Malala

I did throw up pieces as visual accompaniment to the last few songs. I worked harder on this one, I hope you enjoy.

As far as the song itself, there are a few firsts for me. I used pro-tools, more than two beats and instituted slight timing changes. Oh, and I used a guitar too.

Thank you for looking and listening.

-j

cat.scheme

HELLo

I finally have a new song to post. I hopes you likes it.

I have many reasons for making these songs but one of them is actually rational. I would like to play these songs with other humans. They are both download able. You are adorable.

Void draring

My drawing of the hand was somewhat successful, so I figured why not draw an entire person. I chose John Weiffenbach from the band Void. I have a poster of the band which is a photograph taken by Jim Saah, who has captured some VERY iconic moments, definitely worth a look. I really haven’t listened to the bad a ton throughout the years but that poster was calling my name long before I decided to draw this.

This is the toughest thing I’ve tried to draw so far. It took a long damn time. Here is a scan of the drawing in its physical form.

 

 

Yeah this was tough and I learned a few things (meaning I made some serious mistakes) but I’m relatively happy with it. I also cleaned it up and made a few minor changes digitally.

 

 

So this looks a bit better. My disappointment lies in my inability to portray the energy of the original photograph. John looks like he is about to explode or just run the fuck away. Oh wells. I still think it is the best thing I’ve drawn so far bro.

 

*kisses

 

 

 

best case scenario I get to play this with you

I finally wrote and recorded my first song all on my own on a 4 track. I used a foot pedal controlled drum machine to get the drum sounds. I can’t stress how helpful and fun it is to have drum sounds when one is a bass player.

Here’s hoping maybe you’ll enjoy.

Please write to it so we can play it together.

horse tits

I recently happened upon a reference to this song.

To begin properly, it should be known, I was dork child.  My little inner nerd had taken a look around and decided that he could thrive within the likes of me. I was nowhere near the top of the grade school stratification system, and it was no secret. So when I found out that the Mtv god existed in my grandma’s television, it was a pretty big deal for me. I was actually allowed to witness something cool, something REALLY cool. I watched as much of it as I possibly could.

This was back when Mtv was brand new and used to just play music videos all day long. I was an altar boy in a small Midwestern town, so everything I saw on every video was new and crazy to me. It was like rounding that bend and seeing the first ‘real city’ skyline I’d ever seen, it was the embodiment of contrast and it was dangerously shiny. It was fucking dynamite. I was enamored.

About five years ago I started seeing a therapist, first for couples counseling and then on my own. Therapy gave me a guided tour through aspects of myself that tended to remain tucked away. It was often difficult but it felt illuminating. Although I left each visit emotionally drained, I left with a sense of accomplishment, like smoking cigarettes with a gang of friends while watching the sun come up, like I had survived some shit.

As I drove home from one of these sessions, the song In a Big Country came on the radio. It was one of the songs I had enjoyed as a kid at grandma’s. I had loved it, I still did. It had this crazy bagpipe guitar part and there were these awesome rolling drums and there were fucking jet skis in the video. Now, deep in the midst of post-therapy comatose, two lines I’d never paid much attention to suddenly became extremely relevant: “because it’s happened doesn’t mean you’ve been discarded,” and “stay alive”.

I was a very freshly recovering alcoholic in couples counseling and individual therapy. I had my issues. I was no stranger to feeling like I’d been discarded, there were even times when I felt like it was the only real solution, like I deserved to be abandoned. Just out of therapy and emotionally spent, the suggestion that I could rejoin the world one day and maybe even be forgiven was very powerful. I’d certainly understood the concept of forgiveness but at that time in my life, I hadn’t really imagined that it could happen to me.

Then came the second part that caught my attention, “stay alive”. It still blows my mind. Two simple, gut wrenching words. Stay alive. Two words a familial embrace. I turned that song all the way up and I sang those words loud and I sang them with every last bit of my exhausted heart and I started to feel better. I could have driven for hours and sang that song 1000 more times. Whoever wrote it knew.

Not long ago I listened to an interview with Tim Kinsella, an author, singer, and musician whose work I love and respect. The interviewer mentioned how a friend of his, after a long breakup, had used some of the music that Tim helped create to cheer him up over the course of a long, depressing drive. Tim replied that it seemed odd to him that anyone could derive such positivity out of that music because everyone involved in its creation was so fucked up at the time.

The gnarled nest from which that music was born is exactly what makes it so special. Pain begets a very specific and recognizable pleasure. There is a bliss that arises distinctly from the ruins of despair. There is a celebration so sick and tired of what has preceded that it shouts recklessly into the sky and dances to within an inch of its life.

“I’m not expecting to grow flowers in the desert,
But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime”

I need survivor music. I need to believe that while the shit I’m going through may not wash off entirely, at least I’ll be able to find something worth while on the other side. I need to hear these songs to know that someone like me has done the same.

I recently learned that Stuart Adamson, vocalist and founding member of Big Country took his own life in 2001. Apparently he had issues with alcohol. I never knew anything about him other the lyrics he wrote to that single song and I’m still on the verge of tears every time I read this.

This is my lash out. This is my fuck you to the questionable deaths I’ll deal with for the rest of my life, and to the pain that they caused the people I love.

Reach out and hang the fuck on.

all material in quotes from the song In a Big Country – ADAMSON, WILLIAM STUART/BRZEZICKI, MARK

V is for Venomhide Ravasaur (or kickflip yeah)

Hi!

This weeks alphabeasts entry is another W.o.W. entry. I took a few liberties with this one.

I colored this drawing with learning Manga Studio 4. I am very new to it, but I had a blast creating this.

I hope you enjoy.

Alphabeasts – T is for Tauren

Hi all. Here is my alphabeasts drawing for the week. T is for Tauren. Yep,  I finally got all Warcraft nerd on some shit.

I hope you enjoy!

Wallace Falls

Today I went on another hike. It was the rainiest yet and I was quickly soaked through. That being said, this one left me feeling my best yet. There was a 1200 hundred foot elevation grade and I kicked its ass. I am finally noticing the benefits of walking up hills in my backyard.

Starting near a rushing stream was exhilarating.

The trail description boasted 9 waterfalls. That seemed like a bit of an exaggeration but it didn’t take away from the beauty of those we did see.

A closeup of the lower falls.

The lower falls with the middle falls in the background.

Here are the middle falls.

Definitely the most breathtaking part of the hike.

A look back over the valley from whence we came.

And finally the upper falls.

S is for (Charter) Sending

A Charter Sending is a creature from the Abhorsen trilogy written by Garth Nix.It is a humanoid creature constructed entirely of charter magic and it’s skin is composed of tiny charter symbols. I hope you dig it.

 

Rainbirds

My friend Dan and I went on this hike yesterday. The temperature was in the mid to upper forties and it rained the whole time, keeping this song on repeat in my head.  It was one of my favorite hikes so far. An 8.6 mile hike with a 700 foot elevation gain might have been a little too easy had the trail not been rained on for the last four months making everything muddy, mossy and just a bit dangerous. This is but a sample of the waterlogged trail conditions. It may not look like much from where you sit you smug bastard, but it was, IT WAS!

 

 

There were scattered patches of snow but really only enough to add color variation to the terrain. It wasn’t just a matter of coping with the weather though, there was a lot to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gem of the trip, double rainbow!

 

 

 

 

Slippery bridges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The snack spot, where we turned back.

 

 

This picture does little to impress upon you exactly how freaking high this tree was.

 

 

The hike was just difficult enough to make the last 2 miles painful, perfect.

 

After the cold wet hike we headed to the tiny town of Arlington to get some hot food. As a vegetarian, I have learned that as the size of the city decreases, so do the veggie eating options. It’s one of those things you just learn to accept. So imagine my surprise when we rolled up on this muhfucka.

 

 

Yep, small town, LOTR themed vegetarian food. I was enamored.

 

 

 

Nerdin’ full on.

 

 

Well the coffee was bad, the food was ok, apparently Tolkien’s real life politics sucked, but I was happy as could be. What brought it all together was the bathroom art. Vegetarian food, LOTR and juggalos, my life is complete.