Todd Snider At The Visulite

Todd Snider
With Paleface

The Visulite
Thursday April 15, 2010
Doors 8:00 PM / Music 8:45 PM

Tickets: $16.00 Advance & $18.00 DOS

Tickets can be purchased in advance at CD Warehouse (King's Drive), Manifest Discs, Sunshine Daydreams (NoDa), online at CarolinaTix or Music Today and by phone at 1.800.594.TIXX or 704.372.1000

"I'm broke as the Ten Commandments and sometimes I'm harder to follow..."
-from "Money, Compliments, Publicity" by Todd Snider

Initially The Excitement Plan wasn't supposed to be about anything. I was just trying to come up with the best... most open hearted ... well-thought-out lyrics I could come up with. I wanted every song to be sad and funny at the same time, vulnerable and entertaining at the same time, personal and universal at the same time. I wanted every song to be as uniquely written as possible and then I wanted to perform them in a studio loose and rugged and hopefully as uniquely as I could. My hope is to be hard to describe and/or new...I'm not saying I am. I'm just saying that's the hope.

My producer, Don Was thought the best way to go for what I was talking about was live and spontaneous. So we set up at Henson studios in Los Angeles with myself on guitar, harp and piano. Greg Liesz on steel guitar and dobro. Don on upright bass, Jim Keltner on drums and Krish Harma engineering.

Then, with Don being the only one who'd heard the songs and me being the only one who knew them, we recorded completely live for just two and a half days.

As God is my witness and whether you even like this music or not, it was the most exciting, most challenging, most uninhibited and funnest time I've ever had making music...

- Todd Snider

The Excitement Plan's laid- back groove and top- shelf lyrics are being called Snider's best work yet. "This music is sorta JJ Cale meets Jerry Jeff Walker sounding with words that would hopefully impress Shel Silverstein, Bobby Bare, Chuck Berry, Kris Kristofferson or Randy Newman," Snider said. With his contributions of stellar guitar, piano and harmonica, his musicianship shares the spotlight as easily as his treasured lyrics.

Snider is a vociferous musician whose fans know him to be quite the workhorse. His acclaimed 2006 release, The Devil You Know found the barefoot troubadour performing live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman and the CD appeared on numerous year-end Top 10 lists including Spin, Blender and Rolling Stone. More recently, last year's Peace Queer EP--a concept record featuring all the peace, love and anarchy Snider is known for-inspired Blender to say he "morphed from a wisecracking country-ish journeyman to the sharpest and funniest protest singer working today." The EP spent five weeks at number one on the Americana chart and Spin Magazine dubbed him, "One of roots music's slyest, smartest songwriters."

On a final note, Snider adds: "To me, The Excitement Plan is about the lap of poverty, being sung with authority and experience. Where Peace Queer was speculation from afar, The Excitement Plan is certainty from the heart of the story, i think anyway ... It had lots of rewrites on both words and music, lots of wondering what the point was and waiting for it to show up. I don't like to finish any song 'til I know what the therapeutic part for me is gonna be."

Artist's Web Site

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Presented In Conjunction With Landshark Entertainment


Schooled personally by Daniel Johnston, Paleface was discovered at an NYC open mic in 1990 by Danny Fields (The Stooges, The Ramones, MC5). He soon became the first Antifolk (Neofolk/Modern Folk) artist signed to major labels (Sire Records, Polydor Records), followed by college radio hits and national tours with the likes of Billy Bragg and The Breeders. While hanging around the Lower East Side with his then close pal Beck, Paleface became a major influence on Beck's early work...."We used to go to all the open mikes together. He taught me Daniel Johnston songs on the sidewalk and let me sleep on his couch. He was a great songwriter, a generous friend, and a big influence on my early stuff", Beck on Paleface (American Music-Annie Leibovitz). After touring with The Breeders, PF collapsed and nearly died from alcohol. Following long recovery & cleansing PF returned to NYC's Antifolk scene and befriended a new breed of artists (The Moldy Peaches/Kimya Dawson, Regina Spektor, and Langhorne Slim among others). Paleface became a major source of influence and inspiration to many of them. After finishing a record with his band Just About To Burn which featured drummer Monica 'Mo' Samalot, PF met The Avett Brothers...who fell in love with it 'My favorite all-time record by a friend' (Seth Avett, June 07). They developed a strong bond based on respect and admiration for eachothers work. Paleface often shares the stage with The Avetts, and his songwrting, vocals and insrumentation are featured on two of their records. The Avett Brothers returned the favor and guest-performed on Paleface's new record, 'A Different Story'. PALEFACE is currently on a US Tour with his darling drummer Monica 'Mo' Samalot and they have also been performing at festvals such as Floyd Fest (VA), Shakori Hills (NC), Pickathon (OR), and Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion (TN-VA) among others. Their follow-up full length record will release Spring 2009 on Ramseur Records (The Avett Brothers, the everybodyfields, Bombadil, Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers). PALEFACE- Career Timeline (Compiled by David K for Musified Productions): -1989 Paleface meets Daniel Johnston.Daniel teaches him how to write songs and Paleface begins to make home tapes,which in the following years will evolve into sought after underground bootlegs. -1990 Roomates and burgeoning songwriters, Paleface and Beck hang out in the Lower East Side, NYC. Danny Fields (Stooges,The Ramones, MC5, The Doors, etc.) discovers Paleface at Lach's Antihoot and signs on as his manager. -1991 Polydor signs Paleface to a major label deal; he writes and records his first album, Self Titled which features college radio hits Burn and Rob and There's Something About A Truck. It is during this period that Paleface, inspired Becks early work. -1992 Paleface is excited for his first album tour, but is mismatched with tour mates The Judybats and then The Crash Test Dummies. Not long after, he tours with Billy Bragg and gains his own following laying the foundation for his grass roots fan base. He appears in Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine. -1993 Paleface begins work on his second record, but A & R badgering keeps him awake at night and by the end of 93 he gets dropped because the record company doesn't understand the new songs. -1994 He records Generic America produced by Kramer for the indie label Shimmy Disc. With the touch of one finger, Kramer erases the masters, consequently the record doesn't come out. -1995 The New York Post does a feature article on Paleface in Lisa Robinson's column. Toward the end of 95 he signs to Sire Records. Hanging out behind the bar at Coney Island High Paleface finds out he's been signed to Sire from Jesse Malin, (D-Generation), who had read it in the paper earlier that day. -1996 Sire releases Get Off about the same time as Beck's Odelay. Sire doesn't want to compete with the marketing and one month later Paleface is dropped. -1997 A bit disillusioned with the music industry, He begins a spring tour with The Breeders and Lutefisk. Rightfully pissed off they all indulge in too much substance consumption. While touring near Vegas Paleface gets shakes, Lutefisk breaks up soon after, and The Breeders album gets shelved. Paleface collapses, is rushed to the hospital with a failing liver and nearly dies. -1998 Paleface alters his lifestyle and starts the process of restoring his health and well-being. Paleface also begins a very prolific writing period; he produces and records some of his best songs as lo-fi underground bootlegs. -2000 Paleface meets and becomes friends with a new breed of artists which includes The Moldy Peaches, Langhorne Slim, and Regina Spektor at Lach's Antihoot in NYC and releases his famous underground classic The Multibean Bootleg. -2001 Jason Carmer (The Donnas, Run DMC,) and Arion Salazar (Third Eye Blind) invite Paleface out to San Francisco to make a new record, but the sessions are postponed after the events of September 11th. PF releases another of his home recordings The Couch Tape and sells out his bootlegs at shows. -2002 Paleface forms a new band called "Paleface & Monkeybone" and they gig around New York. Monkeybone is a vehicle for Paleface to showcase the new songs he's writing faster than the band can learn them. During this period Paleface plays gigs with The Moldy Peaches and other New York emerging rock bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and is introduced to their audiences. -2003 (Was such a big year for Paleface it gets 2 sections.) Along with his re-emerging solo career, PF experiments with the Americana sound and forms a new side project Just aBout To Burn. They release their first record, Produced by Paul Kostabi ("Ena") and the band tours London. The crowds love the new songs and the new sound. -2004 Free Your Mellow is recorded and released as a new Paleface solo record -2005 Paleface is invited by The Avett Brothers to their mountain recording hideaway to join in the making of Four Theives Gone. 31 songs are recorded including 5 PF songs from which "Dancin Daze" is chosen for the final release. Later that year The Multi-bean Vol 2 is compiled and released. -2006 "I Just Wanna Play Guitar" is recorded with old friends Momotaro, Julian Summerhill, and Ena.It is Released in Germany on the trash/punk rock label Wanker Records. -2007 Paleface (and darling drummer Monica "Mo" Samalot) hit the road and tour all over the US. They are both featured on The Avett Brothers record "Emotionalism" -2008 Paleface releases "A Different Story" and continues National Tour with Monica "Mo" Samalot. They also perform at festivals such as Floyd Fest, Pickathon, Shakori Hills and Bristol Rhythm And Roots Reunion.	Artist's Web Site Hear an mp3 clip from Paleface See a YouTube clip from Paleface