All About Hem

December 2004 Archive (Older news link at bottom of page)

December 30, 2004 -- Big News Round-Up

Pictures from Hem's December 8 WYEP Holiday Show with Patti Smith in Pittsburgh, PA are available here at WYEP's site.

The UK and Ireland release date for Eveningland is February 7, 2005 through EMI Liberty, right in time for Hem's February 2005 UK tour. The album should be released elsewhere in the world at a later date.

In other UK-related news, Hem will be on Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Radio Show on February 16, 2005. His show airs from 10:00am-1:00pm and can be streamed live via the BBC 6 website.

Spin Magazine's most recent "Heavy Rotation" column has this to say about Eveningland: "On their second album, this Brooklyn Octet weave together haunting melodies and delicate orchestrations to craft intimate country/folk lullabies. Sally Ellyson's vocals are as homey as a snow day spent with hot chocolate and a fleece blanket."

Style Weekly (Richmond, VA) includes a nice blurb about Hem's Eveningland in its December 29, 2004 list of critics picks for the best CDs of 2004.

FYI: New 2005 shows on the tour page include dates in Eugene, Tucson, Austin, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

Finally, sorry for the break in reporting the latest news. I was mostly offline while on holiday in Michigan, constantly keeping myself from ruining my relatives' maps by tearing out a page so I could fold up half an acre and have a scrap of paper of the land I grew in.

December 21, 2004 -- Official Site News & Playbill article

Visit the music page at Hem's Official Site for a free mp3 download of Hem's live rendition of the non-album track "Tennessee Waltz." (It's the same version as the one available if you preordered Eveningland through Hem's official store. All six of those tracks are described here in the September 4 update.) More free mp3s should be available in the future, so keep checking Hem's site or this page for the latest info.

FYI, in addition to its two full length albums, Hem's Official Store now includes men's and women's t-shirts for your apparel enjoyment.

A November 22, 2004 article in Playbill includes the news that Hem's Dan Messe will serve as composer for previous collaborator Mindi Dickstein's upcoming play project Strange Vacation, a story loosely based on "Rip Van Winkle," commissioned by New York's Playwrights Horizons. Work on the project should begin next year, but no word on when it might go into production. You can read the article here.

December 17, 2004 -- 2005 Tour

It looks like Hem's 2005 US tour dates are all set for January and February in the Midwest and West. Visit the tour page for all show details. As a reminder, Hem will also be in the UK next February, and the tour page includes information on those shows as well.

Hem's Official Site now includes a tour diary. Go read amusing tales about life on the road!

December 10, 2004 -- No Depression Transcript

I now have a transcript of the terrific article about Hem in the November/December 2004 issue of No Depression on the article's picture page. Enjoy! [Edited 2005: Better, go read the article at No Depression's site!]

December 6, 2004 -- Official Site Pictures

The photo gallery at Hem's Official Site is now up and running! Visit the site's images page to access the small gallery of pictures from (I'm assuming) the Eveningland recording sessions.

December 3, 2004 Again -- Country Time Standard Article

Country Time Standard has a great December 2004 feature article about Hem that you can read here. If you've been wondering if Dan Messe could work yet another Glen Campbell reference into an interview, you're in luck! I should start a tally. In article-related news, I added some information from that article to the meanings page about the songs "Jackson," "Strays," and "Lucky" and about the title of the "I'm Talking With My Mouth" EP.

December 3, 2004 -- Paste Pictures

The December 2004/January 2005 print edition of Paste Magazine includes pictures not available with the article online. You can see all the pictures from the article by clicking on the picture to the left or by visiting this page.

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