February Mixtape by i-D

Source Via MattStayLoose

Turns out, we have a really awesome excuse for our absence. You see, we were abducted by aliens. Yes, true. And we had to fight an epic battle to escape, and I DO mean epic. There was badass music playing in the background and everything. And it turns out, you should never doubt LiLi’s mad ninja skills. For serious. Then on the way back we got stuck in traffic. And regardless of all of my road rage, it didn’t get us home any faster.

Okay, I’m sensing that you don’t believe me. Probably a good thing since I am lying hard core. We have no good reason for disappearing, and we sure don’t plan to do that again. While we were gone, we did make some changes, as you may have noticed!

So, it’s time to get back to the business of loving our Brit guys. It’s is officially…. BUSINESS TIME!!

While we were off doing battle, here is what has been happening in the world of Sam, Marcus and Bobby…

Sam released his Manila Diaries Documentary!

From Sam’s MySpace:

Sam Bradley embarks on one of the most unique tour experiences of his young career when given the opportunity to play a series of concerts in the Philippines.

Coincidentally, Bradley’s appearances were scheduled in the midst of the grueling aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy that ripped through the Philippines a week prior to his arrival. The reality of this tragedy sets the tone for the tour that is both revealing and introspective in nature.

The tour diary explores the interest in seeing the real surface of an unknown place while balancing the excitement of opportunity and attempting to maintain creative integrity.

You can download the documentary here! Remember proceeds from your download go to UNICEF, so download it cause its for a good cause!

Marcus rolled out a new MySpace page with the most awesome picture at the top (#shortpants) AND more importantly, made an appearance on The Communion Compilation album for this year, with my FAVE Marcus song, Circle in the Square! You can buy the vinyl (oh yeah, totes old school!) right here! It also comes with a digital download, just in case you no longer own your record player from the 80s.

And Bobby, well Bobby’s been out running amuck and touring! No, the boy never stops! But, we did find a free mp3 you can download from Bobby! Go and get it. It’s so worth it!

::LiLi grabs mic Kayne style::

Hey, Amber, that whole explanation/news catch up was great and Imma let you finish but….I just wanted to say that I am glad to be back. Sorry for that whole take-over-a-month-off-and-not-tell-anyone-thing. Um, whoopsy daisy!

Also, what do y’all think of our new digs?? Tell us how much you missed our nonsense you like our new look. And now, back to Amber…..wait…..she’s gone. Oh, I forgot. It’s Business Time ::sigh:: I love me some Jemaine.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter too, as we will be back to posting there as well.

And do you have anything news worthy about the guys that you think we missed out on? Drop us a line via comment or email and let us know! We’ve been out of the loop fighting those damn aliens so chances are we need to be caught up!

First on the list, Bobby blogged! And not just a little bit, I mean a massive blog that is so full of win it’s kind of hard to believe. Here is just a little taste…

I have some really good shows in front of me. I have a big run in Texas which should be a lot of fun and to see Texas from the perspective of a car should be really interesting. Not that im

Source: K. Thruston

gonna start to don myself in cowboy gear but I really liked Dallas when I was there and its rare when im on tour to actually see the make up of the city or state. Im hoping to walk or drive away from Texas educated and ready to hit Detroit, Chicago and New York with enough southern vigour to brand a bull! Im also heading to Portland which was one of my favourite places last time I visited. I didn’t get to a try a doughnut from voodoo doughnut so that’s the first thing im gonna do followed by another Elliott smith memory lane trip. I recently did a cover of his song Between The Bars in Kansas, which was another great crowd.Im always too scared to touch his stuff because I love it so much but a friend of mine and me were singing it in the car on the long trip from beautiful Minneapolis so I played it and it went down really well. Im not sure if ill do it again however some things should be looked at and not touched or as my Nan defines it “you look with your eyes not your hands” so not to disappoint an old lady ill stick to her philosophy. Im gonna dip my hands in the Mississippi river when im in New Orleans and grab a flask and send it home to my great uncle Charlie as he is now wheelchair bound and cannot go. He first played me some of the jazz I love and on my christening wet my head with water from the Thames as he could not get any from the Mississippi. It’s surprising my head did not dissolve but he loves and still sings those songs with the famous river in the title. He also gave me a puff on a cigar when I was eight as he thought it may of helped the cough I had. A year later when my Mam smelt smoke on me he was banned from all of my birthday parties until I was sixteen!

Go and read the whole thing on Bobby’s MySpace page! You will not regret it!

Also out there… a really great review of Bobby’s show at the Hotel Cafe!

Playing selections that included tracks from his self-released Dirty Pond Songs album, hair strewn across his face, Long offered some wry yet also self-effacing intros (including commenting on his problem with a “bulging disc” bringing severe discomfort if he sat, so he stood for the night). He came across as quite personable in a nice, boyish way — a contrast to the often heart-on-the-sleeve, dramatic nature of the material, such as “Left to Lie” and “The Bounty of Mary Jane.”

Other key numbers included the kiss-off of “Dead and Done” (“For the dusk falls to dawn, I’ll have you banished from my mind/I just need a moment’s rest to make it mine”) and the waltz tempo carried “Penance Fire Blues.” He also featured songs that will likely appear on his next release, planned for 2010, “Only You,” among them.

The influences were obvious at times, but they’re good ones, like Dylan and Neil Young. Can’t go wrong there. His way with wordplay and imagery also recalled Conor Oberst a few years back. But unlike Oberst’s early work, Long has already found a fine singing voice to match that imagery. Plus, he’s also an impressive guitarist as a picker and more; it would be interesting to hear him with a little band at some point.

Oh, I like the idea of Bobby with a band! I think that could be really cool!! Anyway, read the rest of this review at the Buzzine and be sure to get to see Bobby tonight at The Mint if you are in the area!

And I have more Bobby, right after the jump…

Even my hometown has caught the Bobby Long bug!! I was hoping they wouldn’t miss him. Unfortunately, for now, I can only link you to the story. The damn thing won’t let me copy any text to post here. So read it here! I will, however, be updating this post later today with a scan of the article. I will tweet once I have it!!

Bobby Long on OKGazette.com

Update!! Here is the scan from the paper! You still need to click the link to read the text, but I’m sure you all will dig the picture!

Click to see full size!! Please source SoS if you post!!

And I know we got mad representation in the big OKC, and I (Amber) will be at the Conservatory on 12/7 for the Bobby show, so be sure and come say hello to me! LiLi will be at the Dallas show on 12/8 at Poor David’s Pub. Go and ask her for her autograph!!

There can’t possibly be more, can there… oh yes there can!!

My good Twitter friend Krista (@AccentOnLife) who works for The Times of Arcadiana had the opportunity to conduct a Q&A with Bobby:

ToA: Talk a little bit about the differences between recording and playing live. Do you prefer one or the other?

Long: Being in the studio is hugely refreshing. It’s great to play with other people, especially when they’re very different. Recording is the epitome because you’re putting something down. But you have to be able to perform live. There’s a lot more freedom performing live. I change songs all the time live but try to find the mean in the studio. They both have their differences.

ToA: What is your favorite song to perform?

Long: It changes all the time. There’s a song I wrote with my sister, Only You, but other than that, it changes.

ToA: Take us through the process of recording your EP, Dirty Pond Songs.

Long: There wasn’t one. I walked into my bedroom, put a microphone on my pillows and played into it for an hour. One take. It was just sitting down and doing it. I do try to bring aspects of my live performance into recording. There is some security in recording because you have enough takes.

ToA: What do you hope audiences take from both your live performances and your EP?

Long: I want people to know what I’m about and sit on it for a couple of days. I want them to think about it. First, I want to put on good show. I want people to be respectful of what I’m trying to do. And they are. People come up and say, “Yeah, that’s really cool.” That’s the most anyone can ask for.

Read the entire interview right here! Krista did a fantastic job, as always, spreading the love in New Orleans!!

Phew!! That was a lot of good stuff, right? Are you all hyped up to see Bobby now? Be sure to check his tour dates on our tour date page and get your butt to a show!

So, what is happening in the world of Sam, Bobby and Marcus? Well, it’s been quiet for the most part. Other than Sam being in the Philippines, which actually is a pretty huge deal. So, since I know we have tons of fans from the Philippines (maybe?), I want to post his schedule while he is there. It looks like there will be numerous opportunities to see him, so I hope people will take advantage!

SM Megamall on October 9 (Friday), 4PM

SM Mall of Asia on October 10 (Saturday), 6PM

The Podium on October 11 (Sunday), 4PM

SM Clark on October 14 (Wednesday), 5PM

SM Southmall on October 15 (Thursday), 5PM

SM Cebu on October 16 (Friday), 5PM

SM Fairview on October 17 (Saturday), 5PM

SM Sta. Rosa on October 18 (Sunday), 5PM

Here are more deets from Twilight Coven Philippines:

There will be a Meet and Greet after each show. We’ve been told that SM will give out postcards to the first 50 people in the concert venues that you can have signed; we’ll post more details on that when we have them. We were also informed that it’s okay if you also want to have your Twilight Soundtrack CDs signed. Beyond the soundtrack CDs, though, we suggest not bringing other Twilight merchandise for the signing. As much as we Twilighters know Sam primarily through his involvement as a songwriter for the soundtrack, he’s also here to promote his own music, so let’s be respectful of that. If you have some sort of notebook where you collect autographs, we suggest you bring that instead… if you don’t have one, why not start now? Otherwise, you can just have your photos taken with him.

I love them for taking a moment to remind everyone to come and support Sam for his music. Kudos to them!

And while you think we weren’t working on SoS, we were. I promise we are doing lots of behind the scenes stuff that will all be revealed in good time. Not anytime soon, but in time!

Pic courtesy of GarnetGurl

This morning, Bobby posted this on his MySpace page:

hello, bonjour, olla,

just wanted to quickly blog about this show.
im playing at a record store on the 30th of september in hamburg before my show that evening.
should be alot of fun and would be grteat to see all of yous.
here are the details.

30th September INSTORE FREE ENTRY 5.00PM

Hafenschlamm Rekords
HAFENSCHLAMMREKORDS
Talstrasse 29
D-20359 Hamburg
Telefon: +49-40 / 23 54 93 39
Mobil:   0176 / 61 11 44 04
cheffe@hafenschlammrekords.de
http://www.hafenschlammrekords.de/home.php?command=start

i also have added other shopws aswell as the last tour date of the dangerous summer at the mercury lounge nyc, which will be my only nyc date in december and november and i would love to sell it out.

if you could spread this round i would be forever in your pockets.

just wanted to give a huge thankyou to the lod members for being unbelevably kind and the best supporters i have ever seen, i cant say thankyou enough, your all beautiful.

all the best,
with bells on,

bobby

New dates and a special free show if you happen to live in Hamburg. The new tour dates are posted on our Tour Date page for Bobby, so check and see if he is planning something near you. And, we do know that Bobby will be adding even more dates as he continues to get the squared away, so keep a look out on our site for more info.

Also, be sure you are following Bobby on Twitter, as well as the Shack of Soul so you’ll never miss any news from Bobby!

Oh, and now that I’m spreading the word, apparently Bobby will always be in my pocket! Yeah!

from a basement on the hill

Arrived in Portland early evening and made my way to the venue where i was playing for the sound check. Being a huge elliott smith fan i went to a bar he used to hang out in. I headed back to the venue before being whisked off my feet by a local owner of a shop called VooDoo Donuts. He knew Elliott Smith and took me on a tour before dropping me off on stage for my set. The venue was great, although it being all ages there had to be a divider between over 21 and under 21. This basically meant they could not see each other and one half was intoxicated and the other half were not. It was a great show and was sold out. Walking between the two sides was like walking from Soho to the Vatican. The next day we flew to Seattle. It was really beautiful flying over and being a big fan of grunge music I was really happy to be there. I walked into a tattoo parlor to get a tattoo before being thrown out because I was English. The tattoo shop owner was English and obviously didn’t want competition. I went on stage about half ten to a full crowd and the warm up band was great. It was weird not being able to drink on stage so I would occasionally run back stage to knock down a beer, much to peoples delight. I headed out into Seattle with a few people who I met at the gig and had a great time. Seattle was one of the best crowds and were so supportive and pleased for me to be there. I couldn’t stay out too late because I had a 5:30am train to Canada. Getting up in the morning was like separating fighting dogs but I made it on the train in time and got to the border, tired but well. I’ve never been deported in such a friendly and efficient manner. Supposedly this happened to Keith Richards but I haven’t spoken to him about it yet. Going back to Canada in a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to it. Had to cancel a sold out show but so far heard people were singing my songs outside the venue so I am looking forward to making it up to them.

Bobby x

days off

have my first real time off two days in denver and just relaxing.

just wanted to thank everyone for their support and coming to the shows,

have posted new gigs up and will have news on canada and other things real soon.

take care,

bobby

Marcus, Bobby & Sam

Welcome to the newly created Shack of Soul, a fan site for the fans, by the fans of Bobby Long, Marcus Foster and Sam Bradley. Our idea came after we went to see the guys in Dallas for the first time. We both fell in love and realized these guys needed a fan site where fans could come and just have fun and learn more about the guys. And we want you all to be just as involved. We want to post your pictures, your videos and your stories about the guys!

This site is also meant to be a Twilight/Rob Pattinson light zone. That means that unless there is a direct correlation between the guys and Twi/Rob, then we will not report things like “Rob’s BFF says…” or “Twilight artists…” But, if Rob jumps up on stage to do a duet with Marcus, then we’ll definitely cover that!

We are going to start our new blog with our own introductions and fan encounters, right after the jump!

Meet Amber

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Amber and I run another blog (Rob My World). I’ve been talking up Sam and Bobby a little bit on my other blog, but when I went to Dallas I was a changed woman. I went to the Friday night show with Marcus and Bobby, as well as the Saturday all-niter will all three of the guys!

When Marcus first came on that stage, for the first time in the U.S., and started to sing, I thought I was going to die. His voice was so soulful and full of emotion. It was something that I had a hard time feeling when I listened to his MySpace page but that I truly “got” while he stood in front of us and crooned. This is how bad it was, Sam was in the audience watching and I didn’t care. There was nothing else in the world other than Marcus and that guitar!

Then Bobby came on and won me over with his emotion, the amazing faces he made while he sung, the hair, EVERYTHING! I had never really been to a small gig like that where you had so much personal interaction, and I felt that with Bobby. When he was singing, it felt like he was just singing to me and no one else. It was AMAZING!

The next night was the first time I saw Sam live and that man has a stage presence that cannot be beat. He comes off like the seasoned pro and plays fan favorites in addition to his own songs. Sam had me won over before I saw him live, but  after seeing him in person I just couldn’t get over how really great he was.

Meeting all of the guys was another great treat! They are truly appreciative and seem willing to do anything for their fans. They stayed out in the rain to sign autographs and take pictures. They waited around till 4 a.m. to make sure everyone got to meet them. I just couldn’t believe that these guys were not only such amazing performers, but that they were humble, sweet and in Marcus’ case, even nervous.

I came home and decided that blogging about them on a Rob-related site seemed unfair to the guys. They are trying to separate themselves from Twi/Rob, and it’s understandable why. And I want to help that processing by separating my own love for them and placing it all in a Twi/Rob light zone. So, here we are!

Meet LiLi

Coming from Austin, I can safely say that I have seen hundreds of shows in my life.  And I while I am no music expert, I do know what I like and what I don’t.  Usually I tend to veer towards the heavier stuff– I like it loud, hard and fast (that’s what she said).  So it’s pretty rare that I get into many singer/songwriters, but when I do I become fiercely loyal.

All three together-- *died*

That is exactly what occured the first time I heard a Bobby Long track.  I was hooked from that first note.  Which of course, after many You Tube searches and Myspace listens, his music led me to Marcus Foster and Sam Bradley. Naturally, I was pretty stoked when all three were in Dallas the first weekend in August and a group of us went to see them play at Poor David’s Pub.

The first night was only Bobby and Marcus and the second had all three of them playing.  Both shows were seriously two of the best that I had seen in a long time.  All three played solo, only their voice and guitar and yet all three were so completely different in style and sound.

Soulful– that’s the only way to describe Bobby.  He sang from deep within and there were moments when he was so completely immersed in a song that I felt like an intruder spying on something private.

Marcus, who incidently played his first ever American show that first night, was just incredibly raw and powerful.  He would get so lost in his performance that he would just take off and riff.  That to me is the beauty of seeing live music.  Watching an artist take his own song and change it up in the heat of the moment because he feels it and that is where it takes him– and Marcus does it beautifully.

And of course there is Sam, who (shhh, don’t tell the others) was the one I was dying to hear the most.  He did not disappoint.  There is one word to describe watching Sam on stage– electric.  As soon as he grabs that mic and begins, he just owns you.  He stage presence and interactions with the crowd are magnetic.  You can’t take your eyes off him.

But it doesn’t end there people.  These guys, who have been on the road and had a full weekend of commitments aside from Poor David’s Pub, were so generous with their time before, during and after shows.  They stood and visited with fans until the last person in line was gone.  All three were nothing but gracious to everyone and took the time to sign endless items and take dozens of pictures up until 4am on the last night.

It is artists like these that I feel like we should be supporting.  Those who are working hard, making good music and never forgetting to take time for their fans.  That is why I am excited to start this new site with Amber.  I just want others out there to discover, learn and enjoy the music of these guys.  So, stop by often and let us know what you think.  Or even better, share with us your pics/vids/stories of seeing Sam, Marcus and Bobby live.  The more the merrier!

Image courtesy of Krazy_Kidd