Hello Mr. New Year Mix

This mixtape will be perfect for:

A. end of the year bonfires

B. making a list of resolutions

C. mentally preparing for very cold weather

D. starting over

E. ringing in the new year

HERE it is for yer celebrational pleasure.

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Well there goes another Christmas and here comes another new year ... for me, it was actually a very good one ... I have survived on my art and paintings for 3 1/2 years now! And in terms of the last decade, looking back on it, it was a pretty amazing one, especially in terms of new music ...

This past weekend I had a splendid time in Mobile celebrating the yuletide season with my family and friends ... but I have to admit that I'm glad to be back in the solitude of my own bedroom with my ever-loving kitty, Charley and I'm excited about getting some "end of the year things" done, like tidying some areas of the house, clearing away some piles that have accumulated and backing up all the stuff that's slowly ended up on my external hard drives ... hurrah!

I'm also gonna be finishing up a few big paintings that will part of a group show at Litebox Gallery here in town ...

On a different note, a very sad thing that occurred over the xmas weekend was the unexpected death of Vic Chesnutt ... I'd been a fan of his pretty much since he started putting out albums and it seems unreal that he's gone now ... Earlier this year, he released a very wonderful but (in places) pretty grim album called "At The Cut" ... here's a telling song from it:

I dedicate this song by The Smiths to the memory of Vic ... He & his music will be missed:

On a lighter note, and in light of a new year approaching, here's The Walkmen:

Also, 2 New Years ago Radiohead treated us to this short film, "Scotch Mist"

and finally, the Tom Waits video below (and the entire album it comes from, actually) always bizarrely makes me think of New Year's Eve ... Happy New Year, everybody! ENJOY!!!

One last thing!

Trent Thomas turned me on to THIS!!!

Thanks, Trent!

Jingle Bell Jump Mix

This mixtape will be perfect for:

A. wrapping presents

B. driving/flying home for the holidays

C. decorating a tree

D. downing some eggnog or xmas wine

E. exchanging & opening gifts

You can unwrap it right HERE.

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So the holidays are here ... and I'm almost done with all of the holiday painting commissions I've been working on ... that doesn't mean I'm done with all of my xmas shopping ... for some reason I always wait till the very last minute to finish that up ... but then again, I pretty much do EVERYTHING at the last minute, so go figure ...

Anyway, because I'm sort of flustered due to all of this seasonal madness, I don't really have much to say this week ... at any rate, Happy Holidays!

I do have two pretty awesome videos ... the lovely Laura Ledbetter turned me onto this cool ass video blog called hexagon hexagon and that's where I found this particular one:

This other one I just sort of stumbled on while looking at other stuff ... It's a nice one for this time of year:

Favorite Sweater Mix

This mixtape will be perfect for:

A. Driving or riding or walking around in cold weather.

B. Preparing hot chocolate or hot tea or coffee

C. Making a Christmas shopping list

D. Warding off wintertime sickness

E. Donning yer favorite sweater (of course)

Wrap up in it right HERE.

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Looky looky! A painting from my Bottletree "Hybrids" show is on the new issue of Black & White Magazine!

Also, Fred & Daily (Peter and I's "band") have an article about us including videos and songs in the online magazine, Pavo! Yay!

you can dig it HERE.

This week has been full of Christmas painting commissions for me ... Not much else to say, really except that I had a blast at the Bottletree Holiday Extravaganza where folks were getting their photos taken with Asshole Santa! Here's me with some Bearons and Santa:

(photo by Jonathan Purvis)

There was also much drunken holiday karaoke, they screened Fred & Daily's "Jingle Bell Blitz" video and the Vacant Manifesto commercials for Six Elves One Cup, an amazing Christmas song-playing all-elf band, then the band actually played (it was actually more of a performance ... lots of storyline speaking inbetween!)...it was all filmed, so I'll be posting the video when it hits the interwebs ...

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I have a variety of things in video news ... 1st of all, I had this song in my head the other day and it truly is a great song (even if the video is a bit so-so!):

And here's a new one by Hot Chip ... I like the song's chorus and all the dancing!




I didn't like Times New Viking till their latest album, "Born Again Revisited" came out and now I'm hooked ... witness two videos from it:






Lastly I have two anomalies ... a song by the Thai Elephant Orchestra (I own both albums!) and an animated piece by Norman McLaren from 1940 ... enjoy!

Teasley's O Holy Shit! Mix

Brian Teasley saves the day! His (extremely superb) Christmas mix was ready and waiting when this week's mix (which will end up being next week's mix) had an unexpected emergency and couldn't make it to the party ... and hell no, it's not too early to start clapping yer gloves with seasonal joy! Grab some egg nog and a cookie and get ready! (and have fun enjoying that photo above that graces the cover! haha)

I just can't wait till you get to the last song on THIS one! thanks again, Brian!

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So this weekend was truly LOADED for me ... and I'm soooo glad it's over, even though it was highly enjoyable ... 1st was Friday, the night of the 2 simultaneous openings ... wait ... I have a video of the Barehands "New Ghosts On Old Wood" water closet installation ... the sound collage was coming from underneath the 3 dimensional ghost and that's what all that noise is: I collaged a bunch of spoken ghost stories over eachother:

Also, at the Bottletree "Hybrids" opening that night, a caricature artist named James Hislope did some awesome caricatures of me and my friends ... witness below my fellow Bearons Eileen, Kristen & I presenting eachother's:

Saturday and Sunday were both consumed by the Bottletree Craft Bazaar, where I showed a bunch of paintings (& sold a good deal, too on top of making some sweet trades!) ... it was a lot of work but alas, a lot of fun, too

This morning I ran out (in a total downpour of a day) and voted (Patrick Cooper) for mayor ... I hope more folks brave the weather and vote today as well ... and I also hope that Cooper wins this time ... our last mayor was a totally idiotic crook (and sadly, that's not an exaggeration!)

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In video news, I figured that 1st of all, I'd plug Fred & Daily's xmas album again by posting the "Jingle Bell Blitz" video ... we're getting interviewed by Pavo Magazine today ... exciting! You can get yer copy of "Hairy Crimmah On Ice!" on End Up Records HERE.

Also, here's this great new piece by Atlas Sound called Untitled ... I find the song, as well as the quirky surveillance camera visuals highly entertaining:

Also, Camera Obscura did this wonderful "unplugged" outside deal type of thing (!) right HERE.

and speaking of Scottish bands, the Twilight Sad have this new and eerie, almost Halloweeny video ... creepsville!

30 Days Remain Mix

This mixtape will be perfect for:

A. bundling up in sweaters, jackets & coats

B. watching tree limbs slowly get bare

C. sleeping in late cuz it's too cold outside

D. gathering wood and making bonfires

E. celebrating the last month of the year

yep, I titled this mix after the fact that December is now upon us and we only have 30 days of 2009 left ... sometimes here in Alabama we have hot autumns and warm winters, but so far this year, everything has been right on track and it's coooold out there!

Enjoy the mix right HERE.

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So, I'm almost ready for both of my shows opening on the same night this coming Friday:

"New Ghosts On Old Wood" water closet installation

(part of the SHINE '09 - The Alternative Tree show)

Barehands Gallery

109 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. South

205.324.2124

5pm - 9pm

and ALSO, SAME NIGHT:

"Hybrids"

Bottletree

3719 3rd Avenue South

205.533.6288

5pm - 9pm

it's been fun working on these shows ... especially with the "Hybrids" one, I have no idea where I'm going with each piece, yet they come together all the same ... lots of instinct & spontaneity involved!

Speaking of spontaneity, there was a lot of that going on when Peter and I shot our new xmas Fred & Daily video, "Jingle Bell Blitz", which I finished editing on Thanksgiving! You can view it RIGHT HERE.

In other video news, once again Charlie Smith turned me on to something brilliant ... this is a rock n roll public access show from Milwaukee and it's pretty amazing ... there needs to be a show like this in every city ... maybe Charlie & I will make that happen next year! view an episode of it RIGHT HERE.

And here's another video for Grizzly Bear's song "Two Weeks" ... I think it's equally as awesome as the other version (on the next couple videos, if the pic gets cut off, simply click the screen to watch it):

This is the video for Phoenix's wonderful song "Lisztomania" ... nothing too special, really but I do enjoy all the super-8 shots:

And last but not least is a new Fever Ray which, if you don't already feel chilly, will definitely do the trick!

Brian's Alabama Goddamn Mix

(photo by Spider Martin)

This mixtape was created for you by the incomparable Brian Teasley ... it is entirely different from his last contributed mix (Xmas In July Mix) and I really love listening to it, not only because it's so unique, but because it also feels historic and the songs strangely make me feel both shamelessly and shamefully proud of my home and my southern heritage ...

it's located right HERE

and while yer listening, here's a word from Brian himself:

ALABAMA GODDAMN: A COMPILATION OF SONGS ABOUT BIRMINGHAM AND ALABAMA

For some time now, I’ve collected songs about Birmingham, and, Alabama in general. It’s unbelievable how many amazing 78s were recorded between 1920-1935 that reference Birmingham either in lyric or title, or very often, both (conveniently "Alabam" and "Birmngham" rhyme, and that's a fact often taken advantage of in many of these ditties). Obviously, I couldn’t include a tenth of the songs that wax poetic about the Heart of Dixie or, for that matter, the Magic City itself, but, unequivocally, the songs on this compilation are some of my personal favorites.

Many here are obvious and well known, and a few are somewhat rare. I should state that there is also a myriad of phenomenal field recordings captured by musicologists / documentarians which were made between 1920-1950 or so. I didn’t include any of those because I thought that, for the uninitiated, the harsh, scratchy recordings might be hard to bear, but there are indeed so many of these absolutely brilliant performances from people who very likely never even heard the recordings they made. Also, even up to recently, everyone from Huey Lewis to Ani Defranco to the Drive-By Truckers has written entire songs about or at least referenced Birmingham. I avoided those, because I simply don’t like them or, as is the case with the Truckers and others, thought absolutely everybody has heard them by now.

I am proud of my Alabama heritage and am constantly amazed at the degree to which I have been shaped by my childhood here, my long exodus, and my eventual return. That said, I do have a love / hate relationship with Alabama, and you will find the authors of these songs, probably for both similar and distinctly singular reasons, seem to grapple with this as well.

Some of these tunes are silly and about the rather swingin’ or wildly rambunctious South, some are deeply sad and remarkably capture the strife of slavery and the struggle of the Civil Rights movement, and many are just about passing through on the way to some place else, and likewise, in the greater scheme of life, I am glad that I, for better or worse, have “passed” through this place myself.

I do hope you enjoy this comp. and will begin (or continue) your own hunt for gems in the ruff of Alabama music history. Thanks for checking them out.

--Brian Teasley,

11/22/09

once again, thanks Brian!

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What a fun and productive week! I had a wonderful birthday last Tuesday ... Peter's long-distance sweetie, Christine was in town and she not only treated us to some delicious Makario's cuisine, but also made us vegan mint-chocolate cupcakes and pumpkin pie!!! mmm -mmm! We had a nice fire in the backyard, too and afterwards I partied a bit more at Bottletree cuz that night also happened to be their 3rd anniversary!

In Fred & Daily news, we spent this past weekend shooting a video for the song "Jingle Bell Bitz" from our newly released Christmas album, "Hairy Crimmah On Ice" (free download until Dec. 1st!) ... Brian Teasley also lent us his "elves & Santa" costumes & Xmas stuff which made for a hilarious "elf rap" section! He also arranged a wonderfully surreal "sixties tv show" type segment at Bottletree, too ...yay, Brian! I should have the video edited in a week or so ... it's gonna be nuts-o!!!

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Speaking of surreal, in video news, I found 2 really great ones this time... ENJOY!

I Was Born Mix

This mixtape will be perfect for:

A. smelling crayons

B. pretending yer bedroom is the entire world

C. blowing out candles

D. smelling roses from graveyards

E. backyard fires with friends

HERE is where you can partake of it.

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Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah! You say it's yer birthday!

Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah! It's my birthday too, yeah!

How charming that this year Peter & I's birthday actually falls on a Tuesday, the day we were born! Yes! I woke up and found this (and an insane list of birthday greetings!) waiting for me on facebook this morning ... thanks, Lucy!!!

Also, Mimi (who's birthday is the day before mine)sent me this wonderful Sesame Street thingy ... btw, my name means "small, but dynamic) ...thanks, Mimi!!!

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So, this past week was a pretty good one ... I finished another stack of commissions (witness below) and started the foundations for my shows at Bottletree ("Hybrids") and Barehands ("Ghosts") ... haha ... I took the theme of the Boutwell show and divided it into 2 shows! So, it's been exciting, because both themes are new and experimental for me ... I actually love not knowing what I'm doing and surprising myself with happy accidents and such ...

Also, this past Sunday, most of the Bearons, some members of the Sons Of Pitches team and an assortment of friends played an awesome softball game at Ruffner Park ... we divided into 2 teams of 7 and called ourselves the Crips & the Bloods ... i was on the Crips and we won 13 - 7! In a way, it felt like a happy family reunion, seeing all of my fellow Bearons together after so long ... it was also heaps and heaps of fun! Again, photographic evidence lies below ...

(wow! my uncle Fritz just called me from Munich, Germany to wish me a happy birthday!)

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In Fred & Daily news, we just released our Christmas album! and if you get it before December 1st, it's FREE! take a LOOK!

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And lastly, in video news, I came a cross 3 pretty amazing ones (if the image gets cut off, just click the video itself) ... ENJOY: