March 31, 2016 (Thursday) - Thayer Sarrano will perform with her band tomorrow -- Friday, April 1st -- on the Rooftop of the Georgia Theatre. This event is part of the broader Slingshot Festival in Athens. Rooftop festivities begin at 10 pm, at the conclusion of the Angel Olsen show, taking place on the street level of the Georgia Theatre. Olsen is based out of Asheville, North Carolina. She is signed to the Jagjagwuar record label, itself situated in Bloomington, Indiana. Three other acts will also perform on the Rooftop. At 11 pm, local Athens favorites WANDA will claim the stage. At 12 pm, Atlanta-based R&B / rap artist Miloh Smith will commandeer the mic. At 1 am, Autumn in June will take things over, hailing from Los Angeles, California.

This is the fourth annual Slingshot Festival. It is a three-day affair, beginning today -- Thursday, March 31st -- and running through Saturday / Sunday morning. During these three days and nights, the Slingshot will claim as its own five city-blocks of downtown Athens, playing host, according to their official website, to "thousands of music fans, culture creators, influencers, and state-of-the-art tech entrepreneurs from around the world."   

March 29, 2016 (Tuesday) - That's it. We are relocating our offices to the land of Papa Joseph Haydn. (His Fifth Symphony is better than Beethoven's, by the way, Bonn.) That's right. The Guildwater Group is opening a branch office in Austria, where we can shout and yodel to our friends of guteshoerenistwichtig across the steep valleys of the crisp-air Alps. Here is the Alpine equivalent of a Georgia field holler. Call: "Shoegaze ist auch nicht zu verachten." Response: "Shoegaze is not too shabby." In the meantime, while we pack, we will just use the internet, to thank guteshoerenistwichtig for giving us a kind name-check shout-out, all while sharing with the peoples of Europa the "Gates" video of the mighty Thayer Sarrano. This song is from Lift Your Eyes to the Hills -- an independent release, under Thayer's own name, from 2012. Eddie the Wheel filmed and produced this remarkable video, which figured among our very first introductions to the gifts of Thayer Sarrano, a little over a year ago. Light bulbs. Bird's nests. Egg baskets.

Worldwide: This is a good place, indeed, to mention that Thayer Sarrano is on her way to Europe. Not just yet, but later in the fall of this year, if all goes well. And it will. Venues of the venerable Old Continent interested in booking this talent (Thayer Sarrano) should contact Interstellar Music, which is based in the Swiss canton of Zürich, the land of Huldrych Zwingli. From there, Sarrano shows can be arranged for Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Germany, and, yes, Austria! More immediately and locally, you will find Thayer Sarrano with her band on the Rooftop of the Georgia Theatre. This performance is part of the broader Slingshot Festival in Athens. Mark your calendars for April 1st, this Friday. Set your alarms for 10 pm. Dispatch yourself tout de suite. Thank you, guteshoerenistwichtig, for sharing the "Gates" video of Thayer Sarrano! Quality shoes are important!   

March 28, 2016 (Monday) - We are delighted, once again, to extend considerable thanks to Jens, the author of guteshoerenistwichtig. Jens was kind enough to publicize recently the video release of "Touch My Face," by Thayer Sarrano. This live footage was captured at the historic Seney-Stovall Chapel, in September 2015, in Athens, Georgia. The performance was part of the album release show for Shaky -- the third LP from Thayer Sarrano. Just previously, in January, Jens of guteshoerenistwichtig demonstrated his acute musical acumen, when his journal, based in Austria, lauded Shaky as the Top Album of 2015. The name of this Austrian music journal derives from the full German phrase: "Gutes Hören ist wichtig (gutes Lesen auch)." This translates into English as: "Good listening is important (as is good reading)."

In addition to Jens of Austria, we extend thanks to GSU-TV of Georgia State University, for the gracious contribution of their time and services. GSU-TV filmed, packaged, and produced the video for "Touch My Face." This is the third GSU-TV video release from the Chapel Show. Fans of Thayer Sarrano should also consider: "Crease," and "Hide My Health," the latter of which includes vocal contributions from the Athens Cowboy Choir. "Hide My Health" was recently reviewed by the Autumn Roses, as we noted in an article of last Friday. More Seney-Stovall Chapel footage of Thayer Sarrano is on the way. Slowly, quietly, these performances are trickling out to the public. In time, said public will come to understand, not only what a great songwriter, but what a consummate live-performer, she truly is. Consider also Off the Record: Thayer Sarrano. This 30-minute television-aired documentary, produced equally by GSU-TV, includes interviews and live performances both with and by the artist herself from AthFest 2015.

In other breaking Thayer Sarrano News, you will find her with band at the Slingshot Festival in Athens, performing on the Rooftop of the Georgia Theatre. Mark your calendars for April 1st, this Friday. Set your alarms for 10 pm. Dispatch yourself posthaste.

In conclusion, we wish to thank Jens of guteshoerenistwichtig. Again, you will find the correct translation of this German phrase above. However, as we of Guildwater mentioned in a prior notice, we wrestled mightily atop our mahogany conference table, translating this hybrid High / Upper German composite term: guteshoerenistwichtig. In the process, we came up with our own enigmatic English rendering, of which we are still very fond: "Listening to the high quality shoegaze music of Thayer Sarrano is extremely important." Misled by a false cognate ("shoe"), created by an umlaut omitted and converted to an "oe," no doubt for HTML-purposes ("Gutes Hören"), we scuffed our table and arrived at our faulty translation, whose sentiments remain true, nevertheless. Put simply, we thought that the phrase related to the genre of "Shoegaze," of which Thayer Sarrano has been the "new queen" since 2009. Why? Because Americana UK told us so, once upon a time. And we believe them, even now, even if that press outlet did go apostate on us more recently. (Goodheartedly we chide.) Thank you, guteshoerenistwichtig, for writing about the Thayer Sarrano clip, "Touch My Face." Greetings from Georgia to Austria! Thanks also to GSU-TV! Greetings from Georgia to Georgia, from Athens to Atlanta.   

March 25, 2016 (Friday) - The weather and the season are spring-ish to already summer-ish -- and down south, anyway, wiltingly humid at times, unfortunately. Thus the perennial support of the Autumn Roses places a much welcomed fall-to-winter-ish breeze in the musical sails of Thayer Sarrano. We thank the Autumn Roses for writing about the video unveiling of "Hide My Health." This live performance of Thayer Sarrano derives from the album release show for -- Shaky -- back in September 2015. Events unfolded at the historic Seney-Stovall Chapel, first built, the research of the Roses reveals, in 1882. The generous people of GSU-TV of Georgia State University, out of Atlanta, filmed, packaged, and produced the video, as well as all others stemming from that evening's performance. For this particular song, the show's finale, the Athens Cowboy Choir provided vocal support, write the Roses, "haunting beautifully its silvery edges." Our sincere and eternal thanks to the Autumn Roses for spreading word of this new Thayer Sarrano clip, both in their characteristically stylish manner.

A week hence, if you seek, and you should, you will find Thayer Sarrano at the Slingshot Festival. On the Rooftop of the Georgia Theatre, with band, she shall perform. Mark your calendars for April 1st, a Friday. Mark thine clocks for 10 pm.   

March 24, 2016 (Thursday) - No need for hiatus, oasis. Thayer Sarrano adds a wrinkle to the larger Shaky Tour. East Coast? West Coast? The Midwest? The Pampas? Europe? It doesn't really matter. Thayer Sarrano arrives back in Music City, U.S.A. -- listed more prosaically on maps by cartographers worldwide as Nashville, Tennessee. Sarrano is slated to perform this evening at The Basement. There she will open for Nicole Atkins, who counts Thayer as an "esteemed guest" -- quite nice. Also performing will be Randee of the Redwoods. Demonstrating her versatility, Thayer Sarrano discards for a moment: bass, drums, and possibly keys, proceeding alphabetically. If there is some ebony and ivory nearby, chances are she might find them. She performs solo. Her voice. Her guitar. Possibly some keys. There is no better fashion in which to appreciate her craft of songwriting. (Have you not watched Thayer Sarrano's performance on Balcony TV?) Thanks to Nicole Atkins. Thanks to The Basement.

Up next, you will find Thayer Sarrano at the Slingshot Festival, situated on the Rooftop of the Georgia Theatre, in Athens. If you are marking your calendars, it's April 1st, which is a Friday. If you are marking your clocks, we would suggest a non-permanent marker in your choice of colors, for 10 pm.