NEW T&O SITE

Yeah, so if you know me, you likely already know about this. If you don't, then you ought to. The Tea and Oranges family has a new, full, non-myspace website. And it's been lovingly designed by Jesse Meunier as well as illustrated by other T&O folks. It's a great place to keep pace with shows and listen to some songs and download pooploads of albums by the T&O musicians. Official web presence: keep an eye on it!

Handclaps & Half-Shut Eyes

i'm bored of justifying posts only tangentially related to poetry. Suffice it to say that i'm an English grad student: i'll read just about anything and i'm happy to extend that to songs, especially because i <3 cultural texts like that.

i think i could produce a reasonable manifesto on 12:51 (links to video), though i wouldn't bore anyone. It's just that i had always thought it was a sad song masquerading as a bouncy party-rock deal. There's the fast beat, the sooper dooper catchy synthy tone on the guitars, and of course the content: if you don't listen too carefully, it sounds like it's something along the lines of 'hell yeah, i'm around, let's hang out and get drunk & have fun.'

mister Jakob Battick (tea & oranges website coming soon! stay tuned!)first pointed out the references to "stage" to me and reminded me that Room On Fire is their second album, the archetypical underside-of-success album, in some way. All this to say that on seeing the video, Julian Casablancas's bored speaksing and half-closed eyes really take on a new set of meanings. It's not just hipster cool anymore--they made their money on that in the first round--by Room On Fire, what was a laconic coolness has turned into a sadness that really permeates the album...

I think i might teach this song next semester.

"...Than Even the Night" from T&O show

It's up! Hooray! Watch it!

It's a Grace (only bodies can impart)

Yes! Youtube video is up from Saturday's Tea and Oranges Daydream Extravaganza. And I'm not just posting it because I played bass on this song. Watch it. Listen to the words. Watch Cutler rock his ass off over next to Krissy & Milo. Even if i was particularly concerned with keeping this blog in any way on the topic of poetry, i'd still post this because Jakob Battick's lyrics achieve such powerful aesthetic transcendence. In brief, if you weren't there Saturday, you kind of suck but at least there are a couple of videos so that you can see a little of what you missed.

Tea & Oranges Daydream Extravaganza!

April 11th, Saturday. Hastings Formal Lounge on the Gorham campus of USM. The Tea & Oranges Daydream Extravaganza. DIY madness, art for sale, beautiful music by wonderful, wonderful people. It's going to be killer. Absolutely everyone should go because it's totally free, anyone of any age, and it promises to be a night of pretty things. Jakob Battick will be selling cds. Stefan Henegar will play, along with Ryan Cutler is a Tree and all sorts of other Tea & Oranges friends. Even if i warn't in Maine, I'd make the trek for this shindig. I hope to see lots of my wonderful readers & friends there.



For more info, click the link above, you turkey.

Tea & Oranges

Tea & Oranges is "a collective of thinkers, poets, painters, singers, and lovers" run out of Gorham, Maine. They have oodles of free downloads by incredible musicians in the Maine/New York/Vermont area as well as fun things like stickers & buttons. All of the members of Tea & Oranges are thoughtful, beautiful, independent musicians making music simply for the love of doing so.

The collective also plans to release two books of poems in the coming months, written by me and Joanna Moyer-Battick and illustrated by the cofounders Milo Moyer-Battick and Jakob Battick.

This music has serious guts & soul and I think great music and great poetry can blur the lines between the two, so I strongly suggest downloading the free EP series "Early Flowers" and having a listen for yourself. The most recent release is by Border Towns, the brother-sister duo Natalie and Kennie Farrigan. Speaking of blurring the lines between song & poem, check out the demo "I'm Nobody" on their Myspace, a beautiful reimagining of the Dickinson poem.

Free music that feeds poetic hunger. What more could you want?