More important things.

Image info: An image from some comic strips I'm working on for the novel.

Good morning… so much is happening around here.. and not just with me. Let me give you a little update anyway as these little messages seem to ground me and keep me focused on the falls ahead.

Little things: To be honest my heart has been with Ukraine the last week or so… it brings a lot of perspective to my own life. I enjoy creating things and it’s a nice way to stay busy but when such things are going on, I do find it a bit ridiculous to talk about anything I’m doing. There are just way more important things going on. Life and death things. Having said that, life does still happen and so I suppose it’s all I can do right now to keep me sane. For that reason, it will be a short little update on music related things, as my heart is focused mostly on the people on the hillsides and the struggles they are facing these minutes and hours. I find myself looking for ways to jump a plane… to arrive there and do something… anything I can to help anyone. A smile, a hand, a hug… anything. Perspective is a funny thing… and ignorance is certainly a bliss. I appreciate anyone who reads my words… or who is interested in seeing if I’ll complete this painting… but during times like these, I’m reminded that my dreams and my paintings can wait… because there are way more important things to think about sometimes.

New Music: I have been tracking when I can and all focus is on “Long is the Road”, which BTW is very close to completion now. It seems to be my main stay in between watching the events unfold half a world away. I suppose it’s my therapy for now. I will complete this painting.

I think that’s it for today. Again, lets just all pray for the people who are suffering today and for an end to this war in the distance, as I will be.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_a35a30fc3b5146bdb86a19aa01bddfa5/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A random piece of a mix while I've been tracking for "Long is the Road", not sure if what will find it's way to the master track.. but this is certainly a picture of the idea and process. Still a ways to go on this, but the picture is coming into focus.

Thanks again for reading my own little things.

Godspeed.

-j

The Resistance: залишатися в безпеці

Image info: A walk in the woods near Remrod... the origin on the Black Bee or so I've heard.

Good morning, it’s Monday. Here in Bok the flowers come early along the coastline… and with that.. wild-life seems to be coming back as well. The willows on the hillside are still a month away from glory but it’s inevitable you know, change, growth.. the cycle. A lot is going on in the Hadder world, here’s a little update.. including a few more serious things regarding the smoke I see on the horizon and the war beyond these lands.

New Music: It was a very productive and busy weekend of tracking, 2 days on “Long is the Road”, the final track for the Hadder record, and then the 1st long vocal session on “Rainbow in the Dark”. I have some new mixes I’m dancing with this week.. a slow waltz...I’m playing a lot of guitar as I turn the bend on “Long is the Road” and begin recording solos this week.. I like to give my fingers a few days of tempo scales and key patterns to warm the digets before I start tracking such things… but so far so good. I’m made some progress already, just a day or two of tracking more and it should be complete on the solo front. Then it will enter some production days where I’ll start thinking about the arrangement of the song as a whole and refine it a bit, stepping aside from the individual instruments and parts and focusing on the string that runs through the song, start to finish. That’s the process. Very cool track, can’t wait to share it. The latest Evermore/Ramsay track called “Kind Winters” is on a kind Holiday, as I shift a little to get back to completing the record in my new tower and this last big push to complete it. The evermore/ramsay material is something that is just pleasantly happening along side the Hadder record. I'll return to kind winters some day this month and finish it up, not much left on that. Like I said, very busy week of tracking… I’ll be listening to all that work the next few days and steering the ship based on what I hear. I’ll try to share some audio and video things later in the week as some of the mixes have sections that are cool enough for a little 45 second video or two.

Website: So, yes, you may have noticed the news section when through a little Update visually. I’ve been wanting to do this for months and so last Friday, I finally sat with the idea and redesigned the layout. I just thought the old BLOG look was pretty lame looking and I wanted something a bit more animated and exciting looking. I designed a new video player and stretched out the canvas a bit allowing video and moving animations on the “Mobil” app as well… so the experience of it is quite simply, more “Fun” to look at. I mean what he hell else am I doing this all for, this is supposed to be fun and creative. The website is an extension of what I’m creating, it’s almost as important as the record to me, or at the very least another part of the big picture… yet to be completed but inching towards a more finished product. The record and the website feed the tour and the PR once I release the record. It all needs to come together around the same time. Next on the website will be the music page, which in time will get a more exciting look with each track having lyrics, audio, video and visuals to go along with them. I also have the “Field Notes” audio clips that are on my list, and just need some time to record them. I’m guessing that will be a little while as it’s just not high on my priority list. “Field Notes” are the ever-growing dialog and story of the Hadder Novel, which might become a play or opera or 2nd record. So there’s no hurry on it, I answer the call as the story unfolds during my hillside walks and nightly trips to dream land.

The War: I thought I would mention today, my grandfather was Ukrainian. I grew up eating a lot of polish and Ukrainian food but after him and my grandmother passed, my Ukrainian heritage seemed to vanish along with them. Always a mystery to me. I dreamed of going there one day to walk the earth in the hope I could connect some dots in my own life. It was on my list of things to do. I’ve been a little glued to the box lately watching the war playout on the distant hillside. To be honest I didn’t know much about the place… but wow, what an amazing people, I’m so honored to call myself part Ukrainian. Perhaps I know now where I get some of my fight from. Praying for them all.

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PS One last thing, I woke the other morning with two words floating in my head, “Todd Quist”, I have absolutely no idea why those words were dancing in my mind… but I reached for paper instantly and wrote them down. I don’t know what they mean yet.,.. but I know they mean something. I’m listening.

-j

The Black Bee

Image info: A picture from the old 200 north dojo I had. I was feeling nostalgic today.

Hadder Journal: Spring 2022

It's almost spring and I thought I would take a walk in the Klipso gardens today. It feels like I've lost so much yet this damn grass it still comes up every year. I'm walking barefoot and it's chilly and cold still from the winter thaw. Ezra is back, she had disappeared a few days and I was a little worried. It was nice to see her again. I'm sensing a little adventure coming... it's that kind of wind in the air, she knows it too. There's a large Black Bee that burrowed into my heart a few nights ago while I slept, it was coming to me for weeks... returning each night as I drifted away..., I wondered what it was up to. I realized today that it was trying to get inside me to nest for spring. It seemed very wise a bee, dark and fury and beautiful, about the size of a silver Dollar. I think it's a message sent from Remrod perhaps.. work of the raven. I saw a similar bee while I was walking the narrows in November. How long it will nest I don't know but my heart is beating again and I imagine it's the work of some magic that I don't understand yet. I wanted to make note of this as I feel like it will come back to me again. That's all for today.

Oh yeh, I found this in the garden. Seems to be some lost scribbles to a master drawing I was working on..... perhaps you can make sense of it. I notice that behind every color, there's some lost scribbles that hold the pretty paint above.. but that never take the spotlight. So if life but lots and lots of scribbles under color.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_a9be8040835e4390a30c829d96560d3f/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Headless Cross by Black Sabbath

Look through the people, and on through the mist To the hill of the headless cross Where all witches meet, on a night such as this And the power of darkness is host They come face to face, eye to eye, soul to soul With and Angel that fell from the sky Borne on the air, the screams and the wails Of the masses appointed to die

Listen for the feet as they pound the land to a tune of thunder Watch as the legions ride again to a fate of death or torture At the Headless Cross, at the Headless Cross

From the first evil night, when a black flash of light Cut the crucifix half to the ground There's been no escape from the power of Satan On a nation so brave and so proud

Listen for the feet as they pound the land to a tune of thunder Watch as the legions ride again to a fate of death or torture At the Headless Cross, at the Headless Cross

How do you feel, when the locks refuse the key And the master is calling your name Does the luck of the charm, really keep you from harm? Does the talisman protect you from pain?

Listen for the feet as they pound the land to a tune of thunder Watch as the legions ride again to a fate of death or torture At the Headless Cross, at the Headless Cross

From the first evil night, when a black flash of light Cut the crucifix half to the ground There's no escaping the power of Satan On a nation so brave and so proud

Listen for the feet as they pound the land to a tune of thunder Watch as the legions ride again to a fate of death or torture, oh no, oh At the Headless Cross, at the Headless Cross At the Headless Cross, oh, at the Headless Cross Where will you run to? At the Headless Cross Look, to the Headless Cross

Just sharing some lyrics to the Sabbath cover song I'm working on. Such a great vocal performance by Tony Martin on this song. Honored to recreate it the best I could.

-J