Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What can YOU do in a Jolly Beggars t-shirt?

Play the trumpet in a giant sombrero!

Cook up some eggs for breakfast!

Sweep the floor!

Watch your favorite TV shows!

Bike indoors!

Brush your teeth!

Enjoy your favorite books!

Enjoy "Sunshine and Shadow" on your iPod more fully!

Also great for a night on the town!

So they're $10 if you see us live, $15 with shipping if you order online. Tour starts the day after tomorrow!

- G

Friday, June 24, 2011

Shoids!

Cool, right?
Jeff's dad designed the knot in the middle and the letters, and the Greenoughs, good family friends of the DesRosiers, printed these up for us. We keep getting things that make it seem like we're a real band and I like it.

We've also booked one more tour gig...July 27th in Philadelphia at Triumph Brewery. We have three unbooked dates still on tour, and we're looking to fill them, even though I honestly think we might need a night not going "a-yu-dn-di-dn-dee-dn-di-dn-diddly-i-dn-da," but if we can play somewhere, we're not going to say no.

- G

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Where the fields are fresh and green

Eight days until our tour begins! Holy cow!

We've ordered posters, bookmarks, t-shirts, more copies of "Sunshine and Shadow," and I think that's it. We're looking like we'll be in good shape! We'll be starting off in Massachusetts, then making our way back to Connecticut, up to Maine, and westward through New York. If we still like each other after that, we'll probably start on our second leg two weeks later.

It feels like we're official.
A few new songs will be making their way into the rotation...Patriot Game will make its full band debut on our radio on WICN most likely (David's going to use his bow!), and our Bonnie Ship the Diamond/P Stands for Paddy song will probably get its legs soon. I'm also working on a simple arrangement of "Eli the Barrow Boy," by The Decemberists for myself, David and Chris, as well as a song by The Dady Brothers entitled, "Tonawanda, Too." It's from a record they put out for the Erie Canal's 175th anniversary, and I've gained an appreciation for the canal having biked over 1/3 of it with my girlfriend, Sydney, last week.

That's it I suppose. Rehearsing tomorrow. We love you! See you on tour! More info here.

- G

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Eye Toonz



That's all there is to say about that. Wish David a happy flight to Jamaica, Chris J a happy drive to Virginia, and myself a happy bike trip along the Erie Canal! See you in a little bit!

- G

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Tour updates and mini-golf

Hey folks!

We've gotten a lot accomplished this weekend - bought/reserved most of the gear we'll need for our tour, including a U-Haul trailer, started setting up stuff to get on iTunes (at long last!), ordering tour merch (shirts, bookmarks, posters), and we're still trying to book 7/27 and 7/28 in New Jersey and 8/2 and 8/3 in Virginia. We've sent out emails and calls to about seven billion places. Let us know if you know anywhere! We'd really like to fill those dates.

David is taking off for Jamaica later this week to teach little children music for ten days. Chris Jasinski is off to Virginia to begin his internship with NASA later this week as well. I'll be starting a bike trip of the Erie Canal with my girlfriend, Sydney, next Monday. So this week will be most of the finishing preparation for the first leg of tour.

We reached our Kickstarter fundraiser goal! Thank you all so much to everyone who donated. We'll still be accepting donations for another week, so consider donating if you haven't already. http://kck.st/iNOKYg

All of these things are wonderful and important, but none as exciting and important as...

THE JOLLY MINI-GOLF QUADRUPLE DATE.


Jeff approves of David dating his sister. We think.
A gripping, testy battle between man and woman, Beggar and Beggarette, and a true test of all of our relationships. From hole 1 to hole 18, Safari Golf brought us all to our knees with joy and frustration. Every misguided roll past the cup, every directionless ricochet off of the low, brick barriers, and every hop and skip over the not-quite-flat putting surface pushed our sanities to their limits. With nowhere else to go but forward, The Beggars and Significant Others persevered through the wild safari past giraffes, hippos, elephants, plant-eating tigers, and foamy watery depths with nothing but bent-out-of-whack putters, colored golf balls, and the instrumental at the end of "Lark in the Morning" stuck in our heads.

We all emerged, but not the same as when we had entered. We had all grown and left our child-like innocence behind in the safari of Meriden. To call us The Jolly Beggars after our experience is almost impossible - we are entirely different individuals, and therefore must form a different entity. What this new group is, we cannot yet say. Only time will solidify the impact of haunting, wild safari mini-golf experience.

I shot a 42 and won. Woo!

Crikey.

- G