Week 16. Out on the Road
February 03, 2005 12:37 AM
Most of you guys figured out - I couldn't keep up with this; not a chance.
We're on the Winter West Tour. (see link which i am to toasted and sick
to go find... it's one of the front page forums) Everything is going well w/
the set up for the record and we're excited about getting real copies in
our hands. We'll have them at the Troubadour... and of course, they'll be
in stores. This concludes the journal leading up to the record release.
We're inside one week. Hope you enjoyed some of this. Thanks. boydout
Week 15. It's Awl Comin' Down.
January 25, 2005 03:22 AM
Monday ...Sorta
JANUARY 24-25, 2005
I wish I could pass this off till morning because I can scarcely hold a
single thought in my head right now, but I'm too far behind. Can't do it.
The new and newly designed Eisley on-line portals are up. Though the
website is primarily a marketing tool for newcombers, I will work hard to
keep it loaded with vital information. I LOVE this forum re-design. Fun.
fun. I could eat it like drab green cake with burnt sienna icing.
We're leaving soon. I can't believe it. The time has flown by like magic
fairy dust blown from a 200 horsepower blow dryer. It's awl comin' down.
I really can't stay awake. My eyes are shut... Can't hold...on. More
tomorrow...
____________________________
Dis(my)Claimers
"The site. I'll be tweaking the design along the way. It will
improve. but...for now - it's UP!! p.s. I'll work on making a very, very
obscure link to the old site since i know you guys have expressed an
interest. I never throw anything away. I want to be able to draw a
straight line from the past to the final chapter." I quoted myself
because I have little time today.
And, thank you...i will take a vacation. It's called a road trip. ha
ha... If you're digging the new site, please post a few comments in the
section that somebody started. I saw it last night. I appreciate your
encouraging feedback. It's a scary job. I wanna make everyone happy
but it's hard. I can say that the band has not stopped thanking me and
really, really, loves it... only ONE thing: some of them have expressed
interest in having blogs. (!!!! hey, i'm as surprised as you but we have
the secret weapon: gRegor. php man) This may take a bit more
time...but it will happen. And I WILL also put up a band "about" section
with generic shortened bio and some history for newbies. For Now -it's an
abridged version of what it can and will be. Also, I might change out the
main images from time to time...
Eisley (on) iTunes
Another blast out today about Eisley's new itunes deal... a 'lil package:
Telescope Eyes, Vintage People (Eisley produced in Tyler), and an old,
old, early, early, version of TreeTops tracked in Nebraska by the band
and Mike Mogis.
btw. pm gRegor about readability on the site. I'm used to the subtlety but
whatever works... I'm down.
Thanks yall.... bd
What Day is it? ...Who's my mamma?
January something like 26 or 27
As my sleep depravation slinks into the final state of digression, I attempt, to fade into the night only after bringing some creative thought to this dwindling forum... My brain thinks I'm one with a very specific forest -where prehistoric foliage surrounds the tender underbrush... and I lay lurking, with some trepidation...as dusk settles. The hues in this color palette are similar to the ones i just created for the image on the front page of the eisley website... is that a coincidence or have i become so delusional that I cannot discern the difference between the realities of dream and software? I am somewhere in between. This is truly an altered state. I best go to sleep.
But first....(slumps in a daze). I dunno. I'm way behind. I'm way, way, behind. Tomorrow, I attempt with all vigor to bring closure to all design projects and put on my Tour Manager's cap. I am way behind... but there's one thing I won't sacrifice on: I will have those nifty little lanyards for band and crew. That's really all I care about in life. I always wanted to make those for a tour. And here's my chance. The pinnacle of my career.
Oh Lord...
goodnite. 4:50am
p.s. oh yeah, almost forgot. I tweaked the front page image. That green was sorta kinda ghastly. I might make changes along the way. Life isn't static. neither should the web be. oh, and...Local TV cameras n crew will be in our den at high noon... and they follow the band to rehearsal tomorrow night to film live stuff. hmmph. Oh, and this is the most inspirational moment of my entire month - last night at like 3am, they came and got me... they (eisley and their 'lil brothers and sisters) led me up into the attic, where they had cleared out a giant space and set up keyboards and tiny amps and a cocktail kit...and they hung sheets; it was their new practice/songwriting space... up there in the attic. It was like they made a fort. I nearly cried.
Brevity is... ...my soul
JANUARY 27th-ish, 2005
I decided to shag a few words early tonight. My friend is bringing me coffee again. I said to him - I said: " but weren't you just here...and you brought me coffee a few nights ago?..." and he said - he said -Tim Turley said, "boyd...hello(!), that was almost a week and a half ago...dude, you're losing it...you're slipping..." and I said - i say's to him - i says: "it could have been 2 nights ago. I think I've been living outside of time and space".
Closure
Eisley is being filmed by local TV station KLTV - who were also over at the house today, filming while the band mumbled around the kitchen, fixing cereal and making coffee. It was funny. I smirked and came back into my room to crank.the.molee.
I have completed so many bits and klarnks and participles of projects these past few days...i cannot and willl not even attempt to admit them into public record. My hard drive is full again and...(no. my BRAIN, you doh-doh's). But it's nice to switch gears. Get my head outside of the web; get out of solitary confinement. Get out on the open ROAD!!! woo hooo!! sky. air. sunshine. mountains.
But I still have art projects to finish tonight: "boyd, oh...we're gonna need all of the merch for the nfg tour...like before you leave..", and "boyd, we just need 2 more flyers for college radio and for another in-store in Seattle.." and, "boyd, (along with many on the list) listen to this new eisley commercial...and final edits to the video..." and "xyz publication needs such and such photo of the early BrewTones days" and "we need you to post this on the blog"... All normal duties but...I hae to do them tonight. So, I'm being brief again.
Tomorrow we leave for Houston. Speaking of - our friends and relatives in H town have been calling all day about some full page, full color article. I don't know what it is really, but they're impressed. cool.
Well, here's where I say... I hope I get to meet some of you out on the road. Here's where I say, I won't remember your user name or your proper name or your face or anything... because it's just me; and you are you all.
i love you. i mean it. well, i sorta do. as much as is possible without knowing who the heck you are.
See you on the road. boyd-o
Houston ...Rocks
JANUARY 28 - 'er-ninth, 'er-30th, 2005
I have consistently said - there's something about the Houston market. Is
it because eisley was borne here? Because I went to hight school here?
What is it? But it seems like the band enjoys so much "favor" here. This
full color, full page with full color, full page photo's on the inside of their
entertainment section is overwhelming. The photo's are huge...
captivating.
Maybe it's roots. Today, we went to Comp USA where a worker met them
at the door with wide eyes and a big smile: "man! I never thought i'd see
Eisley in my store!"... then we went to the Guitar center; we needed the
hook up because we needed lots of stuff and we only have a great
connection with Tommy, the manager of the Dallas store. Some guy
comes up and he's llike, "hey...i recognize you guys from Eisley; if you
need anything, let me know". So, we go to check out later and it turns
out he saw them at the Coldplay show, has both ep's, hasn't missed a
Houston performance and will be there tomorrow night! He was
amazing...so encouraging and cool.
Anyway...the show is tomorrow night. I'm excited. First shows are always
scary. You have to blow the cogs out. But, hey! There's already 200
advanced ticket sales and the room only holds 500 - the venue say's -
which he said, is way over the top for a Sunday night show...and for the
room, it likey means we'll have a full house with walk up. That's amazing, huh? So, come early. I'm not saying it will sell out. I really doubt it.
Sunday night - people will be like, "ahh...i'm tired and work will come too
early".
25 boxes of merch for Kim to deal with! woah. I've been printing
soundscan sheets, set lists, merch sheets, sign up sheets, advancing
shows, adding stuff to the website blog (see it? i figured out how to make
scrollable gifs links to url's!), tried to replace duplicates images before
going brain dead, was out - as mentioned earlier. Oh, we're all at my
brother's house in Richmond. I'm so tired. Catching up in one day is
impossible.
I can't keep up. 20 pms tonight. It took me the length of time I might
have crafted a better blog here, to answer each one. Now I'm toast.
See you guys tomorrow. Remember, I won't remember you but it doesn't
mean i don't care. bd
Week 14. Two Weeks Left. The Focus is Compressing My Brain
January 17, 2005 11:40 PM
Pressure Cooker •Where's our Cooker?
I don't have the time to
II have...to go.... on line with Thomas n gRegor[
color] don't want to lose what i started. back to dreamweaver.
______________________________
And that was hours ago.....
Sorry. It's not normal for me to abandon such a fragmented start... but,
it sorta worked conceptually with my subtitle...so, i went with it. The style
very much coincides with my life right now. Focused chaos. I just signed
off with gRegor after chatting off and on for 10 hours... he and Thomas.
Webiness
Anyway...I still can't stay on long. I have to make photo selections for
the site, size them and create thumbnails. How many do we want? My
original document had space for 16, but i created 4 more rows of 4.
Overkill, i think. We just want to have images...hit it; see what the band
looks like, bam. We can have all the usual video captures, etc. on the
forum as usual.
LA crowd
Picking up "the cooker" and "eaters" tomorrow...very late at DFW. oh
Lordee. My eyes are so dry and I'm feeling i need a power nap; feelin'
very neon right now. But, if i crash for a moment, I might not recover...
I might not wake up till morning.
I don't know...at this point, my happy thought is - well, i'm starting to
imagine driving out of the driveway, fully loaded with everyone - hitting
I-20 and heading West. (the WWtour) Why? cuz this will all be over and
somehow I hope the stress will be gone too.
Still hoping for website launch by Friday at some point. could be late. I'll
try to give you guys a heads up. - Probably won't make some big deal...
OH....and we will launch the newly revised forum at the exact same time.
If for some reason, we have trouble and I can't go up, I'll let you know.
Either way. WB wants it UP. Again... very linear. Very limited. This initial
phase covers the important things. Still, the forum will be more like the
coffee house/hang out joint (Laughing City)
nite. sorry this is so hak.
Cookers/Eaters •in Route from DFW
JANUARY 18, 2005
It'll be great to have the 9 back in the house instead of only the 5. Man, it
felt like the house was almost empty.
My friend Tim Turley was amazing. He brought me Starbucks, loaded up
trailer (well, i hooked that up because i'm the only one that can nail the
hitch on the first back up by myself. ha-ha), the rest of the gang plus
more friends and drove the rig to DFW to fetch those Eisley's and
Kimbertones. sweet. They should be home soon.
Wow. I selected, tweaked, sized and made 40 web-safe images for the
new site, but I'll prolly cut that number down. I was adding line by line
code to the photo document when dreamweaver bombed. (that software
is so FAT... it's unstable and weighty) Maybe I have too many fonts in my
system folder. Anyway...I decided to post this real fast and restart. My
Apple has never once bombed in 2 years standing.
Much going on. much. muchas. but I don't have time. Have a nice day..
tomorrow. Must go faster. faster. fasterrrrrr.... bd
Blehnrch! •klurhnk. Bhhehhh...
JANUARY 19, 2005
Shlernk-Bhlehh Goin' crazy. Wanna go? I've gone photo-crazy. I
now have an archive of 80 images. No way i'm gonna fit those onto the
page and have the layout look right. Or maybe... just maybe... hmm. I'm
way behind. I just jumped on to post a feeble entry and say hello.
The Cookers and Eaters are really Sleepers!
It's hardly legit to claim jet lag, but...those 2 hours really make a
difference. If you were staying up till 3 and getting up at 10... suddenly
you're back in Texas where you arrive home and crash around 3:30...
you're way goofed up so you sleep till noon. Some woke up and went
back to sleep. I don't blame them. I live outside the boundaries if sleep.
I crashed at 4 and awoke at 8:30. More than I usually get.
There's a tour coming up. You know how I know? I'M STARTING TO GET
SHOW ADVANCEMENT PHONE CALLS!!! (tm speak - but it's an alarming
indicator that things are happening too fast.) SLOW DOWN father time.
Happy Chump Day. I just declared it National Chump Day. (NCD) And I'm
the spokes-person. Here's my speech:
"CHUMPS of America: here yee. hear me: We must unite! We must
chump down the sweet juice of the JAVA! (waits for cheers to subside)
We must rise and take action! (it's scary up on this balcony overlooking
the compound teaming with throngs of squirmy carbon-life units) ....We
must suck it down OUR GULLETS!!! ................. (long pause)................
NOW!!! (body guards whisk me back inside; it's just to dangerous)
CodeWoahs •...like Code blue
JANUARY 19, 2005
It's 3:15am and I'm not even thinking about sleep yet. We decided to
build this simple site in html instead of flash so that we could incorporate
phpp back end easier...even though it won't happen this week. The site is
looking like i want it to for the most part. Sorta like using an etch-a
sketch instead of a pencil and paper, but...it's working. Dreamweaver is
grand, but...no matter how cool - it's not the design tool that Flash is.
Flash is like Illustrator. Dreamweaver is like one of those puzzels where
you slide the letters around and there's one missing but you have to spell
4 words to win. Only there are 100 words and it's multi-dimensional.
Don't get me wrong. It's nearly unlimited in what it can do...I'm just
talking about "design". Flash allows you to work fluidly with type, images,
etc. You can move anything anywhere you want including on top of each
other...transparent, tinted...you can even use a paint brush that's very
nice... Flash is nice. Action scripts are easier to manage than giant strings
of code. Both are nice. Macromedia rules...but I'd still rather have an
Adobe product to rival these. Remember how Indesign obliterated
Quark... How Illustrator conquered FreeHand? It can still happen. Adobe
rules more. DreamWeaver did blow "Go Live' out of the water though...
I'm starting to doubt that we'll "go live" friday. Too many slow downs and
unexpected problems. Everything takes longer than you think.
The band? Seems like lots of interviews. Chauntelle has phoner with
Houston Chronical tomorrow. That's cool. Houston loves Eisley for some
reason and I don't think it's because they were all born there. There's
some other connection. We always feel it. nice.
Well... it's late. back to it. Did ya'll see this? Did I post it?
Tower Records Artist of the Month
http://www.towerrecords.com/promo.asp?page=Featured+Artist+Eisley%201
Oh, I did. In Announcements. But I'm getting head-fladged . g-nite. bd
Wealth ...and Health
JANUARY 20, 2005
On empty
I know I can't write something profound tonight. I'm not witty
enough, not clever enough, my way with words has waned.
(how arrogant. I never had them... my way...with them)
Though, I can't really pay my bills, I'm not complaining
Though I'm working so many hours and wonder if I might cave
in, I still feel...very rich.
Crybaby
Last night I was trying to buckle up under the pressure...
feeling like the pieces to the puzzle weren't coming together.
The past year was so hard; it's just stuff you guys don't know
about. It's not easy. Nobody's life is easy... but last night,
everything came flooding into my mind. It was 4am and I felt
like giving up. Ok. I admit it. I cried a little. It felt good.
Life is getting so complex... so stressed... so hard; I wonder if
things will ever be the same again or if the decisions that
have been made in the last few years will altar our lives and
the lives of our children and their children forever. Still, as we
embark on this fascentating journey, I have a feeling...
The Fading Man
You guys know - it's not really about me... or what I think. I'm
only writing because you've graciously given me a small
platform to help nurture this tiny world however I can. My
purposes are not centered around self-promotion. My lengthy,
boring, blogs can and will go away as my time gets spread
thinner and thinner.
And, honestly - the world is big place with lots of pain. In
the grand scheme of things, everything in this little window is
inconsequential... especially my ideas, my worries - They're
nothing; They're blips... Algo-rhythmical-murmer. But I know
Eisley wants to make a difference... maybe in small ways.
I don't know if life will beat us or some of us will be casualties
as we move swiftly downstream. I hope and pray that, as this
small offering of music reaches the planet, a few people will
be inspired and uplifted. And maybe a bit of change in the
industry that tries to support artists and their creations. And
who knows what else...
Website Launch
We're trying to decide when and how to launch this website. I
don't like fanfares that create unwarranted expectations. The
site is functional and delivers necessary content. But the big
question is: when? We're trying to get all the rich content up
and working properly right now. I have half the photo's loaded
but now gRegor thinks there's an easier way - so he's working
on a phpp document that I can code easily that will grab my
uploaded file, grab the thumbnail and toss them into position
on the document.
I'm thinking MONDAY we launch. We're going to host
everything on eisley.org which will become eisley.com. (yeah,
i'm moving the site from the WB servers) We might put a
couuntdown over the weekend. (Or not) I'll put a temp page
up with a teaser or something and we'll wait for the name
servers to begin pointing eisley.com to the new server.
I'll keep you informed here on the forum...which will also
pop up on your desktops Monday morning with a sparkling
new identity and look. Maybe I'll send out an eblast on this.
Not sure. I might not...
I hear the loud blooping sounds from ichat again. gRegor and
Thomas are amazing guys... It's 3:30am in Indiana where
gRegor is... and it's 1:30am where Thomas is. Im in the
middle but we're still working... Nite ya'll. I'm gonna regret
this in the morning.
boyd
__________
It's 6:30am. Still up. gRegor and I have been on a chat for 7
hours now. Poor Thomas had to crash around 3am....(but he
had to get up at 7am) Anyway, we're just working away...
trying to somehow have a nearly completed site all nav'd up
and coded and functional today. Well... that's all. Not feeling
so great if you know what i mean... uhhhh....
__________
7:45am and all is well.... gRegor is debugging some phpp. I
will be able to upload based on a txt file remotely. Not automated
yet, but...it's pretty easy for me. I ftp into folders and assign image
names to a php document. easy.
now 8:25am. going to nap for a while.
Saturday WebTesting
JANUARY 22, 2005
On empty
I just posted a quick blog about what's going on this second...
http://www.eisley.org/viewtopic.php?p=237048#237048
After working 24 hours straight with no sleep (20-21st), I slept for 1.5
and hit it again. At 4:30am this morning, gRegor and i were on IM - and i
think we both became so incoherant that we were mumbling type and
spewing ditigal bits out our facial orafices. So....TILT.
After 4 glorious hours of sleep, work began again. As the afternoon drug
on, my kind compadres magically appeared back on line for duty.
They're doing this out of the kindness and passion of their own hearts...
There's more that could be said, but I don't have time.
So... just wanted to check in and say hello.
THE NEW FORUM IS: LAUGHING CITY
The forum now called "Laughing City" as promised, will be
basically the same with the same data - all normal. The layout is
different, so there might be a little learning curve with some mental
adjustments. There will also be a few bugs to work out i imagine. OPen to
suggestions but it's all very time consuming. I've basically art directed
but gRegor has done all the hard stuff and "done the time".
There'll be a new button up top for "Tour Journals" so we don't confuse
those forums as active... there are so many forums on our forum...it's
confusing. This makes the front interface clean and simple. But if anyone
WANTS to go check out the band history though our insanely detailed
Tour Journals w/ Pics - they're encouraged to with a button 'n graphic.
New EISLEY.COM
info-blogs We're laying infrastructure for
simplifying my life and completing your life - well, as least as far as up
to-date content goes. The front page blog will be upadated regularly to hit
the hot points with short blogs and links to continuing words on the
forum. We're transitioning from old school html text editing like i usually
do - to php files that automate things. We're not Quite there yet but are
working on it. For now, it'll look the same and Ill try my best to manually
continue the blogs when applicable.
pics
There are plenty of pics..some are new; MANY are either new or will be
new to you. Many are old but most of you haven't seen them. I'm
attempting to cover the bases.... so there will be a sense of history
without relishing in the early, early days. In fact, I'll pick up around the
Coldplay era - 2 years ago. It's NOT in chronological order. That would be
lame. I skip around....
Dimension As mentioned, this site is not
like... a treasure hunt, like the old one. The video page, for example, has
3 videos -the proper ones or whatever. I will, as time allows, add more
but keep in mind - we still have THIS wonderful format. AND, imagine
going to the eisley.com portal and seeing: "Boyd adds special video of
Band ice skating while juggling nuclear weapons!" ok? See whatever'.
You get the point. If i put up rich media, live media, I can promote it
on the front page with a link. Thousands can now actually FIND the buried
treasures if I so desire. Otherwise, i'll hide them and only the
insiders can find them...heh heh hhhheeeehhhhh.
mp3's- Sorry. They're the same ones on
the player. But Thomas started from fat files and made his own
compressions. Since he's still weighing out how fat they can be without
sacrificing downloads, I can't comment on them yet. The page doesn't
have much on it. As we get stuff, we'll put it in the player built in Flash.
well, that's all for now. Too much info, right? later.