By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff
The Panida Little Theater will open its doors Tuesday, Nov. 12, for the year’s final installment of KRFY Community Radio’s Little Live Radio Hour, featuring lo-fi, downtempo electronic band Blird. Watch the free show in person, listen on 88.5 KRFY or stream it on krfy.org at 8 p.m.
This will be Blird’s second appearance on LLRH, though attendees will recognize members Cadie Archer, Josh Vitalie and Reader Publisher Ben Olson from their main band, Harold’s IGA.
“Those who know Harold’s IGA know these are strong musicians, and Ben Olson’s songwriting is as sharp as anything coming out of this area,” said KRFY Programming Manager Jack Peterson. “As Blird, the sound is completely different and fresh and especially different from anything that I’m aware of being performed around here right now.”
Blird’s blend of psychedelic singing and grunge-adjacent guitar takes inspiration from the indie, alt-rock subgenre “shoegaze,” which came out of the U.K. in the ’80s. The style highlights guitar playing with distortion, feedback and other effects to create a phantasmagorical sound.
“I’m excited by the possibilities presented by the mix of a specific style of music that’s got a really strong culture surrounding it… and what might result when you remove that music from its ‘scene’ and let it loose out here in the woods of North Idaho,” said Peterson.
The night will also include a skit from the Mighty KRFY Players, a rotating group of actors who lend their talent to LLRH while the band takes a much-needed break.
“Our hope has always been to get people to turn on their radio to get the feeling of a kind of entertainment that was once common and is quite rare now: the live radio variety show,” Peterson said. “But as time goes on, I think we’ve come to realize that as fine a product as we put out over the airwaves, it’s still more fun to see it come together in person.”
To watch this free performance live, arrive at the Panida Little Theater (300 N. First Ave.) by 7:45 p.m. For more information, visit panida.org.
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