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Over the weekend, my friend Jesse Ferguson and I worked as living statues at Bumbershoot, Seattle’s music and arts festival. Today, we were in the Seattle Times. Here’s what they said:
“Meanwhile, in the great, rainy outdoors, two living statues — no Bumbershoot is complete without them — braved the elements. Jesse Ferguson, a 7th Day Adventist preacher by day, and Patrick Toney, a musician with a band called Garage Voice, have been coming to Bumbershoot for eight years, always standing in the same spot, with different outfits each time.
“This year they adopted an American colonial theme, with Ferguson playing George Washington. Unlike some living statues, these two move, depending on what kind of vibes they’re getting from the Fisher Green Stage.”During happy music,” Ferguson explained, “we move more to make more money.”
“Their aged-copper-green-statue complexions (one concerned lady passing by said, “I hope that’s not lead-based”) were achieved with movie makeup. “The same as they used in ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,’” Ferguson said.
“Apart from chatting with this interviewer, they stayed silent, beckoning festival-goers to dance with them or have their photos taken.”
-Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times
Photos by Ben Blood
Video by Brenda Ferguson
The Tabor Space is SO amazing & it looks like a castle! Our friend Seth Martin introduced us to the Tabor crew last time we where in Portland and found out they were going to be turning this castle/church into a community hub. We were then invited by Seth to join in the debut of Tabor Space and what a treat it was to be involved. We played an entire acoustic set with no sound system. Candles were the only light inside. It was probably one of my favorite shows we’ve ever done. We played some new material from Freeze & Thaw, and a really cool version of Tips of Your Hands with Kale on sax! It was so nice to have Kale jump in on this special acoustic set, he also contributed to a solemn version of Quiet My Love and after the show i talked to someone who was connected to the family that the song speaks of! Crazy! We can’t wait to be back at Tabor and all you Portland folk need to get on out to Mt Tabor Space and check out their future events, on Sept 11 they are going to have a swell jazz trio and an 80yr old beat poet! AMAZING!
The more pixely snaps are from my phone, but i just had to share the idea of the space we were in, its a pano shot!
After the show we hung out with our pals Eric/Hollin (who did the video for “Between Pride & Love”) and caught up with talks and amazing food from this street corner dedicated to random taco truck style food establishments. In the middle of the 6-7 places there is a community outdoor cafeteria of sorts with picnic tables under a tarp roof littered with Christmas lights! I had the best fries of my life with rosemary/truffle/ketchup (WOW!) and split a mushroom fajita with Bru, YUM! At the crepe joint next to our table there was a recently married couple feasting on fries and crepes! SO SO COOL, everyone around was wanting pictures with em or taking pictures of em. I jumped in too 
Can’t wait to come back to Portland! Look out, we’ll be back Sept 23 at Muddy Waters! Woot Woot! ALSO there will be some more video collabs done with the talented Eric&Hollin so watch out for that too, d’lish things are happenin!
1) REGARDS
Friends of our lovely Seatown, THANK YOU for sharing your evening with us at Studio 7! It was so nice to have your support in our home town and to see that some of you have some sweet dance moves I know that Michael & Kale sure made me move on stage!
ALSO for the first time we had a vinyl pre-sale sign up for our upcoming release “Freeze & Thaw” ! This will be available at our local shows and maybe i can figure something out for all you non locals if you want in on getting our next release on vinyl!
(Anna Hurley is doing the artwork, this is a taste of her skill, SNAP!)
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2) THE COLOR TURNING
Last night the main act was The Color Turning who deff. impressed us GV boys! Their songs are well thought out, blending drive with great melodic instrumentals. My favorite song was a wonderful stark 2 guitar song that blends amazing tones of the warm electric with the rootsy finger picking on the acoustic, bravo! I really enjoyed their progressions as well, not predictable. Live you can see em blend some amazing tones from their Rhodes to the meaty bass tones. The dance percussives with the additional shakers and tambourines reminds you to keep your feet moving while you enjoy the ethereal delay swirls, YUM! Go HERE to catch their tunes!
They are at the tale end of their tour to support their release “Good Hands Bad Blood” and have one more date in WA tomorrow night at one of our favorite venues in WA, the RED ROOM in Kennewick! We deff. recommend catching the show and chatting up with em after the show, great kids & great music, so don’t miss out -> 8pm | AUG 29 | $5adv/ $7 door | RED ROOM | KENNEWICK
Two weeks ago we completed the recording of our upcoming EP “Freeze & Thaw”. In 3.5 days we recorded 6 songs, and on the hottest week in Seattle since 94′. OUCH. It was 103 outside, and since we had to have all doors & windows shut for sound, it must have been 10 degrees or so warmer indoors. We were dripping but committed.
Our dear friend Karli Fairbanks came over from Spokane to engineer/produce the record. I was super intimidated at first because I look up to her a lot and think her voice/song writing is superb. We had a short conversation about it before she came over where she assured me and told me ‘we’re going to have fun doing this’. This helped me out a lot and prepared me for the refining that would be going on during the process. Karli showed me amazing techniques for my voice that would deliver the best intentions for each song and as humbling as that was, it was amazing to learn how to find the best thing for my voice. I learned so much over those 3 days, priceless! Tanx Kbanks!
Our good friends Michael Porter & Kale Lotton joined us on a majority of the Ep and makes it sound SO good. Wow, they amaze me every time I hear their sax/trombone combo. They have an amazing way of communicating with each other, a way that is most of the time over my head. Tric & Bruce have this way as well and usually when they’re done figuring something out they have to translate it to me! Ha! Look for more co-ops with these boys in our future from shows to recordings.
This project was really cool because I feel like everyone contributed to it in a way that was their individual voice and in way that made them grow as well. I know some of the parts we had in mind made Kale & Michael really work for it, and they did so courageously! Bruce brought on some stand up bass that he had to practice a bit to make happen. Tric got to step a way from drums and do some glockenspiel and other sweet percussion stuff as well. I had the vocal lessons and Karli said this was new for her cuz she was recording a band instead of solo artists, so this was really cool to see everyone contribute and grow out of this experience.
BEN BLOOD stopped by in the middle of the week to deliver cold popsicles and take these snaps above, what a pal right? Tanx BBlood!
Where the Ep is now: Today we picked the song order and are working on the cover goodness that will be done by our friend Anna Hurley from Hello Lucky. Karli is working on the mixes, and we’re looking at the best form of manufacturing. Our dream is to press this on vinyl with a digital down load, so if anyone has amazing resources to do this or know of some let me know!!!!
That’s all for now!
For the past several trips through Portland we’ve had the pleasant joy of staying at the Canby house. When we last played with Seth Martin it was suggested that we do a house show at the Canby house and thus we started devising! This house is always special to be in, such good and amazing people, its a place of peace. We were introduced to Blue berry/ Basil / Lemonade ….WOW, I’m going to post the recipe soon. SO good for the hot summer.
On the bill was Questionable Soup (not official name yet) who rocked our faces off with gritty melodic blues. D’lish. Then our boy Tony Kevin shared 4 songs that I was harmonizing on from the side throughout. Seth Martin then led us in sing-a-longs and thoughts on his recent peacekeepers trip to Palestine. Wonderful words for a severe time. We closed the evening with our new songs and did something new at the end of “Between Pride & Love”; I just started singing the words to one of my favorite hymns, “Nearer Still Nearer”, and the boys just jumped in. By the end Tric had taken the melody and Bruce and I were harmonizing up a reverent storm. It was Beautiful. At the end of the eve we were asked to do one more song, so we decided a sing-a-long was in order. We hymned it up again and did “It is Well”. Canby & Pals sang it out and my heart was content.
Canby House, you are terrific in so many more words than that. You are warm to our hearts!
We had been anticipating this show for weeks as soon as we had booked it. Jonny and Lizzy Gundersen (who do share the sibling relation to Noah & Abby Gundersen) played their first public set several weeks back as the opening act for Noah and for Joel Smith (WOW, my first time seeing him live, so good). As soon as the show was over Bru was talking to the owners about booking a show with Jonny & Lizzy. During the time between this show and their first, they chose to go by Le Wrens. They have written more tunes and have improved their capabilities tremendously. Watch out, watch close: Le Wrens is bringing lessons learned through heart-piercing words & creative rhythms/melodies that will drop your jaw. Bravo, Le Wrens! So proud!
Our boy Tony Kevin kicked off the evening with terrific music, as usual, and with a voice that convicts you of the sober realities of life. Always good! We boys closed the evening with brand new songs that we’ll be recording with THEE Karli Fairbanks in a couple of days. We debuted “Freeze & Thaw”, “Trust Love Suffer”, “Have I Wounded You Enough”, & “Psalm 91″. It’s stripped down from our regular rock/jazz roots; for example, i only play acoustic guitar and Bruce has picked up his stand-up bass; oh, and Tric is bringing in melodies with the glockenspiel! Our friend Kale jumped in on sax to redefine “Mend Me Gently” and “Freeze & Thaw” in new and beautiful ways. WOW. Kale is a brilliant musician that matches soul & technique seamlessly. Michel Porter (trombone king) & Kale will also be joining the EP! Our dear friends Noah and Abby got up on “When a Man Comes to Death” and musically attributed the anguish of the song. They nail it every time. I’m usually speechless after that song because of their addition. They will be joining the EP recording for that song! This is really going to be a blast!
Over all, I was super nervous debuting 4 new songs live, but it came together quite nice. I also have been learning the ukulele, and it is featured on Psalm 91. It’s really nice working on these acoustic songs that have been stacking up quick, and to be able to put em on record. We’ll keep you posted on the release date of the EP that we have now titled Freeze & Thaw. So excited!
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