The Word: 16 Done St

Image: Some Diamonds Hadder poster artwork I did recently.

Good day. A little Friday update on Hadder things.

Narrations: I’m celebrating this weekend. For the most part everything we do in life is so complex with lots of small triumphs that hopefully add up to something larger before we lose interest. It happens. I’ve seen this playout in my life so many times. I was once a solo artist on Virgin records, I once had a photography gallery of my own on the Pacific Coast Highway, I once made 2 progressive metal records signed to a label in Germany, I once lived on a mountain.. I once toured the world working for a famous rock drummer… I once tracked the full moon with a camera and filmed a show about it, along with my life… there were a few other things too. My point is, small steps… hopefully turn into larger strides before the bottom falls out. By bottom I simply mean… life happens and one day you find yourself interested in other things and so you just never know when that happens. Why mention this today… well, I finished my final narration today. 16 narrations and stories for the Hadder tale. Although it seems like a tree falling in the woods that no one really hears or cares about, for me… it’s quite an accomplishment. As was recording the first Hadder record, which was mostly completed last year. I’ve been held up on releasing it as I was sidetracked with winter mountain travels and “Field Note’ narrations. Turning the bend here in mid-February I can finally put the weight of these narrations behind me. All are now on the website and I can shift my focus to record related things. I might take the weekend off to just breathe a little. That was rather intense but I’m so happy they are done. Now I just need to find a video animator to complete the video part of these tales. Let me breath a little first and focus on other things.

Field Notes: The First 4 Narrations: In time I'll release all 16 narrations through this website, with additional info and imagery for each. This "Field Notes" Hader story all started about 4 years ago. That's when the ideas and characters started to come to me... the words and stories started showing up on the website about 2 years ago and now the narrations for the stories have all been released. Regarding these first 4 narrations. Ezra started as me just playing around with blog posts... she was inspired by a TOSA inu dog of mine. Hadder of course was a character I was thinking about for a long time and to some degree seemed to embody me and my struggles in life. I took comfort in letting these characters run with my own imagination, perhaps doing and being the things I wished to be. The first tale introduces Lord Zabble and Skylark who really play a huge role in this tale. It describes who Ezra is and where she comes from.. it also describes the moment that Diamonds Hadder meets Ezra, and for that reason, it's a very important moment in the story. A fitting start. The bond between them is really something special as we soon learn. The second tale called "The Child" talks about the moment Lord Zabble discovers Diamonds Hadder in the black forest, which we latter learn, was no accident. When I was writing it I had a vision of the child humming in the woods with the Warmoths huddled around it, a tune only they sing, which already was hinting to something very special about this child. Something I didn't even know just yet, but I knew the details would come in time. The third and 4th story are really just "Field Notes: taken from Diamonds Hadders travels, in truth they almost all are simply that. Zabble would ask Hadder to write things down for him and so he became quite good at documenting things around Bok, a place in evermore where Lord Zabble resides. Inside Hadders journal are many field notes talking about the land and creatures of Bok and beyond. These were the first 2 I decided to share, both aimed to describe the Warmoths, as I felt they were to play a large role in the story. So for the most part, these first 4 narrations were meant to introduce most of the main characters in this tale. Diamonds Hadder, Ezra, Skylark, Lord Zabble and the Warmoths. Enjoy.

Closing thoughts: Having said all that, I woke in a rather philosophical mood. Oh no, look out. Let me ask you something, have you ever worked on something so hard… and realized that you almost seem to care more about working hard than you do about the thing you’re working hard at. Ha. Being an artist is an interesting trait. sometimes I really thank the stars that I have other things that keep the tower upright, because if it was just art… I just might cut off my own ears. Let me go a little deeper today and talk about foundations and houses today. Foundations were on my mind. I’m a very driven person… so driven sometimes that I can start something… forget why I started it, and just continue building for quite some time. It’s rather funny actually. Artistically robotic. I think we all need to step back and look at the foundation of what we are doing sometimes, at least every 4 or 5 years just to be sure we still like what we see. There’s no question I enjoy what I’m doing, singing especially, but I seem to have come full circle in my life. I had made a choice once, after many years of building a crooked house, that I wouldn’t focus on building obscure structures and towers… yet here I am again. Ha. What is my fascination with obscurity? Am I just a child still? Chasing fantasies that are still trapped in my brain, a closed circuit… looping over and over. There are other things I could be doing. ha Like I said, I awoke thinking about the foundations of my work and how they started and why. About 6 years ago, I was about as far away from building crooked house as anyone could ever be. I recall the drive along the PCH one afternoon when that first thought crept into my head… evermore… it started with such a little thought. So alien to the life I was living… yet it didn’t come and go. It took root. Root enough to bring me to this moment, as I wander the foundation of this little word manifested over years. From the tree that day to a band, to a record, to this first chapter of narrations and characters for a novel. Will I complete it or is there another word that is waiting to find me on my drive today. It’s scary to think a word can change our lives, but at the same time, It’s also quite hopeful.

Anyway, hope your happy on your own foundation, and if not… hope you find the courage to look for land elsewhere and build again. There’s no right or wrong. If a “word” has been knocking on your door a while, let it in. Let it take root… at the very least you might build a crooked tower and have a few crooked parties there. There’s a lot of “words” waiting. Farewell.

Oh yeh, I’ll leave you with a quote from Einstein as it related to crooked houses and foundations “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

-j

Narrations: These are the first 4 narrations in the Diamonds Hadder tale. In time I'll release artwork for each individually, but these really do start the story. More at www.diamondshadder.com/fieldnotes

Bella and the secret door

Image: Some artwork I did that was inspired by the Field Note called "Medlins Door and not another more".

Good day lords and ladies of the lands. February marches along here in BOK. Time certainly is flying by. A little update on things.

Narrations: Well narrations do seem to be the main focus this start of 23. How nice that I’m almost done with them. 2 more completed this week and they were quite special little tales in the Hadder story. Lord Zabble and Skylark found their way to Master Medlins secret chamber and discovered Mattix along the way. It was so nice to hear it all come to life. Sometimes I can’t even believe that stuff came out of me… I don’t even recall where it came from… I was just writing word after word and there it was. As the narrations are completed, I’m starting to see the next Hadder record… it’s there in between the narrations. I can hear the songs. Now that all my characters are on the move in their own little ways, I’ve been painting some larger brush strokes to connect some dots… thinking big picture with this tale. I’ve been taking a lot of notes during these first weeks of 23… lots of new little things happening with these characters, but I cant get to the new tales yet, need to catch up with what I started before I add the new stories that I’m thinking about. Regarding the new narrations I added this week, including the one posted below, I like the relationship of Skylark and Zabble… it happened quite accidentally. Unlike Ezra who I think is a little fiercer and youthful I suppose, skylark has a timid teddy bear quality to her. Perhaps all the years in the castle have tamed her just a bit. She’s afraid of everything. Ezra was inspired by my dog, Bella, a japanese TOSA Inu. Art does really imitate life… you have no idea. Bella is as cool as Ezra and Skylark, and as timid. Ha. Anyway, next week I should be able to finish up the final 2 narrations, “The Letter” and “The Coin Book”. The story is somewhat haging on a ledge at that point… with Lord Skynn and Diamonds Hadder on route to Europa.. and Lord Zabble back at Kilwaughter about to face his own adventures. Before I continue with this tale, I have every intention to switch gears to the music side of this endeavor and release the first record. That is the plan here in early 23. Almost ready to make the switch.

Music: Most of the week, as I was recording narrations with Lito Biskernate, I was also tracking choirs for the last track on the record. New choirs that I had been hearing. I have a working mix of dead rabbit that I haven’t released yet, which is pretty close to done… just a few little vocal days left on it. It’s a fairly epic sounding track and a closer for that part of my life. The dead rabbit on that old hill. A finale of sorts. I am looking forward to all this work I’ve been doing finally being available on all the normal platforms.. for the most part it’s just been a little quiet secret as I was working, without any real promotion or push to expose it to people at all. Other than the Stargazer video, which was just a cover song I did before I started working on the record. It’s all a process, like anything in life.

Last words: I had a dream earlier in the week… It woke me in the middle of the night, I was rehearsing with some band in a large building, like a storage area. There was a moment in the dream when I was running back and forth on the stage jumping on these large canopies... filled with air… it was the strangest thing, I was almost flying left to right. I have odd dreams sometimes. The highlight of the dream was this moment when the new guitarist was kind of fiddling with his guitar, noodling around as he was still plugged in and loud… I started singing this strange song with a very distinct and simple melody, just me and him. It was like a strange Viking campfire song… it was so pretty and beautiful. I remember the whole building of people kind of stopped. It was a cool moment. I woke just at that moment… still humming this melody, I quickly grabbed my phone humming and recorded it before it left my body. I hope to use it for the next record. Why mention this? Well, why not. I think our dreams are more than just dreams. And in this world, a little dream can go a long way. I don’t know the reason for them, but they must come from somewhere… they just must. I don’t think I’ll be flying on stage but that little melody… hmmm… I wonder about it. I wonder where it really came from. Anyway, good day to you in February… the winter sun is a little brighter each day now. Spring is already on the march, just below the surface of your world. Imagine that. Dream on.

-j

Image: A narration for "Medlins door and Not Another More", the moment Zabble finally discovers Medlins secret library. More at www.diamondshadder.com/fieldnotes

Dune City and the Ceanothus Silk Moth

Image: Some artwork by Jules Maximilian Strohlein, inspired by the Field Note called "Lord Zabble and the Castle Fanglor".

Good morning, It’s February. A little update on this weeks work.

For most, February is the middle of winter, but here in BOK… things really start to come alive. Wildflowers bloom up in the hills along the ocean facing canyons and I often take a walk in the past there to reflect on things. That’s what I’ll be doing this February. I’m on a clock this year.. a clock that only I know about. A clock that’s been running about 4 years. Tic toc. I’ll be reaching a goal of mine soon and Hadder is along for the ride. As a matter of fact, this whole Hadder tale started just about that time… down by that old tree. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise along the way and now it’s become something for me. And so Hadder will stay with me now.

Narrations, Logos and Blown Speakers: I didn't add any new "Field Note" audio narrations this week, as all of my time was spent creating artwork and character designing for the book. But I think Medlin and Mattix will finally come to life next week. Part of releasing merch for the record is gathering unique LOGOS for each of the characters and for Diamonds Hadder as well, as I wanted a few different designs for the release of the record and for T Shirt designs, and so I was doing that all week as well. It's another little piece to a very large puzzle. I did blow a studio monitor in my vocal booth this week while tracking some "Dead Rabbit" stuff, I took that as a sign to go back to artwork, so it’s never a dull moment in the tower.

Narrations Artwork: I’ve commissioned artwork for the first 2 narration field notes so far, one of which was completed this week. My dear old good friend Lord Jules, who’s done about 8 pieces of art for me to date, has created a wonderful rendition of “Zabble and the Castle Fanglore”, so I thought I would share that today. Each of the narrations tell an important part of the Hadder story, I gave lord Jules free rein, to create an illustration based on the narration as he saw it. We talked a little about the narration of course and I discussed some key elements I thought personally were important, but really, I wanted him to show me what he felt or thought about it through his art. And so we have this delightful illustration of Diamonds Hadder, Ezra, Skylark and Lord Zabble in Raven form all hanging out in the Gardens at Kilwaughter. The relationship between Hadder and Ezra here in this first narration is very important, for both Hadder and Ezra… who both seem a little out of place in this world. Ezra took to hadder when he arrived and I suppose he took to her as well. I don’t mention much about Ezras 2 siblings, a brother and sister to be precise, both of which were much larger than ezra.. who was the runt of the litter, but perhaps we’ll see them down the road… I’ll bet we do.

Dune City: I thought I would just mention this quick. I’m not sure where this is going but it’s been showing up in my thoughts. This week I imagined a Dune City somewhere between Europa and the Gorgon Bridges… A large stretch of Land covered in strange golden dunes with odd red luminescent streaks. The red color is actually iron fused with Kyon atoms in small particle form… travel through the dunes is a bit treacherous and a world of its own. The people who grace these lands have adapted quite well to the ways of the dunes. Blacksmiths keen on their own magic similar to the art of Kyon, a word which perhaps originated from the magic dust. They use the magic iron particles.. to build machines and structures that utilize the sand for travel as well as for fighting. Some of the weapons made with a high concentricity of these Kyon particles are quite powerful and not all blacksmiths have the know how to build such weapons, but some do. Of course there are varying degrees of smithing and more common iron dust particles themselves are quite available throughout the dunes.You can generally tell the worth of a weapon by its color. I imagine the sand machines they build, called "Sand Ships", using a vacuum motion to move the sand in and out of chambers creating their own momentum. Some machines even have storage areas for the sand, recycling it, allowing the machines to travel on open land. The iron Kyon particles of course are a hot commodity inside of Europa. Worth noting is that without these sand machines, it would be near impossible to travel across the dunes. And so, where there is a need… well, there is an opportunity. Dune city is the center of this bustling area on the southern outskirts of Europa. “The Sanded Gateway” they call it. The machines they build are quite stunning really and with so many characters in the market for travel to and from Europa, having the fastest machines with the best weapons can be quite lucrative. Ok, enough of that… we’ll see what comes of it. Perhaps Lord Skynn and Mr Hadder will need passage through the sanded gateway on route to Europa. Perhaps a character or two or a famous sand ship or two might become an important chapter in this tale. Some ships have a spirit of their own, perhaps why they all have names.

Finally: When I lived in the hills, a Ceanothus Silk Moth would arrive on my screen door each February… it stayed a few days.. I imagine it was looking for a mate. I took it as the sign of the approaching spring. Soon after that, the swallows would return to their nests under my roof. Yes, a fire may have taken that special place I remember… but the moths and swallows still return to that land each year. Perhaps I’ll go see them this month. I hope you all have a kind winter and that your own spring arrives soon. Farewell.

-j

Image: A narration for "Lord Zabble and the Castle Fanglor", the meeting of Diamonds Hadder and Ezra. More at www.diamondshadder.com/fieldnotes