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In this issue!
Bust a Move: Young MC
In a Wreck: Morningbell (NEW)
Believe in the Dream: The Most
Harmonics: …and this is my odyssey
Stained Wood: Inuit Jargon
Meet Me: Morningbell (NEW)

check our myspace video page for a new video too!!!

First, let me say that we are not trying to capitalize on The Arcade Fire’s smash record, Funeral.

So, as some of you have gathered by our recent myspace picture, our grandfather passed away last week.  We had the funeral today down in Hollywood. 

For starters, save your apologies and well wishes.  Our family didn’t like our grandfather.  He was a jerk, a bigot, an abusive husband/father, and an all around sour puss. However, I knew that the day would affect my father and uncle, as he was still their father. 

We started out early at Panciera Memorial Home on Presidential Circle.  Panciera has been there our entire lives, but never (fortunately) played a role in our life before today. 

The family decided on a closed casket service, despite my grandfather looking very good for his age.  I think we just weren’t willing to deal with seeing his dead body lying there.  Regardless, a few people wanted to pay their respects and see the body.  So, the funeral home opened it up for a few minutes.  I did not know this.  So, I caught a glimpse and it kinda creeped me out.  However, everyone who said they didn’t want to see him kept going in to say goodbye.  I decided to try.  As soon as I went in the room and saw his shape, I got sick to my stomach.  It wasn’t emotional, but purely physical.  It was extremely bizarre.

After 2 hours of “the wake” a priest specially trained for hospice/funeral scenarios came to give a eulogy.  This was weird because he never met my grandfather.  So, he was giving this basic, general sermon about death and my grandfather’s role in our lives, but it didn’t really fit.  He did a good job, but it was kinda weird.  

One highlight was when he asked the crowd to share their feelings on my grandfather’s best traits.  “He loved to dance.”  ”Golfing.”  “Cruises.”  Said the crowd. 

And then, one older fellow from the back of the room yelled “He loved lunch!”  After hearing this, I was hoping we could still have that carved in his cemetary stone “Xavier Atria: He Loved Lunch.”

After the priest spoke, My mother, Father, Travis, and Myself all gave speeches.  Mom was a great opener, very general theme and put a positive spin on the family’s role.  My father went second and was more emotional and focused on the small yet positive side of their lives together.  Travis followed with the most serious one.  He very truthfully could not turn a blind eye to the real grandpa we all knew.  He made sure we didn’t forget the negative side of Grandpa, but did it in an amazing way, emphasizing how his sons chose to raise their children differently.  It was really an impressive speech.  Finally, the headliner, your’s truly.  I kept thinking of funny, inappropriate things to say all week long, but finally got a good idea the night before.  I basically gave a Rocky IV speech.  No matter how many times our grandpa got knocked down, he got right back up and fought.

Then, we all went via police escort from the funeral home, past the apartments my grandfather built, on to the cemetary.  There was a tent and chairs, and a 6 foot deep hole dug and ready to go.  A funeral director abruptly came up to me and asked me to be a pallbearer.  I declined.  They took the casket and placed it on the lowering mechanism and we finished the service.  At our family’s request, they didn’t lower him then and there.  We just deal with things differently than traditional families it seems.

Overall, it was a heavy day.  I don’t know if anyone knew what to expect from the service.  On one hand, here was a man that no one really liked.  On the other, here was a man that had been around for all of our entire lives and now he is gone. 

I think because of this relationship we all had with him, it presented plenty of opportunities of lightheartedness as well.  We continually joked as the priest talked about God judging Grandpa up in heaven based on his good deeds and so forth.

Either way, a brush with death only makes you think of your own mortality as well as those around you. 

 

Currently listening : A Ghost Is Born By Wilco Release date: By 22 June, 2004

Hello little Oranginas,

The label has been busy busy busy with many exciting projects to be released in the next few months.

First, Morningbell is well into their 3rd album (Untitled as of this release). Most of the tracks have been recorded (except drums and piano), and mixing is almost ready to start. Advance copies of the album will be available on March 3rd. The pre-lease show (as we’re calling it) is going to have some sort of large scale CD giveaway. It will either be first x people in the door get one, or anyone with a morningbell t shirt will get one. We’re not sure yet. The show will also feature Inuit Jargon and The Umoja Orchestra.

Second, …and this is my odyssey just wrapped recording on their debut EP. Mixing is in the final stages and this should be ready by December. No official date has been set.

Third, Inuit Jargon will be recording their Christmas Album in the next few weeks. It will be 45 minutes long and it will take 45 minutes to record.

Fourth, Clock Hands Strangle will be starting their full length in Spring 2007. It’s bound for glory!

We hope to see you at the shows and keep checking back for more updates.

Hello little Oranginas,

The label has been busy busy busy with many exciting projects to be released in the next few months.

First, Morningbell is well into their 3rd album (Untitled as of this release). Most of the tracks have been recorded (except drums and piano), and mixing is almost ready to start. Advance copies of the album will be available on March 3rd. The pre-lease show (as we’re calling it) is going to have some sort of large scale CD giveaway. It will either be first x people in the door get one, or anyone with a morningbell t shirt will get one. We’re not sure yet. The show will also feature Inuit Jargon and The Umoja Orchestra.

Second, …and this is my odyssey just wrapped recording on their debut EP. Mixing is in the final stages and this should be ready by December. No official date has been set.

Third, Inuit Jargon will be recording their Christmas Album in the next few weeks. It will be 45 minutes long and it will take 45 minutes to record.

Fourth, Clock Hands Strangle will be starting their full length in Spring 2007. It’s bound for glory!

We hope to see you at the shows and keep checking back for more updates.

our good friend Shaun Spalding had access to UF’s green screen. So, we thought, let’s make a video. Knowing that anything we tried to do would come out cheesy (not a comment on Shaun’s capabilities at all), we headed it off at the pass and went all out cheesy.

The inspiration for the video was German Techno and the massive success of OK Go’s choreographed videos.

So, here it is, in all it’s glory, Animal Dance.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKtul2CCDEc

the silver lining has finally arrived. Election day 2006. Can you believe it was 2 years ago that the whole Bush Kerry faceoff was going down?

Unlike the 2004 election, I actually did a ton of research on the constitutional amendments and judicial candidates. I made cheat sheets for everyone in our house so voting would be easy as American Pie the next day.

The day started with my vote at “The Atrium,” a creepy retirement home in NW Gville. I ususally end up voting when the zombies are eating a meal, but somehow managed to miss it this time.

Travis tried to change his voter registration from Broward to Alachua back in 04 by filling out a form at the Democratic local office. They never filed it, so he never got switched. But then, about 3 months ago, he got a new card in the mail. Without even looking at it, he figured it must be his new Alachua County voter registration. Too bad he decided to double check it today, the day of the election. “Travis Atria, voting location, Hollywood Hills High School, broward County.” So, Travis didnt’ vote. Also, my friend Steve didn’t vote. He forgot to get an absentee ballot. Also, Evan forgot to vote. Stacie did vote, which made me happy b/c she works 12 hour days.

But it makes me so mad that all of our friends have gotten so political in the last 3 years, but a good segment of them didn’t vote today. It really makes me realize that if you can’t get my brother to vote, you can’t get anyone to vote.

Oh well, hopefully the election will help to balance some of the crazy we’ve had over the past few years.

Currently listening : Thriller By Michael Jackson Release date: By 25 October, 1990

Wednesday marked the beginning of November as well as Morningbell..s return to the Peach State. The drive to Athens was actually not bad, despite Southern Georgia..s shithole facade and I-75..s construction. The whole thing that makes the trip worth while is when you get off the interstate in Macon and take country roads for the next 100 miles. It..s right at the point of the trip where everyone is getting tired of driving, but since you actually get to see beautiful countryside we didn’t mind the extra distance.

The climate zone changes at roughly the same point, so the trees look different too. We were fortunate enough to drive through this part during the late afternoon/early evening and all the trees were glowing in various colors of red, orange, yellow, and green depending on where they were in their fall lifecycle. A good chunk of the drive is actually thru a national forest too.

Enough about the foilage (simpson..s reference). We pulled into town with plenty of time to spare before the show, so we immediately set out to eat at Athen..s legendary vegetarian restaurant ..The Grit… Going there is weird because it..s pretty much the Bizarro The Top. The food was fan-f..in-tastic. If we lived there, we..d probably eat there every day.

Then we headed back to the Caledonia Lounge to get ready. The Caledonia is the old 40 Watt. The 40 Watt is like Athens.. Common Grounds, and like how the Common Grounds went from a smaller venue to a bigger one, the 40 Watt is now a huge warehouse size room. It was cool to play at the Caledonia thinking of all the sweet bands that graced its stage over the years (as both venues). The guitarrist from Elf Power (who we just saw in Gainesville a few weeks back) was at the show and we played with a band whose singer knows The Flaming Lips.. manager Scott Booker and whose keyboardist is the photographer for Of Montreal.

It was really interesting to see a tight band network similar to that of Gainesville, but with much more heavy hitters involved in the circle. Step it up G-ville!

Rather than head straight to Atlanta the next morning, we decided to peruse what downtown Athens had to offer. We hit up a record store that had new CD..s on sale for 18 bucks and records for like 30. Insane! We checked out some junk shop that had a bunch of junk. And we ate at another fine vegetarian restaurant for breakfast. The town was rather charming.

Let me just say again how the foilage was magnificent! Never have I seen such colors. We saw a maple tree in pure crimson. Just like the Canadian flag. We then checked out UGA..s campus. It was really F..in big. Again, the foilage! After a while of this, we decided to head out.

The drive to Atlanta was only 60 miles West South West, but the temperature dropped at least 25 degrees in that short distance. We soon realized the folly of not bringing warmer clothes (except for Stacie, who planned ahead). The 10 High is in a really fancy neighborhood called Virginia Highlands. The houses are huge, and there is a little strip of shops and restaurants for the huge house owners to frequent. In fact, last time we were in Atlanta, we ate at a Thai restaurant in that very neighborhood and it ended up being right next door to the venue.

We loaded in and immediately realized that this venue and the bands we were playing with didn..t really gel with our style. It was very reminiscent of Orlando, with it..s fancier bars and heavier bands. The sound guy was a stout fellow named Hans. Hans was very intense. Let..s just say that if Hans ran the Atlanta metro system (MARTA), the trains would always run on time. He also had the demeanor of Chris Farley from Waynes world. The man knew how to run his ship.

The venue had this weird stage that was blocked visually by load bearing poles throughout the room. There was even a pole ON the stage! I know because I hit it with my bass while swigning around. The stage also had this ..cubby.. behind it where all the other bands drums and whatever other gear would fit was stored. It was really unusual, but worked quite well.

While I was setting up the merch table, the band before us was in the same area and I asked them if I was in their way. Their singer said ..we actually sold out of our merch… Just joking around, I replied ..or didn..t you get any yet?.. To which he retorted ..NO. We ran OUT of our merch… We sold it all…

Needless to say, the 2 bands before us were a little more serious rock. We did get hooked up, however, with a sweet 3rd slot (of 4). The first band had a lot of people there and the 2nd band seemed to make them all go away. It was kinda a bummer, but there were still enough people in the room. I was really reminded of the Miami days when we..d be playing to a definite non target market and we..d just end up playing for personal satisfaction. So, that..s what happened. But surprisingly enough, the crowd that was there (who was waiting to see a ska-core band) really got into the set. They even bought a bunch of merch afterward.

The ska-core band..s last song was called ..Smoke! Drink! F*ck!.. We thought this was exceptional, especially since the sound guy told us afterward that they really live the message of their music. So, we were trying to come up with an anthemic chorus for ourselves. Some examples were: “conserve energy, read a periodical, take vitamins,” “vote in the primary’s, return your library books, eat tempeh.” I will be uploading some video footage of us describing our version, so check back in a few days on the video page for a live re-enactment.

Possibly one of the evenings best moments involved an older dude who was your typical fat cat party animal Daytona Bike week dude. He kept asking us what we were drinking while we were playing and yelled out “who’s the pretty girl playing the piano?” So, anyway, when we were leaving at the end of the night, he was walking in the parking lot behind the venue (which was on a steep hill), and as he was walking, he tripped and fell and proceeded to roll all the way down the hill. It was aweful, but we couldn’t stop laughing.

The night closed out in the steamy hotel hottub where all our troubles melted away. Sorry, that sounds kinda gross.

Georgia, you never cease to surprise us. We will see you again real soon.

Currently watching : Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan