Orange + Green Mixes

These mixtapes were created for you by Ryan Hora & myself ... well, sort of ...

We "originally" made them for eachother, but they got all shuffled and mixed up and switched around so now you have 2 different definitive Ryan & Paul (Paul & Ryan) mixes, each one named for our favorite colors (you get to guess who's is who's) ...

Btw, it's not only the 1st time in Psychic Tuesday history that collaborative mixes are being presented, but it's also the 1st time that 2 mixes have landed on the same day!

Now that's something to celebrate! haha

So here is the ORANGE MIX ...

&

here is the GREEN MIX ...

ENJOY!!!

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Well, 1st off, I need to admit that lately I indeed feel very lucky ... not only to have someone like Ryan, but also to be a member of such an incredibly bad-ass softball team as the Bad News Bearons ...

come out to George Ward TONITE!!! We have a DOUBLEHEADER !!!

Most recently I feel truly lucky that a new brewery in town, Avondale Brewing Company are having me not only design their logo, but also designing each one of their different beer labels!

Whaaaaat?!!

I even got to sample some of their IPA yesterday evening and it was nothing short of phenomenal!

The future looks bright indeed ...

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Next up, Peter and I's yard got a "haircut" ... which coincides nicely with the complete shaving off of my beard to celebrate Summer ... whoopee!!!

Technically, our realty company is supposed to cut the grass ... I guess they forgot to or SOMETHING cuz it slowly but surely turned into a very Addams Family type yard ... and Peter and I are both deathly allergic to poison ivy, which grows rampant in both the front and back yards, so ... um ... HELL NO we weren't touching it!

Anywaaaaay, a few days ago we suddenly found this official note on our door saying that Alabama Power was going to do some "vegetation maintenance" (!) on our yard ...

and they did! Thanks, Alabama Power! Now maybe we can qualify for the Southside Beautification award ...

Witness these Before & After photos:

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After=

Before=

After=

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And holy shit this past weekend was GREAT! I got to spend 3 whole days with Ryan and his amazing friends in Montevallo ...

There was creek swimming, fireflies, beer drinking, full moons, junk store adventures, long and crazy "deep" conversations, music nonstop, actually fun porch-cleaning (!) and just a perfect feeling of synchronicity the entire time

... sigh ...

Here's Jennifer, Weston & Ryan fresh from an epic creek swim:

Here's Ryan's unbelievably charming kitty, Nico:

And here's Ryan himself plus me:

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Oh yeah! I've been working on a July art show called "Black Sheep" at Crestwood Coffee Company ... Try to make it to the opening ... it'll be Saturday July 10th ...

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HOLY SMOKE!!! ... get ready for an absolute onsalught of videos ...

I can't get over how great this song ("Nature Boy") is ... and Nat King Cole is pretty damn hypnotic in this performance as well:


I'm still swooning over Wild Nothing's new album, "Gemini" ... and here's a nice live version of a song from it ("Summer Holiday") :

May I now present to you 4 very creepy-themed videos ...

1. Crystal Castles create graveyard mania:

2. Medieval nightmares, compliments of Woods:

3. NSFW!!! adventures from Tobacco:

4. And a bizarrely sexy drug-riddled tale by Interpol:

Walker turned me onto these guys ... wish they were still kickin out the jams:

Ah, Jonsi ... yer fashion (AND music) is beyond compare:


Stuart posted this great performance by The Box Tops (thanks, Stuart!) ... I dig how totally UNserious they're taking themselves:

Charlie (Sanders) posted this(thanks, Charlie!) ... love it:

Going through Ryan's music, I now have a deep appreciation for what Adam & The Ants were doing in the late 70's:

The next video is not only hilarious, but an entire documentary film was shot, using it as a "diving board" ... behold the infamously foul-mouthed Winnebego Man (thanks, Candice!)

(word: Bottletree will actually be screening it TONITE!!!)

And for dessert, Keith posted a rather tasty treat with a surprise ending (wait for it!) haha ... thanks, Keith!!!

J.'s Summer Cut Mix

This totally sun-filled mixtape was created for you by the unsurpassable Mr. J. Whitson who you may know or have heard because of the godsend-of-an-Alabama-TV-show that he and his brother Matt have blessed us all with, We Have Signal ... and if you haven't yet seen any of the episodes, then you'd better GET WITH IT!

Each show is beautifully filmed at Bottletree Cafe and showcases a different amazing band, be it national or local ... such as Deerhunter, Beach House, Dexateens, Melt Banana, Camera Obscura, Teen Getaway, Black Lips, Jeff The Brotherhood and Dan Deacon, just to name a few ... You can also watch the shows via vimeo.com HERE. DO IT!!!

J.'s mix is perfectly themed for the 1st mix of the HOT season ... I asked him if he had anything to say about it and he replied:

I have essentially nothing to describe my mix - which was why I didn't just pound something out before I went to dinner. Let's say it "has songs from my youth that remind me of drives down Shelby County roads out of Montevallo into Pea Ridge and points beyond and a bunch of more recent stuff that I wish reminded me of something." I could give a song-by-song breakdown but that seems in poor taste (and would take too long).

Nice ... So get out that ugly colorful beach towel, crack open a cold one, pass the tanning butter and TURN IT UP ... cuz it's now officially SUMMER!

Thanks, J. !!!

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Okay, first things first ... My website is now finally done, more or less (minus a few tweaks here and there) ... I am ever so grateful for the immense help and web expertise of Jonathan Purvis = go see his incredible art show at Bottletree this Thursday!!!!!!! Thanks, Jon!!!

ALSO, my art has been recently featured in the Summer issue of Bard Cole's online magazine, Six Little Things ... check it!

and HERE are some photos from the Signs Of Our Times group art show I recently participated in at Naked Art Gallery

I also painted moons all over the picnic table in the "backstage" band area of Bottletree:

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Even though he lives far away (Montgomery), I was also lucky enough to get to hang out with Ryan TWICE in one week! We had an excellent time at the river and then later saw Montgomery rockers Rudy Banes Breakup and No at Eclipse in Montevallo ...

... sigh ...

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I also spent the week working on new stuff for a gallery I show at in South Carolina called Aster Hall:

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And now ... some videos for you:

something incredible by Walls:

something cute by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart:


something live-ish by Tame Impala:

something old but memorable by Juliana Hatfield:

something completely but wonderfully fuckt by Ghengis Tron:

Lastly we have a double dose of dessert!

1st up, here's a delicious SAUSAGE COMPLAINT! haha!!!

(thanks,Tony!!!) :

and finally, here's a sickly-sweet slab of GLOW Show Rap!

(thank you, Marla!!!) :

Far Away Mix

This mixtape will be perfect for:

A. missing someone you love

B. thinking about great distances

C. travelling great distances

D. longing

E. yearning

I'm not really one for going on about my private life in a blog, but I will state that this particular mix was made for Ryan.

That description above makes it sound as if the mix might be sad, sappy and totally depressing ... but there's actually some shining, happy and hopeful bits included as well, all decorated rather nicely with a light fluffy icing of longing and yearning ... haha

You may now download it right HERE.

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Wow. What an insanely hot week it was ... and Summer's not even hit yet! The last couple of Bad News Bearons practices have been total sweat fests ... sheesh!

I hung out with Walker one day last week and we went walking around Avondale park, hiking up a big hill only to stumble upon a really trashy couple spread out on a blanket making out! Yikes!

Walker was a bit disgusted:

The whole thing somehow reminded me of another strange encounter I had whilst walking around with Walker about 2 years ago ... I told my good friend John Wendel about it in an email:

john

i must tell you about what happened when walker and i returned from walking the tracks this past sunday afternoon ... ahhh!

1st of all, it was nice yet surreal having a 12 year old kid walk the tracks instead of you ...

it was fun and cool and everything, but i kept feeling like i was ryan o neal's character in

"paper moon"! this feeling only increased later ... you'll find out why ...

we got about midway down the tracks and heard a train (i dont think you and i ever experienced

the train coming even ONCE all those times we walked em!) ... we had to run up a side hill...

funny how terrified he was ... the train past and a friendly negro conductor waved at us ...

we walked further and passed that oily slippery gross tar part and even saw that old black and white dog

by the house that used to bark at us every time ... this time it was very old and friendly ... we made it to the turn around point by the huge sloping kudzu-covered hill and sat down to "traditionally" throw rocks down into the creek below ...

on our way back, ANOTHER train came and nearly hit us, it appeared so fast! this time we had to literally jump

into the kudzu to avoid death ... right before we returned to my truck, we saw a deer just standing there

staring at us in the parking lot near the tracks ... i pointed out to walker and when i did, it darted away and into some woods near the road ...

as we approached my truck, i slowly started to realize that it was being blocked in my a large maroon truck ...

totally blocked in ... i was parked next to that strange little house in that lot by all the 18 wheelers, (where i have always parked) right in front of an RV that wasn't there the last time you and i walked the tracks...we rounded the corner and there in front of the RV sat an old kind looking redneck man ... he was short with a long hooked nose and a red plaid shirt ..."what are y'all doin?" he asked ... "oh we just

were walkin on the railroad tracks ..." i answered

the closer we got to my truck, the more irritated he seemed to get and his sentences became quicker and

blunt ..."you like to just park in folks' front yards all the time? well that there aint yer truck anymore ... it's on private property ... and you just gotta wait here till my son gets here to take care of ya" ...

clearly this man was not very kind

"sir, i didn't know it was private property" ... by now walker and i were standing on either side of my truck ... the fact that it must've looked like we were trying to make a 'quick get-away' (even though we could not) seemed to irritate the little man even more ... "well you must be FUCKIN BLIND" he said in a horrible tone, pointing to a NO TRESPASSING sign a short ways away ... he then restated unnecessarily that my truck was indeed no longer mine because it was on private property and his son was on his way so all we could do was wait ...

i suddenly began to miss my truck ... i wondered if they'd take good care of it ... there was nothing we could do now, except stand there and stare into the truck's bed ... walker was looking straight down, possibly on the verge of tears ... i couldn't tell ... and i was trying to imagine exactly how this man's son was going to 'take care of me' ... probably beat the shit out of me ...

as we stood there, the old man reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone ... for some reason this made me want to laugh, but i looked back down instead ... he began to speak:

"hey..." he said into the phone ... "yeah they here ... by the truck ... naw they said they didn't see it ... i told em they must be FUCKIN BLIND ... .... ... ... ... yeah ... ... .... ... okay ... ... love you ... bye" ... again i wan't to laugh ... this time, because of the "love you" ...

the old man slowly got up and sort of weeble-wobbled to the maroon truck and opened the passenger door ... really thought for a second that he might be getting a shotgun out to exterminate both of us and collect his 1996 white nissan truck prize ... however, he produced a small notepad and a pen and proceed to flip through

it ... he landed on a page with a looong list of names ...

"what is yer name?" he asked ... and i told him ... in a tone that assumed he was hard of hearing: "paaaaaaul wiiiiilm ...that's W - I - L - M ..." a few seconds flew by ... "paul ... what???" he asked... i repeated ... he then walked around to the driver's side of the truck ... "we've had a big problem with stealin around here ... anything comes up missin ..." he glared at me "i got yer name" ... relief swelled through me "i'm sorry sir ... i'll never do it again" ... "okay, well y'all can go..."

walker and i, once we were safe in my truck, were too dumbstruck for any immediate complaints or outbursts ... i simply turned the key and said in a shakey voice: "well ... all i have to say is ... RED ... NECK ..." ... walker nodded and stared ahead.

so phew!!! that would have been me and you if you'd have gone!

hope yer trip back was smooth...it was great being able to hang out with you again and go to the river etc

love

yer pal

paul

Speaking of backwards Alabama stuff, Tantra posted this link about weird state laws on facebook which made me laugh ... thanks, Tantra!

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Friday night was the opening reception for the Signs For Our Times group show at Naked Art ...

Here's Darby Jack Gustafson doing some rather impressive guitar playing:

And here are fellow artists Charles Buchanan and Jill Marlar:

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The next nite I was completely blown away at Bottletree by a Nashville band called Hans Condor who's electrifying set was nothing short of phenomenal ... Here here!

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Up next ... video news:

Let me 1st note that I'm tremendously happy and glad that blogger.com updated their blog templates, now allowing the ENTIRE video frame to be seen instead of being so cruelly "chopped off", thus making it oftentimes really difficult to see everything that's going on in the videos ... thanks, blogger.com!

And now for this week's video circus ...

This is a pretty ridiculous video posted by Mark Hinson (thanks, Mark!) ... Who spends their time actually thinking about how many times someone says a certain word?! This person apparently!

I was kind of frightened a little the 1st time I saw this CocoRosie ... but frightened in a good way ... you'll see:

I have no words for this ... except maybe "astounding" (thanks, Tim Kerr!) :

A beautifully silly one by Los Massieras:

A grade A fancy classic by the B-52's:

Aaron posted this History Channel thingy and it kind of freaks me out:

Watching the last thing reminded me of this:

And for dessert we have a good healthy serving of local laughter from my nutty friends in Vacant Manifesto!

Purvis' Darkroom Mix

This mixtape was created for you by the phenomenal photographer, my good friend Jonathan Purvis , who apparently is not only uber-talented in the "picture-taking" field, but also has extraordinarily great taste when it comes to music ... this mix is testimony to that fact ... It sorts of breathes in and out of dreaminess and danciness and makes me think of a well put together soundtrack to some movie-yet-to-be-made ...

But what inspired such a great mix?

Well here's the scoop from Jon himself:

"these songs are old and new staples for working in a darkroom. i prefer danceable or singable and something fairly easy to listen to. these are those. versions of this mix were listened to the past couple of weeks while making prints for a collaboration with pinky bass that is up at barehands right now. it'll likely be listened to for another show of photography at lite box gallery at the end of the month."

Wow ... He has a lot going on right now...

June is his month (and also happens to be the name of his awesome cat! haha)

On that note, Purvis also has a rad show of colorful prints up at Bottletree ... go over there and check em out!

Prepare now to step into Purvis' DARKROOM!

Cheers, Jonathan!!!

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Gee whiz ... so much stuff happened this week ... and most of it was really fun (the only exception being both a rained-out Bad News Bearons practice AND game = boo!) Our next game should be pretty funny to watch cuz it'll be Gay Pride themed and we're playing a church team ... haha!

One thing that was pretty unexpected was me working with Walker on a video promo for an upcoming rock show he has coming up at The Flying Monkey up in Huntsville ...

Check out what I turned into! haha ... meet "Enus Nannerpuff":

This is what we ended up with ... Walker's one twisted little dude ...

Be very afraid:

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Speaking of "afraid" and "creepy" and "disturbing", all three of these words come to mind when I want to describe Salad Fingers, a rather bizarrely dark cartoon that my pal Lee Dunnie turned me onto ... yikes!!!

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Oh yeah ... And whether you already love one of my favorite bands, Male Bonding yet or not, HERE's a nice session they did for Day Trotter ... very enjoyable stuff

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Speaking of enjoyable, it was an extremely enjoyable weekend: I went to two very different parties in one night ... First up was Chris Lawson's birthday party ... Chris recently went on a very memorable Nowhere Trip with me ... his party was at Joe DeCamillis' place and seemed pretty laid back with candles burning and folks chatting here and there ...there was a kind of "esoteric" vibe going on ...

Behold Chris' amazing birthday cake made by Cliff Simon:

photo by Cliff Simon

The next party was in Montevallo and served as both a birthday party for Acijro (and Wenda) and a going away party for Ryan ... There were DJs and loud techno music pulsing in the livingroom, dancing aplenty and painted kids dressed like "undead disco dancers" traipsing through the yard ...

Rosie took this adorable photo of Ryan ... Personally I think he's more adorable when his arms aren't so tiny (and plastic):

photo by Rosie Maguire

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I don't know why I approached this in reverse order, but the night before the "double party nite" was the incredible opening of the Bare Hands Gallery 14th anniversary "Strange Bedfellows" collaborations show ... Hey look! The guy in the plaid shirt is Jonathan Purvis! :

Here's an above shot of the show ... as you can see, it was packed:

There were a ton of amazing collaborative pieces ... I only took a few photos, but there was so much to take in (Jonathan and Pinky Bass' beautiful photo collabs being the tip of the iceberg)... Go to Bare Hands and check it out!!!

Tracy Martin and Byron Sonnier built a huge and very realistic juke joint / storefront that had a real live rooster inside of it! Later, live country music was played on the porch ... sooo great:

Daisy Winfrey (who I'll be collaborating with myself at Bottletree in September) did a huge wild boardgame piece with Andrea Paschal and Michael Bonadio:

Birthday boy Chris Lawson did a crazy cool tree type thingy with Spider Bradford ... it has creepy things in bags "preserved" in colorful liquid ... they call it "Alabama Voodoo":

John Lytle Wilson and Wes Frazer's framed collaborations were wonderful, but their Whiz Wheel was by far the most entertaining thing at the opening ...

3 dollars bought you a spin, and a spin could win you everything from nothing at all to a Whiz Tshirt, some candy, an original drawing, some random object spray painted gold, a shot of Old Crow whiskey ...

Witness the masters of the ceremony at work:

There was even a Challenge section on the wheel ... People who wound up with this were challenged to do incredible and oftentimes disgusting things for an increase of prizes ... Gwendolyn and Kara actually took off all of their clothes and streaked through the gallery!

Seth ate an entire can of smoked oysters for his Challenge (and obviously enjoyed it ... haha):

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Oh yeah ... I'll have three pieces in the "Signs Of Our Times" group show at Naked Art Gallery, which opens this Friday, June 11th ... come out and support!

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Once again, I found a shit-ton of shiny-good videos this week...

The song for this 1st one (by Wild Nothing) felt a bit like a life-altering experience the 1st time I heard it ... It's definitely my favorite song of this year so far:

That mind-twisting Tame Impala video from last week got me curious about what they sounded like before their epic "Innerspeak" album ... this will give you an idea:

Jimmy turned me on to this great post-apocalyptic feeling video ... thanks, Jimmy!



Wow ... sounds like Tokyo Police Club have really gone up a notch ... love this:


I stumbled across this nice 90's oldie from Elastica and just had to include it ... I wish this band had made more albums:

Brian posted this on facebook (thanks!) ... MC5 were like no other band ... testify!

Elise, who makes gorgeous puppets herself posted this on facebook as well ... it is nothing less of brilliant and very bizarre (thanks, Elise!):

Ryan sent me this after we had been talking about how the core of America's problems basically consists of fastfood and TV ... This sums up that theory rather nicely (cheers, Ryan!) :

And to bring everything back to where we started, here's one more by Wild Nothing, simply because I cannot stop listening to his new album, "Gemini" ... ENJOY!