Truman Sparks Named Virginia’s Best New Band

Posted by Shaun Harvey on July 8th, 2008 16 Comments

Truman Sparks
[Truman Sparks:  l-r:  Adam Smith, Julie the Cat, Ray Szwabowski, Jon Hampton.  Jon Bray not pictured]

Pictured above is Virginia’s newly named Best New Band, which just so happens to be none other than Charlottesville’s own Truman Sparks.  (Minus the cat).  This according to The Boston Phoenix, New England’s largest arts and entertainment weekly, who in honor of the 4th of July weekend came up with their own list of the All-Time Best Band, All-Time Best Solo Artist, and Best New Band for every state in the Union (as well as the District of Columbia). 

While many of these “best of” lists are created to raise a debate among music fans, there’s no arguing with the kind of well-deserved attention that this is sure to generate for Truman Sparks.  And of course it’s always nice to hear from an outside source what music fans here in C’ville already know; that Truman Sparks rocks!  Many congrats fellas!  I am lighting off a couple of bottlerockets left over from the weekend in your honor.  (And to think that these guys almost called it quits back in April.)

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Also, just in case your wondering, here’s how all three categories in Virginia turned out:

Best New Band:  Truman Sparks
All-Time Best Band:  The Neptunes
All-Time Best Solo Artist:  Patsy Cline. 

To check out the entire state-by-state list (including a link to the criteria used by The Boston Phoenix to come up with these lists), click here. 

Anyone have any thoughts?  Agreements or disagreements with the list of Virginia artists?  Who was overlooked and should have been included?  What would your own personal list look like?  Fire away and let the debate begin. 

[And before folks get too riled up, at least we can all be thankful we’re not in Utah where the All-Time Best Band went to The Osmonds and the All-Time Best Solo Artist was Donny Osmond.  Utah…that sucks for you.]

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16 Responses to “Truman Sparks Named Virginia’s Best New Band”

  1. 08 Jul 2008 at 9:00 am1Silmo Syrup said:

    Yay Truman Sparks!!!

  2. 08 Jul 2008 at 9:02 am2baconfat said:

    wow, they’ve really relaxed the definition of the word “band” to incorporate the neptunes, eh? at least n.e.r.d. would’ve made a little more sense, seeing as how they’ve actually released records under that name.

  3. 08 Jul 2008 at 9:17 am3Ray said:

    Thanks for the nod, Shaun. We’re all quite flattered (and still trying to figure out how they found us).

    I think I’m most happy that you chose the kitty picture.

  4. 08 Jul 2008 at 9:21 am4mc said:

    absolutely fantastic. but if they’ve relaxed the definition of “band” they’ve also kinda ignored the definition of “new” as well. man, who cares, this is great!

  5. 08 Jul 2008 at 10:09 am5Chartreuse said:

    congratulations, guys! That’s awesome. I hope it rains pennies.

  6. 08 Jul 2008 at 10:58 am6Shaun Harvey said:

    @3. The interweb reaches far young Padawan…someone will always find you. But seriously though, congrats Ray! Aren’t you glad you guys stuck it out? As for the cat picture, I couldn’t pass it up. I was going to say something along the lines of: “Don’t mess with this band, not only do they rock, but they have the power to turn people into cats. That’s Jon Bray at the microphone after arriving late for band practice” but decided against it. (JB, we kid cause we love.)

  7. 08 Jul 2008 at 11:20 am7squidtank said:

    Sweet! You guys well deserve it. As for ‘all time best band’ I’d like to hear from the guys in Truman Sparks to who they think is the alltime best from VA. Jon #1’s suggestion may be in that photo?

    GWAR?

    /I was going to say your singer is a pussy but thought better of it.

  8. 08 Jul 2008 at 11:48 am8Pinkie said:

    Julie rocks!

  9. 08 Jul 2008 at 11:48 am9Pinkie said:

    And then Jon Bray realized he’d been…replaced.

  10. 08 Jul 2008 at 11:22 pm10dijonbray said:

    im never in any pictures :(

    and just to let everyone on here know, we are playing outback lodge this thursday with corsair. should be a real head banger!

    and thanks for posting this, we’re pretty thrilled that we’re being regarded so highly!

  11. 09 Jul 2008 at 11:16 am11mc said:

    here’s a photo of dijonbray for the curious reader. Note: he’s not a cat, but…

  12. 09 Jul 2008 at 12:35 pm12dijonbray said:

    LOLZ

  13. 10 Jul 2008 at 12:50 pm13Pinkie said:

    @10: Yes, but at what EXACT TIME are you hitting the stage? Any guesses?

  14. 10 Jul 2008 at 2:12 pm14dijonbray said:

    either us or Corsair will be last, so I’d say around eleven! TONIGHT!

  15. 10 Jul 2008 at 2:20 pm15dijonbray said:

    Here’s the rundown of the bands playing tonight:

    Truman Sparks
    Corsair
    Glass Fence(from Los Angelas, Ca)
    Lex Vegas(from Harrisonburg, Va)

  16. 13 Nov 2008 at 1:41 pm16cvilleMUSE » Blog Archive » Quintron and Miss Pussycat @ Outback Lodge, 11/13/08 said:

    […] and Miss Pussycat, Truman Sparks (Virginia’s Best New Band), and Class Substitute.  Tonight at Outback Lodge.  9pm.  […]

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