What Is Our One Demand?

For the duration of the Occupy Movement, all the proceeds from the sale of our song "Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of Your Fist" will be donated in support of the Occupy Movement.

Cheers,
Ryan

Ryan at World Cafe 10 Nov

I'll be playing solo acoustic at...

World Cafe Live at The Queen
500 N Market Street
Wilmington, DE

On Thursday, 10 November from 5-6.

Looking forward to it! Hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Ryan

Happy Birthday, Mallory!

We played Mallory's birthday party Saturday night, and it was great. Cass spent the last month building an amazing stage in their backyard for the party, and we were lucky to be a part of the great bunch of bands who played. There was food, fun, and friends, and it was a beautiful night.

I was extra psyched because Mal sat in with us for a few songs, singing and playing accordion, and Cass, Mal, and John all played with Steve, Bill, and I on "Your Heart Is a Muscle The Size Of Your Fist." It was great to have everybody up on stage together again.

The rest of the night was excellent as well, with music from The Civil War Buddy Hollies, Dark Moses, The Free Radicals, and The Great Afternoon. DJ Feathers was there spinning records, too.

You remember that car commercial with Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" in it? I'd say this was a real-life version of that good a night.

Sadly, my camera was not working. If anyobody who was there has pictures, I would be very grateful if you'd send them my way.

Cheers,

Ryan

Occupy Together

In the past two weeks, I've been lucky enough to be able to attend Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Philadelphia. Very exciting; very impressive.

In Philadelphia I was able to take part in the General Assembly, and it was very cool to see real democratic decision-making in action. I know I'm lucky to have a job, but part of me wished I didn't, so I could be more involved.

I will be back to both, though. Hope to see you there...

Cheers,
Ryan

Back At The Rac

I'm excited to let you know I'll be playing solo at The Raconteur again! For those who've never been to The Raconteur, it's an amazing independent bookstore in Metuchen, New Jersey, and well worth a visit, even when there's not an event there.

I'll be playing with Hope For Agoldensummer (lovely, folky tunes from lovely, folky Athens, Georgia) and Anthony Walker (a fellow Jerseyian singer songwriter).

Here're the details:

Tuesday, October 18
The Raconteur
431 Main Street
Metuchen, New Jersey
8p

Here are some nice things people have said about my showmates:

Hope For Agoldensummer
"Part junkyard orchestra, part campfire song circle, Hope For Agoldensummer conjures luminous, moody balladry." -Time Out New York

Anthony Walker
"An intelligent, introspective singer/songwriter" -Encore Magazine

There's a Facebook Event, of course. I'll be posting videos, songs, and pictures to that Event in the coming days.

Hope to see you there! As always, thanks for listening.

Cheers,
Ryan

Milo Teaches College?*

I saw Descendents in Philly this weekend. With them going on and off hiatus I wondered if I'd ever type or say those words again, but there they are.

My tastes in music might have changed since I first heard Milo Goes To College at 15, but I really enjoyed this show. Descendents was the first "big" show I ever went to with my friends^, and I was able to go to this show with a lot of the same friends. That was definitely the best part.
Descendents played exactly as I remember them, which I think is pretty impressive. The only major difference was Milo invited his children on stage to help with the rules of the bass master general. Pretty adorable to hear a 5 year old girl saying, "Thou shalt not partake of decaf."

Plow also played and played really well. Their music was on in my car a lot during high school, and it was great to hear them again with my old buds.

Afterwards, we went to Tattooed Mom, where Nirvana was in heavy rotation on the jukebox, as you might expect for this weekend. Around 1am, people still in costume and make-up from a zombie prom also started showing up, which was real rad.

Thinking about it now, that's a lot of nostalgia for me for one weekend, but that's good every once in a while. Besides, Sunday I did a little bit of forward-looking, practicing with Bill and Steve to get ready to do Glad Hearts as a three piece for a while.

Cheers,
Ryan

*So, after minutes of internet "research," I couldn't find any evidence of Milo Aukerman actually teaching college, but most sites I found seemed to agree he has his PhD. So, it's theoretically possible he could adjunct from time to time, and from there I couldn't really resist the play on words.

^To be fair, the first show I ever went to was when my parents took me to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live! The show was almost ruined when Shredder showed up right after the first two songs, but the Turtles were able to fight him off and still rock the house. Pretty impressive, even for ninjas.

The first show I went to on my own was a DIY benefit show for the local first aid squad where people from my high school played. It may sound cliche, but it did change my life.

The UpDog to The Delaware

Last weekend was rad. We played the last show at The UpDog, then went swimming in the Delaware River. Cass even jumped from a tree onto a trampoline.

We're sorry to say the UpDog's time is at an end, but I don't think this will be the last show Greg hosts.

Here's the bill from the show:

A Fucking Elephant
El Drugstore
So Is The Tongue
The Vandelles
(Us)

Many thanks to Greg and Lauren from the UpDog for hosting us, to all the other bands, and to everybody who showed up and threw down!

Cheers,
Ryan

Thanks, Brooklyn

Photo by John Valencia

Photo by John Valencia

Thanks very much to everyone who came out to The Charleston the other night and to everyone who helped put the show together. It is great to be back to playing live, and that was an amazing night for us! Here's to many more good times.

Cheers,
Ryan

Live At The Golden West

Here's a live recording of me playing solo at The Golden West in Baltimore! You'll hear accoustic versions of some brand new songs off of our upcoming record as well as beautiful sets by Among Wolves, Sarah Pinsker, and Brian Adam Ant.

Many thanks to Alex Champagne for making this night, and this recording, happen!

Cheers,
Ryan

If It Wasn't For The Last Minute, Nothing Would Ever Get Done

So, the deadline is super close, but you still have time. Here's the deal...

Doodle Drag wants you to draw something for Screaming Females.

I sent mine in last night. You should, too.

Cheers,
Ryan

Karma Critic

Good bud and former Glad Heart, Jimmy Valentine sent me a link to Karma Critic today. I could see me getting really into this.

Cheers,
Ryan

Friends With Benefits

Cover art by Jess Rees

"Nothing If We're Not Moving" and a lot of other great bands are featured on Love/Hate Records' newly released Friends With Benefits compilation CD!

Cheers,

Ryan

Getting There

photo from hiphopsnobs

We've been working on our next record for a long time, now, longer than any of us thought we would have, but we're getting close to being done, and it has been so worth it! We started tracking vocals and the other day a violinist and cellist came in and played on a few of the songs. It is very cool to hear the songs begin to take their final shape.

-Ryan

It's Not Every Night I End Up At The Philadelphia Tattoo Convetion Afterparty by Accident...

..but it sometimes does happen and totaly reminds me why it rules to be alive. I went go see Blank Dogs at the M Room. They rocked, and while I was hanging out with my buddy, Craig, after the show, this happened:

Dude with plastic Halloween Jack'O'Lantern: Yo, you guys want to get into the raffle? The afterparty for the Tattoo Convention is coming here. You can win free tattoos, the money all goes to pay for my friend's medical bills, plus there's going to be a show. I'm not saying exactly what's going to happen, but I'm going to get hurt real bad later on.

Us: Definitely.

After about 15 minutes, it wasn't totally clear if any of the above was true. So I said to Craig...

Me: Either we just got taken by the most creative line of bullshit ever thought of to scam two people out of $7 or we should stick around and see what develops.

Craig had to go, but he gave me his share of the raffle tickets. I stuck around, and it turned out all was well, and the party most definitely was happening. I texted Craig:

Me: If I win with your tickets, I get to pick what you get tattooed with. Which is your favorite Ninja Turtle?

Craig: I want Krang, on the belly, so I can be like the giant robot.

Sadly, I didn't win the tattoos, but the party was everything you'd imagine it to be. I'm not sure who won the human flesh tug of war, but it was definitely not the guy who had to clean up the blood. Every time I think I've pretty much seen all there is to see, I am joyfully proven wrong.

Cheers,
Ryan

Pollifax Wanderer Sessions

photo by Pollifax

If you're reading this, there's a very good chance you will like this. Enjoy!

-Ryan

School Street Artists Commune

Mallory and Cassidy have opened their own Etsy shop where they sell some of the very excellent crafty projects they make. Check them out here!

Cheers,

Ryan

Solo show at The Golden West

I'll be playing a solo show at The Golden West in Baltimore on Fri, 11 Feb! More details here.

Cheers,
Ryan

You Will Hear My Heart, And The Circuit Will Be Complete

image posted by builtonaweakspot.com

It would be hard to top DJ Shadow's recorded version, but live might be a different story. Here's Juno playing "High Noon" in real life. Enjoy!

-Ryan

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who bought one of our records during the holiday season! Your support enabled us to make a donation to UNICEF.

Happy New Year,
Ryan