really simple syndicated musings

01/10/26

Ah would ya look at that. Another lap around the solar body. Evelyn here. If you know me IRL, maybe you've noticed I've started hyphenating my name. We'll go with the 2nd half this time. Sooo...I've been really bad about updating this, what I like to call my personal BBS. And that's partially due to the fact that I'm more than likely shouting into the void. Which is just fine!! Ha. I've grown significantly disenchanted with conventional/corporate social media over the last couple years. And in spite of the glaring collective action problem that is migrating off corrupt platforms en masse, even as an artistic community (those Silicon-talons hold deep..), this is really the only "online presence" (besides Freakscene I suppose. Or Spacehey...Holy fuckin 2004!!!) I choose to sustain anymore; meaningfully, that is..dare I even rank it so. Regardless if anyone cares to read this, it's sure a hell of a lot more fun and restorative for me to express in this medium. No shitty algorithms, ads, censorship, and no wackjob ass humanoid CEOs that get off to your personal data together. What a world I've left behind....

anywaaayy, sardonic luddite shit aside, it's been roughly a year since I opened the doors to my project studio, the sauna; which coincides with the start of this enigmatic blog. It has been one hell of a year. A lot of new awesome folks have poured into our lil community, a few banger parties, a LOT of sweet n killer shows put on by so many of them, and a whole lot of synergistic studio sessions and creating going on. Also, a few major shakeups, a couple folks that ended up having to follow different paths for a while, a couple venues crossing the rainbow bridge (*COUGH-Rendesvous-CoUGh ahhg*), a few bumps in the road for sure. A lot of personal growth, lots of projects, lots of realizations...Eventful to say the least.

I can say all in all, I've been pleasantly surprised with the way this new space has worked out. I ended up dragging all my shit to this half-below-ground project studio after having to abandon what was to be a fully custom studio buildout (maybe I'll get into that somefuckingday..). In my particular situation, it was commonly referred to as a "sunk cost fallacy". My bank account agrees with that sentiment wholeheartedly (l...o...l..). So I've been at the new place, reconfiguring life, reconfiguring the setup to work in a whole new set of rooms with quirky routing specs (cables through the bathroom n that sorta shit). It's been a constant journey of putting pieces together, taking them apart, and putting them back better. And occassionally leaving sweetwater with a quarter container-ship load. That's what running a studio is mostly about, I suppose. There's music somewhere in there...

lots of it, actually. A few releases actually made their way out last year, which I'm super proud of!! About time to get back in the game. These are some of the first projects done in the new space and some of my first credits since distancing from working in commercial studios. It has been far more gratifying to operate a space you know well and put together yourself, and you're not on someone else's time or schedule. No more getting asked by Aidan Gallagher's dad how much I'd charge him for an escort (seriously did happen..). Oh oh, right! Music. What've we released out of here of note? Do yourself a massive favor and go check out Auntie Death's album Glare on Limewir- I mean, Bandcamp! RIGHT HERE. I can't say enough about this duo. Talented to the gills, mesmerizing, and deceptively powerful. Some of the first people I've met in the scene, and one of the most explosive bands to have witnessed established since. Speaking of explosively established since, The Passion-Fucking-Racket, Frankenstein-crashed-it in here over last summer and gave the console a proper beating with their rippin, smokin smash-single, The Hopelessness, which is to be released very very soon. "Dogvin," the stand-in bassist, thinks it sucks!!! They did a gorey promotional shoot with their mascot, Shennaniquin, limes-in-eyes, Danny's wine and a rusty saw and all the good times, ALL RIGHT HERE! And what's more, they're fucking back in toooown! So get that ass down to their next show and witness the smashin trash-it with your own eyes. (Jeez, I can't help but channel Tyler when trying to sell them up! Lol.) Stay tuned.

What the Hell Have I Been Into Lately??

Ohh my. Confession time. Well, not really. Everything is a guilty pleasure = nothing is a guily pleasure. Recently one of my mainstay collaborators/Rick Rubin Wannabes (jk) and I took a lil day-jaunt up to that one college town near the border. Starts with a B or something? Most of what we came there to do (see a show) was sequestered into the late evening hours; instead we indulged in a couple brews at a a bait-n-switch spot (thanks for playing Radiohead to lure us in...then switch the vibe on its head. The covid-era patio was nice though!), swooped up a dear colleague of mine from back in the Robert Lang Academy days, and hit up what looked to have been a former Tower Records franchise. Ritual Records bestowed on us a labyrinth selection of CDs, tapes, etc. (even VHS). And as if it were waiting there for my presence, the Ritual bestowed upon me the two other Sarah McLachlan albums I'd been thirsting for since just days before (Solace and The Freedom Sessions, says me to nobody). So now I'm hooked!! Sarah is one of those types of artists that've always been around me in life, yet preemptively cast aside due to some stupid "stigma" (thanks, ASPCA Ads.) where everyone you know doesn't like them for whatever opaque, ambiguous, or hyperfocused reason or another. Turns out behind every stupid ass situation like that, awaits a brilliant antidote= an artist you've been looking for but didn't know it all this time. That would be her. Lilith Fair herself. I'm knee deep into one of the presumably many unauthorized biographies. And like many, many others (or at least a few women artists of her era) I've been coerced against my will (maybe an essence of sarcasm..) to start writing fucking music again for the first time in like 3 fucking years. Who would've thunk, Sarah McLachlan would save my music career??? (ha...) It's refreshing to create again, and not hate it or the results of it for the first time in so long. There is also a heavy interest I've taken in her longtime collaborator, the elusive Pierre Marchand, and his former Wild Sky Studio in Quebec. Which most of Sarah's biggest works were done at. There's not much info about it available nowadays. I find it so intriguing not only because of those facts, but also because it was a residential studio at a painter's house, set on 100 acres of woodland near a cliff. And in the winter, the place was just breathtakingly (Possession, anyone?) gorgeous. Just look at it.

I may or may not have been amassing hoardes of candles since hearing about this gem.

Anyway the daytrip went well. It was certainly a highlight of the year. Here's a few scant shots of that whirlwind.


I've also been reading a lot more than I used to, thanks to all the screen time I've relinquished. It's been a joy. Last year I finished Kathleen Hanna's Autobio, Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, Debbie Harry's Memoir, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and have more recently started Enshittification by Cory Doctorrow, and Sarah McLachlan: Building A Mystery by Judith Fitzgerald. I've also had a longterm tenure with Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. Fun times. If you're reading this, read more. (...) it's so fulfulling.

What I'm Looking Forward To

Creating. After so much pouring the foundation, I feel called for the first time in years to get back to my craft. I'm also looking forward to what the scene brings, and some possible new venue arrangements in the works.

Anyway, I realize this has been quite long winded. So please enjoy some of my fave pics from last year (hey instagram, can you do this??), from May onwards (cuz still haven't exported things from that darn iphone to my new life yet). Until next time!! -E

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