The Wolf and the Fire

Image Info: Some Diamonds Hadder artwork from comic artist and illustrator Julius Stroehlein. I love a good story. Amazing artist. Check him out online @juliusstroehlein_artist

Good morning, it’s Friday and the fog is thick this weekend in a good way. Which means a quick little update while I frolic in the hills above BOK.

Music: I’m steady into the “Long is the Road”… it’s just about done and I’m thinking quietly on the final “Ballad of the Dead rabbit” song edits while I do a lot of hilltop traveling with Ezra. I’ve been thinking about some piano for the track… as I play a lot of piano in my spare time. It’s the final song to close it all out and I might really strip it down to the simple lyric which always meant so much to me.

“I saw a wolf last night… in a dream… it rode the smoke from the fire that I set… it spoke in tongues I’m yet to understand, but one thing was clear, it said that we’re… headed for the end.”

It was a lyric I wrote one afternoon as the sun was setting on the hillside. I had a strange feeling that there was a giant wave about to crash on me… little did I know it was a fire that was racing to the hills. It hadn’t started yet, but I could feel it. I didn’t understand the lyrics then, but I saw a wolf in the clouds above the hills… I was having strange dreams then… in my room in the loft, when Mr. Evermore first showed his face to me around that time. Somehow I have to bring this all together, Diamonds Hadder, Tor, The Fire, The story of a who and a why I long to create this piece of art.. all in the wake of so much lose that fell on me during the start of this. This is the best kind of art… art with honest purpose, art with closure and finality. Anyway, lets just say I’m steering the ship straight ahead and enjoying some fog these days in “almost” June.

Stargazer Crew Covers: Just finalizing all my vocals now that I have the master tracks. This is just fun side stuff between all the Hadder work. It’s great for keeping my voice in shape on those lonely nights when I’m burned out and just want to sing… for the sake of singing. It also gives me an opportunity to study and learn more tricks from the masters, which I can never get enough of. These 2 new cover songs will be out this year… so not much to say other than I’m tracking and it will be released soon.

Art Commissions: Behind the scenes of the Hadder world, there is art. Commissions are taking place for various pieces of art for the story of Diamonds Hadder. To some degree the photography associated with Hadder is an art and almost painting like. I don’t really see Diamonds Hadder as a band, I see it more of an uncompleted story. A thing. A visual. A fable. An idea sketched into the brain… not to be taken to seriously, but at the same time… to take you away maybe to that place when you need a simple break. A break from the NRA and the Monsters overseas who kill woman and children for land, and then justify it. Little ole me, I’m a story teller iz all… painting pictures with sounds and color. I dabble in the dark and the light, the hope and despair and the happy and the sad. Today I share a piece of art from an amazing artist who is doing a few pieces for me, I’m honored that he is helping me tell the story of Diamonds Hadder with his very own talents. I’m forever appreciative to all the artist that are working with me on various pieces of art and I’ll be sharing it all along the way in time.

I suppose that’s it for today, I’ll keep it short and foggy. Embrace the people around you today, they are precious… and then go look out the window, lots out there to see.

Farewell

-j

The Custodian

Image Info: An initial sketch from comic artist and illustrator Fausto Michelotti for some commissioned Diamonds Hadder artwork. John and Ezra on a leisurely stroll in Bok. You can see more of his incredible work on insta @faustized and also at https://www.deviantart.com/faustized

Good afternoon lords and ladies of the land. It’s Friday again… I felt like I was just here. Here is a little update.

New Music from the the Stargazer Crew: Well. Late last night actually, I received all the music files for the new Stargazer crew cover songs. They arrived by carriage to the tower. This will allow to me finalize all my vocal takes over the next 2 weeks. Should work out rather nicely as I have about 40 something days or so to complete the Hadder record. I’m fairly certain both of these cover songs, “Headless Cross” and “Rainbow in the dark’ should be completed by then as well. I will share some of that finalizing process.

Hadder Record: yes, things are close now. I had a little 2 week window of guitar solo arrangement for the “long is the road” track, which took a lot out of me. Balancing all the instrumentation and orchestration can be daunting to say the least. It’s a very complex song, but then again, aren’t they all. Tonight I’m actually cutting some vocals for the finale of the track… now that the music underneath the screams is a bit more finalized. Time is on my side so far... of course solo parts may change for final cut. Last but not least.. I’m not expecting to much work for the “Dead Rabbit” track that’s lingering last on my workload as it has good bones, just needs some new flesh in spots. I forgot how fun it is to play guitar. It’s not singing of course, but it’s fun.

Commissions: To date I have 6 artists working on various pieces of Diamonds Hadder artwork for the record. Some of my time is focused on that. Sketches and revisions and Ink drawings and paintings… it all takes wonderful time and attention. I might add 2 more before all is said and done. They each have their own style and magic. I’m excited about this process and the results.. bringing Hadder, Zabble and Ezra to life is a delightfully fun process. It gives meaning to me. As I said before, I hope to have video’s for all the songs, but not all traditional videos… some will appear to be moving images with little surprises. I’m guessing that some of these commissions, combined with my own artwork and photography already on the website should be enough to round out the record and supply me with a few nice designs for merch for this 1st Hadder record. I’m not sure I have the record cover yet, but I’m looking for it. Maybe I have it already, maybe I don’t. Time will give it to me.

Closing thoughts on a Friday.

Life seems to moves at a snails pace.. I know from my Tyme Seer that that is not actually true. I like to stare at the fog… it’s always in a slow dance but I still watch patiently. Lately I’ve been watching some clips from the Tyme Seer and I realize that the fog is actually doing a little jig… vibrating a bit faster than it appears to my Bokonian eyes… makes me wonder what else is really going on around here. On the cusp of a June gloom I have slowed my heart to an even pulse… I remember this. I don’t expect much. I don’t anticipate much. I just walk the hills and do my best to try to be honest with who I am without caring to much about other things beyond my control… the clock is running dear friends and the world is vibrating under your feet. Nothing really matters in the end… more and more I simply feel like a custodian of the silly things I possess. Even the ideas and experiences that mold and shape me are temporary things that will eventually disappear and be forgotten to some degree. Think about that. We are borrowers of this time… I certainly am. What we do today is amplified to some degree… but in 300 years there might not even be a tree to sleep near, nor a computer that recognizes old hard drives filled with old digital trinkets… nor simple freedoms… So how good of a custodian are you.. how good of a keeper are you.. a planner for the inevitable? Today my friends… watching the fog… listening to my breath… this is what I control and that’s enough. Oh yeh, and I’m making a record and writing a story too… why not.

Good luck today friends… holidays are fast approaching, and some new far away pilgrimages are on my horizon.. may they be on yours too..

Farewell out there.

-j

The Tyme Seer and Bog Wollies

Image Info: The moment I first activated Zabbles parting gift, The Tyme Seer.

Good morning, it’s Friday the 13th of May, the year 2022.

For those who don’t know, there is a little thing called June gloom that happens in the hills where I’m located. It’s a wonderful time of year… when the ocean ghosts come inland to claim little things... snatching fairies and bog wollies each morning.... and now that my poles have lifted me above the mystery of their arrival again, I have a wonderfully intoxicating view out over the hillside and off into the distance above the misty breakers of Dume point.

The Dream: So what is new, Well I had a dream last night about the stage show for Diamonds Hadder… in this dream I saw these 2 giant digital Diamond shaped screens…. High above the drums, the drums were flat black and almost invisible in the dark. The whole backline was very uniform almost to the detriment of it’s purpose and function… but it looked interesting. You can imagine the possibilities of what could be seen in these giant diamond like picture screens. Well, I certainly can. Scattered across the stage were lots of little broken TV boxes with little fires inside of them.. they were linked by a common power signal and all seemed to turn on and off with a footswitch, all around the stage. There was low fog and some lasers of course as well and a pulpit with a small black footstool. Hmmm… these are the things I see in my dreams… and a raven of course.

Art and Merch: Well, to date I have several artists that I’m working with on various pieces of art associated with the Diamonds Hadder project. Small commissions I’ve undertaken in the hope of securing some imagery that can be used for single covers, field notes and merch. I hope to have some things for sale soon. I’ve slowly been working on this whole “merch” thing behind the scenes, it’s low priority at this moment, but it is something I hope to focus on more later down the road. It’s fun… but the music, words and story fuel the pen and brush first. So many young artists out there in the world, wielders of these new pens and brushes. they inspire me and I’m really honored to work with them. I’ll be sharing things as they are completed.

Music: Not much has happened on the music front this week, I’ve been in Guitar Solo mode for the "long road" and that’s enough to occupy my time for the week. The stargazer crew is still finishing music on the new cover songs, Ramsay is idle by the red river sending smoke signals up and drinking strong ale and my piano is in tune and singing as usual. Aside from all that… like I said, I’m a moon junkie and so with the full “Flower” moon politely knocking on my chamber door I’m balancing my time between loud music mixes and moonlit walks.

Field Notes: The Tyme Seer: When I was leaving Kilwaughter and Zabble on my way to the Black Forest, he gave me a little something… he called it a "Tyme Seer", he just kind of smiled when he gave it to me and gave me that “Zabble” look. I always know when he’s up to something larger than what he appears to be up to. Ha. I mean, that’s Zabble really. He’s always playing chess when we are playing checkers. It’s part of his charm. Any who.. He mentioned that it’s a little magic thing he made, that when aimed in a direction, and activated… it can somehow record light for a short amount of time.. but not just anytime, the future time. At the click of a button. A rather wide view as well… and the beauty of the devise is that you can watch it back, before the moments that it recorded actually have taken place. A rather unique little trinket that I’m sure would come in handy at a gambling establishment on the outskirts of BOK, or for a million other delightful uses I’m sure. Today while I was standing on the hill with Ezra I thought it might be a good moment to show you the view outside my new tower and so I pulled the trinket out and pressed the trigger. Hmmm… interesting… that Zabble, he really is an amazing wizard. Something tells me he gave me this for a much larger reason and it scares me to think what that reason could be. It was nice to test it out, seems like it works.

Website: A quick note, you may have noticed the News link above now has some archive pull downs, it took a little while to add these... but it's fun doings. These archive pages show the original wide screen skins that I post with news articles. Normally those skins disappear after 3 posts... so adding these archive pages gives me a chance to keep the wide screen animations. I like that idea as they just look more interesting than a simple still picture blog layout. I've gone back as far as October so far, I'll be adding more to the news archives periodically between moon events. Check them out on a big screen, they are interesting to look at.

I suppose that’s all for now. I have some corn to plant. Lots of interesting things are happening around me. Farewell for now and thank you for your time.

-j