Late Show Strange Design - Recreating Phish Shows In Their Entirety - 10:30pm

Early Show Lenka - 8:30

Colin Smith (of Mr. North) 7:30

Strange Design is a new Phish tribute band that will be recreating full shows using actual set lists from over twenty years of Phish's history. A new study released this week has revealed that plenty of Phish is a necessary part of a well-balanced musical diet. This should come as little surprise, as the Vermont-based foursome is protein-packed and easily-digestible, providing listeners with their much-needed aural nutrients. Although the species disappeared for a few years--leaving many wondering how they would satisfy their aural nutritional needs--they recently resurfaced in a strange vessel some refer to as “The Mothership.” Despite the temporary absence, one thing remains unchanged---Phish is highly-addictive. With the demand vastly outnumbering the supply, many fans are simply not meeting their Phish needs. For those in desperate need of a hearty supplement, Strange Design offers fans an opportunity to hear their favorite shows performed live in their entirety. Much like the way in which Dark Star Orchestra performs sets from the expansive Grateful Dead catalogue, Strange Design performs entire shows from the first twenty years of Phish's career. This approach has helped set them apart from other Phish tribute acts and garnered them critical praise: "This is not a band that plays its fourteen favorite Phish covers -- they study and re-enact full concerts from an era when the band was the most dynamic force in live improvisational music...This is a band that makes it alright to admit you were a Phish die-hard, and will probably leave you recounting your favorite tour stories to complete strangers after the encore..." (Nick Levy, The Brooklyn Revue). Strange Design strives to reconnect the dispersed Phish community by taking show requests from fans, including all the extra-musical components that made Phish unique (trampolines, vacuum solos, choreographed dances, etc), traveling with a full light show, and recreating the energy, sound, and improvisational spirit of the different eras in Phish's career. In short, they want fans to relive the complete Phish concert experience in the intimacy of smaller clubs and music halls close to their doorstep.

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Lenka’s fresh sensibility extends to every element of her music, as the whimsical, paper art, stop-motion animated videos she creates with fellow Aussie James Gulliver Hancock, a visual artist, demonstrate. “We’re sort of an art duo. I’m really into craft styles, things looking a bit badly done and childlike on purpose – rather in the vein of Michel Gondry,” she says. Although her father is a jazz musician, Lenka’s early musical efforts were strictly a means to an end. “I was forced to learn piano and trumpet, but I really hated it,” she recalls. “My parents bribed me by saying that I could get my ears pierced if I got a B on my music exams. As soon as I got a B, I got my ears pierced and I quit.” In her early teens, she became consumed by acting, inspired by her studies with Blanchett at the Australian Theatre for Young People. “Cate was extremely passionate, really inspiring and fun. She made me fall in love with acting completely and got me my first professional job,” says Lenka. Alternating between art school and acting (including roles in well-received independent films such as “The Dish” and “Lost Things”), Lenka eventually came round to music when a role in a play required her to sing. She began recording demos in Sydney and her drummer, who was a member of Decoder Ring, suggested his band mates consider her as a vocalist on the soundtrack they were recording for the indie film Somersault. The film and soundtrack went on to receive numerous awards and Lenka and the band traveled to the U.S. in 2006 for an appearance at South by Southwest and a short tour. She recorded a second album with Decoder Ring before going solo and becoming, as she puts it, “a gypsy,” shuttling between the States, Europe and Australia, as work and her visa permitted. Relocating to Los Angeles in 2007, her first night in L.A. was a memorable one, coinciding with the airing of “Follow,” one of her early compositions, on the FX network series “Dirt.” “It was in this scene of Courtney Cox masturbating with a vibrator,” Lenka recalls. “So we had a really good laugh.” Lenka was pursued by numerous labels, but felt that Epic was the best match. “When I told them my vision for my career, they were really into it, and said ‘We just want to help you do that,’” she says. “They’re a major label, but have the philosophy of an indie.” She began recording her debut last December in Montreal before the contract was even signed. After sessions there and in Los Angeles, Lenka wrapped up the album in Woodstock. With a little time on her hands, she was free to lay down an unlikely assortment of cover songs (including Modest Mouse’s “Gravity Rides Everything,” “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music and M. Ward’s “Vincent O’Brien”) and muck about in the forest, making little videos that will undoubtedly wind up on YouTube once she gets around to editing them. Woodstock may not be home, but it’s close enough for now. After scoring with her top selling album and singles all over the world, Lenka has returned to the US for a short tour before the end of 2009. For the past several months, Lenka has been on tour all over Europe and Asia and before she heads back to Asia in December, she will play a handful of select shows in the US.

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I sing in MRNORTH (new album "Fear & Desire" out now!), but for the longest time I have been doing acoustic shows outside of that. Over time I wrote a bunch of material for playing at those shows. I recorded some at home, and recently my friend Tony Bruno has helped me demo them in a more realized fashion. So here after much reluctance is my myspace page where you can listen to the tunes as they come.....