Summer and Starlight http://virb.com/summerandstarlight Virb 2.0 (@summerandstarlight) en the new what next http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/4015379 it has been quite a while.  we have been enjoying summer sunshine and love and water and travels and other countries and all sorts of goodness.  the EP is finished and ready to be purchased by any interested parties.

Front of Goodbye Blue EP

it is $5, I will ship to anywhere in the US for that price
alt

we’ve been carving out some demo material for our next set of recordings.  kind of using a different approach this time.  the last EP (Goodbye Blue) was done mostly in a straightforward ‘rehearse with the songs, then record with a couple takes until it sounds good, then mix’ kind of way.

this next project is more about attacking things from more angles than just ‘head-on,’ so we have a lot of recordings we’re experimenting and tinkering with and ’shaping’ a bit more than on the previous release, if you will.  i’m pretty excited about how it is coming along, we got some drum tracks laid down on these demos this past weekend.   oh and i’ll be doing the mixes in pro tools 8 rather than logic, and i’m much more fluent in pro tools so that should help things a bit too.  another thing i’m excited about is involving some more people outside of the band in this.

i’ve been spending some time working on ‘booking demos’ and ‘press kits,’ something i never really learned or cared about, until i started wondering why it was so hard to get a decent show once in a while.  now i realize you actually have to send people stuff in order for them to be aware that you exist.  imagine that little tidbit.  so hopefully bookings will pick up a bit, and we’ll be able to increase our span (playing more than just typical Grand Rapids places, etc)…

]]> Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:49:00 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/4015379 R.I.P. Jay Bennett (1963-2009)‎ http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/3085131 some of my favorite jay bennett moments on film:

jay isn’t on camera much in this one, i just love all the crazy keys and harmonies on this track:

people don’t come around every day who treat lead guitar with this much eloquence:

“pieholden suite” was, i believe, one of his personal favorite wilco recordings that he contributed to (along with the keys on “california stars.”) i love the tasteful brian wilson influence:

finally, wilco recorded the song “My Darling” for Summerteeth, but Jay wrote it and did an excellent version on his record with Edward Burch, The Palace at 4 A.M. it gives me chills.

]]> Tue, 26 May 2009 09:02:52 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/3085131 daylight / case study http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/2761107 here’s one of the first recordings i ever made when i first started getting into recording:

here’s how i play the song now:


Daylight from Justin on Vimeo.

also, i just finished mixes for the “Goodbye Blue” E.P. and sent them off for mastering.  In the works:  photoshoot, new artwork, more agressive booking / playing out… small summer tour?  We shall see…  also, this page will probably go through some sort of redesign in the near future, hence most of the links being missing.

]]> Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:51:41 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/2761107 timeline of a social networking website or service http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/2374704 1 ) start as a good idea

2 ) get adopted by some curious tech-savvy individuals

3 ) get adopted by some hipsters with tech-savvy friends

4 ) get adopted by college students

5 ) get adopted by the masses

6 ) get adopted by people who don’t even know why they’re signing up for it

7 ) become so convoluted with esoteric bullshit that people start to lose interest

8 ) become a wasteland of shameless self-promotion and product whoring

9 ) ???

10 ) Profit!

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:06:08 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/2374704 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/2351925
I Ain’t Freakin from Justin on Vimeo.

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:03:09 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/2351925 Bus Ride http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/217635 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:46:54 -0800 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/217635 This Land (w_Jessi Spreitzer) http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/119921 Wed, 04 Jul 2007 03:58:49 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/119921 Mess Of Me http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/50520 Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:11:18 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/50520 Keeping Busy http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/50519 Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:04:41 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/50519 Neverland http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/40224 Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:08:30 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/audio/40224 Washed Up @ DAAC.m4v http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/videos/1739800 up the nose shot - newish song "washed up" at the DAAC - July 24, 2007

]]> Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:24:04 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/videos/1739800 jvh - steal your breath video 4-18-2007.avi http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/videos/1733143 performance of "steal your breath," april 18, 2007

]]> Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:58:04 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/videos/1733143 keeping busy acuff rose.mov http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/videos/1733006 acoustic performance of 'keeping busy' tagged w/uncle tupelo's 'acuff-rose'

]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:58:49 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/videos/1733006 sands1copy http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/photos/1363257 ]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:39:12 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/photos/1363257 rock and roll http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/photos/1238066 ]]> Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:32:04 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/photos/1238066 amiestreet.com http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/738517 Today I had a featured album on amiestreet.com.

]]> Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:14:22 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/738517 what's new http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/690131 -i work too much and create too little.

-2nd shift was invented by Satan himself.

-i love/hate my studio apartment.]]> Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:07:26 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/690131 untitled http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/645012 art is hard.

]]> Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:37:40 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/645012 New site birthing pains http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/619135 The worst thing you can ever see on the internet is "Hi, welcome to my website, I'm still working out some kinks but please poke around and maybe leave a comment! ]]> Thu, 15 May 2008 19:14:54 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/619135 better with every bite http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/619134 so, i've been mulling over some recordings i've been making for the past couple of months, and today i just had the liberating thought that the songs are the same songs regardless of the style of production in which they are presented. which in turn spurred the old me who used to geek around tweaking all sorts of stuff on recordings instead of just letting them breathe on their own. i feel like now i have a happy balance, knowing that the songs exist as themselves whether or not i can present them the same way live, and the fact that they can be interpreted in many different ways is not discouraging or scary but actually liberating. so that puts more stuff on my plate to work on in the (very) near future.

i can't wait to go home though. i miss people, whether or not they miss me.

jvh

]]> Thu, 15 May 2008 19:14:53 -0700 http://virb.com/summerandstarlight/posts/text/619134