the people's republic of sole

man.

alot of things have been coming together in a very natural and great way lately. over the past year i've been putting together an album to accompany this book ravi zupa and i have been working on called "the pyre." its basically an epic poem. the project started when we were working on the video for "stupid things implode on themselves..." ravi had been making these anarcho-mythical images that he wanted me to write a creation myth to. i failed miserably at all my attempts and gave up on the project. this prompted a few years of obsession with the form of epic poem & myth. i went on to read a ton of myths and mythology books over the subsequent years. when i moved to denver, ravi approached me about it again and i felt ready. the result is a 70 page illustrated book with this epic poem about civilization running through it, told in the form of myth. i created an album to go with it, it was supposed to be a spoken word record with some ambient noise (but listenable) but ended up being something entirely different. this should be available for purchase by the end of july.

secondly.... we've got about 5 new songs recorded for the next sole and skyrider record.... since these guys have moved out here we've been working at some new performance styles and skyrider has been cranking out the classic beats. this is the most fun i've had working on music in 10 years, a lot of it has to do with the tremendous label support we are recieving from fake four, but really its just the right time and the right place for me and the band to re-invent our wheel. i imagine we will have an album plus more of material complete by the end of the summer.

thirdly.... on a personal note, its really fun to have a lil thriving garden in your yard.

^ whats with this guy..

why not communicate in youtube videos?

that sounds really dope, i want to have that book and cd!
you must be having a great time doing exactly what you want in life, making a living doing what you love, your passion.
i am jealous! i can't figure this life thing out, i just want to be happy, i don't ask for much...
o well congratulations on all lf your projects...

Let's see some photos of the garden mang.

I'm more excited to hear your new shit after reading this.

Gardens are good for the soul. Everyone should have one.

doing what you love for a living, for a sustained period of time can be very challenging and not always fun. it takes an extreme amount of resilience and self determination and lots of hair pulling. sometimes it involves making a lot of difficult decisions. these days, for a living i tend my back catalogue/website/bookings and for fun i work on new music, which is the best possible place to be in.

But.. it's still something to be admired!

congratulations on bein alive man... its great to be alive innit?

hey Tim what are you growing in the garden? you like berries and whatnot...always love planting those as they come back every year.

my garden has 3 parts... one part is the strawberry patch which isnt officially part of the garden... where i have 5 strawberry plants going...

part 2 is the herb garden, all the basics; lots of mint & basil, rosemary, thyme, savory, oregeno, peppermint, dill, etc.

the final part is the vegetable garden... i have spinach, mache, lettuce, kale, beets, tomatos, cauliflower, cabbage, spring onion, heirloom carrots, zuchini, jalapaneo, some kind of hot pepper, green beans, cucumbers... the spinach already has been eaten, the butter lettuce is overproducing right now and getting eaten. only problem im having is with this wasp/hornet that are thriving in the yard and eating my greens. they have essentially ruined my kale. at least they have good taste. where the spinach was im probably going to plant some summer squash and maybe some more kale so i can have it for fall... fuckin wasps....

lately we have been making lots of sun-tea kind of stuff with fresh mint and peppermint. just throwing peppermint in water is the shit kinda.

wow! that doesnt sound like a tiny garden, you got it all! i can only imagine the fresh meals you guys are enjoying. Ever think about raspberries/blackberries?....that reminds me i love making sun tea in the summer, i gotta try puttin some fresh herbs in the tea...noyce!

since im renting im not going too crazy. i just wanted to try my hand at a successful garden. it is a small garden, although there is a lot in it, there is only one cauliflower, one cabbage, 7 green beans, 6 cucucumber plants, 6 tomato plants, 3 zuchinni etc. i have an updated video but havent uploaded it.

anyway, my dream is to pull up some wild rasberry bushes from the wild and plant them in my yard. they are an awesome invasive species, and there are few things better than drinks flavored with berries and berry pancakes. in rimrock i would go rasberry hunting all summer. it was awesome.

don't know how you've got your sections set up but,
integrating some herbs + flowers in and around your vegetables & fruits is a great way to repel pests.
i've never had to repel wasps, but this sight has tarragon listed as a good flying insect repellent.
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/complant.htm

i have still got raspberry bushes growing all over the place from a single one i pulled from the woods when i was 12.

i just never imagined those hornets would eat my greens. right now im using lighter fluid, match and stick to deal with the hornets.

taragon is a two-fer though. so im fuckin with it.

hornets ate yer plants?
what color are they?