ATHICA Mystery Triennial

Tomorrow night is the big opening for the inaugural ATHICA MYSTERY TRIENNIAL, a fundraising event for the ATHENS INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART. It's a veritable Who's Who of the Athens art scene with over 120 artists donating works for sale, all for the benefit of ATHICA. We will be in attendance as Missy will have three of her KINETIC WOOD PIECES for sale...a comprehensive (and impressive) list of participating artists can be found at the ATHICA website HERE. If you're anywhere in or near Athens, Georgia tomorrow, you won't want to miss this event...at the very least, you can view the exhibit for FREE, have a bit of a nosh, and rub shoulders with Athens' cognoscenti...

Folklore + Still Flyin' Mini Tour!

Hey all you North-Easterners! FOLKLORE (Athens/Philadelphia) and STILL FLYIN' (San Francisco) are doing a mini tour this weekend in your area and you should definitely go check them out...you will NOT be disappointed, guaranteed! They are playing dates in NYC, Boston, and Philly, so there are plenty of chances to catch them in action. I won't be playing trumpet with Folklore - Jimmy has since moved away from Athens to Philly and started a "northern version" of Folklore - nor will I be playing with Still Flyin', which I've also had the pleasure of playing trumpet with for a couple of shows and also recorded with, so this is doubly tragic for me to not be able to be there...but totally awesome for YOU, if you happen to be in the area:

Friday April 3rd - Brooklyn NY @ Union Hall www.unionhallny.com
Saturday April 4th - Boston MA @ PA's Lounge www.paslounge.com
Sunday April 5th - New York NY @ The Cake Shop www.cake-shop.com
Monday April 6th - Philadelphia PA @ Johnny Brenda's www.johnnybrendas.com

FOLKLORE is headed by Jimmy Hughes who runs BUMBLEBEAR RECORDS and who is also a current member of ELF POWER. STILL FLYIN' is a indiepop supergroup of sorts, which includes members of MASTERS OF THE HEMISPHERE, AISLER'S SET, POUNDSIGN, THE BRIGHT LIGHTS, RED PONY CLOCK, KISSING BOOK, LADYBUG TRANSISTOR and a few other bands I'm probably forgetting...so, if you go see Folklore and Still Flyin' play, it's kinda like seeing half-a-dozen bands for the price of two! Kinda, but not really. Anyways, go see them because they are a lot of fun live and quite a spectacle. You NEED THAT in your life, especially this weekend!

The Slow Rowboat! Tonight!

Tonight at the FLICKER THEATER & BAR in downtown Athens, starting at 9PM...our first public performance ever! We go on first!

Home Is Where The Heart Is

This Friday, tomorrow night, is the HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS art auction to benefit the Athens area HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WOMEN BUILD. The art auction is being held at the LYNDON HOUSE ARTS CENTER here in Athens, from 6pm to 8pm and is open to the public. If you're in town, please please please stop by, look at some art, maybe bid on some art, and learn a bit about HABITAT FOR HUMANITY and their cause.

Missy and I (along with about 30 other local artists) are participating in the event. Each artist was given a wooden silhouette of a house to decorate based around the theme of "home is where the heart is". Last year's auction (which was also their very first auction) raised over $3000, and we're hoping to top that this year. We participated in last year's auction which was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to tomorrow night.

This is the house I decorated last year with felt:



And this is the house I decorated for tomorrow's auction. Once again, I wanted to use felt in some way:



I used these sliced up pieces of tree branches from our backyard. Last year, Missy's dad had cut up some fallen tree limbs into these sections. We had been saving them for some sort of project. I took some of those slices and hot glued them to the wood base. Afterwards, I made a little paper template that I used to cut these little house silhouettes out of stiff felt:







I punched hearts out of the middle of each felt house. Then, I carved out slits in some of the bigger wood slices that I could slip the houses into, after applying a bit of hot glue to the bottom edges:





Again, I used my heart-shaped hole punch, and punched out little red hearts from stiff felt, which I popped into the centers of each house. Then, I strung them all together with red thread. I used twigs to make miniature trees:







The piece is called "A Community Was Here Once Before"...now, here's where I get "deep like purple"...I used the house as a base rather than a canvas because I wanted to play around with the notion of the house or home being the foundation for community. The little white houses are actually "ghost houses", and they represent a community that was there once before but is actually no longer there for whatever reason (natural disaster, economic disaster, etc.). The little neighborhood is actually a ghost town. Maybe it's a neighborhood destroyed by fire or flood. Maybe it's a neighborhood that disintegrated because of foreclosure or maybe it was a neighborhood that was only half-way built. Maybe it's a neighborhood destroyed by economic hardship. Or gentrification. Also in the mix is the notion of an ecosystem being destroyed in order to make room for another ecosystem. Forests are cleared to make way for "land development"; trees are cut down to make the planks of wood that are used to build these houses - each house seems to emerge from each of their woody bases, as if they were carved out of the wood...

Anyways...come on out tomorrow night if you can and check out all the different ways these houses were decorated. Buy some unique art and support a worthy cause!

Folklore Encore

ELF POWER are back in town having completed the first leg of their tour, and, since Jimmy's back in town, FOLKLORE decided to do an encore performance of our tribute to the KINKS and their concept album, "The Village Green Preservation Society". Show is this Tuesday night at the fabulous 40 WATT here in downtown Athens, Georgia. We'll be performing with HAM 1, who have been touring with Elf Power, and Athens' awesomely left-field hip-hop group FUTURE APE TAPES. Oh Yes. It's gonna be a terrific show. Believe that! So, come have some drinks, hang out with your friends, and come say "good bye" to us one last time.

All In The Family

HEY-ho!

For those of you who didn't quite get their fill of bands at Athfest this past weekend, here's your chance to see even MORE of 'em! It's gonna be us, THE FRENCH TOASTS, kickin' toy piano pop tunes up against your eardrums; our buddies, GEMINI CRICKET, doing doodlee-bop tap dances on yer heart; and all the way out from the LBC - from Long Beach, California - is your new favorite band, FAMILY TREE, thrilling you with heartfelt, K-style, lo-fi spasms of love, longing, and loss...the show is going to be great! So, come downtown to the FLICKER THEATER & BAR around 8:30-9pm, have a few beers, see a couple of local bands do what we do like we do here in Athens, and come support a visiting band that's working hard to entertain a handful of folks in every city they visit between these golden west and east coasts.

Let's all celebrate Hump Day together, shall we?

8:30-9pm at FLICKER THEATER & BAR, in downtown Athens, Georgia - THE FRENCH TOASTS, GEMINI CRICKET, and FAMILY TREE...ya heard!

Folklore Are The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society

REMINDER! Tonight, FOLKLORE will be performing the KINKS' concept album, "VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY" at the GEORGIA THEATER in downtown Athens, Georgia, as part of the ATHFEST activities...this is especially special because it will probably be our last show forever, for real...plus, we'll be sharing the bill with ELF POWER! (Jimmy, our band leader in Folklore also plays guitar in Elf Power). So, come on out tonight if you can...we're scheduled to go on at 10:50pm...

In addition to playing trumpet with Folklore, I'll also be playing trumpet and toy piano with GEMINI CRICKET! The Crickets are playing at THE FLICKER THEATER & BAR at 10pm...that's right...I've got to play the show with Gemini Cricket and then rush to the other venue to play with Folklore! So, it's going to be one of those crazy nights again, I'm afriad...

...Missy and I took lots of photos and video at last night's FLAGPOLE MUSIC AWARDS. Missy presented a handful of awards as TOFU BABY...lots of fun! We'll be taking even more pictures at tonight's Athefest shows and then, if we're not too worn out, we'll post them here during the weekend...

T.G.I.F.
R A O U L

Folklore's Swan Song

Last official FOLKLORE show comin' atcha this Wednesday night, with the legendary DEXTER ROMWEBER of FLAT DUO JETS, THE SUMMER HYMNS, PAPER TANKS, and KING OF PRUSSIA! We play one more show after this one, for ATHFEST (details forthcoming), but THIS show at the 40 WATT will be the last time you'll be able to hear us play Folklore material...for our Athfest performance we'll be playing almost every song off the KINK'S "Village Green Preservation Society" album...check the Rancho Cocoa blog in the next couple of days for more information on Athfest, and come see us play at the 40 Watt for one last time wednesday night!

Ice Ice Baby!

Today, Missy and I are going to be in Hotlanta, at CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK, selling our handmade goods at the I.C.E. ATLANTA craft sale. We'll be there all afternoon along with over 100 other crafters and vendors. There will be live music, food, classes, demonstrations, and tons of crafty goodness - there's gonna be a little something for everybody! And the best part is that it's TOTALLY FREE! Come spend a beautiful afternoon in the park and visit the nearby attractions - WORLD OF COKE, GEORGIA AQUARIUM, CNN, etc...or just frolic in the Olympic fountains with all the kids...come to downtown Atlanta and make a full day of it!

For more information on this special event (directions, list of vendors, etc.), please visit the I.C.E. ATLANTA website HERE.

Hope to see you there!


(Missy and Serra at the last I.C.E. ATLANTA craft event, winter 2007)

Folklore-A-Go-Go!

Tomorrow night is the second-to-last (or third-to-last?) show for FOLKLORE possibly, ever...our head-honcho, JIMMY HUGHES, is moving to Philadelphia in a couple of months and there's no telling if he's ever coming back to Athens or not. This also means that he'll be relinquishing his position as backing guitarist/keyboardist for the band ELF POWER. A sad sad day indeed is on the horizon...so come see this incarnation of Folklore while you can! We'll be playing tomorrow night at the GO BAR (next to THE GRIT, on Prince Ave. here in downtown Athens) with Cleveland, Ohio band, THE DREADFUL YAWNS. Doors open at 10PM, and there's sure to be dancing immediately afterwards. Come bid us a fond farewell and buy Jimmy a drink, dammit!

JAMMY JAMM #21 + #22

Hey! I *just* found out about this show today...through MySpace! I always seem to be the last to find out about shows that FOLKLORE is playing. Actually, it was Missy who was on MySpace and yelled out to me, "did you know that Folklore has a show tomorrow night at the 40Watt?"...I think that the band thought I would be in China and wouldn't be able to perform, and so never informed me about the show...at least that's what I think! haha! Who knows, maybe it's a subtle hint that they don't want me in the band anymore? I don't think so (like I said, this isn't the first time that I was the last one to find out about a show we were playing...I was once at a restaurant and I ran into Aaron, our trombone/bass player...he saw me and asked, "hey, are you playing the show with us tonight at the 40Watt? It starts in like, an hour..." I, of course, had no idea...but I did end up running home, grabbing my trumpet, and making the show in time...)

If you didn't know, the JAMMY JAMMZ are a series of (usually) free shows that happen here in Athens, put on by Party Party Partners, a local promotion company. There's usually a ton of bands playing in a short amount of time...there's usually two stages, with the action alternating between the stages. Each band gets about half-an-hour to perform and there's no breaks between bands...non-stop music + a variety of cool bands + no cover charge = a great night of music in Athens!

Tonight, Jammy Jamm #21 is happening as I'm typing this...tomorrow night is Jammy Jamm #22. We're opting out of attending tonight since we'll be out all night tomorrow (plus, we're rather tired tonight and just want to stay home and vegetate)...Tomorrow night, we'll be playing with a bunch of new KINDERCORE RECORDS bands, including head honcho Ryan Lewis's band THE BUDDY SYSTEM...so, it should be a great night all around. If you happen to be in Athens, Georgia this Saturday, then come on over to the 40 Watt...it's FREE and it's FUN!

-R A O U L

p.s. Alright...so I just found out that Folklore will be performing as a three piece tonight, which means I won't be playing...but I'll probably be watching! So, come on out regardless, because it's going to be a fun show....

Friday I'm In Love

Hey Y'all...me and Missy are performing with our friends, GEMINI CRICKET this friday at the Flicker Bar & Theater. We'll be playing with the fabulous (so I've heard) OH FORTUNA, who are visiting from Florida. Me and Missy will be augmenting the Gemini Cricket line-up with trumpet, slide whistle, and police siren. If you're in the "Classic City" this friday night, then come on out for a funtastic time...here's a buncha photos from past Gemini Cricket shows, a little taste of what's to come friday night:



(Sara and Missy in their fiesta outfits at The Caledonia...Missy's got a 'stash!)



(Jay wearing a Poison Control Center shirt that used to belong to Missy - it was too big on her. The shirt says "I'm a teenage girl!")



(Jay and Blake, jammin' it out at the 40 Watt)



(the band in blitzkrieg mode at Flicker - a tipsy Davey started climbing on his kit)



(Davey with his war paint on)



(Blake serenading Sara during a performance at Little Kings)



(Blake showin' off his skills on the organ)



(a photo I took of my horn during a live Gemini Cricket radio performance at 95.5 FM WUOG. You can kinda see my reflection in the bell)

At this very moment I'm watching the season-opening episode of TOP CHEF...already, some dude made a pizza...with MARMITE. Ugh! It's so on, I love this show...also, I can hear a hoot owl hooting right outside our livingroom window! I am very happy and for some reason, feel very comforted by this...like the owl is watching over our house or something...

-R A O U L