the biggest thing i'm struggling with
is what style you'd say the music is.

i like to work in good beats but
i wouldn't say you could dance to it.

the storytelling is too abstract to be folk.

it doesn't hit you hard enough to be rock.

but i dance to it
and it is my story
and i rock the hell out of
this little room
in this little flat
on this little island
making it.

and i suppose that matters more than whatever it will eventually be called.

it is simply unfair how amazing lance and ava are. lance has been both the brains and the brawn behind building the rig and ava said she can do the welding for it this week. yes! i just posted some photos to satiate the desire that i know you must have for construction/powertool/lance/aerial porn:

full gallery --> http://www.oneflameinthefire.com/rigbuild1









when it's all said and done it should look something like this:

This is addictively amusing:





As is this one:





Yay for reducing even the intimate medium of singing into something even a machine can do!

full gallery ---> http://www.oneflameinthefire.com/gallery-cornwall/

it's times like this
somewhere in the middle of my night
and everyone else's afternoon
that i'm wide open
and i feel all the outliers of your emotions.

i normally can't sleep at night because i feel your excitement.
tonight i can't sleep because i feel your fear.
i can't change anything, but i can be there,
and i will

it doesn't surprise me how much exploitation there is on the interwebs
but it hurts and disappoints me.

my only comfort is knowing that relevant truth will ultimately win,
and relevant truth will set us free.

i absolutely hate flickr.com
and
i absolutely love flickr.com.

it is the photographer's quintessential siren.

it draws me in
over and over and over and over again

and i want it to love me
as i love it
but it will not

because it does not fancy
my strong suit.

in fact,
it doesn't even see it.

my ego keeps trying to convince my better half to change
but i shake him and raise my voice to assure him that it's better to just be me
just as i am
than to just be loved. 

i want to be felt. 




















-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

it used to be that the more i read, the sadder i became because it was more and more clear that the world is a painful and unfair place

so i decided i'd just take care of my own and not try to carry the world's problems on my shoulders

but it seems that everyone that had anything worth protecting did the same thing

because those dangerous things have found their way to our doorsteps

and they humor us by knocking.

point is: you and i must be the warm sun for some, or it will always be a cold night for all.

this makes me very happy:

just spent the last week doing SXSW for the first time. i should clarify that i did not showcase but was just attending for the panels and to scout out the showcases to get ideas in case i apply to play there in the next couple years. i worried it wouldn't be worth the cost of the badge and the travel but it turned out to be well worth it. the panels were outstanding and i learned a lot from them. one of the most valuable things was just seeing and meeting people that make up the music industry...it's always been such an abstract thing to me before but i have a much better feel for who's who and what they do now. i get back to london on thursday and i'm looking forward to taking the momentum i have coming out of sxsw and putting it into finishing this cd. highlights of the week include:

* arc attack - i'm so proud of parsec and his team. i saw their show twice downtown and was just blown away.

* metallica - got to see them in a barbeque joint! incredible show. and they played mostly OLD OLD songs which is all the stuff that i learned to play guitar on (master of puppets, sanitarium, one, seek and destroy, etc). it was amazing to be there as a musician and get to see the guys that got me started playing guitar 18 years ago.



* tori amos - hot



* amanda palmer (from Dresden Dolls) - even hotter than tori amos!



* MY FIANCE - even hotter than amanda palmer!  she had a really really tough week but was incredibly supportive of me traveling for the conference.  i can't wait to get back and do what i can to support her. 

* monotonix - i got 1) hit by a trash can by the singer, 2) hit by a drumstick by the drummer (who was drumming on TOP of the crowd while they held up his kit) and 3) got trampled as i was leaving by the crowd as the show spilt out into the street (red river). these guys were out of control. the last thing i saw before i took off was the singer scaling an apartment building across from the venue and jumping off into the crowd below.

* le castle vania - this dude can't be more than 15 but he throws down some of the best breaks i've ever heard.



port o'brien - i caught them play the song I Woke Up Today three times because i'm just addicted to it. when i saw them on the top floor of buffalo billiards they handed pots and pans out to everyone in the crowd to play along and i swear i thought the floor would cave in from people jumping up and down and going apesh!t. so awesome.



BUT THE BEST MOMENT OF ALL WAS:

* jarvis cocker (from Pulp) - he lead one of the panels and played an accoustic version of Babies which was my favorite song when i moved to austin in 1996. i was just obsessed with Pulp back then and it was so surreal to see jarvis there playing that song for us. i had one of those smiles on that was so wide it hurt. oh man that made me so happy.



now i'm just looking forward to getting home to be with amy. i get back there on thursday morning.

nothing fancy but i put some public domain clips together to make a video for Fall From Grace:

Wow... THIS is why the Shunt is closing in June. this building is planned to be built right over where the Shunt stands now so it will closed to use for storage. it'll be the largest building in london by far: a fitting tombstone for what has to be one of the greatest art spaces anywhere ever. it will be weird to look at it on the skyline one day and think 'we used to dance there.'




The Shard, London from Uniform on Vimeo