Greetings, friends! I'm trying to put these things out frequently and keep these updates shorter, but Good Lord. It's been a very busy and productive, gratefully engaged, enthusiastic, driven year so far. I hope you're feeling some of that ignition in your life as well! Here's what I've got for you:
My Newest Tunes, Your Next Adventure
"Five minutes in and I've forgotten every bad dream I've ever had."
– Ivan Marko
(And how exactly am I supposed to remain impervious to reviews when I hear stuff like that?)
This music is a gift, and medicine* (*this statement not evaluated by the FDA). So take it. You can read more about it on the download page if you like knowing about records before you listen to them.
(It's also a solid starting point for diving into the 69 releases I have captured live and shared for free since I began to loop guitar. Intuitively, I would also recommend this one and this one.)
In related news, here is the annotated video I made of the performance. I have waited years for footage I could use to show folks how I build my sound on stage, and here it is: a "how to" on how one mic and guitar become these intricate, expansive, braided, glitchy, burning grooves...
New Studio Painting:
"Many Beginnings & No Ending"
New Live Painting: "Lucky Fish"
"Many Beginnings & No Ending"
I don't ordinarily paint like this at home (unless it's custom hats). But when I do, I'm also listening to documentaries. Awesome nonfiction videos I watched while working on this painting:
Fish are also a sign of luck in many cultures – whether as the decorations in a Japanese garden pond, or as a symbol of plenty and abundance (eg, Jesus's loaves and fishes in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew). They take on mystical significance in the life-changing synchronicities that inspired the visionary science fiction of Philip K. Dick, and even look valuable – all those shiny scales! So it felt right as rain to paint one, finally.
Original piece painted live in Austin, Texas with oil, acrylic, and aerosol paint on masonite (24"x32") on 22 January 2016 at Flamingo Cantina to the music of Irie Samurai, Dosage, Sharkweek, and Bonus Junk; and on 24 January 2016 at the HOPE Outdoor Farmer's Market to the music of The Mismatch and SEFO.
Custom Painted Hat #182
You can now use this page to learn more about, and order, a lovingly detailed, one-of-a-kind hand-painted, waterproof, and awesome custom hat. Thanks for your business!
You May Have Missed: Hummingbird Blankets!
Yep, these are a real thing now. They're real! And they're even more soft and comfortable than I'd hoped they'd be. The first to order just got theirs and folks have sent me lots of happy pictures of their new throw blankets (you can see a few on Instagram). They're huge, they're made in the USA from cotton grown in the USA (60% recycled), and they're woven on some kind of crazy robot loom that reads my painting and turns it into some crazy robot language in order for this to be.
Really, when you think about it that way, they're a bargain. I totally agree and I'm super grateful to finally have something so nice available so affordably. And they're freakin' practical!
Upcoming Gigs – Full Calendar Here
Parting Thought
"Why do almost no films ever show civilization functioning, institutions doing their jobs, democracy working? The answer is simple: laziness. A storyteller’s job is to keep his or her characters in pulse-pounding jeopardy for 90 minutes of film, or 600 pages of a novel. It’s hard to do that if they can dial 911 and get skilled professionals to come to their aid... It takes real writing to come up with a way of keeping your characters in jeopardy, despite there being skilled professionals who want to help them."
