Nostalgia Download!!! The Beatings Cover GBV!!!

We’ve been sorting through tons of disks and files, culling what will be the extra/bonus tracks  included on the upcoming untitled Beatings  remastered/reissued EP’s compilation due out later this year… and we came upon this gem.  If memory serves me, and it often doesn’t, this was somewhere around 2003/2004 after the  “Italiano” LP but before the “If Not Now, Then When” EP. The Beatings closed a headlining slot at the now defunct Continental, located off St. Marks in NYC with “Smothered in Hugs” by Guided By Voices.  The sound is taken from the booth which was close to the front, so the room sounds sparse.  But I don’t ever remember us not filling that room so I’m calling bullshit on the crowd mics.  I don’t know… maybe no one was there.  But I’d prefer to remember it packed… it’s a matter of pride, sue me.

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I Was Lonely…Then You Showed Up- Ellen Ruden, Our Gallery and Interview

NYC photographer Ellen Ruden shoots vast and beautiful landscapes and cityscapes.  Her vibrant colors give her work a dream like quality often characteristic of impressionists, but Ruden’s colors pop so vividly while combined  with such desolation that I can’t help feeling there is a slight surreal element fighting to poke through as well. Her b/w’s are just as striking, giving the prevailing sense of loneliness and isolation, that are such a common theme in her work, extra depth… the extra bit of “umph” that really sells a  piece for the viewer. We like it a lot. So should you.

We did a bit of an interview with her that we’ll post below/following the gallery of  her work. In said interview we discussed big, big ideas like “What constitutes “art”?”, “Is the work always a fair and accurate representation of the artist?” and “How you gonna keep the girl in Iowa now that she’s seen the big city”… among other things, both personal and whimsical.  If you’d like to contact the artist please do so through the blog via our “Contacts” page.

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