Much of the B3nson family (and extended family) swarmed upon Brooklyn this past Saturday to attend at least one of 2 events, if not both. The first event being a fantastic gathering put on by the Mollica household for our good friend Peter (aka Pinguinos) in honor of his completion of college, his return home to Brooklyn, and his upcoming birthday. The second event was the last night of the Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned residency at Pete’s Candy Store. This show was a solid evening which included collective members Scientific Maps and ‘might-as-well-be’ collective member Matthew Loiacono. Pete’s Candy Store is an… intimate venue and despite the cramped, sauna-like atmosphere crowds of people poured in to enjoy all 3 acts. Check out some pictures here. (sorry Maps and Matthew, we were too far back to get any good shots!)

Some upcoming events:

This Saturday @ Hotshots in Glens Falls, NY
BEWARE! the Other Head of Science and the Mathematicians
doors at 9pm, $5, 18+

fri 7/10 @ Valentine’s (upstairs) in Albany, NY
the B3nson Family Band* with Hop Along Queen Ansleis and P.S. Eliot
doors at 8pm, $6, 18+
*the B3nson Family Band is comprised of various collective members and will be performing songs spanning the entire collectives catalogue.

Both of these events will be super-fun, we hope to see you there!

New Releases / Free Downloads

I finally took the time to update our most current releases which are all products of this years RPM challenge. Both the Scientific Maps Hold On Wherever You Are and Mathew Ferguson’s (of Beware! & Desp Obv) Colors You Have Heard are currently available for free download so definitely check them out.

Upcoming Releases

Also in the near future keep your eyes out for We are Jeneric’s RPM Challenge record tentatively titled Animals are People Too which should be coming out sometime in the next few months. Pinguinos and Littlefoot also have nearly completed albums which will hopefully be released in the near future. Lastly on the new releases front Beware! the Other Head of Science are still in the recording process of their first full length album which might be available later in the summer or earlier in the fall of this year.

Things to do this weekend!

This weekend We are Jeneric & Pinguinos will be teaming up with our good friends El Duke to host Rochester’s Auld Lang Syne, an rocking rootsy americana band who will be doing a stint of dates coming up opening for the Avett brothers. The whole thing should be a real treat so please come check it out on Saturday Night. The show starts at 8pm. Check out the Flyer to the right->.

Lastly tonight I will be talking about B3nson Records on the CRUMBs Nite Out panel about music collectives at 8pm, also on the panel will be Matthew Loaicono of Collar City Records and hosting will be Paul Rapp and Paul Czech. Hopefully we’ll have some interesting things to say. Plus before the panel the most excellent Railbird will do an hour of music and interview starting at 7pm. The whole deal goes down at the Linda Noris Auditorium on the corner of Quailand Central, only a few blocks from 3 Benson st.

Its a Thursday,

Alex

This past week saw some rather epic performances, epic sound checks, epic video producing, and epic yard sale-ing (and not-so-profound thoughts) for various members of the B3nson Collective. I tried writing up reviews for the shows, but there were so many and I am not much of a writer… and I am somewhat biased… so I’ll stick to the highlights:

Wednesday
+Tim Koch performing solo with a ghost drummer
-Only a 4 song Jeneric set
+New Barons song and drummer/bassist
+These United States

Friday
-Conflicting show schedules
-touring sound guys
+Free beer

Saturday
+Waterfalls, $1 LP’s, nice weather

Sunday
+Trucker Hats
+Dust from 1000 Years
+Tuba’s on the dance floor

Friday
+Profound statements
+Eric Krans and Adam Muro free jamming
-Wonder tunes

Check out an awesome review of the These United States and !!! shows written by Josh Potter and Mike Hotter (hmmmm…) here: http://www.metroland.net/live.html

Also, check out this awesome video that Jesse Horton made (with some help) for Matthew Loiacono’s song ‘Are You Hearing What I am Saying?’

And last-but-not-leastly we’ve got two awesome shows in the horizon:

-Friday May 15th at Valentine’s (downstairs)
BEWARE! the Other Head of Science w/Kitty Little, No Connection, and Columbia (8pm, $6, 18+)

-May 19th at Valentine’s (upstairs)
Delta Spirit w/Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned (8pm, $10, 18+) buy tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/66611