Happy Valentines Day!

Here are just a few crafty projects Jane made in preparation for today.

Now we know that this is a hated day for some. And in all honesty Jane likes this day only because its really a pink holiday. Everything out there is pink to celebrate valentines day!

So for those who want some good sad music to hear on this day you can always check out our first album, A Long Road Home. It's sad and lonely and melancholy.

Rabbits Galore

Aaron got me (jane) a little dwarf rabbit for my birthday. So I've been particularly obsessed with googling all about rabbits. Although I've had a rabbit when I was younger, I don't think I did a good job of taking care of him. This time around I'm an adult and in charge - so I have more control over how I care for my little Hershey. 



Call it a mother's instinct, but I just knew that my bunny was a girl. I don't know... I just had a feeling! When I took her to the vet for the first time my vet confirmed that Hershey was a girl! 

I've also discovered something called rabbit massage. Here is a link. http://www.monkeysee.com/play/9703-rabbit-care-how-to-relax-your-rabbit

Well I've been trying it and it has been working. I now massage Hershey every night and she loves it. Just tonight she was on her back and I was rubbing her belly and she was in a trance.  

I also discovered through my rabbit googling that there is such a thing called a Giant German Rabbit. This rabbit is as huge as a dog. It is on my bucket list to own one of these rabbits before I die... when I have a big enough place and enough money to feed a monster of a rabbit. 


Aside from my rabbit obsessions, one of my resolutions (among many) is to start stamping again. I haven't kept up with it last year at all for a variety of reasons. But this new year I rearranged my bedroom so that my stamping supplies are readily available. I have also decided to join a stamping club so that I can learn new techniques and be inspired. 

The ice cream social/Christmas show is over!  Thanks again to everyone who helped out. We couldn't have done it without you - literally (Jeff Bradley, Sachi Maeda, and Jena Swarick).  And thanks to everyone who attended.  It meant so much to us.  It really did. 

We love Fremont Centre Theatre for their open doors for us and just the ambience it helps us create.  We also loved just the supportive people who encourage us in our journey, and hopefully we encourage you in your journey. 

It seems like this Christmas is a difficult Christmas for many folks - both far and close to us. A lot of bad news being heard and just difficult times still economically for folks. It's a reminder to us of what we should really be thankful for and what we should really be striving for. 

Both of us have already celebrated Christmas with families who came and visited us earlier in December. It ushered in the Christmas season earlier and was a lot of fun! 

But before Christmas week rolls in ... we will be playing in Lestat's in San Diego on Friday, DEC 21!  See you guys there @ 8pm!  

As many of you know, our guitar was stolen a couple years ago.  Well, Jane finally decided to buckle down and buy a new guitar. She bought a half baby Taylor a year and a half ago and started making no interest monthly payments on it. We have rehearsed with the guitar but never used it in a show because we didn't get a plug-in for it yet. 

Well, there are now only 3 more payments left until the guitar is paid off! Woohoo! And we got a plug in installed for this little guitar. And then.......... Jane dropped it. Cracking it. 

The utter despair, shame, anger, and just horrible feelings is indescribable.  

Well, fortunately, the crack (although it was substantial) was able to be fixed at a "reasonable" price and we have finally rehearsed with it plugged in.  It sounds good.  

A horrible experience. But Jane has now learned that as annoying as it is, she now has to take two trips from her car to her apartment to carry her guitar, cello, work tote bag, and laundry. Otherwise it is inevitable that things will fall. And break. 

Where has the time flown?  We have seriously neglected our blog ~ but to the suggestion of some friends we would really like to make it our goal to stay updated on our blog.  In a world where the internet is king and everybody blogs and uses Facebook & Twitter, we are seriously old skool! 

To update what has been going on these past few months after our CD release show in June of 2012, has been this... busy with shows! We have been very busy doing a lot of shows in the Fall.  November was busy with a lot of family stuff and traveling.  Aaron traveled to Reno, Jane traveled to South Korea. A new member joined the band... namely a little dwarf rabbit! We named him/her (too young yet to quite tell...it's a bunny thing) Hershey because he is milk chocolatey in color. 

Now we are back in the Los Angeles area trying to prepare for our show! We found a new drummer that we have to rehearse with as our old drummer moved to Texas. We have been working through some new material in anticipation of a potential new album next year. Hopefully we will be able to share one new song with you at our December show.  

Here's the new info for our upcoming show. 

SUN, DEC 16
7:00pm - 9:30pm
Fremont Centre Theatre
1000 Fremont Ave
South Pasadena, CA

Winter Show, featuring Christmas songs and a new song. We will be selling 25 cent ice cream sundaes as well as pastries by Chef Peter Rosado. 
We will be having some fun giveaways as usual and it will be a wonderful show in light of the holidays seasons! 

It's a free show so feel free to bring your friends and spread the word. : )

love,
a&j  

Ever since we were trying to find venues for our CD Release party in June, we had been contacting lots of venues for potential prices and dates and even deals (for we didn't have a lot of money to rent a venue). We admit that one specific place was so mean to us when we mentioned that we wanted to do a show but we wanted to allow everyone to come for free. 

But all things began to work together when we fortuitously came across a couple companies who sponsored our CD Release! With this newfound support, we were able to have our CD Release at the Fremont Centre Theatre.  Lissa Reynolds of the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena was so accommodating of our vision to allow all folks to come for free. She even did all she could to schedule us in on a Saturday evening - which is pretty darn difficult for such a busy theatre! 

Ever since then, our involvement in and love of South Pasadena has grown. We were connected to the Firefly Bistro which welcomed us with open arms. From there we were invited to perform at a House Party - which was AMAZING. There were 4 different bands there that night. People brought food, desserts, wine, drinks and just mingled with each other as they listened to different music, hosted by Brad Colerick of the Firefly. The hosts (Rob & Steve) were just so open and so friendly we had a blast. 

Although in any business and any venture there are business goals to achieve and a living to make, our journey has made us realize that treating people with respect, kindness and a sincere desire to try to help them with their vision is of utmost importance. 

Comic-Con

Aaron was at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Jane had heard of it before, but always thought of it as something for geeks. But since Aaron was going to be there she thought she'd look at the schedule to see what sort of things they offered to such geeks. Little did she know that they offered just the sort of things she'd be quite enamored by. 


Bones (Jane is a huge David Boreanz fan!) was there to do a big panel, JK Rowling (Jane is such a huge Harry Potter fan she has joined Dumbledore's Army - a Los Angeles meetup group for HP fans), My Little Pony (yay!), The Walking Dead (although Aaron doesn't know why Jane watches such scary shows knowing she scares herself with her own shadow) and John C. Reilly's new movie "Wreck-It Ralph". 


Now Jane is seriously considering potentially going to a future comic-con. Dress up? Nah. Unless she decides to dress up as a My Little Pony.

Here is Aaron's favorites playlist/artists.... It's quite long!  
Hopefully it will inspire your own playlist! 

1. Damien Rice

2. The Daylights

3. Joshua Radin

4. Ray Lamontagne

5. Percy Sledge "When a Man Loves a Woman"

6. Swell Season

7. Coldplay

8. Radiohead

9. Brett Dennon

10. Adele

11. Elliot Smith

12. Queen

13. Sufjan Stevens

14. Sara Bareilles

15. The XX

16. The Beatles
17. White Stripes

18. Aaron & Jane (we like to listen to our songs. :)

We get asked a lot what kind of music we listen to.  To be honest, Jane doesn't listen to music unless she's driving. She doesn't check out new bands on YouTube or whatnot. When she's in her apartment she likes to putt around in silence or read or meditate/pray. She's not into white noise too much unless she's scared at night and needs the TV on. Aaron, however, is always finding new musicians and somehow or other finds the coolest music out there!  He is always discovering wonderful new songs and musicians.  How he does it, even Jane doesn't know. 


Here is Jane's playlist - which may not include a lot of new songs, FYI, but this is what she listens to constantly (when she's not putting on country 105.1). Aaron's playlist will be listed next time! 


1. The Weepies "World Spins Madly On"
2. The Format "On Your Porch"
3. Joshua Radin "Paperweight"
4. Glen Hansard "Say It To Me Now"
5. Griffen House "Better Than Love"
6. Priscilla Ahn "Dream"
7. Damien Rice "9 Crimes"
8. Peter Bradley Adams "Los Angeles"
9. Owl City "Fireflies"
10. Griffen House "Only Love Remains"

I guess we're not quite at the point where people are scrambling to win a free giveaway of our music. I think most people don't really care about our music.  Or what we are doing. But that's okay. 


It reminds me of "A Circle of Quiet" where Madeleine L'Engle  had a decade of rejection slips from editors concerning her books. And on her 40th birthday, she got another rejection. She was struggling with feeling like she wasn't pulling her weight in her family income, her family rejoiced when she scrubbed the kitchen floor, and all those hours invested in writing wasn't amounting to anything. She had enough rejection slips to plaster her wall. But on her 40th birthday rejection, she learned that she had to recognize that although every writer wants to be published (just as every musician wants their music to affect their listeners & be purchased), sometimes you have to accept that you do it simply because you must. (Ironically, it was in her 40s that she finally got "A Wrinkle in Time" published and all these publishers asked her why she didn't go with them, and she said it was because they had rejected her! :)


Rejection - boy, has that been the journey for both of us.  


Living a creative life and just having the time of our lives not just doing music - but living life & enjoying the gift of all these wonderful things we are able to do - it's a journey.  It may not be normal. But it has opened us up to meet so many different kinds of people, hear different music, visit different cities, and ultimately to see the variety of people out there. I've never really had a love for a city before (I've always wanted to just get out of a city or felt stifled), but my church talks a lot about loving the city, blessing the city, praying for the city. My love for the city of Los Angeles/Hollywood has been changed and that's another great thing! 


So if you're a fan of our music, we thank you.  If you're just reading our blog because you're stalking me to see how my life has turned out - :)  I wish I could tell you all the funny & wacky stories of my life and what a blast it has been! 

FREE GIVEAWAY!!

Enter our giveaway to win a free digital download of our new CD "color outside the lines"! 


Also, you may enter to win ModCloth's "Quaint By Numbers" set which will only include the deer canvas and all the materials required to complete your project! 


This giveaway will end on June 9th, the 2 winners will be announced by June 10th! 


Spread the word to your FB friends! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some things you didn't know about aaron & jane  :)




1.  aaron is a great cook! he can make something out of anything. jane can't cook a thing to save her life (except the three things she learned at cooking class - go HipCooks!).


2.  aaron won't kill insects that are inside his apt. he will scoop them up and put them outside. he loves all living things.  jane will kill every insect in sight. she thinks they all deserve to die. 


3.  aaron takes risks in life, but not stupid risks.  jane is afraid to take risks in life, but will take stupid risks. she has gone skydiving & hot air ballooning.  (seriously)


4.  aaron was born a blonde and later became a brunette. jane was born with no hair and later became a black haired girl. 


5.  Lastly, aaron & jane both love a lifestyle of creativity and giving. Life is too short to just go to work for the majority of your days - unless your work is what you love!  We are inspired by people in our lives and hope to inspire you too.  Thanks for your support! 

Shout Outs to our Family!

When I, Jane, attended my brother's medical school graduation, the professors/dean/faculty/students all acknowledged how these graduates couldn't have succeeded without the support of their family/spouses/parents/siblings. Although at the time I did not think that I had anything to do with my brother's achievement in graduating from medical school, looking back, I realize that so much of success in life is merely from our family members being present and active in our daily lives - not just when it's convenient and even when it is personally painful and tiresome to them! 

Our CD and our music endeavors have only been possible through the support of our family. It's so easy for artists to obtain all the praise for themselves, but we unashamedly recognize the individuals who have helped us along the way. 

This is our little way of saying thanks! 

Aaron's mom is our #1 fan. She has supported us all the way from day one. She has attended every single one of our shows in Los Angeles, she has stayed up with us at night helping us put together our CD covers/merchandise, she buys us books about the music business, encourages us verbally when we are discouraged, sewn beautiful dresses for me for my show, manns the merchandise table at our show, helps manage the legal rights for our music, and is simply there for us. Every new song, she is the one who hears it first and gives us feedback. 

There is truly no other mother like this that we have ever seen who supports with her whole life on a day-to-day basis. 

Aaron's sister, though out of state, has been such a support to us as well by sponsoring our shows, giving us great managerial advice and tips, showing up at our shows even though she is out of state!  And talking to us daily just keeping us going in our creative adventure. 

Jane's family has also supported us in more practical ways through providing means for aaron to have Illustrator so we may design our own merchandise and designs freely, giving us a backup harddrive for all the designs aaron creates, and helping us mail out our invites/press kits. 

Jared/Kelly/DVI ~  Thanks for introducing us and for allowing us in your shop. Thanks also for your giving & humble spirit, which has made the biggest impression, more than all the sermons you have preached. 

Sachi/Rebecca are our friends who are our #1 fans. You give us verbal encouragement and strength to carry on! 

And even with all the help they give to us, they still insist on purchasing our music and merchandise! They won't accept it for free! 

Thanks for all your support and love... 

Hello Friends & Fans!

Social networking... FB, blogs, tweeting is just so difficult to maintain sometimes. Partly because we both have jobs that don't require us to sit in front of a computer. We are usually out and about all day. And at night, we spend little time in front of a computer screen. And because sometimes there is just so much to say and so much going on how do you choose what to share with the whole world? And yet another reason, is that sometimes the topics of choice that we (mostly jane) would like to write about are of little to no interest to the rest of the world. Things like... what she's been reading about a biography on Hitler. Apparently it's weird that someone is fascinated with Hitler. But did you know that his real last name is not Hitler but Schicklgruber. He later changed it to his step-father's last name Heidler but changed the spelling to be Hitler. Isn't that weird??? Heil Schicklgruber just sounds weird. Is there power in a name? But I digress.

The transition to the new year has begun with a lot of deep, soul thinking about life and purpose! We have many goals for the year for our music, but it's easy to sometimes get swept up with short-term goals so we have really thought and discussed long-term goals and life goals and how our year goals can fit into these long range goals. Living with a big, eternal purpose is important to motivate you and help you keep focused on the right track.

We've both been more focused on health this new year as well.  Getting our teeth checked out (aaron actually enjoys going to the dentist! weird...), getting glasses for nighttime reading for jane, and exercising regularly like swimming and walking. But it's still so hard to say no to carbs.  Just love that pasta!! and white cake with whipped cream... *drool *

Well, as the year progresses into February, we can't believe it's already almost Valentine's Day!! For those of you who feel left out on this "holiday",  just remember, be the best person you can be. Who you are is never dependent upon another individual.

We'll be having some shows booked starting in the Spring.  It will be here before we know it.  : )

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."