24

Hello, everyone!

I know, I know...two posts in one day? This new year has brought about a new Adam!

Just kidding. That last one was an album review. This one is a life update.

I said yesterday on my Tumblr blog that I had big news on all fronts, and that I would reveal it all today. Well, here it is.

Firstly, and obviously, I am twenty-four years old today.
Yesterday was a perfect ending to a rough year of being 23. I don't know what it was, but there was something about 23 that just felt uncomfortable to me, and I must say that barely a day into 24 feels like a much better fit. I'm loving celebrating in a new city, despite not having done anything particularly exclusive to Grand Rapids (except sitting in this coffee shop). The point of this paragraph is: life is good, and life as 24 is great.
(I'm kind of tired of writing about fresh starts all the time. I think I need to make some messes.)

Secondly, and slightly related to firstly, I got my own ukulele for my birthday! Which means I can write new music whenever I want and maybe even do some shows if people need opening slots filled where you don't have to pay the performer! Woo! In that musical vein, I have some Christmas tunes in the works for an EP of holiday ditties, as well as a renewed desire to work on this full-length I've been talking about so much. It's going to happen, dang it.
Plus, Brittany and I have talked about starting a music project together, and Riley half-mentioned it last time I was in Kalamazoo, so who knows? My life could be getting pretty dang musical in the near future.

Thirdly, and most excitingly, I met with Matthew Miller (director of that short film I was in) to discuss future projects with him. We have two in the works. One of them is based on a short story I wrote (that pacifist parable I mentioned before) which might film in November. The other is quite possibly the funniest, smartest, and all-around best script idea I will have had the pleasure of working on to date. If we really go for it, which we are, it will be a big endeavor that will probably film in the Spring. I just need to write the script. My excitement is sky-high.

A few other things to mention:

I had an incredible weekend in Kalamazoo this past Friday/Saturday. I attempted an epic bar crawl with Riley, went to a pumpkin patch with a bunch of swell folks, and then watched my incredibly talented and heartbreakingly brilliant friend Lizzy play Fantine in Les Miserables at the Civic. She floored me with that performance. Seriously, go see it if you can. It's worth the ticket price and crippling depression (from the story), I promise.

Sunday night, I got pizza with my mom and brother and roommate at Brickroad Pizza here in Grand Rapids. It was delicious. And pizza.

Yesterday was great as well. I wrote a bit, walked a bit, and enjoyed life a lot. Then I went to work, which was painfully slow, but ended on a high note. Then I walked outside to see my driver's side rearview mirror hanging by its cords. I was angry at first, until I realized I could see this as a metaphor for not letting the past slow me down. It's also a metaphor for how I need glue, and then after I fix it, it can be a metaphor for using the past to not crash you in the present. Yay car metaphors!

And now I'm wearing a new shirt, having a spontaneous birthday, and loving every single person I come across today. All of these birthday wishes have me feeling so very loved, and I can't thank any and all of you enough.

Well, I think that's all I have today. It's nice not having every single post result in a really heavy, really long collection of really heavy, really long thoughts. May your Autumn's be blessed, full of love, and probably pumpkin-spiced.

Here's to 24. May it be the best year of my life so far, but only until 25 and beyond.

lovelovelove,
Adam

First Reaction Album Review: Bradley Hathaway - How Long

I don't usually write album reviews, but that might need to change, and this is a good place to start. Here is my review for Bradley Hathaway's new album How Long, which will be released on November 5th.

You can pre-order the album (and hear a great song from it!) here: http://bradleyhathaway.bandcamp.com/

Since Bradley is an unsigned, independent artist, any and all support will mean the world to him, I'm sure. This is one of the most genuine and loving human souls I've ever met, and if you enjoy his music, please support his means to continue making it.

Okay, here's my review!

lovelovelove

Adam

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Bradley Hathaway – How Long

Yesterday was the last day of my life as a twenty-three year-old, and it was also the day I received an email from one of my favorite musical artists, Bradley Hathaway. You see, I backed a project of his on Kickstarter a couple of years ago, and the album has still yet to be released, officially. This email was an apology for the wait, but also a link to download a digital version of the album before the release date (as well as a few more apologies, because he’s such a sweet man). The album is titled How Long, and yes, the joke has been made countless times since he revealed the title about “how long” it took him to put out the album. It still makes me smile.

I’ve been a huge fan of Bradley’s work for many years. I learned about his output between the release of his first album of spoken-word poetry (All The Hits So Far) and his first album of music (The Thing That Poets Write About, The Thing That Singers Sing About). I saw an incredible live performance at Cornerstone Festival 2008 in Illinois, where he played his new record, A Mouth Full of Dust, in its entirety. It was then that I was branded by and fell in love specifically with the song “Look Up,” and shared it with many of my friends. I own every release he has ever put out, and I am looking forward to owning any and all new efforts. I still cry when I hear “The Hug Poem” and I still consider The Thing That Poets Write About, The Thing That Singers Sing About to be not only a staple in my favorite albums of all time, but one of the most beautiful, humble, and heartfelt explorations of love I have ever heard. A Mouth Full of Dust, and A Thousand Angry Panthers (the EP that followed Mouth Full), break my heart more and more with each listen, in the best way. I love Bradley’s music, period.

Needless to say, this email brightened my entire day, and I quickly downloaded How Long. But something told me I should wait until today, my twenty-fourth birthday, to listen to it. I am so glad I did.

In the email, Bradley said to express the feelings each song brought, so I’m going to review the album by describing what I was doing, track by track, in the most poetic way possible, since this first listen was a spiritual experience in itself. Bradley’s music, for me, has been best experienced surrounded by nature and the outdoors. I’ve had countless moments of closeness and clarity with God while walking or driving with Bradley’s voice in my ears, so it only seemed appropriate to go for a walk while listening to the new album. This morning, I put on my headphones, stepped out of my door into an overcast Autumn, and walked with no predetermined destination. I pressed play and took the first step.

(All of these street names, people, animals, and events actually exist and happened to me during this walk. There is something greater in this world, my friends. If you slow down, you can see it clear as day.)

How Long 

I first heard “Daddy’s Name” while walking over crisp leaves to the sidewalk. There was a dog pawing at a window from inside a house across the road. I smiled, and turned onto Page Street.

I first heard “How Long” on Spring Street. When he sang the line about the breeze, wind brushed my cheek; when he sang the line about the leaves, one fell in front of me, and I felt God everywhere.

I first heard “Courthouse” while sitting on the front steps of a church.

I first heard “Georgia” while waiting for a light to change, so I could safely cross the street.

I first heard “He Drives” and felt my heart breaking, yet held together with loving hands. A smile on my face and tears in my eyes, I felt like Bradley wrote this song about and for me. As it ended, I saw a man hammering a nail on his front porch.

I first heard “If I Should Die” and thought I’d never smiled so much during a song about death, and wondered if that was the point.

I first heard “Been So Long” on Sweet Street, missing a girl I have always been in love with and never known and may never know, but I love her still. A man was painting a white window frame as I passed.

I first heard “Beer Can” standing in front of a locked gate, closed off from a beautiful yard. When I turned around, the street curved in a way I didn’t like, so I returned to the gate, which was still locked. I thought I once held the key, but then I knew I never had and never will.

I first heard “So Far” when I felt sad. I walked home and knew I’d find Jesus at my door.

I first heard “You Look So Pretty” when I saw the place by my apartment where a pretty girl smiled back at me one time. A leaf fell when I least expected it. As the album closed, I opened my front door once again.

Overall, How Long is musically Bradley Hathaway’s best album, hands down. His sound has evolved from a humble simplicity to an abrasive disparity to now: a warm Southern nostalgia, slow-dripping with memory, love, pain, grace, heartbreak, and hope. His voice has never sounded better, and his instruments have taken a fuller feel. Lyrically, (I’ll need to get to know the album better before I can comment properly, but) his words are more mature and the stories more complex than his previous work. I look forward to learning the words so I may sing them along with Bradley if I get the chance to see him on this tour.

How Long is an album that will carry me through this Autumn season with song hugs and memories of loves past, with hopes for the future. Thank you, Bradley. The new record was worth the wait, no matter How Long it took to be released.

The Sound of Settling: An Autumn Update 2013

Hi, everyone! So, before I post this post, I want to give a little disclaimer. As I say in the post, I wrote this at 1am two nights ago while wired out of my mind on caffeine. I still mean every word I wrote, but boy do I sound loopy. And it gets pretty heavy at one point…so yeah, just a heads up. Okay. Here’s a post.

(I'll probably write on this blog more frequently now. I always say that though.)

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To be honest, I wasn’t planning on writing this tonight.

It is now October, the first, and I am wide awake.

Brittany and I found a coffee shop close to our new apartment in Grand Rapids. There, we have wifi and can watch How I Met Your Mother in shifts, as there is only one pair of headphones in our possession at the moment. It was probably a mistake to drink coffee at such a late hour, but I was too excited about returning to the characters I hold so dear, as well as finding a new coffee-supplying location to frequent, so here we are: wide awake at 1am on the first of October, 2013.

When I said I wasn’t planning on writing this tonight, I don’t mean I wasn’t planning on writing it at all. Then again, when else would I write it but tonight?

I’ve been meaning to write another post giving some sort of “life update” in detail for a while now, but the timing has been off. For instance, the past month of my life has involved an immeasurable amount of endings, goodbyes, loose ends being tied, metaphorical deaths, as well as beginnings, hellos, new ends being loosened, and metaphorical births. I simply have not had the time to sit and get my thoughts in order. Until tonight, that is, with coffee pumping through the streams in my body and forcing my eyelids open.

Before I really begin, I want to clarify something that doesn’t really need clarification: I don’t write these posts, however sparse they may be, because I feel my life is important enough that the public needs to be updated on my every change. I write these posts because I need to feel in control of the organization of the events in my “lives” (creative, personal, etc.) despite not having any real control at all. I have some, sure, such as what paths to continue upon or progress or abandon, but when it comes down to it, much of my life is controlled by the lives of others. We all work together in an odd sort of collaboration to further our search for love (and I don’t mean romantic love, obviously), peace, and life in general. I digress. The point is: I’m not writing this because I feel I am special enough to warrant your attention, but rather to keep myself from becoming overwhelmed by myself.

I suppose I’ll begin with the obvious: as of the fourteenth of September, I have been living in a new city. That city is Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was nervous about the move, as is true with most people who move for the first time for a reason other than school or family, and I would be lying if I said the nervousness has dissipated. I feel more at ease after two weeks, yes, but I do not feel comfortable.  And that is a good thing. I have yet to connect with more than one or two “potential friends” and I still get turned around very easily when it comes to directions. However, this is exactly what I needed.

My farewell to Kalamazoo was excessive, to say the least. There were three going-away parties, visits to every major location that meant something to me for one final goodbye, coffee or beer and/or hugs with every single friend (well, okay, not every friend) that I would not be seeing for an extended period. A lot (but not all) of this had to do not with my college life, but with my work life. My coworkers at Celebration! Cinema Crossroads were, are, and always will be like family to me, and have seen me through a great deal of highs and lows. They gave me a sendoff(s) I will never forget, and helped me release my grip on my “college life.” You know, that mess from ages 18-22 that brought about heartbreak, anxiety, vices, and all kinds of things that I’ll need to get over for the rest of my life. It wasn’t all bad, though, as that time period also brought about an expanded sense of adventure, new confidences, new or strengthened friendships, honed skills, broadened tastes in music, film, and art, and more positives than negatives, ultimately. But with these goodbyes, I let go of that time in my life and stepped foot on the path I’ve been looking forward to my entire life. And that path is, well, my entire life.

Now that I have moved to a new city, with no other purpose than the one I feel I was born to do, I can finally begin living the life I feel called to live: the life of someone who creates stories and art that will make the world a brighter place and change hearts for the better, spread love to everyone, and bring even just a shred of glory to the One who created me. That’s really all I want to do, and now that I read those again, I realize that’s all I’ve been striving to do my whole life, and I’ve actually been doing it this whole time. But it’s different now.

This year in Grand Rapids actually feels similar to my past year in Kalamazoo in the sense that I’m still “preparing” for my shot at “success” as a writer. My plan as of now (which could change for all I know, but probably won’t) is to move to California after my year here to actually attempt a break-in of the film industry. (Riley, if you’re reading this right now, stop freaking out about the parentheses in that last sentence. Seriously. And also I miss you a ton.)

I want to lose the first word in my “aspiring screenwriter” status. I want to help create films. I want films I have written to be created. I want to see my name on a movie poster and in the credits on screens across the country, or even the world. I want my ideas to be the subject of “after-movies” discussion, where two people get to know each other better because they spent anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours talking about the ideas or perspectives I’ve helped present in a two-hour visual medium. I want to be ripped apart by pretentious critics. I want a small-town cinephile that wants to also help create films to see something I’ve had a hand in, and write a review of it for his film blog he started with one of his best friends. It may be short-lived, as are most careers in such a decaying industry, but I know that. I am going to pursue the chance to make even the smallest spark.

I know this all sounds crazy. Believe me. You can tell me how unlikely it is, or how my dreams are too big, or how I have no idea what I’m talking about, or whatever. I know all of that. But I also know that I’m only young once. I won’t be 23 again. Or 24. Or 25. Or 26. I have my entire life to settle down, get a “real job,” and start a family (because I really do want to start a family someday). But I don’t want to succumb to the horrifying 21^st century “American dream” of being closer to debt-free with each paycheck from a lukewarm job, a messy family life, and being consumed by regret that I didn’t pursue the insane desires of my youth. I’m going to go for this, and I’m going to learn a whole hell of a lot. I’m going to see just how much of the worst isn’t over and how many best days of my life I have yet to experience. I’ve seen a lot of people my age (and even younger) already curl up and forget the wild desires and lunatic dreams they had when “grown-ups” would ask them what they wanted to be when they too grew up. So many people barely a quarter of the way through their lives assume the worst is behind them, assume that’s a good thing, and create a bland self-fulfilling prophecy of the “okay” and the “fine” being how they spend the rest of their existence in this beautiful and terrifying life. I know I won’t “make a lot of money,” but even if I do, what does it matter? I will see things that not many people see and do things that, though silly or odd or whatever, not many people do. I want to suck every drop of something out of the time I’m alive and explode in some sort of flash or flood or fire that shines life and love onto everyone I come into contact with while I’m breathing.

So get ready, because the prologues and expositions are ending and I see chapter one speeding at me. And I’m standing in the middle of the street with no intention of moving out of the way.

Wow, sorry, that got really, really heavy. Ahem.

My plans for the year are kind of the “usual” for me in the sense that I’ll be continuing all of the creative pursuits I have been. I’ll be writing screenplays, both short and long. I’ll be continuing the film blog with Riley. I’ll be writing poetry when the mood hits me. I’ll be writing short stories, and perhaps working on my novel that I’ve had in the works for a few years. I’ll be writing, recording, and playing music (that I know is bad, okay? I’ve heard myself sing. Gosh. I do it because I like it), and hopefully playing a few live shows, if I can. And obviously I’ll be watching a ton of movies.

Some new things, however, are actual creation of some of these short films with a few different people, and a continued collaboration with my very good friend and spectacularly talented filmmaker Matthew Miller and his production company. There also may be a musical collaboration between my roommate and I, where we really divulge into our twee hipster existence and pull some songs out of them. I also really want to try my hand at painting. I don’t know why. It just sounds fun.

…and wow, I’m really crashing from that caffeine high I was on this whole time.

Let’s do some bullet points! Obviously most of this post has to do with my creative life, both short- and long-term. Here are a few goals in bullet form:

-       write another full-length screenplay

-       write a bunch of short screenplays

-       record and release the Up n Adam full-length

-       record and release a split with my brother Nick, and maybe another Christmas EP

-       write more for the film blog

-       write short stories, poetry, longer work, etc.

-       paint a bit, perhaps.

And here are some bullet points about my personal life, which I really haven’t discussed a whole lot in this post:

-       I’m working on making new friends.

-       I miss my friends that are already friends so much. Seriously. So much. It kills me to see pictures of you all hanging out without me. But keep having fun. Just know that I miss you and I wish I were there.

-       My new job at Celebration! Woodland is fantastic. Really. I love it there. More than I expected, honestly.

-       I’m still single, and although I’d worried about that for the past couple months, I’m actually starting to think I’m going to stay this way for quite a while. But hey, who knows. How I Met Your Mother started back up and I’ve been all kinds of swoon-y lately, between that and The OC. Even though Finn and Fire Princess broke up in Adventure Time. Poor guy. It’s for the best, though.

I am out of things to cover…but this post is already long enough. And it was totally not what I thought I wanted to write about, but hey, I feel better now that all of that came out, so it can’t be all bad. Or any bad. No bad. Breaking bad (oh crap, now this post is like everything else on the internet lately. I’ve still never watched that show…oops).

Okay, I should probably go to bed now.

I love you all. Sorry for the length of this post. You didn’t have to read it, but if you did, let me know and I’ll give you a huge hug next time I see you.

lovelovelove,

Adam