We like exploring LA county to find great places either to perform or as potential photo shoot opportunities.  Here are a couple pictures we took from places you wouldn't expect to find in Los Angeles.  Really rustic and vintage! 

Happy Autumn!

We are busy recording our second album - an EP.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, an EP has only 5 songs where a full album has 10 songs.  We are really excited about this new EP because it is going to contain some of our favorite songs that we love to play.

We are going to be releasing it in the spring of 2012 so keep checking up on us.

Cheers!

And since I know most people like to view photos rather than read words, here is a completely unrelated photo of a lovely dachshund that jane loves.

it has been a year since our self produced album came out on itunes. we can't believe it has already been a year! thank you so much for those who have supported us this year by coming out to our shows, buying our music, and wearing our merch. we are planning winter things and hope to have some new things for you!

we have been on a health kick since a hospital scare last week. it's hard to believe that we actually have to be healthy now. especially jane. man, she is the worst. eating mcdonalds, chocolate, yogurtland, and cakes all the time. and she doesnt even like frozen yogurt that much- it was the hello kitty branding that hooked her in. well, now we both have really been on a 180 turn. fish, salad, fruit, water! eck.

jane has also become a true david boreanz fan. "bones" is her favorite show and now she has borrowed "buffy the vampire slayer" seasons 1 and 2 from the library. she is hooked. but it may be the demise of the band aaron & jane because aaron will not tolerate associating with any person who chooses willingly to watch "buffy the vampire slayer". this is why jane hides her buffy rentals whenever aaron comes over and remembers to steer clear of any conversations that revolve around vampires, buffy, and twilight.

Here is a sneak peek at our give-a-away for our hotel cafe show!  

Although this photo is a bit blurry, this is a picture of jane's latest creation - not for sale (yet) but if people like it, she can try to create a similar one (with less pink of course! :) for sale.  It is a jumbo paper clip.

Much of aaron's artistic designs are seen through our facebook page or our merchandise.  paper crafts is more jane's area of expertise. our styles are similar as you can see, with a large focus on birds and foliage.  

Interview with NWCZ radio in Seattle.

I wish we were better about posting photos along with our blogs, but that will have to be improved hopefully in the fall!

We have an interview with Greg Roth from Seattle Music Insider that will be on tonight, Thursday at 6pm. go to http://nwczradio.com/   Here is more about the Northwest Independent Music Site  http://seattlemusicinsider.com/

We really enjoyed meeting Greg when we were up in Seattle a month ago and it was a lot of fun to do the interview.  Hopefully you can listen in!

Our hotel cafe debut is coming up in a few weeks and we are so excited.  We have postcards available and have it designed by forest schroeder, a buddy we met along our tour this summer.  During our road trip we took a rest stop at this small town in Oregon and happened upon this really cool looking old skool bowling alley.  Forest was there and as we were the only customers, he took us back to show us how a bowling alley works.  He also showed us some of his artwork which were amazing.

It's so cool how no matter where you are at, no matter how small the town, there is always talent everywhere and expressions of art in every nook and cranny of the world!

We asked him later, if he would like to design something for our hotel cafe show.  The postcard is a result of his beautiful pencil drawings.



Aaron really likes to watch SouthPark. Anyways, there is one South Park episode called "Man Bear Pig" that Aaron made Jane watch. It is basically about a creature named Man Bear Pig (and Al Gore). In the episode, it is described as half man, half bear, half pig.  Here, Jane interjects, "Oh, that is incorrect.  Man Bear Pig can't be half man, half bear, half pig because it is a creature that has three parts.  So it should be called a third man, a third bear, a third pig." Needless to say, after that comment Aaron ignored Jane for the rest of the day.  And unsurprisingly, Jane's favorite TV show is "Bones."

While driving on the 110 freeway... 

J - What is up with all this traffic!

A - Oh, I see some sirens ahead.  It's an accident. 

J - Look at all these rubberneckers.  Sheesh.  I can't believe how people cause traffic b... OMIGOODNESS!! LOOK AT THAT CAR!!! 

A - *shakes his head*

A - I made some delicious steaks. 

J - Oh yum.  I can't wait! They smell sooo good! Where's the rice?

A - RICE!? What do you mean rice? I told you we're eating steaks! 

Coming from an Asian background,  rice really is like water... it must come with every meal. It took some getting used to in terms of eating food together.  

A - I'm going to get some tacos.  You want some? 

J - Naw. it's cool. 

(later aaron is eating tacos)

J - hmmmm.... that looks really good.......*mouth waters*

A - I asked you if you wanted some and you said no. 

J - I know... (sadly)

A - Here, you can have my tacos.  (sadly)

TWO MONTHS LATER

A - I'm going to get some tacos.  You want some?

J - Naw.  it's cool. 

(later aaron is eating tacos)

J - mmmm.... that looks really good.... *mouth waters*

A - I asked you if you wanted some and you said no. 

J - I know... (sadly)

A - I knew you'd want some because this happens all the time.  So I bought you 4 tacos. 

J - Thanks Aaron! gobble gobble gobble

Happy 4th of July!

Our West Coast tour is officially over today!  We finished our tour with an interview with SMI (Seattle Music Insider) which will be featured in a couple weeks on their radio.
What a GREAT tour experience we had in terms of performances.  The people we met along the way were so friendly.

Some highlights:

~  The Northwest is very accommodating of musicians... we were treated very well by each venue, with either free drinks or a cut of the door (no matter what) or a small fee for performing.
~  In Portland we met a group of people who treated us to drinks after our show because they just loved our music.  Thanks!!
~ Walking the streets of Seattle and visiting the cute boutiques that supported local sellers as well as the local coffeeshops.
~  Our house party, hosted by Greg, was so much fun.  Our candy bar was a success, the home was a beautiful home with a lovely view, and we were even allowed to stay the night by the host.  Thanks Greg & Levi!
~ Seeing the wild life along the way - deer, fox, bald eagles, etc. !
~  Staying healthy and sick free during the whole trip.

After a delicious BBQ to come which aaron is grilling right now, we will get some rest and start the trek home to LA tomorrow morning.  We miss LA!

Anthropologie has the cutest stuff, including their store design.  This is a car made out of cardboard we saw at the Grove a month ago. You can actually sit inside (if you were a child or a very small adult). If we didn't have a moral compass we would have stolen it. 

Some of you might be wondering how our tour funding has worked out.  Well, we didn't make our kickstarter project.  At first we were disappointed at the lack of responses and support. But we understood that unless you have already heard of it, it is a little confusing.  It's hard for musicians and artists to fund their careers.  It's kinda like we need a boost in order to get started (like any business that asks a bank for a loan).  Plus, for many of us our parents have invested so much money in our upbringing to become the artists we are today.  When does that investment start kicking in and showing results?  There's no real answer.  But despite not meeting our kickstarter goal for some reason we weren't worried.  We just knew we would make it.  And lo and behold, a few people (outside of kickstarter) donated large sums to us so we actually exceeded our kickstarter goal!  Amazing.... 

Our tour starts in a few days! We are excited... we will post our exact dates soon.  

We also noticed our links on our website don't work for some reason.  We will try to get that fixed and running very soon! 

Our trip out to Atlanta, GA was a great success!  We were able to perform on Atlanta LIVE and it was a lot of fun.  We hope many viewers enjoyed our songs! We were hosted by a friend who was just so awesome in showing us around the day we left.  Here are some photos of the Cabbage Patch Kid Hospital.  YES, you read correct ... there is a Baby Hospital where all the CPKs are born.  Xavier, the creator of CPKs opened up this hospital.  It is definitely a once in a lifetime thing to see if you are in the area and have grown up with CPKs (like jane - her CPK was named Melanie) or you have small children.

They have limited edition collections and some of them are truly beautifully made.  The hospital is hilarious (to adults).  They have incubators for little cabbage heads, the mother tree births a CPK which we witnessed, and the whole setup is like a hospital!

We hope to post some photos from the filming.  We weren't able to take any photos but a friend who came out took some on her phone and when we get it we will post it.

Now we will be busy preparing for our June adventures!  Our tour coming up and our house party.  Lots to get organized!

If you are from the South Bay, please come out to our house party on June 18th. It is to help raise funds for our tour coming up and we will be playing some cover songs as well.

Santa Barbara Zoo

This aggressive bird stole a couple burgers from humans! We caught this one on tape. 

At Lestat's in San Diego, we met a great singer-songwriter Jarrod Dickenson.  We had a great time playing alongside him and visited him at his show at Room 5 - which coincidentally we will be playing at this Sunday!  http://www.jarroddickenson.com/fr_home.cfm  Check out his webpage and music.  Beautiful. Haunting!

Every few months, I (jane), get discouraged with music.  Both in teaching and in our music.  It's like an expected cycle - I will sigh and mope every 3 months. Last week was one of those weeks for me ... feeling like I don't impact my students enough or teach them well enough ... wondering why nobody is pledging for us on kickstarter ....

I was able to meet up with my good friend for our monthly coffee and although we didn't talk about my music ventures very much, talk that focused on the bigger picture of the purpose of life and relationships helped recenter me and my thoughts about my music. Sometimes it's so easy to get bogged down by the details of our lives and our emotions, that even a conversation about the right topic will help reorient everything back into place.


I've also begun to take notice that aaron & i happen to always see wild rabbits around.  We saw one during our time in San Diego for Lestat's.  And we also saw one on Monday at a park nearby Glendale.  I love rabbits. To view. Not to eat.

Please continue to tell people about us & our website & kickstarter.  We promise to have an updated section about exactly how to do kickstarter.  : )  

Festival of Books

I went to the Festival of Books on Saturday and it was hot but super fun.   I heard Danica McKellar (aka Winnie Cooper) speak about her Algebra books.  I didn't even know she wrote math books.  It made me actually want to buy one and become better at math!  The photo below is also from the Jane Austen booth.  Yipee.  I bought a couple books from this booth and am enjoying them already.  Sunday Demetri Martin was speaking and signing his new book, but unfortunately we couldn't make it.  Otherwise that would've been fun!  As a Bruin, I have to say that I do have a fondness towards USC.  The Festival was successful and I look forward to next year's!

Kickstarter

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/565621632/aaron-and-jane-west-coast-music-tour


We have created a kickstarter pledge goal for our SUMMER west coast tour coming up.  Now, that's a lot of money you say...  well.  To be honest, +50% of the funds will go to gas.  Darn the oil.  100% of our pledges will go to the tour - not to Starbucks indulgences as our video implies (it was put in there for fun heehee) nor to a new guitar or anything like that.

I am a strict budgeter and will have envelopes for each day for FOOD, GAS, LODGING.  Anything extra will merely go into mailing your wonderful rewards to you and possibly extra gifts for you pledgers.  Who doesn't like to receive an extra surprise???

It's sometimes hard to be a musician because you are employed by people who like you.  : )  Even as a music teacher, I am employed by people who like me.  Nobody wants to be taught by a teacher they don't like if you can help it.

Anyhoo, so we are asking for your help - if you like us - which we assume you are if you are reading our blog.  Or you hate us because we somehow did something to break your heart and so you like to stalk us.
Please forgive us.  And pledge.  :)

I love sushi.

It's midnight on Easter day and aaron & I are both on separate computers while we watch "Twister" and snack on salami.  Yumm, love salami.

Look at this awesome cello mold on etsy (link below image).  It's so hard to find cello things so I get really excited when I find something cool.

cello mold