Hello Sourcers!

June! It is busting out all over! Let’s see what’s going on this week!

🏍️ Meat, Music & Motorcycles

🎥 Silent Films

🏳️‍🌈 Pride in Elmira

✍️ Poetic Tributes

Let’s start out in Wellsboro, PA, where Saturday is a day for meats. FEASTfest is essentially a massive cookout, with wood grilling of various meats and sausages, plus two stages of live music, a car and motorcycle show, and cooking demos. This one’s ticketed: you can get a cheap ticket for just the entertainment but no meat, a little pricier for one pass at the buffet, or a deluxe “all the meats” ticket, so you really want to know your meat tolerance going into this one.

In perhaps the absolute opposite of that, on Sunday, the Wharton Museum in Ithaca will be holding a screening and awards ceremony for Quiet on the Set, a youth short silent film competition. The contest was open to kids ages 11 to 18 across the region to create three-minute, silent, black and white films. This celebration will be held at Cinemapolis on Sunday at 2pm. 

Somewhere in between Motorcycle Meat Party and Silent Film Celebration is Elmira’s Pride celebration in Wisner Park! This event is hosted by our friends at the Park Church, and we’re very excited that WSKG will be at this event (we have some nifty new totebags and stickers to give away). This one’s on Saturday from 11am to 4pm, so come by and say hello!

Additionally, I wanted to highlight The Verb Takes a Walk, a poetry and music series that takes place on the first Sunday of every month at 3pm at the Lansing Area Performance Hall (except in July, when it’ll be the second Sunday). This month, they’re holding a tribute to Peaches Gillette, a community activist, pastor, educator and poet. Folks are welcome to participate or simply attend and listen.

Finally, I don’t want to make it all about us, but WSKG has a couple cool things coming up too. This Thursday, our competitive storytelling series, Trampoline, will be presenting our June installment at Atomic Tom’s in Binghamton at 7pm. The theme for this month is Under Construction. Show up, sign up, and tell a five minute true story for a chance to win storytelling glory. And next Thursday, June 11th, we’re hosting a free screening of the Masterpiece drama Grantchester at our WSKG Studios at 6pm. This screening is free, but pre-registration is suggested.

Speaking of pre-registering for things, have you signed up for our summer reading program, Completely Booked yet? We are cooking up some very exciting events and partnerships for this program, and we’ll be announcing more of them in the coming days. 

That’s what I’ve got for now, Sourcers! Please let me know what’s coming up in your neck of the woods, and hope to see you soon!

Yours,

Bob Proehl

Locally Sourced editor

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One of the magical moments when looking through Used Vinyl bins is when you pull out an album and it immediately transports you back in time.

That is what happened when I discovered Marti Jones’ first album, Unsophisticated Time, at Angry Mom Records. This disc came out in 1985. I came upon it a few years later when I was working at a commercial Talk station in New York City. It was on the desk of one of the hosts, and I asked if I could give it a listen.

Marti Jones is a straight-forward singer. With the exception of one co-writing credit on this first album, the tracks are all covers. Unlike Linda Ronstadt, who covers songs using lots of vocal gymnastics, Marti Jones’ renditions are emotive, highlighted by her deep, sultry voice. Imagine Dusty Springfield as a modern-day indie folk/pop singer.

There is so much I love about this album, including the song selection and the love story behind the production. The album was produced by Don Dixon, who happens to be one of my favorite record producers. Dixon is a king of the “Jangle Pop” sound, which was big in the 80’s. He was assigned by A&M records to work with Marti Jones on this debut solo release. The two became friends first, then married in 1988, and often perform together to this day. I was lucky enough to see them live at The Bottom Line in NYC in 1990.

The song selections include tunes by the dB’s’ Peter Holsapple, the Bongos’ Richard Barone, and Elvis Costello, along with a bunch of tunes by Don Dixon. But each song becomes Marti Jones’ own because of her interpretation. Side 1, Song 1 is a tune I was very familiar with, Lonely is as Lonely Does by the dB’s, but when I first heard Marti Jones sing it, it took me some time to make the connection to the original. There are artists that cover songs with very little effort, just making a reproduction, and then there are artists like Marti Jones that give a song a whole new meaning.

Singing is not her only talent: Jones is also a visual artist. She is a painter, living in Canton, Ohio with her husband. Check out her work which includes some of her “Women in Music” series, as well as pieces inspired by the movies “Valley of the Dolls,” “Grey Gardens,” and a couple of Hitchcock Cameos. 

I wish more people knew about Marti Jones’ work as a singer. I was only able to find a couple of videos from Unsophisticated Time, If I Could Walk Away From You,(written by Don Dixon) and Follow You All Over the World. I hope you take the time to treat your ears to the smokey sounds of Marti Jones. 

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