W♥M173: The Varsity Theater

W♥M173 (12 mins)

Shayna from the Varsity Theater is our guest this week on W♥M Radio.

The Varsity Theater is the prettiest/best-looking venue around town; this is mostly thanks to their other business of booking wedding receptions and private events. They also get some of the best national bands with upcoming acts such as funnyman John Mulaney (03/16) , one of my favorite Britpop acts Ash (03/18), Frightened Rabbit (03/21), Mercury Prize Winner Alt-J (04/01), Pop Star Mika (04/02). We are actually covering a lot of bands at the Varsity - if I'm not there, usually I send someone else to cover it for me.

Anyway, too many good bands to mention, head over to varsitytheater.org to see their full calendar.

Shayna is really excited about Carroll (carrollmusic.net). The band won Vita.mn's fourth annual "Are You Local" contest and is heading down to SXSW:

03/14 SXSW Funk-It Rec Showcase
03/15 SXSW Minnesota Nice Showcase
03/15 SXSW Free Now Showcase

Song of the show is Jim James' "State of the Art (A. E. I. O. U)" from his album Regions of Light and Sound of God. I've previously written about James and how he's the singer of My Morning Jacket. He recently announced some exclusive "Conversation at SXSW", which I'll list all the tour dates and information below. His North American tour kicks in April.

For the latest updates, check with jimjames.com.

03/12 SXSW MTV/VH1/CMT Present 03/13 SXSW Interview w/ Bill Flanagan 03/13 SXSW Aquarium Drunkard Presents 03/14 SXSW Heartbreaker Banquet 03/15 SXSW Auditorium Shores’ show 03/16 SXSW Record Signing @ Waterloo Records 04/17: Louisville, KY @ Brown Theatre 04/19: Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater 04/20: Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre 04/21: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue 04/23: Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall 04/24: Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre 04/26: Boston, MA @ Royale 04/27: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer 04/29: New York, NY @ Webster Hall

04/30: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 05/02: Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom 05/3: Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel 05/6: Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek 05/7: Dallas, TX @ House of Blues 05/9: Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre 05/11: Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre 05/12: San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 05/14: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom 05/15: Seattle, WA @ Neptune 05/17: Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Music Fest 06/13-06/15: Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo 06/22: Dove, DE @ Firefly Music Festival 07/12-7/14: Louisville, KY @ Forcastle Festival 07/27: Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival

BONUS: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or rather the shortened OMD) is coming to the Varsity Theater on July 8 July 22. This is a long way from now, but hopefully, if it all works out, I will be at that show. I don't want to call Shayna out on this one, but the song appeared on "Pretty in Pink". Although between you and me, I often get all of those John Hughes/Molly Ringwald movies mixed up ("The Breakfast Club", "Sixteen Candles", and "Pretty in Pink").

I don't think if it's officially announced yet, but Diamond Rings will be opening up for OMD on their US dates. We previously covered the Thomas Hardy book lover at 7th Street Entry. Update: OMD made the Diamond Rings news official on March 6th.

04/05/13 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 04/06/13 Seattle, WA Showbox At The Market 04/07/13 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom 04/10/13 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot 04/12/13 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom 04/14/13 Indio, CA Empire Polo Club 04/21/13 Indio, CA Empire Polo Club 04/28/13 Margate, UK Winter Gardens 04/29/13 Birmingham, UK Symphony Hall 05/01/13 Nottingham, UK Royal Centre 05/02/13 Ipswich, UK Ipswich Regent Theatre 05/03/13 London, UK Roundhouse 05/05/13 Bristol, UK Colston Hall 05/06/13 Oxford, UK New Theatre Oxford 05/08/13 Sheffield, UK Sheffield City Hall 05/09/13 Leeds, UK O2 Academy Leeds 05/10/13 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy

05/13/13 Gateshead, UK The Sage Gateshead 05/14/13 Liverpool, UK Liverpool Empire Theatre 05/21/13 Hamburg, Germany Docks Konzerte 05/22/13 Bielefeld, Germany Ringlokschuppen 05/24/13 Berlin, Germany Tempodrom 05/25/13 Leipzig, Germany Haus Auensee 05/27/13 Cologne, Germany E-Werk 07/11/13 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall 07/12/13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 07/13/13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 07/15/13 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club 07/17/13 New York, NY Terminal 5 07/19/13 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall 07/20/13 Detroit - St. Andrew's Hall 07/22/13 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater 07/23/13 Chicago, IL Metro / Smart Bar

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

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