what christmas taught me this year

so i get the impression that my parents often think that i'm lazy and that i'm hardly taking steps in a good direction towards doing something in my life. to an extent, you could say they are right. but what they don't often see is all the things i do that have to do with music. so in an attempt to maybe "impress" them, i decided to google my name to bring some of my internet accomplishments to light. the name travis johansen as it applies to me has dropped severely in it's rank in google and has been replaced by a photographer in minnesota. no problem, i'll just have to step up my game; oh, and, don't act like you've never googled your name. needles to say, my local contributions to music and art have stopped popping up: a/v space, croquet, my music myspace account, ect..

however, one of the higher up entries that came up under my name was a link off of dick taught and the ripcords website, reviewing a review i did of their record back in april. my dad and i had a great laugh over it. you can read my review of their record here. and you can read their review of my review here.

i feel i ought to say at least one little thing before i write my rebuttal. I've been in bands, and i've recorded records, and i've sent them out for review. not everyone is going to rave over your records. different strokes for different folks i guess. and also it's the reviewers job to be critical, and if what you are bringing to the table is sub-par, then so be it. man up and take some negative critique. it's all part of working as a musician.

i offered dick taught and the ripcords my interpretation of their record, and they seemed pretty displeased; you know if you read their review of mine. though i assume it's mostly in jest they offer no real substance with their arguments. perhaps this is because they're so "bonged out." i would like to asses the fact that the record did have a lot going against it in many regards. my first inkling of this was when i read the song titles. sheer idiocy if you ask me. and that's an opinion; they're like assholes - everyone's got them. the second stab they take at me is about the design side of things. now, i'm all for diy and hand made things, even printed art work if you can pull it off. but you're shitting yourself if you don't think presentation is at least somewhat of an important thing. bottom line, a lot of people judge a book by it's cover. sometimes anyhow. either way, it makes no difference to me what the band puts on their cover; it was plain and simply a bad record. oh and again, that's an opinion and it's my duty as a reviewer/critic to have one. i give every record a chance musically no matter what the cover has on it.

the pot references: elijah puts forth his brief opinion that their references are mature, but does not back this up. sorry guy, until you can provide me with some substance on this matter, i take my stance. the ripcords sound like high schoolers that just found out about pot and can't stop getting high. the mf doom samples are (potentially) boring because they are the foundation of hip hop songs. hip hop is a lyrical musical genre, in so far as lyrics are highly important. i still say that the loops have been bastardized because i found the ripcords additions to them to be trite and simply unlistenable. being a writer, along with a reviewer/critic, it is also my duty to make the writing interesting. drawing parallels is something writers often do and the ripcords drew striking (no pun intended) similarities to striking out. like i've been saying, this record didn't hold up in my book and it's my job to not candy coat reviews and to be honest.

i feel like honesty and putting it out there like it is, are not qualities of a fourth rate reviewer, so i challenge elijah's claim. i also would like to know what amateurly is, as it's not in the dictionary (were you guys going for "amateurishly?"); and well, in order to make a point in writing you ought to have some grammatical/linguistic strength to back things up. and again, i must challenge elijah's claim that i am making a lame attempt at a point for, as this little block of writing has been suggesting, it's the duty of the critic to do so - make points to justify their review. we'll leave modest mouse out of this one because their additions to music are great and lasting, unlike that of the contributions that dick taught and co present. the final issue i have with their review is the second to last line. "travis johnson?" maybe this misspelling was intended, but if you're going to try and insult me, the least you could do would be to put some effort into spelling my name right.

so sorry guys, if you had a rough time taking some criticism. your review makes some pretty weak arguments that probably were sprouted out of your first reaction to my writings and your lack of being able to take some criticism. but it's okay, i'm not too bothered by it. i did have a good laugh though, and i enjoyed writing about it.

though the rest of christmas was pretty alright. i got some gas cards so i can take my trip to philadelphia for new years. there was lots of wine and cheese and good food. my dad is also letting me borrow his righteous '51 reissue p bass (without sting inlay). after that i went to the bug jar and listened to some sweet 60's psych/garage rock and drank beers.

the google earth's winter tour '07 (part two)

nov. 21st, 2007
we played in providence. we rolled up to the show at this house party and at first i felt kind of like shit because i was still a little sick. so i took some advil, and felt way better. the kids in providence know how to party; the house contained no more than at least 20 kids, but they could hold it down. erik and i also couldn't stop coughing for a bit and we had no idea why. we walked into the house to find our friends john and deigo and i got to meet chris who booked the show. he was a nice guy and does his part to keep providence righteous. we were all kind of hungry so we went to nice slice where we could get some pizza. i think it was somewhere around here that we decided our tour was sponsored by dunkin' donuts and pizza as a whole, since we ate a ton of pizza and stopped at every DD on the way. nice slice was awesome and had vegan pizza, which i decided to get since i was sick and dairy is awful for colds. we decided to order a full one for three people to get in on. it was so good, almost better than real pizza. we then got erik some more chocolate ice cream down the road. i wanted to hit a whole foods and get some supplements and we decided that getting them that night might have been best since it was the day before thanksgiving and it would be closed the next day. returning to the house, we set up our stuff and decided to play a set. afterwards, all three of the guys mentioned above played in a grunge band. it was pretty cool. then the show kind of ended because i don't think anyone really cared about watching bands anymore that night. mostly mike tim and i screwed around in the basement playing a few different songs. we then came upstairs and hung out and tried "green" wine. it was really interesting. we then left for chris's house and erik and i stayed up late again and had a good conversation about music. we all then crashed on the floor upstairs.

nov. 22nd, 2007
you would think thanksgiving on the road would be dreary and lonely, but it wasn't. we were invited by our pal linc to spend the holiday with his family. i don't think any of us can put into words how awesome his family's hospitality was or how thankful we were to be there. we were greeted by the whole family and by several bottles of wine and many different delicious beers. i made it my goal to try every wine on the table and got to trying mostly all of them. there was even a homemade wine that was so good (and strong). the food was incredible and we all must have had so much of it. after we ate i went upstairs to try to figure out what the deal was for our new brunswick show the next day, and ended up passing out for at least an hour from all the good food and wine. i awoke to linc coming up stairs and telling me we were walking to some water way just a little bit away from his house. so we walked in the cold to this little dock which i think was on a river and we hung out for a little. we then walked back to linc's to enjoy some more food; mostly thanksgiving sandwiches. i think mostly everyone got a couch that night too which was awesome. i also think this night was where we realized the rest of the tour had basically fallen apart due to some weird complications with shows getting canceled and a gap because tim got awesome neil young tickets for a show in toronto.

nov. 23rd, 2007
we woke up and headed to new brunswick nj. on the way, we stopped in this little town that had nothing but pizza shops. so we caught this diner that was just about to close. mostly everyone got falafel, and the woman who served us asked erik about his ethnicity and when he didn't say what she was looking for she kind of didn't care anymore. also this couple came in for "hot dog specials" of which they probably didn't need. the woman couldn't fit between erik's chair and the other booth behind him so she totally brushed up on him and smelled really horrible. it almost made a few of us gag. to drink the couple ordered "anything that wasn't diet" and we felt right at home in america. so then we get to new brunswick eventually after killing 2 hours in that little town full of pizza. every time i have ever been to new brunswick, it has been awesome. unfortunately, some events went down at the end of the night which proved that new jersey kids can party real hard, but also that new brunswick has some low points. don't get me wrong, the show was incredible. a friend of mine forwarded me to her friend who does house shows nicknamed "quack" who really does some awesome stuff to help out bands. we, again, were greeted by free alcohol (2 kegs worth!) and my friend nikki was there so it was nice to see some familiar faces. the set went well and was really fun, again probably because it was a house show and it was pretty full of kids who were willing to listen and be supportive. after the show, the beer pong tables were broken out and the nice crowd of the show kind of evaporated and was replaced by new brunswick frat. type kids. i had fun trying to wait to play a harmless game of beer pong, but gave up my pursuit of actually playing once i realized how serious the competition was for a spot in a game. once my friend nikki left and took one of the only people i was talking to at the party with her (her friend deanna) i tried to find a quiet area to relax because i was getting partied out. upstairs and downstairs were flooded with people, so i went to the van and got my headphones and i pod. i sat on the couch and ended up passing out for a few hours while everyone was engrossed in a serious game of golden eye or some video game. i think when i woke up next, we were all ready to crash and most people that were still there were in the basement. we all got to the point of trying to sleep when this jock type dude stumbles upstairs and trips on bobby on the floor, only to respond by yelling "what the fuck are you doing on the floor?" and by punching him in the back. it took us ten minutes to deiced that we ought to leave. i felt pretty bad about it, since quack was so nice, but we were looking out for the wellbeing of ourselves and friends. bobby was okay to drive, so we took off towards johnson vt. i think about an hour outside of new brunswick, i realized i had left my glasses and headphones behind. for some reason, i found it hard to sleep in the car, so when bobby got tired i took over and drove from ny through ma into brattleboro vt. i was getting tired at this point since we had been up from 4.30 until 9 or 10, so i found a park to stop at so we could all rest. a few hours later bobby was awake and we headed to johnson.

nov. 24th, 2007
we decided to pass johnson and hit burlington for the afternoon until we could meet back up with linc in johnson where our next show would be. we actually didn't have a show this night. we walked around and found some food to eat; good soup and sandwiches with great dark beer to match. the rest of the day was spent walking around the shops in burlington until we found a bar to just hang out at for a few hours and shoot some pool. it was then that we realized mike was a pool shark. he essentially cleared a table after a break so once we were out of quarters everyone went outside to smoke. we then headed back to johnson where we found some really good beer at a gas station in a growler from some "snooty," as some girl that night put it, restaurant in stowe. i caught a great shower and we all just ended up hanging out drinking beer and talking for the rest of the night. we went to sleep and awaited the next day where there would be a show to play in linc's living room.

nov. 25th, 2007
we woke up and linc took us all around johnson, a really small and really awesome town in vt. there was this awesome cafe that had great juice, sandwiches and tea. they also had wireless, which was nice because no one got cellphone reception in johnson. we were that far into the wilderness i suppose, which was really nice. we walked around and found two different springs of fresh water. the whole town was incredibly beautiful and mountainous. most of the day we watched chappelle's show and relaxed. then it was time to get ready for the show, so we re arranged the living room and set up our stuff. the show was fun; a bit sloppy but okay. our friend linc also played and i haven't seen him play in a while. he was really fun and got the crowd to sing along. after the show, mostly everyone stuck around to party a little. once there was no beer, mike and i walked to mobile to get more. the guys there asked the both of us our birthdays on our id's because someone came in with a fake and didn't know the birthday on it. this happened to be someone we were traveling with and this gave us a small laugh. once we got back to linc's, everyone had ironically left - even the girl who gave us a good chunk of money for the beer. we probably only drank 5 or 6 of a 30 pack (the rest of which we left to linc) and then decided to go for a walk. bobby and erik and i walked to this lumber yard type thing of which we could get on the roof. so we got on the roof and could see a great deal of johnson from up there. we hung out for a bit and talked, then got off the roof and headed back to linc's where we watched a movie and passed out. we woke up the next morning and i walked to the spring to get some more water and then around johnson since i woke up so early. we all went back to the cafe to get more great food and directions home from johnson. this is essentially where the tour ends and we drive back home.

the ride home is one of the worst parts of a trip like this. it's a lot of driving to do inevitably nothing; there's no show and it's the end of a road trip with friends. if you're going home, you just want to be home already. but the drive was lasting. it was nice to think about getting back to a real bed since floors were our primary sleeping quarters for most of the trip, and i can only imagine how excited mike must have been about this because every night he passed out in the most uncomfortable looking positions. i think it must have taken us near 10 hours to get back home and our cars were scattered about rochester so getting to them and then getting home was only a process which delayed getting home more. mike had to stop in fairport to get his car and parent's dog and luckily i got a hold of my dad to give me a ride so i wouldn't have to make the other guys drive me way out of their way so i could get home. when i got home i took the greatest shower of my life and laid in the most comfortable bed; my own.

timmy + the awonderfuls winter jam '07 (part one)

i told myself i was going to blog the whole trip and i found myself at home last night, after the last few dates fell through and we had returned home, with nothing written. this could be due to a couple factors, one being laziness, but let's actually give the credit to little internet access the whole trip. so here goes my best attempt at a recount of nine days on the road as the drummer for a wonderful. we met a ton of people and caught up with old friends in the best way; a road trip filled with playing shows in different towns (mostly) each night, all of which seemed to be hazed with smoke (cigarette of course) and tinged with a bit of alcohol (this too, we did responsibly). there's a whole lot to write so i'll not keep things too long and break it up into a few parts.

nov. 17th, 2007
the first night of tour, we played in geneseo where we were greeted by some of the nicest people in the world (you'll find that there are a lot of them out there and that it's a recurring theme throughout this recap) who met us with several steel reserve 22's. the show was filled with tons of positivity, and was opened by a number of acoustic groups (most of which were friends of the people who hosted the show and piggy backed off of each other). i was also asked to play this show as little yellow bird and decided to take the chance to play a sort of last show as a one man band; playing some newer songs which might make their way to some very different places. the response was nice and luckily the transition into a wonderful was smooth since all the amps were set up. the set was really fun, most likely because it was in a living room and everyone crowded around. we learned that night to write set lists before playing any other sets, and i was deemed the "worlds worst quarterback" or something to that effect. we ended the night with good drink and good friends (some of which travelled some distances to see us). this was such a rad show too because it was also a fund raiser for a worthy cause and i think things got hooked up. we woke up the next morning and started a quick drive to albany.

nov. 18th, 2007
we arrived at the space pretty early and met this really awesome promoter/friend in albany named alex. the show started at 3 and didn't last more than a few hours so the space could host a potluck afterwards. this show was full of such positivity. everyone was singing along when ever they could to all the opening act's songs. everyone received so much attention, it was awesome. it's sometimes hard to find that kind of response in other cities. the venue itself was of note : the capital district federation of ideas. the space reminded me a lot of the a/v space as it was run by the curators and on an "underground" level. i even noticed a mural on the wall in which a friend of mine from rochester had done. a friend of mike's who lives in albany caught the show and afterwards we stopped at the famous bomber's, a burrito place with a bar upstairs. no one but mike and i seemed to enjoy the food which is a bummer, but they had good beer specials before a certain time and we capitalized on that. after that we got some ben and jerry's for erik because he's down with chocolate ice cream and headed back to mike's friends apartment to drink alcohol straight, where erik and i stayed up real late talking to vanessa (mike's friend) while everyone else passed out and watched kids in the hall. we woke up the next morning to get on the road to potsdam.

nov. 19th, 2007
potsdam was awesome. again, some of the nicest people in the world reside there. we played at the house of man and mouse, of which the man and mouse half were really nice. they had a potluck for us so we were fed really well. some awesome vegan food, and some awesome non vegan food was served. many a pasta dish, and many a good plates were eaten. our friend ben and eric (who lived at the house and plays in this band) played in the first band called "hi!" they were an experimental band with two bass players and drummer. this other girl elise played, and she knew of rochester hardcore music. she was super nice and sang really well. kids should have keep quiet and been respectful of her songs while she played. another band that played was mouse and the love and light orkestra who started their set with a grand entrance. there was a flute, an accordion, an upright bass, a trumpet and some other instruments to start. the band then somehow turned into a three piece and mellowed out a bit. i'm pretty sure we played before them, but i was a little under the influence of good food and drink. our set was really fun; house shows are the best for their atmosphere. i ended up with two blisters from playing a kit that wasn't mine, but it wasn't so bad. the rest of the night was something like a typical college party but better because of the people who were so nice to us.

nov. 20th, 2007
i ended up getting pretty sick in the middle of the day with some chills, aches and pains and a sore throat; see also: feeling like complete shit. this was the worst thing to feel like when having to play in NYC. but it was okay, we got to play with our friend alex's band "graphics." it was really nice to see him, since it was my first time really seeing him since he graduated. i eventually started to feel a little better before we played, which was nice. i think for this night, we played every song we knew and even satisfied some requests. after the show, we went in search of pizza and found some. i started to feel like complete shit again and took some advil and eventually felt better again. which was good again because alex took us to this little english pub in brooklyn that had great beer. though i didn't drink all that much because i was sick. we then returned to alex's where we watched some "curb" and just relaxed. alex's was great because we got to shower. i think it was at this point i might have planted the seed as to become the "clean one" since i have such oily hair and like to wash it every other day to avoid looking like my hair is thinning/looking like an 80 yr old dudes. in any case, it was nice to see alex and hit NYC, as i've never played there before.

(end of part one)

woah, wait. you mean i can update this thing?

neglect again, i suppose. i've not only neglected this blog, but "the bird" itself. things have been going pretty good for my other project "science vs. witchcraft" so i've been kind of taking a hiatus with little yellow bird. i've been thinking a lot about the direction of it, and being way to self critical about the whole thing, so i thought i ought to take some time away from it. that being said however, i was approached about donating a song to a compilation from a guy who goes to school in fredonia and accepted. i've decided to collaborate from now on with all my songs. it's nice to get a second opinion on your work. when you're by yourself, often you'll let some pretty heinous things slide and come back to them on a later date thinking "how did i let that slide?" so this is my back up. i'm collaborating with b.c./bud(d) mostyn for most upcoming work, in hopes of making little yellow bird something i'm proud of.

aside from that, life seems to be a roller-coaster of sorts recently; it's having it's ups and downs. often death is something that everyone thinks of and may have personal feelings or encounters with. plain and simply, it's not a fun thing to be faced with. think about the people close to you and how you appreciate them because you never know when you'll see them next. i know it's been said thousands of times, but it's always relevant and i often find myself letting that get away from me. maybe just think for a minute about those who've passed and your last encounter with them? it's worth so much sometimes.

in a lighter note, i've accepted an invitation to curate at the a/v space, a small non for profit gallery based right here in rochester. the space has been very close to me in a musical sense, and i'm ecstatic to get the chance to be more hands on in the art world here in rochester and embrace the community. it's a perfect step towards a potential career path in the arts, which was getting hard for me to visualize since my college path has taken me more into art history than into actual hands on work. maybe the gallery will get me motivated to work more on some ideas or get hands on. i know i have a ton of ideas that i want to realize with and within the gallery.

thinking about that though, poses some issues with me and the old "career path." i love that i'll get to be a part of a/v but i've been thinking a lot about what's to come further on down the road. a career in the arts is never stable, even more so at the "entry level" but this should be no news to anyone. it's no surprise that curating makes little money even in a setting like new york which is the worlds epicenter for contemporary art. with my parents both being the product of being laid off, i've been forced to think a lot about money and how to obtain it to live comfortably at least. neither of my parents had a career in the arts, but it's no surprise that some concern should be stimulated since my mom has been laid off several times since she got back to working full time. i'm thinking and pushing so hard to move in a career path that is in the arts and it's almost petrifying to think of the money i've spent on my education and how it could potentially get me no where.

but it's interesting that when i broke my face three weeks ago, i had an odd feeling about it. it felt like i was never going to get over it; like it was bound to stay broke. eerily mirroring the same feeling of getting on my own two feet, post graduation. i can only hope that like my face, a career will pan out and be okay. it might leave me with a shred of hope, and it's good enough for me. but i was thinking, maybe for a minute or so, that maybe i should invest in being a nihilist prick which would make the world that much more seemingly livable in it's current state.

oh.. but wait.. no thanks.

so aside from death and economics and fear of the future, at least my summer courses are easy enough and the summer has been fun so far. i've finally gotten a nice road bike and i feel like i've already got my money's worth from saving gas from the amount i paid for it. i also finally got my car on the road and it's pretty gas efficient, which is crucial in our environmental state. the bug jar has been doing well on thursday nights even though most kids from school aren't there to hangout. i was out of work for a few weeks due to my injury, and i came back this past weekend to find the atmosphere a bit better than it has been, and it's a relief.

and to end this entry, i'll fill you in on some shows that are coming up:

tonight actually, june 18th at the bug jar at 8 pm $6 over/$8 under 21

croquet presents:

the eames era
the exit clov
and auger

will be playing. both the eames era and the exit clov and girl fronted pop bands. they have a sugary tinge, but keep things lively with some rock and roll sensibilities.

auger is a younger local band consisting of some friends of mine. think dark folk for some songs, and then lighter new weird america for the rest. it won't make you feel bad. you'll like it. i promise.

i hear there's a pretty awesome dance night afterwards, full of 80's songs that run the gamut.

thursday june 21st, bug jar, 9 pm, $6 over/$8 under 21

at least 1/2 a croquet production:

drew danburry,
somolian bonaparte
and mose gigantus

will be playing. drew plays a lot like jason anderson, and not in the way of chords and songs or lyrics, but in the way of performance. drew isn't afraid to try to get you to dance and dive into the music. it's fun playful acoustic pop/folk music that will leave you with a brightened mood.

somolian bonaparte is the product of lots of k records and hanging out on porches in the summer. some songs get in your face with howling vocals, others are reminiscent of a quiet summer evening and hanging out with your friends. bound to please.

mose gigantus is an energetic synthy outfit, and will be splitting his set with a friend. it's totally fun music and will put you right in the mind to dance after all the bands are over.

come early this night and stay a while, steven and i will be doing our dj thing afterwards. you know how it goes!

june 22nd at boulder coffee,

science vs. witchcraft will be playing again, as if you weren't bored of us yet. i promise we'll record soon. i promise.

we'll also be playing with our pal kenny with his project "baby shivers" it's really awesome folk stuff. think along the lines of will oldham but let raspy and more young. there's tons of songs about bears. plus boulder is a pretty cool place.

there's some other bands playing who i'm not familiar with sadly, but if you come out, it will start around 8 and will free. not a bad deal huh?

lastly to round out june, we have another croquet show on tuesday june 26th at the bug jar. another 9pm, $6 over/$8 under show.

this time around, the narrator will be playing with the likes of tiger cried beef and (again) science vs. witchcraft (maybe for this show we'll do something special)

the narrator is a jangly guitar driven "indie" rock band, but seem to shed the normal pretensions of that tag. i head dude's play on stage in bunny suits, and once broke through the floor of a barn while performing. needless to say, i'm really excited about this band and this show, so come get pumped! this band is so rad.

tiger cried beef is an excellent example of classic indie rock revivalism. they've taken notes from sonic youth and possibly GBV or yo la tengo, but keep it fresh and interesting. they have some really great hooks and it's awesome to be playing with them again.

so that's about it as far as i can tell at this moment. what you can look out for in july:

a team up between autoanimal and science vs. witchraft. dual drum madness and awesome stuff.

SVW recordings, in the proper sense.

some maybe new lyb tracks?

fun.

bye for now.

the [pussy] willow[s]

just a note to touring bands,

don't come to a bar and treat the attendants like you're something special and they are dirt; especially to half of the crowd that was into your set. don't stand on stage and laugh and make fun of kids who want to dance to a dj's set, or take pictures of them in jest. it's probably also not a good idea to mess with the bar's property (i.e. lights and hanging furniture) or to dance like morons imitating the crowd you're not happy with. behavior like this is unacceptable and immature and not on par with how legitimate bands act in a town that isn't theirs, especially when it happens after you make your guarantee(notably of which was probably met because of the money the dj's (that you made fun of) made for the bar). if you don't like what you see, there's the option of leaving and surely DO NOT stay and make fun of the innocent kids who want to have a good time.

i say this because i decided to call some members (actually just their roadie, but when their guitar player caught wind of it he ended up right in my face) of a band, who i won't directly, name on their actions last night, closely related to those mentioned above, at the bar i dj at every thursday night and they acted like neanderthal morons about it, stating "do you know where we're from? california." and "it's out roadies birthday." i don't care where you're from, whose birthday it is, how special you think you are because you've got some "cred" for however big you think you are or whatever egotistical/power trip you want to go off on; it DOESN'T give you the right to act condescending to kids who did nothing to you.

i got to the bar right before the band went on and a friend of mine actually stated that they were pretty good, and had some songs in the soundtracks of some pretty decent movies, but it's a shame i had to lose what little respect i had for them for a few hours. the worst thing about it was that the music this band played was actually good (given it might be a bit heavy on the kitsch side of things, see also: the psychedelic revivalist movement that seems to be so prevalent in a good number of music circles today) and it sucks that i have to have a bad association with them.

BUT, on a lighter note, this saturday at the a/v space, my new band(science vs. witchcraft) is playing a show with pit er pat.

details(click for larger):





as you may or may not know, croquet is also throwing an after-hours party, but you've got to go to the show to find out where it's going down...

come and have some fun, it's cinco de mayo! (potentially the united states largest assimilated holiday dedicated to the buying and drinking of corona beers)

mp3s

while at the bar last night i was having a discussion with a friend of mine about myspace. i was reminded about who owns myspace, and with the influence of my friend, i have taken down all songs except an old demo of something that doesn't really matter to me. i would rather not have the question of the ownership of my songs up in the air. i will now use myspace purely for networking. i put up a different mp3 page, and you can see the link to the right here ->. it's titled "recordings" and i put up five songs.

quickly:

http://www.rit.edu/~tjj5649/bird/mp3/.

that's all for now.

maaarrcchh.

so a few quick updates.

one, the booking collective i work with has a whole lot of nice and fun and interesting things coming up. you can check it out here.

two, there is a show this WEDNESDAY with KRS recording artist's BARR and Marnie Stern with somolian bonaparte and myself. it's at the a/v space, 9 pm, $6. this will be fun, and it would mean so much to me to see you there.

three, thursday, there is a show at the bug jar with carbonic, a wonderful and tiger saw. $5 over, $7 under, then a dance party (the thursday night shakedown) and we will have a special chroma dj laiklapera (aka, nate) helping out and having fun with us (me and steven).

four, sunday the 25th will bring a new rochester band's debut with the Chinese Stars at the a/v space. i might or might not be the drummer for this band. we're called science vs. witchcraft. you can hear us here. please come support us at this show. not to mention chinese stars are comprised of ex arab on radar and six finger satellite band members. this show will be $6 and will start at 8 pm.

five, march 30th, the parenthetical girls will be playing along side shapes and sizes at the bug jar. this will cost about $6 for unders, and $8 for overs. this show will be awesome. if you haven't heard of the parenthetical girls, go check them out here or here.

six, i'm collaborating again with my friend jesse. we're playing at the a/v space on the 4th of april. you can hear our project here.

my gosh, that's a lot to think about coming up soon.

okay well.. i've got some work i should be doing. hope to see you everywhere.