little yellow bird

what christmas taught me this year

2007-12-26T11:02:00.000-08:00

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 the name travis johansen as it applies to me has dropped severely in it's rank in google and has been replaced by a photographer in minnesota.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)

2007-11-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

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)

2007-11-27T18:13:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-06-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

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]

2007-05-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

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.

MHBs

2007-02-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

last night, i came out of hiding and played a very underground last minute show with these guys kevin and otto, who play in vetiver and who each have played in various bands like espers, antony and the johnsons, and along side joanna newsom. the show was so much fun, the hospitality of nate and julia (who live in the loft apartment the show was at) was incredible. they were such nice people! it had this nice little convenience store right out front that sold cheap 40's and bags of chips. i can't explain the vibe in the room, but it was something else. i saw a lot of unexpected people there, and tons of people i had never met before. it was a good experience and i'm glad michael asked me to play.

afterwards, steven and i headed over to the bug jar to dj, as we always do on thursdays. it was so much fun and by the time i was there i had drunk enough cheap 40's to only need two beers from the bar, so it was an inexpensive night! once the dancing was over, we decided to get some bad grilled food from marks texas hots. luckily some wonderful people that i work with came and gave me a ride there and home. such nice people!

tonight, i'm joining my friend david again at the little theatre cafe to play some drums for autumn in halifax. last time i joined him, it took a minute to get in tune with the other guys, but by the end we clicked. it should be fun, so come out if you get the chance.

after that, i've got to run over the village gate where i will be playing drums with some rochester friends : lou lou (sharp sword), benoit (carbonic), brian (gaybot). there's a cake and mixtapes themed party going on, and it should be crazy fun! we're playing a quiet set and it should be relaxing.

some things coming up:

harry and the potters with a wonderful and jujajuba at the a/v space (march 3rd)
barr with myself at the a/v space (march 21st)
a/v benefit with some hardcore bands (march 31st)

i'm super stoked on the benefit because i never play hardcore shows! though i used to be in bands that always did.

okay, that's about all for now. i'm out of things to say.

drums

2007-01-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

on saturday, i woke up (after minimal sleep) to track some drums for my old band "good friends with sharp scissors". so far we have taken care of 3 of our 5 songs. i then went to work and got tired. i then went to a friends house and stayed up late again. in between being tired at work and my friends house, i was cold at the a/v space and played some drums for my friends band called "semen seagal" - what a name?! but i'll let you know about the drum tracks for good friends when we finish.

also:
jason anderson will be coming back to play my apartment this friday(the 19th)
tell your friends!
i will be playing too. 8 pm ish. you know the rest of the details.

before this, i will be going to the planetarium with my mother. no joke, and i am so excited! it's my mothers birthday tomorrow.

i'm also real excited for the barr show that's coming up in march. brendan, the person behind barr is such a nice guy and spends his time well at creating things that will better our artistic community. you should check his contributions out - you can google "alleged gallery" and "anp quarterly" if you want to dig into it. i'm trying to get a steady subscription of anp somewhere in rochester so we can all enjoy it here! plus, it's free and always covers awesome artists and musicians among other things.

one last thing: also an idea (as i haven't been short on them recently).
taking a few of my favorite songs that are very pretty sounding and cutting them up into smaller instrumental loops, then mashing them up with other songs and finally slowing them down a whole bunch (i.e. chopping and screwing) in order to play guitar and sing over them. i want to make an e.p. this way. i've already been toying with mirah, the robot ate me and american football.

listen to this kind of music:
mirah - 100 knives - song
skeletons and the girl-faced boys - git - album
mf doom - true thug and rhymes like dimes - songs
quasimoto - mhbs - song
scout niblett - sweet heart fever - album
(i can't tell what i really think about scout niblett as of right now.. if you're reading this and have an opinion i'm interested in it.. because her music is very interestingly minimal.)

[party hardy, rock n' roll!
i know my neighbors are doing so, and how - all night!]

2007-01-12T01:11:00.000-08:00

on my drive home tonight from the bar, there was a belle and sebastian "marathon" on the radio.

it was so good.

wow.

2007-01-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

i can't believe how much "now" feels like last years "now".

idea.

2007-01-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

i thought of a good idea for a book/zine.

i'll tell you more about it later.

the idea is somewhat inspired by mike mills.

happy new 2007

2007-01-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

hello, from 2007. honestly, i'm ready for it.

the above image is a limited to one and hand made ep that i created this winter break for someone. it contains three songs, two that you can potentially hear at shows, and one instrumental you will never hear at shows.

i hand made this as a gift, and the person it was for will probably never get it. and that's okay with me. i made it out of water color paper that i received for free during my first year of college. i then laid down lots of yellow marker (prismacolor and sharpie) on the front side, and drew many lemons with ink. the opposite side contains a similar method of work only with red marker and ink. I then cut the sleeve out and scored the edges to obtain a perfect fold and then glued the tabs so it would hold a cd. the cd just has yellow marker and pigment liner on it. the insert was a little more complex; it contained one sheet of parchment paper that had various lines of different prismacolor marker on it while another sheet was placed over it and glued down with a note written on it and the tracklist. i didn't post this as it was a little personal. this took only two days.

i recorded three songs in my bedroom on my computer; guitar, drums, reason and vocals were used. the songs that appear on this are: pockets/hearts, some kind of song, and an instrumental track entitled this song has no lyrics.. and runs just over eight minutes in total. this took only two days as well.

i don't really know why i'm posting about it, but maybe someone should see it rather than have it collect dust on my computer desk or in my closet in a box. i was kind of proud of the way it came out, aside from the vocals. i guess this record was the end of 2006 for me.

but there will be an attic/house show this thursday with some good people:

A Drum and an Open Window (Boston)
Somolian Bonaparte
Little Yellow Bird
Linc Halloran(also on tour)
and Ghostharm

It will be jordan's cd release of "Stories" and it will be a really nice fun time. Please bring donations for the touring bands!

7pm, 42 oxford street, in the attic.
please come, i have some new songs to play for you.

then you can follow steven and i to the bug jar for the first thursday night shakedown of the new year.

lastly, some music you should look into(or rather, that i haven't been able to stop listening to:

jens lekman - opposite of hallelujah (song), how much you mean to me (song), someone to share my life with (song).

page france - tomato morning (ep)

the chairmen of the board - give me just a little more time (song)

BARR - summary(album) note: i will also be playing with barr at the a/v space in march

the most valuable players - you in honey (album - some of the most beautiful songs that struck me instantly, i found out about them by way of jens' death of this summer mix)

cat power and owen records to appease the sad sack mood i've been having on and off.

hope to see you soon.

guess what?

2006-12-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

i posted a new song.

i recorded two others with this one, but you might not ever hear them.

we will see.

http://www.myspace.com/travisjjohansen

pockets/hearts

2006-11-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

hello all of you out there in the internet world who may look at this.

just letting you know there is a thanksgiving show coming up at the bug jar on thursday.
it will probably start at 9 p.m. and feature the snakes of tape hiss, somolian bonaparte, a wonderful, leilani and owen brimijion, the blue spark and flame and yours truly. then we will dance.

oh, by the way.. it will be thanksgiving themed, bring some food if you'd like, bring friends, spread the word, also dress up like an indian or a pilgrim. i'm going as an indian.

on a musical note, somethings you should get stoked on, or if you need to find some new music, or maybe you haven't heard these records:

parenthetical girls - safe as houses
this is a great record. lots of textures, odd feelings and prettyness. go listen!

someone still loves you boris yeltsin - broom
just re-released on polyvinyl. i've been annoying my roommates and fellow employees by playing this non stop everywhere. such good songwriting.

songs of green pheasant - areial days
beautifully layered songs. it gets compaired to the whole new weird america thing, but i don't think it's very folk at all. though he does use acoustic guitars sometimes. all in all it's very pretty and somber.

have a wonderful holiday!

quickmakeshiftweekend!

2006-11-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

hello! greetings from my living room durring finals week here at my oh-so-wonderful college.

last week, i threw together a quick weekend. it practically fell into my lap! on thursday a band originally from ithaca called we are the arm needed a show. so i got them one. i tagged along to play. not many people were there for me but a lot of people saw we are the arm and it was fun. then we dj'ed and i was wrecked with alcohol and had terribly low inhibitions, or rather, i wasn't afraid to say what was really on my mind. i then came back to reality a little later. afterwards the band and some friends hung out at my apartment and stayed up til 5 am. i woke up at 10, and got some food. took it real easy until my friends sooze and janna came to get me and we embarked on our quick trip to fredonia. my friend bud had a basement show that needed another band or something, so i jumped at the chance to get out of rochester. bud was nice enough to buy me beer for coming to play. i was able to finish half of it before playing, and returned to the "bar" where the beer fridge was and the rest had been stolen. it wasn't too bad because i was able to drink other beer. but i still felt kind of crappy because on top of that, a lot of people were talking loudly throughout my set. aside from being a little bummed at first, the night took a turn for the best. bud's band (longitude) was awesome! and i got the change to hang out with a girl i went to highschool with all night. i never knew her well in highschool, only through a mutual friend, but she seemed pretty cool. we stayed up and talked about highschool and art a whole bunch. it was a pretty good night, but lack of sleep wasn't the best thing for me. the next day i came home to work. and stayed up til 5 am again at my friends house, only having to get up to work at 12 the next day.

earlier in the week, on tuesday, i was lucky enough to be asked to play with the gridi midi gang and kalpana. both bands played incredible sets, and the gmg had a real cute girl in their band (sorry to have a shallow band girl crush, sometimes i can't help myself). it was a quiet night though other than that. $2 guiness on tap! i then ran over to the a/v space to catch my friends play and talk about pancakes. autumn in halifax, idatel and real live tigers all played, and it ended my night perfectly! so many good people in one location!

as of now, i'm sitting here not doing all sorts of finals work i should be doing. but i will get it done. i have a little time in the next few days.

as for up-coming musical endeavors:

i recently bought a wurlizter organ for $10 at a ronald macdonald house sale. it was a nice find that my roommate caught. he also purchased me a reel-to-reel recorder, so lyb will go analog very soon. perhaps i might comprise a whole album of organ songs (after i finish my newer songs).

to the opposite of gaining equipment, i have lost two of my most favorite, and only, electric keyboards: my casio sk1, and a yamaha that my roommate had given me last year. both were very near and dear to my heart but have come up missing in the past few months. i would hope no one i know would take them from my apartment.

lastly, i was asked today to submit a song for a college compilation in the music edition of the reporter, an on campus weekly publication. i guess i am pretty excited because maybe a lot of people will hear my song. i will probably submit two birds, or maybe finish a new one. oh and one more thing, a friend of mine and i have been working out some instrumental loopy things, and will possibly play some improv shows in the near future. keep an eye out.

so school has been taking a big toll on me this year, you know if you know me, how much it has been bothering me. but recently i finished a hypothetical project for my installation art class. it was a proposal for an installation that would show in a gallery in virginia. i wont post the whole thing here, but i was really proud of the paper as it came straight from my heart and was very much so what encapsulates my desire to be an artist. if you inquire with me, i will let you see it, but to post it would feel kind of silly. it basically wrote itself which is a really good feeling. as for new media, my major, i will be saying "see you later" very soon. i will be moving into the multidiciplinary feild of study, where my concentration will consist of new media, fine arts - liberal arts, and a minor in art history. i am excited for this change because i will no longer be subject to the terrible "design for everyone else but yourself" ethic of "art". i will also get to take some science classes, one about the ocean and a few about the sky; things i was so excited about when i was younger! i have to take math, but i was never bad at math in highschool, and this class shouldn't be too bad. plus with the fine arts concentration, i can fine tune my writing skills on art. i have recently found i like writing about art, and i'm not too bad at it. maybe i could fall back on being an art critic.

that's all i've got for now, aside from a feeling of hope that love will never be completely lost.

which t-shirt idea is the best?

2006-10-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

I ALMOST FORGOT!

2006-10-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

last thursday night, the wonderful people over at wrur played a track of mine on air!

the show was called dilate, and it's on every thursday night from 10pm to 11pm!

check the show out, they play tons of great music, and lots of great local music!

UPDATES

2006-10-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

some neat suff this time!

so i was at the tara jane o'neil show this evening, and saw the whole gang of idatel! i had asked about the ithaca show's write up from our weekend and kevin said i was all over it. so i searched the times on google and came up with this:

(the picture above was apparently the heading and only picture)
"On Aug. 24 (less than a week later!), Idatel headlined another in-store performance at No Radio. They were preceded by someone named Tim, on mini-ukulele and harmonium; Little Yellow Bird, a one-man act with looped guitar, drums and laptop; a guy from New York City named Charlie who played a single guitar instrumental for about 20 minutes; and Nat Baldwin and his band. This last group was the best surprise of the night. Baldwin's band was Charlie on guitar and a trumpet player. Baldwin played a bowed bass violin and sang, unamplified, in a wonderfully sweet tenor. The effect was a lot like Jeff Buckley fronting Sufjan Stevens' band. Idatel played next, and they were as good as ever; but I praise them in this space at least once a month, so instead of talking about their performance I'd just like to thank them for putting this show together. Lately the band has been doing double duty as a booking group all its own, and they've consistently assembled interesting lineups of talented, off-the-radar bands from Buffalo, Rochester and other New York State locales."

that's really good for nat, and idatel.. and essentially that last statement means that tim and i got a good response!

so that was nice.

on sunday, jason anderson played here again. it was fantastic as always. a little more tame, but just as sweaty. i played a kind of set. it was a little sloppy. and about a week or two before that, nat baldwin stopped by rochester and played our apartment. he and will played together. it was fun. nat and will are two genuine guys!

i'm thinking about going towards chicago and kalamazoo. throw in buffalo. potentially make it a week long journey by way of ohio and indiana?

if you know people on these places, let me know, or let them know i'm looking for some help.

as for now all i've got lined up for shows is on this friday:

OCT 6th - Spark Art Space..
w/ SPIDER,numbnumbers and hello, halebopp!
$6|8 pm

busy week.

2006-09-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

moving back in, classes starting up, frustration.

threre's more to aesthetics that drop shadows:there's more to life than making money.

waste of time.

i sit here, with a little spare time: "when's a good time to actually get to the things i 'need' to do and the things i really need to do."

portsmouth, nh

2006-08-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

in a not so disjointed attempt to recap the last of the weekend days:

first of all, i'm home. no rochester show happened, but the portsmouth show was so incredible, that it was a good point to end on.

so the story continues. on the way to porstmouth we stopped at a beach and went swimming in the ocean. i haven't been since i was in middle school so it was really fun to just get all sandy and salty. tim and i collected lots of shells. well sort of. we left and got to portsmouth and parked. we walked to this awesome record store where i got some nice vinyl. the new fog ep 10', themselvs/hood picture disc, cat power covers record and more. really good prices. we then went to get flatbread pizza at this awesome organic/natural pizza place. they had a really good blueberry wheat beer. we then walked around and found a bar to stop at and grabbed another blueberry wheat. we got some ice cream/frozen yogurt and headed to the show. at first it was a little weird, because the basement was full of toxic fumes, which owen (the house owner) was already high off of from being down there all day. we decided to play upstairs and then proceeded to hang out for a few hours. next door at the gas station, they sold wine! can you believe it?! however i guess you need to go to a state store to buy liquor.

any how tim played first and ended his set with an awesome cumlination of drums/various instruments played by everyone. i was ready to play and finall played well enough that i was happy with how it sounded. idatel was great, like always, and there was even some crowd interaction. after the show we (doug tim and i) decided to hang out and go to the ocean with owen. idatel whent haily's sisters house and slept. before actually getting to the ocean we all chose from a huge collection of bikes and rode to this little diner type thing called the friendly toast. owen was kind of volunteering and we were sitting around in the reserved area waiting to see if we'd get food, but we didn't. then owen decided it was too crazy and that he didn't have to work after all so we rode our bikes for a while to this little island called new castle island. it was so incredible. there was hardly any one out on the road driving so we could ride as free as we wanted to. when we got to opur destination we had to leave the bikes. we walked to this old fort. it was undescribable at night. we got up on the roof and stared at the stars. we all drank a beer and i fell asleep for a few minutes. we then decided to see the ocean again, and walked a little farther past the fort (which was huge!) and walked out on these rocks to get to this light tower kind of thing. we all climbed up on it and hung out for a little. it was so unbelievable there, i can't even explain it with words. utterly incredible. it makes me want to leave rochester to move to portsmouth.

we got down and decided we'd hit the 'toast again to get some food. at this hour it was dead so we got some food and a nice discount because we were on tour. after the food it was about 5 in the morning and we were all tired and cold from the outside air. we rode back to owen's where tim and i crashed on the futon matress on the floor and doug slept in this girl's bed. we woke up and doug told us it was time to go meet the idatel kids at the 'toast. we had eaten there about 5 or 6 hours before at this point. we met them and it was cowded s owe decided to call it a weekend. they waited for the food and we stopped at a co-op type thing where we got deli made sandwiches and kombucha. we headed back to the house we stayed at and left them a note, packed up the last of the car and left. we hit this wierd spot we saw on the way into portsmouth and it turned out to be completely beautiful. there was a ton of rocks exposed while the tide was low, so we climbed all over them. this is where tim and i collected the bulk of our sea shells, and i took some pictures with my lomo. hopefully they'll come out and i'll post them up later. we got back in the car after a while and hit the same beach even though it was cold and grey out. we stepped into the water but did no swimming; ithaca was cold enough. after a long car ride and a few stops for gas and food we got home safely. it's back to the real world i suppose. now i have to worry about school starting and not being registered full time. oh, and moving. maybe i'll figure it out tomorrow?

sounds good.

day one continued

2006-08-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

i'll pick up at the point where we went swimming in 57 degree water. it was cold, pretty fun and a little painful. there was this awesome waterfall that was kind of hard to swim under. once i got to it i felt like i had run 100 laps on a 30 degree day. tim and kevin had an easier time. after swiminm it was time to get to troy.

at this point we all just sort of woke up. doug went to this coffee shop and we've gotta get to portsmouth. the rochester show isn't even settled yet.

thats all for now.

day one and two

2006-08-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

greetings from albany!

we played in troy tonight, at a sort of art gallery type thing. it was pretty neat. a good vibe through the whole room. the backyard was awesome. it had a garden and trees and christmas lights hanging where a potential roof could be, if that makes sense? it was an all acoustic show which was something out of the ordinary for me.

ithaca was an adventure. tim and doug and i embarked on thursday around noonish. we got to ithaca and ended up listesning to records and drinking gin and tonics. followed by that we hit the short stop deli to get vegan sandwiches. we then went to the space at no radio records and hung out until we got to play. tim opened and then i played. i had a bunch of technical problems and the like. nat baldwin showed up and his friend charlie played first and then nat played the best set i've ever seen him play. he had a trumpeteer. we then went to a nice bar called korova where we drank expensive apricot wheat beers. sleep soon overcame after returning to kevin's and the viewing of episodes of mr. show. we woke up to an awesome breakfast of potatoes and tofu scramble. oh and some gimme lean sausage. we decided to hit some bookstores and i found a cool magazine with an interview with rachel sumpter, an awesome sf illustator. we then went to this book store with a huge basement full of records that was apparently owned by the guy who runs the bob shop. i got XTC - english settlement on double vinyl. i'll continue the rest of ithaca tomorrow, when everyone's not trying to sleep.

does anyone read this?

2006-08-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

so, somethings i've been working on/doing while i should be finshing registration for what should be my final year of college (but will not be); or getting an oil change, inspection and fixing the locks on my car doors:

i just got back from my second august trip to new york city. this one was real awesome. brooklyn is so much cooler than manhattan. light years cooler. i saw the yeah yeah yeahs and sonic youth! of course sonic youth blew the yyy out of the water, but to be fair they were good too. karen o just looks so doofy in all those weird ass costumes. i was also dissapointed that some of the sweet riffs the guitar player was supposed to play, were played on some recording and were not really live at all. but then sonic youth came on. 100%, teenage riot and tons of other awesome songs they probably don't play on regular basis were in fact played for us. awesome color opened. they were odd and kind of mediocre. we ate tons of awesome food and drank tons of mimosas in the morning! there was a "nice" bar we called "blue" because of it's blue walls. $2 PBR!!! we got pretty sloppy there the second night i was down there. we found a nice CHEAP thirft store. i won't tell you the name so they can find out how awesome they are and raise the prices. the train i took home was actually ON TIME! incredibly so! i was without headphones so i read a whole lot. i learned that the guy who did the sound track for donnie darko is putting out a solo album. that could be way cool. i also read most of chuck closterman's sex drugs and cocoa puffs. good read.

my friend dan came home and i stopped over to see him after his long stint teaching photo at a summer cap. it was good to see him.

the weekend is just about complete:

ithaca - august 24th
troy - august 25th
portsmouth - august 26th
rochester - august 27th

all i have to do is get the venue settled for rochester. a hard task at this point, which is usually a real easy thing to do for me.

there promises to be some really great shows coming rochester's way in the ending months of 2006. wow. 2006 has flown by.

alright, well maybe i should be working on all sorts of things that are important. like making sure i finish college in some timely manner. and making sure i don't have to pay some kind of wicked fee because my car is out of date. or more recording.

loads of updates!

2006-07-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

first things first,

the shows were all fun(obviously)! it was like heaven to play with jens! i'll admit, i was a little uneasy about playing with a full band, but everyone was so incredible and pulled through perfectly. i couldn't ask for better friends! jens' set was incredible. i don't think he left a hit untouched.

after a day off, i went to syracuse with tim, doug, steven, bob and jordan. it was a fun, wet trip. it rained so hard on the way there and when we finally beat the rain, we stopped to grab some beer, and the down pour started to catch up. we got to the space and tim doug and i braved the rain and ran in. we must have been soaked for 2 hours at least. i remember playing a really wet set. like always, you couldn't hear my vocals. i guess i should work on that some more. the high point was watching your heart breaks (though their poor singer was feeling pretty ill all night) and karl blau. oh, idatel too. your heart breaks was perfect pop. remeniscent of something out of the early 90's. karl blau - that man can make a hell of a good use out of vocals and a loop station. and idatel! i finally got to see them live. it was incredible, and i'm so excited to get to play with them in the end of august a whole bunch of times! so the show ended and we went to get some great (probbably because i was drunk) greek food. my gyro wasn't enough so i grabbed a slice of pizza. on the way home, i fell asleep but awoke to rochester and steven saying "put on w d k x." young joc's goin' down dropped so hot jordan steven and i lost our shit hardcore! so fun! as if i hadn't lost my voice entirely at the jens show.

in other news, the weekend is coming together nicely! portsmouth is booked, and pretty much looking to be one of the sweetest shows i will play away from home. it's a house show! it's right by the ocean! we can apparently also walk to maine! got to love new england! surprisingly the rochester show is the hardest to book for me, as i can't find someone from a/v to sit at the show.

also, i've started tracking some of the new songs you've been hearing at shows. i took my computer home to my parents house. as we all know, they have the best place to record! air conditioning, food, space, quiet, cooked meals, beer! all necessary for a crucial home recording studio. so far i've tracked most of the guitar parts. my roommate hooked me up with his little oxygen 8 midi controller, and it's sounding pretty rad with reason. i took it over to friends house and we played some music for a few hours. best session i've had in a long time.

but in anycase, this is what will come out of the studio:

two birds
spent some time
new one
friends
ocean/college(never before heard)
free(new version)

and maybe some other little snippets of things that have kind of popped up and could potentially turn into little songs.

as for shows, i'm trying to lay low. i will be playing on the 13th with a wonderful and peter and the wolf (the dude tours in a sailboat while traversing the ways of the east coast!) on the 13th at the bug jar. normal time and price. COME!

then we've got the weekend.

then i think i will be playing an art gallery opening for my friend jesse's girlfriend heather. this will be in september. jesse will be playing too and i'm so excited to see how he will do this live. he plays electronic types of music which have a nice jazz undertone and he uses a ton of sampling and stuff.

so i guess that's all for now. should keep you busy enough.

my user has neglected me.

2006-07-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

(the view from my roof)

i guess i'll update, since i'm waiting for ralph to call me so we can hit the bars for his 21st.

the only thing that's up and coming is the jens lekman show.
i'll be playing with a full band that consists of some real sweet guys.
its the 23rd still. of july. at the bug jar. for $6 - $8 depending on your age.
frida hyvonen will play too.
support the scandanavians! it proves to be some "fin" times. ha, get it?!

then i'm off for bit to perfect my one man act, and i will be doing a small weekend tour with a wonderful and idatel in late august.
the dates/places you ask?

august 24th - ithaca ny
august 25th - help?
august 26th - portsmouth nh
august 27th - rochester ny

it proves to be some fun times.
our friend doug showed some interest in coming along and being a "roadie" of sorts, and offered up his car. we love doug.

before that though, i will be stashing my computer (pc) at my parents house (possibly the rest of my stuff) and cooping my self up with any free time i have in the day to record some new little yellow bird songs, some alternate versions of some old songs, and some other goodies which i will disclose at a later time. i will probably also help my pal leilani record some songs as well. i'm excited about it, because she's pretty good at that whole music thing.

oh, no. i lied a little. on the 25th of july i'll be playing in syracuse with a wonderful, idatel and karl blau's band - your heart breaks. it's at a little art gallery and should be tons of fun. i like playing outside of rochester.

this summer's been crazy, but fun. it hasn't relented yet and shows promise of staying that way. lots of beer, good friends, dancing, swimming, cut feet, grilling, and just plain awesome haning out.

some updates

2006-06-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

i will be selling a limited run of 21 cd's with hand made construction paper cover at the love of everything/cex show. nothing too special but they're limited! i'll probably be selling them at the cricket spin show too. come to both shows!

that's all for now.

post

2006-06-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

SOME SHOWS:

JUNE 28th,
@ the bug jar
7 pm $6 over, $8 under

CEX
LOVE OF EVERYTHING
little yellow bird

come see this!!

JULY 2nd
@ A\V space
8 pm $ 5

CRICKET SPIN
(ben yonda returns to rochester)
AUTUMN IN HALIFAX
(i will be playing drums with dave)
little yellow bird
(some dewd)

come see this too!!

JULY 23rd,
@ the bug jar
8 pm $6 over, $8 under

JENS LEKMAN
(YAY!)
FRIDA HYVONEN
(sweet piano goodness)
little yellow bird
(full band madness)

come see this too!!

i heard the pope got the bird flu.

2006-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

he got it from one of the cardinals!

quality joke courtesy of "teddy jo the bad mofo".
(also known as, my father)

life's hardly fair, so deal with it.

2006-06-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

gotta stay positive. gotta try real hard.

summer!

2006-06-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

as i sit here in my new (to me) apartment that has no a/c as the sun has just decided to come through the skylight, i thought i'd update.

memorial day was sweet! my parents really met my girlfriend and love her more than they love me! not to mention they fed us a good amount of alcohol.

so far the new apartment has been good to me. got all moved in. kelley's cat has been an interesting roommate so far. she came in to wake me up at 8 in the morning by meowing and rubbing up against me. i can tell this cat will be tons of fun to watch as it walks all over my stuff and makes me chuckle lightly to myself. i'd hate to see what goes on in my room when i leave.
this summer better hold some crucial hang out sessions! i already went over to tims and sat on his portch to drink some beers. i came home to walk out and relax on the roof with kelley for a bit.

i have a show tomorrow! i haven't practiced. i think i'm about to. in any case it's at the bug jar and i will be playing with a bunch of sweet dewdz, including tim and jono. it's at 8 and it's $5 over/$7 under. come out! have fun! it's almost my birthday, do it for me! the big 21 in 5 days!

i also have to go to wisconsin for a family reunion. i think i will go to the ho chunk casino with my dad. it will be cool to travel a little. getting out of rochester is needed this summer. no hate, i just can't be cooped up all summer.

oh more show news:

june 28th, at the bug jar
9 pm. $5 over/$7 under
with:

cex and the love of everything.

i'm excited to play with the talented bobby burg.

also, july 2nd, at the a/v space
8 pm? $5 donation.
with:

autumn in halifax and cricket spin!

yay! ben yonda returns to rochester!

and lastly:

(i'm not playing this one, but it will be INCREDIBLE!)

july 23rd, at the bug jar

jens lekman!!!!!

posi dewd! get excited!

i guess that's all for now.

dewdz

2006-05-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

not too much here, just some show updates.

may 19th
163 kingsboro
rochester ny
(off of scottsville rd.)

good friends with sharp boners (scissors)
queef(que) pasa
the fuck(fa)shionistas
and more, whom i stupidly can't remember at the moment.

party!! end of the year!

(this will probably be broken up real quick.)

_________________________________________________

may 21st
the bug jar
8pm
$5 over
$7 under

ALOHA
sleeping kings of iona
carbonic
little yellow bird

(this is after the bad business show)

_________________________________________________

and the flier above is for

june 2nd
the bug jar
8pm
$5 over
$7 under

a wonderful
ladies and everyone
brian wheat
little yellow bird
grandfather clock

it's also a few days before my 21st birthday, so you can bring me lots of nice gifts. (right?)
just come and that will be enough!

__________________________________________________

in other news, it's the end of the semester and i have one huge project looming over my head. then i'm free! and college has been a real pain this year. i'll need the long break this summer. then it's time to move out of 265A perkins and into the lovely D309 apartment in the village gate. and it will be time to work a ton. save my monies. or spend them on my car/rent/beer.

this summer will be the greatest! let's hang out!

what has been on my mind/crazy week!

2006-05-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

first things first!

this past week has been CRAZY full of shows. monday saw real live tigers and jordaan mason in my livingroom with myself and my new 'band' holding hands in the attic (we're cute - we're composed of two couples + rob). wednesday saw the return of jason anderson with the wonderful thanksgiving. i also opened up with a full band (alex, tim, and rob) and the response was good. it was the first time i had ever done that kind of thing. we recorded both shows with one single solitary mic in the corner of our living room. i was excited to get the chance to record the most incredible set i've ever seen/heard jason anderson play. the positive vibe has been stuck in 265-a for a while, but more on that later. the recordings all sound real nice! a few days off and a few loud band practices later, i played with my other rock band good friends with sharp scissors at the bug jar. we played with a city safe from sea and as some of you may remember two of their members come from the hue of two fame. it was real nice to see dan again, as i hadn't seen him since he moved back home to mass. it was equally as good to see justin but i had seen him a little before when he came to finish his thesis. and as always it was good to see swift and hear all of his incredibly hillarious stories. also that night i received a call from nat and he and some of the dirty projectors needed a place to crash and split up a long drive. as my apartment is always open, we of course let them crash here. it was good to see nat again, thought it hadn't been too long. we were a bit more subdued in our partying this time, possibly due to the fact that it was a monday night, but none the less a good time. if you are reading this and i don't know you and you have the chance to catch the dirty projectors anywhere ever, do it! they are real nice guys who play real awesome music.

so the positive vibe has been hanging around here! thank goodness! i'm not sure if it's left over from the jason anderson show or if it's the weather, but gosh! i can't help but love everything right now! while i had woken up yesterday faced with tons of negativity, my day ended up great and positive. i've always tried to live life as a nice guy, in the sense that i dislike it when anyone is a jerk to me, so why should i be a jerk to them? and i also just can't understand not being able to be nice to someone you don't know (or know for that matter). hate for that matter too, i just don't get. ok, enough of me being stoked on life and voicing it.

one thing that i've been noticing recently is that the term 'indie' is being used to sum up a lot of bands and their genre/sound. while i feel a band like pavement is an 'indie' sounding band (along with all the other 90's matador records bands etc..) i just don't think indie is anything more than saying you're independant. i guess it's also a mindset. kind of like punk. neither really exist with a certain musical style anymore (as far as i'm concerned) and are more so just a set of ideals about avoiding that which ruins music (corporate record labels unconcerned with the sincerity of music and more interest in marketing a look).

keep things simple and honest!

oh em gee! like, uh.. soo many shows!

2006-04-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

(there's a ton, but all are worth it!)
____________________________
monday april 24th
265-a perkins road

real live tigers - on tour
jordaan mason - on tour
little yellow bird - cough.
holding hands in the attic - first show! cellos and instrument switching a plenty!

$ free/donation 9 PM

____________________________

wednesday april 26th
265-a perkins road

jason anderson - you know him, you love him!
thanksgiving - should need no introduction, but if so... come get interested!
little yellow bird - full band!

$ free/donation 9 PM

_____________________________

sunday april 30th
@ the bug jar
8 PM $5 over/$7 under

a city safe from sea - ex hue of two members of mc copulation!
que pasa - big time motherfuckers!
good friends with sharp scissors - rochesters newest rock band!

(for this show we're working on getting everyone in for $5 instead of making unders pay $2 extra dollars)

PLEASE COME OUT AND SUPPORT ALL THIS WONDERFUL MUSIC!!!

i've got this stupid sore throat.

2006-04-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

it kept me from sleeping this morning and being comfortable all day.

still, things are alright.

i got to relax a bit today on campus where i spent far too much money on film and eventually even shot some photos. i came home and ran through what little yellow bird songs alex and i could without tim and rob; for the jason anderson showwhere i will be playing with a full band. then i went to work and felt my throat act up again. i came home to practice with aaron and we worked on this fun new song. and that's the play by play of my day. inject reading about art from the 30's and thinking about a pretty girl and you've got my day down to a T.

on friday night, i got a call from my friend rory who asked my other band to play the last marathon show. i got out of work and played, and was so happy to be part of one of their last performances in rochester. though i only know one guy in the band well enough, what they stood for meant a lot, and again - i was gracious to be asked to play.

i like being in a band. it's much more fulfilling than being a "one man show". and i must say it gives me much more of a feeling of having a place in the world (as dumb as that sounds) and helps me keep my mind off that which i should keep it off. but that doesn't mean i devalue what i do as my own person in music; if i didn't have the time to get out my own feelings in this medium i'd surely die (or breakdown). and i guess i've been thinking a bit about getting a job post graduation. everyone's talking about them and stressing and i can't even imagine having a "real" job. with out getting that deep too into it i'd like to just live with no worries.

and if you haven't yet, go listen to jens lekman. everytime i listen to him, or read his postings on his website, i can't help but have a non romantic crush on him (and also in a non sexual way of course). my respect for him is ever-growing, and i always regain any lost hope in my life when i read about how positive he can be sometimes. and i sometimes get the impression he and i are a little similar in thought process (us poor hopeless romantics).

my roommate and i talked about tv, over the internet of course. we only live in two different rooms seperated by a wall and some doors. sometimes i think i should get out of this house; off the internet and go ride my bike (or my new skateboard, thanks to alex). it's just about nice enough to enjoy the night time with out the discomfort of being cold. i don't watch too much tv, but sometimes i think it's a terrible invention. i do spend too much time infront of the computer though. both can get in the way of actually living, if you'll let them do that to you. i can't wait to go out with the intent to actually watch the stars at night. i can't wait to aimlessly ride my bike all over. i can't wait to get lost in the outdoors. i'd go right now if i didn't have this sore throat to get in the way of things.

sorry for the aimless run of topics, but i felt i ought to post tonight, and i'm feeling awfully contemplative(not in a bad way) about everything.

blogging about music!

2006-04-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

so i don't have much to say about anything, so i guess i'll talk about some records i'm completely stoked on.

i know it's old.. but it's still a great little split: the my morning jacket and songs: ohia split. i think this record contains one of the most crucial make out songs ever written.. and the songs: ohia song is probably the best song jason's ever written in my opinion.

and as if i haven't gotten enough of jason molina, the demo's for the magnolia electric co. album are really awesome. stripped down versions of all the album songs. key tracks, "just be simple" and "long dark blues".

ben and bruno - letters to michelle. i got this 4 song ep tape after seeing them downtown at the a/v space. i was super stoked that someone was selling a tape, because at the time all i had in my car was a tapedeck (which doesn't work now so i'm forced to listen to the radio), and who makes tapes anymore?

lastly, band of horses - everything all the time (yet to be released, it leaked!) i actually heard a song on the radio surprisingly, and had to go check out this band a little more in depth. the record is fantastic! not to mention i think some of the members were in carissa's weird.

so if some of that is new to you, check it out! if you have similar taste in music as me, you'll like it! i promise.

how much booty could a bootydo do if a bootydo could do bootydo?

2006-04-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

well i'm not sure, but i'll let you know when i find out!

last night was so much fun! i couldn't have asked for a better first out of town show. the crowd was large and receptive; and l'hiver was of course everything i had dreamt they'd be and more! afterwards we went back to cheryl and april's dorm and hung out while playing "the village". it was a pretty intense game, and completely fun filled! i managed to pass out from exhaustion as people returned with stolen bagles around what could have been 3 am. it's been a long week and my body can feel it. but it was a fun weekend and my friends are the best people on the face of the planet!

i'm exhausted.

here at camp little yellow bird we're all busy beavers!

2006-03-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

and by "we're" i mean me. with in 48 hours i need to get ready for the new paltz show! that means i have to print cd inserts, buy/burn cd's, go buy bags for the cd's, and get an oil change. all the while mind you i have classes! this boy will be exhausted by the end of the weekend!
(good thing the weather is so pleasant and is keeping me feeling grand and wonderful!)

so speaking of the end of the week...

on friday march 31st, my other band good freinds with sharp scissors have been kindly asked to play with our friends the fashionistas, and gak attack for their musical release shows! how exciting! so if you aren't by chance going to this show:

Friday, March 31st
@ AV Space - Rochester, NY

HOW WE ARE (Hometown Bloodsport Enthusiasts, You Love Them Like Frank Dux)
POLAR BEAR CLUB (Back From Hibernation, First Rochester Show in Awhile)
HELMSLEY (Bros Just Added, ex- Farewell Injuria)

Doors @ 8pm. Only 3 Dollars!

http://myspace.com/howweare
http://myspace.com/polarbearclub

then come see us at the new door seven location right behind the german house on gregory!
it's only $2!! it's great music and promises to be lot's of fun!

i'm so excited for all the positive musical happenings around here this time of year!!!!

holy smokes!

2006-03-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

the show last night was so fun! there was a guest appearance from que pasa and their new songs are so wonderful! the under dressed jordan was fantastic! sing alongs! following him, the equally under dressed boogdish. probably one of the funiest things i've ever seen. crucial dude! i couldn't have asked for a more fun set! all my friends are the most amazing people! the set culminated in a dance party with some crowd surfing! (this was all in my living room - crazy right?!?)

not to mention the weather! ...oh the weather! it has been fantastic here! i went out to finish shooting for my photography class at mendon ponds park and got some really good walking in (i walked around this little pond and hiked up this really steep hill which required some sort of tread on my shoes and i of course did not have any). some of the photos are alright so maybe i'll post them later! i got some good portraits of my friend bryan, and a neat shot of some ambiguous water and trees.

life has seemed quite alright for a while recently!

house show!

2006-03-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

tonight!

little yellow bird
boogdish - on tour from TX
somolian bonaparte

8 pm, donation!
265-a perkins road
rochester ny 14623

come out!

e.

2006-03-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

i just got an "okay" on my proposal to skip the content of electronic art to do my own thing. it will involve lots of amplifiers, my akai headrush, my drums possibly, vvvv and some video manipulation. all in all it looks to be promising and one of the few things i will enjoy durring my college experience here at RIT. not to mention it will look pretty good if i want to go to mills for a graduate degree in electronic music. i'm getting excited about this project! i'll fill you in more as the project comes along.

as far as my health is concerned.. i'm "on" (and i use the term 'on' very loosly) steroids at the moment. "ooh.. blood tests.. steroids.. what's going on?" you may be asking. well.. maybe it's not that bad overall what-so-ever, but maybe i'll keep it open ended to be mysterious!

my pal drew is comming a day early! fun! i haven't seen him since this summer where he played a great set, but to a minimal audience (my friends and i). but that shouldn't be the case tomorrow night (i.e. show up!).

and as for news pertaining to my musical endeavors:
i have a "weekend" comming up. i will be playing in new paltz ny on paril first with l'hiver who are nothing short of amazing. and i still have a show pending at the a\v space for the second with jordan and autumn in halifax. it will quite possibly be my "cd release" as i need to get my act in gear and definitely make some cd's for the first. so make sure to check back for all the details!

sometimes life's alright.. don't you know?

blood. lots of it.

2006-03-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

my sorry tale of woe all day:

i got my blood drawn today and for some reason i almost passed out in the hospital. i wasn't freaking out before hand and i told myself i'd still be ok before durring and after; yet my body still felt the need to get all hot and clammy. i then proceded to leave the hospital but had no money to pay for parking. all the while, my tape deck had stopped working properly thus making me have to listen to the radio; and oh how so terrible it was. however, i did find that beautiful picture.

now all day i've been edgy and my stomach has been all painful. i'm whiped out too. i did however go see tim play with this pretty neat band called shapes and sizes. their tour van was filled with lots of beautiful people and equipment; and they played lots of wonderful songs. not to mention they were awfully nice people, the whole lot of them. my pal bryan and i went to jays on the way home and talked about the poor state of RIT's "art" program. i'll elaborate more later when i haven't beaten the subject to death too much in one day.

hi!

2006-03-20T21:14:00.000-08:00

i've decided that there is no better way than keeping my junk updated than to make a blog. i will also talk about other happenings here that effect my day to day life. i love blogs and blogging, so if you like them too and have some good links, pass them on to me! blogs are only the best form of civil revolt and mass communication amongst the underground network!(joke)

well... what better place to start than an upcomming show?!

march 23rd
a/v space
8 public market (back entrance)
rochester ny 14609
9 PM | $5 Donation

Carbonic - local dark and brooding folk, very intense and very pretty.
Tiger Saw and Dan Blakeslee - quiet and polite folk.
Drew Danburry - super fun feel good sex rock.
Yacob - experimentalist dudes.

i'm not playing but you should go! spread the word!

also i've been playing drums in a band with a few friends and we're called "good friends with sharp scissors". we signed up to play an open mic night on campus. you should come! if you support us we might win something awesome!