SXSRest.

Hey all,

Yet another episode of the Loblolly Blog. Its been a crazy week but I'll keep it nice and concise.

You couldn't have asked for better weather during SXSW. It was sunny with a high around 74... perfect for bike riding. Which is the way that I started out the week. The Austin Social Ride guys teamed up with SXSW people and put on a massive bicycle ride that was full of hills, stop lights, hanging out graveyards and good ol' fashion intoxication at the end with raffles and give-a-ways and other such great things at Mellow Johnny's (which is Lance Armstrong's shop in Austin [for those of you who don't know]). The only bummer was the part where every time I would walk into the store literally 5 people would come up to me and start asking me if they could, "Try on a pair of glasses in the case" or "What size is this Masi road bike" or "Could you tell me where my asshole is? I'm too drive to drunk." The excuse was, "you look like a bike guy." Granted, I am, but honestly, I was too drunk to even help them anyway. And also, as a side note, every establishment I walk into I usually have at least one person ask me for help... no matter what the subject matter is... and sometimes I answer them. Anyway... some pictures of the craziness.

Nothing like starting a ride off with some marching band tunes...
With piccolo, of course.
The excitement builds. I'm pretty sure this is everyone's FF (falacio face).
Tons of bikes! And we were at the end (of 600 people).
Cuddle break at the capital
Bike pile! We tried to stack them but they ended up toppling over. ArtFAIL.

After the after party at Mellow Johnny's Erik and I continued our ride to Flipnotics for some more brews and were hunkering down for the evening when we got a call saying that there was a free show at Stubb's where the Walkmen were playing. So, with my beer legs on, we sped through traffic like lightning and got the Stubb's with plenty of the time to notice that still had two Lonestars in my bag that we had to shotgun before we actually got into Stubb's (tricky... because the police station is right across the street... but we pulled it off). We got inside and met up with our friends and had a might fine time. Except the fact the first hour of the show consisted of two guys sitting on stage talking about absolutely nothing... bloggers... the worst kind of people. But we still have fun.

This was taken right before Erik and I started a dance party to Ratatat.

We then only stayed for the first two Walkmen songs.

A fine night was had. But with every good night there always comes a terrible morning, which sometimes results in you cutting a chunk of your finger off while your washing dishes. Bummer.

This made it extremely hard to play any of the shows that I had that week... but luckily I didn't have to wash any dishes at Dominican Joe because I was running sound the entire week for all of the awesome bands that played. We booked around 80 bands to play in a 4 day period. We had an inside and an outside stage to that we could bounce off each band immediately after one another. Oh, remember when I said that the weather couldn't have been more perfect for SouthBy? Well, it was... until Saturday... on the day that I booked all of the music. The temperature ended up dropping down to 38 degrees during the day and threatening to thunderstorm. So, in order to pull the show off we had to cram all of the bands on the inside. Which, somehow, worked out perfectly. Everyone was really fun and appreciative (except for a very diva like drummer) of the day and I left with a smile on my face. Unfortunately, I missed the only day that had all of the shows that I wanted to go to but I still got to see Cheap Trick the night before so I couldn't complain.

Maybe the highlight of the week was when my friend Marcus had an after hours show at his house where a great songwriter from Denmark played called The Migrant and a string metal band played called Judgement Day and my friend Josh and I had a freestyle battle between one another... here are some reviews:

"I was laughing so hard that my cheeks hurt the next day."

"Somehow, I had the overwhelming feeling that I was going to go to hell after hearing it."

"I knew it was inappropriate the entire time it was happening but I knew it was ok."

There it is. Keep an eye out for our hip-hop group, Androgynous Fart, and our EP comin' out this fall ya'll.

After the craziness of SouthBy, things have started to wind down. I've, yet again, packed up my stuff and moved my tent into the backyard of a friend's house to try and sort my life out only to find that after 3 days the dog wasn't going to have it.

Backyard+Dog+All of your belonging+Rainstorm=TentFAIL.

Nothing like coming home in a rainstorm to see all of your shit strewn across the backyard and a huge hole in your tent. The good knews: The Arrested Development DVD's came out ALRIGHT! This is why cats are nice... all they do is lounge around and watch porn on the internetz.
'till next time.

Cheers,
Luke

Snow! End of days! Calamity!

It snowed in Austin yesterday. Some may consider this the end of the world and some may just considering a once in a blue moon happening. Me, you ask? How do I see it? I see it as a perfect opportunity to compare and contrast the different ways that people react to snowy weather.

Now, being from Maine, I know a thing or two about snow. School doesn't get canceled unless there is more than 8 inches, business doesn't close unless there is more than 2 feet on the ground and still snowing and people stay in their houses once the snow drifts get high enough so you can't see through the second story windows.

Here is Texas, half an inch of snow falls and mayhem ensues. Businesses close, children look on in awe, Christ makes an appearance on a frosty window, sirens wail and cars pile up in the hundreds on the highway. The drivers don't know how to drive when it start to rain so how would they be able to deal with a little bit of snow without incident? Simple answer: they can't. Even on dry pavement, you hear people burning rubbah (squeal them piggies! oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn, light 'em up!) while starting from a stop light or coming to a sudden stop behind a row of cars stopped at said stop light. Now add a small layer of ice and snow... and this is what you get.

This picture was taken outside of my apartment.

If anyone is going to go to hell... it will be Texas drives.

On the positive side of things, people get really excited about the snow down here and have a lot of fun playing in it (what little there is to play in). I saw many pictures on the interwebs (via facebook) of people making tiny snowmen and carving their names in the snow with there own urine and then destroying said snowmen with said urine. Its a great country.

The other great thing about snow days is that kittens start to get really cuddly because they don't want to go outside even more than you don't want to (and besides... they're not allowed to).

"Iz cn playz guitarz?"

Nothin' like a good face sit (look close.. my left side burn [no, my left! not your left!] is actually her tale, anus on my ear and all).

But no matter how hard you try, this blissful state cannot linger on endlessly. 24 hours later the snow will be gone and the 30 degree weather will bump back up into the 70's and the population as a whole will have a massive runny nose which will runoff into the Colorado river... gross.

Before (Yesterday).

After (today).

Ah, Texas, how I love thee.

Nashy-Nash, Nashvegas.

Alright arrogant aggressive analytical assholes (no offense, it's only for the alliteration),

I'm finally going to get back to doing this blogging thing but with even worse spelling and grammar, more stuff about random life, joyful news, depressing news and everything in between. So, with that said, we go on to the big things that have been going on.

This past week Katy and I spent on the road getting to and from Nashville to start working on the new Bearkat record. The story goes as follows:

Day 1 (Sunday February 14th [Valentines Day]):

We decided to get up bright and early that morning to try and get a jump on our 14 hour drive to Nashville. I woke up at about 6:30AM and after showering (about 10 minutes) and curling my mustache (about 20 minutes) I walked out the door of our apartment to be greeted by a very familiar grade school dance memory:

"LETS GET READY TO RUMBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

ya'll ready for this?"

Now, if you use basic arithmetic, you can deduce from the figures above that the time was about 7AM. The next thing you might do is ask a question: "Who plays this obnoxious song at 7AM on a Sunday morning?" I have an answer for you: runners.

Apparently, we had missed the memo that the Austin marathon was happening on this particular morning and the route went perfectly around our neighborhood... thus trapping us helplessly in a claustrophobic situation filled with short shorts, un-aerodynamic/gaudy costumes, well wishers, whistlers, chanters, hecklers and people who had just happened upon the event. As you could imagine, our morning got a later start than we expected.


"GO RUNNERS!!!!"

After watching a couple thousand fit (and unfit) people run by, we dislodged ourselves from our neighborhood and jumped on I-35 North to finally start our adventure and hope that our luck would change. Which, it did! We made a Whataburger breakfast pit-stop in Waco (narrowly avoiding conflict with an underpass full of crazy homeless dudes [apparently, they hang out under the same underpass... but, then again, I've never actually been to Waco... so who knows]) and got an extra breakfast platter! Granted, it was a mistake and the lady who served us was probably swiftly disciplined... but we felt like our luck was on the up and up!

One gas tank later... somewhere in the middle of Arkansas... this happened:

Really? REALLY?! (you can just barely see the flakes)

As soon as it was time for me to switch over and drive the second half of the journey... it started to snow. I don't know, it could just be me, but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to snow anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. For the rest of the drive I had my eye on the temperature gauge in the car, anxiously waiting for the temperature to drop below freezing. I imagined it like this: at 33 degrees everything would be fine and we'd be driving along just fine on the wet roads and the BAM(!) at 32 degrees we would slip hopelessly off the road into a 20 foot snowbank that mysteriously been plowed onto the side of the highway. Luckily for us, this fantasy of mine never happened (its amazing the way your brain processes things).

We arrived safely that night in Antioc, TN where my good friend and fellow Mainer Jeff Elwell (see earlier posts for pictures of him) keep his fine household. We chatted for a bit, talked about his cruise to the Caribbean, pushy Jamaican vendors and Jimmy Buffet theme parks and finally laid our heads to rest.

Day 2 (Monday February 15th [Drive by Tracking]):

We woke up that morning to find the car covered in a thick layer of ice and about 2 inches of snow. This wasn't at big of a surprise to me considering the conditions we drove in with the previous night. It brought back all the memories of waking up early in the morning and letting my car warm up for 15 minutes while I scraped the snow off of my windows. Luckily, Katy had just come back from Maryland a couple of weeks before so she had a ice scraper in the back of her car. What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that nobody knows how to drive in those conditions at all. People were sliding around on the roads (imagine the scene in Bambi when he's on the ice slipping around... that's how Tennessee drivers are in the snow and ice) from either going too fast or too slow. Cars were getting caught going up small hills and then trying to back up and turn around, then getting stuck in a ditch, or worse, flipping their car completely over and bursting into flames (yes, this actually happened).

We eventually made it into Nashville proper and met our friend James for breakfast. You may remember James from past posts but we'll re-introduce you to him.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" (note the look of bliss on both of their faces)
Me overseeing the fun. Luke "Someone has to make sure nobody loses an eye" Kalloch.
Some people have all the fun.

Not only was he joining us for breakfast, he was also joining us in the studio that day to lay down some sweet piano tracks!

We got to the studio and, honestly, we had no idea what to expect. The producer's name is Mark Nevers (best known for his recent work on the newest Andrew Bird record "Noble Beast"... other credits include some Silver Jews, Bonnie Prince Billy, Vic Chesnut and a little OK GO). Mark is a very quite guy with a house full of recording gear (my kind of guy). He calls his studio "the Beech House".











It looks like your run-of-the-mill Nashville residence but it has its very distinct qualities. When you first try and walk onto the property you go to open the front gate only to find that you run into it like a brick wall and then sit fiddling with it for a minute hoping that nobody else is watching you as you foolishly find out that it literally bolted shut and there is a side gate that you have to walk into. Here is the said demon gate.

You wouldn't want me to guide you through a labyrinth... I wouldn't even get you in (rimshot)!

After you regain your self respect and muster up your courage you can enter the house and find a magical place chalk full of recording equipment and music instruments and snaggle toothed cats named Lulu.

Katy doing her best Lulu impression. Which isn't fun. Some people (or animals) can't help but have that face. Nice going Katy.

The place was also full of amazing musicians. Mark had hired a bassist (Matt) and a drummer (Ben) we were probably two of the sweetest people you could ever meet... and also great musicians (as was to be expected). Its always a toss up when it comes to studio musicians... bassists are usually always nice but drummers almost are always on the douche side of the spectrum or the really really nice side. Luckily, Ben was on the latter side.

The tracking went ridiculously fast. We didn't go through any of the tunes more than 3 times before we had a solid arrangement and were ready to track it... and we didn't do more than 3 takes before we were done with a song and moving on to the next one. All-in-all we tracked about six songs in six hours... the whole vibe just felt so comfortable and fun... I can't really describe it. My only complaint is that I got dicked out on the booth I was recording in.

Katy's room. Music stand, chair, notepad, the works.


Ben, James and Matt's room. Probably the homiest of the bunch. TV, Andrew Bird and Vic Chesnut 2" tapes, plants, paradise.

My room. Washer and Dry. Small Efficiency. 400 a month.

While everyone else got to hang out in a nice and comfy room and could see each other, I got stuck into the laundry room... but I wouldn't have it any other way, really.

So, we ended the first day wiped out and a little bewildered on what exactly had happened... but that didn't stop us from going out and seeing a show, dancing to some sweet motown music and running into people you haven't seen for a very long time. I ran into my friend Jess Rice who I knew from Boston (BURRITO MAXX!) and then later in Austin... and now she lives in Nashville and works with James... small world.

Day 3&4 (Feb. 16-17th [Overdubs, mixing and ice cream])

The title pretty much describes what happened in the studio those days so I'm going to go into the social aspect of them.

After recording on the 16th, we decided to take it easy and stay in at James' apartment and nest. So we went out to try and get some apple cider and rum... which turned out to be quite the chore because all of us are indecisive and couldn't decide on a rum to get and when we tried to get some apple cider we couldn't find any so we did what any good American would do... buy some artificial Apple Cider packs throw them in a huge pot of water and rum, call it good, cram three people onto a full sized bed and watch a movie (in this case "I Love You, Man"). I wish I could have taken a picture. It would have been such a nice moment.

The next night consisted mostly of me demonstrating my ability to eat massive mounts of ice cream. James' downstairs neighbor is also his really good friend (and another talented musician) Adam Popick (spelling?). We made two trips to his place the night: one of them to say "hey, lets watch a movie" and another one to actually watch the movie. On both occasions I had a pint of ice cream in my hand and on both occasions I arrived with them full and left with them empty. This is a pretty common occurrence for me but I have a feeling that it disgusts a lot of other people, bringing forth vomiting or uncontrollable gagging and in some cases the people watching develop lactose-intolerance. True story.

Days.......... the rest.

After three days of recording in Nashville we had 6 roughly mixed songs on a CD and a lump of joy in the pit of our stomachs. We bid our farewells to James (they are always bittersweet... I wish we lived in the same city) and made our way southward to my Dad's woodsy solar powered retreat in southern Alabama where the universe is at peace, chickens roam happily with wild turkeys, geese play with dogs, manure is made from human fecal matter and there is always a project to be done.

On our way there we stopped for gas at a very curious fill-up station on the border of Mississippi and Alabama. The outside looked like any ordinary BP but the inside had rocking chairs, old men with canes and dirt floors (well, almost). I wanted to get a picture of the place without being too suspicious (which really just made me look even more queer and suspicious) but only came out with this photo.

Photo Fail.

The day and a half we spent at my Dad's place were very relaxing. We at lots of food (which included going out to a catfish restaurant where they had Karaoke and very curious patrons [you'd think at least they would be used to a handlebar mustache!]), talked and worked on a "project" (which usually includes manual labor [you've got to make use of those young bodies while you have them around!]). The project this time was riding on the back of my Dad's John Deere Tractor (which has a name... but I can't remember it) and loading wood in and out of it. It was good fun. As you can clearly tell.

"YAYYYY! WOOD!"

But I couldn't help but think it would have been twice as fun with James there... so through super sophisticated image manipulation technology, I made my fantasy possible.
"YAAYYYYY! BONERS!" (yes, I know it just looks like James is sitting on top of Katy)

And now... for ride from Alabama to Austin.

Alright. That about wraps it up. I'm really really really going to try very very very hard to write on this thing more often to I don't have these mammoth entries that usually peeter out near the end... much like this one. See you next time!

Cheers,
Luke