Merry Christmas! Some news....

I meant to post this earlier, but I discounted the prices on all three MP3-CDs for the holiday season. So if you need a last minute gift, consider some Stinging Rain MP3s. (Of course, you can get us on iTunes also, but not discounted....)

We continue to keep friend of the band, David Bailey, in our prayers. David survived brain cancer surgery again, and is recovering. Keep up with the news about David here.

Lastly, I signed the band up for a page on amaze.fm & put a few tunes out there, so maybe we'll get some new fans.

Merry Christmas & Happy 2009 from the band!

Stinging Rain Wins Third Place with The Dream

Thanks to everyone who helped us win third place in the Top Ten Holy Spirit Songs contest sponsored by the Top Catholic Songs website. We received 11 votes altogether, and I counted 9 from the 25 people whom I emailed. That means we received 2 votes from new fans! So welcome and thanks for your vote. Here are the full results:


Basically I just submitted two links to the song, CD Baby and iTunes, then I wrote the following short reminiscence of when Nathan first brought the song to the band.

Dove born from the sky — I hope someday I can see You.

I remember the first rehearsal of this song. I was on the phone in the room adjacent to the practice area when it was introduced and guys start playing it. Jon was laying out a sparse beat with his snares off and Nate was playing slide on his acoustic. I knew what kind of bass line I would play, a very simple one to complement the understated beat.

Nate began singing dreamily, "Spirit, exalt yourself...." I knew at that moment that this song would become a favorite. His wife, Julie, played the violin on the recording. She also joined in with Nate, Brett and I in the whistling of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" at the end. Dave [Brown] might have been whistling, too — it was a long time ago.

Writing that short paragraph was illuminating to me since I barely remember details of working out any other tune. I guess it was just one of those illuminated memories, a definitive moment of sorts in my musical consciousness. That may sound deep, but it really feels natural and did so at the time. Like coming up out of the water and seeing the world glitter with the breath of wind and the light of sun.

Full Catalog on iTunes

I posted them "backwards".

First Face of Stephen was out there on the internet's top download service, then the dream and finally Shadows of Reality is available on iTunes. I suppose in retrospect I could have submitted everything in the chronological order of the albums' release dates. But I wanted Face of Stephen out there in the worst way, and I figured that if I keeled over from a heart attack after the first one at least our favorite would be available.

The singular reason for getting our tunes out there is universal availability. We're obviously no longer gigging, touring or attempting to promote the band. But from time to time someone will call Nate requesting CDs. Well, CDs are about plumb run out, as they might say in certain regions, and the internet has become the never-ending storage place for the long-forgotten. We can now direct those several requestors to iTunes if they subscribe, or CD Baby, which I feel is a superior service.

Another Windfall Bonanza

Boy, oh boy... the hits just keep on coming, baby. April 2, 2008 marked the milestone of getting all 3 albums online. Shadows was posted early that morning and I did some work on the descriptions for the Stinging Rain group page. Then I sent out an email to about 130 folks who, as I put it, "who might care to learn that Stinging Rain's full catalog is now available for digital download via MP3."

Then yesterday I unearthed a treasure which had been sitting in a file cabinet for 14 years and through 5 moves. I had known there were a few old show posters somewhere along with Stinging Rain newsletters, mailers, etc. from "back in the day." But I had no idea how many. I found 2 manila folders stuffed inside a hanging folder for an alternative country rock band for which I used to run sound — the Blackwells* — in the mid-90s. This is way cool! There are clipped reviews, calendars with pay-dates, song lists from gigs (I'd clean forgotten that we used to cover "Nothing Is Alone" by Toad the Wet Sprocket) and notes I'd made which range from the enlightening to the humorous. For example, a note I'd scribbled on the back of a postcard states bluntly "Sent a tape to this a__hole".

In fact, the importance of this discovery could rival the sending of the aforementioned Brown Suitcase emails. I say this with great trembling, naturally.

But check it out. Here's a blurb written circa 1987 for the GCC Collegian by none other than Bill Deasy.

My favorite find has got to be the gig calendars. The hardest thing for me to remember is when things happened. Now I can meticulously put the pieces of the "what happened puzzle" together and possibly turn the collage into some type of historical account.

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* - There are/were at least three groups named the Blackwells, but I'm talking about the Pittsburgh-based Blackwells. Their lead singer, Marc Nelson, is in another band now and you can hear one of their old songs, "Ashtray", if you visit their myspace page.

News, Digital Update & Other Coolness

I forgot to mention it, but I ended up figuring out how to burn an exact duplicate of Shadows of Reality with CDA tracks and everything, so I was able to send that in without sacrificing my final copy. It's being processed currently. The Dream is in the queue at iTunes and although it's not available yet, I expect it to be available there any day.

Here's a shot of the boys in action at Bethany. Circa 19??


My Face of Stephen google searches are starting to turn up more relevant stuff, e.g., we're on the PayPlay site now. I did a few promotional forum posts and they're starting to show up too, so good. So we're slowly pushing down some of the static in the searches. I also added the CD Baby pages to technorati so I can track links. When I finally get all 25 titles -- MWA-HA-HA -- available via iTunes I'm going to do a big "spam" email to a whole pile of fans and aquaintances, just to get the word out.

And here's a last but not least a bit of coolness supremo: I set up a page on Purevolume.com! It's kind of a respectable version of myspace for bands, indie mostly. I put a non-downloadable sample MP3 from each CD and a bunch of photos on there as well. We'll see what happens. So far I'm only out of pocket on this for a net of $140.00 and way too many hours, but I'm having fun.

Latest Update and Dilemma

My latest dilemma in the drama of digital distribution for Stinging Rain is that I possess only one copy of the Shadows of Reality CD, and I need to send a non-returnable copy in to CD Baby. I sort of feel attached to it; this is the end product of my first studio recording experience. Nate doesn't know where any extra copies are currently. But on the other hand, I'd really like to see this up on CD Baby, especially since The Dream should be available soon. (Keep checking our "all" page.)

In the end, I'll probably just "cast my bread upon the waters" and send it in. I know there are other extant copies of it in this world, possibly ones in even better shape. Once we have all 26 recordings available* I'll feel more like telling the world "Hey! We're online!" So my "sacrifice" will be worth it.

As always, I cannot praise CD Baby enough for the yeoman's work they do for small musicians.

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* - Of course, I'm including both versions of music of my world. The count is 25 by the official BMI list.