THIS WEEK...

photo by trever hoehne

I will FINALLY be home for more then 2 consecutive days in a row! September into October has been beyond busy promoting Gemini with my band JACK AND WHITE, singing my voice silly here there and everywhere, and gratefully and yet exhaustingly so. However I am stationary for the next week (woohoo) which means I will finally get a chance to take all of these posts flying around in my noggin and get them down on this here blog. So lot's of updating in the month of October: thoughts on authenticity,  my (limited) advice to aspiring singers and artists (as promised), perhaps my very own first ever fashion post, I think there may even be a give-way and... I'm thinking about a hair how-to video... we'll see. I'm infamous for biting off more then I can chew, and I shouldn't over promise and under deliver, but I always say, that saying things out loud make you accountable, so now it's out there... ahhh... I'll do my best.

PS- the photo to the left is from a recent shoot for The Girls with Glasses show with super talented and handsome photographer Trever Hoehne, (he's also happens to be responsible for the Jack and White record cover photo). GWG are gearing up for a load of videos and a fresh little make-over over at our blog and website, excited to reveal it all to in the next few months... stayed tuned!

Oh and PSS- here is a sweet new music video for our song "Double Trouble" directed by none other then the fabulous and wonderful Summer Bellessa, one of my dearest bestest friends and fellow girl with glasses, as well as the editor for the prettiest magazine known as Eliza that you should definitely check out. Her style and pizazz is all over the place here and also makes her directing debut and does so very well in my opinion! Thanks Summ!

Une Deux Trois Hey...

and now, time for a sunday nap... happy sabbath! 

LIVING ROOM SESSIONS: GEMINI

So we wanted to make some acoustic recordings from the GEMINI EP, so we plugged in, and set up in my empty living room and got a'jammin. We decided to take some video footage while we were at it... You may have seen "telephone games" from Cjane's blog... 

Well now ya have "Gemini"... live from my living room, enjoy!



More to come, up next is 'smoke and mirrors', probably my second favorite tune on the record.

ps- if ya bought the EP (a real big thanks if ya did), I am curious of which song you're diggin' the most?

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

We are proud to present: 

AVAILABLE NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON ITUNES

We couldn't be more excited to give this to the world today. A big time thanks to iTunes for rocking the release in such an incredible way. To our amazing friends who have helped us create this lil' labor of love, we couldn't have pulled this off with out you. Team work rules. 

DANNY COCKE

BRAD FUHRMAN

JUSTIN BARNES

BRANT BILES

TREVER HOEHNE

LIZ FRANCO

GLENN WEATHERSON

ADAM CULVEY

STEVEN TRACHTENBROIT

MATT JOHNSON

(I FEEL LIKE I AM FORGETTING PEOPLE, FORGIVE ME, THIS LIST WILL GROW FOR SURE)

To you the fans, well, you are pretty much the reason we do this. 

Thank you for sustaining us and our art. We appreciate you so very much.

PS: if you aren't ready to invest $4.95 in JACK AND WHITE quite yet, 

that's totally cool, we gotchya covered with a 

FREE DOWNLOAD OF DOUBLE TROUBLE

.....................................................................

"If you build it, they will come."

C.Jane and Telephone Games...

Human Connection is so very important... As in face to face, Eye contact, Mannerisms, tone of voice, facial expressions, laughter, energy and spirit. Sometimes this great miraculous technology we have literally at our fingertips, can get us in a real pickle, and has been know to create some misleading barriers between what's real and what's not. What we see on TV, on a blog, on a forum, in a text or in an email can truly distort the truth about people, or situations and leaves us all to assume things we don't really know for certain, fill in the blanks with faulty details and place unfair judgements. I'm sure pretty much all of us have experienced this breakdown in communication at one point or another. I've been super guilty.

When C.Jane and I met, I was nervous, but my first thought was "let's just hug it out", i'm a hugger. We did, I liked her right away. Her face was soft and pretty and kind. We sat and just talked, with natural ease, about many things, of course we discussed, said our sorrys and laughed about the lil' blog mix up last year that perhaps got blown a bit out of proportion, and then we moved quickly on to deeper and more meaningful conversation, relating upon spiritual thoughts and real life stuff... and moms, I loved that we could talk like that so effortlessly. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit much longer then a half hour, I had to go sing. But when we parted ways, I left feeling enlightened... it was one of those life lesson learned of the importance of real human connection and the great understanding it can provide, and healing. Something that you'll just never get with a "LOL" or a smiley face emoticon. Ain't nothin' like the real thing...

C.Jane is one heckuva lady. I have been a reader of her blog for quite some time, reading stories and adventures of Chup, the chief and Ever, and was always rather blown away by her ability to express with her words, so honestly, eloquently, interestingly, humorously and with a heap of humanity. Her writing is developed and hearty, amazing. I admire this great gift. As intriguing and inspiring and sassy as her persona is on a blog, there is a woman that exudes a feeling of warmth and sincerity, that is felt infinitely more when up close and personal. Glad I got to witness that first hand...

She's also a hardcore music lover, a lady after my own heart,  she has been a catalyst in creating a budding and thriving music scene in Provo, Utah with the Rooftop Concert Series with the highest quality artists and bands. Upcoming is a super sweet band IMAGINE DRAGONS, (I'm obsessed with their song "EMMA") if you are in the area, you should definitely get up on the roof.

Anywho, we made these little acoustic recording and videos for our "Gemini" EP in my living room before I had moved in my furniture and properly hung my curtains. They are home made videos of course, raw and real, Jack rocks the Toms and I'm barefoot of course. We play with these talented and funny musicians, Danny Cocke and Adam Culvey, and it is such a joy for me. Making music is pretty unbelievable. So we wanted to debut this little tune that has become a personal favorite, kind of a daggar in the heart kind of tune known as "telephone games". Right away C.Jane came to mind with her love and passion for music. She so kindly and quickly responded with a "YES"! Woohoo!

On behalf of Jack and White, we thank you very much Courtney. It is so good to be supported by friends.

You are more then welcome to go take a listen over at C.Janes... TELEPHONE GAMES

JUST REMEMBER...

Dear Brookie,

      In that moment of inevitable weakness, in that second of sneaky temptation... when the new Jen aniston/reese witherspoon BOB seems like such an adorably great idea, just take a good look at this picture of perfection and put down the scissors for goodness sake...

DO NOT CUT IT.

ahh... but then again, they are so very cute... them bobs on those gals.

(found on pinterest)

LITTLE MISS MOMMA...

Ashley Stock... cute times a million she is, and the nicest too. Since moving to my new hood we've met and are becoming fast friends. Oh and our husbands also clicked real swell and get together for golf games. We both share a passion for fashion and all things crafty, I am blown away by her little craft room and all the lovely things that she creates. I also discovered that she has this adorable blog, where she shares how to make super cool stuff with loads of pretty pictures, and yet beyond all the cuteness is an authentic gal with a heart of gold which shines through in her very personable posts about her life, being a wife, and a mother to that little W, whom is out of this world cute (obviously the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, i know i keep saying cute, but seriously), as well she courageously gets personal about her own struggles in a way that is honest, relatable and refreshing. And what a writer! Inspiring... 

Anywho, a few weeks back she had so kindly asked me to join her in a fashion post. So I showed up to her house with a suitcase full of shoes and a stack of clothes and we got to mixing and matching and snapping photos... oh yeah she's a solid photographer too! Honestly, Ashley is the kind of gal that a girl could be jealous of, but then you meet her and you can't, instead you just admire her an ya simply love her... If you read her blog, I'm sure you agree... you can check out the post Here... again, she's the nicest! A Humungous thankyou Little Miss Momma... 

OH AND PS... SHE IS GIVING AWAY A SIGNED COPY OF THE NEW JACK AND WHITE GEMINI EP! GO TO HER BLOG FOR DETAILS...

RECORD RECOMMENDATIONS...

There is almost nothing more that I love then sharing new music... well, actually that's not true, there are many things I love just as much and more, like pizza and family and projects. But I just wanted to give emphasis and drama to how much I love it. However, by now I have over-used the word love, as I always do, which then dilutes it's emphasis and meaning. But please believe me, it is with out dilution, my love, and the use of the word, for many people, places and things... and new music.

I have found a softer place in my heart for modern music. Everyone who knows me, knows that I have a "love" and or obsession for the classics, the oldies, the best songs of all time. And though I adore all music from each and every decade new and old, I always go back to my Eagles records, Rumors, Tapestry, Carpenters, James Taylor, America, ELO, Beach Boys, Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bee Gee's, Hall and Oats and the list goes on. But in the last year I have decided to give the newbies more air time on the iPod and I've come to realize that there is some remarkably good artists, bands and records of our day out there that I have found to influence me musically and add some spicey spice to my old trusty playlists. 

Here are just a few records that would be worth adding to your library:

ELLIE GOULDING - LIGHTS: This girl is beyond talented, a Brit and brilliant. Though her fellow UK artist,  Adele is taking the world by storm, and rightfully so, Ellie shouldn't be too far behind her. Her sound is a beautiful hybrid of melodic singer-songwriter-esque lyrics atop dancy pop beats. It is super fresh and her unique voice has the emotional fragility and vibrato of a humming bird, but the control of a German sports car. The songs are solid, hardly a mediocre track on the record. I have gotten several friends hooked to this record, you will be too, trust me. 

DANIEL TASHIAN - ARTHUR: Frontman of one of my favorite indie modern bands The Silver Seas, he is with out a doubt one talented son of a gun. Though it is his solo record, these songs feel like an extension of The Silver Seas last record released last summer, Chateau Revenge, containing quite possibly my favorite song ever "what's the drawback". With carefully crafted melodies and arrangements bursting with delicious ear candy, his songwriting style is very classic, but delivered with such a modern pallet of sounds. Everything sounds familiar but never cliche. You need to hear "swimming against the tide". I dare you not to play it over and over. Actually, I double dare you.

MUTE MATH - ARMISTICE: This record isn't brand new, actually it dropped in 2009, but I'm late to the party and just discovered it recently. My band mate Jack and producer Danny introduced me to it and I have to say that contrary to what my previous perception was of Mute Math, I am blown away by their stunning sonic sound. Though it has an edge, It isn't as heavy as I expected, it is much smoother, glassy and warm then I anticipated. There hooks are instant, the lyrics are crafty, but then when it gets to the chorus they keep it simple. I love that though they know how to get cool, they refrain from getting too cool for school. I'm currently addicted to "Goodbye". It's romantic and upbeat all at once. Solid band, I'm a fan.