—Shaky East Coast Tour 2.5 (2016)

September 02, 2016 (Friday) - Thayer Sarrano returns to Washington, D.C. She appears tonight at the The Velvet Lounge, backed by her comrades-in-instruments: Ted Kuhn (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums). Showtime is 8:30 pm. The DCist -- a local arts and entertainment newspaper -- selected the Velvet Lounge as one of The 15 Best Music Venues in the larger District of Columbia area. Thayer Sarrano last played Washington in early March of this year, in support of the Drive-By Truckers at the 9:30 Club.

Joining in with a showcase set of his own is Luke Stewart, a "multi-instrumentalist, radio producer, writer, and events organizer." As a writer Stewart has participated in and contributed several interviews and numerous album reviews to Capital Bop, a press outlet "dedicated to preserving, promoting, and presenting jazz in Washington, D.C." As a musician, Stewart plays, among other acoustic instruments and electronica, the uskala (or choctaw flute), alto saxophone, and upright bass. You can purchase a recording of his ensemble Trio OOO -- Live for Trayvon -- on Bandcamp. This is a live performance from 2013, captured at the Union Arts and Manufacturing in Washington, D.C. It is "dedicated to Trayvon Martin and all victims of racism." We the Guildwater Scriveners also enjoyed a live Trio OOO video on YouTube, as captured at Urban Eats, an "arts and music café" in Maryland. That would be Stewart launching in on upright at the 2-minute mark.   

September 01, 2016 (Thursday) - Thayer Sarrano propels her third album -- Shaky -- up the East Coast for a third time -- officially dubbed, however and henceforth, by our laboratories, as East Coast 2.5, because of the brevity of the dash, and so as not to do injustice to the scale and scope of her prior undertakings: East Coast 1.0 and East Coast 2.0. Performing tonight alongside Thayer at Slim's Downtown in Raleigh, North Carolina, are cohorts Ted Kuhn (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums). Thayer last played Slim's on October 3rd, 2015, as part of an unexpected twist in Shaky's East Coast 1.0 gauntlet.

Also playing Slim's Downtown this evening are The Affectionates. Based out of nearby Durham, they released in May of this year their new album -- What To Build, Who To Destroy. You can catch the video for their single "I Pick You" on YouTube. 10 Foot Woody Records makes The Affectionates' album available to you. 10 Foot is a label situated in Columbia, South Carolina, a city home to the fabled Papa Jazz Record Shoppe, itself a sacred land, where obscure ESP-Disk (Denmark) offerings by Albert Ayler, the New York Art Quartet, and Alan Silva qualify as Top 40 Hits, and are readily available in physical formats. We the humble Scribes of Guildwater purchased there our office copies of these and more.

10 Foot Woody Records is itself home to She Returns From War, who joined Thayer Sarrano for a show earlier this year at the Flicker Theater in Athens, Georgia. Should ever you care to view some blistering footage from that February Eve, of Thayer launching into the song "Witness," from her self-released album Lift Your Eyes to the Hills, to begin her set, well, shouldn't you peep this video clip as found on Instagram? That Flicker Theater show was masterminded by the good folks of Stereofly Magazine, who, fittingly enough, are arranging -- in conjunction with Free Times, the Jam Room Recording Studio, and 10 Foot Woody Records -- the Hopscotch Music Festival, where Thayer is slated for a matinée performance a little over a week from now, on September 9th, again in Raleigh, only this time at the Boxcar Bar + Arcade. Also playing the Hopscotch that day will be the aforementioned She Returns From War and The Affectionates. Render thyselves to all of these places posthaste. This means now. This means ya'll.   

August 31, 2016 (Wednesday) - Here begins the Third East Coast Tour for Thayer Sarrano and her album Shaky. Joining her onstage at The Station tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then across September and October, will be comrades Edward "Ted" J. Kuhn, Master of Fine Arts (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums). Performing a separate set of his own will be Charlotte-based musician Djako, who just last year, with his band Dirty Turkey, rounded out a bill at Petra's Piano Bar, also in Charlotte, a bill that equally featured Thayer, as well as the Leadville Social Club. Still more recently in Charlotte, Thayer Sarrano herself played Petra's in late February of this very year (2016), before joining forces with the Drive-By Truckers as part of her Second East Coast Tour. Her line-up then featured: JoJo Glidewell (keys), William T. Kissane (drums), and Zack Milster (bass).

We -- the Scriveners of Guildwater, a team of hired-pens, because no one man could go it alone -- are torn as to whether to label this foray on Thayer Sarrano's part as East Coast Tour 3.0 or East Coast Tour 2.5, considering that this, by comparison to her previous Eastern Excursions (both 1.0 and 2.0), is a more abbreviated affair, a springboard to her looming Europa Tour, which itself begins mid-month of September, lasting through October. We have submitted the matter for careful scrutiny to our laboratories, and should have the results back from our Bunsen Burners by the time her ship flies and the crow sails for European shores. In the in between time, we can declare with an air of infallibility that Thayer will undoubtedly perform this evening at The Station in Charlotte. Render thyself there posthaste. This means you. This means now.   

August 28, 2016 (Sunday) - Happy Birthday, Shaky! Thayer Sarrano appears live at the Wildwood Revival, a three-day musical and cultural excursion, situated on Cloverleaf Farm, on the fringes of Athens, Georgia. Wildwood is self-described as "an intimate, thoughtfully curated boutique festival." Other acts participating in this year's Wildwood Revival include, listed in order of appearance, activities having begun Friday and concluding today: The Athens Cowboy Choir, The Lone Bellow, SUSTO, J.P. Harris, Indianola, Hackensaw Boys, Legendary Shack Shakers, Big George Brock, Gillian Welch, Sammy Brue, Julie Rhodes, Brian Wright, Ancient Cities, Nellie Pearl, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and Houndmouth.

Performing as part of the Thayer Sarrano Experience today will be at least two (perhaps more) familiar faces: William T. Kissane (drums) and Zack Milster (bass). This is the dynamic tandem that accompanied Thayer on her first and second East Coast Tour of 2015 and 2016. Fittingly, Thayer's Wildwood appearance arrives a mere three days before her third East Coast Run, highlighted by a show at a hot new club called Berlin, located in the Bowery / East Village District of New York City. Other stops along this quick sprint northward include Charlotte, Raleigh, and Washington. Accompanying Thayer up the coast will be Ted Kuhn (bass, plus Master of Fine Arts) and Jason Nazary (drums). Athenian-Turned-San-Fran-Man, Ted Kuhn joined Thayer for portions of her West Coast Tour across December 2015. He played drums then. He picks up a bass now. Local Athenians will recognize Jason Nazary from his involvement with Kenosha Kid. Nazary is a native of Atlanta. He relocated his game to New York City in 2005. This same Sarrano Trio will then get airborne, skimming the lower reaches of the ionosphere, direction Europe, mid-month September, through October. We will have more to say about Tour Europa at a later date, but soon. (Planes don't technically reach the "ionosphere," but it sounded nice to write anyway.)

Thayer Sarrano's Wildwood appearance, as well as her pending East Coast and Europa Tours, are brought to you in part by Shaky, an album which celebrates its first birthday this very day. Happy Birthday, Shaky! Age gracefully becomes you. This latest studio release by Thayer Sarrano is available in MP3-format on iTunes, where you can also find Lift Your Eyes to the Hills (2012). Those two records are also available in physical formats (CD / LP for Shaky, and Hills on CD) via Bandcamp. There you can also find her album King (2009).

As we round out our collection of Thayer Sarrano images (on Facebook anyway -- you can also visit our updated website album) from the Emilia Paré Photography Sessions, we would like to point you directly towards the website of this lens-talent Emilia Paré, where you'll discover other musical artists as captured by the photographer. While there, consider ordering your copy of the new opulent, hardbound book, entitled TWENTYTWO. It documents her year in images, running from February 2015 to February 2016. Many thanks to Emilia Paré for all her fine work. We shall continue to use (indeed, over-use) these skilled images, until every last bit of luminance and aura has been drained from every last pixel, and the corners are "Torn and Frayed." It is a Guildwater house specialty.