A story that brings the dead to life. No, it’s not a Halloween tale; It’s about music.

Dave Faries here, asked as I occasionally am to highlight a favorite story from the current edition of the Weekly.

I was at first tempted to ignore our rules for the Saturday newsletter and applaud a week with three pages of Hot Picks plus four stories—two about live music, two about arts events—and a filled out Grid of local performances at bars and restaurants. A few years ago, as the arts and entertainment scene was still emerging from the Covid shutdown, two pages of Hot Picks and two feature stories was the norm. Events are happening at full pace. We have to make decisions about what to cover and which goes where. It’s a good problem.

Each week, our crew of staff writers and freelancers pitch possible story ideas. Los Lobos taking the stage at Jazz at the Ranch was an obvious choice, for example. But in suggesting we feature the local band The Dead Cassettes, freelance music writer Tonia Eaton noted something that struck me. The group is well known in the area. They recently released an album—their first. On occasion we have highlighted one of their gigs in Hot Picks. Eaton acknowledged this, praising the energy the band brings to the stage. “You’ve mentioned them before,” she added. “But I don’t see an article.”

Well, now we have featured The Dead Cassettes. Eaton’s story is of a band that writes lyrics attacking difficult subjects—“Red Wine Serenade” is a first-person account about coping with a friend’s suicide—set to powerful yet melodic music. Thanks to her reporting, The Dead Cassettes are very much alive in my mind. It’s a good story, and a reminder that among the many local acts, there are many other stories to tell.

Again, it’s a good problem to have. And we will try to get to them.

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