January 9, 2010
miso and blogs
Written By : wojtek
hello augustville,
im just sitting here enjoying a fantastic miso soup whilst watching the duke v. georgia tech game and typing a blog.
whats with the weather lately? its funny, its just as cold here in nashville as it is in chicago but chicago is prob getting way more snow. nashville isnt prepared to handle any snow fall of freezing so at the first thought of snow, they cancel school. its wild. walgreens closed an hour early on sunday because it was cold. i dont get get it.
i went to the ymca last night and the parking lot was closed because of ice. i have never seen anything like this.
way to be august fans on facebook! we have over 1,000 fans in just a week and a half. the goal that i posted in my last blog was over 2,000 fans by feb. lets see if we could reach it. please suggest your friends to become a fan.
i have noticed that i get real tense when i type. before i know it my shoulders are just under my ears and i have a giant cramp in my neck area. i should take somekind of typing classes so that i could relax more...or maybe i should just do yoga.
thats about all i have for now. hope everyone is well. look for a new august tune in the next week or so. we are mixing it now.
love,
w
December 29, 2009
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!
Written By : wojtek
Hello Augustville!
So I am sitting in a Chicago loft, waiting for a couch to come in the mail. I think this is a great time to catch up with everyone out there.
Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and are anticipating the New Year with open arms. Its coming, get ready. I have made a New Year’s resolution this year and it is a 2 part resolution that goes like this:
Part 1. Keep the august BLOG updated.
Part 2. Have the august FACEBOOK PAGE be a destination for august fans.
So we have our new OFFICIAL AUGUST FACEBOOK PAGE and we will be releasing demos of the songs we have been writing out in Nashville at intervals of 2 or so weeks. As of now we have 17 new tunes written (4 of which have been recorded as a demos). So we have to make sure we always have a new demo in our pocket so that we can keep putting new ones on facebook. Last week we added “Do What You Gotta Do” to our play list a song Jacky and I co wrote with 2 of our favorite writers in Nashville Sir George Cassidy and Paige Bainbridge. Head over to our FACEBOOK PAGE to listen to it.
QUICK SIDE NOTE the song came about after George watched a documentary (or did he read an article?) either way, it came from a Mafioso who was talking about killing one of his friends and he said, “Sometimes you do what you gotta do, and sometimes you do it with tears in your eyes…”
The reason we are really leaning into Facebook (not just because everyone and their uncle is doing it) is because in the coming months, theaugust.com will be reworked and may be closed for a extended period of time. The facebook page will be our go to for the time that we website is down. Through facebook we will be posting our blogs, new songs pictures and “status updates” so make sure you find us on the eternal labyrinth that is FB.
So the 4 of us put some more ideas into the quote and came up with what you hear now. Hope you all like it.
We are working on getting some dates together for March/April in the southeast, and hopefully a swing through Indiana and Illinois as well. Initial plans are underway, more to come as things unfold.
Jacky is back in Nashville although I think she will be coming back to Chicago for New Years and Tim is on an airplane back to Nashville as I type. I will be heading back out there Jan. 4. This is my “Extended Holiday Chicago stay”….or would that be “Extended Chicago Holiday stay”? Either way, I’ll be here till the 4th.
Almost forgot. SIGN UP for the AUGUST FACEBOOK PAGE. When you do, please make sure to invite all your facebook friends to join. Our goal is to have over 2,000 fans by the end of January.
We are working on figuring out a way to get the demos that we are posting on Facebook downloadable to our fans. If that isn’t possible, we will go to the mailing list and send out files of the songs to our fans that way. New music will be coming y’all – stay tuned.
In other (sad) news, my beloved dog Atos (he also responded to Stanley or Espionage) died Dec. 1. He was 17. For those of you who care, he was a wired hair terrier and he was awesome.
Ok, for now I am done. Stay tuned, as the blog will continue being updated.
on behalf of the rest of us,
Wojtek
August 3, 2009
happy august!
Written By : jacky
Current mood: excited Category: Music
Howdy from Nashville, and Happy August to ya'll!
I realize it's been almost 2 months since we've last blogged... so I'd like to start with a heartfelt apology for taking so dang long to BLOG IT UP. But no fear, the august is BACK. In more ways than one, baby!
What's new in Augustville you ask?
Well, shoot...
* We got a band dog. (Or I got a dog that I like to take with me wherever I go). His name is LeRoy and he's a sweet little devil. He doesn't like the car yet, but he'll soon be the best road dog ever, I can just feel it.
* I sang the National Anthem 3 times in the past 2 months... once at Centennial Park (Nashy), once at the Nashville Sounds game, and once at... the one and only WRIGLEY FIELD (greatest stage ever)! If you missed me singing at the Cubs game on TV, go check it out here:
* Wojtek took a roadtrip to Graceland to go visit the King... and to take care of business. Speaking of, he got a TCB tattoo. Or was it a coffee mug..?..
* Tim is keeping busy playing drums for another artist: Gordon Roqué, and another band: The Great Affairs. If you see either of them playing in your area, make sure to go check 'em out and show TCG some love!
* In Mid-July, Tim, Woj, LeRoy and I journeyed down to Augusta for 3 days, to rock out with our friend Patrick Blanchard. We met Pat on the Cayamo cruise (he plays bass for Shawn Mullins)... and he will be playing with us in the upcoming future--hopefully ya'll will be at one of our August shows to get a TASTE!
* We went by the casa de Ken Coomer (ex-drummer for Wilco, Will Hoge's Producer, badass, etc) a couple weeks back to hang out, and play him 8 of our new songs... which went AWESOME. We're looking forward to doing more with him soon!
* Another engineer/producer, Stephen Leiweke (recorded/produced the Big Dog 3 album I sang backs on) had us by his home studio in East Nashville, where we had yet another awesome afternoon full of talking, playing, writing, and recording music. Doesn't get much better than that. We look forward to hanging out at Yackland Studios again REAL SOON!
AND OF COURSE... I SAVED THE BEST NEWS(?) FOR LAST....
* THE AUGUST IS TRAVELING BACK TO ILLINOIS FOR BACK-TO-BACK WEEKENDS STARTING AUGUST 7TH TO DEBUT OUR NEW LOOK AND NEW TUNES!
AUGUST 7: STARVED ROCK LODGE in Utica, IL @ 7:00 pm
AUGUST 8: MARTYRS in Chicago, IL @ 9:00 pm
(w/ Goodbye Home and Dan Hubbard & the Humadors)
AUGUST 14: LINDENFEST in Lindenhurst, IL @ 7:00 pm
AUGUST 15: HOT AUGUST NIGHTS FESTIVAL in Bloomington, IL @ 7:00 pm
So... we hope to see you at one of our upcoming shows! We can hardly wait to get back on stage, and see your faces in the crowd! (Oh, and did I mention we'll be putting in at least 5 new songs in the set? HOLLA.)
Okay... I'm off to bed now... Wojtek and I have a co-write bright and early tomorrow with our friends George and Paige.
Thanks for keepin up, and see you soon!
Jacky
and Tim
and Wojtek
and Patrick
and LeRoy
June 7, 2009
Front Porch Bloggin'
Written By : Jacky
Current mood: productive
hello august friends,
jacky here reporting from my front porch on penny lane on this cool, damp evening in nash vegas. wonderful to be blogging with ya'll again. i guess it's been exactly ONE MONTH since i've relayed some august news from tennessee... so brace yourself. this may get lengthy.
so... it's been 2 1/2 months since we've been down here in nashy, and things they are a-rollin. we've all got places of our own to stay (a few weeks ago it was three's company!), we're all employed, and we're all making music down here in cashville. speakin of ca$h, most days, wojtek is workin the walgreens blue, timmy be sportin the mustache & tie, and j*dust be rockin the red rudi's apron and sangin' for her supper session-singer style. but more and more, wojtek and i have been networking and co-writing with some songwriters we've met here (at least twice a week), and tim has gone right ahead and found some other rockin' musicians to keep up his drumming skillz--and is coming up on some cool gigs here in nashville in the coming weeks.
speaking of gigs... "the august" (or a couple of us) had our first "gig" here in nashville on may 22nd at the commodore. it was a songwriter's "in the round" (where it's not so much a performance as a showcasing of songs) that we played with two of our new friends/co-writers, paige and george. '
feel like you missed out and want to see a few minutes of the evening via digital video? or just want to hear one of our newest songs (that we wrote with george)? just click here:
where you'll first hear the new & improved "love don't live here no more" and then halfway through, one our latest songs called "this is my place."
feel free to comment on what you think of the new tune by the way!
hopefully we'll get you to hear some of our new songs in the very near future whether it be via the world wide web or at a show... but know that they are a flowin' down here! we didn't move all the way down to the songwriting capitol of the world for nothing, let me tell you! wojtek and i just finished a lighthearted tune last week called "send a postcard," we penned a country tune together with wood newton (who wrote "riding with private malone") a few weeks ago called "any love would do," paige and i are working on the finishing touches of a tune called "one more thing," and my man from buffalo grove (JP) and i just wrote our second song together this afternoon called "for the both of us," making us 2-for-2. the song we wrote before that was called "take you home" and WATCH OUT, it has attitude! so yeah... we be gettin' at it in gnashville.
besides writing tunes and workin to pay our bills... a few other things are worthy of noting here for ya'll who wonder what's been a-happenin' down here:
1. some august jams have been riding the internet radio waves on a new friend of mine's show at www.nbrn.fm. (mon/wed/fri from 12:00-1:00pm). thanks for all the free publicity, bill!
2. a few weeks back, our friends at sound emporium studios asked the three of us if we wanted to "stop by the studio" while WILL HOGE (and ken coomer) were in tracking for will's next record! um... we said YES. and you guessed it--it was AWESOME.
3. just 24 hours ago, tim and i got back from visiting the smoky mountains, where we saw some beautiful scenery, a bunch of deer, like 6 different kinds of salamanders, and FIVE BLACK BEARS (one was like 50 ft away when we were hiking!) CHECK THAT PLACE OUT if you ever get the chance, it is INSANE.
4. i am learning so much at my guitar lessons (with mike hutchens) & vocal lessons (with laura donohue) that i can hardly stand it! i know over 100 chords now on my guit-fiddle, and how to use my FALSE vocal cords to make my voice sound scratchy WITHOUT hurting my actual vocal cords. (didn't know we had false cords huh? me neither!)
5. last week, my vocal coach's husband, chris donohue (who plays bass for emmylou harris and buddy miller) asked me to record some background vocals on his latest project to be released in the UK next month called "big dog 3." the record also has al perkins, brady blade, emmylou, and jim lauderdale doing their thing on it. yeah, i know---pretty AMAZING to be a part of. but that's how stuff works down here.
6. and last but NOT least... i've recently been given 2 pretty sweet opportunities to sing the greatest song ever in the upcoming weeks. #1) the national anthem at the nashville sounds game (minor league ball) on june 15th and #2) national anthem AND God bless america at WRIGLEY FIELD on JULY 5th, BABY!!! GO CUBS GO!!!
so yeah, don't forget to tune into the 2nd one, august friends. you'll hear me shake like a toothache, and love every minute of it.
anywho...
i am going to leave ya'll with that for now... and go inside and read a bit before i make my way to bed. thanks for reading, and for being so good to the august.
from nashville,
this is jacky signing off.
over and out.
May 4, 2009
TOP TENN
Written By : Jacky
feliz tres de mayo!
we hope this blog finds the amigos del augusto doing muy bien...
'cause the august is doing maravilloso here in nashy ashy. simply lovin' it.
so... what is new on the august front you ask? good things, indeed.
i'm gonna go ahead and SHAKE IT UP this blog...
and give it to you in a TOP 10 list if you don't mind.
Here's the TOP TEN AWESOMEST THINGS TO HAPPEN IN AUGUSTVILLE (since the last blog):
10. Wojtek and I had our first (and second, and third, and fourth...) "co-writes" with other songwriters whom we met through NSAI. We're still writing with them to finish up some new tunes... & hopefully they'll be ready to debut in time for our first "in-the-round" which is with our friends Paige and George, at the Commodore, May 22nd.
9. Our good friends Dwight and Gary (from Cincy/Tampa) came into town to run the half-marathon last weekend, and we had a great time celebrating their accomplishment with a BIG lunch at Rudi's (where I served them the Ham & Cheeseburger, which is ENORMOUS), a couple nine-dollar Margaritas at Tim's restaurant, and some live music at the Honky Tonks on Broadway to cap off the evening!
8. Yours truly waited on 4 awesome old school musicians at Rudi's Country Music Café this month: Joanne Cash Yates (Johnny's sister), Jeannie Seely, Jack Greene, and Little Jimmy Dickens. Lil' Jimmy Dickens is the cutest man alive, with the dirtiest mind ever! Gotta love Opryland.
7. Wojtek and I shared some Calamari with the dude who wrote "Riding with Private Malone" and the guy who wrote "My List" by Toby Keith after our last songwriting class at Vandy. We talked tennis, oak trees, and red wine. And a little music too...
6. I went home a few weeks ago to get some more furniture for our new house down here... and caught a Cubs/Cards game, thanks to my girl Pipita. We didn't get the W that day, but the game was awesome, and holy hell was it nice being in Wrigley again. (GO CHICAGO SPORTS by the way, eh?)
5. Our good friend, Ollie O'Shea, invited us to his gig at the Station Inn, where he was playing fiddle with Jim Lauderdale (who oddly enough looks a lot like my dad from certain angles). But, talk about being entertained! That night... Randy Kohrs made me fall head over heels in love with the dobro. And as promised, Ollie introduced us to Jim, who signed my CD for me. Can't wait to meet up with them again, let me tell you!
4. My friend/roommate invited me to a pilot taping of a show called "Heroes Behind the Hits," where I got to listen to (and then meet) Rivers Rutherford, Brett James, and Tim Nichols. Don't think you know of them? Have you heard "Real Good Man" (Tim McGraw), "Jesus Take the Wheel" (Carrie Underwood), or "Live Like You Were Dying" (Tim Mcgraw)? That's their writing, respectively.
Coolest thing about that was... when I went to see Rivers do a set a week later--in the middle of a story before a song--he spotted me in the audience and goes, "Oh hey there, how are you doing? Good to see you."
Awesome.
3. I sang on my first two demos last Tuesday, thanks to my two new friends, JR Hemingway and Jeff Pardo. In case you're not familiar, demos are really good versions of songs that writers & publishers record to pitch to producers and artists in hopes of getting "cut" on a record. It's sort of like the jingle business (meaning it makes good money), but also a little crazier to me, recording other people's songs. But real good things can happen in the demo-scene: you meet a lot of songwriters & producers, you get a lot of experience in different studios, and your voice gets heard by a ton of people in the industry. That's how Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, and Patty Griffin got their start (I believe). You just never know... =)
2. Thanks to a chance meeting/line dancing at the Wildhorse Saloon downtown, the august got interviewed and reviewed in Today's Country Magazine. Check it out at: http://www.todayscountrymag.com/theaugustinterview.htm
1. Our friend from Cayamo, Patrick Blanchard (who plays bass with Shawn Mullins) came out to Nash Vegas two weekends back to hang out with the august. We did some writing, some talking about the future, and some JAMMING in Tim and I's new front room (for HOURS)! Let me just say, it's been a WHILE since I've played Drunken Picture... and although Pat's dance moves were different than Petey's, it was a blast. We hope to introduce you to Pat in the near future--perhaps when we do some Illinois touring in AUGUST?
Anyway... I think that's a good enough UPDATE as to what's going DOWN down south (For now)...
excited 
& 