Friday – April 20th, 2007 – $12

Ellis Paul is one of the leading voices in America’s thriving singer-songwriter/ folk circuit. He was a principle leader in what has become known as the Boston school of songwriting, an urbane, literate folk-pop style that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s. His charismatic, personally authentic performance style has influenced a generation of artists away from the artifice of pop, and closer towards the realness of folk. Though he remains among the most pop-friendly of today’s singer-songwriters – his songs regularly appear in hit movie and TV soundtracks – he has bridged the gulf between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger more successfully than perhaps any of his songwriting peers.

Yet to hear him at this crossroads moment in his career, you would think he was just getting started. For years, he has been among the folk circuit’s most popular and dependable headliners, with a mailing list of over 20,000 fiercely loyal fans. He has released 11 CDs, and recently explored new media avenues with a documentary/concert DVD called “3,000 Miles,” and “Notes from the Road,” a critically acclaimed book of poems and stories.

Performing at the Alcazar Monday – Mar. 12th, 2007 – $10

Explosions in the Sky was formed in Austin, Texas in 1999, originally called Breaker Morant. Hrasky is from Rockford, Illinois, and the rest of the band hails from Midland. They quickly gained a reputation for themselves among other established local bands such as Lift to Experience. Their label, Temporary Residence Limited signed the band on the strength of its demo – submitted by fellow Austin band The American Analog Set with a brief note saying “This totally fucking destroys.”
They also garnered a small amount of media attention as a result of their second album, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever, due to rumors linking it to the September 11, 2001 attacks, a rumor the band denied in interviews. The album art shows an airplane with the caption “This plane will crash tomorrow.” The belief arose that the album was released on September 10, 2001, adding to its coincidental mystique, but this belief is incorrect. The concept for the album art originated in 2000, and the album was released August 27, 2001.
Their music was used extensively for the soundtrack of the 2004 Peter Berg film, Friday Night Lights.
Their song “Remember Me as a Time of Day” was used extensively throughout the pilot of Friday Night Lights (the series) on 3 October 2006. Episode two featured “Your Hand in Mine”.
Explosions in the Sky has had two songs from The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place “Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean” and “Your Hand in Mine” played in the background of a Cadillac commercial.
Explosions in the Sky has finished recording their next album, entitled All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone. It has six songs, ranging from three to thirteen minutes each. The artwork, again by Esteban Rey, is completed.[citation needed] The band recorded the album in Minnesota in August with John Congleton. The album is due for release in February with both a one disc version as well as a two-disc special editions featuing remixes by artists such as Eluvium and Adem.