I'm Waiting For You To Arrive, But the Waves Are Relentless and Winds Won't Agree...

And so it begins.

One "new and improved" Ef'd song is up on MySpace. It's not very good...but hey, that's what The Ef'd is about! There's another song that we need to record that sounds exactly like a Pack song would acoustic. I like playing them alright, but it gets old after playing them like 10 times just so Ed can get his timing down. Oh well.

One of my mics and both of my Jon Crocker CD's got here today. All three are amazing.

"The Molly Project" wants me to record their stuff. I don't really know why...I hardly know what I'm doing.

I'm happy. 8 shows are coming up. 7 of them are booked, and the other one is like 50%. I just hope people show up and the bands have fun and all that stuff.

That's all for now.

And I Never Thought This Would Be Me...

You know what I wanna know? Why the heck I'm in the newspaper so many times. And why people can't seem to leave me alone this year. Everyone keeps talking to me and it's really weird, because just last year they wouldn't even give me the time of day. I haven't done anything to make them like me any more. If I have I'm not aware of it. It's so weird. This makes me think though: If I'm ever in a band that gets big (which far more likely than not won't happen), I don't think I'll know what to do. It's so weird. :/

I helped Johnny record some stuff today. It's sounding pretty good, and should sound even better when my good mics finally get here. I'm gonna be playing piano on the GMST album, too. Well...On like 5 songs. Probably do some guest vocals too.

The Max Levine Ensemble are coming down on Saturday, October 14th! Well...Hopefully. I've gotta find a venue. I'm hoping I can use YHC... I have a slight dilemna though...We might have a marching band contest that day. :/ If we do, I'm gonna hafta try to find someone to come pick me up, cause I hafta ride the band bus down there. :/ If this show does wind up going on, it is very likely that Hot New Mexicans and Madeline will be playing as well. I'm pumped.

All Blairsville / Young Harris / Hayesville shows will now be posted on the Bonfire Club Records MySpace page. Yay.

Stuff I'm waiting on:
Mixers
Madeline's LP
cables
Songs from bands for "The Blairsville Sessions"

Even Though I'm Home Now, I Feel Completely Homeless...

Allow me to set the scene:

I come home from school and at long last, my GuitarPort is here. I'm so pumped to use it. I go and find a cable, plug in my acoustic, and -- Nothing. I even tried another cable -- Nothing. It works find with my keyboard and electric, but no. Not my acoustic. The one thing I wanted it for. I think my acoustic might just be shot, though. But still. Pretty lame. I was planning on recording all of my songs tonight, too. I'm going over to Johnny's tomorrow though, so maybe his guitar will work? :/

Boogdish, imadethismistake, Black Candy, and GMST this Sunday. Should be fun. Then Monday off! Yay for school holidays.

Hopefully my mics, mixer, cables, and whatnot will come soon. I kinda wanna have 'em. :/

These Nervous Words Fall Down and Spill Just Like the Rain...

New song...No title yet. I like the guitar part I have for it, but not the lyrics. I wish I could write. :/


These silhouettes remind me
Of days gone by...
When the hours felt like minutes...
Moments stuck in time.

A month has passed,
but nothing has changed
These tears bring momentary relief


Where did it go?
Everything we wanted...
Everything we know...
It was up to you...


These silhouettes remind me
Of when we were alive...
Now we're just falling faster,
I can't see how this died...

We both know
We both miss it.
So, so long.
So, so long.


Where did it go?
Everything we wanted...
Everything we know...
Where did it go?


Contrary to what most may think, this song isn't about a relationship or anything. It's about growing up too fast and taking things for granted.


Trey told me to quit Suite 11 and sing for GMST. I thought that was pretty funny. If they actually asked me to though, I would join. Me and Johnny make up some cool stuff.

I went to Dollar Tree today to get a little cheap micrphone that they had there, so Boogdish could use it at the show, instead of him getting snot all over my Shure. Turns out, the Dollar Tree here doesn't stock them. Suckage? I think so. It wasn't a totally wasted trip though. I bought a CD of Tchaikovsky's best stuff. It's really good. Everyone should go buy it.

You've Got One Good Trick and You're Hanging On You're Hanging On...

Alright. I've decided instead of releasing "The Blairsville Sessions" on CD-r, I'm gonna get them professionally pressed. They're going to come in a CD sleeve in black and white card cases, then shrinkwrapped. Think of what record packaging looks like. That. It should turn out well. I'm waiting to hear back from like 5 bands, and at least 4 people are submitting brand new, unreleased songs for it. I'm pumped.

I'm totally redoing the sticker design, probably sometime tomorrow. I'll ask a couple people's opinions on them, and if they say it looks cool, I'll order them then too.


Bands that are gonna be on this comp:
Madeline
In the Shadow of Victory (new / exclusive song!)
Stephano Ponce (new / exclusive song!)
The Rescued
Farewell Flight
Taking Lottie Home
foreverDOWN
Jon Crocker
Natalie Sheppard
Sloppy Meateaters
The Alcoholic Freshman
Super Famicom
We Are Only Fiction (new / exclusive song!)
Wildebeest
The Max Levine Ensemble
Joshua Fletcher & the Six Shot-Romance (new song!)
An Act of My Own (if we can get better quality recordings before too long)
Brook Pridemore (new / exclusive song!)
Defiance, Ohio
Dirty Larry
Suite 11 (if we can get decent quality recordings sometime soon)
GMST (if I have extra room)
The Molly Project (if I have extra room)
Seamas O'Lanigan (if I have extra room)
This Is Lestat (if I have extra room)
I Am Only Your Side Effect (if I have extra room)



I'm also doing a split release with Valiant Death Records (The people who are releasing Madeline's new LP!) soon. It's a double disc of Lee Lewis & His Orchestra called "The Greatest Secret." It was pretty cool...Bucky (the dude that runs Valiant Death) asked me if I wanted to do a split release just outta nowhere, 2 days after I started all this. He also said he'd hook me up with CD pressing. So yea. I'm in. Super Famicom wants me to release some of his stuff too, but I'm waiting 'til like next year to do that (unless everything goes amazingly awesome and I have sufficient funds to do so before then).



I wish I had started doing this sooner...

I Don't Get Many Things Right the First Time...In Fact, I Am Told That A Lot...

"...Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles, and falls brought me here..."
--Ben Folds




New song. Not very good. Don't really care.


If Truth Be Told... If You Are Looking for the Guilty, You Need Only Look In the Mirror.

Who goes first
Or will we just let this one go?
'Cause I'm so tired
I've given up on hope.


And I know you don't care,
But we're not going anywhere...
anywhere anymore...


And I've tried so hard
But nothing's changing
When there's nowhere to run
You've gotta face the facts...


And I know you don't care,
But we're not going anywhere...
anywhere anymore...


I'm leaving...




I hope my recording equipment shows up soon...
I need guitar strings too...

Calling Old Friends To Make Sure They're Real...

...talking, talking just to feel that sense of home you lost when you left last year. Distance is just numbers on a dashboard, hours thinking about nothing but the transmission stutter you fear.

I remember what you whispered in my ear, and all the things we tried so hard to never have to hear, like kids tighten up, start saving for the golden year. Well, hey, that picture it fades day by day and the outcome's not so clear.

Don't think I'll see you around this winter, and my tongue's stuck full of splinters; I'm embarrassed to admit what I've been thinking. Hope keeps some afloat, but for me it's no life boat. The tighter I hold on the deeper down I'm sinking.

Tried to put my finger on it but gave it my whole arm. Reached out with good intention, but it only did more harm. Find ourselves alone since the day we're born, so we seek someone to sew sutures in the places where we're torn.
--Defiance, Ohio




Bonfire Club Records sticker demo:



This is like a like 30 second sample so I can remember generally what I want the sticker to look like...All text will be spaced better, but that's a general idea of what they're gonna look like. I'm gonna change the "Music to start bonfires to..." to "Music to burn stuff to..." I might change the "Bonfire Club Records" font, too...I know I'm kinda moving fast...You're probably thinking, "Stickers?! Already?!," but I have to stay active and on the ball with this at all times or else I'll fall behind. Plus they're relatively cheap. I'm hoping to package some with first release.




UPCOMING SHOWS:

Sunday, September 3rd / 5PM: Boogdish, imadethismistake, Black Candy, GMST // Free @ The Top Pavillion

Monday, September 18th(?) / 6PM: In the Shadow of Victory, The Mourning After, Typhoid Mary (?) // Free @ First Baptist Church

Tuesday, October 10th / 5PM: The Alcoholic Freshman, GMST // $3 - 5 @ someone's house

Saturday, October 14th / 6:30PM: The Max Levine Ensemble, Madeline (?), Hot New Mexicans (?) // Free @ Young Harris College(?)

Monday, October 23rd / 5PM: Peasant, GMST, I Am Only Your Side Effect, Black Candy(?) // Free @ The Top Pavillion

Saturday, November 4th / 5:30PM: Jon Crocker, Josh Fletcher, Wildebeest, I Am Only Your Side Effect // Free @ Young Harris College

Tuesday, December 19th / 6PM: Inertia, Mount Awesome, foreverDOWN (?) // Free @ The Black & Gold Center

Monday, January 8th / 5PM: Dirty Larry, Taking Lottie Home(?), We Are Only Fiction(?) // Free @ The Black & Gold Center

Walk Steadily. I Have Never Felt So Weak, Or So Strong, As I Do Now...

Today was a good day. My classes actually seemed to halfway pass quickly today. Weird. Something else that was quite odd...People actually said "hi" to me in the halls today. That never happens. Weird, weird, weird.

The whole label thing is actually going surprisingly well, although I haven't really done anything that involves labor yet. I'm getting tons of words of encouragement from a lot of people. It's great. I'm actually gonna follow through on something for once. The first release is gonna be called, "The Blairsville Sessions," and is going to consist of bands that have played here / are playing here sometime in the near future. Right now, here's the current tracklisting:

1. Super Famicom - To Be In Custody of Ghosts
2. Jon Crocker - Summer Days
3. The Alcoholic Freshman - Thanks A Lot, Dickhead
4. Sloppy Meateaters - Truth In Rations
5. Taking Lottie Home - Kill the Lights
6. Farewell Flight - Cruel
7. foreverDOWN - Hopefully Finding Hopeless
8. An Act of My Own - Never Keep Forgetting
9. Defiance, Ohio - Grandma Song
10. Dirty Larry - These Black Lines
11. The Max Levine Ensemble - Another Song About the Rain
12. Wildebeest - Fighting Windmills Again
13. Natalie Sheppard - Leave the Light On
14. Madeline - Slow Down
15. The Rescued - Sweet Dreams Little Soldier
16. imadethismistake - Staring Blindly Into A Dull Sunset



I'm still waiting on replies from Josh Fletcher, Brook Pridemore, We Are Only Fiction, and a few others. In the Shadow of Victory are submitting a brand new song as soon as they get it recorded. I'm gonna help GMST record something that sounds good and put it on there. Probably "Flashlight." You can't really mess that one up. Rollie I Am Only Your Side Effect is gonna have a song on there. Suite 11 is getting a semi-professional recording done that hopefully won't sound like total crap. Heck...I might put one of my solo songs on there too. Stephano Ponce submitted a track. It's actually pretty good (for him), but I don't really wanna put it on there. He thinks that me having a label now is like the coolest thing ever though, so I'm gonna throw it in somewhere.

This CD is gonna cost 5 bucks. I think that's a reasonable for a 20+ track CD.


Oh, also, I was going to change the name to just Bonfire Records, but it's already taken. Oh well.


My thoughts are racing right now. They're going so fast I have no idea what they are about nor whaether they're good or bad. Something to do with friends, music, school, me needing to take a shower, shows, me needing to clean my room, hating letting people down, blahblahblah...

I've Been Studyin' the Walls Around This Place...I've Been Lookin' For A Way to Get Away...Must Be Something I Can Do To Escape...

There's always supposed to be a way..."
--Jon Crocker


I finally stopped being lazy and started my record label. The first release is a 20+ track compilation called "The Blairsville Sessions." It's due out sometime in late October or early November.

The name of the label (for now) is Bonfire Club Records. I might change it to just Bonfire Records. I'm not sure yet.

Every CD is going to come with a twig and a match. If you like the CD, you can burn the twig and start a bonfire...If you don't like the CD, you can burn it instead. Cheesy, but I like it.

I'm probably gonna release some GMST stuff. But I'm gonna make them make it sound decent. I'm hoping to be able to release some In the Shadow of Victory stuff too.

http://www.myspace.com/bonfireclubrecords


In other news, I just bought a bunch of recording stuff. Yay.

All Your Dreams Are Left Passed Out On the Floor...

The show was a total disaster and I feel horrible about it.

"Suite 11" sucked, but that's nothing new. I don't see what the big deal with just sitting on the ground where people could actually halfway hear everything was either...but whatever.

I need to buy better recording stuff. It's not gonna make my voice sound any better, but hopefully people will be able to actually hear the music kinda clearly.

"V For Vendetta" is surprisngly a really, really, really good movie. Random fact. See it if you get the chance.

In the Shadow of Victory have a new, good recording up on their MySpace. It sounds awesome. Check it out. http://www.myspace.com/intheshadowofvictory

I have a killer headache right now. I'm out.

The Only Thing That Is Rich Around Here Is the Coffee...And The Only Thing That Is Good Around Here Is My Cough...

This week has felt like a month. My schedule is a bore. I handed out a bunch of flyers for Saturday's show today. One girl was like "What's 'Acostic?'" Yes, she said acostic. Pronounced "Uh-cost-ick." I tried to explain, but she'd never seen an acoustic guitar, or listened to any bands with an acoustic that I could think of. I told her just to come to the show and she'd learn something.

I found out something today that made me sad. Dalton's dad is needing a heart transplant. This show is to help raise money for that. That's what they're using the donation and merch money for. Dalton and his family are really broke right now, so anyone who reads this...Help them out as much as you can...More likely than not, they need it more than you.

There's this awesome dude that said he wants to play up here a lot, since he's moving to Athens (right now, he's scheduled to play with Jon Crocker and Josh Fletcher at YHC on November 4th...He might be playing the Boogdish show too)...He plays acoustic guitar and his friend plays accordian...Well...Live at least. All the recordings are just him. He's amazing. Check out the live video in his comments too. http://www.myspace.com/matthewwinn


Ok, I'm done. Byebye.

Stephanie: Try republishing your whole blog (there's a button after you post) and making sure it's set to public viewing...That might work. And actually, I didn't write that song. It's one of Casey's songs. It's on his out-of-print debut EP (that I have, of course! Haha). You can borrow it if you want to.

Every Whisper Sounds Like A Song That Says, "I've Never Felt This Way Before."

I'm tired of living such a bore and letting so many people down on top of that. I try, but it seems like something always goes horribly wrong and it's my fault. I'm really sorry. Seriously. I need something monumental to happen...Or maybe I need to just take a break from everything? Who knows.

Show this Saturday. Hopefully it'll be fun. I wish Sloppy were playing though. :/ They're the whole reason I set up the show. The next scheduled show after this is Boogdish on Sunday, September 3rd. imadethismistake and maybe one other will be playing. I hope it's fun. I might actually promote this one instead of just kinda inviting like I did last time...I'm not sure yet. I guess it depends on the other band I find...



theres nothing i can say or do
the game is ruined and i am stuck
with feelings that can't be used
i hold them inside
until they force their way out
they streak down my face
in aimless lines

the darkened spots
on my shirt are fading
but i still feel hurt
i wish i had never started
why can't we go back to stop
the hurt before it starts?

let's just be friends
thanks for another cliche
my days are going downhill
today must mark the bottom
from here I can only go up
i don't see the next days
as being something i will enjoy
the sky is dark and raining
it reflects my feelings prefectly
i wish i could stop the feelings

i write these words hoping
hoping it will help
but the more i write
the more i see it's not helping
this past month and a half
of ups and downs is what I have
to remember for the days
spent with thoughts of you
so many wasted thoughts
so many wasted poems
too much wasted time
i tried so hard
it wasn't good enough for you
you think that its all fine
your slight neglections
weren't that big of deal
at least not to you

someone lift me up
it hurts so much to be here alone
there is no one to talk to
you are here, but i can't talk to you
you won't understand
because you see everything as fine




PS -- Stephanie: I can't comment you back since you have don't have a blog anymore. School and life are both boring. Getting up early sucks, and I don't really like 2 1/2 of my teachers. And my nose is stopped up.

If I'm Not Going Down, I'm Going Nowhere...And Nowhere Seems Familiar To Me...

School starts Monday. Lame, lame, lame.
I've gone to get my schedule about 4 times and Mrs. Crawford is never in her room. Lame, lame, lame.
SME isn't playing on Saturday anymore. Lame, lame, lame.
Chris (the youth dude) isn't returning my emails about the TLH show. Lame, lame, lame.

Yea. Things aren't going too awesome right now. I've got too much on my mind. I don't like it. One good thing though: Boogdish is coming back on September 3rd! Hahaha. Seriously though...That will cheer me up. I know it will. His stuff is fun and you can't help but smile and laugh at it. I wanna find another person to play with him. Someone a bit more serious, but still fun. Maybe someone he knows? Maybe I can get Madeline to come up? Hopefully she hasn't moved back to Indiana...

My stuff from Valiant Death and Plan-It-X finally got here. I really love Valiant Death's way of being awesome and throwing in free goodies with every order. This time, I got 2 free CD's and a zine. I got some stickers from PIX which was cool too. I love free stuff, for the most part.

It's nearly 5AM. I have nothing to talk about. My life is pretty pointless.

I Feel So Warm and Bubbly...There's A New Day On the Rise...

At last. I'm done with Yacht Club. I would be perfectly ok with never looking at that place ever again. Well...after I go and pickup my check tomorrow, that is.

I'm working on a new song that I might call, "Well, Alzheimer's Can't Be All Bad. You Get To Meet New People Everyday."

This was just a quick update, and I'm pretty much done now, but I'm gonna finish off with lyrics to one of my favorite Madeline songs called "Good Houses." It's on her new full-length, "The Slow Bang" available on vinyl from Valiant Death records.




Good endless surprises. Good reasons for waking.
Good friends are good family with hearts overflowing
from kindness from strangers. The will to survive.
When our hearts are all pounding, God knows we're alive.

Good houses. Decisions. You're married with children.
Sweet cages, I thought you were mine.
With our backs to the wind and our faces to bend
all the rules and our feet crossed the line.

Apologies given to thin air don't listen.
The vibrations don't hit the eardrums
of the heads that deserve this. The useless excuses.
"It didn't work, but we really tried."

Good timing found speechless, we tripped on our moments.
Good gracious, who left who behind?
Let's live in the hour. Make powerful statements
of how we will not let this die.

This is not what I had in mind!

Do You Know Any Songs That Might Put Me To Sleep?

If you do, would you please sing one for me?
And do you know any spells that can stop bad dreams?
If you do, would you please cast one for me?
Do you have anything I could take for this pain?
Anything that could heal how I feel in my heart?
And do you have any pills that I could take
That will make things never fall apart?
I'm lost...I'm lost...I'm far from my home...
Life is too short to ever sleep alone.
I'm lost...I'm lost...I am so far from home...
Life is too short to ever sleep alone.
--Captain Choas



School starts Monday. I'm not ready for it. This summer has been fun. I wish I could've seen a couple people more than I did, but oh well.

I found some unreleased Madeline songs. They're really awesome. I've heard her whole new album (that's not out 'til September!) too. It's good. Only 9 songs, though. :/

The Sloppy show is in like 2 weeks. I'm ready for it. I just hope people show up.

I'm sad and I have nothing to be sad about.

I'm working on 2 new songs. I think the music is decent...I just hate my vocals. :/ I wish I had a full band again...I wish I had a new band. I don't think I'd mind singing as much if I had a band that played stuff more my genre? Cause like...all the focus wouldn't be on, well...me. That's the bad thing about going solo. If you screw up...Everyone knows it. And I screw up a lot.

Yup.

There Was A Time When You Didn't Mean So Much...Another Cute Girl Put Butterflies In My Stomach...

Whew. The past 3 days have been really awesome. I was hardly at home at all.

Basically, it was me, John, Mark, and Clay hanging out, with Bethany and Trey a little bit as well. We did the usual campfire thing last night and today, me, John, Mark, and Clay went tubing in Helen. We all got sunburnt horribly. Yay for being white.

Well It Seems These Days We're Runnin' Out of Time...And It Seems These Days I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind...

Wow, yesterday (today?) was fun. Me, Beth, Bethany, Trey, Mark, and John all hung out. We didn't really like...do much. We more sat around and talked than anything. And it was grand.