Hey everyone,

The 2nd release of "songs for people" by my colorado based band Static Trio is now finished and readily available for your enjoyment.  Search "Static Trio" in the itunes search engine, or visit this:
http://www.rhapsody.com/static-trio/songs-for-people

It also got a really good review:
http://www.bloggernews.net../119585

Peace.

Ravens tour pt 2.

When I left off last, I believe we were heading to LA. Upon arrival, we promptly ordered some in and out burgers, and crashed. The next night we loaded into the Spaceland gallery (apparently in the "Williamsburg of LA") and learned we were to be bumped from 9:30 to 12:30. This was unfortunate for a number of reasons, one being: everyone we told to come out decided they couldn't make it out that late. This lead to the other problem, everyone in LA has to drive, therefore drinking late is not a great option, especially considering mostly everyone probably had to drive at least 40 minn to get home. All in all, I think I could live in LA for about one night. The next morning we walked around Van Nuys (the porn capital), and found some great vintage clothing stores, and I almost bought a cool yellow guitar.
From there we journeyed north to San Francesco. This was more like it! San Fran felt like a cool east coast city on the west coast. Besides the obvious problem with homelessness, this city had it going on. We had a great show, and a refreshing walk around the next morning. We did get verbally accosted by Greenpeace people, and this was the only time I really felt like my safety was slightly in jeopardy. "What have you done for your environment today?" "Do you want to make a phone call to a large corporation today?"….No. I don't want to give you my credit card number either.
We left San Fran in good spirits, and made it to the Muir Woods. Redwoods. Ahhh, ancient trees and beautiful scenery. Not more than 20 miles down the road; we hit the coast and stumbled upon a small beach at sunset. It's been at least 10 years since I have felt the Pacific Ocean, and it fit like an old glove.
Portland was the next stop, and all I herd in the car ride up was about how shitty Portland was (this was coming from a hard core Seattleite). We played a cool show and I met up with my friend Chris Mosley, and he gave me the real scoop on Portland. After receiving both sides of the coin, and meet numerous locals, I determined Portland is cool in my book.
We bypassed Seattle to go directly to Vancouver, where I had high expectations (it is Canada after all). Our venue was the Commodore Ballroom, which holds about 2000 people. At its peak only 500 showed, which is still great. Being a part of the Vancouver Jazz festival made me realize how well Canada treated the patrons of the arts. It's nice to be welcomed as someone who is valued. This was my favorite show of the tour hands down. Great Sound, and a great band headlined called "Shout Out Out Out Out (yes 4 "outs"). Dancetastic music, and we got to play with them for their encore.
We proceeded to take a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, CA. This picturesque town had great food, lots of tourists, and Junkies. The show was so-so, and we seemed ready to make it to Seattle, but not before one more beautiful ferry ride, this time taking us to Anacortes, WA (the home of Phil Elverum).
We stayed at Abe's mom's house in Seattle, and had a little time off, so we decided to fill it with a short notice show in Olympia, WA. In the midst of the Hour long drive to Olympia, we learned the house party we were supposed to play at got no promotion and apparently moved. After much deliberation, we got the actual house sorted out, and had a fun drunken show anyway with a cool band from Cali called Bear Hunter.
Back to Seattle to play another mediocre show at a place called the "HI-DIVE", and a great live KEXP in studio performance. That night we had a great beach bonfire overlooking the Olympic Mountain range. We later learned that the city of Seattle was shortly going to impose a law that prohibits controlled fires due to pollution. Now, im all for not leaving a carbon footprint, and doing my part for the environment and all, but that is a little ridiculous. We said our goodbyes to all our friends there and thus began the long drive through the beautiful lands of Montana and the Bad lands to Winnipeg.
Winnipeg was not as impressive as the rest of the Canadian cities. It reminds me a little of Cleveland (for better or worse). We played at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, and got to eat some incredible vegan food. After 3 days of gas station-ish food, this place defiantly hit the spot. This ended our string of shows, now all we had to do was make the incredible trek from Winnipeg to NYC.
After crossing the boarder three times already, we thought this last attempt to enter America couldn't be much worse. We forgot that we were entering into North Dakota though, and I wasn't surprised when the boarder guards decided to search our entire van. We had all our gear and personal stuff, so as one might imagine, it took a long time. It was clear that the guards were profiling pretty heavily, because when they put us in the Holding Cell (yes, like jail), there was only minorities, and other kids in bands. I guess it's their job to find out information, but why do the guards always have to be such big fucking assholes!! W did learn a valuable trick though, If you ever find yourself crossing the Canadian boarder for musical purposes try this: First get the nessicarry Tax papers if you plan on making money, and when the initial guard asks what kind of music you play (which they always will), say "Rock and Roll" (with enthusiasm). Most of the guards look like the high school jock types, and those simple words will go straight to their hearts.
The drive back was grueling and beautiful at the same time. I also managed to learn a great deal about the Economic Housing Crisis, and it's ties to wall street. Without trying to get too political, Its just another way to keep the poor man down. Finally upon arrival in the East Village, we spotted Quinten Tarentino and never felt better than smelling that familar smell of the Bowery, and driving over the Brooklyn bridge. Looking back, I now see the pitfalls of the trip (business and otherwise), but I would say it was a success overall. We did come out with a modest amount of money, which is good considering gas can be about $5/gal, and I got to see parts of th country I've never set foot on before. Great Success!!!

Thanks for reading.

M.D. Thies

So far we have traveled from NY to Montreal where we played a fun show, and I met Nels Cline! Then we headed to Toronto where the music was fun and the folks reminded me of Boston. From Toronto, we had no more shows until LA, so the massive journey began. On our way we encountered some serious rain storms in IOWA which forced us to stay put for a night. This was unfortunate because we had to make a crazy drive from davenport Iowa to Boulder. When we got to the Colorado border, I began seeing things that weren't really there, but we made it. Then we made our way through Utah and Nevada. I only had time to play one game of slots in the New York New York casino, and lost. I concluded Las Vegas is not nearly as cool as I thought it would be, and It reminds me of something out of a reality TV show. In between Vegas and LA we made a random pit stop at an exit called "ZZYZX". This consisted of a dirt road to a dead end where the temp was 108 and numerous microwaves were all shot up. There was an exit off the highway for this, and we later learned is was some kind of famous exit... who knew? So now were about to go load in at the Spaceland Gallery in LA so ill keep you updated on the second half. Stay tuned.

M.D. Thies

p.s. sorry for the shotty writing, but I was in a hurry.

One great advantage to living in New York City is the fact that one can easily find valuable stuff on the street that others believe to be garbage. Just about every piece of furniture in my room was found on the street, as well as a recently acquired snare drum!

About two months ago, I was strolling along Nassau street in Greenpoint and came across a toy telephone for kids sitting on the sidewalk. After checking it rigorously for anything from unsanitary fluids to bedbugs, I determined this phone was now a part of my humble collection of musical instruments.

So I figured out a couple little musical strong points that the telephone naturally possessed and compiled a strange song! I also included a couple samples of one of my all time favorite recordings of "Daddys Curses" (a kid secretly taped his father unsuccessfully trying to fix the family piano). Its posted as "Telephone".

Enjoy

Hello.

I've been hearing so much about cellphone film makers lately.

At first, I shyed away from the idea of using the cellphone to create
art, but then I found some old photo's from an old cellphone, and it
brought back old momories.

The dense "Lo-Fi" look to the pictures captivated me, and I decided
to post a small "Gallery".

Currently there's a cellphone exibit at the MOMA (which my friend Brian
House is involved with). I know myspace isn't quite the MOMA, but just
pretend you're there when viewing.

Thanks for the visit.

MT

Too many thoughts spawn during the regular day to leave them alone. Too many experiences that changed my life and many others alike to not pay homage. This man made his mark, and without him, my life would not be the same.

I recall -

Viewing his drums for the first time, and feeling an overwhelming sense of envy, pride, motivation, and a purpose in life.

Causing so much trouble at Sunset Middle School, and being the only two different from the others, purely out of choice. Nothing dictated us, we dictated ourselves.

His mark on the musical family tree sparking friendships never to be forgotten. As this tree grows, it becomes more apparent how vital he was for the roots, and everyone involved instinctively knows.

His sales of Catnip with his father and sisters at the farmers market brought joy to the locals and regulars, as well as many lucky cats.

He was always there, in good spirits, optimistic, humble, and energetically positive. Always

This is my homage to you Luke Goodwin….