groove crews

We at the rockey home are just coming down from our weeklong recuperation from our weeklong vacation from working on ye olde homestead. It's been difficult to get back into the groove, but if we're going to prove our love we're going to have to get up on our feet and step to the beat. Boy, that's what it will be. 

In other news, the sun is shining and the mammoth icicles hanging from our home are melting and falling and making terrifying yet glorious noises. They fall with an unsuspecting rhythm that would make lovers of street dancing hoodlums. It feels enough like spring that miranda is cleaning house whilst i draw and scan images for a secret forthcoming collaboration. The introspective couple that you see illustrated here have nothing to do with any of that. Dig it, you wild and free bohemians.

timeline fotos

the purple room

We started setting goals for completing the bedrooms upstairs. They may have been a bit difficult to meet on time, but they've kept us hammering away. We started with the purple room. The drywall went up on the ceiling like hot-buttered soul which led us to believe that finishing it would be easy breezy one two threezy. I will mos def declare that after layers of patient mudding and hours of sanding, the ceiling looks spectacular. Miranda definitely took the award for most valuable player on this one. 

After the ceiling was primed and painted, we made some repairs on some cracks and bulges in the original plaster walls. We hung a customized hunter fan. We ripped up the purple carpet to expose the hardwood floors. We primed and painted the walls. The room isn't one hundred percent complete yet, but it's getting remarkably close. The transformation has inspired us greatly. Voila!

We've already started moving on to work on the green room which should look something like this in a couple more weeks. Hopefully before spring we'll be actually using the upstairs for living space.

Slowly, our broken house is becoming a home.

i am bleeding, hear me rawr

Collaboration is the name of the game. For thirteen years now, i've given home-recorded and assembled gifts to family and friends during the holiday season. Some of these collections of song were assembled over a period of time. Some were written and recorded within the two months leading up to christmas eve. Some have been collaborations with family and friends. One particular project was a collaboration with my four-year-old daughter. This year, i asked the people of the internets to flood my inbox with song requests. I then asked folks to vote on the songs that they would most like for me to record. 

After the voting ended, my wife and kids and i migrated north to settle into a century-old house in need of a whole lot of love. Eventually, the list of songs elected by the people of the internets began reminding me of the project that i'd promised to deliver. Late nights and early mornings became prime time for recording these modern day standards until lo and behold i gave birth to a short stack of compact discs. I'm thankful for all those who took the time to participate in this project. It was challenging, inspiring, and a whole lot of fun to make after spending so much time hammering away at this old house. Enjoy this aural monstrosity RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

Welcome to the new year, beautiful broken people!

salvaging, part one

The family recently discovered Franklin Heritage, Inc. in downtown Franklin just a hop, skip and a pancake down the way from our monstrosity of a home. We happened upon them whilst searching for skeleton keys on ye olde craigslist and thought it might be a trove of treasure just waiting for our grubby little paws to sift through. After spending a great deal of time staring at schoolhouse lights on the internets, Miranda Jane was delighted to find a salvaged globe and fixture that i purchased for a few bones. "Happy birthday."

We then decided to spend the afternoon touring several antique shoppes along Jefferson Street right in the heart of downtown Franklin. We're still living amongst quite a bit of chaos in the house which makes it difficult to know what might go where. Also, having two curious, can't-look-without-touching youngsters along makes antique shopping slightly trickier than a run to the grocery store. Though we weren't ready to commit to any big ticket items, we did grab a few flashcards bearing the kids initials and some avian-inspired illustrations. 

Purchased for fifty pennies each at Salvage Sisters' Antique Market. 

Suitable for framing.

happy thanks, y'all

Celebrating with family the Rockey family during the holidays has always been a daylong event brimming with a whole lot of food, a whole lot of people, a whole lot of noise, a whole lot of laughing. This thanksgiving, we sat around an amazing meal with grandparents and great grandparents at the home in which i spent my high school days. We heard my grandfather tell stories that my dad had never even heard before. We added a new moniker to his already long list of nicknames: Grampa Junie. It was such a quiet, joyous affair that eventually turned into creative wonderland. 

Just when it looked as though the evening would be drawing to a close, we were joined by my uncle Conrad, cousin Becca and some new friends who immediately found themselves lending voices to a surprise recording session taking place in the family room. After warming up our guests with a sing-along, i passed the baton to Olivia Jane who passed out paper and crayons to everyone and invited us all to make drawings.

Here's one of Olivia's incredible drawings paired with a lyric sheet that she requested of me.

My contribution to the collection of drawings. Old friends being thankful.

Olivia's great grandfather delighted us all with his masterful rendering of a horse.

Olivia then had everyone who contributed drawings (and vocals, by the way) sign this cover sheet for the collection. We continued to laugh and eat chocolate-covered delicacies while dreaming up nativity-inspired colors for an idea-pitch to Crayola. Possible crayon colors include "soft manger", "star of bethlehem", "donkey grey", "gold", "virgin white" and "becca's favorite".  It's difficult to imagine that this idea won't make millions of somethings.

Holiday traditions have come and gone over the years, but i'm thankful for children who inspire me and invite their family to create colorful memories together.

satellite's gone

About twenty years ago, as a young college sapling, i discovered a misplaced cassette tape in a parking lot. Printed on the plastic casing of the tape were the words “Walk On The Wild Side - The best of Lou Reed”. At the time, my familiarity with Reed’s work may or may not have begun and ended with the words of that title. Regardless, I took that tape home and quickly secured it into the winding wheels of my sony walkman. I spun the wheels backward until the tape ran out, pressed play, and heard the words, “Satellite’s gone up to the skies. Things like that drive me out of my mind…” Everything that followed melted my mind.

The music was a little weird, a little gritty, a little funky, a little sweet.

It was poetry. It was honest. It was rock. It was roll.

The following is the first proper recording from the new far-from-renovated studio of The Mustard Room. It is a precursor to a forthcoming album of cover songs democratically selected by friends. It is a disheveled yet affectionate tribute. Dig it.

housewarming

Let's be honest, folks - it's supposed to be chilly in autumn. We're a good week into october and thus far the weather has been unseasonably warm as we've been counting down the days until the new furnace is installed at the rockey home (or as i'm now calling it: The Madness). This week, the climate turned on a dime. After wearing shorts all day sunday whilst installing more ductwork, we all woke up monday morning and immediately pulled on the cosby sweaters and knit caps. While preparing breakfast, Miranda and i even enjoyed a romantic moment by warming our hands over a boiling pot of oatmeal. These are the days.

If i may say so, we're getting pretty good at running ductwork. Our friend mike (whose friendship, skills, and generosity have been invaluable to us in our home renovation endeavors) helped us construct a piece of ductwork to run through a pesky ceiling joist. I've discovered a hidden tin-snip proficiency that has proven very useful in these duct-running days. Peep this collar installation on this near-perfect circle that i fashioned in a scrap piece of sheet metal.

still got a long way to go

It has now been about three months since our little family took up residence in this beast of a home in old towne greenwood. Quite honestly, it feels like much longer. For the most part, we've done more destruction than renovation thus far. One of the biggest deconstruction projects has been ripping out the wall between our kitchen and dining room. The previous pic shows how our gorgeous dining room appeared when we first looked at the place before buying. The following pic shows the doctor helping with some cleanup after demolishing most of the dividing wall.

After about two months, we finally secured the floor being semi-supported by that wall remnant and opened up that space completely. Now, at long last, we have decided to begin tearing out the less-than-desirable carpeting throughout the house.

Although the hardwood floors underneath are in need of some sweet sweet lovin', they are much more pleasant to look at and walk upon than the questionable-stain-plagued-animal-piss-smellin' carpeting. It's the little things that provide small glimpses into what we hope this house to become over the course of who-knows-how-long. Bit by bit, little by little, we are making this home our own. More to come.

problem child

beautiful, beautiful zion

we now return to a rockey home companion

It's been a bit since i've given any updates regarding the house sitch and/or otherwise. The fact of the matter is, summer times have been just plain crazy pants. Things have been slow-going as we attempt raising the sag in our first floor with a couple of car jacks and evicting old insulation between our ceilings and roofs. We've gotten all kinds of intimate with our crawlspaces and attics. Bow-chicka-bow-wow, y'all.

In the meantime, baby jane started her third semester of preschool before the summer was even half over. We celebrated her fifth year with a string of parties and a slumber party with her pal bella. The two stayed up late eating popcorn and watching a movie about a girl named Saige who makes paintings of horses and watermelon-coloured mountains. Baby jane got inspired to continue pursuing the arts with a reignited passion. A few days later, we surprised her after school with some new paints and turned our front porch into a makeshift painting studio.

The doctor even got in on the action...

While he was discovering his inner pollack, baby jane dazzled us by unveiling her newest masterpiece...

Voila!

shine on, you crazy diamonds

Sometimes when sifting through the morning papers over coffee and chicken, i feel compelled to honor those who are now waiting on the other side. Sometimes we're left with memories of them wearing large hats. Other times the paper gets the aspect ratio of their photograph wrong. Here's to you and the lasting impressions you've given us all!