Last week, a whole bunch of stuff. Saturday, drive to Plymouth, PA to photograph at a private event, and to pick up more items to continue work on the archives. Sunday, drive back to NC.
https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2025/05/the-mayflies-usa-revisiting-the-glory-days-with-the-kickless-kids-an-interview.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawKJBchleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFjY0Q4V2o4cW9nMUZkazhnAR7YMQomoxGbu80ZJmmALUEt7UEy2hrSQk-lFAEFzimZpZ2bb7XEEB-r3WKDuA_aem_n74nNJWVv_J2S82cRSZnXg
And check out their new album, Kickless Kids, out next week!
-Daniel
May 7, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIfoEgrCFW4
Enjoy,
-Daniel
May 7, 2025
Ever since my friend Rachelle Atkins released her first book, Sleep Like Starfish, I've wanted to put together an authors conversation with her. I then released three books in one day, and we decided to put it all together into one party.
For those that follow these adventures, and wonder how crazy my schedule sometimes gets, this past weekish was one for the books.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHFx10DWzrQ&t=1s
My thanks for Russ for putting this story together, and to Phil Lee for wandering into the frame for an interview.
-Daniel
April 17, 2025
Copies of my new books, My Flash On You (Volumes one and two), and Hurried Documents are now available at Park Road Books. More locations coming soon.
-Daniel
April 6, 2025
Last weekend, photos of the opening of the Carolina Theatre, Allegro Gala, Levine Children's Gala, Charity League luncheon, and lots more.
Friday, photos of two episodes of Carolina Business Review, and Dancing With The Stars Of Charlotte. Saturday, photos of the Nourish Up gala, and the LAWA gala at the Casey.
On Monday, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, and because I felt like doing it, I released three new books. Three new, massive books, in one day.
I also did an early morning appearance on San Francisco's KPOO on Monday, talking about Maurice Williams and Earl Gainey. Check it out!
-Daniel
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xocgg6mz7dxg026mpas7g/RSH-3-17-25-Daniel-Coston.mp3?rlkey=pdexliglzbkz2h83q6kspmq8z&st=3qpqjhvu&dl=0&fbclid=IwY2xjawJHwrNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZAZMRh12clsCHUj_aS1mJIPyQS6-RAEYExkBF6Otvs5_CzLMS1lWMTl3Q_aem_Xjp4tR1YlYS4jYcap5xNmQ
https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/charlotte-ledger-40-over-40-awards?fbclid=IwY2xjawJHwUZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZTQE3dJPj8mSZ5k7joLdZ8eGwkrGdydZXMJn5UANoh26H-z7DNABzgwtQ_aem_SZvGi6yMadFYpEDoDo6ctQ
Congrats to all the fellow nominees!
-Daniel
March 19, 2025
Monday, one video shoot, quietly released three books in one day, and photographed Kraftwerk at Ovens Auditorium.
Monday, one video shoot, quietly released three books in one day, and photographed Kraftwerk at Ovens Auditorium.
This is my second interview with Plastic EP and David Leaf, discussing Brian Wilson, Smile, Brian's brothers, and so much more.
Hello all-
I'll be doing a live interview at 6pm EST with the Material Issues podcast alongside all of the surviving members of the Beckies, Scott Trusty, Gary Hodgden West and Mark Abel. Check out Material Issues' FB page, and their Youtube page. Hope to see you soon.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/materialissues/
-Daniel
March 5, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojvDp-dzwCw
-Daniel
February 13, 2025
I have donated prints to benefit David Childers. Please spread the word.
-Daniel
February 14, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjWveDzAcuQ
-Daniel
February 14, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osTEGTjy9Bw
-Daniel
February 15, 2025
Thursday and Friday, photos of McColl Center auction preview party, Prog For Wishes at Visulite Theater, NC Zeitgeist gala, and Thurston Howell Band - A Premier Yacht Rock Spectacular at the Boatyard LKN. Saturday and Sunday, photos of a Bridgerton Party at Charlotte Museum of History, Del McCoury at The Earl Scruggs Center tribute to Earl, Leslie Paliyenko's 90th birthday party, and taping a new podcast with Mark Arnold and his Fun Ideas.
RIP David Johansen. RIP Joey Molland. May they and their music live forever.
-Daniel
March 1, 2025
Years ago, I wanted to be Don Sturkey when I grew up. For over forty years, Don and his camera lit up the pages of the Charlotte Observer with his images. His ability to cover both hard news stories, and arts and music in a daily newspaper format is something we may never see again. Be it Elvis Presley at the Charlotte Coliseum in 1956, slice of life images from the bustling southern cities, to the dusty roads of rural communities, Don was there. Day in, day out. Consistent, and as good a working photographer as you may ever see.
Hello all. I've donated prints of two of my photos from the recent Avett Brothers NYE show to an auction benefiting Theatre Charlotte. Both are prints made just for the auction, and are signed by yours truly. Spread the word, and Avett on.
Time is fleeting. Time is a monster.
RIP to Phil Lowe, drummer of the Good Bad & The Ugly, Barons and more. I'm so glad that I got the GBU to reunite for two of our Charlotte 60s shows reunion shows. Thank you, Phil. Play some "Repent Walpurgis" up there for me, and tell Sir Gary Brooker that I said hello.
-Daniel
February 12, 2025
Photos of GBU from 2014 to 2021 by Daniel Coston.
https://voyageraleigh.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-daniel-coston/
-Daniel
February 10, 2025
When the Beckies’ sole album was released in 1976, it should have capped a remarkable era for keyboardist and songwriter Michael Brown. What had begun ten years before with the Left Banke and “Walk Away Renee” culminated in this band, whom Brown spoke highly of for the rest of his life. Despite good reviews, the album got lost in the shuffle of summer releases, unable to find a wider audience.
I first discovered the Beckies in the late 1990s, as I was diving deep into my Left Banke journey. I found a promo copy of the album on one of my first trips to Nashville. I was instantly drawn to the album, though the album’s muddy mix always seemed to hold myself and other fans back.
I met Beckies guitarist Jimmy McAllister in 2003 vis email, when he wrote a magazine to complement an article I’d written on the Left Banke. He enthused about his time with the Beckies, and the demos that the band had made leading up to the album’s recording. He sent me a CD of the band’s first demos, and promised to send me more. When Jimmy died in 2006, an avid collector in England, John Kennedy sent me the entire set of demos, saying “Jimmy wanted you to have this.”
I had been thinking about a collection of the Beckies material for some time, featuring the original Sire album alongside the demos. When Omnivore Recordings asked me last year if I had any projects to put forth, I knew that this chance had arrived.
Over the past year, I reached out to band members Scott Trusty, Gary Hodgden (West) and Mark Abel, as well as the families of Michael Brown and Jimmy McAllister. All of whom gave me their blessings for this project. Trusty and Abel both did lengthy interviews with me, filling in a timeline that has never been properly explored, as well as picking out demos for the second disc.
Omnivore licensed the album from Rhino, and mastering guru Michael Graves went to work. When I received his new mastering of the album, it was a stop everything moment for me. Songs and harmony parts that were once buried now sparkle, as do the demos that Graves also mastered for a complete package. After all these years, the Beckies now sound better than ever.
So here it is. Nearly fifty years after it was released, and nearly thirty years since I first heard of the band, the Beckies’ moment has finally arrived. I wrote the liner notes, and produced this project alongside Cheryl Pawelski, who has way more coolness and Grammys than I do.
To Michael, Jimmy, Scott, Gary, Mark and their families, thank you. To Omnivore Recordings, thank you. To those of you that have been with me, and put up with me during my time researching the Left Banke and its adjacent archives, thank you. The release of this collection marks the end of a chapter for me, but the music will always be out there, waiting for its next discovery.
Good To Know: The Beckies Story, out February 28th on Omnivore Recordings.
Left Banke, forever. Michael Brown, forever. Beckies, forever.
https://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/good-to-know/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdQtqACQOZ0&list=OLAK5uy_kPwwGux14OS5vJRgFTdT7e8eue7FAMCow
In August of 2004, I spent a night in Morgantown, West Virginia, boxing 20,000 albums for a friend of mine. All by myself. I slept on the floor of this empty 120 year-old building, waiting for the moving van to arrive the next morning. I got back to Charlotte at 6pm, and fell asleep for an hour, totally exhausted. Scott Avett called and woke me up. We talked for 20 minutes, and I had to ask him later what we talked about.
Peter Yarrow
Knight Theater
Charlotte, NC
October 2011.
Safe travels.
-Daniel
January 8, 2025
Photos from the Avett Brothers NYE show, and the Press On Fund event are now posted over at @danielcostonphotos, and at danielcostonmusicphotos.com. See you at the next adventure, and see you on the road.
-Daniel
January 2, 2025
