| STAR'S END Fundraiser - 8 May 2011 | ||||||
When we think about Public Radio, most of us envision something intelligent and smart. NPR, PRI and other national distribution organizations provide radio stations and listeners with a range of highly regarded news and public affairs programs as well as numerous musical and entertainment offerings of exceptional quality. Clearly, we know that everything about Public Radio is smart - with the exception of how it raises money. Public Radio gives away its programs for free, then asks listeners to pay for content voluntarily. This is quite a "unique" business model. Cinemas do not ask patrons to pay for their ticket after the movie has played. Cable companies do not ask clients to pay for their service only if they like what they have watched. Restaurants do not ask diners to pay what they felt the meal was worth. Yet Public Radio stations give away their programs and shows over the airwaves for free, only asking at some point later for listeners to please support their activities through the generosity of free will donations - and as unbelievable as it sounds, thanks to you this system seems to work out OK.
If you had to pay for what you hear on Public Radio, would you? For example, if you had to pay $60.00 for a year's worth of STAR'S END - that would be $1.15 per broadcast, under 25 cents an hour, would you pay? The answer is absolutely yes, you would gladly pay this small amount of money in order to hear STAR'S END! During the 05.08.11 broadcast of STAR'S END you were asked to place a value on your relationship with WXPN. STAR'S END, SLEEPY HOLLOW, HIGHS IN THE 70s and ECHOES may best align with your interests, but the radio station also programs many other worthwhile shows such as the MORNING SHOW with Michaela Majoun and WORLD CAFE with David Dye. Your generous act will fund Public Radio station WXPN and indicates that you are among a select few who are serious about this unique radio station and the amazing range of music it presents. Public radio relies on its listeners for its faith in the future. WXPN Membership begins at just $60. Calling in with a pledge at this level (or an amount that best reflects your feelings towards STAR'S END) helps us meet the Spring fund drive goals. The donations made during the fundraisers are so important. STAR'S END and WXPN are very grateful to hear from you! Thank you for tuning in, and then phoning in to the STAR'S END Fundraising broadcast of 05.08.11. There were special Thank You gifts available for those calling in, including the STAR'S END/XPN Members Concert on Sunday 5 June 2011 in Houston Hall (on the Penn campus) and the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology 2CD set. Through your contributions you are doing your part as a Public Radio listener - it's an investment that will help keep STAR'S END in your listening space every week. Thank You for tuning in and making a pledge to STAR'S END! Thanks very much to the 38 listeners who made $2815 in donations during STAR'S END! Special Thanks to phoneroom volunteers: Ken Anderson, Stephen Bounds and Bud Schoefer as well as the great on-air help from Jeff Towne. -Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END - 8 May 2011 | ||||||
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Thank You Gifts
Special premiums were available for those pledging by phone on the 05.08.11 broadcast of STAR'S END, including albums from labels Air Space Music, Northern Echo, Projekt, Ricochet Dream, Waiting World Records, as well as the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD from WXPN.
The CD premiums pictured were donated by the artist/label and available (in limited quantities) as thank-you gifts to those making a credit card pledge by phone during the 05.08.11 fundraising broadcast of STAR'S END. More traditional premiums, including the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD furnished by WXPN, will also be offered during this broadcast and throughout the Spring 2011 Fund Drive.
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| STAR'S END/XPN 2011 Members Concert 5 June 2011 | ||||||
   As a thank you to the listeners, WXPN presents the STAR'S END/XPN 2011 Members Concert on Sunday 5 June 2011. This event, held at Houston Hall's Class of 1949 Auditorium, 3417 Spruce Street on the Penn campus in West Philadelphia, will feature live performances by Jason Sloan, The Tangent Project and Ombient and is free to those holding a current XPN MemberCard and their one guest. | ||||||
| Gateway by Erik Wollo | ||||||
 
On Gateway (70'16") Erik Wøllo continues to explore his musical imagination. Through many years of experience he has gained knowledge and a refined technique - and still seems excited about creating the vivid pieces that inhabit this album. In just a few seconds of this music one is transported to another plane. Bypassing verbal thought, connecting directly with the mind, his fluid lead melodies speak, as if in a voice, directly to the listener. Although closely associated with electronic sound, Wøllo uses guitar as the primary instrument in which to convey his message. Usually played through assorted effects, his lead lines are poignant, ethereal and elegant. The synthetic harmonies and melodies that fill out this majestic work are arranged with the skill of a seasoned composer. Gateway's more active pieces develop along a wonderful arc of crisp rhythms and layers of bounding sequencer patterns - which act to vivify the progression of Wøllo's tuneful lead lines flying above. When loosening structural plans, Wøllo also realizes compositions more in an ambient mode. Gentle and bittersweet, these beautiful slow moving sections possibly contain even more emotional content than the soaring hymns and exuberant fantasies found elsewhere on this CD. From stark simplicity to prog-influenced anthems Wøllo's spirit comes out in the precision and detail of his work - as it touches the best part of us.
• Erik Wollo - Gateway single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| On the Other Side by Steve Dinsdale | ||||||
 
On the Other Side (47'46") is (among other things) a tribute to the single-mindedness of the solo artist. Although Steve Dinsdale continues to be a significant part of Radio Massacre International, his artistic vision must disappear against the immensity of the trio's dense free-form concept. With this, his second solo CD, Dinsdale probes deeper into his own ideas about music and sound. His determination to be a part of something creative every single day is Dinsdale's ideal and his audience's delight - as this CD is the result of many a day's creative encounter with music. We hear a mood of celebration in these tracks, along with a healthy dose of 1970s German Space Rock. With Dinsdale playing drums and percussives beneath cycling sequencer patterns and lilting synth melodies, the first few tracks from On the Other Side gently propels the album through the Prog era and on into the 21st century. These pieces are tightly arranged and unfold in a friendly way out into the listening space. The last four of the eight tracks make up the title work, and an interesting suite of music it is. Dinsdale does give this collage continuity, yet the music remains open and spacious. More atmospheric and textural than the previous songs, this area and its easy kinetic flow engage the listener with dancing arpeggios, breathy chorus, ethereal flutes, synth strings and a pleasing melodic confluence. On the Other Side will seem familiar, but not at all derivative. It is nothing less than a true expression of Dinsdale's being - which means that this music was not learned, it was lived.
• Steve Dinsdale - On the Other Side single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge
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| A Life Incandescent - Mahoney & Peck | ||||||
The raw material out of which music by Mark Mahoney & Michael Peck is realized is not old cosmic music LPs but the ebb and flow of life. Their CD A Life Incandescent (49'29") continues to show Mahoney & Peck as a duo living in sound. On this release they do their best to light up a dark genre that too often suffers from vapid exploration. There is more to this music than spacing-out. Treating the soundfield like a canvas their music demands imaginative interaction and asks the listener to re-align our sensitivity to sound. Through subtle gradations of tone and timbre Mahoney & Peck achieve a surreal dreamlike soundscape. From molecular whispers in the blood to an acceleration of energy, the eight pieces on A Life Incandescent move the mechanisms of the mind to embrace the enormity of which we all are a part. Drones, resonant sweeps, slow evocative solos and swirling digital chaos over thick analogue foundations all characterize the sonic components of this work. The rhythmic parts are equally original with clear arpeggiations skipping skyward or grainy percussion loops stretched and tweaked. The freedom expressed on A Life Incandescent is compelling - and Mahoney & Peck use their improvisational skills to move easily between a number of moods and atmospheres. From an inward stillness to euphoric revelations and all in between, this audio experience is not so much about their lives as it is about the labyrinthine journey of all creative lives.
• Mahoney & Peck - A Life Incandescent single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Momentium - Luminosity - Quadranteon - Sequentaria - Jeffrey Koepper | ||||||
    Renowned for his technical abilities and restorative powers, Jeffrey Koepper is distinguished for his work in maintaining and reviving vintage electronic music equipment. His music is realized through a mastery beyond the technical side of his craft - and alternates between analogue bubbles and digital ice, and bright, smooth, spacious tonal landscapes. Applying his vast technical knowledge of music making equipment towards programming evocative ethereal sounds and strong rhythmic designs, Koepper produces music of impressive depth and rare intelligence.
• Jeffrey Koepper - any single title for a $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Radiate by Jeffrey Koepper | ||||||
Radiate is a sonic document of Jeffrey Koepper's set at The Gatherings on 19 April 2008 and traverses much of the same territory as his two previous concert outings (on STAR'S END and opening for Steve Roach). With an emphasis on works from his CD Sequentaria (released at The Gatherings that night) the set began with some vintage phase shifted synth pads, heroic E-drums and dancing arpeggio scales. Drawing on the musical era that spawned such albums as Poland, Logos and White Eagle; Koepper ran through a fascinating range of sequencer based pieces - his full-throated lead lines soaring above. His stage set-up included several keyboards, among them vintage museum grade synths - right alongside the latest retro analogue technology. Between each of the rhythmic sections Koepper lulled the audience with deep drones and airy synthetic harmonies and effects. To close out the night, Jeff played lovely chord progressions on the Prophet-8 over a simple run of tones from the arpeggiator on the Jupiter-6. Looking back, this uncluttered and pure piece of music was a perfect way to wind the concert down - with a few quiet and intimate moments spent between the artist and audience. At The Gatherings Concert Series complex stories are often told with simple sounds. Radiate is full of these human details, spoken in the public luster of the live concert.
• Jeffrey Koepper - Radiate single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Keep On - Mohave 2003 by Ricochet Gathering | ||||||
 
"The story leading to the creation of Keep On goes back to 1983, when the group Tangerine Dream produced the soundtrack for Michael Mann's film "The Keep", a film taking place in Romania. The music from "The Keep" has maintained cult status and the soundtrack eluded the general public. So, 25 years later, at the 9th Ricochet Gathering EM event, the concept was presented to compose a new interpretation of this soundtrack - in celebration of its Silver Anniversary. The location selected was an old manor in a small village in Transylvania. The various musicians were provided with The Keep Cues soundtrack music to study and gain inspiration and on 11 November 2008, many live and improvised performances were recorded and a selection was chosen for the first two tracks of this release." Personnel: Daniel Bloom, Paul Nagle, Indra, Spyra, Steve Schroyder, Paul Lawler - Notes by Vic Rek
• Ricochet Gathering - Keep On single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD | ||||||
To mark 30 years of continuous broadcast of STAR'S END, WXPN has released the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD. This double CD contains over 120 minutes of live music from 11 renowned artists. The unique performances were culled from on-air in-studio radio concerts by some of our community's greatest talents. Included on the disc are previously unreleased live selections donated by: The Ministry of Inside Things, Orbital Decay, Ian Boddy, AirSculpture, Radio Massacre International, Robert Rich, Rudy Adrian, Jonn Serrie, Jeff Pearce, Saul Stokes and Steve Roach.
The STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD is available for a $60 donation to WXPN, which includes membership and all of its benefits. Current WXPN members can receive the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD for a $25 donation. Access the online Pledge Form to support WXPN and aquire your CD. Please indicate "STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD" in the comments box. Call 1-800-565-WXPN or send an email to WXPN Member Services for details. CDs are currently being sent out to donors by the WXPN Membership Department - which may be reached by telephone at: 1-800-565-WXPN or via email. Thanks very much for your support!
STAR'S END/XPN 2011 Members Concert
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and live on the world wide web at: http://xpn.org/stream.shtml | 
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