The Hopefuls

While working on The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ‘n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene – a story so sprawling and multi-faceted that each of its four principals could easily have a whole book to themselves – I knew I was going to miss some things.  Case in point, in June 2020, I received an e-mail from Jay Krasnow, who revealed that he had served as Spymob’s very first manager, before they were even Spymob. Jay is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who spent 10 years in the Twin Cities scene producing, playing, and co-engineering for a wide variety of artists. He happened across The Hopefuls by chance in a public library in Cleveland, where he now makes his home (I must say it warmed my heart to hear that the book is in libraries in “The Rock ‘n’ Roll Capital of the World”), and realized that he had a missing piece of the story to share. Jay and I chatted on the phone about his memories and impressions of his brief time with Eric Fawcett, John Ostby, Brent Paschke, and Brian Roe

I knew in writing about The Hopefuls that I was writing an incomplete story. As long as Erik Appelwick, Eric Fawcett, Darren Jackson, and John Hermanson keep making music, there’ll be more to tell. In that spirit, I’ve decided to continue to compile and document their ongoing adventures, and release updates every couple of years.   Believe it or not, it’s been two years since I sent The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ‘n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene off to the publisher, so that means it’s time for the first update, covering mid-2018 (where the book ends) to mid-2020: Appelwick When we last left Erik he was doing freelance composing, and had teamed with Johnny, Fawcett, and Todd Casper in a new band called Intl Falls, who released their self-titled debut in early 2018. More recen tly, Appelwick has taken a job at Dual Citizen Brewery, though tha nkfully he continues to write, record, and produce.  He did some playing and producing for the Minneapolis electro-pop group Totally A

Bio (from their website) "Citrîne was made possible by fate and modern technology. Formerly an acoustic singer-songwriter, Nashville-based Bethany traded her ukulele for synths and formed a new  sound. A string of serendipitous coincidences led to her collaboration with St. Paul-based musician and producer Erik Appelwick (Tropical Depression, Vicious Vicious, Tapes 'n Tapes) and Citrîne was born. Having never met in person, the band uses a modern-day mail-and-return system to complete songs in their respective cities. After releasing two EPs, Spine and Waves , Citrîne continues to release a steady stream of new material, building on the momentum of their Spotify success with the ambivalent break-up single, “Arcade.” Their songs have been featured on HBO, MTV, and The CW." Links Official website Facebook Instagram Discography Spine (2017) Waves (2018) Dreams (2019)