Bloodkin Gears Up For Christmas, The Shining And A Long Hustle
Bloodkin Gears Up For Christmas, The Shining And A Long Hustle
By Daniel Hutchens
Well, my old buddy James Calemine, who writes the Mystery And
Manners section over at Swampland.com, offered to let me post my blog ramblings on the Swampland site––actually he offered about a month or so back, and Iʼve kept him waiting far too long for my first entry––but heʼs known me for nigh on to twenty years now, and heʼs
certainly aware of my inconsistencies. But Iʼm grateful to him and all the good folks at Swampland for the chance to be published on their fine, stylish online blog/magazine...itʼs an honor.
So where to begin? My online ramblings are wildly erratic in terms of subject matter, length, and probably quality...Iʼm liable to go off on a tangent about pretty much anything that comes to mind, hence the blogʼs title...but I guess tonight Iʼll start close to home and talk a little
about my band Bloodkin, and some upcoming music events here in Athens, Georgia.
Tomorrow night, or technically tonight I guess, Bloodkin is playing a
Christmas “empty stocking” benefit at the Office Lounge, a bar Iʼve not
yet visited, but about which Iʼve received some pretty favorable
reports. Weʼll see. Also playing this benefit will be Dodd Ferrelle (the
organizer of the event), Workhorses Of The Entertainment/
Recreational Industry (another band featuring Bloodkinʼs own William
Tonks; also the Workhorses feature Ben Reynolds, another fixture on
the Athens musical landscape, and a former member of the mighty
Chickasaw Mudd Puppies)...plus Dave Blackmon, and I believe David
Barbe, and Iʼm sure lots of other folks Iʼm failing to mention. Iʼm sure
itʼll be a fun night, and itʼs all for a good cause. Then tomorrow night, Saturday the 19th, Bloodkin heads to Alabama to play the 10th annual Great American Xmas Party, at the Strutting Duck in downtown Auburn...in previous years this event has featured
musicians such as Patterson Hood, Tishamingo, and Jeff Sipe, and
weʼre proud to be involved this time around.
Speaking of Patterson Hood, heʼs now on the board of the Classic
Film Festival, an annual event taking place at the Classic Center here
in Athens; this year the festival will run March 25-28, 2010, and will
screen such classics as Double Indemnity, Butch Cassidy and The
Sundance Kid, and (Iʼm particularly excited about this one) a midnight
screening of The Shining. Patterson has asked me to play an acoustic
set at the fundraising event for this yearʼs festival––no date
announced yet for the fundraiser, but Iʼll keep everyone posted.
Other than that, most of the activity in Bloodkin land continues to
center around working on our upcoming “box set” release...itʼs titled A
Long Hustle. Taken from a line in Taxi Driver, where De Niro as Travis
Bickle says, “Itʼs a long hustle but it keeps me real busy.” (There.
Another movie reference for all you rabid film buffs out there). The
compilation currently consists of 125 songs, the equivalent of 7 CDs,
or about 8½ hours of music.
My big notion about this project is to sell the whole thing as a digital download for $1.25. Yep, a buck and a quarter. A penny a song. Of course our manager and everyone else
associated with the music industry tells me Iʼm completely insane. But
hey, if theyʼre only just now discovering that, they havenʼt been paying attention. And I think selling such a monstrous 20-plus year compilation for such a low price would actually create a bit of buzz and publicity, and I think a lot more folks out there would wind up hearing
the music, which is the whole idea...but Iʼm open to suggestions. What do yʼall out there in cyberspace think?
You can leave your comments right here on the Swampland site, or
youʼre always welcome to email me at danielhutchens@gmail.com.
Daniel Hutchens
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