photo by Jim Bennett
Last Friday, KEXP went national when the Seattle-focused mini-doc Something in the Water aired directly after PBS’ American Masters’ Pearl Jam Twenty, and features KEXP DJs John Richards, Kevin Cole and Cheryl Waters, along other local music luminaries including Sub Pop Vice President Megan Jasper and EMP Curatorial Director Jasen Emmons, plus live performances by Macklemore, Shabazz Palaces, The Head and the Heart, and Pickwick.
Given all of the many facets that make Seattle’s music scene fruitful and unique, we are honored that director Ward Serrill (The Heart of the Game) chose to focus on KEXP as a key proponent of Seattle’s musical productivity.
And find out more about the Cameron Crowe-directed PJ20 documentary here.
6 Comments
It’s amazing cuz aren’t you guys from New York? I mean didn’t you spend a good portion of the last three or four years trying to convince everybody you were from New York, using your Seattle-based donors to do so? I hope PBS does a doco on New York and talks about what an awesome New York station you are.
I don’t think you’re proud of Seattle. Stop trying. You hate your Seattle selves. You wish you were New York. But you’re not.
Hi Scott, while it is true that KEXP did simulcast for a time in NYC, we have never claimed to be from NYC nor have we ever stopped playing Seattle artists regularly. Just compare our playlists to other stations in this city and you’ll find that we play more local bands than any other on the FM dial. We have always been proud of Seattle and its musicians, but we also believe that there are a great number of bands and artists all over the world that are waiting to be discovered by more potential fans, whether they live in Seattle, NYC or, thanks to the internet, in any party of the world!
I wish Seattle had some new york bagels.
I enjoyed the documentary, and KEXP’s affiliation with local/national artists and record albums. It was interesting to hear from the artists perspective what they thought of the music scene coming out of Seattle. Somethings I found particularly interesting:
1. KEXP DJ’s: Yes, the music playlist is created by the DJ’s, but also the interviews, and I would be interested to know who creates the in-studio line-ups?
2. Infrastructure of KEXP: has a presence in NYC, Austin city limits festival, Iceland Airways festivals, and at many of local music venues they speak of in the documentary.
3. Music pod-casts: just awesome!
4. Would be interested to hear what artists feel about Seattle audiences. I would say, as an audience member, we are actively engaged in finding/listening to good music, but we don’t always show it. We could be listening to the best jam of 2011 and show our appreciation by nodding our head slightly... it is odd and curious.
Thanks for the comments, Ben! The doc certainly could say a lot more about the station and Seattle music and audiences, but director Ward Serrill was tasked to create a 13-minute doc. He shot a lot more footage than that, so maybe one day there will be a longer piece.
Love it! That Macklemore/Ryan Lewis in.studio was magic, one of the BEST ever, and that’s really saying something. I hope it ends up on Live @ KEXP vol. 8!