Earth to Eugene

First media jam post here; I figured this was a appropriate forum for the thoughts I wanted to get out to everyone. As you know, Earth to Eugene has put together a cd of material and I thought I'd share some history and perspective for those of you who might not be as familiar with our musical project. KB, your post on the message board about our oldest friend prompted me to wonder if people realize how long Anthony and I have been hacking away at creating music together in different places. Here's a brief history of what we've been through:

Twelve years ago in college, Anthony and I started a rather terrible band called The Plunge, mainly covering Dead songs with a few forgettable originals. Honestly, we barely knew how to play guitar at this point. A year later we overhauled the band line up and formed a band called Amorphisolid. Same basic concept as before, with better originals and probably the best drummer I've played with. All in all, we played for a couple different years and got our feet wet in the music scene. Now we needed to learn how to write real songs!

At the end of college, we went our separate ways, until Anthony moved out to Arizona a year later. Once there, we played acoustically under the name Benson and Hayes. We also cut some rough recordings that got passed among some of the peeps. Eventually, Anthony headed out of the heat and back to NYC. When it came time for Kristina and I to move as well, one of the largest draws to come east was to continue my musical partnership with him. It didn't hurt that the nyc area kicks ass!

At this point we created the band name Earth to Eugene, and we have been playing and recording for the past four years. Looking back at it, Anthony and I have survived through twelve years of playing music with four differnent bands in three different parts of the country. This is a big reason why our current cd is a special achievement for us. We have finally put ourselves in the position to share with the rest of our friends and family a respectable, tangible piece of art.

As a side note to our current cd, keep in mind that much of this album was recorded with the same type of sound as when we were playing live in the city. That means there is a heavy rythm acoustic guitar and plenty of hand drums and percussion. No drum set was used in any of these particular recordings, giving it a more raw, natural feeling. It may not have the typical sound of a rock band, but I am proud of the overall mix we were able to achieve.

The point of all this was just to familiarize all of you with the history that have led up to this point for us musically, and it might give you a better perspective on Anthony, me, and our music. I hope you all check out what we've put together, even if you just download the free songs on our website. I can't say this enough, I wish we could hand these disks out for free, however we invested too much financially to make that happen. We are hoping the $5-7 will be affordable enough for anyone interested, and at the same time help us recoup our losses. If it is an issue, feel free to email me and we can work something out. Ultimately, I just want to share our music with a group of people I really respect.

I can't thank the mb community enough for the support you given us over the years, and we're working hard to give back our heart, soul, and energy through our music. Also, I want to again give big props to shackman (sound production) and yp (cover art) for the work they put into this as well. This project was a true peeps collaboration.

Thanks for reading.......peace.

Andy

www.earthtoeugene.com

You Don't Win Friends With Salad, part IX

You Don't Win Friends With Salad, part IX
Originally uploaded by mediajam.

You win friends by being the next up-and-coming taiko champion of the world.

Thawing

I don't want to be numb anymore. I don't want to be dumb either. But when I try to think about the Middle East, that's how I feel. I change the channel. I click the X in the corner. I turn the page. It's gotten so bad that I feel like it has nothing to do with me, so any thinking I could generate about it wouldn't be useful to anyone else. But I have good thoughts... and they might be good enough to share.

It's the end of the summer and I am starting to thaw. The feelings are coming back and I am noticing more about what is going on around me. Where is everybody? That's the thing about going numb, it can last a long time, and when you come out of it, you might not like the way you feel or what you see. That's the thing about feeling dumb, the dumbest thoughts come in your head. Hellabalooza? Rocket ship? oh, right, rocket BOMBS. Kay. Well then, I think I'll shut down again.

I don't want to see that movie World Trade Center. I know, I know, they are trying to show how the human spirit prevailed and life went on. I saw an interview where one of the actors was being questioned about the integrity of making such a film and he made a beautiful point about September 11th being a story that needed to be told. I agree. But I don't know that it needs to be told by Hollywood with special effects that are going to cause fresh new fears or spark up some latent old ones.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

One of the things that really cuts deep is the thought of all of those meetings that took place, all of the planning meetings with strategies such as using planes with full tanks of gas, airport security on a Tuesday morning, flight plans. How is this plotting and scheming really that different than the plotting and scheming in the White House to enter and attack and kill? and how different are the cheers when any of these so-called missions are accomplished?

Where is everybody? The anti-war movement these days is shit in comparison to the way peeps rallied against the Vietnam war. Maybe the reason is that there's no draft. The middle-class housewives of the new milenium don't have the same threats to their safety. People aren't feeling the fear that personally. I don't have to worry about Timmy getting drafted. and I don't think that anybody is going to bomb Chicago anytime soon. But I'm still pretty scared. My friend Sharon is in Isreal visiting family. Her dad said some powerful things about the fears he's feeling. He said walking around Beirut gave him the same feeling as when he was walking around San Francisco. Here's a library, and look at those lovely apartments! We should think about trying this place for dinner. He asked me how I feel if I heard that there might be bombing of Beruit, and how would we feel if word got around that there was going to be a bombing of San Francisco? Like I said, I started to thaw. It feel hot in the back of my neck. The tears feel hot, too. How close to home does something have to be before there are real feelings about it?

But I'm here. Trying to be present. I'm pretty scared, and I don't feel like I have control over anything, but I don't want to shut down anymore. I'm not dumb either. After 20+ years of Catholic and Jesuit education where I learned nothing about the Middle East, I have a lot of catching up to do. I owe it to myself (and the people that I love for whom the news does hit close to home) to not let the fear control, but to not be numb to world either.

wish you were here

Bon jour!

Bon jour!
Originally uploaded by mediajam.

Drink me

This is what 299 cookies look like

Oh yeah!

Last year I was sitting at my desk listening to itunes on random when i got an idea for a recording experiment. So i set up my equipment and hit play on itunes. The only rule was that i had to use at least one piece of every song that came up on itunes...

I've lost track of how many different songs are in there, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30, from just a single snare hit, to multiple measures of a song.

I started it around July of last year and here's what i've got so far.. enjoy

Shuffle

The other night I came across this movie staring Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine all about Hobo's riding the rails during the depression. After watching for a few minutes I realized that it was a soundbite goldmine....enjoy


Skysail Jack

Daisy's first outing in three years!!!

Daisy's first outing in three years!!!
Originally uploaded by mediajam.

Jordanelle Reservoir 30July06

Nothing like some guacamole on a summer day

An exerpt from the MB Peeps Cookbook - recipe requested by Mat!

Basic and Not So Basic Guacamole
Submitted by: Kristina “Rae” Tuttle

After years of experimentation, these are my go-to recipes for preparing guacamole. Experiment with the recipes below to prepare your favorite version.

Ingredients:
3-4 ripe avocados
1 small clove garlic chopped or 5-6 drops of garlic juice (from pre-crushed garlic)
1-2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 tomato, chopped (optional)
¼ small yellow onion, finely chopped (optional)*
1 packed Tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
¼ lemon, juiced (optional) **
1 bag of tortilla chips (Tostitos Gold recommended)

Directions:

Basic Guacamole
Prepare avocados. I usually halve and pit the avocados, then slice horizontally and vertically within the peel to scoop out the chopped avocado with a spoon. Add garlic, salt, and pepper. Typically, avocados taste best when prepared with a generous amount of salt. Start with a teaspoon of salt and don’t be afraid to add as much as necessary to the guacamole. A good rule of thumb is to try the guacamole with the tortilla chips to be used with the dip; the saltiness of tortilla chips used will vary the amount of salt needed in the guacamole. I prefer to add an extra shot of black pepper to make it a bit spicy. Garnish with chopped tomato.

Not So Basic Guacamole
Follow directions for Basic Guacamole above and add tomato, onion, cilantro, and lemon juice.

*Red or white onion may be substituted for yellow onion.
**Lime and orange juice may be substituted for lemon juice.