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Pete Peterson
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Sneak Preview: The New Year
by Pete Peterson 16
If you haven’t yet read Matt Conner’s interview with Eric Peters’, you should; it’ll give you a deeper appreciation of how important this recording is to Eric. Eric puts his heart and soul and, more importantly, his pain into his music, and that’s what makes it such a rich experience for the rest of us. For months now, I’ve been lucky enough to hear snippets of Birds of Relocation coming out of Ben Shive’s studio (The Bee Hive) next door, and I can’t wait for the world to hear it. I think it’s Eric’s best work. Read the interview, get the full context of the song you’re about to hear, and then wait anxiously for March 27th when Birds of Relocation takes flight.
Here’s a first listen to one of the tracks. It’s still an early mix, but it’s already fantastic.
“The New Year”
by Eric Peters
from Birds of Relocation.
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Good Advice from Pixar’s Mark Andrews
by Pete Peterson 06
This is a lecture that Mark Andrews (Pixar’s director of the forthcoming Brave) gave to a group of students at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts). He’s talking chiefly about the art of storyboarding, but I found that most of what he says applies directly to the art of writing as well (or any other artistic medium). The video is in two parts. In the first, he shows his storyboard of his treatment of the Icarus myth. In the second part, he discusses the choices he made and how he went about putting the story together. The quality isn’t the best, but the advice is spot on. Well worth the fifteen minutes if you’re a storyteller.
Truth in the Guise of Illusion
by Pete Peterson 02
[I'm reposting this after seeing Studio Tenn's production of The Miracle Worker last week. It's incredible. Go see it.]
“Yes, I have tricks in my pocket. I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.”
–From The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
I sat in the theater, huddled around the stage with a hundred strangers, and watched as the narrator sauntered out of the darkness and smirked at us. Those words, the first of his opening soliloquy, made me nod and smile and whisper to myself, “I’m going to enjoy this.”
I’m not sure what it is that keeps me from the theater. Every time I go, I’m glad I did. But it seems I usually hear about productions after they’ve come and gone. There’s no marquee next to the mall to remind me of what I’m missing, and there’s no stage version of a Fandango app to feed me show times and reviews. So, too often, plays by local theater companies slip by under my radar until I hear about them from someone else long after the curtain has fallen.
Hutchmoot 2012: Registration is Sold Out!
by Pete Peterson 01
SOLD OUT! (For the record, it took 7 minutes.)
It’s time, folks. There are now 100 spots open for Hutchmoot 2012. Let the games begin! We’re lining up a great weekend, and we’ll see you on September 23.
Hutchmoot 2012: Registration Opens March 1st
by Pete Peterson 23
On September 20-23, the Rabbit Room will convene Hutchmoot 2012 at Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, Tennessee. You’re invited to come and enjoy a weekend of live music, great food and conversation, and a series of discussions centered on art, faith, and the telling of great stories across a range of mediums.
More information is available at the Hutchmoot website.
Registration opens next week! At 7:00pm CST on March 1st, all 100 Hutchmoot tickets will go on sale. We considered a number of different ways to make tickets available, but in the end we feel the best, simplest, and fairest way is to announce the sale date and offer them on a first-come/first-served basis.
Leonard the Lonely Astronaut – Live in Space
by Pete Peterson 16
Note: Two open spots!
Andrew Osenga is winding up his work on Leonard the Lonely Astronaut next week. The good news is that you’re going to have a whole bunch of great music to listen to very soon. The bad news is that it’s time to tear down the spaceship where the album was written and recorded. That’s right, the HTV Reveille is being decommissioned and will probably break apart somewhere over Baja Burrito in Nashville when it re-enters earth’s atmosphere.
But . . .
Before it does, there will be a concert. On Thursday, February 23rd @ 7:00pm we’re going to film Leonard the Lonely Astronaut Live as an upcoming Rabbit Room videocast, and we need twenty-five hardy travelers to attend. Andy will play solo and perform several songs from the album and, yes, he’ll be in full astronaut uniform.
But before you suit up and get in the car, consider this: the spacedock (warehouse) where the ship is kept is not heated, and it might be in the 30′s or 40′s when the show starts. We’ll have some space heaters (punny!) but be prepared to shiver. Bring coats and blankets. After all, it’s cold in space (so cold we could serve revenge! –oblique Kahn reference). Also keep in mind that this is primarily a short video shoot of 5 or 6 songs rather than a full-fledged live show. Full disclosure because we don’t want anyone to drive down from Canada and be disappointed when it’s over in 45 minutes. But if that sounds like a fun way to spend a Thursday evening, come on down!
Space is strictly limited so we can only take the first 25 folks that sign up. Edit: Thanks for signing up, folks. Please let us know if you need to cancel so we can give someone else the opportunity to come.
Lightly Scratched, Mildly Dented
by Pete Peterson 07
The Christmas season left us with a sizable pile of books and CDs that have suffered varying degrees of damage while in transit from place to place. The CDs have cracked or broken jewel cases and the books have minor tears or crumplings or other oddities, but each book is still readable and each CD still playable. I’ve listed all of these castaways in the store (click here) and they can be yours for just $3.99 each.
We’ve also added quite a few new (and completely unbroken) items to the store lately. Here’s a look at some of the new stuff in what amounts to something of a Song of the Day bonanza (not to mention the books and other goodies).
Live at The Rutledge: Eric Peters, Jill Phillips, Andrew Osenga
by Pete Peterson 05
Want to be one of the first to hear new songs from Eric Peters’ upcoming Birds of Relocation? How about a sneak peak at what Leonard the Lonely Astronaut has been writing about in the deeps of interstellar space? Or maybe you just want to hear how awesome Jill Phillips is. If you’re in Nashville Monday night, come out to the Rutledge where there will be a trifecta of great music on display. Not in Nashville? Time for a road trip.
Feb 6th at 7:30 PM
$5.00 Cover
The Rutledge
410 4th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37201-2212
(615) 782-6858
The Harrowing Silence: A Book Recommendation
by Pete Peterson 02
The car in front of me swerved, and a bundle of long limbs flew up over its hood, tumbled across the roof, and slid down onto the hot August pavement. The car slowed briefly then sped away, leaving behind it a dying animal kicking and groaning in the dark.
I parked my truck on the shoulder and got out. It was a seldom-trafficked road. No cars. It would have been quiet except for the drama in the southbound lane. The fawn’s legs wouldn’t work. It flopped and rolled, mewling eerily as it tried to right itself like a broken wind-up toy.
When I knelt down beside it, its eye rolled toward me and stared. It stopped kicking and lay still, panting, blowing breath out of its mouth in sharp, hoarse heaves. I picked it up by the ankles, two in each hand, and carried it into the grass beside the road. What now? I thought.
Song (and Tour) of the Day: Eric Peters
by Pete Peterson 31
Eric Peters, the inimitable old man of the Square Peg Alliance, could be coming soon to a living room near you where he will almost certainly play some of the new songs I’ve heard him and Ben Shive recording in the next room. To coerce Eric into playing in your town (or home) the basic details are below. Check out his website for full details including an update on the recording of Birds of Relocation.
Here’s one of the songs you can make him play for you.
“The Storm”
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Want to book a house concert? Here’s the scoop:
- $150 (50% deposit due upon booking -> helps book travel).
- Hotel room (for privacy) is much preferred, but not a deal-breaker.
- A meal (preferably not cold gruel).
- Eric will play his songs in your living room for you, your friends and neighbors.
Featured
Facing the Truth
I went to the doctor yesterday for the first time in years. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been sick; it means I’m the kind of stubborn fool who doesn’t like to take an ibuprofen for a headache, the kind of crank who would rather walk around squinting and snappy than to take the blasted aspirin. I just don’t like medicine. I prefer sweating it out, however inconvenient that is for the people around me. So after ten days of coughing and sniffling and whining I finally decided it must be a sinus infection. I have a show in a few days, and I can’t afford to be sick. So I bravely did what any man in my shoes would do: I asked my wife what to do. She told me which doctor to visit and I drove to the offices with a steely resolve. The nurse behind the sliding glass window handed me the clipboard with the dreaded New Patient Paperwork, and then the thing happened that made me want to write this.
The questions began. “Do you have any allergies?” “Do you drink caffeine?” “Do you use tobacco?” “If so, how often?” “Do you exercise regularly?” “Is there a history of heart disease in your family?” “Have you had any surgeries?
Rabbit Room Radio
You can now listen to Rabbit Room artists and podcasts every waking hour of your day—assuming you have a good internet connection. Rabbit Room Radio is available through the player below, through iTunes (look in the “Religious” category), or through any internet radio player. Sunday morning programming coming soon, as well as Saturday morning kids’ music. Let us know what you think.
