When All Is Said And Done – A New Album!

Neil’s Blog Entry

When All Is Said And Done was an experiment. Actually, more of a challenge: to see if I could make an album in only one day.

I had just completed a piece of music originally intended for a project at work. When it became clear that the piece did not entirely fit the project, I was left pondering what to do with this little ambient-industrial track just looking for a place in life.

I am currently working on a new album of songs with my wife Laura and my friend Dave, but this track didn’t seem to fit there either. [For those of you who faithfully read our blog and thought this was the release of that album, I apologize for the confusion. Worry not! Work goes on with that album and we are all very excited about it. If it helps, think of this as the cartoon just before the movie. I just dated myself, didn’t I?]

So then I had this idea, “I wonder if I could make an album in one day.” It hit me right out of the blue.

Well, maybe not quite “out of the blue.” My lovely and creative wife had recently completed 30 days of photography and crafting on the website Thing-A-Day.com where one is challenged to create something each and every day for a month. My challenge to myself to make an album in one day was obviously inspired by her.

To me, this was somewhat of a daunting exercise to attempt. I am very much into conceptualization, and not so much into follow through. But I was interested enough in the idea to give it a try. In order to give myself even half a chance to make it work, I set up some parameters and boundaries. I decided that the aforementioned track would serve as the thematic base for the album. Also, I decided only to use a handful of royalty-free loops and/or loops licensed by Creative Commons. All in all, I used a little less than 140 loops, mostly from Peace Love Productions and Intelligent Machinery.

I also decided that when using a loop, I had to alter it in some way. How about some effects? Yup. Chop it up into pieces? Absolutely. Or better yet, destroy it altogether. That last one I did A LOT.

And so, holding firmly to my rules of engagement, I set out upon making the album. What happened next was simply an unexpected burst of musical experimentation and creativity. And when all was said and done, [Get it?] I had an eight-track ambient-industrial album that I think sounds pretty cool… I am, of course, biased. What you will think of it is up to you, but I’m hoping you will enjoy it.

The album can be found at my website at www.neilsmithmusic.com and is available for purchase at indistr.com.

Thanks for listening.
Neil Smith

The Holey Trinity

Laura’s Blog Entry

No torturing Kevin today with more bread. I’ve got some new knitting going. I am finishing up the Crazy Socks, but don’t want to bother with a photo until they are done. I am not enjoying the ribbing at the top – it has become fussy to work with the two circular needles for some reason. So going is slow. About half an inch and they will be history. They are a bit big – hopefully I will get the formula just perfect on my next pair.

I have started a new project for myself. I am making the “Flirty Sweater” from Sasha Kagan’s book Ready, Set, Knit.

It is made out of mercerized cotton yarn. The yarn is very thin and not that easy to work with, but I am a cotton sweater kind of girl, so I soldier on. The sweater is a plain cardigan, (doing mine in black, of course) but it has a bumpy texture to the fabric – using the trinity stitch.

I have a few choice words for the trinity stitch. I had a very hard time mastering it. I started over probably 15 times on my first swatch, but as you can see, trinity stitch has been beaten into submission:

(For non-knitters, before starting a project you do a sample swatch of the pattern to check that you knit the right size. Otherwise the sweater won’t turn out the proper dimensions.) I say it was my first swatch because it was too large using the specified needle size, so I am re-swatching with smaller needles. Which make this pattern even harder to work But I am a determined sort, so on I go.

I love how it looks. It is kind of a lacy. It’ll be a good summer sweater.

I plan to crochet a little loop at the top and add a pretty button instead of the ribbon-tie that is suggested. I can’t imagine myself with a big bow on my chest. It’s a downhill slope from that to sailor collars, so I am giving the ribbon thing a wide berth.

Finally, yesterday I finished swatching for another pair of the baby booties. I found a cashmere yarn that I can get locally, so I wanted to make sure the size would be OK.

Opps, that wasn’t finally. Here’s finally. I finished the last of the coasters! Yippee! I have a few ends to weave in and then I will be felting. Wanted to felt this week, but it will most likely be next week for that.

Need to make sure I leave time this week to buy toilet paper and finalize the script for the next episode. My life is so hard…

We are recording on Friday night. I’m very excited! Our friend Erin may even sit in with us again. We are so sick of just talking to each other – blah, blah, blah – whatever! She’ll perk things up! Plus we have food themes and super cool music. Hope you are up for it!

English Muffin Bread

Laura’s Blog Entry

Made this delicious bread last night along with the 7 Veggie Soup from Thefoodsex.com. Neil ate zucchini. It must have been good. This is his favorite bread, so that helped, too. Hey, I just realized I forgot to add the spinach to the soup! That will make it even better!

I think my mom got this recipe from a magazine ad for yeast back in the 1970’s.

3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
Cornmeal

Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour with sugar, salt, soda and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

Heat liquids to 110 degrees. Add to dry ingredients and mix. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix well to make a stiff batter. This bread in not kneaded. Just mix until well blended.

Oil an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 (standard) bread pan. Coat the sides and bottom with cornmeal. Tap out any excess.

Spoon batter into the bread pan. Sprinkle top with cornmeal.

Let rise approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour until bread reaches the top of the pan. It isn’t a super-tall bread.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove from pan to cool.

Note: This bread is great toasted the next day!

Spring Wardrobe

Laura’s Blog Entry

It’s spring, and a girl’s fancy turns to…

Shopping at the Hot Topic!

Neil and I got some cool new shirts. Because nothing says spring like a rock T. (Note Neil’s black fingernails. He’s so goth.)

Revelations

Laura’s Blog Entry

Warning: This blog has the potential to freak you the heck out. It uses words like “God” and “prayer.” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I’ve run out of reasons not to blog about this. I readily admit I have purposefully avoided sitting down to process through some stuff. Part of me likes emotional limbo. Familiar locale. Spent a good many years there, thank you very much.

But “the new me” knows that I will get lost there if I don’t say “Check please!” and get the hell out of limbo after a bit.

I’m trying to remember… I wanted to be emotionally available because… oh yeah. BECAUSE OTHERWISE THERE IS NO REASON TO LIVE, STUPID.

So here I go, back into the land of the living. Anyone wanna call “Shotgun!” Anyone? Bueller?

So this feeling-palooza began last week. I was fortunate to be able to attend an incredibly inspiring going-away party for our friend Brian who works with Neil. He is moving on to start a media company. I’ve been to a few going-away parties before. This one was intense. Brian is an amazing person who has challenged Neil and I to grow in many ways. I am so inspired by the humility and honesty with which he lives his life.

This little gathering got very emotional because many, many people shared stories of how Brian has inspired or challenged or supported them. I was in tears the entire time. When Neil told his story, it was almost too much to process. Brian helped to create a place where we can experience who God is and who God made us to be. All of Neil’s most amazing creative opportunities have grown out of this place, and this place is somewhere that Brian had the vision and the drive to make happen.

To say we are grateful doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Normally an experience like that would have been enough for me. I would have needed a good bit of time to work through my feelings afterwards. Because, you see, I am a thinker, not a feeler.

Neil and I took a seminar once on communication skills. At one point we were supposed to use “feeling” words to describe something. I could not do it. I didn’t know any “feeling” words.

I could tell exactly what I thought about something, but I had no vocabulary for how I felt about it. I accept now that I am a slow processor. It takes me time to come to terms with an event and be able to give feedback. I still refer to the list in the back of the workbook from the seminar. It has columns of “feeling” words. Take the word “sad” for example. It can range from meaning “down” at the low end of the feeling scale, all the way up to “devastated.” There is a lot of ground covered between “down” and “devastated” I have learned.

So when I blogged about Freaky Friday last week, that’s where I was. Processing the party for Brian. Thinking about how I want my life to be like his. I want a room full of people to be able to say that I make a difference. Not because I am trying to be ALL THAT. But because I am trying to make an impact.

No one is going to step in and fix the world, people. We are it. We are the plan. Kinda humbling, huh?

Then we had our study group on Friday night. We’ve been looking at our consumption – of things, of people, of ideas, and also what things, people and ideas might be consuming us and our time. I was not expecting a necessarily unusual group that night. But it was.

We had some time to be generous and some time to pray for each other. It was pretty intense for me when someone I just me a few weeks ago looked at me and said “I think I know where you are coming from and what you need.” And boy did she. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced that before.

I know some of you may not be at all interested in this kind of thing, but this is my life and I would feel inauthentic were I to gloss over the big insights when they come. I just ask for you to give me grace and I’ll be back to Depeche Mode soon, I promise!

So since this time of prayer I feel (Notice I said feel! Hooray!) that some broken stuff I’ve carried around for like just about forever might be actually healing. Like I said, we are the solution for each other. That is the miracle.

How often do we pass up the chance to be the miracle for someone else? All the freakin’ time, that’s how often. I know I do.

So what does all this mean? That’s what I was trying to figure out on Saturday morning. I was totally in a fog as I got Mari ready and sent her off to Harry Potter Camp at the zoo. She looked so cute in her little wizard outfit she put together.

I wore that dress to see The Cure Wish Tour in 1992. Now it is a wizard’s robe. Seems fitting.

OK Where was I? Oh yeah. What does all this mean? I guess it means that there is hope. Hope that we can get it together once in a while and support each other. That we can end some of the suffering and pain in this world. Seems overwhelming.

Let’s just take it one person and one situation at a time; what do you say?

Are you in?

Master and Servant – MacDonald Style

Laura’s Blog Entry

The lovely Pat MacDonald posted this video recently for his cover of Depeche Mode’s “Master and Servant.” It is a great video – dark and gothy. Just the way we like it!

Pat is super cool, so chew on this little gem while I organize my angst for my next entry.

Edit 3/19/08

Pat did an entire album of Depeche Mode covers, called “Strangelove – PM does DM” which is available on iTunes.

DM with a bit of the blues. Killer!

Catching Up with BSG

Neil’s Blog Post

Hey all, as we mentioned in our last podcast, the fourth and final season of “Battlestar Galactica” premieres this April on the dreaded SciFi Channel. Well, in case some of you have missed out on the past three seasons, someone over there has come up with a very fast and very funny 8-minute re-cap of the story so far. Just go to http://www.scifi.com/battlestar and enjoy!

Having troubles? Try this alternative link.

Freaky Friday

Laura’s Blog Entry

Fridays are a little out of control around here. I am not one who enjoys bustling around, always busy, go, go, go. I like to complete a task, then have some down time. Complete another task, knit and watch an old movie. It has been a challenge lately to try to have that much space in the day. And it is especially challenging on Fridays.

Friday mornings lately have been devoted to cleaning up and preparing food for our Friday night study group. Today I am also spending a few hours at the school library shelving books. Plus Mari has dance class, which means I won’t get home until about 30 minutes before everyone arrives tonight for the group and a potluck dinner.

I am not exactly running at full speed here. It’s been kind of an emotional week. I am still processing some stuff and I reserve the right to process some more here on the blog. But I am kind of in this numb state – you know – the after effects of dealing with some emotional stuff. It’s a good feeling, but I’m a bit drained. The dessert I made for tonight should help:

An assortment of mini-muffins. Triple chocolate, peanut butter, and then peanut butter with a few chocolate chips on top. I am dying to eat one, but so far I have abstained. Not confident that my resolve will hold. All that is deterring me is that the symmetry of the dessert tray will be off if I eat any.

Fun stuff to blog about soon – working on a new playlist called “The Bittersweet Mix.” It is coming together really nicely. Watched a couple really good movies that I want to talk about, too. But now I have to wrap things up and get going downtown. My iPod is all charged, so we will be spending a lovely afternoon together in the library and sitting at dance class.

I’ll be the one with a blissful look on her face while podcast after podcast gently whispers in her ear.

Blogs I Read: Food

Laura’s Blog Entry

Today I thought I would get started on something I’ve been planning to write about for a while. I love reading blogs. Food blogs, knitting blogs, craft blogs, personal blogs, my friends’ blogs, design blogs, personal productivity blogs, and other blogs I can’t even categorize. One entry will not be enough for this, so I think I will do it by blog topics. Won’t this be fun? Heck yeah!

In no particular order, here are some food related blogs I enjoy. They aren’t always just about food, but I have gotten yummy recipes from all of them.

Christabelle.com
This is the blog of the lovely Christa from the band Hungry Lucy. She is an experienced cook, gardener and photographer (and singer.) She writes about all those things on her blog. I love to hear her talk about what he has been cooking on their band podcast, “Tea with Hungry Lucy.” She has educated me in the ways of the vegetarian. Her Spiced Banana Bread is tasty!

Theknittingcook.com
Faith is a knitter, cook, and mother of three living abroad. A brave and daring soul, she is. She also has a podcast, “The Knitting Cook,” but has taken a bit of time off from podcasting after the birth of her daughter. I have especially enjoyed her recipe for Honey Wheat Bread. Mari loves it! It has tons of whole wheat in it, and oatmeal, but it stays soft and doesn’t weigh 100 pounds. Here’s a photo from the last time I made it:

It rose to extreme heights!

And finally,

Thefoodsex.com
I’ve mentioned this one before. It is new to me, but I love it! Vegan… who knew it could be tasty! I made the Miso Soup and it rocks! It would be a great soup to eat when you have a bad cold – tons of nutritious veggies and lots of black pepper to clear those sinuses! I destroyed its vegan-ness by using a combo of chicken broth and a beef bouillon cube (horrors!) The recipe calls for vegetable broth. Plus no chick peas for me, please.

Miso and soba noodles weren’t the easiest things to find, but I did get them at our Whole Foods Market. The miso was back in the refrigerated section.

If anyone has a good recipe for vegetable broth I’d love to try it. I really want to master vegetable broth this year. I made some last fall, and it was just OK. Kinda bland. No matter what I put in it seems to taste like onion water. Or do you know of a good store brand? Suggestions welcome.

Better get this posted if I want a few minutes of knitting before the afternoon job as chauffeur starts. Why don’t you go have a snack until I get back, K?

Knitter’s Almanac

Laura’s Blog Entry

As planned, the snowy weekend was a knitting triumph. And the highlight was finishing these freakin’ cute baby booties for my friend Susan.

She is giving them as a gift. (Is it wrong to say baby booties are “freakin’ cute”? I’m spending too much time on the internets and have lost touch with what is proper terminology for a lady to use when she describes her knitting.)

I got the free pattern here. If you are registered on the site, just search the Pattern Finder for Glamour-Baby’s First Booties. I used Lion Brand Cashmere Blend. Loved it. Very soft!

I also applied my brain to turning the heels on the Crazy Socks.

They are by no means perfect, but I am happy with how they turned out. Now I can knit until the yarn runs out and then bind them off. I am already planning my next socks. I have three colors of Knitpicks Palette, and I think I will do a two-color sock – with contrasting heel and toe. And some kind of stitch pattern. Oooo… now that’s crazy!

Finally, I am nearly finished with the Garter Stitch Scarf I am doing with leftover yarn.

Although I think it’s going to end up being two rows short on the olive green. That’s a color I’ll use for future felting projects, so I can justify buying another skein. But two rows short. Bummer.

The verigated rows are Patons SWS – Soy Wool Stripes yarn. I really love the look of the soy yarn. Maybe not for a whole project, but as an accent it is really beautiful. It has a really long color repeat, which makes the shading very subtle. I will say that it is very shreddy as well as slippery. This makes it a bit fussy to knit, although not terrible difficult. It just slowed me down.

I am still working on the coasters for my Etsy project. I have one more set to do, and then I will be ready to felt them. Can’t wait to get those up for sale so I can start working on the next idea in the queue – the tote and handbag project.  I want to use recycled jeans as the basis for them and then decorate them with skulls and other embellishments. For a second you were thinking, “Sounds like a 1970’s do-it-yourself Seventeen Magazine project,” until I said skulls… am I right?  I live to throw you off, my bloglings. Stay tuned.