Doldrums Between Equinoxes

We spent the 4th of July week in Annapolis with Tabby's mom, and these are some of the highlights from the trip. My mom and brother also came out, and we took Spencer to the Baltimore and Ohio Train Museum with our friend Akim, and hung out in Hampden with him afterwards. It was great to be gone from our town during the 4th weekend, since the town allows people to blow off fireworks within the city limits, and a fog of sulphur usually clouds the entire place for 3 days.

At the B & O Train Museum in B-Town.

With my family in Annapolis.

Statue of Alex Haley.

Little boys enjoy tackling big girl cousins.

Spencer at my dad's house in the lush Oley Valley.

Tabby at Chez Pat.

Gnarl longboard butt-session.

After-pool monster session.

Dog vs. Basketball.

Wool before the heat wave of 2011.

The one week when the apple tree blossoms.

New Rose

During late April and through May, my band played the Norman Music Festival and went on a short tour up the Plains. These are some of the photos and highlights of our shows. Thanks to Gene for the cool photographs from Bill and Dee's as we kicked off the tour! The photos of us outside are from the Opolis stage outdoors during the festival.

We also recorded 4 new songs with Trent Bell at his studio in Norman, and we expect to release the first single, Dogs and Guns on the A-side, Wunderkind on the B-side, in September this year on our label, Modern Peasant Records. For those interested, see the link list to the right.

Summertime Blues

I haven't posted anything in awhile, as I've been gone most of the spring. I was at the Norman Music Festival in late April to play the festival with my band, and record some new songs at Bell Labs. After that, I was off to UC Santa Cruz to give the keynote address at a research symposium. I was home for one week, then went on tour with the band. The whole time, Tabby and Spencer have been away to visit her mom in Maryland. They have been gone for almost 8 weeks, which is a bit too long, so I've got the summertime blues at the moment. I thought I would catch up a bit on last summer, around this time, so I can think about what Tabby, Spencer and I will do when they get back home.

I'll do some more posts in the coming weeks, to catch up and not spend too much on my podcast!

Last summer, my mom and Brian came to visit, and we went to Audubon nature preserve outside of Lincoln.

Spencer at Trego Park.

Barbara and Brian.

June last year, Pat, Kya, Kes, and Tara came to visit and it was a blast. We rented a platform to paint the trickiest part of the house.

We had to cut our tree down, and here's the crew who did it.

Last July, we played a show at the Opolis, and we stopped in this very cool town in Kansas called Herrington. Spencer really liked the park because it had old trains in it.

Brad and I at the Ponca City skatepark.

Spencer likes to play Ron's drums, he started to play them before he was a year old.

We spent a week in San Diego, to visit my mom, and Spencer did his first boogie boarding at the beach, with my niece Kate.

Spencer liked washing the car.

Last September, we went to Philly for my friend Paul's wedding, and to the opening of the National Building Museum exhibition I consulted on. We hung out with our friends Dave and Erin in Rittenhouse Square. Spencer dug all reflecting pool and statues.

This is Paul, who got married!

Spencer at Grandma's pool. He is evidently a little fish this summer already.