Last weekend I had the grand opportunity to see a band called, Night Night at Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo UT. Night Night is an indie super group of sorts consisting of, McKay Stevens (co-owner of North Platte Records, singer/emcee for, The Vibrant Sound,) Scott Shepard (formerly of, The New Nervous, currently fronting his brain-child, Book On Tapeworm,) and, Nate Pyfer (founder/front-man of, Code Hero, former keyboard player for, Joshua James.)

Scott Shepard’s voice sounds a bit like what I imagine God’s voice sounds like. It’s smooth and light and it resonates in the ear creating a soothing echo that will stick with you all night. That incendiary voice combines with melodic guitars both acoustic & electric, futuristic robot sounds from the keyboard, and rides on a belt of unique electronic beats giving the music a subtle power that can simultaneously calm and excite. 

While the music is incredible to say the least, it is the lyrical efforts of, Stevens & Shepard that truly make their songs memorable. For example, in the song, Virginia Is For Lovers, the tale is told of lovers separated by a move to Washington DC as the man in the story laments the founding of the nation “Damn Abraham & George Washington who founded this whole country on Washington DC, and so to some degree they have taken you from me… So I will write this bill of rights and an amendment I will make, to amend all our mistakes until all this tension breaks.”

Topics in their songs range from religion to science to love, and cover much of the wide spectrum of human emotion and longing.  I highly recommend catching them the next time they play your town. And keep your eyes peeled for their debut album coming soon.

Ok ladies and gentleman, but mostly ladies, here she is, my new whip… I’d like to introduced you to, Audrey.

I’m way stoked. She runs great and I got her for a song. Hit me up, and let’s go for a drive!

I don’t know if I’ll always be able to come up with bear related titles for these blogs but I’m pretty proud of this one.

This morning I was chatting with a friend about the prospects of the year and one thought about music lead to another thought about philosophy and so on and so forth until a theory hit my brain like bowling ball to the skull.

The Mayan calendar is a complex calander predicting many important events throughout what would become earth’s history. It ends at the year 2012.

Many people interpret this to mean that the world will end at 2012.

The Mayans were the most advanced people in history. They are said to have even created microchip-like technology for storing information. Our modern scientists have been unable to decipher their codes and unlock the secrets hidden in their crystal skulls.

My new theory is that the Mayan calendar ends at 2012 because 2012 marks the time when they’ll finally be outdone.

2012 doesn’t mark the end of the world. It marks the beginning of a new Renaissance of art technology and ideas.

My friend sent me some lyrics this morning. In those lyrics was the phrase everything past is prologue. I think he’s onto something.

I recently moved from, Southern California to, Utah. Some would ask(in fact many have) Why would you do that? The answer that I give most people is, “It just feels right.” The reason for this answer is that it’s the only answer I have.

I will say this, while my life here thus far isn’t as “fun” I have had the opportunity to spend some good quality time with my sister and her little family (my 3 year old nephew is the funnest kid ever.)

I have reconnected with old friends and made a few new ones.

I’ve been to a few great local shows.

I have a good job that is allowing me to save money.

I came three weeks ago with no car and have been using the public transit system which is adequate for getting to work, but doesn’t really work out so well on the social end of things, but I’ve already got an opportunity and the funds to buy a nice used car(something that would have been nearly impossible for me while I was in California.)

I’ve teamed up with a friend to create an awesome music project(more to come about that.)

I’ve lined up some great opportunities to build my photo portfolio for commercial work.

And I’ve met a few nice girls, who knows maybe I’ll actually go on some dates while I’m here.

In any event, while there are some frustrating aspects of living here and being away from the home I love, it feels so good to have independence and security at the same time, I’ve always had to sacrifice one for the other.

So friends and family of California, thanks for your support, I’m doing well, I miss you terribly but this won’t be forever.

And friends and family of Utah, thanks for welcoming me with open arms, I’m excited for the adventures we’ll have together. 

More to follow-

DonTheBear

bear

[bair] 

noun, plural bears, ( especially collectively ) bear: 

1. A chubby homosexual with a lot of body hair.

2. transport trucker slang for police officers.

3. A Godless killing machine.

 Don The Bear is none of the above varieties of bear. In fact he is a kind, intelligent, artistic, masculine, heterosexual(despite common rumor) man who happens to resemble everyone’s favorite woodland creature- Anonymous wikipedia contributor 

So I recently bought a silly bear hat. Shortly thereafter I began a photo project where I photograph people wearing the hat and doing whatever they would do at that moment if they were a bear. In all honesty I’m just trying to justify the purchase. At any rate here are a few of the photos. 

Getting into Mischief 

Going Number Two

Hibernating 

Coming Out of The Closet