Audio from 2011 Starday presentation at ARSC in UCLA Now Available

One of my favorite things to do is give conference and festival presentations about Starday Records. Last month I was kindly afforded an opportunity to talk about Starday Records at the New England Shake-Up (many thanks again to Beck Rustic and Sean Mencher!) and last week I spoke about Starday at the American Folklore Society in Buffalo, NY. I've been doing it now for seven years and I think I've gotten slightly better over the years, but if you'd like to hear a young me give my first ever conference presentation about the importance of Starday Records, the kind folks at the Association for Recorded Sound Collections were kind enough to upload my 2011 UCLA presentation here:

http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference/audio/ARSC_conf_2011_Gibson_audio.mp3

And if young me was at all able to convince you of the significance of Starday, perhaps old me can also convince you to support the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday Kickstarter!

Details here: http://kck.st/2OVxC0t

New Kickstarter Rewards, Same Great Music!

Today marks the official 1/2 way point of the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday Kickstarter campaign and to try to influence even more of my thoughtful and generous friends to contribute to the cause, I've added 3 brand new Rewards Packages specifically targeted towards my puppet-loving, sport-loving, and baby-loving friends. That should cover just about all of you! 

As of today, you can now get YOUR OWN CUSTOM MARIONETTE with your double-LP pre-order!

Or, you could get a very limited set of Topps baseball cards featuring the Stars of Starday and their athletic highlights on the back (for instance, did you know that among myself and these 14 country, bluegrass, and rockabilly legends we have a National Senior Softball Hall of Famer, a professional boxer, a semi-pro baseball player, a Texas high school quarterback, owner of a champion race horse, a high school basketball phenom, and an AAU Junior Olympics weightlifter, to highlight just a few?), 

Or, you might prefer a charming "It's a Baby!" package featuring a candy cigar, a customized Zippo lighter, and a faux birth certificate. 

And of course, there are still several other great rewards still available including signed 8x10s of the Stars, original Starday 45s, Starday books, and more! 

Check 'em out here: http://kck.st/2OVxC0t

More details on the new Kickstarter Rewards:

Now that we are officially 50% finished with the campaign, I've come to a grave realization:

We still need to gain $3,500 more dollars to fund the project, but most of the high dollar rewards are gone. 

Yikes! But worry not. In addition to the reward packages that remain available, I've just this evening created three brand new Project Reward Packages that I'm excited about and that will hopefully entice even more folks to contribute to the cause. What are these great new Rewards Packages, you ask?

1. The GET YOUR OWN CUSTOM PUPPET Package

Do you love the Stars of Starday marionettes and the aesthetic of the entire project? Have you seen the Frankie Miller and Nate Gibson "Rain Rain" video and decided to make puppeteering a career choice? And do you want a marionette made of yourself (or someone else) to make your own art projects? Then this is the package for you!! After you have claimed this prize, contact me with at least 5-10 photos of yourself, and I will work directly with the master maker of the marionettes to get you a custom marionette of yourself that you love. If I can get the photos by the time this Kickstarter ends (Nov. 24), then we can get you your marionette before then end of the year (around Christmas, hint hint). Then you and your marionette can blissfully dance along to the double LP or the digital download till your heart is content! The double-LP and other perks will take longer and will be shipped separately. Included in this reward is the marionette [approximately 2 feet tall, with another foot or two in string length], the double LP, the digital download, the postcard, as well as an instruction sheet on how to use your marionette! [Note: Due to the immense amount of time and effort it takes to mold, paint, sew, and stitch together a marionette from scratch, this package is limited to only 5 buyers. Instruments, mics, backgrounds and other assorted features seen in the music videos are not included]

2. The Starday Sports Lovers Package

Did you know that among Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday there is a National Senior Softball Hall of Famer, a former professional boxer, a semi-pro baseball player, a Texas high school quarterback, owner of a champion race horse, a high school basketball phenom, and a Junior Olympic weightlifter, among other athletes? If you love sports, country music, and trivia about sports and country musicians, then this is the package for you! You'll get the double LP, the digital download, the postcard, AND the official Topps brand baseball card set featuring 15 cards of Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday. Only 15 sets available for sale! Extremely scarce!

3. The "It's A Baby!" Package

Sometimes releasing a new record that you have been working on for months and months can feel like giving birth to a baby. OK, probably not exactly like that, but it feels like giving birth to something super significant and it's worthy of celebration. So, this package will help you celebrate that new double LP and digital download with a custom Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday lighter by Zippo, a candy cigar of Nate's choice, and a faux birth certificate for the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday album release suitable for framing in your record room [not to mention that it goes perfect with dim lights, whiskey on the rocks (not included), and some loud, loud music!].

Many thanks again for supporting this project. I'm overwhelmed by the support thus far and I appreciate all of you!

-Nate

Kickstarter Goal Half Met, and a New Nate Gibson & Frankie Miller Video

Very exciting day--We've just hit the 50% funded mark on the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday Kickstarter!

[http://kck.st/2OVxC0t] 

In honor of the achievement, I thought I'd release the first music video from the album: Nate Gibson & Frankie Miller's "Rain Rain," which coincidentally was the first song recorded for the project. I just had to see what a music video would look like with the puppets and I'm really excited with the results [and hopefully we can get funded to make some more!]. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the making of the song and the video, specifically Frankie Miller, Bobby Trimble, Bobby Horton, Tom Umberger, Kevin Smith, Cris Burns, Carl Sonny Leyland, Rachel Tatge, and Marit Barkve Dally! If you tuned in to Bill C. Malone's Back to the Country or DJ Del Villarreal's Go Cat Go shows last week, you've already heard it. But now, for the first time, you get to SEE the Starday marionettes in action! Rain Rain! 

https://youtu.be/LVD1IYsTHng 

[Note, if you share the video, please kindly also mention the ongoing Kickstarter campaign]

Marionette Magic and the New Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday Album Cover

Hooray! The album cover art is complete. I'm mighty excited to be joining a long list of talented musicians who have used marionettes on their album covers. Do you know of any others I have forgotten? There are some pretty incredible visuals and puppets among the covers I found, but I think Ken's Starday marionettes just might be my favorite :) To pre-order Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday and check out some of the cool rewards, please visit the Kickstarter page at http://kck.st/2OVxC0t And if you're so inclined, every share is greatly appreciated! Cheers!

some other great marionette album art: