Listen Local Radio

THE ORDEAL (16 songs) part 1

Hours upon hours of listening to Gillian, Lucinda and Greta's Pandora station while I fixed up the bread truck last summer. All of those sirens singing sad and mad and joyful songs... I realized it had been 5 years since I last recorded and it was time for me to make new songs. The Ordeal was sort of taking a break so I hounded a few of my favorite musicians to "give" me some music they had laying around. Over the next few months I wrote about love, the drought, personal injustice and other stuff with Julia Whelpton, Veronica May, Astra Kelly, Heather Gmucs and Jeff Berkley. It was around that time that the ukulele exploded my world with happiness and The Ordeal not only began playing again but Matt and I started writing trippy new tunes, too. I had some studio time at Jeff Berkley's burning a hole in my pocket so a few weeks ago we booked a weekend and recorded the bass and drums for 16 songs. Originally dubbed "project collab", the placeholder name is 16 songs until such time as I can find a suitable name. Theme. Photos. Artwork. Videos. This is the exciting part, pals! *sigh*

I'll be heading back into Jeff's on Oct. 17th to record my ukulele parts, Matt will lay down guitar shortly thereafter and sometime in November I'll bust out the vocals for Matt and Marcia to record some sweet, sweet harmonies over. I'll keep you updated on the process and let you know how you can get the collection of songs... it's gonna be outside of the box. Literally. :)  

Listen Local Radio WEEKLY 9 6 16

Hey friends, here is a link to this week's blog https://pub38.bravenet.com/bravemailer/v2/online.php?id=167&usernum=3217042420&e=cathryn%40listenlocalradio.com&cname=Valued%20Subscriber

In other news, on September 28th I was so busy drinking wine with Roni Lee and Julia that I TOTALLY forgot it was Listen Local Radio and my 2 year anniversary of busting out some tunes every week. Hear the inaugural show here: https://soundcloud.com/listenlocalradio/hgh-9-28-14?in=listenlocalradio/sets/listenlocalradio, it was still called the Homegrown Show then. I wrote a little something about it this morning. xo

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From pod casting to terrestrial radio, I've been pushing local music on "the radio" since 2004 and I kind of dig it. This September The Listen Local Show celebrated two years of independent broadcasting since leaving KPRi and our listeners continue to grow each week due to our mobile billboards and your awesome musical content. Since turning the show into an "audio calendar" playing music by those performing during the week AND adorning my vehicles with our message, we're reaching more people than ever. I'm hearing reports of people going to the live shows because they heard the artist on our show. As the only staff member here I just needed to share that great news (everyone high five, hugs all around) and give proper thanks to the people who have made this little show possible.

Lloyd Pest Control began supporting the show when we were on the FMs and have stuck with us through all the recent changes. They make it possible for me to produce the radio show and to continue all of Listen Local's efforts to share your music and I am eternally grateful for their generosity. As if riding in on a white horse with orange cape flying, Gigtown showed up at a pivotal moment...had it not been for Andy's encouragement and support Listen Local may have pulled the plug. When we decided to persevere, attorney Michael Hoisington held my hand through some rough times and helped me through the trademark process, legitimizing Listen Local and protecting future endeavors. Jeff Berkley has been there all along, guiding me and giving production advice and local venues/businesses De Oro Mine Co and Hale Ukulele believe in the show enough to become part of the family and sponsor us each week. This year we added segments from Scott Clayton and Gale Hopping including music from North County to OB/Point Loma and we're lucky to have the San Diego Folk Heritage report each week thanks to JT Moring. Most recently, after a computer melt down, a gift from Jeff Stasny has allowed us to continue the show each week. The point is...I can't do it without them. I am grateful to the people who allow me to do what I love, sharing the music our city's hardworking musicians are making.

Besides our camping events and branded events like The Game, The Acoustic Alliance and hopefully again The Kid Show, I won't be hosting many multi band showcase events in the future. Instead, I'll be concentrating on the radio show and the ALIVE in San Diego web series that features local bands and music related topics. I've also been putting some time into my own music again and am excited about The Ordeal's new collection of songs produced by Jeff Berkley being released one at a time via video over the next 16 months. Exciting things on the horizon...

If you'd like to be part of the fun and help us keep the music rocking, grab a calendar! The Listen Local Radio Fundraising Calendar "Celebrating our Sisters" features group photos of ladies representing San Diego's creative scene. The first 50 pre ordered will receive a bonus CD compilation of songs, stories, poems, etc from our calendar girls. The calendar is $34.99 and will be available in mid November. Find the link to order yours at ListenLocalRadio.com. Need promo material? Hiring 1/2 Fast Foto and Film for your photography and video needs keeps the records spinning, too. Contact me at Cathryn@ListenLocalRadio.com for info.

As I return from an amazing vacation with my incredible husband to a job I love I am once again overcome with gratitude, happiness and love. xo Cathryn

Hey!

I'm no longer posting the radio show here. Click on LISTEN LOCAL RADIO WEEKLY for a link to the show each week. Thanks for listening! xo

The Listen Local Show 9 22 16 NOW PLAYING

The Listen Local Show 9 15 16 NOW PLAYING

The Listen Local Show 9 8 16 now playing

The Listen Local Show 9 1 16 now playing

ALIVE in San Diego 8 29 16

The Listen Local Show 8 25 16 now playing

Paint everything.

So, I painted my car. It was oxidized and rusted and dented and an ugly gold color but she runs great and since I had some leftover paint from my truck project and Jonny's blessing, I went for it.

 I used black gloss rustoleum and regular house paint, spray paint for the rims. I used SUPER cheap rollers which left some fibers behind giving it a nice texture. No, really... I LIKE the texture. Laugh if you want, or use a high end roller. 

DIYlettering.com once again hooked me up with a great product fast and cheap and BOOM my mom van is now a cool mobile business card. I call her Ronda Honda Van Halen and if you see us out give us a honk! 

...but wait, there's more! My friend Tara of Mocking Bird Art also DIY'd with some rustoleum lately, check it out! Tara, how'd you do it?!

I've had my refrigerator for 19 years and has been working great the whole time. Like most people I loaded it up with magnets and pictures, but lately I  found that I was putting anything on there, but not because I loved it. It was because it could cover up the rust spots developing all along the bottom from my water dispenser.

It was so bad, how much worse could it be if I painted it? Anything would be better than rust.  I bought everything at Walmart : quart Rustoleum latex paint(Apple Red!) I don't think it needs to be latex but that's what they had and it was indoor/outdoor for metal. Small roller with 3/4 nap for semi-texture really made a difference and small pan, and already had blue tape so total was under $15! (picture 3) I want to add a razor blade or exacto knife- not pictured and led to my problems later. Sanded everything lightly and the rust spots until they were as smooth as the paint. Blue taped everything, this is where I would recommend completely wrapping the handles because I kept hitting the top and had a lot of mini cleanups( do it right at the time!)

This was ultra cover and really did a great job, I could see the rust spots but only slightly so waited 20 mins. and gave a second coat.  It said dries to touch in an hour, I waited two just in case (really had to leave the house because I was literally watching paint dry).

Then I made my biggest mistake, pulled the blue tape straight off and it pulled in a scraggly line. I then used a razor blade to cut the blue tape perfectly in a clean line. I was able to lightly sand and repaint my edge over the ice /water dispender but would have been perfect with the blade. Final product looked so nice and the white handles and sides looked newer than ever. Here's to another 19 years!

Tara Alvarado
Mockingbird Art