Backstage w/Land's End Canvas: Online Contest

I had never heard of Land's End's "Canvas" until I heard about their new music contest the other day.  So two points:

1.  Vote, preferably for VISQUEEN, and help them win a recording session, while also putting yourself in the running to win some moola!

2. This Canvas brand seems an awful lot like the regular Land's End brand.  Perhaps a little younger, but still conservative and New Englandy.  I call that they are trying to compete with Madewell.

Visqueen - stripped down and on demand! - from KEXP Seattle

This is the tour I left you for, hopefully you understand, xoxo GSNYC:

Visqueen - stripped down and on demand! - Visqueen's MySpace Blog #pm_cmp=O_25_NewBlog

Rachel Flotard of Visqueen Sings Her Teeth Out at The Kennel in Williamsburg

Album Launch of Note: Visqueen's "Message to Garcia"

Please Guerillas, I implore you to check out Visqueen's third album, "Message to Garcia." It's rock by Rachel Flotard, a lady who is really good at rocking. She's the ultimate kind of leadin' lady that girls want to be and guys want to be with. In fact, she was named Seattle's "fifth most bangable rocker" by The Stranger. She has been known to travel and sing with Neko Case, and in return, the lovely and talented Neko sings on "Message."

But wait! There more! Inspired by her dad's NYC Steamfitters union, Rachel has launched the new album on her very own new label called Local 638 Records. As the touching but excellent story goes, she was the primary caregiver to her dad for six years. She moved him out from NJ (where she grew up) so they could be together. Sadly, he passed away a little more than a year ago, but not before this Visqueen mini-biography was filmed for kstw.com. It's worth the seven minutes it takes to watch Rachel in action, and ol' George steals the show: http://kstw.com/underground/Visqueen.Seattle.Band.2.480734.html

And if you don't believe me, then believe John Richards, the host of KEXP's Morning Show in Seattle: "If it's possible to top their excellent debut, Visqueen has done just that. The long awaited third album from one of Seattle's best bands shows a ton of growth with even catchier songs and really tight songwriting. Every song is a single. One of the best records of the year."

Buy it here, $11.99 album/$0.99 per groove: http://www.amazon.com/Visqueen/e/B000APSR14/ref=ntt_dp_epwcd_T1_0

Rachel Flotard Rocks the Mike

For my second musical outing of the weekend, I had the great good fortune to see my good friend Rachel Flotard, who is usually the lead songstress of Seattle-based Visqueen do her best Billie Holiday in front of Jon Rauhouse and his band of merry men (who are incredible musicians who you need to see and/or hear, I might add).

We saddled up to the tables at the Living Room - after having to hand our IDs over to the doorman who put them in some portable machine...has anyone seen one of these before? What the hell is that all about? Is big brother now keeping track of what bars I go to? Good grief Charlie Brown.

Anyway, back to the important musical issue at hand...I was pretty much astounded by Rachel's singing voice and ability. It's like there are two people living inside of her, one with her regular Flotard speaking voice, and the other with this unbelievable singing talent that I can hardly grasp. I guess this is what happens when you go to high school with someone, you all still think of each other as being 16 years old and half-retarded.

RoFlo is not only multi-talented in the realm of music, but she also doubles as a hilarious stand-up, providing great rapport with the audience and her bandmates throughout the set. Basically if you don't fall in love with her voice, you will fall in love with her personality, and more than likely: BOTH.