Well, we missed the season premiere of Lost. I guess well have to wait to see it in a couple of days via itunes. Oh well, no biggie, it's much more fun to watch without the commercials anyway! Found this video from JJ Abrams (creator of the show). Entertaining and insightful. 20mins..

Tomorrow we leave for our our tour. First stop, Sheboygan! Which means today we're running around like mad, getting things ready to go. Batteries tapes, wash clothes etc.. We're always excited to get out on the road and do the part we love, performing. Also tomorrow is the season premiere of Jenn's favorite show, Lost. We'll have to get going early so we can get a lot of road under our belts before Lost airs. Or, maybe we'll get a season pass through itunes like we did last season, so that we can watch anytime...

Last night President Bush delivered the State of the Union address. I deliberately decided not to watch it. Instead, I read it today on the government's website. You can read the whole thing on this link.

Even though the President addressed many basic issues like Social Security, Healthcare, etc. it seemed to have the overwhelming them of continuing the 'fight for freedom'. Of course it makes sense that this theme would be prevalent right now with the war.
However, I found that my gut reaction to it was to feel afraid. Afraid of terrorism, afraid of my government overextending itself into my civil rights, afraid of another catastrophic event like 9/11, but mainly a just a general queaziness over what might happen. I wonder if this general feeling of fear is what was intended by the administration? Perhaps, intended to spur us to sacrifice our comfort with what our government is doing (in our homeland and abroad) in the name of a greater good.

I do not claim to be a political analyst, but I am spurred to share some excerpts:
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"We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons. (Applause.)

Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch -- yet it must be and it will be waged on our watch."
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"For too long our culture has said, "If it feels good, do it." Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: "Let's roll." (Applause.) In the sacrifice of soldiers, the fierce brotherhood of firefighters, and the bravery and generosity of ordinary citizens, we have glimpsed what a new culture of responsibility could look like. We want to be a nation that serves goals larger than self. We've been offered a unique opportunity, and we must not let this moment pass. (Applause.)

My call tonight is for every American to commit at least two years -- 4,000 hours over the rest of your lifetime -- to the service of your neighbors and your nation. (Applause.) Many are already serving, and I thank you. If you aren't sure how to help, I've got a good place to start. To sustain and extend the best that has emerged in America, I invite you to join the new USA Freedom Corps. The Freedom Corps will focus on three areas of need: responding in case of crisis at home; rebuilding our communities; and extending American compassion throughout the world.

One purpose of the USA Freedom Corps will be homeland security. America needs retired doctors and nurses who can be mobilized in major emergencies; volunteers to help police and fire departments; transportation and utility workers well-trained in spotting danger."
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"This time of adversity offers a unique moment of opportunity -- a moment we must seize to change our culture. Through the gathering momentum of millions of acts of service and decency and kindness, I know we can overcome evil with greater good. (Applause.) And we have a great opportunity during this time of war to lead the world toward the values that will bring lasting peace."
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"The last time I spoke here, I expressed the hope that life would return to normal. In some ways, it has. In others, it never will. Those of us who have lived through these challenging times have been changed by them. We've come to know truths that we will never question: evil is real, and it must be opposed. (Applause.) Beyond all differences of race or creed, we are one country, mourning together and facing danger together. Deep in the American character, there is honor, and it is stronger than cynicism. And many have discovered again that even in tragedy -- especially in tragedy -- God is near. (Applause.)"
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"Steadfast in our purpose, we now press on. We have known freedom's price. We have shown freedom's power. And in this great conflict, my fellow Americans, we will see freedom's victory."
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Could these calls to action for the President lead us into a society more like the novel's "1984" and "Brave New World" than you or I would ever want? What exactly will this new USA Freedom Corps be doing when it looks for danger in our homeland? Who decides what the goals are that create the greater good set out by our government or us?
What impending danger is he always refering to? What does he mean by God is near? What will constitute freedom's victory?

My questions do not stem only from this 30 min. speech but instead from the experiences we all have had in the last few years. It stems from traveling in the airports across the country and having random inspections with other people protecting us but at the same time having power over us. From having a voice broadcast over the airways of the airport (even in the bathrooms) always stating the same thing "the Homeland Security Threat is at a code Orange" so be sure to stay aware of all the people around you, don't trust them, don't help them hold luggage, report suspicious behavior of these other people, etc.
From having this vague enemy over looming over you, and it could be anyone that is going to take your freedoms from you.
Is this for real? Or, does it serve the purpose of propelling us into a new world society where the individual is less important than the greater good.

I don't know the answer, and I never will; however, I do know that I believe that the individual's rights are so very, very important to keep and fight for. I think that the virtue of selfishness that the author Ayn Rand promoted in her writings was something she realized through her experiences in the Soviet Union's communist government. The greater good is not always good.
Of course, let's help each other, support each other, be active in our government, not always put your needs over other people's. But, let's also value our individuality and our individual freedoms.

Just saw this on Ottmar's Blog and it struck a chord with me so I thought I would repost here:

Once we have reached the desired end, we think, we will turn back to purify and consecrate the means. Once the war that we are fighting for peace is won, then the generals will become saints, the burned children will proclaim in the heaven that their suffering is well repaid, the poisoned forests will turn green again. Once we have peace, we say, or abundance or justice or truth, or comfort, everything will be right. Its an old dream.

It’s a vicious illusion. For the discipline of ends is no discipline at all. The end is preserved in the means; a desirable end may forever perish in the wrong means. Hope lives in the means, not in the end. Art does not survive in its revelations, or agriculture in its products, or craftsmanship in its artifacts, or civilization in its monuments, or faith in its relics.
- Wendell Berry

This begs so many questions. If hope is in the means, which I agree it is, how do we agree on those means? In turn, all questions political, economic even artistic seem to finally come back to the age old question. What is the major malfunction of humanity? Why do we have war, poverty etc. on a planet that could easily support the human family with abundance. ..and why can't we achieve it. Is it each individuals personal greed? Is that what money regulates? ..our ability to work together to achieve goals for the larger group, outside of the perspective of the individual? Of course the existence of money itself is a double edged sword. On one hand it does regulate our current ability to work together and an agreement on what we value. Ultimately by our choice of what to spend our money on we dictate the values of our society. At the same time the existence of the monetary system itself dictates a world in which heaven and hell will exist side by side. Where some will enjoy an abundance while others experience lack. There can be no economy in a world of financial equals. How can someone be rich without someone else being poor? Where do we go from here? The answer seems to lie everyone's unanimous agreement on a new system that serves us all, which seems to depend on an expansion of our current consciousness. Unanimous agreement, outside of the financial system, doesn't seem possible in the current state of human consciousness, mine included. So far the only thing that we (humanity) seem to agree on (in terms of 'means') regardless of religious beliefs, political affiliation, race or any other factor, is our collective and individual belief in the almighty dollar.

We set up both of the Bose L1 speakers yesterday in the rehearsal room. The design is impeccable, but most importantly the sound is GREAT and totally full range. Low bass tones go down as low as 40hz, probably lower but that's as low as we have. This really helps bring out the percussion on the guitar and the low cello tones. Can't wait to try it out in a larger space.

Today we performed at Georgia State @ the Downtown Digital Arts Entertainment Lab for a class of Documentary film makers.
We were invited by the professor for Georgia State's Documentary Film making, Roberto, who we met a few weeks ago at a gig.
Roberto is interested in possibly making a documentary w/ our music incorporated as part of the story; so, he said he'd be in touch to discuss his ideas more. This week, he gave us a call to invite us to perform for documentary students at a special seminar held by the school and the National Association of Latino Producers.

The course was taught by the Documentary Doctor, Fernanda, and she wanted to have us come perform some of our original music and discuss how we like to work on music for films, what kind of needs we have when working on a film, what limitations, what is acceptable for the film maker to expect/request, etc.

We planned on arriving at 10am, but when we typed in the address for the school into the Garmin navigation system, it didn't know any streets with our address! Uh-Oh! So, I ran back into the house to try mapquest w/ the same result. Then, I started to panic a bit, and we called Roberto. Luckily, we got the directions from him and got there in time. We did feel a bit rushed w/ our set up though.
Today we set up our sound as usual w/ the exception of one critical thing- it was the virgin outing for our new Bose L1 system. It's not the ideal to feel rushed for set up time when you're trying something new, because whenever we have new equipment the learning curve can turn into a curve ball under pressure and mess you up- today it all went very smoothly. The L1 is a tower speaker that broadcasts a lot of sound for such a small speaker, and then it sits on top of a bass module for the full spectrum of sound. In a normal concert, we will use two of the towers on the bass module. However, with today's session we tried both of us through just one module, and it was ample sound. Nice quality sound too. The Docu Doctor was impressed- so that's good. I hope that the session will help us work more with film makers. We've been really happy with our past music placements and want to continue working on film/tv more.
At any rate, we met up with Roberto again and we've got plans to go to dinner at his house soon. His project sounds very interesting and he seems like an interesting person to get to know as well.

I'm looking forward to working more with the Bose system more before we head out on our Feb. tour next week. I know that we won't have much time to experiment then. But while we're home we'll enjoy doing that. Last night, in preparation for today's first time out, we hooked up the Bose and started all sorts of fun tests. We tried out about 5 different mic placements on the cello and tested the sound difference between two cello mics. It's been fun! We're kinda crazy that we find that fun, but it does it for us- what can I say?
Off to experiment....

Just got back from our gig in Oscilla, GA. Tonight we played with Arvin (Dr. Scott). Sound check tonight was a bit stressful to say the least. Just about everything that could go wrong did. First the sound was really coated and we wrestled with that for a while, finally Seth (sound man) reset the system and got that fixed, then there was a bad speaker, then we had trouble getting the in ear monitors returned from the board. In the end we got it all sorted and everything worked out.

We had a blast playing with Arvin. We've been playing together for about 2 years now and we are started to feel really comfortable. It takes a while to find the groove with new players. Jenn and I have been playing together for so long it is like second nature. We really know each others rhythms the speed that we play etc.. We're really hittin' that groove with Arvin now and that's fun.

We'll be using a Bose L1 system on our upcoming tour and we just received two units via UPS today. We'll be able to use these in small to medium venues. It should simplify sound check immensely and improve the sound too. Look forward to testing them tomorrow.

Interesting video. This is Dominic Miller, Sting's guitarist. By any measure he has achieved success. His thoughts are interesting here, especially to me as a musician. My guitar teacher at the University of Georgia, John Sutherland used to talk about interpreting music as though you were naked..figuratively. I believe it's true, for the artistic moment to have meaning you really have bare your soul. I agree it is a feeling of strength and at the same time, completely devoid of ego. I'm not so sure that I would feel that way being actually naked...

Faith... belief, is important. Not necessarily in the religious sense, but that certainly could apply, but belief in yourself, belief in your course, belief in what is right. Belief can shape the future by directing our course (choice) of actions. In some sense all beliefs (ideas) do. Jenn and I are constantly learning this lesson, for better and worse:) It's the things we choose that are the most important.

I'm especially reminded of that today on Martin Luther King Day. A man who helped the world recognize injustice and change the world, not with bombs and guns, but with ideas, actions and Love. It is mind boggling to believe that such injustice is in our recent past. In a country that holds itself up to be a light in the world, that several decades ago all of our citizens did not have equal rights... BY LAW. INCREDIBLE!! Martin was actually encouraged to quit what he was doing by other Christian religious leaders of the day, yet he persevered because he believed in himself, Love and what is right. This is something that can inspire us all.

PS>>Here are some great quotes from Dr. King:

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

"It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it."

"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."


-Jonathan

Winter in the South? Can it be true?

It seems that every winter is getting warmer in the South (and apparently all over from what people tell us on our tours), but this week old man winter decided to finally pay us a visit! I’ve missed having snow here. We had a few inches today, and I hope that it doesn’t all turn to muck too quickly. Trouble here is that the temps never go that low and once you have that nice powder it mushes into the ground in a blink of an eye.

We’ve been working on new music for our album; so, it helps to have ‘artistic’ weather like rain, snow, or gray days that create a nice setting for staying inside while working on the tunes. We like to sit in our front room which has a big window w/ an arch top. You can see the flakes hit at the window and yet be cozy inside. That is a good vibe for art. As long as you have plenty of warm tea to sip.

I’m going to take some pictures to document this rare scene. Today we’ll also enjoy the tavern on our square that has 45 different beers and homemade soup . It will be fun to sit and watch the snow fall, give ourselves plenty of sustenance (meaning beer) for our new music rehearsals later today, and warm up to Winter’s brief appearance here.

-Jenn

Today's concert at the Hendersonville Performing Arts Center has been cancelled by the venue due to snow.

So we're getting ready today for our gig in Hendersonville, NC. About 20 minutes from Asheville it's not a long drive for us. We'll drop Buddy off at my parents in SC and head on up for the gig. Today I'm just organizing cords and the like and getting things loaded in. I've been experimenting with recording our live shows via Apple's Garageband. The sound is good, but I'll still need to make sure the computer can handle running Garage band and handling the mixing duties. I'd hate to have a crash in the middle of a show. I also use the laptop to run the mixing software from MOTU that drives the MOTU Ultralite hardware. The MOTU software hardly uses any CPU power, It's mainly running the combo. I think I'll try recording our rehearsal today to see how it works out..

--Jonathan

Happy New Year! We are really excited about the possibilities of this New Year and ready to hit the ground running! Here are some things we are going to work on:

A New CD! We've got most of the ideas and arrangements going but probably won't start recording the bulk of it until the Spring. We are also working on some fun arrangements from Pink Floyd, Rush and more.

We plan on recording more of our shows. We will release many as free downloads to our email list. Hope to send out the first LIVE MP3's after our show in Hendersonville on Jan. 19th.

More touring. We are already getting a bit stir crazy and ready to get out there!