By John Pluntze

Once again, this week's music-news listings are sooo numerous and varied, it seems like a good idea to divide them up into two parts -- beginning with today's music offerings for Thursday, which include a highly-acclaimed band from Seattle who proved to be one of the most popular offerings back in January of this year at Hailey's Sun Valley Brewery.

Music kicks off this afternoon at 2:30 (until 6 p.m.) at the Hailey Farmers' Market (213 N. Main Street -- next to Bank Of America), when the Valley-based band, Shoebox Review, takes the stage there.

Also in Hailey this evening, at the Sun Valley Brewery (202 N. Main Street/ 788-0805), the Seattle-based Ian McFeron Band ( http://www.myspace.com/ianmcferonband
http://www.twitter.com/ianmcferonband
http://www.facebook.com/ianmcferon
http://www.ianmcferon.com ) will once again return to that justly-venerated venue there, starting at 8 p.m. (until 11 p.m. or so), featuring Ian McFeron and Texas fiddle player Alisa Milner -- both of whom totally slayed the Brewery audience I was a part of last winter when I first saw this incredibly high-energy band...

...A band whose creation seemed more or less PRE-ordained from the start, since both McFeron and Milner attended the very same middle school AND high schools in Shoreline, Washington -- but never actually met or knew each other until AFTER McFeron was putting the band together in Seattle several years after their high-school graduation!!

"We actually met up in college in western Washington," McFeron told me last week, while he and Milner were busy getting ready for another concert in Bellingham, Washington. "Alisa played an absolutely amazing rendition of 'The Appalachian Waltz,' and when I talked with her later on we immediately clicked. The instrumental phrasing of her fiddle work was a perfect fit for the band we were putting together. We REALLY lucked out with her, and I think we've grown quite a bit together in our respective styles over the years."

Those ever-evolving and -expanding musical styles have taken the band to numerous parts of the country over the years, and the band -- which also includes drummer Mark Bateman and guitarist Jon Markel -- is currently in the middle of an extensive U.S. tour that will ultimately take the four of them to the four corners of the U.S. later this fall and winter.

"It's a verrrry exciting time for the band, I think, as far as where we're geting bookings now," Milner told me last week, a Lake Forest Park, WA native who began playing various musical instruments at age six. 

"Every couple of years we decide to up the ante in the touring. Once we felt we got the ball rolling in establishing good relationships with other venues out there, we thought leaving Seattle for three or four months at a time would be a really good thing for the band, and so far, anyway, it seems to be working great for us," Milner said, adding that, "We're currently averaging 65-68 shows on-the-road, and those live shows we do around the country are basically planting seeds to establish roots in those verrry supportive communities -- which definitely includes Hailey."

Both McFeron and Milner said that because of the digital age, touring for bands has become of paramount importance now because listeners really want to put a face to the musicians they're happily and eagerly listening to on their iPods and computers.

"There's a synergy you get with live audiences that'll never ever be replicated on a CD -- no matter how good the technology gets -- which I think is why albums are becoming primarily a PROMOTIONAL device more and more for bands, and why touring IS so important now. We're doing over 200 shows this year, and I REALLY love the vibe we get from those live audiences."

One glaring and recurring drawback, however, with all that band touring is that burns alot of gasoline -- which is why McFeron has been actively trying for several years now to get the 1970s-era diesel-engine bus they currently tour in converted to burning vegetable oil instead, with the help of the Seattle-based company, Frybrid ( www.frybrid.com ) ... a noble project that unfortauntely has not come to fruition yet. (Read more about it at:
http://ianmcferon.com/bus.php ).

"Well, whenever you're pioneering something, there are always roadblocks along the way, and unfortunately right now, anyway, that Frybrid conversion process for a bus like ours costs around $10 to 15,000," McFeron explained. "Plus, we have the added problem of properly and completely filtering the water OUT of the used vegetable oil with that Frybrid in-line filtration system.... The technology DOES work, and I think in the future the horizon is looking very, very bright for alternative fuels, which is why we've also been talking with Golden Fuels in Nebraska, Pop Diesel in New Mexico, and also with Dartmoth University, about their 'Big Green Bus' program. 

"But as it stand right now, with WASTE oil, anyway, it can really wreak havov on your fuel-injectors." McFeron said.

Talk with McFeron and Milner tonight about their music -- and also about their ongoing goal of achieving an alternative fuels-driven bus -- at the Sun Valley Brewery, when they perform there from 8-11 p.m. or so. Call 788-0805 for more information.
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Questions or comments regarding this "Harmonic Convergence" (local music scene-oriented) column can be sent to John at: WriteStuffIdaho@gmail.com .And to read any of John's previous "HC" columns -- which include raves on local faves Ethan Tucker (who'll be performing tomorrow night, btw, at The Roosevelt, from 9:45 p.m. until 11:30 or so), Bruce Innes, Paul Tillotson, Gayle Chapman, Sheryll Mae Grace, Molly Venter, Jeff Rew, Bart Budwig, Leana Leach and Cow Says Mooo -- simply type "Music Rules" (and also "John Pluntze") into the SVO search engine here.