what they say i am, in brief.

INFJ - "Author". Strong drive and enjoyment to help others. Complex personality. 1.5% of total population.

and I'm a type 2 on the Enneagram. http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/TypeTwo.asp


Should I be concerned that Enneagram 2s aren't supposed to be introverts? http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/typecorr.htm



Introverted (I) 56.76% Extroverted (E) 43.24%
Intuitive (N) 55.56% Sensing (S) 44.44%
Feeling (F) 67.65% Thinking (T) 32.35%
Judging (J) 53.13% Perceiving (P) 46.88%

happy rhodes day

there is a light that will sometimes go out

...and tonight i have found many of them. You see, I'm hosting my friend Allan's birthday party in my backyard on Saturday. We've spent the last week painting, scraping, power washing, rearranging,building, fixing and generally working on the house. It's been pretty exhausting, i'll admit. Now that the parental units have gone, i'm working by myself and getting a bit overwhelmed. I'm trying to stay positive, so i'm giving myself as many small, focused projects as possible. Today, as soon as we got home from Louisville, I got a little work done on the compy, then got to work.

I installed a clothes rack in the attic to house some more clothes temporarily. It was absurdly hot and a desk fell on me, but I finished and took about 4 loads of clothes up there to store. I ended up biting the bullet and weedeating despite the crazy heat. After that was finished, i decided to finish burying the wires for the outdoor lighting by digging little trenches for the wires to rest in, then covering them with dirt. It was a little fun getting to use the axe and the pick axe with the shovel, but after a while, the wonder fades and it's just hard work.

Wanting to light the back corner of the yard with Christmas lights, I scurried up to the attic and brought down 2 large rubbermaid tubs of lights....only lights. I would like to report that after untangling and testing each strand, i have found 4 strands of white lights that work. seriously? 2 tubs and only four strands work??!? it boggles the damn mind, i tell ya.

luuuuulvllll

this is the correct pronunciation of louisville. i'm just sayin.

greetings from a strongly scented Ramada Inn. Claire and I are currently watching an episode of Sex & The City...the same episode, coincidentally, that Katie is watching in the conjoining room next door.

It was a hot one in the Bluegrass state today. We started the show around 6pm and were followed by an 8 piece irish band..um... i can't remember their name...oh. The Elders. Claire used to Irish dance and gave us a couple of glimpses into the glory that once was her dancing past. it was a blessing. we got some amazing video footage i'll have to put up here at some point including all of us hula hooping.


As we were hanging out in the crowd after our set, we ended up sitting by the playground area with a ton of very cute little kids. We had an idea to go up to each of them (ranging in ages from 6 months or so to 6 years) and have katie ask them what they thought of her show and make a video blog of it. I think it would have been hilarious, but we thought the parents might get a little weirded out. perhaps so. we did get one family of 10 (only 5 were there) to sit down and talk to us. one small step.

there was a gorgeous sunset over the water. here, katie chooses to enjoy it by working on her computer.




back home now and there is much to do before Allan's bday party on Saturday. I need to get motivated to do the little stuff...it's just so not the fun part. projects, i love...this....not so much. off to get motivated.

shalom.


oh. here's a little gem from the WFPK studio where we found a computer that i felt i could really empathize with.

You can't afford the freeway

In Louisville, KY to play WFPK's Waterfront Wednesday with Katie. We got in last night and stayed with Pam & Mike Helton (friends of my family's for too many years to count). They're so generous and it was great to be able to spend some time with them. They cooked a delicious meal and i broke down and finally ate red meat (first time in.....maybe 6 months?)

I got up around 7:30am. I just can't seem to shake the waking early thing lately. Finally went back to sleep and woke up again around 9:15 and guessed that was enough trying to sleep. Of course it's 11 and no one's up yet.

I started reading Godric by Frederick Buechner this morning. I had been wanting to get into Buechner as a lot of literarily credible friends :) have been singing his praises for years. Jason Killingsworth let me borrow his gorgeous hardback of Godric the last time i visited him in Atlanta and I've been so wanting to dive in. Having just read two modern non-fictions (a rarity for me), Godric is making me work. It's kind of nice. I've definitely had to re-read a few passages. it's pretty dense language, but i love it.

Watched a few videos of Aimee Mann & her band this morning. It's interesting how Paul Bryan's voice is such an integral part of her sound now. There's some great footage of her talking about getting signed to a major and the mythology about what that means....how maintaining the shoulder padded 80s look is difficult to do when you're dirt poor and living on $150/week on the road. Don't i know it. the hairspray alone gets me every week.

half and half

My internal clock has been waking me up pretty consistently lately at 8:15. That's kind of wild if you think about your body waking up on it's own at the same time every day...no alarm.... no matter when you go to sleep. 8:15 every day. kind of mysterious to me.

Dropped by Katie's this weekend, and set out on an unexpected mission around town to upgrade her whole home studio. Saw Patty Griffin at the Mac store buying an iphone case. Good times.

In unrelated news, I'm 9077 days old.

This weekend perpetuated the luke-warm phase i've been in for over a week. I feel like i haven't been able to get motivated to work OR play in an unadulterated way lately. I can't just focus and work without ceasing or rest without thinking of to-do lists. The result is this weird half-life version of both. It's kind of dreadful and makes for a pretty compromised version of both. I've had quite a few deadlines fall around the same time which has lengthened the to-do list a bit. Maybe i just need to get over that deadline hump... Hopefully that will end soon.

so flossy flossy

To Butterfly's for rehearsal. Some of the chords were so ridiculous, i had to take pictures on the iphone so i'd remember them. ok, so it's a little lazy, but... come on... so convenient. I think the show with Dawson and Butter will be fun. I just have NO idea what to expect. We decided to head to La Hacienda after rehearsal. Why is Mexican food and a cold Dos Equis such an amazing combination? It's like they chemically engineer the flavors to be exponentially more delicious together. Only THEN do their secret powers activate. Called Katie to meet us. We all decided to go to the Sex & The City movie (of course). It exceed my expectiations, actually.

crab legs and drinking to the dregs

derek's birthday.

we ended up going to south street. The Cooleys, Allan, Derek, Sandra and I celebrated Derek's birth with seafood and laughs. not a bad way to spend an evening. I got there early and ended up sitting on a bench outside and finished listening to "Eat. Pray. Love." I'm always sad when books end...well...good books. I had to work extra hard on my Catfish to get all the bones out...it was secretly a little fun. It's so fun to have Allan in town. Back to the Webb plantation where Sandra and her neighbor Kari had made homeade butterscotch pie. and by homemade, i mean seriously homemade. made the crust...everything. sooo yummy...and impressive. Played tennis on dw's new Wii. Cason was really getting into it....endlessly entertaining.



As I was working in the yard today, i was thinking about people i know who are amazing cooks like that who seem to have that gift of tending for and creating things things around the house with such great care. It's amazing to watch. Or those friends who are master gardeners... I'm so not that person. I love those things, but they are not a part of my daily life like i see in these people; they're like little holidays that i enjoy when they come my way.

I wonder if that's an age thing. Is that what I'll do when I retire? ... Suddenly have this gift for rose gardens, cooking and housekeeping? I just don't know. Maybe it's not in my gift bag. :) Wait a second. retire? what am i talking about? i can't imagine me having something to retire from. who knows.

return to things

lately i feel like i've returned to a lot of things that at one time brought be great pleasure (possible side effects also include clarity, energy, sanity, more apt assessment of the world around you, stillness, purpose and sometimes... buckets of happy).

After more or less two months on the road with little to no time in one given place, my head got a little....how you say...out of alignment? I've been on the road for longer periods of time, but this is was a unique version of this experience.

By no accident, i'm sure, i am the sole inhabiter of my house right now. (Something I love and hope to make a habit someday). One roommate moved out, one gone for the summer and one on vacation, it's just me and Scout. I can't help but think of the old adage that you cannot see your face in running water; only still water. I feel as if i may have unknowingly been the poster-child for such wisdom lately.

I love being alone and love the quiet, but love (perhaps as intensely) people and things. These are often at odds, but most certainly need each other....as i need them.... both greatly. One without the other, and things are not as they should be.

I'm not setting out to articulate everything that's happening right now, because that's what generally makes blogging feel daunting to me, but rather sharing how grateful i am for simple things right now. simple pleasures. simple work that brings pleasure.

I also have a confession. I (like many cynics my age) resist things that are "the new cool thing". I'm sure somehow i secretly think this makes me cooler....it does not. I have a magnet on my refrigerator that says, "Who cares what Oprah reads?" with an astute looking lamb reading a book with a monocle. I think you get the picture. I recently downloaded "Eat. Pray. Love." for my mom because...you guessed it...her book club was reading it. As with these cool new books, (and Oprah's endorsement), I know about a million people who are reading it. I'm not sure what broke through my jedi force field between me and this book, but yesterday morning, I awoke early, prayed for energy and a revitalized spirit (more or less), and headed to the Y. After a surprisingly great workout, I was energized and ready to face the day. (*this does not always happen) I got home and realized it was barely 9:30am. I used to LOVE getting up early and getting things done. There's that great feeling of looking at the clock at 9:30 and realizing you've already checked five things off your list and half the people you know aren't even up yet. I think i just always feel so behind, that I feel like i'm actually evening the playing field for a moment.

I stopped in Whole Foods for a Strawberry Kombucha, some mahi mahi, some asparagus, and some of these amazing crackers I've been stealing from Katie for weeks. Very content (and excited about being home alone), I took full advantage of my AirTunes and decided to listen to "Eat. Pray. Love." while i was cooking....very loudly...on every speaker in the house...because i can.

I decided to experiment a little with lunch (which having no concept of time... i thought was dinner) and ended up with lime & ginger Mahi-Mahi and orange-zested asparagus. It was kind of amazing. It began raining, so I opened the door to my patio, turned up the book, sat outside just under the awning, and ate. I ate in that savory sort of way where you're being fed in a few different ways at once and you know it.





I sat down to work and decided to close my email program, turn off iChat, and just listen as i worked. I worked undaunted and inspired for 5 or 6 hours before even looking up. I finished the designs, emailed them off and then knew it was time for a bike ride. I used to LOVE riding. I mean, i still do love all of these things, of course, i've just forgotten what they feel like. I threw the bike in the car, mourned the demise of my old bike rack for a minute, then headed to Shelby Bottoms. The rain had cooled everything off, and it was a pretty perfect ride. It was memorial day at 6:30pm and had just stormed, so there was almost no one in sight. It felt a bit like a Nike commercial. I decided to push myself on the front end and fight urges to turn back, as i knew it would get dark and there's nothing like chasing darkness when you're riding in the woods. It's always been a good motivator. All in all, i ended up riding about 8 miles and being exceedingly delighted about the day.

Here's to the return of things.




"The other problem with all this swinging through the vines of thought is that you're never where you are. You are always digging at the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment." - (from "Eat. Pray. Love")

speaking in bubbles

Thought this was interesting...

Video called "Speaking in Bubbles" about Ji Lee, a street artist in NY who founded Bubble Project. He tags stickers shaped like speech bubbles and places them over public advertisements, and he invites passersby to fill in the blanks with their own thoughts. After working in advertising for 4 years, Ji Lee shares his thoughts and unique approach to public spaces and street art. When describing his work, he states, [I don't like the term illegal; I prefer the term unauthorized.]"

Watch the video HERE.

Wiki-rado

Wikipedia just told me Colorado's state motto is "Nil sine Numine" - Nothing Without Providence. hmm. who knew?

Well, I just got back from a two week-ish run with Katie in her home state of Colorado. It was my first time to "The Centennial State" as Katie pointed out to the crowds each night. I must say, i had very high expectations as it was tied for the #1 position on "Things Jordan still wants to see in the U.S. but hasn't yet." and Colorado did not disappoint.

Coloradans (yes that's the official term for its residents) were just plain lovely and also very concerned/curious about my reaction to the altitude. (it was fine...until i went biking). Overall, i must say this may have been my favorite tour thus far. The shows were great..well attended, the company hard to beat and the music is absurdly great...such a blast to play.

We had Claire on cello, Katie played acoustic, sang and rocked the porchboard we are forever borrowing from PBA and I played the wildcat electric, accordion and ukulele.

I was watching The Colbert Report today as I was editing some photos and saw the Roots playing the theme song. a) they're a trio and sounded rockin'...and that's pretty awesome. b) Captain Kirk Douglas (guitarist for The Roots) was playing my guitar!! Same model, same finish. i feel 8 rock points cooler.









Oh. and here's episode 1 of our little video blog... enjoy. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-DWG0eBc_E

-jbh

how long

Wow. I haven't written anything on the old blog in a while. Never too late, i guess......

Well, i'm finally home after a run of shows with Katie Herzig in the Northeast. It was our first run with this arrangement, and turned out to be copious amounts of fun. Without the band, we were pulling double / triple duty with Katie on acoustic, porchboard, vox and me on electic, accordion, ukelele and vox....most definately maxing out our alloted carry ons and checked baggage on the plane. By the second show we really started getting into the groove of this new set up and i'll have to say, i'm kind of digging it.

DAY 1 - NYC

We flew into New York on Wednesday, staying with Katie's sister Jenny and her roomate Kristen (who both happened to be opera singers). For some reason, around midnight, we decided to utilize their talents in one of the songs (much to the shigrin of their neighbors, i'm sure). Here's what happened....



..yeah. pretty amazing. still makes me giggle.

Went to a cute little restaraunt in Inwood called "Guadalupe" (Mexican gourmet) with Katie, Jenny and Paul. Had some delicious Quesadilla de Seta y Queso which did not dissapoint

Woke up early the next morning and drove to do a radio interview / performance and WFUV. Everyone there was exceedingly kind and made the early morning an enjoyable one. The host was
Claudia Marshall and was a hoot. We had a great time and the sound engineer, Joe, ended up coming to the show with a friend later that night...which is always super fun.






The show Thursday night was at The Living Room and we had a great crowd and met some really awesome people. Being our first go at it, we were a little shakey musically, but the crowd was so warm and receptive, it made us feel ok about the bumps along the way.



to be continued

Kiss with busted lips

I wonder if anyone has ever tried to FTP someone's house on halloween instead of the traditional TP. seems like it would be a cleaner way to stick it to "Old Man Johnston". just a thought.

Yesterday was a busy day and I definately feel like I didn't get my sabbath rest. hopefully I'll get one in tomorrow. Got the mix for Judd & Maggie's new record and I"m really liking it. It's such a fun record. I'm glad to see people making music like this...It doesn't seem to be happening as much as it should these days.

We uploaded Cheyenne's album art today. We finished it just 4 days after he came to me with the project. I still can' believe we finished it on time. Here are a few images of the cover and exteriior panel.






It's an overly-busy week. Trying to hang on. Too crazy to make birthday plans yet, but i'll keep you posted.

Love Is A Mixtape

Well, I just recently finished a book by Rob Sheffield called, "Love is A Mixtape: Life and Loss One Song at a Time". I read it so quickly that I didn't even have time to switch the "currently reading" badge on here. My friend Bob had read it a month or so ago and it sounded great. In the mood for something different, I checked it out from the library and totally loved it. Here's a little blurb about it...

A celebratory eulogy for life in "the decade of Nirvana," rock critic Sheffield's captivating memoir uses 22 "mix tapes" to describe his being "tangled up" in the "noisy, juicy, sparkly life" of his wife, Renee, from the time they met in 1989 to her sudden death from a pulmonary embolism in 1997. Each chapter begins with song titles from the couple's myriad mixes—"Tapes for making out, tapes for dancing, tapes for falling asleep"—and uses them to describe a beautiful love story: "a real cool hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl" meeting in graduate school a "hermit wolfboy, scared of life, hiding in my room with my records," and how they built a tender relationship on the music they loved, from the Meat Puppets to Hank Williams. Their bond as soul mates makes his reaction to her death deeply moving: "I had no voice to talk with because she was my whole language." But Sheffield's wonderful, often hilarious and lovingly detailed stories about their early romance and their later domestic life show how they created their own personal "mix tape" of life in the same way a music mix tape "steals moments from all over the musical cosmos and splices them into a whole new groove."



It was my first memoir, so we're setting the bar pretty high here. I went to the library again yesterday to find a replacement, but just ended up getting some cookbooks, a few design books and picking up the "Bass Basics" kit on reserve. :) I couldn't really tell what I was in the mood for next, so, I picked up C.S. Lewis' "That Hideous Strength" and requested "Perfect From Now On". We'll see what sticks.

Left CCEN a bit early last night to make it to Jason Feller's CD Release party. It was a good show and good to see him doing his thing. I'm glad people are going to hear that record. After the show, stopped by Eric's new house and had a little late dinner. Ryan, Dawn, Eric, and Lele were all there for the dance party when we discovered that the lights were on a touch-sensitive switch. And Scott was there after just returning from Moldova, so we celebrated by commandeering Eric's keyboard and drum kit for some much overdue rocking.

Off to the post, the Y and hopefully the grocery to get some things to try out the new cookbooks!

done.

Went to church last night. Played guitar and got to finally try out Butterfly's Gretsch Jr. I've had for a while. It's just so gorgeous.

Many times after church I get this feeling like it's time to hang out. Go eat with someone, watch a movie, order a pizza...generally anything involving people. Last night, I got to the end of my mental list of people to call to hang out and realized tonight may have to derrivate from the normal Sunday evening. Then, I remembered my book patiently awaiting my return home. So, I grabbed a snack from the pantry, got into my pjs, grabbed my book and hopped in bed.... at 9:00pm. It was amazing. I saw the light at the end of the reading tunnel. I saw I only had about 60 pages left in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" and I decided to finish it. around 11:00pm, it finally happened. Man, I LOVE that feeling. The feeling was amplified a bit b/c a) it was a lengthy book and b) it had been on my "to read" list for many moons, i just hadn't gotten around to it. So exciting. Now, comes the always dangerous choice of the next book. It's like a relationship...choose poorly and you might be stuck there for a little while. choose wisely, and oh the adventures you have in store, young reader. ...i just chuckled out loud a bit just then. Ok. off to look for a job....and a book.

3 is the magic number

Charles Thomas Rhodes Webb.... (calling him Rhodes)
Stats: Born July 4, 2007 2:26am
8 1/2 lb
19 1/2 in
Generally considered by the rampant "baby posses" to be "the coolest"

going back to nashville, thinking 'bout the whole thing...

Well, we had our final show of the tour last night and I took Steve to the airport this morning before I....ahem...went into the office. So, our chapter together has officially come to an end. It was such a fun run of shows and I'll really miss how those songs came together with that arrangement of sounds. My favorite things about being home thus far is

a) my hamper. (not the actual hamper so much as the fact that i can put dirty clothes in a hamper and not repack them in a strategic way every day.)

b) friends.

to be continued

Greetings from..um... i'm not sure where (VOL. 1)

Well, this really is one of our only long drives on this tour, so I thought I’d use part of it to write a ridiculously long blog with too much information about what we’ve been up to on the road. ...ok. maybe i'll break it up into two posts

We’re on the home stretch of the tour and I’ve been so busy with the video bloggery that this space has been a bit neglected. Sowy.

It’s been a good tour. Much to be done, but high fun as well. It’s such a funny combination of people that it works brilliantly. It’s like when see an ice cream flavor with chiles in it. Sounds crazy, but it’s delicious. (said in jim gaffigan voice). It didn’t take us too long to hit our stride and it’s been such a fun time. I’m trying to think back of all that’s happened and it’s kind of overwhelming. We’d had some time in every city, so it’ been crazy… feeling like we’ve actually had all these experiences then a few hours later you’re in a completely different town with a completely different feel. Sounds pretty typical I guess, it just feels more potent this go-round. Here’s a fun little run down of the highlights:

5/17 - Birmingham, AL: we shared the bill with Emily DeLoach and MPJ. The Bottletree was a cool venue with great food and a super cool airstream for artists to hang out in (see video blog episode #2) ☺, but they took an absurd amount out of the door. Oh well. It was great to be in bham. We stayed with Jessica & Jeff Heine and it was so great to spend a little time with them. Also got to see emily’s fam which is always fun. I have such great memories of that town and have been lucky enough that I seem to only be having more great memories there. We wrapped up our visit with a trip to the Botanical Gardens then hit the road with a stop in Atlanta. (my first visit to anthropologie. Finally used my gift card the Normans were kind enough to give me for playing in their wedding a year ago and got sweet new burnt orange pants and a cool sailory looking blue jacket)

5/18,19 – Greenville, SC - got to meet a lot of the guys at Portland and hang out with Brannon. Picked up the etchings they did for Steve and they look very cool. Had a pint at an irish bar before the show and Kevin’s Costner’s band was playing next door. We tried to go see them, but had just missed their set. Ours was a kind of a crazy show in the beginning, but it was a fun night.

5/20 – Charlotte, NC – We mad a pit stop in King’s Mountain, NC and did a bit of hiking. They had just burned a lot of the brush and forrest part so it too closely resembled Middle Earth, but they had one of those great “movies” that state parks have on the battle of…so and so at yada yada Hill in which Steve and Judd fell asleep after we had a good laugh at a few of the “historians’” expenses. we made good time and got to Charlotte with a little time to kill. George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelik were playing directly across the street from us and we got to see him and his band a bit as they were hanging out before the show. We all love the Evening Muse and Joe (the owner) was great as always.

5/21 – we did an on-air at WWWW. I had actually done on on-air years ago with Emily there and as soon as I walked in the woman said, “you were here before with another band, right?” I was impressed. some people have amazing memories. It was a great on-air, and they were just as kind as I remember.

5/22 – Charlottesville, VA – super cool looking venue with books lining the walls, but a really small crowd. It’s not a good sign when you get to a venue and they say, “yeah. We’re probably going to go under. No one in this town comes to shows.” It was a fun night anyway and we really got to interact with the people at the show who were so kind and responsive. People asked questions and were so appreciative.

5/23 – Red Bank, NJ – (BobFest) – BobFest is an annual show that Pat Guadagno puts on every year in Red Bank on Bob’s birthday in a really great theater. Steve was asked to play again this year and it was so fun to watch. I mean, I’ll watch a good band play Bob Dylan songs for 3 hours any day of the week. Judd & Maggie’s friend Brother Andrew drove up and it was great to meet him. Steve and I went out after the show to grab a drink with all the guys from the show and they were a hoot. There’s definitely a jersey feel to them all and they were a blast to party with. We stayed with Steve’s dad, Nick, in Ocean and he was a riot. Imagine “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. Yeah.. So great. ☺ We woke up the next day and drove just a few minutes to Long Branch and walked along the ocean, had some delicious Greek food and some gelato to top it off before we headed out.


.... to be continued

video killed the blogio star.

greetings from lovely NYC. I'm currently looking out the window of a new friend's AMAZING Brownstone in Brooklyn. Seriously. This place is ubelievable.

Well, the tour has been good thus far. Some stress, but a great deal of fun. The combination of people is crazy, but seems to work perfectly. I"ll be updating more tomorrow in greater detail, but to get you started, here are the first of the video blogs we made on the road (it's really just one broken up into 3 parts). enjoy. warning: we're weird. (you can also search "Delopoulos" or "Judd & Maggie" if these videos give you grief.

i've been duped.

two nights ago, i made a late night trip to Kroger for some essentials: Dog food, organic milk and some TP. Now, in terms of my toilet paper, i don't have a strong allegiance, and typically get what's on sale. I saw that Quilted Northern was on sale this day. My mind hearkened back to their commercials depicting charming cartoon grandmother-types quilting each square by hand. This sounded delightful to me in the Kroger isle at 1am. So, I fell for it. I got the Quilted Northern home only to find it was neither soft, nor charming. Let me tell you, friends...nothing about it felt quilted...unless people quilt burlap sacks to make toilet paper. Don't be fooled, kids. And, Quilted Northern, I'm on to your Tom Foolery.