Shovel-faced

Spring unfolds in blooming tulips, budding trees, and warm air with surprising cool winds which greet the unsuspecting pedestrian like a cold shovel to the face.

Now it's time for cake

This will most probably change the course of the rest of your day.

My tiny human-like left arm

It was twenty seven years ago today that this goofy lookin' kid to my left decided to keep my childhood from ever getting too peaceful and quiet.

Happy birthday Jeremy, you little wild-eyed rascal.

An aural supplement, episode 3

Running Time: 1:04:46 | File Size 59 MB
Download: .mp3
To subscribe to this podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ARockeyHomeCompanionPodcast

This episode, Joel tries to be best because he's only a man and a man's got to learn to take it. He tries to believe though the goin' gets rough, but he's gotta be tough to make it. History repeats itself. Try and you succeed. Never doubt that your the one and you can have your dreams...

1. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel”
2. R.E.M. “Cuyahoga”
3. Sufjan Stevens “Chicago”
4. Three Dog Night “Shambala”
5. Wilco “Shake It Off”
6. K-OS “Sunday Morning”
7. Chuck & Mac “Powerful Love”
8. Pixies “Caribou”
9. The Amps “Full on Idle”
10. Frank Black & The Catholics “California Bound”
11. Guided by Voices “Jane of the Waking Universe”
12. Son Volt “Adrenaline & Heresy”
13. Flying J & The Pilots “Dust (early demo)"
14. The Rolling Stones “2000 Man"

Lookin' up

Spring in the air
blood in our veins
ear to the rails
awaiting a train
crippled and bound
determined to find
obstruction and providence
soon to collide

What light

I've recently finished reading Wilco: Learning How to Die by music critic Greg Kot. It's the story of one of the greatest American bands of our time. The book was written with the cooperation of Wilco band member past and present. Kot traces the story back to its Belleville, Illinois roots where Jeff Tweedy began evolving into one of the great songwriters of his generation during his days alongside Jay Farrar in the band Uncle Tupelo. The book gives an intimate account of Wilco's rise from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo through the controversy surrounding the creation and release of the masterpiece album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and concluding at the imminent release of the band's fifth album, A Ghost is Born.

Needless to say, plenty of Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt (Jay Farrar's band) and Golden Smog has been spinning around the Rockey home recently. This week Son Volt released their new album, The Search. My friend Andy (whom lent me the Wilco book) wrote a stellar review of the album for iTunes and had this to say:

No need to search any further....Jay Farrar delivers again in his follow-up to “Okemah and The Melody of Riot.” The first track, "Slow Hearse" is a Neil Young-like ballad that serves as a nice prelude but is not indicative of the other tracks on the "record." The Search picks up speed with "The Picture" which introduces a horn section that rings of Van Morrison. "Methamphetamine" is buried deep in the album but it is definitely one of the album’s jewels and one of Jay Farrar's best songs to date. Lyrically, the album is less politically charged than Okemah. Musically, it’s a nice departure from some of the drone-rock sound of prior work. I anticipate these songs really coming to life when the band takes these songs on the road in the spring!

I had this to say about Andy's review:

The words flow from your digital pen like bionic honey cascading down a mountain of 1's and 0's...

Wilco releases their follow-up to A Ghost is Born on May 15th, but if you're feeling like turning out the lights and throwing on some headphones this Sunday, they'll be streaming the new album, Sky Blue Sky, in its entirety. Check here for times.

Grab your nickels

Hey kids, Joel Rockey is once again bringing his unique brand of song craft and frivolity to The Strange Brew Coffee House in Greenwood, Indiana. Save up your nickels and dimes and come on out for a fine cup of coffee while this local yokel spins some yarns for young and old alike. Here's what the beautiful folks at The Brew had to say about the last show [...]

Download:
MP3: Joel Rockey w/ Rebel Robot :: Joyaway (live at the strange brew 1/05/07)

Making our beds

"It is urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has AT THIS VERY MOMENT the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living." -JESUS (john 5, the message, my emphasis)

The video is Liz Janes & Create(!) performing "Jesus is a Dying Bed-Maker" directed by my pal Zack Bent.

An aural supplement, episode 2

Running Time: 1:04:04 | File Size 59 MB
Download: .mp3
To subscribe to this podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ARockeyHomeCompanionPodcast

This week your friend joel pays tribute to all those beloved vinyl LP's what fell victim to the basement flood of '07.

1. Sly & The Family Stone “M'Lady”
2. The Clash “Rock the Casbah”
3. Elvis Costello “Lip Service”
4. The Police “Canary in a Coalmine”
5. Squeeze “Cool for Cats”
6. Van Morrison “Sweet Thing”
7. The Beatles “I've Just Seen a Face”
8. Cat Stevens “Bitterblue”
9. Billy Joel “Summer, Highland Falls”
10. Pearl Jam “Last Exit”
11. The Who “How Many Friends”
12. Bob Dylan “One More Cup of Coffee”
13. Paul McCartney “Junk”
14. Lou Reed “New York Telephone Conversation”
15. Neil Young “For the Turnstiles”
16. Stevie Wonder “All Day Sucker”
17. Cyndi Lauper “When You Were Mine”
18. Simon & Garfunkel “Keep the Customer Satisfied”
19. Bruce Springsteen “The Promised Land

Dust collecting

To the left; a photo of my dad before his reductive eye surgery. To the right; a young boy with his father's eyes. These snapshots have both existed in the same collection of family photos for right near thirty years and not until Saturday night can I ever remember looking at them side by side. As Miranda and I sat with my parents in their living room, thumbing through these and a box of assorted Rockey memories from the past fifty years, the four of us laughed ourselves silly. Ridiculous outfits, outrageous hair and naked babies all make for some good ol' family fun.

As the evening came to a close, Miranda and I thanked my folks for a fun night and headed for the door. That's when I noticed my large wooden crate of records resting in the corner of the entryway. My parents have been generous enough to allow Miranda and I to store many of our possessions in their basement for safekeeping while my cousin's family is staying with us. Unfortunately, as irony would have it, my parent's basement flooded about three weeks ago. I'm not just talking saturated carpets, but inches of standing water. My dad single-handedly relocated all of our things to the upstairs as soon as they'd discovered the flooding. I had been over to their house later that night and had neglected the opportunity to separate all of the albums thus allowing them to dry. Now, three weeks later, as I knelt down to examine my precious collection of vinyl, I discovered that moisture had bred mildew binding the faces of the album covers together. How could I let this happen? I was angry. I was mostly angry at myself for not caring for them before or after the great flood had claimed part of their beauty. I was quiet the entire silent ride home.

I woke up this morning thinking of a couple of things. First, that all of those family photos could just as easily succumb to the same elements which claimed the album covers were they to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. What an even greater tragedy that would be. That's the reality though. All of it, as precious and priceless as it may be, is fleeting. Some of it passing more quickly than the rest, but surely enough all returning to dust. Second, we can tell ourselves that it's those memories we can never lose, yet most of my grandfather's memories from the past fifty years seem to have slipped from his hold. Everything is slowly buckling beneath the weight of mortality. Surely there must be more to this life than dust collecting dust.

Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

Of Montreal video directed by Mike and Matt Chapman (creators of Homestar Runner). "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" appears on the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? There's something mutually disturbing and intriguing about a giant bear head on a red tuxedoed chap. I'm wondering if the ghost gets up to leave because he's grown tired of the performance, has dinner reservations or simply had too many espressos before the show.

An aural supplement, episode 1

Running Time: 1:08:11 | File Size 63 MB
Download: .mp3
To subscribe to this podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ARockeyHomeCompanionPodcast

Welcome to Episode 1 of A Rockey Home Companion’s audio supplement; recorded live from the the Rockey home in majestic Greenwood, Indiana.

1. Joel Rockey “Waking Sleep”
2. The Shins “Sleeping Lessons”
3. Rusty Redenbacher “Older”
4. Elvis Costello “Green Shirt (demo)”
5. Prince “She’s Always in My Hair”
6. Tom Waits “Long Way Home”
7. The Be Good Tanyas “When Doves Cry”
8. Uncle Tupelo “Gun”
9. Jeff Tweedy “In a Future Age”
10. Lucinda Williams “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”
11. Bill Mallonee “Wintergreen”
12. Flying J & The Pilots “Through & Through”
13. Of Montreal “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse”
14. Pearl Jam “Reign O’er Me”

Strange visitor from foreign lands

It could be snow, couldn't it? but it's been so long... I just don't know what to make of it.