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- December 2003 - MP3.com used to distribute my CD but went out of business. I made the decision to make the entire This Side of Paradise album available as a free download from this website in either MP3 and AAC formats. Please download the album from the right column of the homepage and share any of the tracks you like with friends.
OLDER NEWS ITEMS
- Summer/Fall 2003 - There's always tons of new things going on but updating this particular website doesn't appear to be one of them. Don't worry if you miss the tunes. It's just public hibernation. I'm currently learning Pro Tools, in the middle of buying new gear, playing second guitar for droplet, and developing my own songs into full-band versions with other musicians. This all has been a lot of fun, particularly the last part. There's new songwriting going on and a bunch of private performances going on in the St. Paul, MN area. You're welcome to write to me and make a case for being added to the invite list for these local events but, for the moment, the whole public aspect of this site is on hold. I'll be back.
- June 2002 - Last summer, I did some studio recording with droplet for their coming album, scheduled for release in July 2002.
The song I worked on with Chrissy and the band was Soft Focus, a bluesy pop song about -- irony of ironies considering what I spend a considerable amount of my time doing -- how the media delivers us reality in 'soft focus'.
I contributed a lead guitar solo, a slide guitar track, and some very strange noise at the end. The lyrics of Soft Focus are available on droplet/Chrissy's site. Audio from the song will be available this month.
- 8/9 December 2001 - TWO WEEKEND SHOWS IN THE TWIN CITIES. Apologies for the late notice on this one, but I have two shows this weekend. CDs will be available for sale at both shows.
- Saturday 8th December 2001 -- Art as protest @ Intermedia Arts Center -- starts at 7pm.
The 20th anniversary of the incarceration of Mumia Abu Jamal and
International Human Rights day, some of the Twin Cities most daring
talent raise their voices, speaking truth to power, through diverse
performances. Louis Alemahyhu, Nigel Parry, Eddie Armey, Sha Cage,
SuSu Jeffrey, Desdemona and others.
Intermedia Arts Center
2822 Lyndale Avenue S
Minneapolis
612-871-4444
http://www.intermediaarts.org/
- 13 November 2001 - Please e-mail or phone the following local radio stations and request them to play one of the conflict-related songs from Nigel Parry's This Side of Paradise album (Land of the Shadow, Forget, or the title track).
These songs are key activist tools that remind us of the human cost of the current war in the Middle East. The songs have received 3,585 total plays (10,000 by November 2003) to date on MP3.com. It's time to get them off the Internet and onto car stereos and office desks.
Let the stations know that these songs are currently at the top of MP3.com's Adult Album Alternative Chart for Minnesota.
The three stations below have been sent copies of the CD. Mention the website -- www.thissideofparadise.org -- and mention that I live locally in St. Paul.
- 27-28 October 2001 - Concert at Antioch College, Ohio.
Myself and Chrissy from droplet were invited to play at a "Conscientious convergence for peace" concert at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
We had a good time at the college, which saw the performance debut of two songs including my first post-September 11th song, All Of This, written 25 October 2001, which includes the lines:
"They say they were commissioned by the blood of innocents
In the space between shock and truth
Raining down justice from dark, dark skies
By making one death into two
All of this for you and me...."
Watch the slideshow from Antioch here.
- 29 August 2001 - New Internationalist magazine, a progressive publication with a circulation of over 50,000, reviewed This Side of Paradise in its August 2001 issue.
- August 2001 - A variety of music-related news from this summer:
- I did some studio recording with droplet for their Fall 2001 album. The song I worked on with Chrissy and the band was Soft Focus, a bluesy pop song about -- irony of ironies considering what I spend a considerable amount of my time doing -- how the media delivers us reality in 'soft focus'. I contributed a lead guitar solo, a slide guitar track, and some very strange noise at the end. The lyrics of Soft Focus are available on droplet/Chrissy's site. Audio from the song won't be available for a few months yet.
- I contributed a soundtrack, Static, to a sculpture installation entitled Call To Prayer by Arizonan artist Suzanne Klotz. Visit Suzanne's site and click on the "3D" link to see some stills of the sculpture and hear a brief clip from the soundtrack. The music is electronic (!) and includes a samples of a call to prayer, wedding ullulations, the voice of a female Birzeit student talking to the international media, and radio noise.
- Issue 1, Volume 3 of Mizna, an Arab-American arts publication, printed lyrics and notes to The Fire This Time, a song I wrote at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. Check out Mizna's website for subscription information and some of the lyrics to this unreleased song.
- June-July 2001 - Currently, I'm back in writing mode, working on finishing a handful of new songs. In July, I'm scheduled to do some studio recording with droplet for their coming album, contributing some guitar and vocals.
- March 2001 - In March, I played a couple of concerts, both fundraisers for rehabilitation centers treating Palestinians injured during the recent violence. The audience for the first concert hosted by the Arab Student Union at the University of Minnesota on 2 March was about 80, and for the second concert, hosted by local Minnesotan chapters of the ADC and Al-Awda on 11 March, about 40. A report will follow. Concerts aren't the focus at the moment as much as other promo work that is going on behind the scenes, as well as more writing. If you want to review the album get in touch. Follow my progress on MP3.com's Minnesotan charts, found on the right-hand column on the homepage.
- 20 February 2001 - The album is currently featured in Khaleej.com's online Pulp magazine.
- 9 February 2001 - Yesterday, the title track from the This Side Of Paradise album charted at No. 19 on the MP3.com Triple A format (Adult Album Alternative) chart (pictured right). Read more about that and the album's release here.
- 6 February 2001 - Listen to and buy This Side Of Paradise now from MP3.com for US$9.99 plus shipping. See 1 January 2001 entry below for more information about what's on the CD.
- 1 January 2001 - Cover art completed. See here for more information about what the CD contains.
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