Kory Quinn,The American Music Preservation Project and a New Hair cut.

Yesterday I talked with Kory Quinn from the Portland Field Recording Project.
 

Portland Field Recording...Have music will travel.



He is a real awesome guy. Last year they cut over 100 records in the Portland area. They run off the same concept as we do. They record people for free because they like doing it and they think it is important to archive what is happening here locally. It might take 20 or 30 years for people to understand that what we are doing is important, but I rest assured the cream always rises and time has a way of sorting everything out.

 It isn't any secret that the music Portland turns out is amazing and cutting edge. I asked him if we could get together so I could pick his brain for ideas.

Portland Mobile Recording Fundraiser (Correct me if
I'm wrong Kory).

 Let me tell you guys, Kory is on the top of his game....a modern day Renaissance man. Musician, song writer, studio engineer, and soccer coach. How can you get any cooler right?

Anyways he is going to get together a group of the best of the best singer songwriters in the Portland area that he knows and we are going to head up there for the first part of our tour. (early July it looks like.)  He wants to line up a group of musicians and spend a day or two tracking every one's 'important' tracks. You know...hanging out and having a good time cutting records as opposed to the sterile stressful environment of a standard recording studio.

Here is their blog...check it out.
http://portlandfieldrecordings.blogspot.com/ 
 

John Browne Jr. With his axe.


In addition we are hooking up with John Browne Jr. and his crew. John and his group of friends are famous. If you don't know who they are rent the movie 'Red Dog Hotel'. Its rad. We are hoping to line up around the same time in the same area, this looks like it is going to be an amazing kick off to the AMPPf trip. John Browne Jr. is from the early San Fransisco Scene. He is attempting to get together some of the cats that eventually made what came to be know as the San Fransisco sound of the sixties. He is an amazing guitar player and I have had the joy of recording him once already. It was a solo session, but this session should be a group of a few close friends of his who were also active in the early S.F. scene (see also the grateful dead, The warlocks, the Jug band, The Carleton's) Not to mention we get to head out east from Portland instead of the dreadful south on I-5 trip that I have made 50 times. Been there done that. No thanks. Maybe on the way back.

Thank you Kory for helping us. Your local intelligence on what is happening and who's who in the Portland Metro area is priceless. Kory is one of the guys who knows what is happening in the scene. He has his finger on the pulse of the truthful music.

 On a totally unrelated note:

Ladies and Gentlemen I have done it.

I have sold out :)

I have cut my hair. No longer am I rocking the long hair and beard that my hairstylist affectionately referrers  to as the Jesus look. In the past it was the monetary restrains of having to play 25 bucks every two weeks for a haircut, but those days have long since disappeared. I must admit that in the past there were several things that ranked higher on my list of importance than hair cuts and shaving (like replacing the air in my tires, or putting a friend of mine into lower stratosphere orbit), but this new position I have found myself in as the head of a Non-Profit requires a certain rearrangement to this list.

Check out the new and improved Joshua 'Lomax' Smith....brought to you in Technicolor. Do hate me because I look more like a cop than I did before. Trust me....I am still sympathetic to the cause.

Fight the Power.

THE AMP Project

http://AmericanMusicPreservation.org/

Joshua Lomax Smith.

An Apology, Living in the Woods, The Lonestar State, and Garlic



View out my front window...I told you I lived in the mountains.



So I would like to formally apologize for not writing over the last few days. Two of the AMPP crew are in places where they don't get Internet and so that leaves me to do the Blogging but I haven't been slacking. Living in the woods makes the Internet a bit unreliable, but with this new set up I think I have all of the kinks worked out.

We, as I stated earlier, are in the process of finding a Van to pull our beautiful trailer (Big Jodi [on a side note...I am really sorry to anyone out there that is named Jodi. I didn't put enough thought into the name, in fact I put no thought into as you can see in the video, but it stuck and now everyone refers to it as not the AMPP trailer, but Big Jodi]). The vans come in all shapes and colors so I can't paint our little trailer until we buy one and know what our exterior color scheme is. I don't want to have the colors arguing....how embarrassing:) I and going to paint the logo on the side of the trailer. I will film it so you will be able to watch it in time lapse. I can't wait for that segment, but once again we can't do that until we get a van.



This is the tree in my front yard. Pretty amazing tree.
Do you see the trailer to the left? Jodi looks so small.

 We, both Scott and I, have been searching far and wide through the states of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington for a Conversion van....but to no avail. Every time I talk to the people on the phone they are like, "Oh yeah...shes a real beaut! She runs like a champ!". Then I tell them that 'she' has to pull a loaded down 23 foot trailer through the deep south in the dead of Summer for 10,000 miles without blowing up...and that we are a non-profit...and they all tell me to find another one. At least when they hear the words non-profit they develop a conscious. It saves me a drive to Portland and it saves us from losing a transmission in Waco, TX.



She said we should keep to the south eastern
portion of the state. I knew Austin had a cool
scene but I didn't think they really needed us
since they are filled with studios and people who are really gifted in the art of audio engineering, not to mention it is a big city and that is something we are trying to avoid. She said however the area around the hill country of the southeast is where the hidden talent is. It only makes sense being that it is so close tot he point of origin....the delta. Regardless it is worth the detour. Thank you for the tip Jessica.   

 In a totally un-related subject yesterday I found a connection in Texas. She is a music buff, well traveled and informed on what is happening. You know...the ear to the pavement type. She gave me a map of Texas that has everyplace we need to visit and what kind of music to expect. She said south east Texas...in the hill country. Our first Texas lead. Score!




 The Deck Garden of 2010-2011



Check out my deck garden. 5 different types. The Hard Collaris killing it so far, but will still have time before we harvest.



Oh yeah and my garlic that I planted before winter is looking great. It will be ready right before we leave and I'll bring you some if you drop me a line. Hopefully AMPP will be able to grow all of its own spices    before we leave...why? Because we can't afford organic unless we do it ourselfs. Luckily we have been growing for a while in preparation for this trip.

We will be Stone souping our way across America.

Go AMPP! 

We are coming in on 60 days before we leave.

Its all starting to take shape.

Purpose and goal makes everyday the greatest day of your life. 

Its 6:00 in the morning and this is already the best day of mine.

I went down to the river behind my house and the fog looked like smoke on the water....(there wasn't any fire in the sky:).

God bless southern Oregon. (My old IPhone doesn't do it justice...really I wish you could stand next to me right now and see what I am seeing. The birds and the green. [Spring is my favorite. Its like a Friday night when you were in grade school. You know you still have days and days of awesomeness before you have to go back to school]) .

I wonder if we'll find any place as pretty as where I am right now. I'm surrounded by fields and mountains and rivers and family. I don't know, but its gonna have to be someplace pretty amazing. My father says the blue ridge mountains of Kentucky are really pretty in the fall. We have Douglas fir, which doesn't change, they have maple. The hills are on fire with red.


Joshua Lomax Smith