Okay, not the best photo (I've been promised pics from Newt & Howe's photographer...still waiting on those), but I like this one. Victoria Williams is on guitar, Howe Gelb on acoustic guitar, and on the left side, grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat is Newt Lynn. In a weird way, Newt is at the nexus of the Raven, the Howe/Victoria show, and Coyote Radio.

A few years back when Newt was finishing up his degree at Prescott College, Andrew convinced him to do sound effects for Coyote Radio Theater. Poor Newt didn't know what he was getting himself in for! He was our foley artist during the monthly Coyote shows at The Mad Linguist - not a low stress gig. The "Mad" shows were broadcast on KJZA, and while a lot of fun, were a tremendous amount of work. Imagine trying to corral 4 voice actors, a foley guy, a sound guy, the director and a musician with 30 minutes of new material to be rehearsed and performed every month. Not to mention the massive amounts of scripts written - many that were rejected w/o ever being performed - and add onto that the technical stuff of remote radio broadcast and a pile o' poets and audience folk. You get the picture. Great fun, but exhausting.

Anyway, Newt eventually graduated and went back to LA (that's Louisiana, not L.A.) for a few years while Coyote soldiered on at a slightly less frenetic pace. Then he came back to Prescott for a visit. Andrew, the eternal dreamer/schemer, had been thinking about the radio station & was convinced that the ultimate place for it would be co-located with a coffee house. The stars had aligned...Newt had a friend (hi, Ty!) who was thinking about opening up a cafe and Newt thought it was an idea worth exploring. A year and a half ago, The Raven Cafe and Coyote Radio Studio opened their doors. Saturday, July 7, 2007, Coyote Radio sent out its first broadcast on AM 1610. The first song that went out over the airwaves "TWO" from Ryan Adams latest.

So the show was awesome, the crowd was really respectful, and the broadcast went well. Been a long time coming, but it was one of the happiest nights of my life. Lots of work ahead - already making lists of equipment needed, issues to be addressed, fundraising, radio shows formats, etc., etc. But for one night, I didn't worry about any of that. I just sat back and enjoyed the show and the look of pride on the hubster's face.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Victoria Williams and/or Howe Gelb, here are a few YouTube links...