Personal

Weekending

July 3, 2009 by krisis

I have eleven minutes to write this post. I will just pretend I am on a bus.

Somewhere shortly before or after Albany Elise and I stopped at a rest stop that supposedly had wireless. It did not. It did, however, contain a rather dubious “Fish’n’Chips” connected to Roy Rogers.

In the future i will refrain from eating mid-state rest stop fast food shrimps.

Last night around eight we arrived at Kat & Jeremy’s home slash small farm, situated just on the rim of the ~~sixth~~ thirteenth biggest town in Vermont, Middlebury.

As with our last Vermont excursion, there are lots of friendly people and very little cellphone and broad-band wireless reception. Kat showed us the special spot in her house where she can take cellular calls. There was no internet at the spot.

This morning Elise and I headed into Kat’s backyard to feed her chickens. I have recently discovered that – in defiance of my general bird-despising – I somewhat adore chickens, which makes my refraining from eating them all the more sensible.

(aside: are all people that work in libraries weird? if i worked in one would it just confirm i was weird?)

After the chickens we toured Kat’s robust garden, sampled fresh snap peas and committing as much cucumber beetle genocide as possible. Each patch of plants had its own story – trials by cold soil or pests, favorite growers and runts.

I don’t consistently commit to buying local, but after this weekend I think I will have changed my mind. I’m glimpsing not only a tiny microcosm of farm economics, but also witnessing the love and attention that goes into each egg and potato.

I don’t know that “organic” really means anything special to me, but local now means a lot more.

I also played some Michael Jackson songs on Jeremy’s banjo.

Time’s up.

Broadcasting live for 12for12k!

June 30, 2009 by krisis

The internet had the chance to see and hear the first ever live web concert of my original songs and familiar covers, plus help to raise donations for Unicef’s Believe in Zero campaign for 12for12k

My 12for12k Setlist with demo downloads (if available)…

Like a Virgin – Madonna
Small & Lonely
Icy Cold
Saving Grace (w/Paris monologue)
Shake It Off (w/ “Shake Your Body” outro)
Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
Something Real
High & Dry – Radiohead (per Danny Brown’s request of Fake Plastic Trees)
Bucket Seat (an Arcati Crisis song)
Real You
Man In the Mirror – Michael Jackson (cried on every chorus – WTG, rock star)
Granted
Love Me Love Me Not (an Arcati Crisis song)
Space Oddity – David Bowie

Also, a few I planned to play but cut (or just forgot)…
What It Is
Unengaged
Gone Baby Gone

For people who watched and said they’d be interested in buying a CD (a) you are wonderful, and (b) download what you will and make a donation to this month’s charity, Unicef’s Believe in Zero. As a bonus, you can also grab my duo’s most recent Live @ Rehearsal album.

Also, we had a high of 40 unique users in the room at one time, so that’s what I donated ;)

Watch and chat live now with 12for12k

June 29, 2009 by krisis

If you aren’t the sort of person who masochistically books their Mondays right down to the last minute you might want to drop in on some 12for12k video events prior to my big video streaming debut tonight at midnight EST.

Just visit tinychat.com/12for12k to catch the following:

7.00pm est – Charity Panel with John Haydon, Joe Waters, Nicole D’Alonzo, Stacey Monk, Gabe O’Neill, and Danny Brown.

8.00pm est – Live music from special guest (TBA).

9.00pm est – Special section with the Looking Glass Lane girls.

10.00pm est – Comedy hour with Amanda Beals and New York comedy troupe, with an appearance from Wendy Liebman!

11.00pm est – Special adult hour with Avatar Koo reading short stories of erotic fiction.

Midnight est – Live music from me!

Midnight to 4.00am est – Special hosting from Iggy Pintado, author of Connection Generation.

TinyChat is a simple, old-school style web chatroom with the added bonus of audio/video chat from those who have it enabled. You can still watch and chat even if you don’t have a cam.

12for12k is effectively a charity of the month club – they seek out worthy organization with low administrative costs every month, and then spend the entire month spreading the word to raise donations.

Social networking makes this not only possible, but plausible. Instead of evangelizing to the web at least every month, 12for12k can aspire to having 12,000 (or more!) subscribers who chip in a $1 via paypal every month. It’s small change for one person, but $12,000 makes a big difference for the charity of the month.

I hope you’ll support 12for12k’s virgin videothon by dropping in for a few minutes, and follow them on Twitter to keep up with the charities they select for the rest of the year.

Streaming live at 12 midnight for 12for12k

June 29, 2009 by krisis

If you’re awake at midnight EST on the Monday-to-Tuesday divide you can catch the first ever live, streaming concert of my music – in support of an awesome, international charity drive called 12 for 12k.

I think I’ll call it at12for12for12k. Cool?

Founded by social media marketer Danny Brown, 12 for 12k throws down a bold challenge to social media users – can you use your social networks for good in concert with people all around the world to raise $12k for a new charity every month for a year?

This month’s charity is Unicef’s “Believe in Zero” – the belief that we can stop children from dying from preventable causes. And so far there is less than $1,200 pledged for the month.

It shouldn’t be that daunting. 1,200 people could do it for a reasonable $10 a month – three less trips to Starbucks. 12,000 people can do it with no issue – $1 a month, each! Easy pickings. If more than 10,000 Twitter users turned their icons green for Iran, surely just as many can muster $1 a month in donations to a good cause?

If you know me you know that projects like this are very close to my heart. I used Blogathon as a platform for my music to raise money and awareness for my favorite charities. I have cancelled Christmas in favor of giving charitable gifts. I volunteer with Lyndzapalooza – a musical non-profit dedicated to giving a voice to more of Philly’s independent artists. And starting tomorrow I am helping to plan a major non-profit project for this September.

12 for 12k is at once easier and harder than those projects. Easy, because it’s simple to support with a small donation. Hard, because it’s about making your giving a year-round trend – not just a once a year event.

I’ll be playing at midnight, and at the very least I will donate $1 for every song I play … and my songs are short, so that could get pretty expensive! In fact, I think I could play 12 songs in an hour… 12at12for12for12k!

If you’re awake at midnight – or even if you aren’t – will you do the same? Just ten of us donating $12 each is 1% of this month’s goal. We might not make it to $12k this month, but we can make giving a regular part of our lives, and save lives while doing it.

The power of social media compels you!

(PS: I promise at least Madonna & David Bowie covers, and almost can promise MJ as well. Dunno if the Lady Gaga is ready yet… you’d all have to donate a lot of money to hear that.)