Blog Moving...

The Art of Whimsy's Blog is moving to another location. I have wanted to do this for a while so here it is... Here is the link to the new blog... I hope you like it, I do.

http://theartofwhimsy.wordpress.com/

I'm 5 again

Do you remember the good 'ol days, when you were greeted warmly in the morning with a prize in your cereal box? Yesterday I opened my box of Frosted Mini Wheats--a favorite cereal of mine since I was 5--and lo and behold, there was a prize inside, a pedometer just for me! I wore it all day (yes, I'm a nerd), and by dinnertime I had logged in more than 7000 steps. How cool is that?!
Well, Nathan has graciously agreed to wear the pedometer at the Paradise Grill show on Saturday, because he loves me and I asked nicely. We're taking guesses as to how many steps he'll take at the show with all the stomp boxing he'll be doing. Any guesses???

~Jess

Starbucks Show

I don't have a lot of time but I just wanted to say that the show last Saturday at Starbucks was amazing. We kicked the night off with a set from Grayson Kessinich. (I think I spelled his name right). I was talking to our good buddy Eli about him and the only word I can think of to describe his voice is pretty. I know if I was smart I could think of a better word, but that one will work. He is a great song-writter, peformer, and a great musician. I would recommend checking out his site. I will get links up here in a little bit. I know he has one song up on his myspace page and in a couple of weeks he is going to be releasing an EP.

The next set was covered by The Music Room. Amy and Dane have a great stage presence together. Being brother and sister they play off each other perfectly. They are funny and keep your attention their entire set. Put that aside and they are great musicians and song-writers.

I have to go but more on this later....

Paradise Grill This Saturday!

I know I just used this flyer but I really like it....

Busy Weekend

Sorry about the silence over the past couple of weeks, but we have been super busy. First off, this past weekend we were busy playing shows. Starting on Thursday we played at the Chief Crazy Horse Inn. A great show, the party was found at the Chief Crazy Horse Inn late into the night on Thursday.

On Friday we hopped over to the Auburn Alehouse and once again we had an amazing time playing for the folks there. Jordan Emmans was also around and graced us with a performance of several originals as well as some amazing covers. All of the people involved with The Auburn Alehouse are great people and a great time is had by all who are there.

Saturday we made the drive down to Sacramento and played at M.V.P. Sports Grill. This was an interesting show. We finally found out about the show that morning at about 10:00 am, drove down and were confronted with extreme negativism. The Art of Whimsy does not look like you typical band (i.e. drums, bass, guitar, and vocals). Instead we feature guitar, mandolin, percussion, and vocals, a lot of people don't see how we can get a place going and keep the people dancing and drinking. Normally people will at least give us a chance and never have they been disappointed. This show we were not given that chance. Even still we did what we do. The only person who seemed to not be enjoying the music was the person expecting your typical band. Oh well, they crowd had a good time, and that is who we are there to please.

After the late night Saturday we got up and drove all the way down to Bakersfield to play for our good friends at The Journey. Personally, this is one of my favorite places to play (minus the drive). The people in charge are super welcoming, generous, and friendly. This last trip they even gave us a little ice chest filled with drinks for the drive home. And the people that come to the show are sincere and appreciate that we are there to play music for them.

The open mic night on Tuesday was a great night. We had several familiar faces come back to share their gift. People such as our buddy Jim playing some old time country tunes, Jordan Emmans, Rich, and of course we were there. We also met some great new performers who are promising to come back again. Corrie and Jim from Sluicebox came in and played several acoustic sets, Mike played some killer thumb picking guitar. The people there were also privileged to see Rob Bonner perform acoustic guitar with his buddy Jim and old students Jordan and Nathan Emmans. The party was going until around 12:00 and we are hoping for a repeat performance this coming Tuesday.

Chief Crazy Horse Inn (8-21-08)

Last night was a good night at the Crazy Horse. We started around 8:00 and shut down the town at around 12:00. All the other bars were closing around 11 and the people came over to the only open bar with live music going. We were super excited to bring in some business for the owners, times are slow pretty much everywhere right now. They hired us to entertain and to bring/keep business . It always feels good when you do just that...

We also need to say thanks for the awesome bartender that took care of us: getting drinks, bringing us amazing food (compliments to the chef), and for keeping the place open for us!

Also don't forget tonight at the Auburn Alehouse at 8 PM!

Basement Wines

Just a reminder to all of you good folks out there in the Northern California area. We are hosting/playing the open mic at Basement Wines tonight in Colfax, Ca. So come out for a good time, music and wine.

Photos from Auburn Alehouse

If you are interested in checking out photos from Auburn Alehouse you can click here

I don't remember the name of the photographer that took them, but we are playing there again this Friday so I will be sure to get his name this time and make sure to give credit where credit is due. If I remember correctly he is also the person who does the Auburn Alehouse website.

Paradise Grill Tonight!

Those of you in the Rocklin/Roseville area, Nathan will be playing a solo gig at The Paradise Grill in Roseville this evening at six o'clock. He will be sharing the night with Rocky Kajimura. The Paradise Grill is located at

1410 E Roseville Pkwy # 140
Roseville, CA 95661

See you there!

Cooper's

I just wanted to say a quick thanks to all of you that came out to Cooper's on Friday. I think a good time was had by all. Silver Service is incredibly entertaining and we were truly fortunate to share the stage with them.

For those of you who missed the show we started the evening off playing for about an hour and half; a variety of originals mixed with a cover here and there. For "Steal My Kisses" "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and one other song I am forgetting we were backed up on vocals by a singer songwriter. (I am forgetting her name right now as well. She was a familiar face but last night was our first official meeting. Maybe Nathan will remember her name). Anyway, she had a great voice and we are hoping to get her out to Basements Wines Open Mic Night and hear her play some tunes for us.

Silver Service closed the evening with two sets of a variety of incredibly well done covers and several Silver Service Originals. If you have never seen them play I suggest you try and catch a show sometime, you will not be disappointed.

Again, thanks for coming out and don't forget to come on down to Basement Wines Open Mic Night every Tuesday and 7:30.

Tonight with Silver Service

A pleasant reminder that tonight The Art of Whimsy is with Silver Service at Cooper's Ale Works in Historic Nevada City, Ca. The show starts at eight o'clock, and we promise a good time.

Remember two things

First tomorrow night the art of whimsy is playing with silver service at Cooper's Alehouse at 8:00 o'clock. So it is easy to remember 8-8-08 at 8:00.

Second


So download the album for free listen to it, tell phil how good it is then come to our show and tell us how good it is.

I'm an idiot...

So it was just brought to my attention that on the flyer that I made for Cooper's I put Saturday, August 8th. I am not sure what year this will be, but it is not this August the 8th. What the flyer should say is Friday, August 8th. So...

The Art of Whimsy is playing THIS Friday at 8 pm with the great Silver Service! We look forward to seeing you there.

Auburn Alehouse

Last night at the Auburn Alehouse was amazing. We accidently started 30 min. early. I guess we were eager to play, we sound checked, said we were going to take a break and then kept playing. Oh well, although we were going to have Elijah Steven open up for us. Instead he filled in for our first and last break. Later in the evening we had Jordan Emmans come up and play a couple of tunes for us. He just made it back into town after almost three years in Korea and then riding his bike across the United States. He will end the trip in an other 70 miles after he reaches 4,000. It was great to see him play again. He is one of my favorite guitar players.

Anyway it was a great crowd, amazing food, and good times. We are hoping to play there again in the near future so you will have to come out to the next show.

August

I just wanted to highlight our shows coming up this month of August.  We would love for you all to come out to any shows that you are by (or you can drive very far if you want to).  If you do stop by come up and say hello, we always love talking to you guys.  

Sat, August 2, 2008	8:30 pm	The Auburn Alehouse	Auburn, Ca
Tues, August 5, 2008	7:30 pm	Basement Wines Open Mic	Colfax, Ca
FRIDAY, August 8, 2008	8:00 pm	Cooper's Ale Works w/ Silver Service	Nevada City, Ca
Tues, August 12, 2008	7:30 pm	Basement Wines Open Mic	Colfax, Ca
Thu, August 21, 2008	8:00 pm	Chief Crazy Horse Inn	Nevada City, Ca
Sat, August 23, 2008	TBA	Visalia Oak Ballpark	Visalia, Ca
Sat, August 23, 2008	9:00 pm	The Cellar Door	Visalia, Ca
Sun, August 24, 2008	7:00 pm	The Journey w/ Sidecar	Visalia, Ca

KVMR

A couple of months ago we were invited to play on public radio station KVMR 89.5 out of Nevada City, Ca with Walking Larry.  When we got there, Larry had forgotten.  He is in the middle of remodeling his house so he is extremely busy.  Lucky for us he had nothing else really planned so he was willing to slide us in anyway.  

We talking about recording a new album, our shows at Auburn Alehouse tonight and Coopers on friday.  While we were there we also played two songs:  Avery's Choice II and Rebekah's Song.  Larry is a huge fan and a great guy so a good time is always promised when we go in and see him.  He recorded the show so hopefully we will be able to get a copy of it this time and post it on here and our website so you all can hear the show.

testing testing.....

I am trying out some new stuff so pay no attention to this.

Save the Date

Good Things

So I went up to Adrian and Joell's pad yesterday to begin recording. Let me tell you, wow! This is going to be the most fun of any project I've ever done. We're experimenting with a new kind of recording method. Basically, we're recording hip percussive sounds and stringing them together in loops to create our drum kit. It's blowing my mind at how fun it's turning out. Our aim is to have ten tunes completely mixed, mastered, pressed and ready to sell by the end of September. That means I've got to get on the proverbial horse. Gotta go! Peace, hope and love- Nate

Just a Friendly reminder ;)

Elm Avenue Starbucks

Here are some pictures from our show last Saturday night at Elm Avenue Starbucks.  It was a great show, very relaxed environment, and a good crowd.  Plus free coffee for us!  Woohoo.  

I probably shouldn't say this but I tried their new smoothies called vivano or something like that and they aren't good.  Sorry Starbucks but it reminded me of a smoothie that I make and get disappointed because it doesn't have enough flavor.  Not what I expected.

Anyway here are a couple of photos of the good times that you missed.  Next time you shouldn't miss them.  For those of you who graced us with your presence, thanks!

Free Music... again!

If you have not heard Phil Wickham you should, and here is your chance to do that for free. On the release date of his latest live album, he will be giving it away for free. The catch is that you have to go to his blog on that day, not really a catch just a time and a place. Conveniently, you only need a computer and the internet, which if you are reading this you have access to both. So once again on 8/8/08 go here and get good free music. "Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!"

P.S. You can hear a sample if you go there now!

Kyle and The Pump

When we were down in the California Central Valley a couple of months back, Kyle took out his gas-price-frustrations on the pump itself. Actually, he'd just forgotten to put the nozzle back when he'd finished pumping. It was pretty funny. Especially after the attendant told us, "it happens all the time."

- Nate

Open Mic Night

I completely forgot to mention that since we are home we will be hosting the open mic night at Basement Wines (Colfax, Ca) this and every Tuesday at 7:30.  So spread the word.  This is a good opportunity to grow your on stage talent, try out some new music, play because you love it, jam with fellow musicians, etc.  So we hope to see you out there.

Home

To answer a few emails all at once:  we are all finally home, safe and sound.  Thanks for those who were hoping and praying for safe journeys.  You will have to asked Nathan for his portion of the trip, perhaps I will even be able to convince him to share some of the trips more interesting moments.

We are excited to be back in the area playing shows, make sure to check out our calendar and swing by a live show.  Our first show will be this Saturday at Elm Avenue Starbucks (Auburn, Ca) with Walter Bere.  It is sure to be a good show, Walter is a very talented musician and I am looking forward to seeing him live. 

We are also extremely excited to begin aarecording our next project this week.  We are driving up to Adriene and Joelle's place and are going to try out some very organic ways of recording.  For those of you who don't know what I mean (don't worry I really don't either), instead of adding reverb or echo we are going to find places with natural reverb or echo and recording in that space.  That is the idea and I am sure that it will progress when we are there "playing around."  I will let you know how it goes, and will hopefully have a small sample that I can let you guys hear.

Until later...

Link Love

I must apologize.  We have had this blog for a little while now and I just realized that I have never really taken the time to link people who read this blog and/or people who link to us.  So if that is you.... send me a comment saying "hey, link me."  And in that comment sent me your address so I can link you.  I would love to read all of your blogs out there, but I can't do that if I don't know you are here.  So go forth and spread the link love.

Kyle Ray

What do you think?

Positive Post Tuesday

The people over at Cedar Grove Baptist Church are simply amazing.  We playing a show there last Wednesday night.  First of all everybody there made us feel completely loved and made us feel like the place was ours.  If there was something that we wanted to use that was fine.  Also, someone bought us all drinks from the coffee bar.  We didn't even ask for anything it was just given.  Then to top it all off, I just got a letter from someone at the church, it was unsigned, thanking us for coming out. Inside the envelope was $40 for gas money.  We were truly blessed by the warmth that was extended toward us, and I can imagine a new comer to church in general would truly feel the love of Christ when they walk through those doors.  Thanks to the folks over at Cedar Grove for extending that love to us.

Music You Haven't Heard

So I am ripping this idea off of this guy.  But I think that it is a good idea to highlight some good music that is out there.  However, I don't have a lot of time to find tons of new music that is not main stream, but I will do my best.

Five O'clock People:  For a long time this band found there way into my CD player.  Several years ago they broke up and went a few different directions.  Well they are now back and I finally received their latest CD Temper Temper.  Once again they seem to be finding themselves in my CD player.

Derek Webb:  Caedmon's Call has long been one of my favorite bands.  When Derek Webb left I was excited to hear what he would be doing.  At first I loved his work, then he sort of went a bit out there.  Musically it was still good, but lyrically it was angry and I just couldn't get into it.  Thanks to this site, I was able to get "The Ringing Bell", and I love it.  

Coldplay:  I know that you have all heard of Coldplay, but I never been a huge fan.  I think that all of their music sounded exactly the same.  A good first CD but then they wrote the same song for the next two albums.  (I know boo, how could I think that).  Then they decided, we need to make a change to show that we are good musicians and good writers.  I my mind they proved just that with their latest album "Viva La Vida."  I spent much of my time listening to this album in Kentucky and loved the music.  I am going to pick up this album sometime soon.

Kyle Ray

Ophelia's Cup: The End

The show at Ophelia's Cup was a blast like we thought it would be.  We playing for about 2 hours, pulling out some songs we haven't played in a while (which at times was painfully obvious for me), and some new favorites.  The crowd was extremely friendly and engaging.  Plus as a bonus a good friend we met on our last trip to Olney drove around seven hours to see us play.  So we were able to spend a little time catching up.  On a sad note, Jay and Tracy are selling the coffee shop to move to where Tracy was raised.  We are hoping they decide to open another shop where ever they end up.  They are such great people I know they would be successful.  

After the show we loaded up the R.V. and drove a couple of hours into St. Louis, MO.  I was dropped off at a hotel so I could catch my flight today.  The others are going to be in total vacation mode for the rest of the trip, stopping by Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and family along the way home.  My trip is almost over I am an hour away from boarding my last flight into Sacramento.  I am looking forward to playing some local shows and really buckle down and complete our full length album.

Kyle Ray

Ophelia's Cup, Olney, IL

We just got to Ophelia's Cup in Olney, IL and it is good to see some old friends again.  The owners, Jay and Tracy, are great people and they run a great coffee shop.  Both Jay and Tracy are friendly and a bit spunky.  The last time we came through with Soapbox Symphony they were gracious enough to let us stay in their houses (they were in the middle of moving and had two at the time).  The walls of the coffee shop are covered with wonderful artwork and the bathrooms are painted with great quotes ranging from famous authors to folks around the town.  They serve some amazing food, I recommend the Rubidouix Wrap.  (I think I spelled that right).  So if you even happen to be in Olney, IL be sure to look up Ophelia's Cup and be sure to tell Jay and Tracy that we said hi.

Cedar Grove Baptist Church

A good buddy Daniel Wilson moved out to Kentucky for Seminary and is now working at a Baptist Church in Shepardsville as the Youth/Music/Missionary directory/pastor.  They are leaving for a two week mission trip to Brazil on Saturday and were having a concert as a last get together for the church before the group left.  All of the people we met we nice folks and Daniel's wife made us some amazing taco soup, corn bread, and brownies.  Thanks to all of the people for the warm welcome and food!

The show went great.  We had a 45 min. set and were followed on stage by a girl by the name of Rachel Hurt.  She grew up in the church but recently moved to Nashville to continue her music career.  She was accompanied by multi-intramentalist Josh Brown who played piano, accordian, and electric guitar.  They were absolutely wonderful.  Rachel had an amazing voice and is a great songwriter.  She is currently working on her Debut album, but did have a sample CD which she graciously gave us a copy of.  I have not heard the CD yet, but I did give a listen to her myspace and the songs are just as good recorded as they were live.  Josh was equally talented.  His piano/accordian/guitar work was all excellent.  He is also the music director at a church in Elizabethtown so hopefully next time we are in the area we will be able to play a show for the folks at his church.  All in all, a good time.

Kyle Ray

Oscar's Piano Bar at Malones (Tuesday Night)

So I know that I promised you all that I would bring my camera and get some photos and maybe even some video.  I lied.  We got to jammin' and before I knew it, the show was over.  So there are no pictures or video, but I know that my literary expertise will paint the picture so well that actual photos will not be necessary.

Oscar's is basically an upscale bar with a grand piano in the corner that has a bar wrapped around the outside.  Pauly was at the piano with Nathan on his right and me on his left.  The night was filled with great people and mellow tunes.  The volumes on everything were just right, every instrument could be heard and nobody was overpoweringly loud.  The style was perfect for the venue.  

Overall the crowd was great.  People were very willing to tip us for the entertainment, and truly enjoyed listening to us play.  There was one couple that got into a little fight, which was a little awkward because they were sitting at the piano bar.  I will be blogging about that here.  Overall it has been one of the best shows on the tour.

After the show we went to The Waffle House, which is your typical greasy spoon diner.  We all got breakfast and agreed that the food hit the spot.  As well, it put me to sleep for the trip home.

Free Music

For those of you who read my blog, sorry this is going to be a bit redundant.  In fact I am just going to copy and paste the other post onto here...

This site was just launched today I believe, but it is a place to get music for free. Derek Webb has an album on there along with his wife and several other people that I have not heard of. But like I said the albums are free. You have two ways to do it...you can either tell three people about the album, by providing an email address, or you can pay what you want. There is a min of $1, but are you that cheap?  A very cool and cutting edge idea that you know you want to take part of.

Kyle Ray

Street Concert (Continued)

So I had the best of intentions of writing more about the street concert, then forgot and then was reminded, so here you go...

We played right after Nicki Gillis which was a tough act to follow.  There was a bit of a sound issue which was sort of frustrating because they wouldn't believe me that my cable and/or mandolin was not causes crazy amounts of static.  Eventually they realized that it couldn't be me causing the problem because I was not even plugged in.  Once that was figured out we got right to our set and in my opinion nailed it.  There is such great energy on stage in front of a few thousand people that everything seems to fall into place.  Maybe I just couldn't hear what we really sounded like, but we got some seemingly genuine great responses.  

Our set consisted of:  As Long As You Are With Me, A Great Fall, Cowboy Song, Love is a Dangerous Road, Walk the Line (a Johnny Cash cover), and Flagstaff Street Jam.  For flagstaff we invited Pauly's band up on stage with us.  They completely blew us away.  The song took on a completely different vibe, with Chris on guitar, Pete on drums, and Steven on bass.  Chris tore up a solo, which is to be expected, and Pete laid down quite the beat.  Steven is another one of those amazing musicians.  He throws down on a seven string bass and "had a bass solo that left everyone's jaw on the street."  We are truly blessed to be playing with such great talent.

Another artist I forgot to mention is Pat Kirtley.  Here is a little blurb about him that you can find on the Taylor guitar website

Selected as one of Acoustic Guitarmagazine's "30 essential new acoustic artists," Pat Kirtley is an important creator and interpreter of modern acoustic fingerstyle guitar. While Pat's original compositions and arrangements showcase the vitality of neo-traditional picking, he incorporates virtuosic technique, pop lyricism, deadpan wit, wistful balladry, and Irish/Celtic influences into a very contemporary-sounding repertoire. Pat has numerous well-received CD and video releases on Narada Media, Rounder, Vestapol Videos, and Mainstring Records. This National Fingerstyle Champion is currently touring and producing new guitar music, and presents workshops for selected Taylor dealers within his traveling schedule. 

Bearno's Pizza

The good folks at Bearno's Pizza in Bardstown, KY were generous to throw at after party for the street concert.  However, the street concert was over around 12:00 am so nobody was around or up for the party.  So on Monday night we decided to have the after party.  A small group of us went over and had some great pizza.  If you are ever near a Bearno's I suggest you stop in and get some pizza.  

After the "party" Pauly hosts an open mic night.  We stuck around for night of music, played several numbers and all together had a great time.  Sorry about lack of pictures or video, I brought Colette's little camera to use and forget to bring it every time we go somewhere worth taking photos.  Actually I just realized I am lying... I had the camera I just didn't realize it until right now.  oops.

Tonight we are heading out to Oscars Piano Bar in Lexington to do a little jamming with Pauly.   This time I will remember to take some photos and video.  I promise.

Zarb Brothers Annual Street Concert

This was the 6th Annual Street Concert and it was as fantastic as ever.  When Nathan Emmans and I were in the band Soapbox Symphony we had the great honor of playing the street concert three years on a row.  We were able to play with so many amazing musicians; people such as Tommy Emmanual, Matt Zarb, Pauly Zarb, Matt DeSpain, Chris Bradley, the list could go on for pages.  This year was not any different.  

This year there were 6 acts that played.  I will have to update this later when I get all the names but one amazing act was Nikki Gillis.  (She has a single at number 6 out in Australia).  Her manager is one of the Zarb Brothers so they were able to do some coordinating and bring her out for the street concert.  She plays a bit of mandolin and has a slight country edge to her music.  

Another musician that just blows my mind is Chris Bradley.  He is just a good old Kentucky boy that can play the electric guitar amazingly well.  As far as I know he does not do that much writing, though he does play with Pauly.  He has written one song that in my mind could very easily be a number 1 on the country charts.  The song is called "What a Wonderful Life" and it is beautiful.  I am going to try and get a copy of the song some how.  As far as I know he has never recorded the song.  If I can get it I will be sure to share the song with as many people as possible.  

Well the computer is about to die so I will have to continue this post later...

Kyle Ray

Bardstown, KY

We are finally here in Bardstown and preparations for the Bardstown Street Concert are well under way.  Today Nathan, Pauly, Pete (pauly's drummer) and I went over to a radio station in Louisville to do a short interview to help promote the street concert.  Pauly did the talking but we did get to jam on Flagstaff and one of Pauly's songs (my mind is going blank on which song).  After the interview, we came home got some food and we are now beginning rehearsals for the show tomorrow.  So far Pauly and his band are kicking some tail.  As always.  This show is going to be amazing.  If you happen to be in the area of Bardstown, KY, I would highly recommend coming out to the show which starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 6:00 PM until Midnight.  

Kyle Ray

Lost Baggage

After flying all night and sleeping about two hours,  (The guy sitting next to me was on his computer all night which felt like a flashlight in my face not letting me sleep), I finally landed in Louisville, KY.  I was ready to grab my bag and go get some food and then go to sleep, but my bag was nowhere to be found.  So I went over to the baggage counter, was tired enough to mistake United with US but eventually got a claim filled out and was on my way.  Not really worrying about my bag because they deliver my lost bag to where I am staying I went about my day.  On the way to a radio interview I got a call from the delivery driver.  "Did I give you the wrong bag?" I had to explain to him that when he dropped it off I wasn't there so I was I going to know.  Then I also gave him the idea of looking at the bag he had in the car, if it was mine then he hadn't given me mine.  Turns out that  he had dropped off the wrong bag, but all is well I have my suit case back and nothing is missing.

Kyle Ray 

P.S. If any of this doesn't make sense, I am still working on only a couple hours sleep.

Big Texan Steakhouse

So Texas is pretty fun. Shortly after getting into Amarillo, we went out to Big Texan Steakhouse; which, apparently, is "famous for steaks." They say if you can eat a 72 ounce steak along with all its' accouterments (baked potato, four breaded shrimp, side salad and a roll) inside an hour, it's free. Otherwise it'll run you $72. So Dave (Jess' Dad) told me if I didn't try it I was "all hat and no cattle." He's always saying strange things like that. A couple of kids from Sacramento were trying it when we were getting ready to leave. They had about fifteen minutes left and it looked like they hadn't even started. The normal sized steak I had was awesome though. Hope all is well with ya'll (a little Texas slipping in you know). We're playing a hip little club called The 806 tonight. I'll tell you how it went later.

Peace, hope and love- Nathan J. Emmans

Texas Somewhere

We’re somewhere in Texas, just over the border of New Mexico. The wind is pushing our RV around the road like it thinks we’re a tumble weed (can’t talk about Texas and not add a tumble weed reference). Our RV is literally falling apart around us. This is only day four and already twice that many things have busted around our “affordable” ride. We’ve affectionately named it Bertha the Whistling Whale Guppy (BWWG); which, to be honest, I really don’t know why except for the obvious fact that it whistles. That, and the fact that it gives one the distinct impression of driving in some kind of strange hybrid between a piece of Tupperware and one of those cheap particle board book shelves you get from K-mart and build yourself.

Our show at Wildwood Sounds in Southern Colorado had to be canceled (Which was a huge bummer ‘cause we absolutely love playing their. In fact, it’s one of my favorite venues our here). But we managed to call our buddies Scott and Angie out at San Luis Valley Brewing Company, in Alamosa Colorado and they hooked us up with a show last night. It was a great show.

We met some friends of a friend as well. Special thanks to John and Sandy Varner who let us park BWWG on their farm last night. John even let me take his truck into town so we didn’t have to try and find a parking spot for the BWWG. Good people the Varners are. Ok, I’d better go. I’m starting to sound like Yoda. Peace, hope and love- Nate

On the Road

Nathan and Jess have started the first leg of the tour. They took off yesterday and plans have changed already. You may have noticed that our show at Wild Wood Sounds was cancelled. Bit of a shame as it is a very cool venue run by very cool people, but some thing aren't meant to work out. They have been able to pick up another show on Saturday at the San Luis Valley Brewing Company. They will be starting around 8:30 pm and rocking till the around 11:00 pm. If you live in the area go check them out!

A Little Tour... Open Mic

Some of you may know that we are going to be gone the next few weeks playing some shows around the country. We are super excited about getting back to the midwest and seeing some dear friends. Nathan and Jess will be driving out starting tomorrow morning, of course we wish them the best of travel mercies. I (kyle) will be flying out in about a week.

As excited as we are this means that we will be missing out on the weekly open mic night at Basement Wines. We will miss the good times, but do not think that the good time and good music will stop. The next few weeks will be covered by Rich from Lucky Lei (and probably more members will make the journey) and Adrienne (sorry if I misspelled that) and Joelle of Silver Service will also be covering a week. Thanks to the people covering for us in our absence and I hope that you all go out and support the music while we are gone.

Be sure to check back here as we will be blogging about our adventures on tour.

Kyle Ray

New Photos

I just wanted to let all you peoples know that I just put up a bunch of new photos over on our flickr account. They are of the Basement Wines Open Mic that we host. Which is tomorrow, by the way. So if you don't have any plans or you are looking for a way to spend the night, come out and enjoy the show or play a couple of tunes yourself. We look forward to seeing you there!

Kyle Ray

Honest Grandmas

I love family. These are the people that love and support you no matter what, right? I mean, if no one else in the entire world believes in you, they will. My family has been notoriously supportive of me and my music from day one. They're always going out of their way to make it to shows and tell all their buddies about us as well. Sometimes they're almost overly zealous. Sometimes... not.

Last week we finished up a little tour down in the central valley and got in real late. The next morning, Jess and I straggled up to Lake Tahoe for my Uncle Randy's wedding. It was great fun hanging out and talking golf with all my lawyer cousins. The conversation turned from golf to music and, inevitably, to American Idol. (Jess and I are always having people tell us to audition for that show) That's when my Grandma walked up. "Oh no!" she said. "Nathan doesn't have a strong enough voice for that." The conversation abruptly stopped and everyone found an excuse to walk away. I know I don't have an American Idol voice, but I didn't know my Grandma knew it too.

Peace, hope and love- Nathan J.

Open Mic Night

If you were not at the last open mic at Basement Wines you missed out on a great time. There were numerous incredibly talented musicians who came out to share their talents with any who would listen. I am terrible with names so I won't even try, but the we started of the night with a couple of tunes and were followed by a country duo. They consisted of guitar/singer and a dobro player. The singer had been there a few weeks ago and I was excited to hear him play again. I was not disappointed in the least bit. He plays an old time country style which the dobro fit in perfectly. Next Bill got up to play and he can play the guitar remarkably well. The night also featured a guitar player, a girl singing some covers, an impromtu (sp?) blues jam, and then we closed the night off with a set of dance tunes.

I am super excited at how well the open mic is already doing. At our third week, we are already getting a name for a fun place to come and play, as well as a great place to listen to some truly incredible music. I hope that we can keep up the good times. So if you have not been able to make it out to the Open Mic Night at Basement Wines, you should.

Kyle Ray

p.s. next week I will remember to bring my camera and maybe even get some videos so you can see what you are missing.

Auburn Street Fair

I got a call from Nathan the other day saying that he had a show at the Auburn Street Fair on Sunday. I told him that I would put it up on the website and all of that exciting stuff. As I understood it, he was going to be playing the show by himself so Colette and I planned on continuing our move to Rocklin. Before we could start though we had to meet some friends in Auburn and figured that we would stop by to say hi to Nathan and Jess since we were there. When we found where he was playing i noticed two extra mics set up and realized that he was expecting me to be there as well. I felt bad, he had been trying call me (I was at church) and couldn't figure out why I didn't show up. Oops, I guess next time I will be there.

Kyle Ray

Chief Crazy Horse Inn

Thanks to all the folks that made it out to our show last Thursday at the Chief Crazy Horse Inn. As always, we had a great time and look forward to our next show there on the 21st of August. In the meantime we will be at the Old Town Auburn Street Fair tomorrow from 11-2 pm. We are also at Basement Wines in Colfax every Tuesday night from 7 pm till closing. Come have some good wine and catch some of our new tunes and pick up our new CD if you haven't already.

Kyle Ray

p.s. check out Basement Wines new website, it looks dandy.

Open Mic Night

Last Tuesday was the first open mic night of many to come. We are really excited about this event and expect it to become a great time for all people involved. Whether people are performing or just sitting back and relaxing, it is a great place to hang out (plus they have free Wi-Fi).

This last event we did a few sets: one to start the evening, one to close and we were joined by "William Day" in the middle of the evening. We performed Flagstaff Street Jam and another song I can't remember and let me tell you the man can seriously throw down on guitar. He never ceases to amaze me. The crowd was also graced by the performance of a man named Jim who sang us a couple of cowboy tunes. A great singer/songwriter which I am looking forward to hearing this next week. I would recommend coming out and hearing this man perform this next week.

So with that said come out share some music or sit back relax and enjoy the show.

KVMR

We wanted to send a big thank you again to "Walking Larry" from KVMR, for having us on the air last Saturday. As always, we had a blast hanging out with him, chatting and playing a few tunes. Thanks to Colette as well, for walking around with our little Rosebud when she got restless.
And hey, Happy Cinco De Mayo to all!
:)
~Jess

On the Radio

Saturday morning we went over to see our good friend Walking Larry on KVMR, a great listener supported radio station out of Nevada City. We were set to go on the air at 9:15 am so we got there around 9:00 to catch up and get ready for the show. We brought KVMR and Walking Larry our new CD, which he will hopefully give some airtime.

Once on air we played several tunes that we are hoping to put on our next album. Of course we did some talking, mostly about life in general, but we were also able to steer the conversation around song writing and recording. Larry also gave us the opportunity to plug our next show at Chief Crazy Horse on May 15, and an open mic night we will be hosting for Basement Wines every Tuesday at 7:30. We will have more to share on that later, but the event will be kicking off this Tuesday at 7:30 at Basement Wines in Colfax.

All in all, we had a great time hanging out with Larry and can't wait to do it again. We took some pictures which we will get on here soon...until then...

Kyle Ray

Ying

It is fun to sing
if you sing with a Ying.
My Ying can sing
like anything.

I sing high
and my Ying sings low,
and we are not too bad,
you know.

-Dr. Seuss

:) Happy thought for the day.
~Jess

New Photos

Just wanted to let you all know that I finally got photos up from Revolution Wines on April 12, 2008. You can either go here or to our myspace to see the photos. We hope that you like them.

Kyle Ray

Some Kind of Different

So, Kyle and I were talking the other day about the next project. We didn't get some of the equipment we wanted to before starting it so we hadn't really done much more than plan it. I guess you can pretty much postpone things indefinitely sometimes. We didn't want to do that.

My brother (who's always been one of my biggest fans as well as my golfing buddy)said the biggest problem he had with "an acoustic prologue" was that it was too short. I agree. At the same time, when we were playing with Soapbox, sometimes it would take up to a year AFTER we'd finished recording just to release an album. We didn't want to do that either.

So, like I was saying, Kyle and I were talking the other day about the next project. We decided it was probably best to start recording it right away. It will be another short project, probably no more than seven tunes; but, definitely a little bit of a longer listen than the prologue. Also this next one's gonna have some interesting instrumentation. Definitely more mandolin and various percussive acoutriments from Kyle; and, basically, whatever is laying around our houses will probably make its' way into the mix. Jess is gonna be singing one of her songs as well, a beautiful tune called The One I Love. I'm really looking forward to making it and I hope ya'll will enjoy the listening as much as we do the making. Peace, hope and love-
Nathan J. Emmans

Revolution Wines

Thanks to all of those that made it out to our show at Revolution Wines last Saturday. Those there enjoyed some great wine, baked potatoes, the artwork of Jennifer Cimaglio, great music, and of course great companionship. Personally, I had a great time at the concert. It was great to get back on the stage and to be playing with The Art of Whimsy again. As well, it was good to see some close family and friends, and to hang out with them.

We look forward to playing at Revolution Wines again in the near future. I would recommend coming out the next time we have a show; a good time was had by all.

Kyle Ray

Cancelled Shows

Just wanted to let you guys know that the shows at Dos Banditos have been cancelled. The owners have decided to put a hold on shows Thursday night. So go and get some amazing food, but we will not be there playing music. If you went to the show on last Thursday, we apologize that we were not there.

We are playing tomorrow (Saturday the 12th) at Revolution Wines in Sacramento. They are having a wine tasting and appetizers for the Second Saturday Art Walk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Upcoming shows

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that we have a show this

Thursday (April 10th) at 8:00 PM at Dos Banditos. So come out for some good music and equally impressive mexican food.

Saturday (April 12th) at 6:00 PM at Revolution Wines. We are playing for the Second Saturday Art Walk. Come out check out some art, wine, and music.

Kyle Ray

SNOCAP

An Acoustic Prologue is now for sale online through SNOCAP. The CD will cost you $6.99, or you can come to a show and pick up the CD for $5.00. The choice is yours. I know what I would do. Blogger won't let me post the store here, but if you click here or the post title you can get to the store.

If you buy the cd and want to see the art work let me know and I will send it out to you...

Kyle Ray

The Jordan Emmans Band

OK everybody, you've got to check out my big brother's new album. I grew up playing guitar in Jordan's shadow; let me tell you, he's a munster and this new project is no exception! Some of you know that my oldest brother has been living out in South Korea for the last couple of years. Soon after he was out there, he met up with a kickin' Canadian bassist and a British drummer. Last year, when my other two brothers and I went out to South Korea to see Jordan and bum around in the East for a bit, I had the opportunity to play a show with these guys. They rocked!!! The enire bar was up and dancing.

Brave These Waters, the first of (hopefully) many projects to come, is a confluence of memorable melodies and meaningful lyrics. Straying from Jordan's folk roots, The Jordan Emmans Band comes across at times reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World ,or maybe even a lighter Foo Fighters. I've always loved my brothers consistent song-writing integrity. He's always spent a load of time wrestling with things before allowing the struggle to birth a new tune. Each song is a work of art, relevant and insightful. So go click on the title of this post and check out the four new tunes he's got posted on their myspace. And do me a favor, when you drop him a comment, let him know I said "hi."
Peace, hope and love-Nathan J. Emmans


"love is like a fire that'll burn your house down." -from "Feathers," off Brave These Waters

May the Lord have mercy on your twisted soul

So, about a month and a half ago, I received an email from some guy who'd found us on craigslist. He was from the UK and wanted us to play at his wedding in Florida. So we shot emails back and forth for about a week. He'd ask how much our fee was, I'd answer him and ask my own questions ("do you want us to play the wedding march?" etc.); he'd ignore my questions and repeat his question. This went on for at least five or six times. Finally, thinking he might not be "all there" or whatever, I told him (for the seventh time) our fee. I didn't hear from him again until today when I read his latest email. Basically, it stated that his banker had made the mistake of combining our fee and the caterer's fee in one check and sent it off to us. He said, with the check there would be a letter with instructions on what to do next. The funny thing was, no sooner had I sent him a reply (saying things like, "thanks for wasting my time" and, "may God have mercy on your twisted soul.")then UPS rang the doorbell. Of course it was a package with a very large check and a letter. Now my question is, what do you do with things like this? Does the FBI have a hot line or something? Poor guy, I almost feel bad for someone who's that morally depraved.

peace, hope and love- Nathan J. Emmans


"Good Lord, I'm crooked deep down! Everybody's crooked deep down." -Derek Webb

Growing up

Growing up an avid hater of all things having to do with zucchini and the like (i.e., squash), as a child I often sat in protest in front of a bowl of the stuff at the dinner table long after everyone else was through. During the Summer of ’06 I had the opportunity to go on tour with Nathan and the 'ol Soapbox gang. Part of the tour landed us in Colorado, where we stayed at Taylor's, a beautiful family with six children at the time (not that they necessarily have more now, we unfortunately haven‘t been in touch with them since). To help feed so many mouths, Duane and Noelle Taylor were part of a farm co-op where they go to a farm and work so many times a month and pay some sum of money monthly and get TONS of vegetables. They were literally washing basketfuls of the stuff in a kiddy pool when they got back from the farm. Obviously dinner there was phenomenal and tasty, and then out came dessert. Squash Brownies. I am continually trying to get over fears (yes, squash kind of scared me), so I decided to go ahead and try them. Oh my goodness they were amazing! I was so blown away by the fact that something so seemingly evil as zucchini (and all its kind) could be so tasty. Also, I was very proud of overcoming such a big obstacle as my childhood loathing…I felt like I had grown up. Anyway, here’s the recipe, for all of you squash lovers out there…or squash haters who want to grow up too.

½ cup butter (or margarine)
½ cup cooking oil
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp. Vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup cocoa
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups grated squash
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate morsels

In a large mixing bowl cream butter, oil and sugar.
Beat in eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, then gradually stir dry ingredients into liquid mixture.
Stir in grated squash.
Pour batter into greased baking pan. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate morsels.
Bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven for 25-35 minutes.
Cut into squares when cool.

Enjoy! If anyone has any worthwhile recipes, feel free to send them on over our way. I absolutely love to bake, though I don’t really excel at cooking healthy, substantial meals (good thing Nathan does). We’re going to be out on tour across the states again this Summer, and I plan on asking people along the way for more yummy recipes as well.

~Jessica

A Friend of Eli

What defines who you are? I’m actually real curious to see what list of properties you can come up with that, the sum of which, would equal you. These days a number of human properties that once might have seemed unalterable (eye color, facial features… gender even) are easily changed. I think we probably all know people (or are people)who go through styles and looks like they’re going, well, out of style. Even with all these exterior changes, we still remain who we are essentially. Which brings me back to my original query: what defines who you are? I believe a certain part of who we are is who we choose to be. See, I don’t choose to be six foot one; but, I do choose to be a Christian. Nor did I make the conscious decision to have my parents (or, rather, them have me... you know what I mean); however, I did choose to be friends with this little guy with a limp back in 6th grade. Since then, I’ve made the decision daily to be who I am in that respect, a friend of Eli. Maybe it’s a little silly to simplify the “deep things” to this extent. I don’t know. I just think some of those questions that we all ask ourselves, (or are prompted to ask by some meddling bloggers’ curiosity… incidentally, isn’t “meddling” a great word? Let’s all try and use that word at least five times today. I’m already at two!) are a lot simpler to come to grips with than we might think. Think about it. Go ahead and write me a list of properties or characteristic qualities that you have that make you who you are. Then, think about how many of those do you have somewhat control over? Then, maybe I'll meddle (3) with your various lists and write about that. Peace, hope and love -Nathan J. Emmans

Call it Blue

I am happily married to an amazingly sweet, understanding and beautiful girl named Jess. I'm also a daddy of a cute little girl named Cadence Rose; who's got, quite possibly the most effective, infectious smile I do believe there can be. I suppose I'm pretty healthy. I'm not "in shape" by any means. And you sure won't see me working out or jogging or anything crazy like that. But I'm not dying of any disease either, at least, not that I know of. So I'm pretty well off I guess. Blessed, if you will. Happy, content, however you'd like to say it. All that being said, I don‘t mind admitting that, despite all the properties of my content life, I still get down. There are those times when, for no good reason, I am completely overwhelmed with sadness. I don't know why, I just do. In the evangelical milieu I was raised in, being sad was looked down upon. Not that it was necessarily preached against from the pulpit; you'd just never admit it to others that things weren't ok. It was something you didn't tell other people about, the dark secret you hide behind pretty smiles. To be sad was almost like a sin. And I suppose there may be times when that is the case. My mom used to say that, just as your body tells you when you should eat, your spirit will tell you when you've deprived it of spiritual food. But then what about those whoes lives seem to be a perpetual spiritual feast? What of St. John of the Cross and his “Dark Night of the Soul.” What of the blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta? St. Teresa of Lisieux had a nameless sadness come over her as well. She described it as slipping into darkness. And what of me and my friends? Is it ok to be sad sometimes? What are we to do if we find ourselves or another “slipping into the darkness?” And yet, to be strangely still in, what Christianity (indeed, Christ himself) calls, “the light?” Some theologians suggest that the “Dark Night of the Soul” is just a step closer to God ‘though it may feel as though one has been abandoned by God. I certainly don’t claim to be any kind of a theologian; but I do believe that it’s ok to be sad sometimes. It may not be normal… but then again, things haven’t really been normal since Eden. The last thing I need when I’m down is someone trying to “fix me.” I’m never anymore broken than I always am. No amount of “just give it to God brother” is going to straighten that out. That’s not to say we don’t need each other. On the contrary, I am reminded of the love of God for me more often than not by my friends and family just being there. But the constant antidotes for the soul are just no good. Sometimes you’ve just got to be blue for awhile.

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”
- St. Augustine

an acoustic prologue

It has arrived. The long awaited album, by The Art of Whimsy. Yeah, I suppose it's not really an album per se. I'm not really sure what the new, hip name for a mini album is. EP, maybe... I think I heard somewhere that the kids are calling them "singles." At any rate, right before Christmas, Jess, Cadence and I piled into a plane and headed off to Hawaii to play some shows and spend some time with the folks. I holed myself up in an upstairs room for the first two and a half weeks with my new recording gear, learning the ins and outs of this new system. Every once and awhile I'd stumble downstairs for a diet Coke (It's really addicting that stuff. I think there's really cocaine in it.) or to brew another pot of coffee. At any rate, an acoustic prologue was more or less finished recording and shipped off to Dave Heydon shortly after the New Year and I finally got to go to step, pasty-white and blinking onto the sunny beaches of Oahu. The songs represented therein are good songs I think. They're songs that mean alot to me, songs that speak of things I think are important, things like honesty, friendship and keeping your promises. I hope you enjoy them. -Nathan