Ben Karis-Nix

WIND OF CHANGE So what have you done to support alternative energy? Odds are, if anything, you’re being outbatted by Ben Karis-Nix. Karis-Nix (pictured), a former member of Albany rockers the Orange, as well as MySpace friends and Warped Tour phenoms Jupiter Sunrise, is scheduled to be the one and only artist displaying and selling his wind-energy-themed goods at this week’s Community Wind Energy 2008 conference, to be held Monday through Wednesday (April 14-16) at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. Presented by the nonprofit organization Windustry, CWE aims to “bring economic development, agriculture and wind energy together to advance opportunities for locally owned clean energy production.”

How does Karis-Nix, the musician, fit in? He doesn’t, but Karis-Nix, the artist and clothing designer, does: He’ll be exhibiting his Run, We Must apparel line at CWE, debuting a new series of pro-wind-energy designs on hats and tees, in addition to a limited number of screen-printed posters. He previously released an “I Heart Windmills” T-shirt design, from which he’s donated 10 percent of proceeds to Windustry; for CWE, he’ll donate 20 percent of the whole haul. Check out the wearables at runwemust.com.

Of course Karis-Nix, the musician, is still very much at it. His recent multimedia effort, We Are Giants Now, which pairs three mini-disc singles with original silkscreened poster art, is available at wearegiantsnow.com. He’s also working on an audio-visual project called The Reverie of Ruby Star, expected for release this fall, and, he’ll take his band out for a spin at Tess’ Lark Tavern this Monday night (April 14), with Los Angeles band the Hanks sharing the bill.

THEY DO THEIR OWN Northampton, Mass.-based twang-rock band Drunk Stuntmen have been at it for a long time—some 15 years, in fact. That by itself may not be worthy of mention, but this is: The band will appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this Wednesday (April 16) and The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, April 17. And if you think they’re old after 15 years in a rock band, check out the company they’re keeping on these gigs: the Young @ Heart Chorus, a group whose youngest member is a sprightly 72. This whole media blitz is in support of a new Fox Searchlight Pictures doc called, naturally, Young at Heart; the Stuntmen, currently touring in support of their upcoming, Mitch Easter-produced State Fair disc, reportedly get plenty of screen time as well.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE? If you were planning to attend one of James Taylor’s performances at Tanglewood this July but were holding out on buying tickets, you’re out of luck—they gone. 37,000 tickets have been sold since Feburary for the two-night stand. The same looks to be true for the Dave Matthews Band’s two-night run at SPAC, though a few lawn tickets were still available at last word. Hurry up and check TicketMaster if you want to get in under the buzzer.

—John Brodeur

Let us know about local-music news and happenings for inclusion in Rough Mix: E-mail John Brodeur at jbrodeur@metroland .net or call (518) 463-2500 ext. 145.