"Elites aren't defined by birth or wealth, they are people with a project, individuals who want to do work they believe in, folks seeking to make an impact. Averaging down everything we do so that it becomes cheap and ubiquitous and palatable to all is a hollow goal."
I'm just going to apologize right now for overloading you with awesome new stuff over the next couple of weeks. This year finds me on an incredible creative roll and I feel like I'm doing my best work ever, faster than ever before.
If you don't have time to read this whole newsletter – and I certainly understand if that's the case – then please watch this time-lapse live painting video, download this free live album, and check out this sweet painted fedora. I'll have more videos and music and artwork I am proud to share with you next week. Feel free to reach out to me with your own artwork, or questions, and have a beautiful day!
Oh, and also! If you know of any festivals I should play this year, please let me know. I still do all of my own booking, it's hard work, and I can use all of the help I can get. I really appreciate your input.
love,
Time-Lapse Live Painting through Google Glass
I finally made good on my promise to Google Glass to film my live painting #throughglass and share the video. Here is that time-lapse – taken while painting "Inner Light" at Rootwire Festival and the Dallas Be:Tribe Gathering in 2013 – along with a preview of my forthcoming electronic guitar album (which you can preorder here) and a bit of a manifesto-rant on the importance of taking something home with you from your festival experience...
Laser-Engraved Bamboo Pendants + CDR Physical Package
My buddy Jamie Greene at Biomorphics is helping me make these delicious laser-engraved 2" pendants for the physical release of my forthcoming album, 21st Century Romance, to be released on March 4th. (The pics above are of the prototype...I'm open to your feedback on whether this would be better with a leather cord or pin backings so you can wear it as a hat pin.)
Live at Whip In
Heart-spearing pathos, virtuosic fingerstyle acoustic guitar, and ecstatic live electronic improvisation come together in this definitive live recording of my set at Whip In on January 9th, 2014 – the belated second anniversary of my first concert in Austin (and birthday party for me, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, and Stephen Hawking).
This album features two new live looping improvisations as well as the first public performance of the song "Signal," first-ever recordings of "Really," "Gatecrashing," and a new guitar arrangement of the fan favorite, "It Hurts So We're Not Dead." A true landmark recording in my development as a performing singer-songwriter and avant-guitarist.
Written, Performed, Recorded, & Mixed by Yours Truly – Released 7 February 2014
Remastered Painting: "Cabochons"
32" x 32" - paint marker on stretched canvas
Email me to bid on the original painting.
Painted at
2012 07 27 The Parish (The Nadis Warriors, Paul Basic, Metranohm)
2012 08 04 Frank (Sheer Khan and the Space Case, Henry and the Invisibles)
2012 08 16, 18 Rootwire Festival
(Papadosio Live PA, Futexture, Kaminanda, Mazeguider, Random Rab)
2014 01 21, 22, 31 Studio
This painting hung on my wall in its original form for over a year...and I just hated, hated looking at it. Every piece goes through its awkward adolescence, but sometimes I think it's done when it's actually not, and then eighteen months later I get fed up, take it down, and work on it until I'm finally satisfied looking at it. No compromise! I'm happy with this piece, now.
If you live in Austin you can go check it out, along with a few other pieces, in its new temporary home at Lunar Mattress on South Congress. What? Yes. This furniture store is also an art gallery. :)
New Painted Hats
Now that I am refusing Bassnectar commissions, hat work has been a little slower-going. Sigh. Come on, people! I want to do something totally unique and YOU. You'll be glad in twenty years you challenged me with something different that grew along with your musical tastes. (No offense to Lorin, whose work I admire. But a man can only draw so many bass drops before he goes mad.)
If you'd like a hat, drop me a line. You're helping me pay rent, and I love to beautify your domes.
Taking A Cosmic Perspective at Gratifly 2013 Videos
If you'd prefer to listen, you can download the audio from these talks right here. But if you want to feel like you were there, these videos capture that morning-after glow we were all feeling...
If you made it all the way through this you are a gladiator! Thanks for your time and attention.
