ALLENTOWN, Pa. — To honor its 75th year of college community radio, Muhlenberg College student radio station WMUH-FM-91.7 has announced a pair of concerts that will bring the station’s combination of discovery and cutting-edge music to the Lehigh Valley.
Philadelphia psyche-pop master Kurt Vile and The Violators, who topped the Adult Album Alternative charts with the 2015 song “Pretty Pimpin’” and have had three albums in the overall Top 50, will headline a concert with the late jazz great Sun Ra’s band The Sun Ra Arkestra at Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall.
- As part of its 75th year of college community radio, Muhlenberg College student radio station WMUH-FM-91.7 has announced a pair of concerts
- Philadelphia psyche-pop master Kurt Vile and The Violators with The Sun Ra Arkestra will perform at 7 p.m. Nov. 18, and tu:NER, a trio featuring members of the seminal prog rock band King Crimson at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15, both at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown.
- Tickets, at $35-$70 for Vile and $30 for tu:NER, are available on the Miller Symphony Hall website
The concert will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 18. Tickets, at $35-$70, are available on the Miller Symphony Hall website.
Opening the show will be Allentown’s Catatonic Suns.
To kick off the WMUH celebration, there will be a concert by tu:NER, a trio featuring Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto — members of the seminal prog rock band King Crimson — and Markus Reuter, who has played in several projects with King Crimson members.
Opening the show will be guitarist Tim Motzer.
"WMUH has broadcast from the Muhlenberg College campus in Allentown since 1948 and offers what it calls 'a free-form college radio experience … a space for students, staff and faculty of Muhlenberg as well as community staff volunteers to develop, amplify and extend a variety of voices on campus and beyond.'"Muhlenberg College release
That concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 at Miller Symphony Hall. Tickets, at $30 each, are available at the Miller Symphony Hall website.
WMUH has broadcast from the Muhlenberg College campus in Allentown since 1948 and offers what it calls “a free-form college radio experience … a space for students, staff and faculty of Muhlenberg as well as community staff volunteers to develop, amplify and extend a variety of voices on campus and beyond.”
From The War on Drugs to solo success
Vile was guitarist for the Philadelphia rock band The War on Drugs for its first two albums, 2005-11 before forming Kurt Vile and The Violators.
With his own band, Vile has released nine albums, first charting with 2011’s “Smoke Ring for My Halo,” then charting with 2011’s “Walkin’ On a Pretty Daze.”
Vile had his biggest success with his 2011 album “B’lieve I’m Going Down,” which hit the overall albums Top 40 and had the hit “Pretty Pimpin’”, which topped the AAA chart.Billboard charts
He had his biggest success with his 2011 album “B’lieve I’m Going Down,” which hit the overall albums Top 40 and had the hit “Pretty Pimpin’”, which topped the AAA chart.
He again hit the Top 5 on that chart with the 2018 song “Loading Zones” from his album Top 80 album “Bottle It In.”
He also charted with 2017 album “Lotta Sea Lice” with Courtney Barnett, and had a Top 20 AAA hit single in 2020 with “How Lucky” with the late John Prine. Vile’s most recent disc, 2022’s “Watch My Moves,” also charted in the Top 200.
The Sun Ra Arkestra for most of the 20th century toured with iconic jazz bandleader Sun Ra.
After Ra died in 1993, saxophonists John Gilmore and Marshall Allen have led his band as it continued to tour and released two critically-acclaimed albums.
Catatonic Suns, from Allentown, play a blend of 1990s indie music and psychedelia. It released an album, “Saudade,” in 2022.
Celebrating the music of King Crimson
In its most recent incarnation, the trio tu:NER celebrates the music of King Crimson and the bands TU (Mastelotto and Gunn), KTU (Mastelotto, Gunn, and accordionist Kimmo Pohjonnen), TUNER (Mastelotto and Reuter), TUNISIA (Mastelotto and thereminist Pamelia Stickney), The ProjeKcts (featuring Gunn and Mastelotto as well as other KC members) and Stick Men (Mastelotto, Reuter and King Crimson's stickist Tony Levin).
In its most recent incarnation, the trio tu:NER celebrates the music of King Crimson and related bandsMuhlenberg College announcement
tu-NER will perform its original music, improvs and honor King Crimson/ProjeKcts and its other projects, with elements of rock, jazz, prog, funk, and other genres.
Motzer has toured for two decades, released 12 solo guitar soundscape albums and collaborations on more than 100 albums.
