December 2009
27 posts
WatchThis is it. The end of the Man (hat on) tour. A gig at the Tumblr office, a party at Gowanus Studio Space and our return to the delights of England.
With special guest appearances by Dave Barratt (legendary producer of Roger and Dave fame), Meaghan O’Connell (Miss Tumblr and ex-Scarface), Jonathan Coulton (the orginal and greatest internet superstar) and John Hodgman (author, television...
“Editing the final #manhaton video and planning the Christmas party… ;)”
– http://twitter.com/ihatemornings/status/6630864931
WatchBased on Roger and Dave’s incredible Beatles Complete on Ukulele podcast, this was an insanely cool event.
Over 100 musicians played all 185 Beatles songs over 12 hours with Roger Greenawalt playing uke on every single track.
I got to play four of my favourites: It Won’t Be Long, I Call Your Name, Ask Me Why and Golden Slumbers.
There were some amazing singers there. Emily Zuzik...
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WatchPhotos from the gig at Gowanus Studio Space. Again, Miranda was behind the camera.
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WatchPhotos from the gig at the Tumblr office. Miranda took all of these. ;)
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WatchPhotos from the Beatles Complete On Ukulele Festival. Miranda took most of these.
Different Cities
Every time I come here I see a different city.
The first time I visited New York I was twelve. It was nothing to me but the place of my mother’s birth; and therefore, though my only impressions of it were vague and fluid, like a film, I had some invisible tie to it. I had heard place names. Brooklyn place names, mostly, because that was where she had lived; in a cramped apartment on...
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Watchdavid:
Ben Walker came by to sing my favorite new tweet!
The first online evidence of the Tumblr gig this afternoon, and a new movement for the Tweet Suite ;)
The 2nd annual Beatles Complete on Ukulele...
There were ukulele players aplenty. I’ve never seen so many ukulele players. There were good musicians and bad musicians. There was bowling and beer. Kids danced, hipsters slouched (and there were a lot of hipsters, because this was Williamsburg, the hive of hipster-dom, the skinny-jean capital of the world). There were women on stage in tutus and leather pants and men with beards and...
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WatchHere’s a quick video of one of my songs from the Beatles Complete On Ukulele Festival in Brooklyn today. There are more (and some videos of other bands too) that I’ll upload later. For now this will have to do. I need some sleep. ;)
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WatchThe midweek report, featuring the new recording of Box Junction Heart…
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NEW RECORDING! JUST FINISHED! LITERALLY 2 MINUTES...
Ben and the infamous Roger rehearsing for the...
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An open invitation for coffee on Saturday
Yo.
We (Ben, Xander, and Miranda of the infamous Man (hat on) Tour) are finally here, in New York City, wandering around making music and videos and stuff, and then writing about it.
We’re going to be at Verb Café in Williamsburg, on Saturday, between, say, the hours of 2 and 5pm. Shall I say that again, so you can all put it in your diaries and set your reminders and tattoo it on the...
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Amongst the Buildings: A Different Cityscape
Late lunch followed by a walk in the park. Not just any park. An elevated park. We’re up amongst the buildings–not above them, not looking up at them from the street, but weaving through them, like we’re hovering, like it’s magic. The sun sets behind us as we walk (through? over?) the meatpacking district. We can see into art galleries and meeting spaces, meet the eyes of billboard models. A...
Jet-Lagged Notes on Jet-Lag
It’s like a splitting of the self. First you’re there, and now you’re here, only not all of you is here, not yet. The body can cross the Atlantic in seven hours but the brain takes longer. And before it catches up to you, you’re adrift. Tuesday evening. We’ve been here less than 24 hours. We’ve spent the day wandering through empty industrial alleyways in...
On Winter
Why do we do it? Every year. There’s this point at which suddenly you realize you’ve come too far. It was nice for awhile; the crisp air, fauvist leaves, log fires, mulled cider. Then one day you wake up and the leaves have all fallen and made a wet black paste on your garden path. The sun sets at 3:55 pm. Even the trees are shivering. Here you are again. Arrived on the doorstep of winter....
The New York Trip Begins
I should write something here. I haven’t in awhile. How about this? We’re in New York. I arrived in a grump and a huff so it’s difficult to speak of the last twelve hours with any particular sentimentality. We got here; I complained; I moaned; I dragged my suitcase up and down some stairs, petulantly refusing Xander’s help; I complained some more; I fell asleep. But now it’s a bright Brooklyn...
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WatchWe walk. We ride. We fly. We sleep. We watch plane movies. We take the A train. We arrive in New York. We split up. We sleep again.
After weeks of incessant planning we’ve finally made it to New York. We’re loaded with t-shirts and badges to sell to unsuspecting Americans, and we have a hell of a week lined up.
November 2009
20 posts
Man (on couch)
So! This Man (hat on) thing is pretty cool, don’t you think? And wow! The tour is coming up really soon! So you’re probably wondering what you can do to help/get involved/make your mark.
Well, you’re in luck. There is something you can do.
See, here’s how it is: we’re based in Oxford. That’s a pretty long way away from New York City. And though I do...
Photos from the Gardeners Arms gig
(dutifully machine tagged on Flickr, naturally ;)
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Man (Hat On) Tour : WinkyFace ;) | Fellow Creative →
Carl was in Oxford on Sunday to talk to us about sustainable creativity (he pretty much invented the phrase ;), and recorded a couple of tracks at the gig…
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WatchThe Oxford Flickr Group guys and girls rock like a mountain.
Yep. Down here. The link. I blogged it. The whole thing: http://ihatemornings.com/album-artwork-flickr/
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WatchOn Sunday I learned how screen printing works. It’s basically magic. Watch the video. ;)
For the Man (hat on) tour we wanted to make some t-shirts by hand. I had no idea how. So I called on Nick Gill, who always seems to be able to print one thing on another. He printed the logo on a letter press and threw in a WINKYFACE for good luck.
I’m falling in love with letterpressed...
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“I’m making an educated guess that you would dig the idea of a British geek...”
– My pitch email to meaghano about playing at Tumblr. I hate writing pitch emails. So I don’t. I just write funny emails to people I like. And funny is always better than good. — Ben
LDM Update
The Literary Death Match in Oxford went well! Miranda was the evening’s runner-up (ultimately losing out to local poet George Chopping in a brutal game of musical chairs), Ben (appointed an impromptu judge) expressed his opinions through the medium of guitar, and Xander made sure everything went smoothly (and that booze was in ready supply). See, we really are good at this. Trust us.
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See Us In Action Now!
There are still a few weeks left before we embark upon our New York City adventure, but in the meantime, if you live in or around Oxford, you can see Xander, Ben and I do our respective things at the Oxford Literary Death Match this Wednesday, 4 November, at 8pm.
Here’s a perfect example of different skills being used for the same aim. This is an event that Xander has planned and produced,...
October 2009
7 posts
Baudelaire is a 'Principled Geek'
“For the passionate observer, it’s an immense pleasure to take up residence in multiplicity, in whatever is seething, moving, evanescent and infinite: you’re not at home, but you feel at home everywhere; you see everyone, you’re at the centre of everything yet you remain hidden from everybody.”
Miranda Blogs About Man (hat on)... →
I’m about to be a part of something really cool. Next month, I’m going to New York with Xander and Ben for a sort of tour 2.0-type thing. We’re calling it Man (hat on). There’s even a logo (and the likelihood of t-shirts). No, I’m not a musician. My misguided adolescent foray into the world of string instruments is likely as far as I’ll ever go, musically. But it doesn’t matter....
WatchI’m preparing some versions of Beatles songs for the 2nd Annual Beatles Complete On Ukulele Festival. This is one of them. I’ll try to learn the words before playing it in front of actual people. ;)
