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JPR Live Session: Wesley Jensen & The Penny Arcade

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Back in February, NPR announced Fantastic Negrito as the winner of their inaugural Tiny Desk Concert Contest. Here at JPR, we watched nearly 35 excellent videos submitted by musicians from our region and decided to select our own winner -- the best of the State of Jefferson. When the dust settled, we had a clear winner: Wesley Jensen & The Penny Arcade.

Here's what Wesley had to say about the video:

This is a brand new video we did with our talented friend JD Hudson at Whiskey Hound Studios. It's an idea that I had last year that I never got around to doing until being re-inspired recently by NPR's Tiny Desk Contest being putting on with Lagunitas Brewing Co. It seemed like an absolutely perfect fit for this concept, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. The idea is that my character is a bit of an instigator, a figment of the band's imagination, pushing them to want to break out into song in the middle of their boring work day. We did it all live in a single shot fashion, using real life office instruments including: paper, staplers, paper clips, pens, rulers, stamps, computer keyboards, coffee mugs, and of course our tiny desks. Enjoy! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVeQGIQBL4Q&feature=youtu.be

We loved the song, the performance, the creativity of Wesley's approach, and we really appreciated how well they embraced the true spirit of the competition. NPR loved it too, as you'll notice it displayed among their favorites just below Fantastic Negrito.

As FM Network Program Director and Music Director, Eric oversees many aspects of JPR's broadcast day. He still hosts the occasional Open Air or classical music shift, and is the driving force behind JPR Live Sessions - our popular series of live in-studio music performances and conversations.