I got this email from one of our friends in Idaho. Her name is Amy Lapp, and fortuitously, it was her camera-phone recording of "Oh Ellen"  that originally caught the attention of The Ellen Show. Amy and her friend Kris won the award for Driving Farthest to Attend the CD Release Show, (Pocatello, ID to Tucson, AZ), and I appreciate not only her enthusiasm about our DVD and live show, but her generally positive outlook on music and friendship. Here's what she had to say after getting the official DVD video document of that incredibly fun night: ---------------------- Cameron, I just wanted to tell you that I just received and watched the new DVD and loved it! I started reminiscing about the roadtrip to Arizona that Kris and I took to see that show. It was a lot of fun, we saw some cool things, enjoyed the warmth and sunshine, and then concluded...

alright, big stage, bugs, crowd singing, green room, ivy, oh no, St. Olaf

Realizing that Ryan and I have been flying under the radar as of late, we thought it was high time we let you know how our recording is going, what the songs are sounding like, and what we think of it. So without further ado: - We began recording in late summer, and we worked on and off up through Christmas. We're roughly 70% of the way finished. (Slow and steady wins the race, right Mr. Tortoise?) - We have completed bass and drums and main guitars for 11 of the 12 songs we're planning to include. - We've sung what are called "scratch" vocals for all of them, in order to find out which harmonies work, where different melodies are needed, etc. - We're currently back home in Tucson rehearsing our acoustic butts off, making sure that we know exactly what we want to sing when we get back to LA to begin...

The Greene Room Recording Studio, 11:30 PM. Ryan's playing the chords for 'Back Into Blue' in the main studio, while I sit in the control room next to Ross, typing. A friend just asked me yesterday, 'You're here. Can you believe it?!' At times I pinch myself (mentally, of course. Why would I really pinch myself? Have you ever pinched yourself? . . . and not like a love-pinch, but like a real 'wake-me-up-when-the-biscuits-are-done' pinch? Hurts.) Anyway, at times I pinch myself and think about how were living out what we dreamed of in high school . . . how we're professionally recording songs we wrote at the edge of our beds and on our friends' couches . . . how even though we've made records before, we've never done ANYTHING like this. But as a balance to that, I also think that this is just the next logical step. I know all...