tickets here:  ritztheaterfoundation.org;

or (612) 436-1129; 345 13th Ave. NE

Two fat new episodes of Electric Arc Radio flatulate fireball-style from the angry bowel of the Ritz in Northeast Minneapolis!

It is … the Spring of Sam.

Sam is not in the hot tub. Sam is not in his bed. Sam is not naked and stretching in his window. Sam is not sending instant messages from his iPhone while pedal-pumping his stationary bike. Where is he?

The remaining roommates—Herbach, Steph, and Brady—are left empty in the house. EMPTY! They must fight to be regain their fullness! But how?

By holding Old Lady Dickinson’s hand and then burning down her home? By sleeping with all of Sam’s old girlfriends and co-opting his identity? Or, perhaps, by turning Sam’s old room into a Frenchie-style cabaret club, auditioning Frenchie-style cabaret singers, and hoping they take their tops off, Frenchie-style?

And what are those noises in the walls and plumbing? Could it be that Sam survives in the bathroom, reading US Weekly, eating almond-scented lotion?

Musical guests include fantabulous singers (Northeast’s VERY OWN) Andrea Leap and Chris Bierbrauer! April 11 includes Sam himself!

Oh, and we shall sing! And laugh! And fight! And maybe do a little frenching, if you’re willing. And burn stuff. And finally, we will hot tub. This is good hot-tubbing weather.

It’s all for the love of you. And you. And maybe you if we could get to know you better. You show a lot of promise. We like your hair.

$15 for one show or $25 for both! Go to ritztheaterfoundation.org for tickets or call Ritz box office 12:30 to 4:30PM, (612) 436-1129.

(Thank you to The Onion and Decider.com, MPR’s 89.3 The Current, and Hamline’s Graduate School of Liberal Studies.)

When: 8 p.m. Sat. December 6th • Where: Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Pa

Here’s some press about the show and the New Standards .

Joined by the amazing Jeremy Messersmith, reprising his radical role as singer-songwriter “Jeremy Messersmith,” and, Oh My God, by The New Standards gearing up for their annual Christmas blow out at the Fitzgerald (on Dec 6), Electric Arc Radio finds the true meaning of Christmas via a tale of hair lost and hair gained in our most emotional show ever, “A Very Brady Christmas.”

WHERE? THE RITZ THEATER IN BEAUTIFUL NORTHEAST!
WHY? THE HOLIDAYS!
WHEN? NOVEMBER 29TH AT 8PM
TICKETS? THE RITZ BOX OFFICE (or Call Tues - Fri 12:30 to 4:30PM 612 436-1129) $20.

Sleany McFear! Mohammed, The Paper Boy! Clerky, The Liquor Store Clerk! Punk Poet Paul D! Bono! Beer! Christ! mas! Holy night! Music! Dance! The Electric Arc Radio Band??? Okay?

Who do we love? 89.3 The Current, The Onion, Hamline University’s Graduate School of Liberal Studies! Thank you!!

RSVP if you’d like on Facebook!

We also love you.

*SPECIAL ONLINE TICKET OFFER! Enter promo code “brady” and for a $28 ($35 value!) you can see Don’t Crush Our Heart AND the only straight up EARS show of the season: The Electric Arc Radio Christmas Special — A Very Brady Christmas — on November 29th! Thanksgiving Turkey!

Sad Moon Island on Myspace.

Meanwhile, across the hood, sitting at a desk in his sad-lit office, Councilman Sherman listens to an MP3 of Moon Island, the very same band, and dreams of luring an Urban Outfitter, a Pei Wei Asian fusion restaurant, and a giant U2 outdoor iPod ad to his district. Could Joshua, Jessica — this Moon Island — be the key? They sing so beautiful… Yessss…

The next morning, after good sleep, Sherman hears the news on the blogs and the twitters: “Moon Island to relocate to Brooklyn, NY!” Sherman shouts: “Somebody call the City Attorney, STAT. These kids can’t leave!” And thus begins the greatest Urban Planning, Pretty Pop Music, Radio-style, Court Room Dramedy, Cautionary Musical Tale EVER KNOWN!

With: Herbach and Mary Everest as Moon Island.  Andy Sturdevant as Sid, the hardest-boiled pop music journalist.  Jenny Adams as Marisha, administrative assistant and mega-fan.  Sam Osterhout as the Honorable Alderman from Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  P. Chris Bierbrauer as Councilman Sherman.  Steph Ash as 80s rocker Strawberry Cox.  Brady Bergeson as Judge Mathis.  And, Kurt Froehlich as the prosecuting attorney.

Original music from Dave Salmela and the Electric Arc band.

From the Electric Arc Radio people comes an all-new radio melodrama—Don’t Crush Our Heart: a Musical Legal Thriller About a Twee Band—based on the wildly popular blog, The Armitage Heights Clarion, by Andy Sturdevant.

Say it ain’t so, Sebastian! Break it to us gently, Belle! The Midwestern hipster enclave of Armitage Heights is about to lose its most beloved critically-acclaimed twee indie-pop outfit, Christmas Island, to New York City (Brooklyn!). The city fathers will do anything to keep them in town – including filing an injunction to legally prevent the move. The young (and old), the musically gifted (and not) all converge on the Pierce County Courthouse to collectively tell – and sing – a harrowing tale of ambition, money, skinny jeans, urban gentrification, 19th Century agricultural subsidies, Ukrainian electro DJs, converted lofts, tandem bicycles, the Staten Island ferry, trade tariffs, the American legal system and 9.5 Pitchfork ratings in this living-color theater of the mind. Featuring the Electric Arc players, band, and friends. It’s Witness for the Prosecution meets If You’re Feeling Sinister – and it’s only at the Ritz Theater!

Only twice: September 20 and October 18, 8p.m. at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 29th, Join Sam, Herbach, Brady, Steph, Clerky, Bushy, Sleany McFear, the ghost of Alan Greenspan, and the entire Electric Arc neighborhood for an other original episode of the Electric Arc Radio Show: “A Very Brady Christmas!”

For more information, contact:

Stephanie Wilbur Ash
ashstephanie@hotmail.com
612-418-8338

Go get it at Amazon if need be! This is a big week. Seriously. Herbach will write you a personal love note. Please let him know.

SECOND: Quick Electric Arc News!

All four Lit 6 writers will be at Common Good Books for a free EXCELLENT celebratory reading at 7:30, Thursday June 12! If you haven’t been to this great Indie bookstore… do it! We may not be reading together again for a very long time. Don’t miss it! FREEEE

Punk Poet Paul D’s Riot Act Reading Series at the Turf (clown lounge!) this Sunday, June 8, 7pm, featuring our favorite comedian, Mary Mack, with Punk Poet Paul D., Stephanie Wilbur Ash, Laura Brandenburg, and Michelle Leon.

Sam and Herbach host the Red Stag Block Party on June 14! Featuring excellent music and food!

Electric Arc Presents! June 16, 6:30pm, In the lobby of the Ritz Theater (our home, at last — contains beer), a live episode of Flak Radio, our favorite weekly podcast… Taylor and Jim are fantastic hosts. FREEEEeee. Check it out.

Writers! MnArtists MiniStories competition is accepting submissions for the July contest!

fffinalllyyyy…

fffffalllll… so hard to think about… but it might include a musical version of a moment in Andy Sturdevant’s Armitage Heights Clarion (a Twee Indie Pop Band wants to leave for Brooklyn???). Oh, The Ritz! Tickets will go like pancakes, so keep abreast…

Thus ends our June/July update.

Thank you!

Tuesday, April 15, 7pm, The Loft Literary Center, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis — FREE

-Ad hoc music by some configuration of the Electric Arc Band.
-A banker’s dozen (10-11) readers reading short short letters of love and hate.
-Me reading sections of the book as profoundly as I can.
-And, thanks so much to Pabst Blue Ribbon — I get teary, a lump in my throat — free beer to those of us over the age of 21 (a beer supporting a book is a beautiful thing — there will be free PBR sweatbands and t-shirts should we get too warm).
-Finally, there will be books available.

Herbach and Sam will be on the road doing readings through mid-may.  For more information on the events, go here!

See you soon.