Local Businesses Sponsor Little Man Release

I was absolutely thrilled when I got the e-mail regarding The Current wanting to present the Little Man EP release show. I'd forgotten that I'd sent a request and had already printed posters. So this came as a surprise and I had to head back to the printers!

The Current is one of Minnesota's public radio stations. They play a huge mix of music without commercials and has become a powerhouse of the Twin Cities. It survives because of listeners like you. I've gotten to know many of the DJ's over the years and their continuous enthusiasm for music is contagious. The greatest thing is that they play local music at least once an hour. It really binds the community in realizing that we have some seriously amazing artists right here in town. Check out the local live stream.

You can actually see my place from The Blue Door's front windows. This little local pub has been around for just a few years or so but has really been making a name for itself. They've earned Best Burger from The City Pages and it's always packed. Owners Pat and Jeremy have done very well here in St. Paul at the intersection of Selby & Fairview. They only spin local music here too. Isn't that fantastic!? The food is very good. My wife and I walk over there on the off hours to score a seat at the window. Excellent beer selection as well.

Speaking of beer, one of the places my wife and I like to go to pick up "adult beverages", is over at Marshall Liquors across from Izzy's on Marshall Ave in St. Paul. This "mom and pop" store (literally) has a huge selection of just about everything and it's a convenient stop to or from MPLS/St.Paul. Richard is our go-to guy over there. He's the young son of a Korean mom and pop who are always happy to see us and greet us with a big smile. Richard has been a kind shop keeper to us for years. We bought all our wine and hard liquor there for our wedding. He always chats us up at the counter and the radio is always on The Current. He knows when Little Man gets airplay and always mentions it.


My locks are kind of long. I'm a bit picky on my hair cuts. When my regular hair cutter moved to Portland I was unsure as to where to go. My wife's friend Amy recommended Kelly McMahon at the Groveland Barbershop over on St. Clair and Cleveland. Happy to have met her, she's beautiful. "Couple inches off - shag it up a bit" is my usual request. She does great work. If you've seen my pictures, you know!

Joe is the shop owner, another fantastic barber who's honed his skills over the many years being there. He's a huge music lover and he even became a guitar student of mine for a while. Always curios on how things are going with the band, he's been a great person to get to know. This is a hip place. I also have to mention his big black dog Austin who immediately greets you at the door wanting all your attention first and foremost.

Click the links and visit the shops. These businesses are home-grown, local, and owned and run by really cool people who add great character to this community. I'm especially thankful for their assistance in helping me promote the release show at The Turf Club (May 27th) as well as a thank you to all the other shops and people who are helping support the event in other ways.

Promotional Pics

Photos and design by Emily Utne. Clothed by Up Six.

I'm so excited about these! Emily produced some amazing shots to use for promoting the new Little Man EP. The coats from Up Six were absolutely perfect.

To see more go to my Facebook gallery.

Gil Elvgren Lecture

I had the opportunity to check out a lecture at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul given by Sarahjane Blum-Murphy last night. The event was called History of Hip: Minnesota Naughty? Sarahjane is an expert on American pin-ups and is co-owner of Grapefruit Moon Gallery. She focused on Gil Elvgren, one of the most recognizable pin-up artists and illustrators of his time. The lecture also began with a history of Munsingwear advertising from Susan Marks.

I've liked Elvgren's art for some time. The picture on the left is one of my favorites. Playful, beautiful, brilliant colors and an interesting scene with the wind up alligator. I was happy to learn that he was from St. Paul, Minnesota, so I felt it was a privilege to be able to attend such an event in his home town. Known for his All-American, girl next door, stocking clad, "ooops" expressioned, leggy pin-ups, Elvgren was also hired for Coca-Cola among other companies to draw for their advertising campaigns. His work is most notable in the WWII era and up through the 1960's.

I was hoping there would be some original paintings of his at the lecture and there were!

"Aw-Come On" (1953) and "This Doesn't Seem To Keep The Chap From My Lips" (1948) were the original oil on canvas paintings on display along with a few vintage pin-up calendars.

Photo Shoot - Behind The Scenes

With a new album called Orbital Amusement on the way, I'm working on getting things in motion for it's release. This past weekend was a photo shoot for promotions and possibly for part of the album artwork, which is currently being created by Dan Horan. These pictures were taken by my wife Brigid.

Friday I had an appointment with Megan over at Up Six, one of the vintage stores up the street I frequent to. We had talked about the album art concept we were going for and so she pulled some clothes for me to check out in my size. My favorites were a short waisted black fur coat and a floor length black robe with gold embroidery.

Saturday my wife and I met up with the photographer Emily Utne and headed up to a small studio/office for the shots. Emily shot our Of Mind And Matter cover and I was just so happy about that picture. She's artistically creative in everything she does and gives great direction. We also share similar interests and communicate well with each other about accomplishing the looks of certian shots. Emily's done a lot of cool band press shots as well as a ton of fashion photography.

She brought in a projector so we could shoot some of the pictures with an outer space background and then we did some shots with a white backdrop. After that we hopped over to the Mall Of America and got some tickets to ride the carousel. We had to wait in line and race to the horses we thought would be best for our shots. Emily rode next to me on an ostrich and we shot as the carousel went round and round, we were going up and down and the circus music was playing along with it. Really a good time! I guess I could say it was highly "amusing?" Haha! Oh well...

Just getting some pictures back now. She got some amazing shots!

Seasons Greetings

Happy holidays everyone! I hope that you'll be able to be with your families and loved ones this season. For those of you that may be far from each other this time of year, keep your loved ones in your thoughts and just know that time will pass and that you'll be together soon. Remember to be thankful for who you are and what you have.

I've written a soft and sweet Little Man holiday song for all of you, so please download it for your personal music libraries. Share your comments and share it with others.

Listen and download it here:
FREE Little Man Holiday Song


Sincerely,
Chris

Little Man Recording Session 2010

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I've got a group of tunes that I've written recently that have a general thick fuzziness (see New Sounds with ZVEX in a previous post) to them and wanted to get into the studio as soon as I could. So I had an opportunity to get down to Chicago to the old Ike lodge, with long time producer Ed Tinley, to start the process of getting them recorded. The studio has new wood flooring so I was excited to track drums in there.

Drummer Sean Gilchrist was able to come along. The process for this album was for me to first record basic guitars and then we'd add on from there.

We arrived on a Saturday evening and got basic tones and things ready to roll. Sunday was all guitars and vocals were tracked in the evening. Monday we finished up guitars and got Sean in to lay drums. We did things a little differently so we could use the entire big room for drum sounds so that Ed could design and shape the tones we were looking for with particular songs. After a full work-out of drumming we continued with vocals. Dinner breaks included classic Chicago faves such as pizza and Italian sausage sandwiches.

The lodge is great. Some of Soulful Automatic as well as most of Of Mind and Matter was recorded there. Ike Reilly was gracious enough to let us us it and camp out there too. My sleeping arrangement was this little nook up in a tiny loft. I felt like a gnome crawling up there after each night and then descending out of it in the morning. There's an old record player there with a bunch of great albums, so I would get the morning started by playing an LP and getting the coffee going. It was great to listen to early early Rolling Stones, the stuff they recorded in Chicago for inspiration.

I took a break one afternoon and stepped outside to the wooded and grassy yard. Beautiful out. Suns rays peaking through the trees. And out comes Ike from the bushes with a rifle. I know he likes to kid with me but I seriously didn't know what to think about this! He walks his way over to me and said he's been tracking and hunting some critters that've been getting into the house. "There's one." I say mid conversation. "POW!" "Thanks Squanto." he replies.
Back to work.

We were able to track drums, vocals and guitars for 6 songs in about 30 hours. Whew! A fantastic session. We are in the process of adding bass tracks with our bassist Brian Herb as well as laying down more overdubs here in the Twin Cities. Things are coming along really great and it's looking like it will be an EP. I can hardly wait till we get this out. Hopefully this spring.

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It takes alot with recording expenses rising and all the work that goes into releasing a new piece of work. If you are wanting to be a part of the project and want an opportunity to help, you are welcome to leave a donation of any amount. I'll put your name in the liner credits as well as send you a free copy for your contribution of $20 or more. Of course your donation can also be anonymous.

Meditiation with Cat

I had gotten to my meditation spot for zazen, lit a stick of musk incense and sat on the black zafu pillow cross legged, set a timer and began. This is the usual format for my sitting meditation, but sometimes the cat comes into the room. Now I used to find this distracting and it's also good practice to do zen in the midst of things going on around you, but now I see my cat's entrance a little different.

Fiona is my cat's name, A.K.A. Funny Bunny because she's mostly black with one white hind leg as if she has a lucky rabbit's foot. She spends most of her day sitting in an empty plastic salad bowl. She sits right in the middle of it like a big bowl of fuzz, sometimes with her rabbit's foot sticking out. When I see her it reminds me of the zen saying to "empty your bowl."

I first sense her as she walks in, rubs up against my arm as she quietly passes and turns to sit in front of me. My eye's are partially open so I can see here there. I imagine our conversation:

Cat: Hi, what are you doing? You're sitting still on the floor.
Me: I'm practicing zen here so beat it. You're distracting me.
Cat: Pet me.Me:("Ignore her," I say in my head)
Cat: We'll I've been doing sitting around all day. (sigh...) I'm gonna explore the room for a while.
Me: Your ruining my zen time.

These feline visits got me thinking about my practice and how my mind reacts to the experience. First there is the sensation of touch when she walks by and my mind thinks "fur" and then "cat" then to "she's going to bother me" to "do I need to be on guard if she tries to take a swipe at me." The next sensation is sight by which I see and think "Fiona Cat," then one thought leads to the next and to the next. The zen practice here would be not to label the experience. Let things happen without your mind jumping to describing and categorizing. It's not direct experience anymore when doing such thought. Very difficult to do. Reel yourself back in. Thinking of what "could" happen with the cat in the room is not being present either.

She wants to be pet.
Well, like a Bodhisattva, I do not want to neglect her. I want to show love and compassion for all beings and in cat language, petting does the trick. I also think of action and reaction. She's letting me know that she's saying hello and I should return the greeting. She acts, I react. If she somehow gets angry of my stillness and lerches out with a quick sharp clawed paw, I lean back in reaction like a Judo master. I extend my hand breaking the sitting pose and mudra hand position and pet the cat a couple times. Back to my position. Spontaneity is a key point in Zen. The thing here is to be clear in mind before, during and after the action/reaction experience. No thinking. Naturally React. Empty your bowl.

The cat sits upright in front of me closing her eyes slowly.
Look at her posture, she's in her own zen pose! She reminds me to check my posture. Straighten up, chin tucked in a bit, no wobbling on the cushion, eyes partially open. Thanks Fiona.
Her tail moves back and forth in a constant random movement. This is a true Zen moment. Does the cat think about it's tail and how to move it? No, I doubt it. The tail's movement is another form of it's body language too. Watching the randomness of the her tail movement helps me not to settle my mind into predictable patterns. To me here it's just movement.

The cat rustles around the clutter in the room and then leaves unnoticed.
Again, instead of saying in my mind "what's that sound?," "what is she getting into?" and then imagining all sorts of things from there that the cat could be doing, just let the sounds themselves penetrate. Instant sound without the reverberated thoughts that follow. Like clouds that come and go across the sky. Like our thoughts that come and go. Like a mirror that reflects an object but doesn't hold the image once the object moves past. Non-attachment.

Lastly, there is no cat.
This is the non dual philosophy of no "other." When we live with the perspective of Oneness we realize that all things are interconnected, ultimately making them one thing. An organism cannot come to be and live without it's environment. The conscious mind opens it's eyes to the world that is it's self. It originally sees the reality of things as they really are before ego gets involved. The great cause of suffering is the belief that we are separate. We are all One but don't realize it.

My meditation is a practice on being present. Being with the reality of now without assessment. Just sitting, with cat.