Phosphorescent

Thought I'd share a video of one of my new favorite artists: Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent performs "Wolves" for The Black Cab Sessions. Enjoy!

Movie Recs

Guy has moved in and my new brother-in-law has moved out. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I watched two movies in the last couple of days I would recommend:

Sukiyaki Western Django - It's Bruce Lee meets Clint Eastwood. A kung-fu/samurai/spaghetti-western showdown. If Sergio Leone was Japanese this is what you'd get. The film draws heavily on Django, a 1966 western. My only gripe was having to see Quentin Tarrantino in it.

Papillon - This is the true story of Henri Charrière's life on Devil's Island. Played by badass Steve McQueen and supported by Dustin Hoffman as the French counterfiter Louis Dega, Charrière is falsely accused of killing a pimp and sent to a life of work camps on the island. It's long, but an amazing story of determination and obsession.

Return of the Blog

So I haven't written on this thing in God knows how long. I'm pretty sure no one even reads it anymore. Which is quite alright. But I figured it was time to pick up the axe again.

As of right now I am with Over the Rhine in Chicago. We played North Park University last night and watched Obama become our next president the night before that. Getting to Grant Park in a gigantic van and trailer was not do-able but the night felt historic nonetheless. After his speech Jake and I toasted our president elect with a Stella Artois in the hotel bar. I told Linford that second to the state of our nation, I'm glad the election went the way it did for the sake of the morale of this tour. We don't need no dark cloud hangin' over us.

I'll be out until November 15th with these wonderful folks and then I return to Texas to lay off the touring. Things I am excited about doing when I get home:

Seeing Carra and my family
Working on recording some more songs
Not touring
Going to my sister's wedding
Sleeping in

I've got a handful of songs which I'm going to be recording under the name Lassitude. That plus a couple covers I really want to try. Hopefully I'll have them available for free download on my good ol' Myspace by the end of the year/beginning of the new year.

Today I drive to Greensboro, North Carolina. Wish me safe travels!

Trying to chronicle my favorite songs ever. So far I have 2:

Suzanne - Leonard Cohen

A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall - Bob Dylan

The Bear

I just read an article about Stanley Owsley in the Rolling Stone I borrowed from Jacob. In the sixties, Owsley was an underground LSD chemist and sound engineer for the Grateful Dead. At age 72, he now lives in the Australian outback with his wife in a series of homemade shelters, tents, and buildings awaiting what he believes is the coming ice-age. I'm working on a song about him:

Out on the lonesome plain
There's a sound that falls with the rain
I collect it night and day for you

I'm a broken man, I'm a broken man
But you take my hand, help me to stand
There's no future or past but this age won't last
We will stave off the cold, and make our stand

The cancer it came for my life
And it cut my throat like a knife
But I fought it day and night for you

I'm a broken man, I'm a broken man
But you take my hand, help me to stand
There's no future or past but this age won't last
We will stave off the cold, and make our stand

This blog has become a bore...

At one time it was an expression of things I'd been thinking about and dealing with and now it seems it's mostly just a monthly update of what I'm doing with my life. So in the near future I hope to write more thought-out and meaningful posts. If only for myself.

Biology of Belief

I'm almost finished with one of the most mind-blowing books I've ever read. It's called Why God Won't Go Away and it's about the science of what goes on in our brains as related to myth, ritual, and spiritual experience. It's challenging and offers no black and white answers as to what it all means but I would highly recommend it if you're curious about the mind as it relates to spirituality. Check it out here.

Need to finish Dune as well so I can watch the movie. Depending on how it ends I may or may not read the entire trilogy but so far so good.

Trying to read more and watch less television lately. Remembering that prayer is important.

My House Smells

So a friend of mine let me know he was not too pleased with the infrequency of posts here... What's going on? Finished recording our album in Atlanta. Waiting on mixing and mastering. It'll probably come out early September.

Girlfriend in the picture these days...a sweetheart named Carra. Maybe if you're lucky enough you'll meet her.

Tour coming up the last two weeks of June with a band from Alabama called The Bridges who just recorded an album with Matthew Sweet. How cool is that?

Payin' the bills and listening to more country music than ever before. There is a legit new station here in Dallas now called Lonestar that plays Son Volt, Cash, Wilco, Waylon, Whiskeytown, Slaid Cleaves, Willie, etc... I love it. I actually listen to the radio now.

New Music

So I started listening to Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album called 5:55 and it is freaking AMAZING. You probably recognize her from movies like The Science of Sleep and 21 Grams but she's also the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Which means she's both gorgeous and talented. Air did the music; Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon, and Gainsbourg wrote the lyrics; and it was produced by Nigel Godrich. You can stream it on her myspace here.

ALSO, there are a few new songs on my myspace. One is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" and the other is a nonsense freakout under the name Side Hug. Listen here. Word!

This is me leaving...

We head to Atlanta tomorrow morning for about a month of hanging out in the studio and making a record. Going to try and post video podcats. Or something like that. See ya later.

Dear Austin Friends

Come to The Belmont on Friday @ 2:00! It's free and we're playing with Mew, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkenss, Tilly & the Wall and some other amazing bands. See ya!

Chase Pagan vs. Nathan Pettijohn

Global Warming or Cooling? Which is it?

Check out this article by the first Canadian with a Ph. D in Climatology and see what you think...

Discussion Group

So we have officially started. Last night we met at my house for spaghetti and some conversation. We're reading Douglas Coupland's short story Life After God (1,000 Years) and talking about it...and our lives in general. Hopefully this will be a weekly gathering (as long as the band is in town, since we make up about half the group). Feel free to come. Things get started around 7:30.

And so it is...

Home from tour once again. This was definitely the most bummed I have ever been for a tour to come to an end. We've been out since December 27th with Manchester Orchestra and it has been, by far, the most fun we've ever had on the road with another band. It must happen again. For now we're taking the next few months to write and rehearse and gear up for recording in March/April. We'll be playing later this month with Unwed Sailor at the Cavern in Dallas. Hope to see you there...

Come Home

If you've seen the latest Mastercard commercial where people are embracing each other in the airport, you may have noticed the song featured on it. It's a wonderful song by Findlay Brown. Here's the video for it:

Great Albums of 2006

I know I'm forgetting some, but here, in no particular order, are ten of my favorites from '06:

Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequence
Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You
Asobi Seksu – Citrus
Citizen Cope – Every Waking Moment
The Flaming Lips – At War With the Mystics
Jim Noir – Tower of Love
Joseph Arthur – Nuclear Daydream
The Secret Machines – Ten Silver Drops
Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
Viva Voce – Get Yr Blood Sucked Out

The Militia Group

We have a label now! You can go here to read all about it. We've also made Strangers and a demo of Mirrors available for download on the Myspace. Cheers!

New Lassitude Songs

So I demoed some Lassitude songs with Alex a while back and decided to let them see the light of day, unfinished and full screw-ups as they are. We basically set up a mic and hit "record." You can go to my Myspace to listen. I'll be working on full-instrumentation versions of them next month (piano, organ, lap steel, etc...), which is why I haven't made them downloadable yet. Love...

Consumer Christmas

GENRATION C(ASH) and GENERATION C(ONSUMER)... Some very cool trends coming 'round in the New Year: milk your wifi, make money off of your videos, or sell your own mobile content. Check it out at trendwatching.com

In other anti-consumer related news:

Adbusters suggests a Buy Nothing Christmas, or Buy Less... Go to the mall and do the Jesus or Buddha Walk.

Speaking of, what would happen if Jesus went shopping for some new sandals?