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An interview with Dana Murphy of Unregistered Nurse Booking / by Jes Skolnik
Dana Murphy, 26, is one of Baltimore’s favorite punk and indie rock show bookers and promoters. Murphy is one of those rare promoters who can tread into the smaller-scale music industry, booking at aboveground venues like Ottobar, Metro Gallery, and Golden West, while also retaining a staunchly DIY approach. She handily won “Best Music Promoter” in a Baltimore City Paper poll last year, and it’s not hard to see why. Murphy is hard to not immediately love. When we first met, she immediately struck me as sweet, thoughtful, smart, funny and incredibly tenacious – all things that have proved to be true as I’ve gotten to know her. I recently sat down with Murphy to talk about the intricacies of her show-booking project, Unregistered Nurse Booking (unbooking.tumblr.com), as well as the frustrations of working with the smaller-scale music industry and what she’s got on the horizon this fall.
JS: How did you get started booking shows? Can you fill me in on the history of U+N as an official 'thing'?
DM: The idea of booking shows was floating in the background for a while, but I had never really planned on doing it. As a teen I often stayed at places that had bands playing. I was around shows a lot, and I'd do stuff like watch the door for a few minutes or tell people to leave at the end of the night. I really liked feeling involved, even in a small way. Around that time I started having bands play at my birthday parties. Adding live music was just to make things fun, I wasn't thinking about it as anything else.
Then when I was 18, I got a job at a venue. I'd help with ideas, like suggest bands to book or local openers. I loved it; it became a big hobby for me. In 2009, I set up a couple of benefit shows for a friend who needed money for some medical bills. The show that I consider the first "official" show I booked was one of those. They went really well, and I kept thinking to myself "I could totally do this all the time, why don't I do it?" I started putting on a show here and there, and then it took off. Someone put me on the spot so I threw the name out there, then [I] was like "well, I have a name so I guess I'm doing this".
JS: One of the things I love . . .
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On racism, mass media, and the radical potential of incremental change / by Daniele Daniele
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Orange is the New Black is a series on Netflix created by Jenji Kohan, who previously brought us Weeds. At this point, I’m sure you’ve all heard about it. The show is based off the memoirs of Piper Kerman.
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I was immediately intrigued by this show. I had questions. I did not care about whether this show was good art, or good entertainment. The show’s ratings and the general “buzz” surrounding the show speak
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for themselves. OITNB is a hit, and Netflix’s first big hit at that. You may think OITNB is formulaic, commercial crap, and arguably it is, but Kohan is a master of peddling crap. The editing, character . . .
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A new album from our favorite Irish indie pop trio
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A few years ago we had the pleasure of getting to know a trio from Dublin called Squarehead, who in addition to being some of the nicest dudes also play really great guitar pop. Their 2011 record, Yeah Nothing, was one of our most-played that year, full of downcast pop songwriting inspired by both the Wipers and the Beach Boys, with
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unshakeable hooks and perfectly deadpan harmonies. It's a seriously timeless indie pop album; see "Save Yourself" and "Get Light" and "Fake Blood."
Last year, Squarehead released a split 12-inch with their Irish indie pop contemporaries and former tourmates So Cow. Their songs on that split, Out
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of Season, started to tread towards a heavier sound, updating their classic mellow melodies with huger instrumentation, and vocals that would build from boy-band harmonies to explosive, screeching howls. On Respect, Squarehead seems to have fully embraced those louder, pop-punk-oriented creative impulses more strongly . . .
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WEEKLIES
by Jordan Lee
Come here little rabbit.
Bloom by Marc Viloria
On seeing 21+ shows when you're 20-.
by Liz Pelly
Notes on the Phoenix funeral.
by Joe S.
The founder of Don Giovanni Records answers questions about planning a punk rock wedding and going off the effing grid.
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