The continuing saga of Falling August

[chanaleh]

For the uninitiated: Falling August was this band at Brandeis in the late '80s and early '90s. I maintain their only known fan page. This year, after some nudging from me, they also finally put up their own page at www.fallingaugust.com with -- joy of joys! -- free MP3s of every recorded song off their three albums. The site went down for several weeks shortly after it went up, then it was back (and right now it seems to be gone again, ugh!). But anyway, my page is still the top Google hit, and every so often (in fact, rather more often than you might believe), random people email me regarding the band.

While we were away last month, I got no fewer than 3 such emails. Two from fans -- and one from their audio engineer, Rob Lehmann (incidentally, also chair of Audio Media & Technology at the New England Institute of Art). Hey, he said, I found your page, Steve just had me remaster all the old albums to CD, I'd be happy to send you one since you're such a big fan, would you like a copy? Would I like a copy???

The CD came end of last week. I was so excited when I brought the mail in, J was like, "What *is* that?" :-) We were heading out on some errands shortly thereafter, so as soon as we got into the car, I popped the disc in and cranked it up.

It was -- like finding part of my heart that I had forgotten was missing. It sounds great.

Plus, with the more overt Celtic-folk-rock style on the surface of the music, I'd kinda forgotten the subtle but pervasive Jewishness about it. If that wasn't a conscious part of what I originally responded to in it, it certainly is now. (Interestingly, at a Jewish young-adult leadership conference in November, I went to a very cool session about Rebooters.net -- "redefining Jewish identity and community" -- wherein it was mentioned that Daniel Sokatch, a.k.a. the former FA lead singer, is one of their number. I think I let out an audible "Oh!". I am deeply amused, though not, I guess, surprised.)

I've already made one copy for tapuz, who was just as "bounce! bounce!" as I was. Anyone else? (Ping me with your mailing address at chanaleh@lj if there's no obvious time to hand it off in the next month or so. Worst case, I suspect I'll bring a few to Arisia, where I am likely to see many of you. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Comments

[tapuz.livejournal.com]

"bounce! bounce!"

Thank you!!!!

[points.livejournal.com]

Mrowp? :)

[ursamajor]

They sound nifty - I would love a chance to check 'em out, if you please :)

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Maybe? Kind of curious what a piece of your heart sounds like, aside from the "thump thump thump":)

re your last entry: would you like to come with G and I to (or meet up with us at) MIT's the first lesson of the series of swing dances starting next Wednesday night (prolly at about 7:30pm)?

[laurion]

Ooh, ooh, me, me!

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Email me with your preferred snail-mail address and I'll send it next week along with the Honorable Menschen CD. :-)

[gilana]

I'd love one -- sounds right up my alley! That's so cool.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Celtic folk rock with Jewish undertones? If this is not a band that I would feel guilty about buying an album*, I would totally want a copy.

*Yeah, I can't get the grammer right. I'm going to bed.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

You mean, about copying rather than buying? You CAN'T buy it, and as they're now giving away the same set of songs for free, technically I'm probably SAVING them money by distributing it manually on disc rather than sending people to their site (were it even up!) for the download. So I don't think there is any reason for guilt. :-)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Yay! That's what I like to hear.

[cos]

You already know I want one :)

I still think of Towers of Denmark as their signature song, so the idea of forgetting the Jewishness seems really strange.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, so, there are the obviously Jewish songs like Towers of Denmark, and Stones. But a lot of the imagery throughout draws on what I see as particularly Jewish idioms: stone and sand, kings and angels, wanderers and political prisoners. :-) Also, take a line like the opening of "Nova Scotia":

The week begins
A letter from the Promised Land
A handshake from a former friend...

where coming from someone else "Promised Land" might have some weird metaphorical significance, but listening to these guys, I'm like, "Yeah, he has friends in Israel, he got a letter from one of them. Right. Cool."

Anyway, I'll start cranking out CD copies and make sure to get you one ASAP. :-)

web site

[cos]

P.S. Does he know anything useful about why the web site is usually down? Or some hint of a schedule of when it might be up?

Re: web site

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

"he" meaning Rob Lehmann? I doubt it, I had to tell him there was now a site and that that's what Steve wanted the new masters for!

I only heard about it originally from Kira last June. :-) I wrote in right away (going "squeee!") to the info@fallingaugust.com address on the site, and got an email directly back from Scott Cohen (therefore I assume he's the real tech contact). Then in July, when I noticed the site was down, I wrote him again -- and never heard back. I think it might have come up again sometime in the interim, but I'm not sure exactly when. Maybe I should mail him again, and Steve too.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I haven't heard them, but you've got me really curious now.

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

it sounds just up my alley.

If you want to have me host it, and they're OK with it, I can host the files on my colo box. But either way, i'd like a copy :)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I'll bring you one next weekend!

[sdavido.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Rob's a great guy (we worked together at AiNE, natch).

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Funny! I don't think I knew you had been affiliated with them.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I'm late to the party, but yes, I'd love to hear their music.