Atmosphere announce tour as a long-winded excuse to keep reminding everyone that Minnesota is cool

By Erika H on Aug 23 2010

There are worst-case scenarios, and then there are worst-case scenarios. Tragically, this falls in the latter. Thursday night, Michael Edward Pickels, 32, attended a Swell Season concert in Saratoga, CA and jumped to his death from the roof above the stage.

There is little that can be done to temper news like this, and posts from SF Weekly make the story more upsetting by the minute: Pickels went to the outside show at the Mountain Winery with a friend, leaving him shortly before climbing to the roof. He subsequently dropped soundlessly onto a speaker, a mere yard away from singer/guitarist Glen Hansard. Pickels was facing criminal charges, and was out on a hefty bail at the time of his death.

The Swell Season posted this statement on their Facebook page: “The band, crew and all involved with them are shocked and saddened by the death that occurred at last night’s show. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the deceased, his family and friends.”

For more details, read the updates here. As far as we know, The Swell Season will play their remaining August tourdates as planned.

• The Swell Season: http://www.theswellseason.com

By Kid Midnight on Aug 20 2010

A lot of people think that Golden Corral is a terrible place to celebrate an anniversary. They think that an endless (and affordable!) buffet is just a little too low-class a place to celebrate endless love. I, however, think that assumption is way off base, and if you ask my wife of one year, she’ll tell you that an anniversary with shrimp, steak, questionable potato salad, and two plates of dessert foods is an absolutely panty-wetting proposition.

Instru-metal kingpins Pelican totally agree with me, because they’ve just announced that all four members of the band will be celebrating their 10-year anniversary at Bolingbrook, Illinois’ local Golden Corral*. In addition to the tasty (and affordable!) meal, the band will also be marking the anniversary by releasing an extremely limited (and not affordable!) vinyl box set, as well as playing two shows, one in its hometown of Chicago and one in its new hometown of Los Angeles.

The box set, available October 19 through Viva Hate Records, will be a 10-record celebration of the band’s entire catalog and is set to feature music from all four full-length records and three EPs. The records will come lovingly (and instrumentally) packaged in an “elegant” wood box made by a Chicago carpenter who refuses to make more than 500 of anything.

As mentioned above, the band has scheduled celebratory shows in its hometowns to mark the momentous event. On October 23, the band will play Chicago’s Bottom Lounge and will be joined by The Life & Times. To help make the night even more special, Munster, IN’s Three Floyds Brewery [Ed: YUM] has concocted an as-yet-unnamed but Pelican-dedicated doppelbock beer; the brew will only be available at the show and select Chicago bars and liquor stores for a limited time, so make sure you drink plenty of it while you can!

After they’ve recovered from their hangover, Pelican will head to Los Angeles where they’ll be playing an October 30 show at the Troubadour. Joining the band, and making an incredibly rare live appearance, will be “doom-metal overlords” Goatsnake. No celebratory beverage has been announced, but if the band is interested, I can call my cousin Larry in L.A. who makes a great Jack-and-Coke!

* To be confirmed

Pelican 10-year anniversary dates:

10.23.10 - Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
10.30.10 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubador

• Pelican: http://www.myspace.com/pelican
• Viva Hate Records: http://www.vivahaterecords.com

[Photo: Ryan Russell]