travelers

the other night, two young men appeared around here. evidently, one was from new york and left for california because he said that god told him to. the other was from somewhere in the midwest headed for new york, where he planned to fly to isreal- because god told him to. I guess they just met at the peace rally downtown and connie brought them back here. they both left on the same day and said they were told not to bring anything. they weren't quite sure what it meant that they ran into each other, so they spent the last half of the week at connie's house and around outside. I think connie offered them meals like mac and cheese and such. they hung around talking to everyone and tried to figure out if they were supposed to join up and go somewhere together. one of them seemed very interested in talking with us and made an instant connection. eventually, they decided that they each needed to fulfill their own part of the task or plan, and last night or early this morning, with much emotion all around, they each left on their journeys. so here is to adam and jim. we hope you find happiness and enlightenment on your journeys.

the back-back-forty

our secret garden...

kitchens are cool

There is nothing really quite like hanging out in the kitchen. I feel like this is sort of true no matter where you go. You could have a huge living space, and a closet for a kitchen, and everyone would still want to cram in there.

:)

influences + inspiration

Our cd collection is growing rapidly, and we are really learning a lot. We are spending the summer surrounding ourselves with things and people that are teaching us new things. Plus it kind of feels like Colin Meloy, Wayne Coyne, Meg White, Jimmy Page, and Jim James have kinda been sharing some secrets from afar. We got rid of the cable in June, and I'm kinda glad. Visual endevours have been kinda mystic/trippy lately: Star Wars, Tetris, Almost Famous, anime, Documentaries, 70's and 80's cartoons.

Our back yard is like the new central hub-hangout area for the Victorians folk. There are like 2-10 people out back at any given time. Many of them have a lot of things to say that we could learn from, but even just the experience of hanging out with them is really wonderful.

landlords and recordings

Our favorite neighbor (and green-thumb / earth mother) Connie, is being removed from her apartment because the new owner wants to rent exclusively to med students (and apparently NOT to hippies). Landlords suck. I guess amber and i will have to host the backyard hangout all the time now, and with 1/2 the space. Well, I guess we've got to defend our scene here. Amber bartending at Victorians now is great for that, because she can help initiate things.

Oh, but we jammed into some wicked recordings late last night :) We keep trying to get some good recordings of what we have but every time we try, we end up writing new material and jamming on that all night. Anyways, I know its easy to become anxious, but if its time to write now, then rite we must, and I guess the time will come later to finally go and lay down some nice, clean recordings.

Recently

Saturday afternoon Amber and I went on a photo shoot. We each took some shots. Amber is an amazing photographer. Also later that night had an interesting time at a dinner party. Wine and sparklers are always a good time.

Sunday we wondered around at some antique stores in Clintonville- Also picked up a pretty bad-ass autumn jacket for amber. At the Antique Mall (I know antique mall sounds lame, but it's pretty sweet; it's a century old building filled with retro furniture and vintage clothing from basement to loft - anyways -) we found some Rainbow Bright playing cards printed in 1983 with which we will adorn a wall or something.

I finally laid down a sub-flooring in the basement and soon we'll be able to lay the wood for the floor. We have been carefully gathering vintage furniture, and scrap wood for the bar and stage. It will be completely fantastic... well, it'll be at the least both charming and insane. I can only hope.

Lollapalooza is coming up very shortly, and we are gonna try to come up with the funds to go to it. Luckily, we already have someone's apartment in downtown Chicago to stay at, and we'll probably take the bus, we just need tickets.

Off to a veggie cook out now and later maybe a nice nightly walk around the city and some website work or some recording.

July Third

Amber and I got a gig playing a benefit for (three) tigers and (two) lions. Looking forward to that. Its July third and they're doing the fireworks here in Columbus. I'm sitting at the coffee shop, amber's working behind the counter. I'm working on some art and website stuff in photoshop. It's nice outside; good night for a walk about town. Anyways, nothing else, really.

bonnaroo here we come!

flaming lips are sure to blow everyone away...
were also looking forward to the decemberists quite a bit
shooting with a digital slr this year instead of film so i can get more shots, better shots
plus both of us being photographers now, we'll get a lot of crazy cool stuff.
oh man, its so hot. no a/c in the car- cant wait to get on the road, though.
love to all

Bonnaroooo in 3 days

Super excited. Time for inspiration, time for meeting old friends.
I feel very balanced.

Gallery Showing

Tonight was the opening night of our gallery exhibition. Both Amber and I have pieces showing, and our art was selected out of quite a large group. I'm pretty excited about it- I think it's indicative of where we are headed and all. It was great to see our stuff actually in a gallery and watch people wandering in and looking. It's certainly gratifying to see the fruits of the labors. Also now we each have something to add to the CV and pieces for portfolios.

Cirque du soleil last night was sweet; a relaxing distraction; a celebration upon learning our artwork got accepted in the gallery; an inspiring, rejuvenating experience ;)

Also excited for summer; replacing school time with music time; hanging out; hiking and related etcs.

Also: Amber is a genius.

That is all :)

:P

Sweet bonnaroo in 17 days! The schedule is out and we've been mapping out our plans which we will probably only loosely follow- exciting!

We are we submitting our artwork to be juried for a gallery on wednesday! Then wednesday night after thats stress is lifted, cirque du soleil!

Still have a photo project to complete. 2 more days of actual classes. 6 if you count finals. oh stress be gone! :)

Electric Yikes

Quickly working our way through this quarter! We are now preparing for our final projects for photography, photoshop, and acting. Kind of a lot of work all at once... It's cool though, we're pulling through (and not working much at our jobs ;) ) Soon it will be time to submit our work for the juried exhibition and I think that's when the pressure will start to cook us. Still, I think we know where we're headed 'for real' now.

We've got so much stuff packed into everyday. We have more art projects than humanly possible going simultaneously between school and stuff we are privately working on and our music, etc. One of these days I'll catch up on everything. I'm stayin up late just to vent all this out. I gotta say, though, I love staying busy like this. It may feel like there's not enough time for everything, but that's cause a lot is getting done. It's pretty satisfying.

I'm so proud of amber, too. The artwork she's been producing is amazing. She's really learning a lot and she's finding out a lot of new things about how she likes to create that art. I think she's surprised herself. It's a really cool time for her.

We have a ton of shows to go to in just the next month alone. And lots of theatre: thursday the childrens' hour, next thursday mary stuart, next next wednesday cirque de soleil, and THAT shall be the grandest!

Just after finals are over we are packing up for the grandest event of the year: bonnaroo!

-thats not all, but all i have energy for-

May Day

,.-~'(_mayday_)'~-.,

A magical adventure, and a time for fond remembering :)

Beautiful day today, and we closed the night by doing some recording with our new equipment which I must say is quite 'pimp'. I think that means sweet. Anyways class tomorrow and then we're gonna blow some money probably. Haha.

Happy Spring

Everything is going so well!

P.S.
websites are almost up for evolumusic and newroadcallling... finally!

First Show!

We had our first show on thursday! I guess it was a long time coming, too. We played mostly new material. Since it was at a coffee shop on campus, there were people reading and whatnot, but luckily we had a great group of folks who came and listened and supported us ;) We were both kind of nervous, and I felt like a sort of robot/ape playing the lead part for the first song: stiff and clumsy, but amber's vocals began coming out more and I loosened up and we got a pretty good flow going. People loved it. Amber sang beautifully. We did a 45 min set of originals, and then a jam complete with dulcimer, didgeridoo, drums, and various percussive instruments. I think someone has pictures of the whole set.

Afterwards we went to a party and everyone was so super cool to us. They all said they really dug it and they want to come see us next time we play out. They even went on about how they loved the lyrics, which is awesome. I love that some people really listen! We couldn't have hoped for a better reaction.

Afterwards, it seemed (just as I knew it would) so much easier than it had been. We put a lot of work and a lot of time into our music, but always behind closed doors. We were always too afraid to share it. We pushed ourselves in the direction so many times, but something always stood in our way. Now it really seems like the seal has been broken and all that fear is conquered. I'm sure we'll still get nervous sometimes, but nothing as overwhelming as the first time.

A bit of symbolism here: We got tattoos about 2 weeks ago partially for this occasion and Amber's tattoo was pretty scabbed over and looked crazy (not normal). She was afraid that she had a reaction to the thicker pigments or something and that it would be scarred underneath. She simultaneously began freaking out nervous about the show. As the tattoo healed, her attitude became more positive. The entire tattoo was revealed, however, when the final piece of scab was ripped off about 5 minutes before our set when she reached in a bag to get out a setlist or something. I told her it was sort of like a band aid, or jumping in a pool. Now she can move on past the fear and express her true self.

Also, our projects for photography and digital were due this week. I'm pretty proud of mine; especially my digital project. It was very well received and I have a feeling I may be chosen to take this one to the gallery exhibition in May. Way too soon to tell, though.

I'm just so glad that everything is taking off. It feels wonderful for us both to be doing all of these amazing things.