Katz n dudez

Act your shoe size, not your age

Check out our illustrated t-shirt featured in this treasury curated by Jocelyn of Flowerleaf Handmade Jewelry at Etsy.com.

Breaking it down for papaw

We skype with mad flow.

Cyber 45 #3

The next in a long line of forthcoming double dippers from the joel rockey archives which were recently remined and remixed in The Mustard Room. Dig these delectables at our bandcamp page by clicking right here.

Horizons lost and forthcoming

This past week's end, Mama Jane and your's truly celebrated ten years of wedded adventures together in the mighty fort of wayne. We spent an evening together as a prelude to the next three days of wedding frenzy and debriefing. If you're wondering whether or not i'm referring to baby brother Nick's marriage to Allison, you're right. I am. Check out the previous shot of some family shenanigans during a partial family photo op. Baby Jane looks on in bemusement.

Then, check out this goofy shot in which Mama Jane looks gorgeous while your's truly looks downward at Baby Jane who appears to be dazzled by off-camera bubbles...

She's quite delighted to pose next to her sweet ride...

Mama Jane: "I have a few questions about that sign..."

"Are they hiring dancers on Sunday and Monday, for Sunday and Monday, or is Sunday and Monday the ten dollar couch dance?"

After a few laughs and some further consideration...

Mama Jane: "Ten dollars for a couch dance seems pretty reasonable."

This woman has made me laugh for over ten years.

p.s. Has anyone told you how amazing the new Arcade Fire album is? Allow me.

Our contribution to shark week, and the captain of your heart

So, shark week is coming to a close and we didn’t want to miss the golden opportunity to contribute to the cause. Therefore, we at The Mustard Room submit this counterpoint to the bear’s convincing argument in the ongoing campaign of shark vs. bear. He’s quite the dapper gentleman. Be on the lookout for apparel sporting the likeness of this mustachioed fish of fury. To be honest, I was not aware that shark week was such a big deal. I have to side with my business partner/nemesis, hector on this one…

"Apparently, shark week is now globally recognized as a season of awareness and recognition of the many contributions of man's best fiend, the shark. Let's all raise a PBR to those cold-blooded toothy harbingers of doom! My, what a smooth, robust likeness of a fine Pilsner." -Hector Laveta, via Facebook

A fine pilsner, indeed, sir.

Now on to more pressing matters, namely that napkin on the left-hand side of my notebook dripping with the affections of a mob of young ladies. That's right, merely hours after our last post describing the self-inflicted loss of my beard, i was accosted by a group of teenage, at my place of employment no less, who handed me the following.

How a thirty-four-year-old dude like myself could be handed a note beginning with the words "Kid with the Hat" is beyond me. I especially like that they apparently had a discussion in which they all came to an agreement that i was a "dreamboat" before further deliberating on whether or not to disclose this information to me. Toward the end of the note things just get weird and ambiguous and all kinds of awkward. Regardless, i tipped my hat and thanked them for their kindness as they exited. Fortunately, i had my fellow Strange Brew associates there to help me laugh through this emotionally confusing encounter. My sincerest gratitude goes out once again to Ms. Chamberlain for keeping my ego in check during the remainder of the evening.

After sharing this story with Mama Jane, we laughed about how i should have asked these young ladies if they were interested in babysitting my two-year-old daughter while my wife and i went out to celebrate ten years of marriage. Ah, if should'ves and would'ves were nickels and dimes...

Perhaps now would be an appropriate opportunity to check in on the resurrection of the facial follicle force-field.

Hmm... Not much to report, but minimal progress is progress none the less. Remember, the fragile emotions of young ladies everywhere are at stake here.

Everything old is a new kind of old again

Excitement continues to build in regards to the grand hootenanny which will definitely be in full swing come the twentieth of august. We're hoping that the acreage featured in the preceding photograph will be blanketed in a diverse cross-section of america. As you will notice, our host barn sits among the stars as the moon glows majestically upon her. Expect to be nothing less than cosmically spellbound.

So, after much deliberation, the first round of painting the long-detested kitchen cabinets has been initiated. Everything old is a new kind of old again. As highlighted above, the orange faux wood finish is being exchanged for a generous crispy-clean, reflective, and all-around aesthetically superior high-gloss makeover. More on that in future times.

Also opting for a crispy-clean, reflective, high-gloss makeover...

During a possibly narcotic-induced haircut, yours truly grabbed the electric sheers from the unsuspecting barberess and maniacally watched my face fall to the floor. I warned the astonished onlookers (most notably Mama Jane and Grandma) not to get too used to the new old look. I feel totally nude and, as pointed out by my coworker Ms. Chamberlain, the ladies are taking note. I have to regrow this force-field of sexually-repellent hair quickly, lest i strike smitten one too many naive ladies.

No sleep for the sopping wet

When not sweating and sipping hot coffee whilst singing the body electric, we at A Rockey Home Companion are working hard to bring you occasional blog posts with moderately interesting content. For reals though, the dog days of summer have been kind to us by providing grab bags of opportunity for creating and being created. Our magical sanctum, The Mustard Room, has lent her walls to the cradling of some sonic playscaping as of late. Firstly, we have added #3 to the cyber 45 collection which can now be enjoyed and downloaded here. Secondly, as depicted in the above candid photo, my fellow gentlemen broncos and myself have been rendezvousing for some face-melting hi-jinks of antarctic proportions. Don't let me build it up too much, but kingdoms shall fall. Speaking of which, after months of sitting on the idea, this is happening.

All of these things and more. Then, a housefly went nuts and kept trying to land on our faces all night long. Now for a message to that housefly: Dear housefly, if you were once a friend or colleague and you were trying to get our attention so that we might help find a remedy to your altered state, then i'm sorry i beat the crap out of you and flushed you down the toilet. Seriously though, dude, there are better ways than keeping us from enjoying our sleep and forcing us to camp out on sofas. However, we shall never forget you and your legacy will live on and on...

Now, as the sun sets on another blog posting, the prophetic words once uttered by Criswell resonate in our collective consciousness: "Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of grave robbers from outer space?"

Future endeavors and goings-on

Gangstas and gangstresses, we've been up to good and no good as of late. A whole lot of this and that. I can't say much for the other, but nonetheless. More printing, more frosting, more songing, and more muppets are all upons. In fact, there was a recent get-down-and-boogie-fest with the incorrigible Elegant Bachelors (seen here). Times were had. They were good. Now, not to be outdone by ourselves, the hootenanny to end all hootenannies is being realized in ways both epic and awesome...

Yes.

As for the rest of the happenings and goings-on, why, i'll just let Baby Jane give you the run-down...

Hot frosting

I totally suck at bloggering. However, you have to admit that when i bring it, it's absolutely worth the wait. After all, photos of Baby Jane and cake are pretty much enough to get the most cheerless chap through another drab day. "Why the cake?" you may ask. Well, somebody had a birthday recently and it may or may not have been yours truly. Here's how the special day went down: slinging coffee with the brew ladies, japanese cuisine and iced cream with the family, ridiculous sinus headache and earache while watching mst3k, pepperoni pizza and ed wood's glen or glenda. All in all, pretty much rad. The next morning, i worked eight and a half hours at the brew and came home with this...

I worked for three and a half years at the sbux and never once had a watermelon cake bestowed upon me for my birthday by my boss. Suck on it, sbux. When i arrived home i was greeted with kisses and the following...

I'm not real sure why it took us nearly seven years to ice that fireplace, but i'm diggin' the crap out of it. I gotta say, i'm pretty much inspired to attack the kitchen cabinets next. At the moment, Mama Jane doesn't seem to share my enthusiasm for such an endeavor. Stay tuned to see how this one pans out. And now, let us commemorate the fireplace as she used to be with a strange photo featuring a ghostly Baby Jane...

Later on, we went nuts at half-price books and threw down three coupons and some cash for some eels, muppets, and richard scarry. The best part is that Baby Jane is now singing 'the rainbow connection'. I'll just let you imagine how sick with cute that happens to be.

In closing, apparently there is a show on a&e about midgets and pitbulls.

It may or may not be called 'the pit boss'. Mama Jane says, 'clever, huh?'

Later dudes.

Look at all these songs

Well, by-freaking-golly, the time has come for another dose of audibles from the ARHC library. As mentioned in previous postings, we've been busting out some "dope tees" for peeps near and not quite as near. During the pseudo-monotonous procedure of printing dozens of t-shirts, we are never without more than a few generous portions of tasty vibes. The following collection is a selection of tracks taken from hot afternoons in the garage, slow rides home, and late night documentary viewing. So what are you waiting for? Stare deep into the sonic face of these delicious ditties. Dig.

Download: Look At All These Songs - A Rockey Home Companion Mixtape (zipped folder 81MB)

Side A:

1. Turd on the run - The Rolling Stones
2. High in the morning - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
3. Goodbye girl - Squeeze
4. The india song - Big Star
5. Older - Band of Horses
6. Red-eyed and blue - Wilco
7. Speed of life - David Bowie
8. Sinister kid - The Black Keys
9. Everybody's hurting - Jakob Dylan
10. Complicated life - The Kinks

Side B:

1. Arkansas - Damien Jurado
2. Mathilde - Scott Walker
3. Forever for her (is over for me) - The White Stripes
4. Come on - Lucinda Williams
5. Love me like you - The Magic Numbers
6. Lousy weekend - Daniel Johnston
7. Black sand - Jenny Lewis
8. I won't ask again - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
9. Motion pictures (for carrie) - Neil Young
10. Goodnight rose - Ryan Adams

Computers are magic

What you are looking at is an optical illusion conjured by the sleight-of-hand dealings of computer wizardry. For you see, the storm door which appears to be black in this photo is not black at all. However, using the magic of computers, we at A Rockey Home Companion were able to manipulate the photo in order to imagine the storm door in a different colour as we considered replacing our current one. Well folks, we were convinced.

Ala peanut butter sandwiches...

So after only several months of procrastination, the front entryway is practically, officially complete. And there was much rejoicing. The Mustard Room was quite productive during the late weeks of june / early weeks of july. We've been burning screens, mixing ink, and swiping squeegees across t-shirts like nobody's beeswax. Thanks again to all of our friends and clients who have kept us busy as of late. You are the rocks in our stars. Also, we'd be remiss if we didn't thank the goode folks at albanese confectionery for keeping the fire burning with their savory sour gummi worms. Cheers! By the way gang, if you're ever interested in hanging out with us during the printing process, you will most likely be treated to iced coffee, selected tunes by the kinks, bowie, and neil young, and most notably this getup...

The preceding image seemed to merit some soft-focus.

This is how you will find us rolling.

Now, let us enjoy a playful child hunting for fireflies in a thunderstorm...

The Mustard Room Recordings presents...

Cyber 45 #2

In the grande olde tradition of the double-sided 45 rpm record, The Mustard Room has been making available unreleased songs from the Joel Rockey songbook via digital download. The second installment in the series features two songs recorded in the spring of 2003. New vocal, drum, bass guitar, and percussion tracks were recorded in The Mustard Room in june and early july of 2010. Download both tracks by clicking here for the low low price of free.