...Holiday artwork...

Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, I have chosen to participate in the holiday spirit by sharing some of my artwork that is inspired by the holidays and, more specifically, advent. Each year I try to create a card to send to friends and family. Over the next few weeks, I am going to post cards from the past few years. In my final post, I will share this year's creation and you can let me know what you think. Hopefully, these images will help spark anticipation and excitement for the celebration of this season.

...History Of Redemption- book and prints...

A friend of mine (the illustrious and ever-cool, Ron Babington) posted some info about this book on facebook. My attention was caught especially by the illustrations. It's interesting to see the ways people creatively express the story of their faith. I thought maybe some of you guys would be interested in checking it out. http://www.historyofredemption.org/

you are my flower

i can't stop listening to this song.  i absolutely love it.  a man i work with and assist has a fantastic classic country collection and i found this gem as a result.  this is a slightly different version in terms of instrumentation, but just as good, and you gotta love the old footage.  stuff like this makes me pround to be an american - classic country is precious.

Beautiful Abstract and Expressionism

I love this Bible. I ended up ordering some for our kids. It dawned on me one Sunday that girls usually have cooler, more decorative Bibles than we do. I was like, "Why don't guys have artistic Bibles" so I started looking for some. I found these. My bank had to wire London to get them but it was definitely worth it.

http://www.wtlbiblepublications.com/

Blue Canvas

So I was reading this art magazine, Blue Canvas, and noticed that during an interview they asked some really neat questions. I thought I'd share them with you fellow artists and see what responses might pop up.
1. If you had a choice from any artist that has ever lived, who would you choose to sit down and have a conversation with?

2. What is your favorite movie of all time? Why?

3. If I had special powers they would be...

4. The world would be better if...

5. I'm addicted to...

6. When I have a creative block I...

7. Growing up I...

Have fun with this. We may actually inspire one another with our answers.

Oh, also check out my blog Lightning Rod and The Conduits. Pretty fun stuff: http://lightningrodconduit.blogspot.com/

...A Mix of BlackForrestry: Lite-ly Fall...

Here's a mix of some of the stuff that I've been listening to lately- folksy stuff from the 1960's and 70's. Listen to it here or download it as individual tracks with the mediafire link, burn a cd, and check it out while you travel to your Thanksgiving festivities. They'll be a couple more mixes of this variety popping up in the near future. And remember, if there's something that catches your ear, keep your eyes open for it at your local record shop and pick up a hard copy of it...enjoy!!!

"A Mix of BlackForrestry: Lite-ly Fall"

01. Heron- "Car Crash"
02. Bill Fay- "I Hear You Calling"
03. Marc Brierley- "The Answer Is"
04. Bob Desper- "Dry Up Those Tears"
05. Anne Briggs- "The Time Has Come"
06. John Fischer- "The Cold Cathedral"
07. Jim Schoenfeld- "Before"
08. Jeffrey Cain- "For You"
09. David Hemmings- "After The Rain"
10. Jim Sullivan- "So Natural"
11. Skip Spence- "Little Hands"
12. Billy Nicholls- "It Brings Me Down"
13. Chris Britton- "Why Did I Let You Go"
14. Ted Lucas- "Plain And Sane And Simple Melody"
15. Michael Yonkers- "The Day of Jubilee"
16. Ben Atkins- "That Brings Me Down"
17. Alexis Korner- "Sunrise"
18. Jackson C Frank- "Milk And Honey"
19. Duncan Browne- "Final Asylum"
20. Susan Christie- "Rainy Day"
21. Linda Perhacs- "Hey, Who Really Cares"
22. Wendy & Bonnie- "By The Sea"

http://www.mediafire.com/?291fn7j1hea2tc3

mixcloud: fluid radio

i've been meaning to look into this "mixcloud" business for a while now. i come across there widgets on certain blogs and am always impressed with what i see & hear. i'm still reading up on the details, but basically it's a place on the web where poeple can create a radio station that plays full, uninterupted radio shows that people can stream (not download). these are basically mixtapes and they can be embedded on blogs and elsewhere in the form of some pretty nifty widgets as seen below. Fluid Radio is one mixcloud radio station with many dj's making radioshows/mixes. Everything i've come across of theirs so far has been really good - a good blend of ambient stuff & folk stuff for the most part. i've been listening to both lately, so three cheers for Fluid Radio! This is a very chill, folk driven mix i was listening to for the first time this morning & it sounds great. It's from a dj/musician by the name of Nils Frahm. if you like this Sibylle Baier tune i'll be including it on a forthcoming mix that i've been intending to put up for some time now. enjoy. doug

www.mixcloud.com ~ www.mixcloud.com/FluidRadio

...{the end is at hand}-{Jesus music, vol. 1}...

If you enjoy rare, psychedelic music...or if you enjoy "Jesus Music"...or if, like me (& Doug), you can get down with both, then, boy oh boy, do we have a post for you.

You may not know it, but Doug and I have been brewing up this little treat for a while. In our never-ending search through music of all types, but especially psychedelic and folk music, we kept bumping into these great, almost unheard of records- albums from the Jesus People Movement of the 1960's and 70's. Although some of the tunes from that movement may have had a cheesy quality to them, there's some really interesting stuff that came out of that period and subculture as well. As much as Doug and I love making mixes, upon discussion, we realized that we had never made a comprehensive mix of songs from this category. So, we decided to work cooperatively to make this compilation for you to enjoy. If you have any interest in "outsider" music, then I think you'll find these tracks to be pretty engaging.

While putting this together, we discovered that we have a bunch more stuff to share, so this will be the first volume, with several more to follow sometime in the future. These posts are intended to turn people on to these obscure artists. If you like what you hear, feel free to check out the following link to support the artist by purchasing a recording: http://www.one-way.org/jesusmusic.

Also, keep your eyes peeled at your local record stores. Many labels are re-issuing rare, outsider, records, like these, as the interest in them increases. Let us know what you think. Dig? Want more........................... Get Volume 2...

...a collaboration between doug & josh...
(2 forty minute halfs combined to make a whole lotta goodness):


"The End Is At Hand pt.1"
Creation, Lord I saw You cry - Azitis (1971)
Almighty God - Wilson McKinley (1972)
Someone Who Cares - Gospelfolk (1969)
Come Into My Life - First Revelation (1974)
Spirit Move Me - Ray Lemay (1979?)
Jesus Is - 2nd Chapter of Acts (1972)
This Bird - Fraction (1971)
On Solid Rock - Out of Darkness (1970)
The Rapture - The Last Call of Shiloh (1972)
Second Best Friend - Infinity Plus Three (1971)

Get the entire 1st half of the mix at: http://www.mediafire.com/?1tbn387xkoh8bbt

"The End Is At Hand pt.2"
"A Love Song (Reprise)"- Love Song (1972)
"The Edges of His Ways"- Linda Rich (1969)
"Son of God"- Parchment (1972)
"Sailing On A River"- Glass Harp (1972)
"The Bible"- D R Hooker (1972)
"Pressed Down Shaken Together"- Pressed Down Shaken Together (1972)
"Kingdom"- Harvest Flight (1971)
"You And I"- Search Party (1968)
"All Across The Nation"- All Saved Freak Band (1979?)
"Will The Circle Be Unbroken"- U.S. Apple Corps. (1970)
"Romans 10:9"- Selha (1972)

Get the 2nd half of the mix as individual tracks at:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ek914debfleca3z

Give One Way Trip- Jesus Music Vol. 2 a listen

...Check out these interesting videos documenting some of the "Jesus Movement"...

since it's a coal mine

well, it took a bit longer than expected to get this tune recorded, mixed & mastered, but here it is in all of it's low fidelity glory. please give it a listen. and by all means, please comment, critique, offer suggestions, high points, low points, etc... this is our first recording for the album, and even this song can recieve some editing if necessary, so offer your input freely & know that ben & i will humbly consider any insights. this invitation is for anybody visiting this blog by the way, regardless of how you found your way here.

in reference to something i had alluded to in a previous post concerning this recording project: my long term hope is to start an online record label that focuses primarily on recordings and distributes it's music for free (digitally): complete albums, splits & possibly ep's. and though the music would be totally free to download, we would present the option for donation at any price with a suggested donation attached. each album would be connected to a particular cause, organization, person in need, ministry, etc... and the cause would be determined by the artists making the music. for instance, as an extention of the content of the album we're recording at the moment, our hope is to find a group that we feel akin to that focuses on mental health, suicide prevention & education and that sort of thing. my thought at the moment would be to have 75% of proceeds going to the cause and 25% going to the artists for things like instrument maintainence and upgrades as well as possibley putting their music on vinyl for further distribution, a candy bar maybe, and other things i haven't thought of just yet.

i also imagine the label becoming a network of musicians, a collective, available to collaborate with all other members from their homes via the web. like, i know i need a double bass player for a particular track, and i know that joe shmoe from siberia plays the double bass and is part of the collective, and so i contact him and see if he feels up to it. if he does...cool, if not...no sweat. that sort of thing.

there are many more thoughts and wild ideas churning around in my mind concerning this vision. i'll save them for another time, but wanted to germinate the seeds a bit for now. respond with thoughts & questions if you feel inspired. below is Be Thine Mountain's first official recording. hope you enjoy. doug

Since It's a Coal Mine - Be Thine Mountain

In Response to The Sunflower's Shame

Josh's work, especially the third picture down, made me think of a poem I wrote almost 10 years ago entitled "Knowing"

of my crawling days i cannot recall
i cannot remember when i began
or when i lost my sense of knowing

as if it were a sun exploding
and i was one who came to find
the fragments f l o a t i n g

but at least i am relieved in knowing
that no one has ever loved me
the way that You do

...HUEmility of AUTUMN/ PRIDE's FALL...

Down The Road

mind unraveling

(a peeling gorde)

a head turning

(like the flash of a sword)

getting caught in the traffic

(like dreams in a net)

horned frog hair

(mind like a t.v. set)

mind unraveling

and i plan to pick

up the pieces

somewhere further

down the road