Pandarosa Blog

lakesigns: With the 6:30 pm arrival of our cardboard album...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:05:14 -0400

These are the sweet cardboard CD packages printed by Stumptown Printers in Portland, OR.

Corrie adds watercolor to the cover. Each one is unique

John Paul cuts the lyrics books.

Did we mention that our basement flooded on Thursday? Ergo, all our instruments are now in the living room. Also: it was snowing outside when this was taken. Well played, Chicago.

Ooo. So crisp.

The final product!

lakesigns:

With the 6:30 pm arrival of our cardboard album packages yesterday, we finally had all the elements needed to assemble the physical release of our new album Husk. All of the band, Corrie Andrews (John Paul’s fiance and creator of all the beautiful art for Husk), and our good friend Dan Rowell convened at the Lakesigns house in Avondale to put everything together. We hope you’ll agree that it all came out looking real pretty.

We’ll be putting these in the mail for the good folks who’ve already pre-ordered. If you’ve been waiting for the physical release, please head over to the Bandcamp page to purchase a copy.

Lakesigns’ second full-length album, Husk, is the result of one...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:51:56 -0500

Lakesigns’ second full-length album, Husk, is the result of one year of intensive writing and recording in the band’s basement in Chicago, USA. After the band’s original drummer left in February 2012 having recorded drum tracks for Lakesigns’ newest songs, the four remaining members of the band decided to temporarily forgo the hustle of life as a live band and instead focus all their energies on crafting—doing justice to—this batch of songs.

The conclusion is Husk, an eleven-song album representing a marked artistic step forward for the band. They have maintained their distinctive musical approach of layered rock filled out by saxophone, but every element is much tighter and focused than before. And above all Husk keeps the focus squarely on the song, with vocals loud, clear, and dry in the mix.

With song titles like “Sadmaker” and “Darlin, Darlin, Gone,” the band isn’t pulling any punches—there’s some real sadness here. But there’s a lot else too and the title, Husk, captures some of that. A husk is, after all, the protective covering for a seed, the vessel carrying that life through to germination. Some seeds won’t give up their husks until they’ve gone through the heat of a forest fire. It can also be the leavings, the empty carrier left without use, or as a verb, the revealing and unmasking. Husk, then, is an album pervaded by this sense of life and loss, with an acknowledgment that each has its place.

New album from Lakesigns, out in a week! Follow the link to...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:53:32 -0500

New album from Lakesigns, out in a week! Follow the link to stream two new tracks and pre-order your copy now:

http://lakesigns.bandcamp.com/album/husk

Pandarosa Records Christmas Showcase, Friday the 21st at Mokah...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 11:23:38 -0500

Pandarosa Records Christmas Showcase, Friday the 21st at Mokah Coffee Bar - Pandarosa Christmas Showcase

An engagement story from John Paul Thompson, owner of Pandarosa...

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:31:04 -0400

An engagement story from John Paul Thompson, owner of Pandarosa Records.

—-

On the morning of our anniversary, I woke up to rain. I had been constantly checking the weather during the days leading up to August 20^th - a year-and-a-half after my first date with Corrie Andrews - finding that it was supposed to be partly cloudy but dry, an inaccuracy that put me in a waking state of panic that morning. I made the decision to skip work and stay home, to develop Plan B and to find some calm.

—

In an attempt to mask my intentions, I had casually offered Corrie several locations for our anniversary date a week earlier; the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Garfield Park Conservatory, the Canal Street Drawbridge, or a walk through Lakeview to find the empty storefront in which we had placed a note above the drop-ceiling after a date a few months into our relationship. All of these places were significant to us. She chose the Canal Street Drawbridge, since it would be easier for me, coming from Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago - she is very thoughtful. The bridge, spanning the south fork of the Chicago River, is a vertical-lift drawbridge that services local and regional heavy rail. On top is a machine house, gray and rusty tin sheathing a sort of cottage structure. We should live there, she declared from the banks of the river in Ping Tom Park on September 11^th of 2011. It put a smile on my face to consider that we might have a life together.

—

After laundry and a nap, I gathered provisions: a thin blue blanket, a grey wool cardigan, a purple water bottle, magenta chopsticks, and two plums, all packed into a black traveling-sales sample trunk, with the ring. I had decided on an outfit earlier that day, and proceeded to put on black jeans, a dark blue cotton pearl-snap, and Red Wing dress boots. I walked out the door and got on the Blue Line heading southeast, toward downtown. It had stopped raining

—

I got off at Monroe and walked up onto Madison at Dearborn, just east of the Chase Tower. I found a sushi bar and ordered a roll of crab, tuna, avocado, a roll of smoked salmon, a roll of yellowfin and scallions, and a roll of plain tuna. I asked the maître d’ if I could have one of their flowers. He laughed and declined. I found a flower store across from where I would meet Corrie. I didn’t have anything in mind, so when the woman behind the counter asked, I blurted out, “Do you have any succulents?” Corrie at least likes those, I thought. The clerk said no but pointed me toward some potted plants that looked close enough for me, with red flowers shooting up out of waxy thick leaves of yellow-green. I bought the plant, walked across the street, straightened my hair and my shirt collar in the glass of a storefront window, and sat to wait for her arrival.

—

She walked down from the Adams “L” minutes later. She wore a dark green and black dress under a thin dark grey cardigan, with lacey black stockings and light brown canvas hi-tops. We kissed on the spot where we had first kissed on March 10^th, 2011. I gave her the flowering plant and she asked about the trunk. Just some stuff, I told her. I took her hand and we walked through the Loop toward the cut of the river as it heads toward the lake. The train drowned out our conversation so we crossed on Madison over to Michigan. We talked about our day, about an old man’s comment on her stockings, and I tried very hard to not come off strained or unnatural. As we crossed the river, we pointed to places where we had been, together and apart. Remember the time… That’s where I… We walked around the Wrigley Building and back against the river just as our Water Taxi arrived. We boarded and sat at the stern, watching the boat pivot in front of us as we cut down the river. We talked about the places and buildings we still wanted to explore. We had to get off at Madison in the West Loop, across from the Lyric Opera House, and wait for the next boat through to Chinatown. We nearly missed the smaller boat as it arrived, but boarded just in time— the last run of the night. I sat in the bow as Corrie took pictures of the rusty bridges and river bank that we passed.

—

We arrived at Ping Tom Park at sunset and I walked her over to a spot that I had scouted out the week before. I opened up the trunk, revealing the sushi, the plums nestled in plastic glasses, the blue picnic blanket, and the grey cardigan. The ring was tucked away in its pocket. I had put it there because I didn’t want it simply sitting out, but I also knew that she might get cold and need the cardigan - that’s why I brought the cardigan after all - and it might work out that I might give it to her that way. We laid out the blanket, set out the sushi, and said a prayer as we began dinner in the shadow of our house on top of the bridge.

—

She told me she was chilly, and would take the cardigan after all. My stomach lurched as I politely got up to retrieve it. I gave it to her, careful to make sure the ring box didn’t tumble out, down the slightly sloping bank, into the river. She put on the cardigan and mentioned immediately that something was in the pocket. I nodded, managing a “Yup”, barely able to speak. She pulled out the box and opened it as I asked, “Will you marry me?”, my voice husky and unnatural with gravity and care. She neatly tossed the box to the side and said, “Yes”, as I approached her for a kiss and an embrace. I double checked, and she said yes again. I took the ring from the box on the ground and placed it on her finger— a good fit. She was quiet with happiness and I was anxious and inquisitive with happiness, so we had an awkward few minutes as we stabilized our emotions. We returned to our dinner, watching trains and ships and kayaks pass by. We grinned and grinned. I got the hiccups. We finished the plums and the sushi. We listened to the slaps of fish jumping and to the scuttling of an unknown animal around the grass under the retaining wall. Finally we decided to leave, to get some coffee and dessert in Chinatown before getting on the Red Line. We gathered our things, packing them all back in the black trunk. We were walking away from our house above the river just as it started to rain.

Front page of the D Magazine events page. What else would you...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:32:13 -0400

Front page of the D Magazine events page. What else would you rather be doing in Dallas on a Saturday night?

Jonny the Wham, at the showcase this Saturday!

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:47:43 -0400

Jonny the Wham, at the showcase this Saturday!

Pagelings, at the showcase this Saturday!

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:36:44 -0400

Pagelings, at the showcase this Saturday!

Embrace a Train, at the showcase this Saturday, August 11th!

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:46:00 -0400

Embrace a Train, at the showcase this Saturday, August 11th!

Jonny the Wham; pre-order the new single at the Showcase

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:47:00 -0400

Jonny the Wham; pre-order the new single at the Showcase

Border-lands Fundraiser CD: Lakesigns on Compilation with...

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:44:00 -0400

Border-lands Fundraiser CD: Lakesigns on Compilation with Calexico, Sweet Honey in the Rock, more…

I would not characterize Pandarosa Records as a “political” label. Still, it has been argued that music itself is political. Plato’s Republic states that “musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state”, for “when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them” (Bloom tr. Republic 255). Our artists want to improve the world, and we try to make musical innovations in order to contribute to its beauty. However some of our music also criticizes its ugliness, and the song ”Sunset Limited” from 2011’s Imboden Hoxie (PAN009) by Lakesigns does just that. Written as a sort of modern “protest” song, “Sunset Limited” is about life along the U.S.-Mexico border and the hard realities of U.S. border control. Will Gosner, acoustic-guitarist, singer, songwriter, and lyricist for Lakesigns, comes from the border-town of Tucson, Az and wrote the lyrics for “Sunset Limited” with a personal perspective of the events and conditions near his hometown. While I have fewer personal ties to the U.S.-Mexico border, my mother is an immigrant, as is Pandarosa co-founder Joseph Thompson’s wife- my sister-in-law (and member of inactive Pandarosa band Me You Speaky). While these important women in my life didn’t traverse the southern border, they have dealt with the idiosyncratic complexities of immigration law.

Lakesigns has been asked to contribute their song “Sunset Limited” to a new compilation of music about the borderlands. An organization called No More Deaths / No Más Muertes is putting together the CD, featuring artist such as Calexico, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Michael Franti, Tom Russell, Joel Rafael, Eliza Gilkyson, Scott Ainslie, Dúo Guardabarranco, Lilo Gonzalez, Margaret Randall (poet), Mario Bencastro (Salvadoran poet), Denise Chávez, and others. The money from CD sales will go toward services for many communities on both sides of the border, which you can read about on their website. However, CD’s themselves cost money to make and before any of the money from CD sales can go to help border communities, the CD’s have to be produced. If you would like to donate to the production of those CD’s, details are below.

Here’s hoping that this CD, along with the efforts of organizations like No More Deaths, can help bring clarity and peace to our borders and shores.

————-

From the No More Deaths press release:

In response to the urgent situation on our border and within our country, we [No More Deaths] have recorded an album of border songs and spoken word.

100% of the proceeds from this CD will go to “No More Deaths / No más Muertes,” a humanitarian group that provides water, food, and medical care to migrants in the desert and to others on the Mexican side of the border who need help after being deported.

All artists are donating their work and the producers are volunteering their time. We need to fundraise around $7000 to have the CDs pressed and to print the accompanying book.

No More Deaths has created a special account to hold donations made for this project.You can write a check to:
UUCT-No More Deaths (memo line: CD FUNDRAISER)

and mail to
No More Deaths / CD Fundraiser
Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson
P.O. Box 40782
Tucson, AZ 85717

If you prefer to donate on line, follow this link:
https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=3976

PLEASE WRITE IN THE DEDICATION LINE “On behalf of CD fundraiser.” That way the funds won’t get mixed in with the regular No More Deaths donations. Regular No More Deaths donations are great too, but between the CD, concert and associated activities, we hope to triple or quadruple your donation and to create some good vibes in the process.

All donations are tax deductible

The images that I have been posting online over the last few...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:43:47 -0400

The images that I have been posting online over the last few weeks, seen in previous posts on this blog, on Facebook, and Twitter, are promotional designs for the upcoming Summer Showcase at Club Dada on August 11th. The concept for this promotional campaign developed after I stumbled upon a series of photos posted by a user named “Leaflet” on Wikimedia Commons. I had already been searching for photos of Texas to incorporate in a design, and when I found these well-framed full-resolution photographs of Texas’s rural landscape studded with farming structures, I decided to compile a series of posters and designs that would highlight the beautiful simplicity of the photographs while also providing all the information for the event, simply and succinctly. In case anyone had been wondering, they are all photographs of Texas, posted to Wikimedia Commons. They are free to use, some without attribution or permission, whereas others require that any use be attributed and “shared alike”. They are photographs taken in Wastella, Roscoe, Estacado, Hale, Abernathy, Wayside, Big Bend, Levelland, Llano, Mesquite, Lubbock, O’Donnell, and many more Texas towns in the last ten years. I had wanted to use images of Texas since I honestly have been missing home these days and am really looking forward to going back, both for the Showcase but also just to be in the place I was raised, with my family around me. Still, these photographs also reminded me of the Midwest that currently surrounds me, and I like that collapse between places. The text uses Bebas and Bebas Neue, along with ESRI Font 24 and Bookshelf Symbol 7.

Posters will be printed and available at the Showcase on August 11th at Club Dada.

August 11th, 8pm Feat.Jonny the WhamPagelingsEmbrace a Trainand...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:48:00 -0400

August 11th, 8pm

Feat.
Jonny the Wham
Pagelings
Embrace a Train
and more

$5 for 21+
$10 for 18+

Club Dada
2720 Elm Street,
Dallas, TX

photo: Big Bend, TX; 2006

August 11th, 8pm Feat.Jonny the WhamPagelingsEmbrace a Trainand...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:06:00 -0400

August 11th, 8pm

Feat.
Jonny the Wham
Pagelings
Embrace a Train
and more

$5 for 21+
$10 for 18+

Club Dada
2720 Elm Street,
Dallas, TX

photo: Buffalo Lake, TX; 2009

mark your calendars; more info coming soon

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:48:59 -0400

mark your calendars; more info coming soon

More Lakesigns recording… (Taken with InstaCam)

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:12:07 -0400

More Lakesigns recording… (Taken with InstaCam)

"This area [Logan Square] certainly does not feel as repressed by gentrification as some of the other..."

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:42:00 -0400

“This area [Logan Square] certainly does not feel as repressed by gentrification as some of the other stuff by the lake might.”

- Johnny Loftus, for re:discover by MSN sponsored by Buick

http://rediscover.msn.com/city/31644707

"Right now… this is an awesome time to be here [in Dallas], you know. These neighborhoods [Oak..."

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:40:00 -0400

“Right now… this is an awesome time to be here [in Dallas], you know. These neighborhoods [Oak Cliff] are being re-gentrified, so from a creative standpoint, there’s a lot of opportunity.”

- Tim Byers, for re:discover by MSN sponsored by Buick

http://rediscover.msn.com/city/32243559

We had a great time in Dallas on our way back from SXSW. We...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:52:10 -0400

We had a great time in Dallas on our way back from SXSW. We played a St. Patrick’s Day show in celebration of a good week at SXSW and in celebration of the engagement of our good friend’s David Harman and Becca Mattingly at David’s painting studio in Deep Ellum. Congrats, everyone!

(photo credit: David Harman)

While down in SXSW, I had the pleasure of meeting some awesome...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:53:54 -0400

While down in SXSW, I had the pleasure of meeting some awesome artists and musicians. Above is a picture of Jason Munn. Right after I snapped this photo I met Dirk Fowler of F2 Designs. Both are design heroes of mine, and it was a pleasure to meet them. Along with them I met some hometown heroes— Magnificent Beard, Delicious Design League, Sonnenzimmer, and so many others. Hopefully one day our Pandarosa artists can work with some of these amazing artists.