Tag Archives: Beetkeepers

Video premiere(s): J.P. Olsen & Jerry DeCicca “You’ll Never See My Face in Kansas City”

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Last year we hinted at a project that Malefactors of Great Wealth’s main dude JP Olsen (also of Beetkeepers/Burn Barrel) was working on with the Black Swans’ Jerry DeCicca. The project, titled “You’ll Never See My Face in Kansas City,” has reached completion, and we’re proud to premiere the two resulting videos for each musician’s song.

You can read the full background at the project website, but the gist of it is, Olsen became fascinated by artist Chris Burden, who, as part of a 1971 performance art piece, wore a ski mask for several days in Kansas City without taking it off. Olsen called DeCicca and challenged him to write a song with the aforementioned title, and he Olsen said he’d do the same. You can watch these videos (more akin to short films) to hear the resultant songs — both striking and well worth your time — and you can also order a 7-inch or digital download from the website. Or even bundle the 7-inch with a custom-made replica of the mask that Burden wore.

Saturday in Columbus: Old 3C Fest with Ron House, Log, Beetkeepers, Orchestraville & others

Lots going on this weekend (including Sinkane’s return), but with a stacked lineup for $5, the first ever Old 3C Fest at Ace of Cups is more than a safe bet. Here’s the order:

Happy Hour on the patio
05:00 p.m. – Ron House
05:40 p.m. – Alyosha Het
06:20 p.m. – Closet Mix

On stage
08:45 p.m. – Beetkeepers
09:40 p.m. – Randall Douglas Matson
10:20 p.m. – Stark Folk
11:15 p.m. – Chris Forbes, Keith Hanlon + Parker Paul of Orchestraville
11:55 p.m. – Log

Saturday: Malefactors of Great Wealth, Harper Blynn, Enemies!, Taurus @ Rumba

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You’ve got plenty of good options for Columbus shows on Saturday night. Here’s some facts about one of ’em:

Ex-Beetkeeper/Burn Barrel frontman J.P. Olsen‘s Malefactors of Great Wealth come back to Rumba backed again by a full band that’s almost the Madison Square Gardeners, except Chris Morrissey (Ben Kweller, Andrew Bird, Mason Jennings) is on bass and Mark Stepro switches from bass to drums (as he often does). Olsen has a lot more music in the works for 2012.

Taurus is Chris Morrissey’s project with Rich Hinman, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Stepro, who described Taurus as “a bit of a nod to the ’90s-Pedro the Lion meets Nirvana.”

Enemies! is fronted by Tasjan with Hinman, Stepro and John Kengla. The new band just recorded an EP with Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo). Stepro said Enemies! is “a much darker, ’90s-oriented, Teenage Fanclub/Oasis/Nirvana/My Bloody Valentine [band], as opposed to the Gardeners, who usually operate out of the classic rock/’70s FM radio playbook.”

Harper Blynn is the only band without ties to the Madison Square Gardeners extended family, but you may know them as the guys who back up the Damnwells, Cary Brothers and others. They’ve also got a new Christmas single you can grab here for free.

Schedule for the night at Rumba Cafe: 9pm – Taurus, 9:45 – Harper Blynn, 10:30 – Malefactors, 11:30 – Enemies!

Video premiere: Malefactors of Great Wealth – “Prisontown”

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The Malefactors of Great Wealth is the project of JP Olsen, whom Columbusites may know from his previous bands: Beetkeepers in the late ’80s and Burn Barrel (basically Olsen backed by the Haynes Boys) in 1999. Olsen, who now calls Brooklyn home, put out a Malefactors EP on Old3C Records a couple months ago called Today is the Best Day of My Life. Don’t overlook it. It’s exceptionally strong. Tim Easton fans may also be interested to hear “True Ways,” the remake of a song from Beetkeepers’ self-titled album that Easton covered on Break Your Mother’s Heart.

So, the “Prisontown” video. That’s not the Malefactors of Great Wealth in there, as you probably figured out. But this archival footage is anything but random. Olsen is also an author and filmmaker, working on several indie and PBS documentaries. He also directed his own fascinating documentary called The Narcotic Farm (and co-authored a book of the same name) about a prison for drug addicts in the 40s and 50s. (The film has been optioned for both television and feature film release.) The stuff in “Prisontown” was taken from footage that Olsen found but didn’t use for the film. The band playing in it is called The Pacific Gas and Electric. Very little of the footage has ever been seen.

The Malefactors of Great Wealth will be at the Rumba Cafe on June 24 and 25 with Tim Easton and the Madison Square Gardeners.

In more JP Olsen news: You’ll soon hear of an Olsen split 45 with The Black Swans. Both artists challenged each other to come up with a song based on the Chris Burden art piece “You’ll Never See My Face in Kansas City.” (Burden wore a mask for days in Kansas City and never took it off.)

Posters: This weekend in Columbus

Lots of shows, lots of posters:


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