The Grasslanders

Image: Some concept art I did regarding the Grasslanders.

Good day, it’s Friday in late September. For me, that’s a time of packing gear for my yearly pilgrimages with Ezra into the white mountains. It’s a time to reset and reflect. I have a few new trinkets and things I’ll be lugging with me this year. I have a lot to say today so have a nice ale and relax a bit if you like reading.

Update: This week I made a few trips into the city to look for a new tower for rehearsals. That was a lot of fun actually, I’m pretty excited about firing up the war room again with some new lights and ideas. With the writing process just about behind me for the 1st hadder record, I feel a whole new regenerated sense of joy taking me over. I’m having beautiful dreams again about so many wonderful things hadder related. I’m seeing the next hill before me and I’m actually enjoying the training as I prepare to hike to the next plateau, so to say. With this spring and summer seasons behind me, winter will bring a new tower and in this next tower I should have a lot of fun. Life in the golden stream has stripped me of any preconceived ideas or silly expectations, instead it’s been replaced with a simple joy that comes with that glimmering spark of instant creation. A joy that comes from the precise moment of today and the act of following that little murmur of a voice… the one that says yes, do this… yes… imagine that, oh yes… all of it and more. Fuck work and expectations. Pardon my language, but seriously, if it isn’t fun my friend… find out why and redirect. Inside the golden stream there is no work… you don’t do things for reasons other than joy… you just don’t. I suppose the last 4 months away from the 408 tower had a purpose for me, in time I’ll see those months for what they were… I’ll always hear that time in those last few tracks… for now I’m looking at a new mountain to climb and I’m ready for some mudd and dirt and ash again.

Music: In the new tower which I hope to secure soon… I will do some proper mixes on the last few tracks I did these past months, close out the record for good and light the torch again… high above the city of fire. We’ll see what kind of travelers show up. I’ll release the last “Ballad of the Dead Rabbit” track then… maybe with a video… we’ll see.

Diamonds Hadder Novel news: So I’ve been doing a lot of art lately for the Diamonds Hadder story. It serves 2 purposes really, for one it’s the concept art and story board for the novel and hopefully for the film someday, but aside from that it also is a wealth of imagery for merch. By the time the tour starts I suppose I’ll have a few nice designs ready for anyone interested in purchasing some pretty hadder swag. I find so much joy in creating art, to see the characters come to life before my eyes is just a powerful thing. I’ve seen all these things in my head for a while now and I’m quite obsessed with getting them on paper and perhaps even bringing them to the big screen someday. So all this concept art work I’m doing now is bringing a lot of joy into my life. I wish the same for you. Most people don’t know this, but I actually went to school for art… I dreamed as a kid about being a fantasy artist, admiring Frazetta and Boris as I was growing up. During that time I also sang for a heavy metal band in the city in new england and was takin opera lessons… I don’t think I was really good at any of those things then, ha, but I was REALLY RALLY not that good of a painter. I sure wish I was, but after a few years of study and failed efforts, at least to my standards, I decided to put my painting days behind me in favor of a microphone and camera. And so, today, with robots and computers, my love for art has somehow been rekindled, and just in time for the hadder tale. So is life but circles of things that go round and round only to meet up again. Regarding the latest Diamonds Hadder story line:

The Grasslands: High in the hills of BOK, there is a tribe of nomads… they worship the hills and the high grasses that grow there. They also seem to worship skulls for various reasons and decorate their faces as such. They’ve adapted to life there quite well, using the land for all that it is. Bokanian nomads. They seem to enjoy using grass for all sorts of things, war, home life, food… to name a few. These lands are generally ruled by strange predators and non more fierce than the Jed spiders that live in the high grasslands. They can grow quite large, are quit menacing and are hardly bothered by cold weather and winter months which makes then quit pesky for the natives. Grass crabs basically, with hard outer shells and internal skeletons. Scattered on the hillsides are the skullz of these creatures. The grasslanders have adapted to winter quite well, using some of these larger spider skulls as little huts. Pretty little counterparts to their normal grassy huts. The dome of the spider skulls seems to keep the warmth in and the winds away they say, a nice natural design they have. A few spiders have actually been raised by these grasslanders and have been equipped with some handmade weapons, attached to their broken spiny legs. They are quite loyal for the most part, other than one or two, and seem to enjoy life with the grasslanders. One particular spider named Tysha, (meaning “long friend” in the grassland language)… a property of Lord Raddix, is actually quite lovable in a pet giant spinder kind of way. His many eyes can really move you. Not much for cuddling but a good friend to have in a fight.

And lastly, I just want to say thanks to anyone reading and caring about the journey of Diamonds Hadder. Life is a humbling experience at every turn, is it?.... or a simple workshop, where you have to decide what is important to YOU and what costs your willing to endure for those things. If you can separate your mind from the outside world, well, it isn’t hard or humbling or anything at all…. It’s just you and joy born from the reasons you wake to grace the sunshine. That may change, it often does. It’s up to you, nothing else really matters. We’ll all be scattered dust together anyway someday. Stay the course. Enjoy the final days of September.. autumn is knocking once again. Farewell.

-j

Intermission: Costume Change

Image: Some concept art I did for Diamonds Hadder. One of the many Bokonian death trackers.

Good day.

It’s Friday again… this week I celebrated my birth moon. It’s a birth week so to say with a bunch of new ideas coming to me… here in the golden stream all bets are off.

Home: A little update of things, I’ve been contemplating the release of the record and the various roads to take on releasing it. I’ve talked with several labels as of late. big and small, I still haven’t found the clear path. The push and power of a label is intoxicating, but there is some enticing qualities about just DIYing it all. There’s a lot of tools out there these days, who knows. We'll see, after my pilgrimage I'll have to make a decision and stick with it for this first record. Either way it's exciting.

Rumbles in the tower: Act 1 is complete and there are some rumblings going on that could shift the release of the record. Let me explain. I have considered as of late, a small shift in the way that I release the book and music. Perhaps putting the record out under the simple banner of “Hadder”, and the book and all things related to the story of John Hadder, as “Diamonds Hadder”. This all came to me while sitting in the golden stream this week. It’s too early to tell for sure, but all signs are leading to this.

Diamond Hadder and the world of: For those who don’t know, the “Field Notes: page on this website follows the story of Diamonds Hadder as it progresses in short stories form. It’s something that happened accidentally as I was making the record… it soon turned into the larger and larger idea. An idea now that is occupying my mind a lot each day. Characters and worlds and plots and weapons and creatures. How fun, to create a place and time as defined by me, in the hopes of perhaps turning it into something much more visual in the future.

Time: I often contemplate time and maybe I viewed it as a fleeting thing as though I was running from it or chasing it, but this week my birth moon was hovering over the golden stream… it was laughing at me, in somewhat of a taunting laugh. I was angry at it… for a moment anyway… it’s been hard to stay angry at anything in my stream as of late. I’ve come to a rather new view point in time, it seems after all that “I” control time… I am not a victim of time. Time is endless, I am endless, you are endless. Running out of time is a ridiculous notion, however the power of thinking such a thing, well… that’s no joke. And so with so much time on my hands… I thought it might be time for a costume change to celebrate this new awareness. We’ll see. I thought I might spend some time outside the tower and shed some old skin these coming months, just before I release the “Hadder” record. Call it a celebration of life inside the golden stream, a celebration of me and of this journey, john evermore, Hadder and Diamonds Hadder. I suppose there comes a time we must all leave the shadows of the tower. I’m working on some new imagery for Hadder.

Other Quick things: Look for a new page added to the website soon, called “Concept Art”. I will be uploading various conceptual artwork for the world of Evermore and Diamonds Hadder. Puzzle pieces for the grand picture. It will happen over time here in the winter months of BOK. I’ve been quietly spending a lot of time on this and I have amassed a fairly extensive collection of conceptual artwork to date. It’s growing by the months. It’s hard to keep up with all the little things and strange ideas that cross my mind, as they relate to this place that never was. They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so hopefully these manifestations in visual form will help paint the picture as well. Just another thing to help tell the story of “Diamonds Hadder”.

Finally, May you find comfort in the golden stream yourself. From the hills of Remrod to the land down under… you have time, you are time. You’re not defined by anyone but yourself. Though they try and try to put you in a category of sorts, you my little friend… are equipped and prepared and are everything you’ll ever need to climb the tower of your own dreams. Keep your eyes on the road friend… and keep walking. Enjoy the weather, storms and sun alike.

-j

Aquiline and The Monsoon Birthmoon

Image: Some artwork I did for a place near the great Hoshendra tree.

Good afternoon lords and ladies of the land…

It’s a stormy week in September and some new things and old things are taking place as I’m close to ending the writing process on this first Hadder record.

The day is getting away from me, I was hoping to upload a little video sampler clip of the dead rabbit track today, but instead I’ll settle for a little update on some things.

Music: Yes the rabbit tale is growing grandeur by the day… I’ve rounded the Solo section now and I’m closing in on the “out” of the song. A rather epic build out that brings back a lot of the earlier elements of the track… in a classic style. There’s some opera in there and some lovely crowd chants as well… “Dig Dig” they say. The one big obstacle left for me in completing the track is some lyrics that need some matching poetry for the front of the track… this is something that unfortunately could take a day or a week or two… depending on what words are coming down the golden stream at any given time. The melody is mapped, which is half the battle.

Website and Artwork: Yes the news section is getting a little bogged down, I’ll be doing a little cleaning and archiving in the near future to remedy this bogging. I’ve been doing a lot of artwork myself for the hadder world… aside from all the commissioned work I’ve been dabbling in. I’m having a lot of fun creating the world of evermore and the landscape that Hadder finds himself in.. you’ll probably see a lot more of this artwork and some of those commissions in the coming year. As I close of the writing process and begin a whole new set of goals, the book, a light show, rehearsals, videos, merch…. These will be the things I focus on in 2023.

Other things: last night I saw the name, Aquiline Aguiar, in a dream. I woke at 3:30 and wrote it down. I don’t know what it means but I thought it was rather odd of a name to suddenly imagine in a dream. Anyway, it’s three weeks in the golden stream now and I just never know what could happen each day… I’m literally strolling around in the matrix. The more I tap into this stream it seems the more I seem to pull away from the outside world. It’s more of a focused attention on the craft and the creation. Thoughts are just so precious these days… you really have to pay attention to what it is your seeing and feeling and thinking. A full moon is coming soon… my birth moon, and I’m all wrapped up in a monsoon swirl of ones and zeros…. Living in my butterfly world at the main gates to evermore.

If there is no path left, or you don’t like the path before you as it’s worn out and oversaturated, well…. Just cross over into the woods my friends and start swinging your own blade for a new path. I promise you wont regret it and there might even be an old abandoned house on the way… to rest a warm by the fire. Be well. Thanks for listening.

-j