scrappo goes back to hollywood

new blog!

2011-05-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

hi we got a new blog for a new place and a new era of spider+octopus... if you care to follow:

scrappo goes to montana

goodbye island (my sweetness and my love)

2011-03-12T15:45:00.001-08:00

new album coming up in may! post up here from time to time

New Luck EP out now... Free Download from House Pride Records

2010-08-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

1 New Luck Hour
2 Shiny Silver Sharks Tooth
3 Letter on the Underwood 5
4 Bridges of Alabama
5 Shadow and Bicycle
6 Coast Down

Download @ House Pride Records
Spider + Octopus Bandcamp

Spider Octopus

2010-08-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

10 days through the southeast

2010-08-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

we hit pensacola around 10p on a tuesday night, after a dissappointing no-show in Tallahassee. after this everything became blurry, i know at some point satan offered me whiskey and i drank with old friends until the next morning showed its face... we played a great homecoming show in pensacola and mobile. we also managed to take two pictures during our stay in pensacola, one before the pensacola show, and one after the mobile show:

super awesome person: miss bpositive

C. Allen Stokes, ESQ

gainesville, orlando, much heat...

2010-08-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

civic media center gainesville... wonderful infoshop, super awesome people

tommy, striking a kerouac pose

ethos vegan restaurant orlando: the best french toast and banana nut pancakes!

renee arozqueta!

knoxville, atlanta, jacksonville

2010-07-31T12:07:00.001-07:00

samatha harlow: time warp tea room knoxville

back alley at the eyedrum atlanta georgia

sound check in jacksonville

-ist i and ii: NEW ALBUM done! warm up tour

2010-07-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

New album is finished, come to shows on tour for a copy or await release information coming soon. -IST on cassette, cd and vinyl... 22 songs of icy mountains and sunny paths through forests.

July 28th Knoxville @ Time Warp Tea Room

July 29th Atlanta @ The EyeDrum

July 30th Jacksonville @ Infintesmal Show!!

July 31st Gainesville @ CMC

August 1st Orlando @ Ethos Vegan Kitchen

August 3nd Tallahasse @ FarSide

August 4th Pensacola @ End of the Line Cafe

August 6th Mobile @ the Blind Mule

August 7th Chattanooga @ JJ's Bohemia

-IST album blog

big rig, and august tour dates confirmed (mostly)

2010-06-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

big rig records is a digital label distributor out of australia, who offered to do digital distro for all of my previous projects as well as spider + octopus records!

Big Rig Records: website ther<===

renee also confirmed most of the dates for our august tour of the gulf coast area, where we will assess the damage ourselves and report back the bad news and continue to scream at fox news when we accidently turn on a television or walk past one.

July 29th Eyedrum, Atlanta Ga
July 30th Infintesmal Event, Jacksonville Fl
July 31st TBA Gainesville Fl
August 1st Ethos, Orlando Fl
August 3rd Farside, Tallahassee Fl
August 4th Pensacola TBA
August 5th Blind Mule, Mobile Al (Renee solo show)
August 6th Murfreesboro TBA (Renee solo show)
August 7th JJ Bohemia, Chattanooga TN (Renee solo show)

Fall Tour 2010!

2010-05-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

We got an itinerary. thats a start! one confirmed show in Huntsville alabama. Spider + Octopus Deluxe!!!!

August 28 Knoxville
August 29 Johnson City
August 30 Richmond
August 31 Phileadelphia
September 1 New York
September 2 Boston
September 3 Maine (biddeford?)
September 4 Maine (lewiston?)
September 5 Burlington VT
September 6 Vermont
September 7 Uttica
September 8 Cleveland
September 9 Ann Arbor MI
September 10 South Haven MI
September 11 Chicago
September 12 Minneapolis
September 13 Ames
September 14 Omaha
September 15 Lawrence
September 16 St Louis
September 17 Huntsville AL (Flying Monkey)
September 18 Knoxville TN

house pride records

2010-05-17T15:53:00.001-07:00

nick from murfreesboro runs house pride records. renee and i stayed at nicks house quite a few times as we toured in 2009 throughout the southeast. we even played a show there once before the show stopped going on.

nick has now started a record label and asked renee and i to contribute, here are a few tracks from an upcoming spider + octopus house pride release called "- ist":

slowcoustic review!

2010-05-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

a surprising review of some of our lower-est fi recordings on virb showed up on slowcoustic this weekend. i got an email ALERT from google, and i found a great review.

Spider + Octopus on slowcoustic

slow coustic is a neat blog written by a guy out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. check out the blog say something nice to someone there...

la arana reviews

2010-04-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Mug Puerh review

we got reviewed! and in the top 20! for! 2009!

Music and Stuff

out of Austin? !

mostly electrical charges

2010-04-06T19:19:00.001-07:00

we are after all:
light
some water
electrical impulses
and messy wires.

sterling gap

2010-04-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

go figure

2010-04-02T19:35:00.001-07:00

here's a link to a show we played in january in knoxville at the preservation pub. never thought i would see it...

pres pub 1.30.2010

renee's new album!

2010-03-27T16:16:00.001-07:00

we started recording renee's new album!

new albums, new tour 2010

2010-03-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

a couple of new albums are coming soon, mixing and mastering are the last obstacles. Renee and I are planning a fall tour as well in the northeast, midwest and some southeast.

come a little dog

2010-03-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

dogs are for sweaters

finley cane

2010-03-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

picture of a creek crossing #49

2010-03-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

trapped!
still under the impression
or at least
electric impulses
fire off.

2010-03-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

your
green shirt
is not white
like
the rest of the
bed sheets

my nose against
your neck
and resting
arm
folded in the
comforter
smells rest

march

2010-03-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Somewhere Caesar is wincing. Snow is still falling in Knoxville, and the South Knox indoor pool is overrun with screaming children off on snow days. Soon the cruel April flowers will draw me out of the house.

Last month, February I wrote a new album, part of FAWM's song writing challenge. Feel free to download the album here. Its a lo-fi album, an aesthetic I love. However this album is not mastered so volume shifts between songs should be expected. 14 new songs, some will be recorded again for upcoming studio albums. Others will be played on tour, and others saved in a drawer discovered again later.

**** the album is being mastered for spring release now on zombies and lizards, and possible another label****

2010-02-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

Little River along Cucumber Gap

Cucumber Gap Trail in a new February Snow

Abrams Falls, Cades Cove

Dusk in Ijams Nature Center

Cades Coves from the Abrams Falls trailhead

its nearly the end of February, i got a headache thinking about what is next. don't know. a couple of new albums are written, one is nearly recorded and another laying wait.

it started snowing again this morning in south knoxville. i'm acclimated to the cold weather here now. a few months ago, i would wear three, four layers to go outside and still feel coldness. now i wear a single layer in the 30's and it's okay.

big creek: smoky mtns nat'l park

2010-02-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

Albright Grove Loop Smoky Mtns

2010-02-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

double

2010-02-11T18:32:00.000-08:00

i saw you following me
through the field strewn with red & gold leaves
to the base of that frozen mountain
in the corner of my eyes
at every switchback

i wouldn't say it then but i was scared
the blood rushing to my brain told me to run
every version i've known of myself returned
with blurred vision

i saw you following me
through the dark hallway
when i was young
passed my doorway and just stopped
without much shape or response

now this blood in my veins
still pumps and i'm still scared
I didn't find you with a map

fawm week 2

2010-02-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

its been raining for two days in knoxville... cabin fever is setting in although i'm getting out of the house a bit.

its week 2 of fawm, the race to an album for february: February Album Writing Month

william tecumseh sherman
burned the saltworks in saltville va
confederates pulled their belts tighter
sherman burned his way to the sea
and the south, it went hungry

the erie canal was built with salt money
from the hudson river to lake erie
1000 men died of swamp fever
363 miles 9 years of labor
the erie canal: the ditch that salt built

harvesting salt in saint maarten
america finally discovered white people
who had penchant for killing natives
three century laters and a revolution
with plenty of salt to fill our wounds
these United States

2010-02-07T08:28:00.001-08:00

2010-02-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

2010-02-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

a dark forest song to sing in a scary place

the tallest tree can't hear
the secrets you've never told
fair weather this spring means
we'll climb down this trunk again

the worn down rock and decay
a pile of feathers by a stream
lead us back up the tree
to read tea leaves at the bottom of our cups

avian dreams again
scaling chutes of falling rocks
whisper and scream

2010-02-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

FAWM comes along in February. This album is coming along well too.

Spider + Octopus FAWM

house mountain

2010-02-02T15:34:00.001-08:00

The top of the mountain never knows the bottom, and probably wonders what it really looks like... House mountain outside of Knoxville is a worthy dayhike. Its was magic at the top, foggy with snow on the ground.

eye socket

2010-02-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

compulsion is all there is to it... i can't rest in a day unless i doodled something, or typed something nonsensical out...

eye socket... glass heart don't hold the hatred i've know.

pres pub 1.30.2010

2010-01-31T12:16:00.001-08:00

Preservation Pub, Knoxville

a look at the crowd for the spider + octopus show

thenderfin stage set up

our friends thenderfin from knoxville

faux ferocious also from knoxville

Last night was a great show all around, it was great to meet some knoxville locals and get out of the house & into the snow, which i have been avoiding fiercely (i know "fierce" and i mean it with a ferocious passion, snow is not for me i understand that now)
You can stream the show from the Preservation Pub website, hopefully the Spider Octopus show will be up soon.

Tomorrow is February 1st. An exciting day for me, because the FAWM challenge starts tomorrow. That is February Album Writing Month: 14 songs in 28 days. A person wins nothing for accomplishing this feat, aside from FAWMer adoration.

I've got my four track oiled and ready, piano is out of tune perfectly, the upright bass has sat in the corner a few weeks, ukulele songs are bubbling up to the surface. Should be alot of fun... and a mild distraction from the snow here in knoxville.

2010-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

Its snowing in Knoxville today. Renee and I got a hike in before the blizzard started dumping. Looking out the window I see tiny bits of snow piling up slowly, hot cocoa and brandy from here on out.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Spider + Octopus plays its last show (Preservation Pub, Knox.) on the books for a bit, before we record some and just take a break from touring. We'll be back to it soon... a break is necessary, I need to write some bad poetry and wonder why I can't find a voice between the line breaks.

Their are alot of mountains in the Smokies that need climbing, plus spring comes soon to Pensacola, perfect time for beaching and canoe rides down the coast and up some brackish rivers.

We'll be posting new songs, and new albums are coming soon.

2010-01-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

hippie jams trail

dharma hatch see orientation video 7of 7

fish fossil along the tennessee

time warp tea room 1.27.2010

2010-01-28T08:58:00.001-08:00

secret pinball retirement community. a rare backroom glimpse at the timewarp

mmmm... is that right?

nicks tiny electric guitar w/ bass head stock

spider + octopus

blizzard is coming...

2010-01-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

dealing with pain is hard: core issues of wrongs done and done. and bitterness that has turned to anger is roots and hard to pull. hiking helps a bunch. planted a hanging pot with oregano today, that i saved from the super market.

salt water veins

2010-01-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

its snowing in knoxville. i left pensacola a week ago just as the coldness left for elsewhere. looks like Renee and i will be Knoxville until at least April 2010. R's mom suffered a fall from a ladder and broke both arms... for the time being Renee and I will be her arms.

the new album is nearly finished. and we've been demoing and writing plenty too.

Sea Verse in a Sailor's Locker

2009-12-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

I uncovered a book of poems from a Salvation Army thrift store in Knoxville just before the x-mas. Book's called Sea Verse in a Sailor's Locker by James Tazelaar written 1930 and later printed in 1972.

The poems are simple, celebrating, recounting, mourning the Chesapeake Bay, but really can be framed with any inlet, or breaking ocean in the background.

Opening the book is "I have longed for a ship". Borrowing all the words, I recorded guitar, uke, mandolin and vocals for the poem. I may record more of the poems into songs... we'll see, i have plenty of projects but usually find more as I go along.

eve

2009-12-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

P-cola is rainy, I've slept more than I can stand (or sleep) anymore.

I've started working an odes project, compelled by the collection of odes of Pablo Neruda.

Ode to a furtive glance:

South China! Johnson City TN

2009-12-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

Admired from afar South China is a cello, piano and guitar duet from Biddeford Maine. And both South China and Biddeford are magic.

Renee and I had a chance to play with South China last night in Johnson City at The Acoustic Coffeeshop.
South China: myspace

four shows left, and a nice big break

2009-12-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

We have four shows left for 2009, and then we break for awhile to work on the new album, and to pursue birding, uke-writing, and sewing.

dec 16th acoustic coffeehouse - johnson city tn
dec 17th gillies - blacksburg va
dec 18th the greenbean - greensboro nc
dec 19th the good cherry- forest va
woot!

Tourdate 12.6.09

2009-12-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

We've made it to Omaha, there are signs of life here, we saw them at the Sydney last night. This mid-west tour has been really nice, we played Little Rock first, then Tulsa, both excellent shows. Lawrence was a bust unfortunately. Its snowing in Omaha today, I believe its probably the first of the year here.

We have about a week and a half left until Renee and I are on break for a month and a half. Oh I see the light at the end of tunnel. I am so exhausted from four months of touring, I can't wait to spend a month in P-cola on the beach, and riding bikes, and mixing field recordings from the last four months... and writing new songs.

Renee and I are working on the new album for the new year, it will be a double disc, one side is Renee and the other side will be myself.

new orleans

2009-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

Last night Renee and I played the neutral ground coffeehouse in New Orleans... a very odd off beat place, also really comfortable, like a tree house in the evening in the spring.

New Orleans is still a mystery to us, we haven't found the ideal place to play or met any of the bands here. None seem game to play a show with us here reminding me of Athens: a super insular music scene.

Renee and I woke up early this morning and adventured around the city. In search of a few things, Audubon Park, and some of the surviving Banksy stencils in New Orleans.

shannon van etten

2009-11-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

Sad Prairie Music

Myspace !!! :>)(
Shannon Van Etten blog

bittersweetness again... thanks

2009-11-12T21:33:00.000-08:00

Pensacola Interview with ALT Bill

2009-11-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

Interview with Chad Bishop

In 2004 a new album came out in Pensacola, and the local underground newspaper
said this local band that had recorded it would be playing under the oak trees
in the middle of Pensacola’s Music event called Springfest. The article
encouraged folks to “drop by” in between treks to the different stages to check
them out. Due to the write up I specifically added them to my day. The album was
called Isabella; the group was labeled C.B. Radio. I ended up going back for
their multiple sets and the next day I skipped other acts to catch every single
song they played. I’ve been hooked ever since. The band, the names, both on
stage and on the albums has changed over the years. With different directions,
different types of songs, and different arrangements. But at the heart of it all
is Chad Bishop. I have loved being able to see Chad’s songs go from first time
in public, open mike items, to lush (but never over done) arrangements for full
band on commercial cd’s.

1. Well I think unofficially you have become an ambassador of Pensacola, at
least an ambassador for a certain under the current culture here. (Thanks by
the way) Though you’ve found many wonderful places to attach to after your
travels, what are your thoughts on Pensacola?

I love Pensacola, its home. It’s a magically surreal place. I watched
hurricanes tear it apart, I’ve seen great people float in and out of Pensacola,
there is general consensus amongst the people I know from p-cola that it is the
most vibrant ghost town ever! By ghost town, not that it is void of people, but
that many people have left some kind of mark on p-cola and still linger even in
their absence.

There really are few places in the country as pretty and goofy as p-cola. Our
country is falling into disrepair, there are a lot gross places that we've seen
on tour. As my friend Kent says there are fewer places for us to dream, and
P-cola is one of the last places I've seen.
(Special treat - Kent Stanton will be playing the house show also.)

2. Pensacola, as well as most places I guess, has a lot of people that are
musicians in one form or another, to most all though, it’s secondary to other
careers or aimless jobs. You though, despite regrouping a few times (either by
choice or force), keep on it, what are some things that drive you?

Compulsion is the heart of the artist. I love writing songs and recording and
touring. Wanderlust is also a big motivating factor.

3. Was there a person, or a moment where you picked up a guitar, or a song came
to you, when you said, “This is more important, more core to who I am, than
clocking in and clocking out somewhere.”

To be honest it was a slow process of convincing myself that being a musician
was more important than working for someone who doesn't really care about my
time as much as I do. Over the last five years I've really let go of a whole
things that were stopping me from diving in head first.

4. The words of many of your songs are like prose one would find in classic
works of people like Keats or Browning and others, Were you a poet first?

I started writing poems from the time I could hold a pencil and write words. I
still have the journals I wrote when I was child. I've never considered myself
a poet. I think writing poetry is noble work, and there are plenty of people
out there that write great poetry.... I don't think my poems or lyrics are part
of that fabric of super awesomeness, although I do see myself in the future
dedicating myself solely to the pursuit of poetry.

5. You have performed your songs as simple words and guitar folk style and then
as full blown full band arrangements, are you particular to either style?

My preference depends on the mood of the songs I am working with at the moment.
The songs we did with The Cripple Lilies grew from very tiny spaces and then
became bigger arrangements from the parts added by the players in that group.
We were striving to explore silent spaces in that group.

With Paper Scissors Rocketpack, I really wanted to make huge boisterous
arrangements while remaining true to some minimalist notions I've begun to cling
to over the years.

In CB Radio, I had no idea what I was doing or what I wanted, and I think those
songs ran out of control. But I think what we captured was amazing and
desperate still. I was still playing in Flat Broke Folk at the time and
learning how to organize and play in a band. I learned quite a bit about
playing on stage, doing things on fly, relaxing while performing.

With Spider + Octopus, I wanted to get away from the ideas I had formed about
bands, because I was starting to feel constricted by them. I want Spider +
Octopus to be a project where Renee and I are free to explore our songs any way
we choose, and to support each other on the road as separate distinct voices and
as a duo.

(Flat Broke Folk put together with Kent Stanton played back in the day here a
few times with The Pine Hill Haints. You can catch them at the 309 house show
this Friday, Nov. 6th, (with Rymodee & Driven by a Curse) Haints Friday, Chad &
Kent & Renee Wednesday, your week could be very good. Mine will be!)

6. Do you do most of the arrangements for songs, or did band members add those
parts? Like when you had a violinist, did you write for that instrument, or does
it just fall into place with the right artist?

I've also arranged things for my songs, but within a band context I usually step
back and give people the opportunity to create parts for themselves. I usually
give people the boundaries that they can compose within and see what happens
after that...

7. I love the drum arrangements, (when you have them) is that a band school
instrument?

I think you're talking about the floor tom we turned on its side. It’s been on
loan from our friend Brandon Warren who played with me in a few bands in the
past.
(Actually I was referring to the drum arrangement on songs like Bella On the Rocks &

8. The production quality on Isabella really stood out to me when I first heard
it, then later albums, plus you are in several places (on the Internet) for music distribution,
you took the professional route from the start it seems.
How did that evolve?

From the start I knew I would eventually take the plunge and try to play music
for a living. So from the beginning I was striving to learn as much as I could
about the profession, while I didn't have that much professional responsibility.

I also tried to find people and studios that were doing things in a way I
appreciated and I tried to record my album with these people, so i could learn a
thing or two from them.

http://www.myspace.com/spideroctopus
http://www.myspace.com/paperrocketpack

9. In what ways does a Spider evolve when it partners with an Octopus?

When you add the Octopus to the equation, I think people tend to smile more,
because she changes colors quite often and dances quite well with many
instruments in her hands... tentacles.

10. At your house show here, you got Kent Stanton to join the bill. Flat Broke
Folk history there. Where those times any type of compass for the horizon?

Kent is a bestest friend of mine, we shared a moment in a band together called
Flat Broke Folk, which Kent wanted to be more of a collective than a band. I
think looking back on that band I could not have been in better situation for
entering the Pensacola music scene. Kent was an already established personality
within P-cola music community. I learned so much, and we're still friends.

11. Who is Rita?

Rita is an amazing uke player from Huntsville Alabama, she hosted Renee and I
one night during our travels. She is a magical person.
(“She’s taking me higher she’s smiling, she’s flying all around my desert heart”)

12. Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if Karl Marx would have sang
songs at open mike art centers in old bakeries.

Yes! I've written a handful of songs with that notion in mind... They should
appear on an album in the next year, I think the tentative name for this group
of songs is "Marxist Reels and Imminent Decay"

Marx left us something to sing about in his absence anyhow.

I'm finding that there are more Marxist on the Gulf Coast than any other part of
the country. I guess this is another discussion...

event info Invite and RSVP

my sweetness, my bitterness:

2009-11-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

bittersweet love pensacola, seven hours and i will fall asleep near the beach with a rum drink spilled in my lap. and play a house show at bill's (wedenesday).

Infintesmal BBQ vid

2009-11-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

The video came from this blog:
JaxScene Blog

everglades

2009-11-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

The swamps of the Everglades are straight up fucking scary. Renee, Mike Racine and I hiked through a tiny portion of the Florida Trail in the Everglades today. I was really spooked by the crooking of alligators and the slithering of snakes (I'll assume the black snakes that glide across the water are poisonous).

This is the trail head at the Oasis Gardens in the Everglades.

Through the thick brush the trail opens up:

there were all kinds of animal sounds at this point:

Suddenly the trail opened up to the skies, and the swamp, the trail became muddy and then was submerged by the swamp waters.

Mike tested the waters while Renee and I watched from the mud hole...

about this time we decided to come back in December when the swamps had dried up a bit.

no shit.

I do love the swamp

bird of paradise, a rare sighting in punta gorda florida

2009-11-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

Punta Gorda, Florida. South Florida, an hour and half south of St Petersburg. Punta Gorda translates roughly to "Fat End". Punta Gorda is mainly a retirement community and with miles of swamp buggy terrain.

Renee and I hid out here in Fat End for two days looking for a friend. We resided in a Motel 6 hosting a swamp buggy convention. Rows and rows of perfectly waxed American made pickup trucks parked in the backed-in position met us at room 136. We ducked into the room under the constant and confused glare of Swamp Buggy Driver hubris. Were we the Lynard Skynard cover band scheduled to perform later that evening across the street in the Pilot Truck Stop parking lot? After a few trips to/from Volvo to 136, with accordion, ukulele and virtually no luggage, hubris gave return to the natural state of dull interest?

Renee and I explored swamps trails and Wal-marts in the area. We observed a bobcat feasting on something one evening on the shoulder of Burnt Store Road. We consistently skipped Indian Springs Cemetery Road opting for Fat End road that led us to an exotic Punta Gorda Wal-Mart... This is where Renee and I began our search for the indigenous and rare bird of paradise known as the Great Long Hair South Florida Mullet.

Aisle after aisle, minute after minute, we observed what we have come to expect: children beaten by red-faced mothers, teenagers with creed t-shirts running unaccompanied through the aisles throwing objects at display stands, old people in daisy duke cut off shorts, and over friendly retirees greeting us repeatedly as we entered and exited.

We had given up our hunt for the Great Long Hair South Florida Mullet, and were sharing a bag of potato wedges. We were chatting, listening to the news on the radio, when a perfectly polished pick-up truck pulled into the space in front of the Volvo... out stepped a brilliant mulleted south florida bird of paradise. With held breath and contagious giggles we crept back into Wal-Mart with renewed vigor for our search.

The bird was finally sited after many hours in the hardware section:

These pictures are grainy, but are clearly evidence that the elusive, rarely sighted and never before photographed Great Long Hair South Florida Mullet does exist.

Renee after the hunt!

Florida

2009-10-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

Orlando. We played Austin's coffee house last night. Its an oasis here in Bro-lando. We played with Zach and Steve from Moorhound. They are a super tight and awesome folk duo, Steve play the getters, and Zach plays the drumkit. Steve and Zach are super awesome peeps too.

On Monday and Wednesday we played Gainesville, we got in three pre-fest shows. Monday we played Wayward council, then Wednesday we played Lightning Salvage and Flaco's. Danny from Lightning Salvage recorded a video of one of our song 'Spider':

so far

2009-10-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

We crossed the St Marys River into Florida early Sunday morning after playing previous nights in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Savannah. The air become stiflingly humid, and fog from the early morning river rose up whispering of ghosts, twilight orange groves, newly evicted homeless wanderers, foreboding Tropical storms and the sweet scent of Florida run-off into the gutters and rivers.

We played an Infestimal BBQ in Jacksonville, with 11 bands, an all day affair. We were tired to say the least when the final band took stage around 3am.

Then Wayward Council in Gainesville with Indian River fruit, and Mark the looping violinist (who was incredible).

And finally St Augustine last night at Nobby's, which was a great surprise. Nobby's is on the other side St. Augustine over the Bridge of lions. A locals kinda dive with a super nice staff: Matt, Justin and Sean.

Today we are off from the grind riding bikes around, checking out the oldest continous Florida settlement.

and the new issue of Cometbus is out: #52 The Spirit of St Louis

HFS Annex; Bootleg Recording

2009-10-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Hog Farm Studios Annex is a magical venue in Biddeford Maine, run by two wonderful people: Gil and Coco. It was one of those places you arrive at for the first time and realize somehow you've come home, a home very far from the one you're eyes remember but very close to the one your heart beats for... Being on tour can suck, when the club is cold and dirty, and the people are moody, jaded, cynical. Hog Farm was a departure from that for sure, we were greeted with hugs, hot coffee, and general straight up rare awesomeness. Thanks guys...

Renee and I had the pleasure of playing the Hog Farm on September 9th 2009 with Computer at Sea, Run On Sentence. While on our Northeast tour I recorded as many shows as possible, and not just Spider + Octopus either. We recorded as many performers as possible, and even people who wanted to talk into the box and tell a story. Anyway, we recorded our show at HFS Annex and you can download the show if you would like to hear the road show from September. Below are links for all the bands that played that night, a link for HFS Annex. There are some pics from the show on Hog Farm blog.

Take care, Keep in touch. -c

Hog Farm Studios
Computer At Sea
Run On Sentence

Download Spider + Octopus @ HFS Annex 9.25.2009

New Tour Dates

2009-10-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

10.20 Rootbar w/ Our Horse Jethro, Asheville NC
10.21 My Favorite Things Records w/ Our Horse Jethro, Greensboro NC
10.22 The Evening Muse w/ Kathleen Haskard, Charlotte NC
10.23 The Hangfire, Savannah GA
10.24 Infintesmal BBQ, Jacksonville FL
10.25 Wayward Council, Gainesville FL
10.26 Nobby's, St. Augustine FL
10.28 Lightning Salvage, Gainesville FL
10.29 Austin's Coffee w/ Moorhound, Winter Park FL
10.30 Globe Coffee, St Petersburg FL
11.2 Cock and Bull Pub, Sarasota FL
11.3 Cgrape, Bonita Springs FL
11.4 TBA
11.5 Original Fat Cats, Fort Lauderdale FL
11.6 Soma, Lake Worth FL
11.7 Mother Earth Coffee, Lake Worth FL
11.8 Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant, Orlando FL
11.10 TEK Records, Panama City FL
11.11 House Show!, Pensacola FL
11.12 House Show!, Pensacola FL
11.13 End of Line Cafe, Pensacola FL
11.14 The Blind Mule w/ Whiskey Comatose, Mobile AL
11.17 Neutral Ground, New Orleans LA
11.18 The Celtic, Pascagoula MS
11.19 Greencup Books, Birmingham AL
11.20 The WonderRoot, Atlanta AL
11.21 TBA
11.23 Blue Plate Special, Knoxville TN
11.23 Preservation Pub, Knoxville TN

knoxville in the rain

2009-10-13T12:26:00.001-07:00

Its been raining for two days straight here in Knoxville. I woke this morning before everyone else and had a rare hour to myself watching the rain come down on the fall leaves and the mountains in the distance.

We started recording our new album this week. We've finished maybe three tracks so far, I'm really happy with what we have so far. It strange how studio work is never as compelling to me as the demo process. Studio work is like opening night for a play, you know your marks, your lines and now its time to deliver. Really when it comes down to it songs come alive on tour after weeks of performing, the space between notes becomes more profound as my ear starts to hear all the things I never guessed were in a song.

THANK YOU!!!!
to everyone who hosted us on tour, or bought us a beer, or bought a cd, t-shirt, booked us at their club-venue house-space. We had such an amazing time, and I saw parts of the country I had not yet seen.

We're sending out postcards this week to the peeps that signed for them, if you didn't get a chance to sign the mailing list and want a postcard, just write to us:

spider_octopus@yahoo.com

New tour dates are posted on the myspace:
Spider + Octopus
Renee Arozqueta

Here are some tour pics, keep in touch!

why we do what we do?: Chicago, A Life Saved

2009-10-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

this man was saved in chicago (see interview below)

he saved me

Spider + Octopus|MySpace Music Videos

what town are we in? blurry...

2009-09-30T15:44:00.001-07:00

captains log, tour date 9.28.09, Akron Ohio. gray skies, continuous rain since the Adirondack.

We survived New York state, a place that lives up to the hype: it sucks as bad as people say. Two exceptions to this hype: New York the City and the Adirondack of upstate New York.

Vermont is the most beautiful place I've ever visited. The leaves began to change during our stay in Burlington. There are no billboards cluttering the roadsides of Vermont, they are outlawed.

Maine, shows of magic occurred here: Guthries (Lewiston), and The Hogfarm Annex (Biddeford). Maine is big and wild, and I will reside on the shoreline there one day.

We went to New York the city

2009-09-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is cowboy, he told me about this place called New York. He said there was lots of stuff there to see. So I went in search of this New York place

After jumping a few rooftops I came down this fire escape in "New York"

I meet an old wise lady on a train, who played a key-monica, a blow-harp some would say, she said go to the "Union Station". I lit out immediately for the Union Station

I found the golden plated Union Square

After climbing up from beneath the Union Square I found these people on the square.and then road on a train.

NY ny Ny

2009-09-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

a fire escape-
above a greek restaurant
horns pigeons honking.

I-95

2009-09-20T14:06:00.001-07:00

Staunton Va (Stanton with a silent 'U' no one mentions in public)

Philly 9.20.09

hi

2009-09-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

luck dragon

2009-09-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamed about the edge of my brain, there was a foreboding forest at the end of a paved road. When I got closer to the edge of the forest; at the end of the paved road, my brain starting getting all foggy and foreboded. I was driving at the time and the car started strutting (a sure sign of evil lying in wait in the forest). So I turned the rig around headed back to the magic pool hall at the other end of the road apparently at a safe and appropriate distance from the evil foreboding forest.

I woke up and watched the curtains sway in the AC for awhile around 3am. I couldn't close my eyes, I was straight up scared! Eventually I did fall asleep...

I woke again this morning, foreboding all washed away, and realized I will be gone from this comfortable bed for many days. I also noticed this luck dragon at the foot of the bed:

This is Polkor, a Luck Dragon that likes to bark a lot, go for walks on a leash, eat awesome home cooked meals and follow Renee around the house all day. She landed at the foot of my bed this morning before I woke, and was staring me in the face when I woke with boogers in my eyes. I wished for chocolate, and coffee... I got coffee.

First day of tour is today, back to work. I'd had too much time off, I gained a few pounds and slept enough hours to get me through the upcoming trip.

berry cave salamander

2009-09-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

We finally left the house yesterday around 5p, to go walking. Renee and I settled on Meads Quarry.

Meads Quarry has some neat trails, and lots of green lagoons. I could see Ophelia just beneath the green ick, swarming mosquitoes

We walked and walked.
however, there were signs of treachery along the path

a moment of documented fear:
I'm so...................... startled.

we finally found what we came looking for: the great Berry Cave, where the Berry Cave Salamander resides. This unique species is indigenous only to the maze of connecting caves beneath the Meads Quarry here in Knoxville Tennessee.

The shot is blurry, the cave is illusive.

On our way out we encountered the ancient silo shrine, left by the previous tribe of greedy white people from Meads Quarry.

The long saga of Meads Quarry as Recounted by the last know survivors
The Great Berry Cave Salamander

Ode to the Berry Cave Salamander

right under your nose
your lips shiver, and teeth chatter
your eyes quiver

its 4am, we've been living here *
on minnows, sediment and tepid baths with
mud in our eyes

how long *
can you go without feeling
just below your heart
in your hands or in your feet

how long *
can you go without feeling
the sensation of dry ground
a tiny bit of light through the curtain

right here in this quarry
its cold but you get used to it
wade back into berry cave
you'll see what was buried

spring fed lions *
crumbling lime stone towers
push cart tracks that end
in underbrush and cliff ending

how long *
can you go without seeing
the reflection of a day
just dissappearing from the mouth of a cave

how long *
can you go without saying
the things you've carried
so far with you to me

500 years of Cannons

2009-09-11T15:04:00.001-07:00

Knoxville is literally sending me over the edge... i woke this morning laughing hysterically, not a bad thing i know. Another sign of mania: i wrote a new song. Scroll down to the player in the sidebar.

500 Years of Cannons

oh the town, where i am from
sleeps next to the sea
its a warm foggy fishbowl feeling
like wading in a whiskey sea

oh the town where i am from
the roofs have all blown away
and we look in on the secret lives of people
moved by tides and oceans in there living rooms

oh the town where i am from
frequently the streets fill with ocean
jellyfish that glow float through your frontdoor
showing the way back to the shore

oh the town where i am from
there is a light on next to a frontdoor
where mother reads robert frost in the evening
and my father flys in a dream
off the coast of trinidad

oh the town where i am from
spanish gallons wait at the bottom of the sea
for british cannons to fire again at the ocean
while the captive indian germino waits for our return:

like broken prodigal children
choking on salt water
casting screams from our dead blue eyes
at the ocean that never parts
and never shows compassion
for people who never
throw a rock into the sea

or never make a wish
with a broken bottle
and never fall apart
or get sand in their eyes
or spit into the breeze
or curse the place they are from

2009-09-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

time off:

drink coffee alot
spend 13 hours a day on computer booking
eat breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once
screen print Ts for tour
press new cds
walk around knoxville alot
play pinball at barley's
drink pbr's soon to be schlitz at the pilot light
watch every season of south park
continue trying to write one song
dream of a uke
sleep alot
write inside my arms
think about new tats

I saw Madeline Ava perform tonight at the Birdhouse in Knoxville. If you haven't listened to her yet, you should.

madeline website too
madeline myspace

Captains Log Tour Date 8.28.09

2009-08-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Iowa City 2:03pm
Fighting tired eyes, one more day, and then sleepy cave time for two weeks.

The mid-west is more enlightened than the rest of the country. Our country is still a mess, and i still haven't found good reasons to like it. Yes we're socialist, stateless commie bastards.

Omaha is super fun! and not scary at all!!!

2009-08-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

I need a new belt buckle. Omaha is now on the short list of places to stay for extended amounts of time. Also on the list:

Athens GA
New Orleans LA
Lawrence KS
The Entire States of Maine and Vermont
The Countries Norway, Sweden and Ireland

Banksy in New Orleans! Swarms Arkansas...

2009-08-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Renee and I tracked down a Banksy Stencil in New Orleans. Apparently quite a few of the other works have been painted over or ruined in some way. It was quite a gas to actually see one of Banksy's Stencils in person, I was thrilled. I even took a picture of me in one (I don't usually do pictures of myself either). There are some links at the bottom for Banksy in New Orleans.

I woke this morning to rain coming down through the top of the tent. To be fair Renee woke early and starting coffee tried to get me up. I climbed onto her air mattress that feels like a fine hotel mattress compared to my ridge rest against a tree root.

We camped last night in an Arkansas state park called Cane Creek. Super Sweet forest, the mosquitoes swarmed us the minute we stepped out of the car. We built a fire to smoke them out while we cooked dinner, then set up the tent and watched eXisteZ on R's mac.

Some mornings I wake up and I have a vision of why I'm doing what I'm doing, other mornings I understand why people hope for a car wreck to take them out on their way to work in the morning.

This morning was clear vision, more like an intuitive warmness spreading over me while driving back roads throughout Arkansas, watching rain fall on the farms, drinking hot black muddy coffee. Things just felt right this morning, things in the right places, including my head.

banksy in new orleans flickr site
banksy in new orleans google maps

day off

2009-08-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

I can it see raining, so I'll open the door to the porch and let the smell of sweet gulf rain on the hot lawn rush into the kitchen. We have today off. Like Bruce Lee on the seventh day of training, we're eating and doing whatever we want. Its sweet. Tomorrow we head to New Orleans, and then start our trek into the Mid-West.

This tour has been one of the best and healthiest I've ever taken. People are reacting to this project more so than any other project I've done before.

Tomorrow I'll be limping with my gangster lean across New Orleans searching for Banksy graffiti. If I find anything I'll post it here at the blog.

week one feels like week ten

2009-08-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

Time Capsule: July 2009

2009-08-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

18 songs, 11 by myself, 7 by Renee. All lo-fi wonderfulness, noisy uneven, spontaneous mostly. Some of these songs will show up on future albums, some won't. If you would like one we'll be on tour for quite awhile, and if you are reading this we are more likely playing at your local bike co-op, coffee shop or too hip hipster club. if not scroll down a bit and look for ordering buttons.

Stardate: Huntsville AL

2009-08-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Coordinates sent: Huntsville

Terrestrial Planet: Earf with one natural satellite, the Moon.

Huntsville!

Nap time

touching down in Huntsville

from the stars

zanniagi!!!@@@

oxygen acclimation portal

earf peeple... from New York to California

i am from jupiter

aiht.

Lexington: hmmm... big little city

2009-07-26T15:13:00.001-07:00

Asheville, Greensboro

2009-07-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

house pride!

2009-07-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

House Pride is in Murfreesboro TN, near Spring Hill where we played this evening. An Oasis of wonder and awesomeness. We arrived unannounced and now have a couch for sleeping and bread for eating if we need.

Gephyrophobia

Bridges of Alabama

I feel safe on a bridge
over the swamps
in louisana
over the sound
in pensacola
over the river
of tennessee
i feel safe on a bridge

from ports of mobile
and all the bridges of alabama
george washington bridge
out of montrose into minneapolis

I feel safe on a bridge
like the ones in my dreams
that are just rise and are so steep
you fall backwards and have to fly

I feel safe on a bridge
like the one in san francisco
covered in fog
where people jump
and no matter what you know
you don't know why

i feel safe on a brigde
i feel safe on a bridge

Bridges of Alabama mp3

sup now?

2009-07-15T10:28:00.001-07:00

Algae pool

2009-07-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Renee and I went swimming in a cold water spring in a gated community in Orlando. I ended up with algae in my swim trunks at the end of the day. We took a bunch of pictures too. I needed day of fun. I think I'm experiencing early tour fatigue, but I'm sure a second wind will come soon.

We're playing Meridian Hookah Lounge today in Orlando, strange little place with loads of college kids. All so very nice and distracted... and stuff. I'll post new pics soon...

Jacksonville, Gainesville

2009-07-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

We're starting to get our sea-legs, and shows are going well. We played Shantytown last night with Robbie (Little High, Little Low), Thomas Tooke, and Elisabeth Cramer. Shantytown is a classic dive in downtown Jacksonville, the kids that come out to shows there are pretty awesome.

Tonight we played Lightning Salvage in Gainesville, its such a wonderful piece of Americana kitsch. Lightning doubles as a venue and junk museum/five and dime. We played an early show from 6-9, then hooked up a coca-cola bottled in glass made with real sugar not the corn syrup stuff...

Lightning Salvage
Blog

Tallahassee Day 1 of forever tour

2009-07-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

Renee and I played the Engine Room last night. I did not realize that the Engine Room has a capcity of maybe 400+... probably was not the best fit for our folk show. In spite of the overwhelming size of the room I was able to see some great performances by Little High Little Low, Salt Altars, and Renee (of course). We also made some new friends in Tallahasse and had the good fortune to sleep in a bed and take a shower this morning, oh yeah and also woke up to banana pancakes and coffee. Tonight we are playing Shantytown with Little High, Little Low and Infintesmal Records artist: Thomas Tooke.

Infintesmal Records
Thomas Tooke

La Arana Esta Susurrando

2009-07-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Spider is Whispering:

The album is now finished and we will be heading out onto the road July 7th for three months of work. The reviews so far have been complimentary. No one has sited hate for me or the album yet which is good. Here's the track listing:

Moving, Cwap sale, and Tour, Knoxville, Athens

2009-06-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

We're leaving P-cola Julyish 6th for tour day 1 in Tallahassee. We'll be touring for a few months in the Jeep through the mid-west and southeast. Then hopefully we'll find a dive to move into between tours in Athens. Fingers crossed...

hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

2009-06-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Worse

"With her, it was easy to love and forget the murderous hand of the man who had reached around the world to blow up planes, smash lives and damage the tenuous links of national policy. The red shadow in the background made the lovemaking all the more urgent, all the more compelling."

Straight up worst novel EVER!!!!
Killmaster Nick Carter: Run Spy Run

Jasper Snacktoast

2009-06-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

What follows is the greatest cat story ever relayed to me:

"Jasper is more like a boy wizard poured into a cat body. His legs are too long for his body... when he is standing on all fours his hind legs raise his back higher than his front side, like a dragster. My friend K in South Florida takes care of Jasper.

K's mother sent him this snack toast stuff over the holidays. K and his roommate ate a bit of snack toast and then put the rest in the fridge. For weeks K and his roommate joked to one another when heading to the fridge: "Snack Toast?". They would this say to one another in nasally voices. The joke went this way for quite awhile.

One day K opened the fridge while his roommate sat at the kitchen table. Turning around with the fridge door open, K looked over Jasper who sat next to the door on the counter. "Snnnnackkkk Toassstttttt" said Jasper.

K and his roommater sat stunned as Jasper looked to both of them for laughs. Neither K nor his roommate could find laughter. Jasper glanced from one to the other awkwardly hoping for even a slight smirk. The eerie stunned silence continued for the rest of the afternoon.

Jasper never told another joke."

Nick Carter:Killmastahhhhhhhh!!!!!

2009-05-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Nick saw high cheekbones, carefully reddened full mouth and deep, almost almond-shaped eyes that coolly view the action on the field. Slender, jeweled hands clasped an expensive-looking black leather purse. The flesh of the bare arms was tawny and sensuous; the body was supple, its movements relaxed. She looked like a tigress in the sun.

There was exquisite molding in the high, tilted breastline, trim belted waist and subtly curving hips. She was not the sort of woman usually seen at Yankee Stadium on a September afternoon.

Hawk said, "Interesting. I see you find her so, too. Don't break your neck."
"Interesting, indeed. But dangerous, maybe."
"That could be what we're intended to think."

Secret agent N3, Nick Carter meeting secretly at Yankee Stadium with Mr. Hawk, Head of the top secret and unknown American Spy Agency AXE!!!!

Cold War Literature

2009-05-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

American spy Nick Carter, Agent N3.

Killmaster Wiki

2009-05-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

"April is cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain."

I sat in the backyard today and watched a spring storm come towards my door. My 12 year black cat sat behind me hiding from blue jays. The yard is in a state of decay, leaves on the ground are turning brown and turning under soil with new green grass sprouting in patches. On the fence wisteria is blooming.

The panhandle has two seasons, green and greener. A constant reminder that we don't renew ourselves with the spring summer spring 2 two week winter spring summer cycle. Seasonal ennui is clogging my ears and nose. I am looking forward to July in Knoxville and the fall in Athens.

A Frozen Dog

I'm jealous of the Spring
And all the things left to decay in the yard
Because things that are gentle never survive
Bloom for awhile then die.

Like a summer dress torn and left on the floor
Or dangling from an edge of a chair
Or an ally cat that doesn't creep until four
Sleeping beneath the bloom

Or waiting for someone who doesn't return.
Waiting everyday on the gray of the shore
Or a dead dog frozen from a winter ago
Looking up to some other blue sky

Or a breeze before rain comes in your window
In the kitchen while washing your hands
Or a dream in the day in the backseat alone
Flooded with the last lights of sun

I believe I wasn't made for this world
Assume if I change at all
Beneath this canopy of spring
It won't matter at all.

tour pics

2009-05-21T21:00:00.001-07:00

This is where tour begins

Awesome paintings at Weird Wax Jacksonville

weird wax at after party

cute guy

this is fucking direction!

Cassadaga closes after 6p

witch's wood cassadaga FL

most interesting part of I-4 in south florida

the octopus tuning

a kiss before you go

Animals

2009-05-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth
      
it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners

the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water
      
I wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days

- Frank O'hara

I've been sick and haven't really been up to snuff for songwriting.  Today I wrote
some music for a Frank O'hara poem.

Tour Head=Nose Cold=Sleep Day

2009-05-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Just got back to P-cola last night, with a head full of snot, and a pocket full of change. We wandered around south florida for a few days played the Merdian Hookah Bars in Orlando and Tampa. And played a brunch at the greatest vegan restaurant I've ever eaten at: Ethos Vegan Restaurant.

I'm not a fan of South Florida to be honest, but I have come up with a list of things that make the south florida worthwhile:

1- roadside fruit stands
2- giant papier mache dinosaurs on I-4
3- family (such as brothers, significant other family)
4- banana pancakes at ethos
5- pinball at rocky's replay

I also took three rolls of film, some digital pics and traded a microkorg for a video camera for documentary work on the next tour...

Pinecone Contest at Lightning Salvage and St Augustine sucks

2009-05-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

St Augustine may be the oldest established city in the US, but if you look in the fine print below the inscription its also the most creepest place everest. Its definitely haunted by the living.

In contrast Gainesville is a nicer place. We played Ligtning Salvage last night. They are such nice people there, and also have rotating junk collections on display. Of which Renee may loan her elementary eraser collection for a month or so to glass displays. They also have a pinecone contest each year, I would love to enter this as well. Here are some winners from years past:

Lightning Salvage Pinecone Contest

Weird Wax Jacksonville 5.13.09

2009-05-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in the Weird Wax garage/performance space on the couch next to the window, watching traffic blow by on Atlantic Hwy. I am continually blown away by the places between the sidewalk cracks, tucked away where the highways curve into dim obscurity in Jacksonville: Zombie bikes, Shantytown, and Weird wax to name a few. Of course its the people that come and go from these places that make it interesting...

Renee and I stayed in the record store last night after the show. We watched a little over half of the movie "Thinner" and fell asleep. I woke to a dream of a big flaming red skull watching me through the doorway from the shop to the garage.

Dennis is single!

2009-04-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

A song for a new spring

2009-03-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

not sure of the title yet for this one, but here is the tentative name...

took over for you

I was just a boy when I was dreaming of you
then suddenly rattlesnakes bit my arms
penetrating the darkness in my heart
took over for you, for you

I was twelve years old, I was dreaming of girls
without reason I wandered off alone
guided by the darkening of the day
taking back the blue, the blue

I wasn't clever
I was not cute
I was just there

unmade shy and unshorn
watching tin soldiers fall
caught by the passing breeze
fallen from windowsills

I was just a boy I fell asleep in the rain
carried from the drainage ditch to the sewer
covered up by the algae from the drain
taking over the shoal, the shoal

I was twenty years old
When I Finally awoke
in the middle of June
not separate or alone
Sun in tunes with my eyes...

took over for you.final arrangement.mp3 - Spider + Octopus

spider + octopus follow up album

2009-02-13T11:06:00.001-08:00

Driving around gives you so much time to daydream and plan for future tours. Renee and I have decided upon a July tour with some surprises, props and extra musicians to pull some stuff off. Also when we get back to P-cola the final touch will be placed on top of the new Spider + Octopus album. And Renee and I have finished writing the first track to the follow up Spider + Octopus album.

Fuck Nashville

When we dance a Tennessee Waltz
The bright lights of Nashville
Scream so loud
Louder than my song
Louder than my song

Like a hawk that came into the window
Shattered and bruised we came into town
Pocket full change
Head full of flu
Head full of flu

Lay me down on a pillow top mattress

I don't need Nashville at all
Can't appreciate a simple waltz
I don't need to be lost in it all
With the rounders, junkies, users, and hobos
The folksters, scenesters, hipsters
All lost on the row.

tour update

2009-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

Renee and I are both coming down with the flu in Murfreesboro. We've been hanging out with the kids at the House Pride house in Murfreesboro. The tour has been so good so far. We found a couple of oasis venues in the southeast:

the flying monkey arts center in huntsville
house pride in murfreesboro

We gots lots of plans coming up too. Another tour for July, with some big surprises. And a new album coming soon... as soon as i can get back to flophouse.

Renee Arozqueta and Spider + Octopus Tour!!!

2009-01-31T19:23:00.001-08:00

A few days and counting and we're off, but a show with Paleo and Renee at End of the Line Cafe in Pensacola on Tuesday 2/3/09.

Renee
Paleo

Mary, Her Vision of Sailors

2008-10-17T09:52:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful life
our days seep into night
as the light fades
from wilting sins
of bleached bones & sailors

that rattle in the breeze
like skulls on a string
that house our decay

Where Mary she dances
with rosary of skulls in her hand

Entwined are thelies
of the sailors who died
jumping from fleets aflame

leaping from gutter
for a vision of Mary & Grace
of grace floating on & on
from candlelit sills gone & gone again

What a beautiful life
a picture of your mother
hung with her face in a smile

driven to madness by the
hands of your father
now lost in his sorrow again
your mother slipped
the metal twine round her neck
as she hung herself in the tub

when the dove's neck it broke
the splattering choke
from the tub to the wall
kicking & flailing & finally

a vision of Mary in red was left on the wall
for crowding sailors to weep over til the dawn

What a beautiful life

Mary Mother.mp3 - spider + octopus