Karate chop to the chest
Hometown pride and the discovery of Skyfest headliner

To the three town friends that lazily skim through my garbled, stream-of-bullshit in this monthly column – thank you, I appreciate you. But, also: I’m not from Kansas. You may be convinced to your core that I am, but you’re wrong.

True, I associate strongly with the last state I called home before moving to a less-humid, more-temperate, high-desert mountain climate. I think and speak fondly of Lawrence, Kans. – the atypical college town I spent four to six blurred years in – and it is very much a part of my identity. The Replay Lounge, KJHK, Liberty Hall, William S. Burroughs, The Bottleneck, Love Garden, The Community Mercantile, The Granada, The Glass Onion, Allen Fieldhouse, Jazzhaus, Jaybowl, Joe’s Donuts – I could go on and on and on and on. It’s all immeasurably important to the person I am today. But I’m not from the Free State oasis.  

No, no – I was born and raised in the other plains state whose border is a mere stone’s skip north of Kansas. Nearly all of you confuse the two, can’t tell where one ends and the other begins, and maybe with decent reason and rationale. I’m talking about Nebraska. The Good Life: state motto, not band, mind you. I left the languishing faux-metropolis, once territorial capital, of Omaha at 18 and never went back. Family and friends kept me up on most of the happenings. I learned from afar that friends of friends, ex-partners once removed, former classmates and a wonderfully incestuous, tight-knit crew of like-minded artists/musicians had built a collective in the spirit of DIY record label forbearers. It was a malleable amalgam of the Athens/Denver Elephant Six Recording Co., D.C.’s Dischord, Chicago’s Touch & Go and Olympia’s K Records. In my hometown. I was both proud and peeved. Proud because they were not just doing it, but doing it well, and peeved because I already had both feet out the door.

Given my general interest in music of a semi-specific variety and a toothpick sliver of hometown pride, I’ve followed Omaha’s Saddle Creek Records’ (SC) staggeringly consistent output from the very beginning. Over the past nearly 30 years, SC has released a litany of beloved albums, seven inches and singles from a diverse roster, including Bright Eyes, Cursive, The Faint, Spoon and Rilo Kiley, along with more recent signees Young Jesus, Palm, Hop Along, Hand Habits, Indigo De Souza, Big Thief and Disq.

Anytime a new artist announces a release on the label, my ears instantly want to give a listen. Which brings me to Katherine Paul’s Black Belt Eagle Scout.

Back in the late summer/early fall of 2018, I received a press release from the label about a debut release from a new addition to the SC roster. Curiosity piqued, I went ahead and listened to the first single on the forthcoming “Mother of My Children.” The six-minute album opener, “Soft Stud,” was – from the first distorted, fuzzed guitar tones, minor shifts and impassioned baritone – both immediate and intimate. The sort of song that hits your chest and makes an impact, and you’ve no idea why. I just knew I wanted more.

I later found out that Paul grew up in the Pacific Northwest, in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, listening and learning from many of the same bands I knew and loved. She writes passionately crafted songs, nimbly tackling heavy-tier topics from heartache and colonization to generational traumas and the complex emotions around wherever it is you’re from. What better way to tackle larger-than-self topics than with rock and roll? I listened incessantly to that debut and the 2019 follow-up “At the Party With My Brown Friends.”

This past summer, Fort Lewis College’s Student Union Productions approached KDUR for ideas on booking an artist for Skyfest, the annual campus spring concert/event for students and community members. I instantly thought that Black Belt Eagle Scout would be the perfect crossover artist to bring. At nearly the same time, Paul announced her third SC release “The Land, the Water, the Sky,” which has been in heavy rotation on our airwaves since February.

So, whatever early evening plans you had for this coming Sat., April 29, cancel them. Instead, come see Black Belt Eagle Scout, with touring opener Claire Glass and Adobo, alongside local acts Noodle and Desiderata. The show is free and open to the public – and doubles as a food drive. Bring nonperishable items to donate at the gate. Local bands kick things off at 3 p.m., with the touring bands taking the stage around 6 p.m. The event takes place outside at the Football Stadium Parking lot, on the Northwest-ish side of the FLC campus.

For more information on the event, search for Student Union Productions on the Fort’s website, or reach out to me at the address below. Per usual, feel free to come at me with questions, comments or gripes. Especially the gripes.

Jon E. Lynch is the program director at KDUR. He can be reached at KDUR_PD@fortlewis.edu