I'm in awe of the number of Christmas lights still up in my neighborhood and here we are well into the new year. At first seeing wreaths and tiny little lights strung on trees and the eaves of houses made me smile. It reminded me of being a kid and wishing it could be Christmas all year round but having no control over making that so. That quickly shifted though and I suddenly found the multi-colored lights lonely and anachronistic, relics of a bygone era, maybe even representative of a past we can never quite part with...

And then I had to pause, hit the off switch, and remind myself that sometimes the past is not past and christmas lights are just christmas lights.

2012 sounds so far away in the distant future to me. But here we are. And we're still here. I guess the Mayans just didn't get around to finishing that calendar. I have a good feeling about 2012. I'm not sure if it's because deep down inside I'm an eternal optimist or if it's in light of 2011 and her extreme highs and lows...whatever the case may be, I'm wishing us all the best of the best in these not so futuristic times...Happy Brand New Year.
 

           

My folks have been married a real long time today. Happy Anniversary Mom & Pop.
And although this isn't a picture of them, it does capture all that's worth celebrating...

Occupy the Holidays. Buy Local. Make something. Change something.

I love music. Of this I am certain. I love music more than whiskey and chocolate and cigars and cheese and grapes and wine and olives and sunsets and pictures and trains and travel and I love yous. But still I love you. More than anything.

I thought I had several wishes - infinite golden strands woven into impossibility. A great quilt of wants and desire. A harrowing display of what time could never provide in such a short while. How many strands are the same though, reflecting light differently, yet cut from the same cloth, of the same flesh, the same bone?
Because you love. Just because. And so we continue on with our small burden and our infinite possibilties. Because you love. Because I love. 

 

Tell me a story. Tell me what you hate. Tell me where you went when you left.
Yes, The Quiet is ringing in my ears tonight. I hope the din will disturb your slumber.

I hope someone brings you flowers. I hope someone gives you time to appreciate the things that slip away when held too tight. I hope someone whispers to you softly when the shades come down at night. I hope you're never alone with someone standing by your side. I hope you are what you are and you are what you were. I hope tomorrow brings what she brought once before.

A mixture of happiness and doubt, dread and hope, a cocktail of certainty and inadequacy, a garnish of fear - the edible kind. I almost didn't leave the house today but we must leave sometime and so I drove my car as if I'd never been behind the wheel down a street that's never felt familiar. A man on the left side of the road was tinkering on a banjo walking like he had no one to be. A young girl on the other side of the street wearing bunny ears and thick framed glasses was skipping along as if she knew I didn't know. I opened my eyes but they were already open.

The time has come for us to release our record into the world and hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it. We're real excited to be getting some lovely feedback on it and would love to have you grab a copy on iTunes or our online store. You can also stream the album in its entirety courtesy of AOL's Spinner.com. A few folks asked me about the title. It actually comes from the lyrics of We Made Out Alright (free download here on Buzzbands LA ). It's really just about letting go. It's a place I sort of created in my overactive mind, a subtle reminder to do what I can and let the rest be what it is.

As always thank you for listening and supporting independent music.
much love,
Arrica

Our new three song EP Antebellum is now available on iTunes (click here). These 3 songs are part of our forthcoming full-length slated for release next Spring. 

While we work on finishing this record we hope you enjoy what we have to offer thus far. And thank you much to Picksysticks for the kind review about it.

Happy Tuesday.

Fall in the midwest...then on to Fall on the east coast. A sea of pretty leaves. I want to collect them all. I might need an extra suitcase to bring Autumn back to Los Angeles with me.

p.s. posted a few new mobile photos here.

Had an amazing time at the Hollywood Bowl the other night. If any of these bands are playing in a town remotely near you...Go!

I found this note. I have no recollection of writing it but it's my handwriting, my paper. I find these random notes on scraps of paper sometimes. I wonder if  I wrote this one so I could find it later and give my self a bit of a laugh...or maybe I meant it.

Heavy head. Heavy heart.
Play. Repeat. Skip. Retreat.
Nevermind the heaviness.
Nevermind the why.
Nevermind waiting for the time to pass us by.
I met you when I knew.
I met you when I was new.
Heavy heavy I heard is your heart?
Play. Retreat. Skip. Repeat.

Radio Hill. A Tape Machine. The Dots. A full-band tracking day for a couple more songs that insisted on being part of this record. Looking forward to sharing the finished product soon. Getting to that point where you only see the inside of the studio for days in a row...which means soon might actually be soon...we hope.
Always hope.

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my. Monday is Tuesday is passing us by. Bye-bye. Walking down the street the taping of feet. In sync with strangers we might never meet. War is wondering if the war is meant to end. If peace was a paycheck might we cash it in?

Oh but Boys will be Boys.
Girls will be Girls.
And our little ones will one day rule the world, or rue the world.

Don't cling to pain like a cat never fed. Let your mind tell your body it's all in your head. Again. But the walls of the human heart are as thin as tissue paper but we're always making plans for later. Don't dress wrong in all the right clothes she'll still sing a song solemn and slow.

Oh but Boys will be Boys.
Girls will be Girls.
And our little ones will one day rule the world, or rue the world.

Talk is cheap (don't pay for the truth). Man is cheaper (don't have to be you). Fun is expensive now a days (but you don't have to pay). Maybe god likes his letters lowercase.

Oh but Girls will be Boys.
Boys will be Girls.
And our little ones will one day rule the world, or rue the world.

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my. Monday is Tuesday is passing us by. My oh my.

I'd like to write a story about anything being possible. Then I'd like to live in it, wrapped up like a baby on a cold night in September. 

 

I just got back from a trip to Palm Springs...a couple days out of LA is good for the soul. My Momma retired from teaching the end of this school year so we went out there as a celebration of her and all the hard work she has done over the years. My Mom is the best teacher I've ever known but it's time for her to pursue other endeavors - I'm excited for her. We had an amazing time out in the desert - good friends, family and sun...cervezas and pools didn't hurt either. Now it's back to recording. I spent the last two days in the studio barely catching the light of day. I feel like there's still so much to do...but I'm getting it done! I forgot to bring a camera but at the end of our trip we did some mobile phone documenting...and yes, Sonny Bono is in all of our pictures.

Took the subway to Hollywood. A gentleman on the train challenged me to a game of basketball said if I lost he got to take me out on a date. Another guy sitting next to me told me I was too skinny and that I should eat a taco (in spanish). My Dad picked me up at the Hollywood Highland Metro station. We got caught in traffic because Hollywood Blvd was shut down so that Tom Cruise could go zip-lining across the street for the Jimmy Kimmel show (this all happened about 10 yards in front of our car). My Dad told the security guard holding the traffic he hoped Kimmel or Cruise were paying for all this mayhem, the guard said 'no your tax dollars are'. Finally we arrived to see Jon Brion at Largo (a father's day gift to my Dad). Got to the show and I ran to the restroom - on the way out Fred Armisen (from SNL) and I collided into one another. He was so kind and concerned that I was ok that it made me wish it was Saturday (Night Live) night so I could go home and watch later. And then the show we were meant to see...Jon Brion did his impression of Tom Waits singing Katy Perry's 'I Kissed a Girl' (among other feats). He also played 'God Only Knows' and made the audience of 300 sing it - we all broke off into parts of our own volition and managed to cover both the melody and harmonies - pretty amazing. After that since there was no SNL to be watched my Dad and I went for a drink and closed down the bar. The end.

All in one night. Thank you Los Angeles. Thank you Dad. 

Walking down the street the tapping of our feet in synch with strangers we might never meet. The click of the trigger, a fall like a loaded gun. War is wondering was the war ever meant to be won. Children rest your heads on the souls of our wounded men. If peace was a paycheck might we cash it? 

Did quite a bit of singing today for the new record. Then the earthquake scared the crap out of me. I'm a native Los Angeleno and I should be used to it...but I'm not sure you ever get used to the earth moving under your feet. Today we worked on a song called 'Nothing Nada Nothing'...song sounds a bit like the repercussions of The Rolling Stones getting locked in a room (overnight?) with the Andrew Sisters. It was a good day. Lions and tigers and bears oh my - Monday is Tuesday is passing us by...