he’s also been the regular touring keyboardist for alt-icons R.E.M. for nearly a decade.
So which of these four projects is his priority?
“I don’t know what it says about me, but everything’s a priority,” said Stringfellow, calling from a cellphone while trying to navigate the Massachussetts Turnpike on Wednesday. He was en route to Boston after having played two shows in one day in New York City Tuesday.
“That’s kind of the vibe,” Stringfellow said. “There’s never just a show at night. In the daytime I’m either doing press or a radio show or an in-store (record store appearance).”
(read full article)
July 28 at Dogfish Head, Rehoboth Beach DE
This time Shatner has teamed up with Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five) for what he states are “…thoughts and experiences of mine that very few people have heard before.” He adds, “I wanted to share them with my loved ones.”
Recorded in Folds’ Nashville studio, Has Been features eleven tracks with select songs featuring Folds (also on piano), Henry Rollins on “I Can’t Get Behind That,” Aimee Mann, Brad Paisley, and Lemon Jelly. The band includes guitarist Jon Auer (The Posies), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing), and drummer Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos, Fiona Apple).
Click here for a tracklisting and more info.
Another Soft Commands review – ‘Stringfellow Avoids Soft Rock Stigma’
Ken’s third LP implements the lush, gauzy hue its title suggests, seemingly embracing more of a kinship with the first Christopher Cross album and Don McLean’s “American Pie” than the Posies’ “Dear 23” on tracks like the piano-heavy “Known Diamond,” “Cyclone Graves” and the gorgeous intro “You Drew.” However, a closer listen to this album will also find Stringfellow exorcising his recent obsession with reggae on “You Become the Dawn” and its subsequent dub plate “Dawn of the Dub of the Dawn.”
Stringfellow is one of the most underrated songwriters of our generation, and while “Touched” may still remain his all-timer, “Soft Commands” could most definitely be considered his textbook.
(read more)
By Jim Sullivan
Boston Globe Staff
Ken Stringfellow is a very busy man. He just released a gorgeous solo disc, “Soft Command.” He’s been recording with three bands he plays in — R.E.M., Big Star, and the Posies — and tonight he brings a solo tour to the Middle East Upstairs. “I was having some anxiety about having too much of a good thing,” Stringfellow says from his Seattle home. “I’ve never had so much stuff working out so well.” Stringfellow’s music often has a lush, layered, Brian Wilson-like quality. The singer-guitarist-pianist admits to some sentimentality in song, but adds that “it’s sincerity that I like in art forms. . . .What I can’t relate to is mainstream pop music where the emotional content is so fake. That, to me, seems really sinister. . . . The importance of music is clear: It’s communication that makes the world a little closer. At the same time, a musician’s self-importance is something you can debate. My mission is to make people feel better rather than worse. My music isn’t angst-y — that is just not me. I’m here to give something comforting and humanistic.” Opening the 18-plus show: Jesse Sykes and Phil Wandscher and Jabe. Starts at 9, tickets $9.472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278.
The Washington Times reviews Soft Commands.
by Scott Galupo
Mr. Stringfellow sings his heart out, giving the illusion of contentment. Really, he’s singing about merely the concept of love, the promise it holds of making one humble and “less than useless.”
Less than useless: It’s far from walking on air, but it’s credible. The satisfying thing about “Soft Commands” is that Mr. Stringfellow so easily juggles both the high and the low, the miserable and sublime of being useful – that is, in love.