I mean the man was a genius. The real word. Very rarely does someone take all the things that make them human and use it as a lens to refract their experience in a way that makes a whole new sun and moon. Always liked his books (still haven’t read The Sound and the Fury) and I think his journey on this Earth is fascinating; but the real reason I am bringing him up today is because of his speech.

There are few speeches that make me feel good and all happy-tearing-up on record. I mean I’m sure there are things we lost at Alexandria and Ur that were just as powerful and that we’ll never know we missed; but for me as to where I was born this is one of the special ones.

Here is a link to the full text of the speech as well as some hauntingly beautiful audio of Mr. Faulkner giving the speech:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html

Why is the last paragraph missing from the audio? Imagine if it was just some fluke, like the tape ran out because the kid running the Kudelski was so transfixed that he didn’t think to get the backup going.

I don’t know why I think about this speech every year around Christmas time. Maybe it is because, no matter where I was raised, I feel the South in my heart as real as the pangs of hunger. Maybe it is because when I see something as phenomenal as ‘ the holiday spirit’ manifest itself out of nothing but human thought my belief in religious poetry is restored. All I do know is, this speech makes me feel good inside, like Santa Fe.

Tour dates are up. Check them out, because we want to see you all on the road.

Pre-sales are churning nicely like an engine. Let’s keep that going. Oh and here is some more love from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/29/144267273/2012-winter-music-preview

Here’s to the new year (well the new year we were all raised with…the real new year is closer to April, but if you bring that up every good Roman thinks you a fool…) Happy New Year.

To all the people who were born around Christmas and New Years I’ve got to say, you’ve all handled it admirably. I grew up with a friend whose birthday was on December 25th. You want to be cool about it but it has got to be so hard. Happy Birthday to all you out there.

The whole office is taking a break. But while the computers cool and the emails die down, we all want to reach out and say thank you to everyone who has already ordered their copy of the record, all the support others have given and the love we’ve felt from everyone. It is just wonderful.

Can’t wait to see everyone in the new year. It’s going to be a great one.

So much has been going on. Every day has been a flurry of activity and excited energy going into the release of our new record Like a fire that consumes all before it.

Firstly there is the new website layout as done by the masterful Minder Singh. I mean it is just something else; right?

Secondly I got a Twitter account. There was a dearth of Adam tweets and so was demanded of me by the internet writ large. Get on it. The twitter feed is so much fun to do and we are just having a great time on it. Not to mention all the business on the Facebook page. Send your friends that way. The more likes the better.

Tour starts soon. We are all excited for that. Going to see the whole USA, going to see all our friends and colleagues at Daytrotter again and make some other fun stops along the way. We really do hope to see you all out there.

The important thing for us is to stay connected with you all right now. That might sound funny but it is true. New things happen almost daily and it is vital for us that everyone is kept up to date. New record stuff, new tour stuff…we’re on it. We want you on it too.

More to come.

It is time to go on a tour again. This time to the fall-leaf-changing East Coast.
I can’t ever get over the fact that something I can come to expect still gets me so excited.

Tour dates are up and finalized. So much fun

Cowboys used to have to drive cattle. It has been portrayed in movies, sung about in songs, shown in paintings and talked about for hours around a camp fire. What a romantic painting of austere beauty and freedom that one can paint with such tools. Where else is a man really a man; wherein a certain kind of new-world virginity mixes with a hard fought self determinism that makes you smell like leather and sing like an angel.

What they didn’t write, tell of or relate to the simple folks trapped in the present was that of the smell. The smell is what really drives reality home. Cows are divine creatures of unique import to human beings, but they are still domesticated, herbivorous mammals. Such animals tend to smell very badly, and exponentially so, when their numbers get up to “herd” sizes.

In your mind, when he’s not lighting matches off his perfect Brad Pitt-stubble or saying adorable things like “ma’am”, he was probably a real human with fully functioning endocrine and olfactory systems. Imagine just how badly a cowboy wanted to sleep in a warm bed with freshly laundered sheets. Think of how happily each of the Devil’s great-grandsons would jump at the chance to stand in a man sized porcelain tureen and scrub himself with hot water, showering from above him, and lathering himself with expensive Castile soaps infused with the sweetest smelling fair trade oils. Same goes for the wandering vagabond boxcar singer, the soldier in the field and the earliest modern human being; no matter how romantic the idea is of “the life” it almost never involves bad smells.

Conserve water, stay clean and call your mother; she loves you.

We’re about to hit the road for ten days to make some sound at two festivals. Check on the “shows” page for up-comers, as well as on the other usual suspects like facebook and myspace.  There are even some rumored Indianapolis dates.

We finished mastering the record. We are extremely excited. So keep your ear to the ground.

We were supremely blessed on this trip. We played for tons of people that had lots of great energy and suprised us with just how pleasantly positive their responses were. San Diego left us flabbergasted. People who knew the songs and brought their friends flooded in when we thought we were starting from scratch in a town we never had played before.

We saw a bald eagle in flight over the mountain vistas on the Idaho-Montana border.

We were treated to spectacular lightning storms about nine separate times in the great expanse of the west.

It just melted us.

There is too much to tell. There are too many to thank. I need to get someone that knows machines to help me do a slide show or something of all the pictures we got.

Love it. We can’t wait to hit the road again in three weeks for the mid-west and festivals and such. Not to mention the new record coming out in February; this is such a nutty time.

Keep up with us on Facebook (tell your friends), follow us on Twitter (tell your friends) and come to the shows (bring your friends).

Keep the shiny side up and we’ll see you soon.

Normally it takes about three days to get into a groove. That’s just science. However this time we started this tour off with a bang. Nashville was the very first show and it was just wonderful.

So far we’ve been blessed by the sweetness that is in the Internet:

A review for Nashville on North of Nashville

A review for St. Louis on Music vs. Man

…and a fantastic poem:

http://quiet-alterations.blogspot.com/2011/07/love-for-love.html

So more to come. Right now there is a need to prepare for our Canadian television debut.

Watching every episode of House M.D. is a good way to spend about 103 hours of your time on Earth (try to get DVDs or fast forward through the commercials) but it does not make you an expert in medicine in any way, shape or form.

I cannot stress this enough.

Did you know that taking iron supplements improperly is bad for you? You might think that you’re making yourself healthy but in fact you could be setting yourself up for the worst slate of nightmares ever. Like people in some alien prison trying to murder you with pencils whilst someone else tries to educate you with informative propaganda pamphlets about the religious options in your new far-off-galaxy home.

Always ask your doctor, kids, before putting anything but healthy food in your body. For realz. [This, of course, excludes the joy that is "playing doctor" so for those of you that know the difference we say "God bless you"]

So instead let this be a suggested summertime alternative; come see The Lupine Chorale Society under the direction of Adam Arcuragi at a music venue near you. Here are the tour dates so far (some to be added):

Jul 24 12th & Porter w/ O, Don Piano Nashville, TN
Jul 25 Cicero’s St Louis, MO
Jul 27 The Record Bar Kansas City, MO
Jul 29 Hi-Dive Denver, CO
Jul 31n Nyne Spokane, WA
Aug 02 Nectar Lounge Seattle, WA
Aug 03 Hi-Fidelity Lounge w/ Buffalo Death Beam B-ton, WA
Aug 04 Ella Street Social Club w/ B.D.B. Portland, OR
Aug 06 Axe and Fiddle Cottage Grove, OR
Aug 08 Elbo Room San Francisco, CA
Aug 10 The Hotel Cafe Los Angeles, CA
Aug 11 The Soda Bar San Diego, CA
Aug 12 Sail Inn w/ Dry River Yacht Club Tempe, AZ
Aug 13 High Mountain Music Festival Pinetop, AZ
Aug 13 Hotel Monte Vista Flagstaff, AZ
Aug 14 Sedona Studio LIVE
Aug 17 The Mohawk Austin, TX
Aug 19 Howlin’ Wolf New Orleans, LA

I am posting a post about reminding people to check dates as we add dates to the tour almost every day. The fall is coming with a tour too.

I’m so excited I can’t standing anymore-more.