2015 Year in Review

So, here we are. At the end of another year. Much of the year has been dimmed by the fact that I recently got into a relationship with a wonderful woman named Jessie. That story is a post in and of itself. What I can remember of the rest of the year was also pleasing. There was much music, creativity and friendship.

I have made great music with “50 Breaks” and “Francesca and the 440 Hum”. 50 Breaks has established itself a premiere musical experience, playing gig after gig with anyone willing to share a stage. I look forward to recording first quality CD starting in January.

The 440 Hum went on what has turnout to be an extended break. For several years we maintained and incredible schedule of performing while working on our cd entitled “Forever”. We finished the CD in very early 2015 and played a few shows in support of it. We are still discussing what the future holds for us but rest assured, the fire hasn’t gone out.

Beyond music, Rainbird Studio has been the home of a successful RPG gaming podcast called “Plot Points”. Recently, Ben Riggs and I started an additional podcast called “HyperCulture” which is dedicated to the broader geek community and has more of a produced feeling about it. We are eager to see where this one takes us.

Fox River Forge had a good year as well. We added a mobile forge to our arsenal and were able to partake in a couple public blacksmithing demos. It was quite fun and I look forward to doing the same in 2016.

In a few hours, Jessie and I will join our friends in greeting the new year. I wish nothing but the best for all of you. The secret to the survival of this world lies within us. There is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that had gained enormous fame in bumper stickers and motivational posters across the planet. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This is a phrase I embraced the instant I heard it and one I refer to when I’m making difficult decisions. 2016 promises to be a very challenging year for the people of this little ball of blue. It is my hope we can work our way through these days with a little less cruelty and a longer view of the challenges before us.

Time will tell. Until then, I look forward to making my way, left foot, right foot with all of you by my side.

Happy New Year

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!!

Greetings everyone!!
You might notice some changes to the blog here. I have decided to make it the home page for Abretok Industries. You will notice buttons just under the header labeled “Fox River Forge” and “Rainbird Studio”. These buttons will take you to pages for those “branches”. That way all you have to do is go to www.abretokia.com and you are connected to my slowly growing empire. I looked around the web, pestered friends, and randomly interrogated the IT professionals at work and ultimately came to the conclusion that this is how I want to represent things in cyberspace. I hope to be more vocal on these pages so that I might deliver slightly better content than a quick blurb on Facebook. Thanks to everyone who reads this stuff. I enjoy creating it.
In Truth,
Chris

Mind over Matter

In horror movies, an effective tool is used to make the audience jump. This is to have the main antagonist appear in an object where, just seconds ago, they were not. A common set up would include a person in front of a medicine cabinet in the bathroom. You see them alone in the room, they open the cabinet to get something, and when they close the cabinet again you see the villain right behind them. There is usually a hard, loud jangle of music which provokes hysterical screams and bowel loosening from the audience. Another popular version of this tactic involves a person innocently looking out the window for danger, scornfully berating their companions for their cowardice, turning back to the window as a flash of lightening illuminates the zombie seconds before it crashes through the window and feasts on the overly confident jerk’s brains. This technique has done wonders for the horror movie industry. However, there have been some side effects. Most notably, to me at least, a couple of years ago while trying to work in my parent’s basement.

As some of you may know, over the years, my parents have graciously allowed me to build a small recording studio in their basement. It is divided up into two rooms. There is the sound room, where the live instruments are played while recording. And the control room where the recording equipment is. The rooms are separated by a wall to help control the sound. In this wall, I installed a window so I can communicate with the musicians performing. I will often spend hours down there writing, recording, or editing songs. A couple of years ago I was attempting to work on an idea that had formed for a song. My parents were out of town at the time, visiting family in Michigan. I had recently watched a brilliant independent movie entitled “28 Days Later” a couple of night previously. This is a different take on the classic “zombie” movie. In this film we join the main character as he regains consciousness after a bicycle accident to find that society has fallen to a virus that has turned nearly everyone in raging, mindlessly violent, blood thirsty animals. There is a particularly spectacular example of the technique mentioned above used in one of the scenes.

So there I was, all alone in the basement of an older house that is surrounded by corn fields; little creaks and groans from the house settling after the sun has gone down. I have, over the years, worked to develop my imagination so that I might write interesting songs and stories or create unusual pieces of art in one form or another. There are, on the other hand, some draw backs to this. When you find yourself all alone in the basement of an older house that is surrounded by cornfields and has a propensity to creak and groan, you may not have the control over your imagination you might have hoped for. I know I didn’t. I sat in the control room; bent over my guitar, trying desperately to work on a song that I knew was going to turn out pretty cool if I could just focus on it. But there was going to be no focus. How could I concentrate on this song when I – just – knew if I looked up, there would be a zombie staring at me through the sound room window? I could not do it. Every creak was the foot step of impending doom heading down the stairs toward me and every groan was the last thing I heard before the brains would be chewed from my skull.

I finally succumbed. I put down my guitar, shut off my computer, and headed for the door. I was pretty cool walking across the basement but as I mounted the steps my pace increased until I blasted out the garage door and practically dove through the window into the front seat of my car. Spraying gravel, I tore away from the house I grew up in with much reproach for my lack of intestinal fortitude. As I was careening out onto the main road my cell phone rang and after a small amount of incontinence, I answered. It turned out to be a good friend of mine asking if I would be interested in; YES! YES! YES! I answered before he finished. The last thing I wanted was to be alone at that moment He said some friends were meeting at a local bar for some drinks. I beat them all there.