Of Great and Mortal Men

February ’10 Update

Christian Kiefer — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:05:44 +0000

Ah and February comes again, month of, amongst other fine things, Presidential holidays and our dearly loved FAWM. Oh the glories of FAWM. Click there now and get started, songwriters. We did and hence we are here.

For various reasons, not the least of which are the sad realities of cash-on-hand, we won’t be at SXSW this year. A disappointment as it’s become something of a regular thing of late. Like an annual pilgrimage to cheap beer. But truth is it’s time to give it a rest and relax into other activities.

Jefferson Pitcher has been at it with improvisational guitar like a madman and has various projects in the works, including the sublime Now the Deer, which you should find and listen to.
J. Matthew Gerken is heavy with his regular band, Nice Monster, playing tons of shows and writing tons of songs. He has a newish EP out too (self-titled) which you should get and listen to. He’s also produced the new album by Be Brave Bold Robot and sings some harmony on it as well. Be Brave’s main dude, Dean H., is on the Prez album too so it’s all in the family.
As for me, I’ve just finished up a new novel, which is out in the mail. Keep your eyes peeled to my site for whatever news of that comes about.
The fine fine folks at Standard Recording Co. continue to release fine fine music. Go and hear some.

That’s all for now. More in a month or so, I hope.

Filed under: Miscellany

Presidents to Chicago

Christian Kiefer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:35:50 +0000

We’ll be bringing the Songs for Presidents show to Chicago for July 3 (Hideout) and July 4 (Taste of Chicago “Taste” Stage).

Posted in Uncategorized

Live at Davis High

Christian Kiefer — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:07:21 +0000

May 15, 2009, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Davis Senior High School Library
315 W. 14th Street, Davis, CA

Live “Songs for Presidents” show with Davis High guests Doodle, Shiva Shahmir, and The Cast Shadows helping us out. Educational outreach! Woo!

E-mail david@christiankiefer.com to rvsp so we can make sure we have it covered!

Posted in Uncategorized

The Washington Photographs

Christian Kiefer — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:40:24 +0000

For those interested in the show in Washington, DC back in January, Jeff Hutton’s photographs have been collected in a fine book with texts by Christian Kiefer, J. Matthew Gerken, Jefferson Pitcher, Stephen Kilroy (of Middle Distance Runner), Scott Leftridge, Chip Conrad, and Tim Fite. It more or less tells the story of the album and features new live photographs of us and the various guests involved: Nellie McKay, Tim Fite, Hiss Golden Messenger, Joe Pug, Denison Witmer, Laura Burhenn, Middle Distance Runner, Jukebox the Ghost, The Potomac Buccaneers of Leesburg Virginia, and These United States. Did I miss anyone? Probably. Click below for a preview of the beast (although note also that the preview is of the Intro section, which only has our press photos–the show starts later in the text).

Songs for Pres…

Of Great and Morta…

By Jeff Hutton

Book Preview

Posted in Uncategorized

Local (to us) Shows

Christian Kiefer — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:53:15 +0000

Some local (to us) shows and events that will feature songs from Of Great and Mortal Men…

April 15, 7:00AM
Rotary Club, Rocklin, CA
Lecture on Presidents project
.
.
April 18, 7:00PM
House Show, Davis, CA
E-mail david@idhsales.com for location and information
.
.
April 22, 12:00PM
Sierra College, Rocklin, CA
Live daytime, outside show for whoever wanders by
.
.
April 25, time TBA
House show, Marysville, CA
E-mail jesseharris87@sbcglobal.net for location and information
.
.
May 1, 9:00PM
Luna’s Cafe, Sacramento, CA
.
.
June 6, 9:00PM
Luigi’s Fun Garden, Sacramento, CA

Posted in Uncategorized

CK + acoustic prez + KT = Mood Swing Whistlestop Express

Christian Kiefer — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:23:56 +0000

The Kimberly Trip plays hard-edged geek pop of a variety that you can likely not even imagine. They only play spaces they can totally control. They set the stage, they control the tickets, they run the sound, they do everything. That means you get video projections, snow machines, smoke and mirrors, lights and the whole thing. In short, it’s awesome.

They don’t do too many of these shows lately, but they are doing on this Saturday and I’m fortunate enough to open.

Here’s how it will work: I’ll play acoustic with Chip (smallish drums and junk), Simon (accordion), and Damian (fiddle) and I’ll bum everyone out with my avant-downbeat-sadsack tuneage. Then The Kimberly Trip will melt your sadness with their upbeat 80s-flavored geek pop. Sounds good, don’t it? I think so.

Saturday, March 28 · All Ages! ·

$4/$6/$10 · 8:00pm

Heroes Alley

3501 Sunrise Blvd.

Rancho Cordova , CA

Buy tickets via the link below and please put my name in the comments. I only get any money if folks put my name in. & I’ve been invited to play Grant Park in Chicago for 4th of July and am trying to gather enough $$ to make that happen. Here’s the ticket-buying link:

http://www.thekimberlytrip.com/home.php?page=tickets

There will be tickets at the door too. Make sure you mention you’re there to see me bum everyone out. Hell yes.

More news of Chicago coming soon. Meanwhile, be well all.

Best,

Posted in Tour Dates

Obama song

Christian Kiefer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:18:51 +0000

Folks! If you’ve not already grabbed it from NPR or elsewhere, our song for the Obama presidency is permanently housed here. That’s the #44 addendum to Of Great and Mortal Men. Click on over to its page and grab it. Yessir.

Posted in Uncategorized

Old Lonesome Sound

Christian Kiefer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:43:08 +0000

Splice Today’s “Old Lonesome Sound” compiliation went live a day or two ago. It features tracks from past, present, and future Presidential folks: Christian Kiefer, These United States (part of John Adams on the record, live in DC and upcoming at SXSW with us), Radar Bros. (Coolidge on the album), and others who are slated to (we hope) join us for Presidents live at SXSW this year. More on that as it unfolds, but it will be amazing.

Old Lonesome Sound can be grabbed from here and for free. You just need a login to Spice Today (easy and thus far, in my own experience, spamless).

My compatriots Jefferson Pitcher and J. Matthew Gerken also have relatively new music out, but I’ll wait for them to tell you about that.

Posted in Uncategorized

All Our Noise

Christian Kiefer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:21:20 +0000

Great 10 min. video interview with footage of the DC show is up at All Our Noise. Check it out below.

http://www.allournoise.com/2009/02/songs-for-presidents-everythings-all-right/

Posted in Uncategorized

Silver Darling’s Abraham Lincoln live in DC

Christian Kiefer — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:45:33 +0000

God bless Silver Darling. They shelled out their own cash to fly out to DC and play two songs at our show–John Tyler and Abraham Lincoln. This is Lincoln. This band is stunning to behold, like a force of nature from some other time entirely. Go find them and buy their record, Your Ghost Fits My Skin, which I had some small hand in making.

Posted in Uncategorized