While catching up on feeds during lunch yesterday, I noticed a post on Mark Maynard's site about shopping locally. Amanda and I had talked about, while out filming Pedal, doing gift shopping this year from independent people: indie filmmakers, penniless musicians, non-franchise stores, et cetera.

I really love the idea of shopping on a person to person level. Unfortunately, I am unable to afford a plane ticket to Michigan for the weekend of the Shadow Art Fair, but I still plan on buying from those local (Detroit'ish) artist through their websites.


I just felt that the "Buy Local Michigan / Shop Ypsi" campaign was a great thing, and wanted to help spread the word as much as I can.

I met Eric over three years ago, and I think it took me about another year to find out that he had a band (cause he's modest like that), and when I listened to the music on his myspace page: I loved it. I really loved it.

But I wanted to make sure my opinion wasn't biased just because it was "Eric", so I wandered out into the living room where Amanda was hanging out on the couch, I had her put put on the headphones and hit play on my iPod. She started dancing around (as much as a person can while sitting in a ball on the couch), she said something like, "I like this, who is it?". I replied "Eric", and she pulled an earbud out to hear me, and I said it again, "Eric".

"Eric who?"

"Eric, Eric... our Eric..."

"What!!!!? Really?"

"Yea, I know."

"Oh wow, oh wow, Eric..."

The conversation went on like this - I played about 4 different songs for her, and she was as hooked as I was. That was my first experience with 'A Faulty Chromosome'. Since then, Eric has been working on the band's first CD (along with Mike and Matt, the other two members of the band), they've played a few dozen shows around LA, and six months ago they took a road trip up to Portland to record with the guy from Rocketship.

Since then, Eric has been mixing the tracks in his little home studio, a few days ago he announced he was expecting a large box of their first CD, titled 'as an ex-anorexic's six sicks exit', to arrive at his door very soon! And it's been well worth the wait - you can listen to the songs off their album here. It's crazy to me to hear how they've changed over the last few years, from the first demos he had on myspace to now.


I'm very excited about something Eric mentioned on their blog, here's a few cut & pasted parts:

they will be cheap, because: i don't like capitalism / i want everyone to be able to afford them / this isn't a get-rich-quick scheme...

there are 10 songs. (half of which, you've probably never heard... the other half, you may have heard super lo-fi versions of)

those songs will last 46 minutes. the liner notes have lyrics and scribbles (no pictures though, we are ugly).

ill probably end up posting all the mp3s soon enough. i don't care if you burn/rip/share (in fact, please do!).

I love that Eric is all about, above all, getting their music out there for people to listen to - I'm hoping I can persuade him to set up a Radiohead'ish package where people can pay anything they want to download their entire album, complete with album artwork and lyrics. I need to figure out how that works.

But please at least follow this link to their free songs, just crank it up while you work on other things, I'm sure I'll post again when he released the actual mp3 files for download, and when I get my first glimpse at the CD. And feel free to give a congrats on their myspace page - it's taken a long, long time for them to get to this point.

so here it is...

this is my last post on caliblog. a lot has happened over the last year or so. after about 4 1/2 years together mike and i broke up. he broke up with me last valentine's day. it came as a surprise, to say the least. obviously we didn't make a big announcement or anything. it actually took several months for our relationship to come to a true close. in april, i moved out of the apartment we'd been living in with billy. then, in may, i made the decision to continue working with mike on pedal. we took off to film the documentary in june and the rest is history. our lives will never be the same. at this point it's hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing. but i still believe everything happens for a reason.

i can't imagine what my life would be had i not met mike at the ypsilanti target almost 6 years ago. falling in love with him changed my life. living with him taught me so much, and i am a different person because of it. i'm a better person. i am happier and peaceful.

i'm thankful for all of the wonderful experiences we shared and great things we did. i'm happy that we moved to LA. i am happy that we finally made some wonderful friends. i feel very loved by them. i'm glad that mike showed me a new way to watch a film. i'm glad the we created an idea for a film and haven't given up yet. i'm excited to see how it will turn out.

i'm proud of mike for all that he's accomplished since we've lived here. i'd like to tell jim manley to shove it! in your face, asshole. i wish mike a very happy 26th birthday.

it makes me sad that we no longer celebrate our birthdays together. but that's life. and life will go on. he knows i love him. i care about him. we're still best friends on some level that we'll always be.

it hasn't been easy for me. i won't lie. we don't talk or see each other much. that's mostly my doing. it's still too hard for me sometimes. i'm just doing what i need to do. but it's getting better.

while on the road filming for pedal, in north dakota, i found a beautiful 9 wk chocolate puppy on the fort berthold indian reservation. i named her charlie. she is the new love of my life. taking care of her and watching her grow has warmed my soul. after we returned from filming i moved in with my step-sister amber. her best friend, rebecca, decided to try something different, and moved to the wilderness of oregon. so i took rebecca's room in a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a great back yard and pool. charlie and i share the house with amber, her 2 dogs, and joel. joel is from chicago. he's great fun. it's really nice to finally have a home. before settling in here i spent about 6 months wandering from one temporary place to the next. living out of a bag, boxes or a van. sleeping on couches, in guest rooms, hotels and tents. it's nice to finally have a home. to finally feel loved and supported.

it's interesting to spend time alone. i'm learning a lot about myself. about life and how i see it. i'm finding out who amanda really is. this is the first time i've been single since i was 13. it's different. i like it. i'm enjoying myself. learning to love myself. this is the first time ever in my life that i've been alone and not felt lonely.

it's kind of sad to leave caliblog. thanks to everyone who has followed along with our story. it's been fun. i'm so glad we have this record. i love what mike has done with the new layout and look. i'm glad he took my advise and will continue posting here. i'd like to have a blog/vlog of my own someday. when that day comes, i'll be sure to let you all know. i'd like to give a shout-out to seth. he's possibly the oldest caliblog fan who doesn't actually know us. he's stayed with us all of this time, and frankly.. i'm impressed. thanks. to everyone else... take care and i'll see ya around :)

peace.

Today, while listening to podcast of the Thom Hartman radio program, I heard some discussion on a pile of trash floating in the Pacific Ocean almost twice as large as the state of Texas! Let that sink in for a moment.

I wondered how many plastic trash bags once belonged to me.

From the SFGate [...] The so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists.

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii.

The patch has been growing, along with ocean debris worldwide, tenfold every decade since the 1950s, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.