Mute with Stupefaction

I've realized today that 2009 was a busy, crazy year. Here's a brief run down.

-In January, I spent some time working on and researching for a paper on Melville's ecological perception in Moby-Dick. I found some interesting things.

-Right after that, Decora worked on a record called Hibernator. I played bass - you can hear it here. I also made a number of other recordings in 2009. I released the Pacific Radio Fire EP in August - you can hear that here. I also helped record Morgan Heringer's really beautiful album of ukulele songs about the summer, which was just released this past weekend. You can hear some of these songs on her myspace. I played bass on one track of the latest Sewing Machines release, which you can hear here. I also designed the album art. More recently, I've recorded with both my band Duchampion and a band which used to be called Joe Jones but is now called Cool Trucks (more on that in 2010!). I participated in a bunch of other recording projects - some of them will be posted here.

-While in school in the spring, I continued to play music with Decora and Sewing Machines. I went on tour with Sewing Machines in both the spring and the summer - we played a bunch of shows in a bunch of different states, including New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois, California, Oregon, and Utah. And, sort of, Colorado. We were even on TV!

-I hosted the third season of RADIO_IN_FURS on WESU. In the spring, I was elected to the board of directors of the station. I'm currently the Vice President (official note taker). In the fall, I began a new show called Wild Wild Live. The show has its own blog. 2009 was good to that program, too.

-I acted in both a rock opera composed by Sam Ottinger called Black Friday (I played an alcoholic security guard) and a film directed by Scott Varnado called the Free State of Jones (I played a Southern defector during the Civil War). Might be seeing some stuff from either of those soon. I also more recently acted in a post-apocalyptic Western directed by Henry Kaplan and Dylan Wilde's class project in which I furiously make love to a Volvo.

-I've somehow managed to start FOUR bands in the fall of 2009. Duchampion, my bread and butter, has been featured here extensively. I have to say, I am very proud of this band's work. We've played a bunch of shows and opened for both Megafaun and Kurt Vile. Lots more to come in 2010. I also play guitar and sing in Cous Cous, who has just recently started performing. I ALSO play drums in the powerkraut duo Sweaty Boys and the punk duo Scroats. Sweaty Boys won a battle of the bands (as of yet, we still have not collected our cash prize) and Scroats played a show with White Mice and An Albatross. Weird.

-I wrote a string quartet.

-Adam LaMotte and I made a music video.

Of course, I also took classes and had lots of interactions with lots of great and maybe not great people. And I bet a lot of those people had crazy years, too. Once you start saying the things you did in a year outloud or writing them down, you begin to realize a lot.