You may have noticed that it’s been a while since we played a show. We’ve been working on planning an EP release show, so our regular shows have been on hiatus. Don’t worry your pretty heads; we’ve been busy behind the scenes, and are planning a big show in October.

In the meantime, we’ve been going to a lot of other local shows. Most recently, Stephanie and I went to see Two Star Symphony‘s Synesthesia 2 – Electric Boogaloo performance at Rice. As usual, I had mixed emotions – awe for the performance, and anger that my high school didn’t have an orchestra, so I couldn’t grow up to become a brilliant string player, too.  Later that night, I went to Blanco’s to check out Johnny Falstaff. Thank you to everyone who tolerated my feeble attempts at two-stepping. I hate to admit that I can’t two-step because I feel like a failure of a Texan. Maybe it’s time to check out the Leisure Learning dance class schedule…

James and I also made a brief appearance at the Houston Press Music Awards on August 11. We showed up just in time to see ourselves lose, but we’re all still thrilled we were nominated. Congratulations to the Flying Fish Sailors for deservedly winning the Best Folk category, and to all of the other winners, as well.

Stay tuned for more news on our upcoming show. In the meantime, you can usually catch me playing solo at Avant Garden’s open mic night on Tuesdays at 10:00 pm.

love,

erin

First of all, you probably recognized Sydney Harkreader, who has shared a bill with us several times. Sydney was gracious enough to fill in for Justine on keys while Justine is out of town. However, you probably also noticed our newest member, backup singer Rachelle Dulany. Rachelle deserves her own post, but this particular post is more about the reason we needed Rachelle in the first place.

So, for those of you who don’t already know – Justine is having a baby! She is going to continue playing with us as long as possible, but eventually she’ll be leaving us to do the whole mom thing. She and Jenny have decided not to find out if it’s a boy or a girl, but I’ll be sure to let you know the juicy details after the big event this winter. Maybe Justine will even sell me the first photo, paparazzi-style. If the new nursery is any indication, this is going to be one stylish kid.

Congratulations Justine!

love,

erin

The best part of this story, though, involves the camera itself. James purchased it used on ebay, and it came with a tape still in the camera. He wanted to record over it without checking, but I’m too big of a Found fan to let potential finds go to waste. We turned it on to find footage of a tornado tearing through some Midwestern field, which was pretty amazing. I figured that some guy in Illinois was just hanging out in his backyard and got a lucky shot…but after the second or third tornado clip, it became apparent that this camera previously belonged to a tornado chaser.  I kept waiting for Helen Hunt to appear, or Tori Amos to start playing in the background.

Anyway, here are our videos – not nearly as exciting as tornado footage, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless.

love,

erin

We just found out that we’re playing this coming Thursday, July 29, at Dean’s (the downtown location). Show starts at 9:45pm and cover is $5. Here is the lineup:

Sheila Swift (9:45pm)

Sydney Harkreader (10:30pm)

Kennedy Bakery (11:15pm)

Adam & Lena (12:00am)

Sydney will also be playing keyboard for us to fill in for Justine, who is in Wisconsin.

See you Thursday!

love,

erin

We have several other exciting bits of news, but I don’t want to dilute any of them by combining them with others – each is worthy of its own blog post, so you’ll have to wait.

We’ll see you Friday at Rudyard’s!

love,

erin

When I was in Austin a couple weeks ago, I tried to take a photo of the lovely full moon. It didn’t work, but I ended up with the photo in this flyer instead. I love lucky photography accidents.

See you Friday!

love,

erin

The good news is that the music for the EP is finished! After a really, really long day in the studio this past Sunday, all of the mixing and mastering is done. Thanks again to Mark Younger-Smith for making sure everything sounds fabulous.

And now, I leave you with the reason I am slightly less disappointed about missing the showcase than I was initially – because I will be visiting the world’s largest basket. We’re driving to and from Ohio, and I made my dad promise we could stop – although I think he’s just as excited about it as I am. This basket is actually a seven story office building, which houses the headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company.

photo credit to errrrrrrrrika

Try not to be TOO jealous.

love,

erin

love,
erin

Being a relatively new group we didn’t expect it, but we’ve been nominated for Best Folk in the Houston Press 2010 Music Awards. Last year there was voting and a showcase (around the end of July), so follow Houston Press for updates on the show and voting.

I’ll leave you with two cool musical things I’ve come across recently: modular synths and our friend and fantastic singer, Sydney Harkreader, performing her song “Midnight”:

- James

Come to Avant Garden Thursday June 10 at 9:00PM sharp! for the Invincible Czars Trio and Kennedy Bakery. We’ll be downstairs and tickets are $3. On June 11, the Invincible Czars (full group) will be playing at Discovery Green as well. They will be playing an original score to a silent film and I promise you’ll be in for a treat!

- James