Several months ago we watched this interesting documentary entitled: The End of Suburbia. It basically talked about the rise of industrialism and it's leading to our modern system of suburban life. Also, with the change in oil prices, life in the suburbs, or more likely, our current paradigm of how we organize our communities will change.



Here's an interesting article from Business Week today from James Kunstler.

Why has suburban life flourished?
The suburbs were largely products of industrialism. We had a huge supply of oil and cheap undeveloped land, and we decided to become a happy, motoring utopia. It had many practical benefits. The trouble is after a while it became a cartoon of country living.

Why is suburbia now threatened?
Cheap oil is what made suburbia possible. But we'll run into problems with spot shortages. As we get into trouble with these supplies, our economy will suffer. Major instabilities in the system will present themselves much sooner than we are led to believe. And by that I mean the way we produce food, the way we conduct commerce, and the way we move around.

Click here to read more.

After about ten hours you start feel like your in your own world. A world that moves a little faster than everything else. The towns sitting still as we zip by. Binghampton, Scranton, Harrisburg... On Sunday, we drove the fifteen hours from Syracuse to South Carolina. The bulk of the road on Interstate 81, Syracuse to Roanoke, running along the Appalachian mountains from North to South. Auto Fatigue usually creeps in between eight and ten hours. It usually starts with the feeling that you've hit the wall. You can't go any more. This is usually, but not always, followed by a period of renewed vigor, which of course is just the beginning of a period of temporary insanity. A euphoric insanity nonetheless, punctuated by giggling spurts. I knew we were in trouble when, just after dark, Jenn look out the window and said "Is that a water tower or a UFO?" When it took me a few seconds to decide, I knew it was time to stop for a break. Dunkin Donuts shone ahead, like a welcomed beacon in the night. A sure cure, at least temporarily from the ravages of Auto Fatigue. I don't usually drink coffee, but now it seemed essential. Two donuts, and a cup of joe would certainly keep us going. Only a few hours now. Ironically, after drinking most of the DD's coffee we both felt strangely relaxed. "Are you feeling sleepy?", Jenn asked. "No, but I don't think that coffee did much for me", I replied. "Maybe they switched the pots." "Maybe we got the decaf by mistake." We decided to pull over again, and refuel; the car and ourselves. By now we were crossing into Virginia. Of course, under the extreme effects of Auto Fatigue, I quipped "Hey Jenn, look we're heading into the great state of Vaginia." I proudly looked over at Jenn with a grin, awaiting a response to my comedic genius. Jenn looked over without missing a beat and said "Yeah, and to think we were just in Penisylvania a few hours ago!" Ah yes, potty humor is the ruler of the day! After refueling with Mountain Dew and roasted almonds we hit the road again, for the final stretch. In just a few more miles we'd be headed due south on 77 through Mt. Airy and down towards Charlotte. By the time we hit 85 in Charlotte, we had gotten our second wind. Just a few more hours now.

We played this morning in Camden, NJ as part of our outreach with Appel Farms. Camden is just on the east side of Philadelphia and is part of the inner city neighborhoods in the area. There are sections of the neighborhood that look like CNN footage from some war torn region on the evening news. To say that it is economically depressed is an understatement. We played for students from the Washington School and enjoyed chatting with Principal Malcolm Adler after the show. Kids are such Tabula Rasa's with unlimited potential. Jenn and I talked about the work that Prinicpal Adler and the rest of the staff are doing for these kids. Their dedication and commitment to these kids and their well being is humbling. It matters. Love in action.

Afterwards, we headed over to 6th street in Philly to eat at Gianna's Grill. Gianna's has a wide selection of Vegan Pizza's and even a Vegan Philly Cheesesteak!! Cupcakes, cakes and more are just the beginning at Gianna's, and they are all vegan. With stuffed bellies we headed back over the bridge and back to Appel Farms for the evening. Here's a pic from my Mac laptop out of the front of the car. The quality sucks. I have got to get a new camera.

Videos and Photos from the Evening Muse in Charlotte a few weeks ago. Thanks to Paul Dillon who shared this with us:)

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall



Gringo Flamenco

We had fun in Ashland on Friday and played to an enthusiastic crowd. We met some great folks including some from the UK. They turned us on to some gig posiblities over there and heopefully we can get some touring routed in the UK for the future. The discovery of the evening, though, was heil mics. George (the sound man) turned us on to them and Jenn used the Heil Pr40 for her acoustic cello. The mic looks like like a side address condenser mic. However, it is actually an end fire dynamic mic. The cool thing is that it reached fairly loud levels with need any eq. Normally, with a condenser, you need to find problem frequencies that cause feedback and notch them out in order to get a good stage volume. The amazing thing about the Heil is that it required hardly any eq'ing. It sounded excellent too. Definitely in the same ballbark as many condensers. I am looking forward to using it more and getting used to it's tones.

Saturday, we had a great Vietnamese lunch at the Pho Noodle House. Richmond, has some of the best Vietnamese restaurants around. We haven't eaten at three different ones so, far and they have all been great. My favorite is the eggroll noodle bowl. It's basically like angel hair rice noodles, with cut up sections of eggroll on top and lettuce on the bottom. Pour the sweet and sour sauce over it all and stir it around. Mmm, Mmm good!!

Saturday, we played in Bedford. The community style series is hosted at the Library and we always enjoy playing there. The room is small so running sound can be a bit tricky. We had plenty of time and got things tuned in faily well before the show. Afterwards, we stayed at John and Kathy Graham's Bed and Breakfast. Savanah introduced me to "guitar hero" and we stayed up late rocking hard :) Actually, she rocked much harder than me as the medium level difficulty was about all I could handle on the first go round. After a great breakfast we loaded up the gear and headed out. We took the scenic route out of town through the Peaks of Otter. Bedford is an absolutely beautiful place to live. The green valleys stretched out below as we wound in and through the ridges headed towards the interstate that would take us to north to New Jersey. We had a great time with the Graham's and it was a highlight of the weekend.

Last night we drove into Appel Farms in Elmer, NJ from some shows in Virginia (Ashland Listening Room and Bedford). The roads go from the hectic I-95 through Baltimore and D.C. to rural state and county roads. The air becomes fresh and green pastures of alfalfa are all around astonishing quickly! It's amazing to be so close to the city and be in farmland. Elmer is actually really close to Philadelphia and about 30 minutes away.
We'd settled into the end of the drive w/ queitness on the country roads and there was a sudden heavy hit on our windshield. As I heard the sound, I saw a dark large thing hit the top side near me w/ great force and fly off over the side of the van. I was horrified- we'd hit a large flying bird. Probably was a wild turkey but I couldn't tell and all we saw was a mark of blood and feathers on our windshield. Even though we tried to wash it off w/ wiper fluid, it remained there in front of me.
We were both so startled from our silence and how it came out of no where. It was a very disturbing feeling to have hit a living thing and I was very unsettled inside. Guilt flooded me and at the same time I hoped it had miraculously survive- even though, I knew it could not have from the mark on the van.

My mind wandered to how this bird was in the NOW of it's life- flying up into the sky and concentrating on being a bird, when it's life was over. No ideas of anything but living as what it was. Humans are the only living creature that I know of that contemplate actually taking their lives. How screwed up are we, that we would take the gift of life so for granted that we focus on everything but the fact that we are alive now and to enjoy what you've got. It's so difficult to really so called "live in the now" but we better try.

I just got off the phone with Bob Altman and he says that the guitar he's building for me should be done in a few weeks. I can hardly wait!! The guitar will be fitted with RMC pickups, like my other guitars and an internal mic. I did some recording and eq tests last night and worked on getting the best recorded sound possible with just the pickup and mic combo that I use live. Proper EQ seems to be the ticket. the pickup needs a bit of boost around 8k, to add some sparkle with some frequency cut in the 1-2khz range to minimize the harsher tones. I A-B'd the result with a stereo recording I had done with an Earthworks preamp and two Neumann TLM 103's. The results were surprisingly close, but I am going to keep working on it. We're going to start recording some live shows too and and I'll post some of the results here soon. Jenn just got off the phone with Joseph at Basil's in Buckhead and we're going over tonight for dinner. Basil's was the first Mediterranean restaurant in Atlanta, and it's still the best. Looking forward to sinking my teeth into the stuffed grape leaves. mmm.. Ciao - J

..or what not to do, underline all that currently apply:)

1. Constantly compare yourself to other artists.

2. Talk to your Family about what you do and expect them to cheer you on.

3. Base the success of your entire career on one project.

4. Stick with what you know.

5. Undervalue your expertise.

6. Let money dictate what you do.

7. Bow to societal pressures.

8. Only do work that your family would love.

9. Do whatever the client/customer/gallery/patron/ investor asks.

10. Set unachievable/overwhelming goals to be accomplished by tomorrow.

"Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole
world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind."
-Albert Einstein

"I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we
should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our
bodily wants." -Gandhi

My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but, with this lighter repast, I made the greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension" "Flesh eating is unprovoked murder." -Benjamin Franklin

"When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble." -Buddha (563? - 483? B.C.)

"If man wants freedom why keep birds and animals in cages? Truly man
is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the
death of others. We are burial places! I have since an early age abjured
the use of meat." -Leonardo-da-Vinci

Genesis 1:29 "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." -God

"To be non-violent to human beings and to be a killer or enemy of poor
animals is Satan's philosophy. In this age there is always enmity
against animals, and therefore the poor creatures are always anxious.
The reaction of the poor animals is being forced on human society, and
therefore there is always the strain of cold or hot war between men,
individually, collectively or nationally...
"The earth affords a lavish supply of riches, of innocent foods, and
offers you banquets that involve no bloodshed or slaughter; only beasts
satisfy their hunger with flesh, and not even all of those, because
horses, cattle, and sheep live on grass. As long as men massacre
animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of
murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
-Pythagoras

"Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."
-Albert Schweitzer

Stumbled across this today. Enjoy:)
_________________________________________

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is
www.whorepresents.com/

2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange Advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com/

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net/

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com/

5. There's the Italian Power Generator company,
www.powergenitalia.com/

6. And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales,
www.molestationnursery.com/

7. If you're looking for IP computer software, there?s always
www.ipanywhere.com/

8. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is
www.cummingfirst.com/

9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
www.speedofart.com/

Wednesday - recording in Nashville: We had high hopes of getting a lot done during this session. Unfortunately, the workflow did not work for us or the engineer. We did get some good tracks down though and found a good mic combo for the cello. The combo was a ribbon mic on the lower bout of the cello. This one really pickup up the rich low tones of the cello. We combined this one with a large diaphragm condenser a little further away and positioned a few inches higher than the bridge. This one captured more of the high frequencies and added some bite. Overall, it was frustrating not to accomplish what we wanted too and waste the time and money. Major Bummer.

Thursday - The Evening Muse (Charlotte, NC): After a seven hour drive from Nashville, the gig was decent. The caliber of the other performers was very impressive too. Danielle Miraglia and Nicola. They were from Boston and NYC respectively and both had fantastic voices with great tones and immaculate pitch. Nicola had some pretty flashy and original guitar work too. Check them out.

Friday - We had a nice concert in Greenville, SC. The spring rain was falling all day. The background of the gray skies made the newly sprouted, bright green buds that much brighter. The highlight for us was good food and good wine with some great people after the show. It was an unexpected treat, and the good vibes really helped to eliminate the funk we had been feeling this week. Priceless.

Happy Tuesday. Enjoy!



Here's another great one. More on the rock end of things. I love all of the moods in this one. Badass.

I came across this video today for a new car design. I remember as kid I used to dream of cars that might fly or take to the water. My Dad used to have a subscription to Popular Mechanics, which I suppose could have just as easily been called Dreamers Monthly. Each issue filled with the possibilities of tomorrow. Aqua cars, private spacecraft, dome homes and more.



Three hundred miles per gallon! That is almost hard to fathom. It completely shatters the current paradigm. All we hear about now is how things are scarce. "There is not enough oil." "The economy is going down the tubes." All this at the same time oil companies rake in record breaking profits. It seems like an international shell game with pundits telling their flock that big oil and the status quo are doing the best they can and that these are all purely market based phenomena. We hear things like: "Just hold on a little longer. We'll take care of you we just need to restructure the Federal Reserve System. We'll take care of you, we just need to read a few of your emails. We'll take care of you, just let us drill here." Does the status quo have something to gain? Something to gain by a world of limited possibilities? A world of not enough? A world where someone else with more resources will do it?

Will the Aptera, or others like it catch on? Who knows? It represents something more important though. It represents a possibility. One of many. The success of each possibility depending on our belief, courage and willingness to try something new, something different, something better. Is the glass half full or half empty. Is there enough to go around? ...or, just enough for me and mine? The most important currency and resource in existence is Our belief. Every day we choose to believe in something and we create our world by dreaming together.

The are always too many good excuses and blockades, too many reasons why we can't or won't: "It costs too much! It's a good idea, but it won't be accepted. It would be heresy!" The path never seems to be easy, but in the end it is dreamers that change the world. It is the people who challenge the established system, who swim upstream, who dare to question the way things are. People like Martin Luther King, Einstein, Jesus, Ghandi, Nicola Tesla, Benjamin Franklin the Dalai Lama and countless people we may never hear of. The essence of our potential lies in the pursuing the dream and the essence of failure lies in protecting the status quo. Dream and take action, even if your goal seems impossible.

We headed into the misty mountain crossing over from the foothills of Greenville, SC to the mountain region of Asheville. The Town Pump in Black Mountain was a new place for us. After sound check, we were a little worried how it might work out as it seemed more like a biker bar at that point, than a music venue. Despite out nervousness about the event, the concert worked out great and we enjoyed taste testing some local brews after the show.

Friday was the Carolina theater. Our third gig here and easily the best. The crowd here has grown with each gig and Friday we were pleased to play for a full crowd. The theater had invested in a new sound system as well and the combo of good system and the acoustics of the theater made the audio energy great for us. It is really fun to play when the sound is happening.

Four and half hours in the car and we arrived in Chattanooga greeted by a cold an rainy night. After a long wait at the venue for the sound tech, we did a brief sound check before heading out for a quick dinner. We were part of the electro-acoustic cupcake festival. Yep, that's not a typo. Unfortunately, we missed the first two acts. I was really hoping to catch the theremin and lapsteel duo. They are from Atlanta so we'll watch their schedule for gigs. If you haven't experienced an theremin before check out this video. Our set didn't start until 11, so it was a late night. We hit the sack around 3 and woke up early the next day for a four hour drive to Hendersonville, NC. The energy of the crowd kept us going for the matinee show at the Blue Ridge PAC. A great way to end the run of shows and head for home.