Hi all – I hope this note finds you well – it’s been a busy year for us so far and we’re all glad to be back home for a Portland show at Holocene tonight (Friday night)…

We’ve been looking forward to this show from the moment it appeared on the calendar and we hope you can join us for a great night of music. If you are able to make it out, come up and say hi and congrats to Ryan – he and Kelly had a beautiful baby boy a couple of weeks ago and both Mom and baby are happy and healthy.  And speaking of, this show will be Christi’s last show with us for a while as she and I are expecting our first…there most certainly is something in the water around here this winter : )

We’re looking forward to a fun night of music with good friends and a great stage to share it on – the show starts at 9pm and we’re on shortly after that, so come early! Have a great weekend and we hope to see you tonight at Holocene -

Johnny

Hi friends -

We’ll be taking part in a special benefit concert for Haiti this weekend (Sunday evening) at the Kennedy School here in Portland – the show starts at 7pm and was organized by our good friend (and sometimes bandmate) Mattie Kaiser.  I know it’s last minute notice, but if you live in the area we’d love to see you there – there is still tremendous need in Haiti, it’s a free show and 100% of donations from this show will go to Parters in Health.  And every little bit helps.  Here’s the official press release:

On January 24th at 7pm at the Kennedy School, Classical Revolution PDX and friends will perform a free benefit concert to raise funds for relief in Haiti. 100% of donations received will go to Partners in Health. Classical Revolution is delighted to be joined by Matt Sheehy, Opera Theater Oregon, The Dimes, Sophe Lux, Travis Dow, James Faretheewell and many other special guests for a very eclectic and fun night of chamber music.

A silent auction will occur during the performance, with products and services donated by local artists and businesses. Items for auction include event tickets, fine photography, haircuts, massages, and many of the performers are donating private lessons.

Briana Ratterman, a member of Classical Revolution, has been working around the clock to help with the search for her father, Walt Ratterman, who has been missing since the earthquake. Ratterman is CEO and co-founder of SunEnergy Power International. He was in Haiti working on a project to improve the delivery of energy to health care facilities run by Partners in Health. “Our thoughts and love are with Briana and her family,” says Mattie Kaiser, Executive Director of Classical Revolution PDX. “We found it fitting to donate to the incredible work that that Walt and Partners in Health do to contribute to a better life in Haiti.”

Just a quick note to say thanks to the kind folks at The Big Takeover magazine who put our new album, The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry, in their top 5 for their latest issue – the very cool music magazine is available at most major bookstores…

Thanks to Jack Rabid and co. at The Big Takeover and we very much hope to make it out to the east coast this summer – hope you all are having a great week and see you soon,

Johnny

ps – If you don’t already have the new album and would like a copy, just CLICK HERE to go to our online store…

It’s hard to believe this year…and this decade…are almost over. For me, this was the decade of my 20s. I was 21 years old when I played a New Year’s Eve show with my college band in 1999. We closed with a cover of REM’s “End of the World As We Know It”.  Funny, looking back on it, that was true in so many ways, at least for me. It was a decade full of music, and this year was certainly no different.  Most of 2009 was consumed with finishing and releasing our new record, The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry, and it’s companion EP William Dawes and Other Forgotten Gems. But there were certainly plenty of other big changes and events this year – new friends, new bandmates, back to schools, back to jobs, marriages and even a couple of babies on the way.  It’s been an incredible year, one I’ll never forget, and I’m looking forward to what the new year…and the new decade…will bring.  We’ll be celebrating the New Year this Thursday night, playing a special New Year’s Eve show with our friends Weinland at the Mission Theater here in Portland.  The show starts at 9pm and we kick things off, so come early and say hi! (Click here for ticket info)

Have a great rest of the week – and if you don’t already have the new record, it’s now available on iTunes and on our website! See you soon and here’s to a safe and happy New Year -

Johnny

We’re excited to say that this month our new record, “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry“, was officially released nationally.  This month also marks the anniversary of the infamous “Boston Tea Party“, an event which rattled Boston and inspired a (soon to be) nation, and it’s captivated our imaginations ever since.  It was in the spirit of the Sons of Liberty, the group of Bostonian rebels who led the Boston Tea Party, that the song “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry” came about.  The chorus of the song eventually lent it’s lyrics to the title of the new record.  I wrote the majority of the song over a year ago, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that we finished recording it with the band – while the song was finished a bit late to make the new album, we’ve included it, along with several other favorites from the “King” sessions, on a bonus EP of sorts that’s available free with the purchase of our new record from our online store.  You can find the store by clicking here or the picture below…the EP is called “William Dawes and Other Forgotten Gems“…

To celebrate the release of the new album…and the Boston Tea Party…we’re posting the song “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry” as a free download. To listen to it, check out the player on the upper right corner of the site. The new song is the second one in the player. To download it, use the Free Song widget below or click the link below to download the mp3…

The Dimes – The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry (single)

Have a great week and hope to see you soon -

Johnny

Most of us, at least here in the States, grew up hearing about the famous “midnight ride of Paul Revere” in grade school, about the blacksmith turned Patriot who rode north from Boston to Lexington to warn that the “British were coming”.  But I’m guessing few have heard of the midnight ride of William Dawes.  That’s probably because most of us got our history lesson from the famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem “Paul Revere’s Ride”.  In it, Longfellow takes some artistic liberties and makes Revere the only character in one of early American history’s most notorious tales.  While Revere deserves much of the credit, there was another rider that night in April of 1775 who rode to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were on their way to arrest them.  William Dawes actually set out first and took the longer westward route, leaving Boston just before the British regulars sealed off the town.  Both Dawes and Paul Revere arrived in Lexington within minutes of each other and helped Adams and Hancock escape arrest.  So why has history forgotten poor William Dawes?  We may never know…but it seemed only fitting, since we have a song about Paul Revere, to have one about William Dawes as well – here’s the short demo…(just click to listen or right click/cntrl click to download)

The Dimes – The Forgotten William Dawes (DEMO)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and don’t forget, the new record is out and available via our online store – http://www.thedimes.com/store.html – it includes a bonus EP which accompanies the new album and includes the song “Paul Revere”, among others…

See you soon,

Johnny

This drawing by Ben Franklin was a popular image in Boston during the months leading up to the Revolution – for the Sons of Liberty, a rebellious group of Bostonians who orchestrated the Boston Tea Party, it became their calling card and principle message, and it inspired a new nation. It also had a hand in inspiring our new record…

We’re excited to have released “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry” locally this past weekend (and a huge thanks to all who were able to make it out to the shows).  It’s been quite the year finishing up this album and we’re thrilled to finally have the chance to get it out to you…thank you for being patient with us : )

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the new record, click here to go to our online store – you’ll notice there are many options…you can get the new record instantly via digital download, or order the physical CD and get the instant digital download free – we’re especially excited to have the album available in vinyl, and some packages even include a little bonus B-sides EP of songs from the “King” sessions that aren’t on the full record and won’t be officially released for another few months…click the album cover below to go to the store and see for yourself:

Thanks again friends – hope you had a great weekend and we’ll see you soon -

Johnny

Hey all – hope your week is off to a smooth start.  It’s an exciting week for us in The Dimes camp as we’re having our first CD release shows this weekend for the new album.  We’ve been looking forward to this weekend for what feels like forever.  And, to add a little coincidence to it all, it just so happens that this week (today in fact) marks the 137th anniversary of the Great Boston Fire of 1872 – the fire, and the heroics of Boston Fire Chief John Damrell, are the subject and inspiration for the song “Damrell’s Fire”, which is the first track off the new record.

As for the story, the Great Fire of 1872 was certainly one for the books.  Historic Boston may very well have suffered the same fate the city of Chicago did just one year prior had it not been for Boston Fire Chief John Damrell.  Wooden roofs on structures built right along side each other, inadequate water supply in much of the city, together with a horse flu epidemic that kept the city’s fire engines from moving anywhere quickly seemed to have created the perfect storm in the winter of 1872.  Had it not been for John Damrell and the brave men of the BFD, historic Boston may have been left in ashes.  The song inspired by the story, “Damrell’s Fire”, is over in our new player on the blog page and up on our new myspace page, so feel free to listen – here’s the info again for the record release shows this weekend!

Friday, November 13th
Seattle Record Release Show
The Tractor Tavern
5213 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107-4809
9pm

Saturday, November 14th
Portland Record Release Shows
Mississippi Studios
3939 Mississippi Ave
Portland 97227
Early show: 7pm
Late show: 10pm

Have a great rest of the week and we hope to see you soon…maybe this weekend?

Johnny

We want to give you all an update into our world as of late… As you’ve probably heard by now, we’ve got a brand new record ready to release – The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry – a record about the people, places, and history around early day Boston. The songs are stories of abolition, women’s suffrage, famous artists, people and major events that have shaped our great nation.

We’ve been rehearsing like crazy lately, in preparation for next week’s record release shows, which will feature a few extra friends that will be sitting in to lend a hand. In fact, there’ll be a DOUBLE record release show on Saturday, November 14th at Mississippi Studios in Portland, where we’ll kick things off with an early, all ages and family friendly show at 7pm, that’ll be more intimate and acoustic feeling. Then at 9:30pm, we’ll give folks a no-holds-barred, full band performance that is sure to end in a sweaty mess of fun.

I honestly can’t explain enough how excited we all are to be finished with the record and to finally be able to share it with all of you. It’s been a ton of work in the making, so you and all your friends should come out and celebrate with us and enjoy one hell of a party!

To tide you over a bit, we’re giving you a free song that you can download. The song is from the new record and is titled, “Celia’s Garden.”

Or if big clickable images scare you… you can click on this link to download the song too:

+ http://t.opsp.in/Vv6

Also, here’s a nice little review of the record that came in today from music blog, Tuneraker.com over in Europe:

+ http://www.tuneraker.com/index.php/music-features/the-dimes-the-king-can-drink-the-harbour-dry/

Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you in Seattle or Portland next week!

- Ryan Johnston

“These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.” – Abigail Adams

The Dimes – Abigail, Don’t Be Long (Click to Listen)

And speaking of the new album, we’ve had several very nice reviews of the record over the past few weeks – click the links below if you’d like to read what the bloggers are saying…

http://your-moment-of-zen.blogspot.com/2009/10/dimes-king-can-drink-harbour-dry.html

http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-dimes-king-can-drink-harbor-dry.html

Here’s hoping you have a great week and for those in the Pacific Northwest, we hope to see you soon – don’t forget to mark your calendars for the CD release shows…Friday, November 13th in Seattle at the Tractor Tavern, 9pm – and Saturday, November 14th in Portland at Mississippi Studios – 7pm early show (all ages), 10pm late show (21 + up) – see you then!

Johnny