Seven.

We are close to the halfway point in the Dance Rawr Dance 3 tour and I am almost 100% better from being sick the past few days. Hopefully I can shake it all off. All of the bands are still way cool and it's been fun making new friends.

I have a few mobile phone photos. It's hard to get around to shooting photos so hopefully these will do for now. Also you can check some footage of us playing on youtube if you just google "Queens Club" in the recent searches.


Crowd in Columbus, OH.


Freaking Ryan Adams art gallery opening in New York


FF5 doods.


Skull & Bones, Yale University.


Haunted swimming pool in Milwaukee at the Rave. Freaking weird place.


Driving through Wyoming.

K thats it. ill try and update again soon.

TB

Six.

Today is day four of the Dance Rawr Dance III tour with Family Force 5, Breath Carolina, Cash Cash and iRival.

I am in Boston right now. So far this tour has been fun at only 3 shows in. Some great crowds and very nice guys in the other bands. I look forward to the rest of the times we have with them.

It is nice to already see parts of the US I have not seen yet. Although only for a short time I enjoy the opportunity to see the country in which I live. I hope to learn much from this trip on many different levels. The lord has already provided in great ways for my self and us as a band. Having a warm and comfortable place to sleep for free is a daily blessing.

I'll be trying to get some photos up soon.

Ciao.

TB

Five.


"No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild."


I have realized myself to be in the midst of a battle for identity. To find who I truly am. Not a social security number or a 10 digit credential. A journey to go back 23 years ago and find the human being God created me to be. Before society infiltrated my existence.

I need a pure, untainted experience. Trees, mountains, rivers, valleys, rocks, grass, sky and wind.

I was not so intricately created for the latest headlines and political debates. I was not given the breath of life to slowly decay in civilization.

Soon & very soon I must find my Magic Bus. My Alaskan pilgrimage. My quest for meaning & understanding.


TB

Four.




I did the above photo project (click to enlarge) for my final at Columbia College in Chicago. At the point of shooting the final I was feeling pretty isolated from any kind of discipleship.

A good friend and mentor of mine put out a record with some incredibly impacting and encouraging songs. I was listening to a track off of his record and got this idea for a project. The sum of the separate photos read "Oh heaven rejoice and let the whole earth sing great is our God". I wanted to portray the diversity of who God is and what he has created. I simply asked random passerby's to write in their handwriting the word I had asked. The board in which the writing is on is the board that the actual print of the corresponding photo is matted to.

I like to think that everyone deep down inside of them hopes there is something beyond this journey of life we experience. No matter how cold hearted or distant a person can be I think that a piece of the untainted and pure life they came into this world with still exist in them. kind of like Darth Vader (been watching Star Wars lately).

I guess this project can mean whatever you want it to mean to you.

Check out my bud Jon Shirley here
http://www.myspace.com/jonshirley


TB

Three.




I like being able to write things in here when I am feeling something is worth jotting down and not having some schedule for writing. Not sure how the above photo corresponds to this post. I know it does somehow. I took it about 2 years ago, I think looking at it right now and how it relates to my feelings, it most likely sums up the character of my emotions.

At this point in life I feel like I have so many memories & regrets scattered all through out my heart and head. At different times I feel different things and retreat to a certain memory and just live there for a little bit. I am thinking of one in particular...

A few years ago I had the privilege to live in Europe. While there I met one of the closest and most genuine friends I have. Whether she knows it or not she shaped a lot of who I am today in that short 5 months I spent there. On a regular basis we would stay up late into the night by the fireplace and talk. We had the most attractive and stimulating conversations I can recall having. It wasn't the atmosphere of the room or the smell of wood burning that carved it's way into my memory. It was her winsome disposition that made hours seem like minutes and minuscule conversations relevant.

Lately I've found my self dazing into those moments and feeling more at home than I have at times these last few months. I guess that's how I operate to a certain extent. I know I have these perfect moments in my mind that will never leave me and I can always go there and muster up just a small amount of what I felt when I was there. That is a very good thing I believe.

TB

Two.

Think these guys may know more about friendship and investment than I do...



Been thinking a lot lately about times in my life when things felt flawless. Times when there was nothing I could think of that worried me. Then I just wish if I tried so hard I could go back and be there again.

I guess I am just pretty exhausted with superficial people around me. I'm sure that sounds rash. I don't like surrounding myself around negative people and wasting my time and energy on dead ends. I suppose I can take away a lesson on "investing in the right endeavors" from this. I am beginning to feel ok with stepping away from things and people that really don't encourage and uplift me as a human being.


Think these lyrics sum it up pretty ok...

I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking these days
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to

I stopped my ramblin'
I don't do too much gamblin' these days
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my way
And I wonder if I'll see another highway

And I had a lover
I don't think I'll risk another these days
These days
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
Well it's just 'cause I've been losing so long

Well I'll stop my dreamin'
I don't do too much schemin' these days
These days I'll sit on cornerstones
And count the time in quartertones to ten
Please don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them



TB

Ok so I have never really publicly written any of my thoughts most of them go into my journal and sit until i go back to them. I guess I just felt like it would be good to get some thoughts out and maybe if people actually read them get some feedback. Typical blogging I suppose. Anyways if you feel so inclined to read and comment that would be really great. I'll probably try and include a photo or two that I have recently made. Here is entry one.


One.



Recently I was in Chicago and I took the photo above. At the time I was shooting for a project I am working on about American Poverty. When I got back and was working on edits for the photo I realized something about the man. I realized how alike he and I were.

I realized for the past two months I have had the same look on my face as this man does. The expression of asking myself "How did I get here? Where did I go wrong?". It's interesting how I can live in a house and know tomorrow when I wake up I'll have something to eat but feel the same as this man probably does. Sometimes hopeless other times regretful and shameful. Most of all things that brings he and I together is the feeling of being alone. I may not be standing on a street corner trying to survive but something inside of me feels like I am not far from it.

I am blessed that is for sure. In no way is my current situation comparable to this mans. I have a feeling though if we sat down our conversation would be lengthy and quite healing. This may not make sense but it does to me. This season of life is confusing and very arduous, I know tough; that I serve a God who is the opposite, who is set and gives me hope. It's remembering that daily that is challenging.


TB