Wednesday May 22nd, 2013

The exercise:

All right, I simply could not resist Greg's suggestion in the comments yesterday. You are, for the sake of today's writing, a member of a band named Damaging Winds and your first album, Chance of Large Hail, is about to be released. Write something inspired by this scenario - the lyrics to one of the songs, a concert review, an album release party scene...

Okay, now I'm just listing all the things I considered for mine. I'll just leave you guys to it.

Pretty miserable day here, weather wise. So I spent a good chunk of the morning in the greenhouse counting tomato plants, trying to figure out if we have enough of each variety potted up. Hopefully tomorrow will decide to return our sunshine to us.

Mine:

Damaging Winds Concert Cancelled Due To Light Breeze

Last night's highly anticipated performance by fast-rising stars Damaging Winds ended before a single note could reach the local airstream. Stadium officials were forced to give ticket holders the cold front less than an hour before the opening act was set to hit the stage.

"We were concerned for the safety of both our performers and their fans," one official later told reporters. "When the crowds were first informed of the unfortunate news the barometer was definitely rising outside the gates. We feared a riot was on the verge of manifesting, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed."

"Obviously this was a disappointing turn of events," lead singer Kevin "Cloud Burst" Thompson said in a released statement. "But we will return to make up this date later in the year, and me and the boys are looking forward to getting our meridional flow on with our stormy fans."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I wasn't expecting that! I thought you might just add it to your slush pile of ideas and we'd maybe see it in a couple of weeks' time :)
I think you've got all the weather-related puns you can squeeze into those short paragraphs! It reads just like a small-town newspaper article too... channeling the East Wallingford Chronicle by any chance?
Great take!

Damaging Winds – Interview with their lead singer
Interviewer: Hi, Kevin. You're the lead singer with new band Damaging Winds and you've got a new album coming out at the end of the month. Can you tell us how the band got its name?

Kevin Thompson:Sure! Our drummer, Mike Corner, had been eating chili; this is about two years ago now, just before our break-out single Trash a Tornado. He'd had about seven plates in an hour when he starts looking a bit pale and clutching his stomach, and he lets rip with this massive smelly one! Two minutes later there's another, and then another, and it just keeps going. So we ended up taking him to the Emergency Room where they admitted him overnight, and the doctor in the morning said it was the first case of damaging wind that he'd ever seen. Poor Mike couldn't walk right for a week afterwards.

I: Oh wow, that's quite a story! I believe that you've all got nicknames in the band too?

KT: Oh yes.

I: And yours is...?

KT: Cloudburst. We were staying in this Motel6 out in Wisconsin when we were gigging, trying to make our name on the scene and the toilets weren't working. Only nobody told us, and I'd been drinking water all day and then beer at the gig, and when we got back I was full to bursting. I ended up having to go out the back, off this little embankment above some back-gardens, and... well, I caused a small landslide.

I: That's certainly a colourful tail. Now, perhaps you could tell us about some of the tracks on the album; you've got one called Too cold to hold which I'm told is about an ex-girlfriend?

....
[I have to end somewhere or this will be far too long!]

g2 (la pianista irlandesa) said...

As it happens, I have this running joke of a mental-band, whose discography (of weird turns of phrase I happen to like) is expanding rapidly. And, as it happens, they're called the Grumpy Rainbows.

So.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
While the cancellation of the Damaging Winds' concert last week came as a disappointment, fans of the up-and-coming band will have another opportunity to see Damaging Winds later this summer.

The group will join the Grumpy Rainbows on the niche-favorite ska band's summer tour this year. The pairing is unusual, but both groups see the partnership as an opportunity to expand their respective audiences.

"Most people who've been listening to our stuff have never heard of Damaging Winds outside of a weather report," jokes Peter Peterson, lead trumpet and bandleader for the Grumpy Rainbows. "But these guys know their stuff. We're honored to share their music with our audiences."

Kevin "CloudBurst" Thompson, lead singer of Damaging Winds, expressed similar sentiments on behalf of Damaging Winds. "Even though we occupy different musical turf, a lot of the guys--myself included--spent some time listening to the Grumpy Rainbows as we grew up. Not a lot of our fans know their work, which is a shame. We're not a ska band, but we're honored to share the stage with one of our great influences."

Both Thompson and Peterson hinted at the presence of some collaborative work, but neither wanted to spoil the surprise, saying only that everyone involved was looking forward to the show.

Opening for their East coast shows will be Mineral Strings, and a West coast opener has yet to be announced.

g2 (la pianista irlandesa) said...

for the curious/because I feel like sharing, the Grumpy Rainbow's discography includes "Habits of Garlic", "Long Fry", and "Home and Arranged." The album they did with Damaging Winds is "Gustatory Potential". All parties involved are aware "gustatory" has to do with food, but they liked it anyway.

You know how artists are.

Marc said...

Greg - I thought you might be pleasantly surprised :)

Hahah, that's some great back story. And I can see how that could have easily gone on for quite some time - you were obviously having fun with it :D

g2 - hah, you've got me looking forward to (and thinking about) possible collaborations between these two groups!

Also: 'Habits of Garlic' is brilliant.