Mayday!

Hey Folks! Just have some quick announcements. The Pagan Newswire Collective has launched two group blogs, one for the military called Warriors & Kin, and the other for art and culture called The Juggler. I'll be contributing to the second, making observations about the arts as related to Paganism. So yeah if such topics interest you go check that out! Here of course it'll be more about me... because it's my personal blog and that's how I roll.

So yeah, today is Beltaine. Even if you don't count this as a holiday, I'd suggest getting out for a walk in the woods. Here in Ohio especially things are really starting to come in. I'll be planting herbs as soon as the danger of frost is over with. One of the things I try to do if I'm able is go take photos, and here's a few that I took down at Highbanks. Right away when I got to the Olentangy River (Ol-en-tan-gy, not Old-en-tang-y) I heard splashing, and I think I came across some type of fish spawning. There were quite a few of them, swimming in pairs and splashing, & I got a few photos of the ones closest to me. I thought they may have been catfish but they don't compare to the photos I pulled up online. I'd say they were on average 12 inches, give or take a few. If you know what kind they are let me know.

So yeah! I hope your day is most festive :)

Ready to Fire!

Hey folks! So about that Faith & the Muse show... Damn it was the business! My friend Casey & I drove up from Columbus to Lakewood Ohio (just outside of Cleveland) to the Phantasy Nightclub. The place is a complete and total dive, but the kind of dive you want to visit. The space looks like it was once a seafood restaurant or something, because it has a halved sailboat inside (called the Bounty), and other weird architecture (like a random streetlight, the kind that overlooks the highway in the middle of the ceiling). It's great though. I had been in this space something like 14 years ago or so and completely forgot it's location, so stumbling upon that space again unexpectedly was a trip!

Anyway, before we got there U.T.O. and Ludwyg had already performed so I can't say much about them. We caught the tail end Queue Up, they seemed pretty cool, I'd like to catch them again.

So on to the main act. Faith & the Muse is made up of William Faith and Monica Richards. Joining them was Paul Mercer on violin, Julia Cooke on taiko and percussion, Marzia Rangel on cello & percussion (Christ vs. Warhol/The Deadfly Ensemble, ex-Scarlet's Remains), Steven James on guitar/viola/percussion (Christ vs. Warhol/The Deadfly Ensemble, ex-All Gone Dead and Scarlet's Remains), and Aradia and Lucretia*Renee of the dance troupe Serpentine also on backing vocals (and featured in the photo on the left, sorry about the quality but that's what you get with a cell phone). The whole performance was extremely theatrical, it's one of those 'you had to be there' type situations. The crazy part, the whole show was six bucks(!?), that's just crazy talk! Anyway Faith & the Muse tour is on a pretty aggressive schedule, they had been performing every night for the past 16 when they got to Cleveland. So yeah if you can check them out live, and if not just check out some of their music. Below is their video promo for their tour. I tried to shoot some with my camera but I haven't figured out how to get it off the chip yet, if I can do that I'll of course post it. If you want more check out this interview by Bryan Reesman.



So yeah! In other news the Pagan Newswire Collective blog is about ready to launch. There are 8 other bloggers including myself, and everything seems to be running on schedule! I'll post an announcement in a few days when the official launch happens, expect something by Sunday at the latest. This is gonna be groovy, I don't think there's anything else like it out there.

Also, in Second Life it looks like I'm going to be having a show in May. Also I'm almost done setting up my own gallery in The Wastelands, and I'll be able to host small performances as well. I'll post the slurl for those locations and dates once I have them.

Plus I'm going to be taking part in the Fires of Aisling Pagan Arts and Music Fest down in Reynoldsburg Ohio on May 16. Myself and a few other folks will have some art up, and it looks like there will be all kinds of festivus going on. It's free so come on down if you're arse'd. I know at the bottom it says it's by invite only... but hell if you're one of the two or three people who read this blog, you are my guest, I invite you (friend me on facebook and ask for an invite if you're inclined). So come, bring drums if you're the drumming type and let us kick this metaphorical pig!

So yeah, it's all good in the neighborhood. See you later!