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First day of school!

Let's get a back to school haircut!

Awwww, vacation's over!

The marsh on Tybee.

San Francisco-based indie singer-songwriter Lauren O'Connell has four albums under her belt, and now she’s ready to lay down her fifth — for the first time, with a producer other than herself. She’s spent four years writing a bunch of new songs, she says, and she thinks you’ll like ‘em.

The process has taken longer than she expected, in part due to some personal challenges, but O'Connell believes that the extra time was more than worthwhile. “I’ve learned a lot about myself (revelations which I look forward to debunking and replacing later with equally fragile ones), finished some of those songs, and surprised myself with some new ones,” says.

Read more about O’Connell and her music here.

kickstarter

Catching up with the #KickstarterMusic team at SXSW: Part 2

Check out Part 1 right over here.

10. You probably heard Michelle Obama did a keynote…

11. But did you see how many people were waiting for the escalator?

12. We took a time out to watch the fabulous 68-year-old wild man Iggy Pop crowd surf and play a seriously epic show alongside Josh Homme.

13. The weather has been pretty glorious, at least in the opinion of these New Yorkers. (Brooklyn, we love you, but we’re not sad to be in the Texas warmth this week.)

14. Molly had a blast moderating a panel about the pros and cons of making music without a label, and we live tweeted it on @KickstarterTips.

15. Hayley moderated a panel about independent hip hop, chatting with Brandon Hixon, founder of We Make Music and manager of De La Soul (pictured here), Run the Jewels and El-P’s manager Amaechi Uzoigwe, and Naomi Zeichner, editor-in-chief of The FADER.

16. And speaking of The FADER, some some great acts took the stage at the Fader Fort.

17. Oh. Did we mention there’s a lot of people here? Here’s a peek at the ghost town that is 6th Street at midnight (on St. Patrick’s Day, no less)…

18. Sid’s computer joined us for every meal (we promise we did not get any BBQ sauce on the keyboard), but it finally got exhausted and tried to take a nap in the hotel lobby as she sent pictures back to HQ.

We also ran into the folks from Pico Brew, and spotted an Oculus in the wild!

Keep following along with us at #KickstarterSXSW, or learn more about music on Kickstarter via #KickstarterMusic. Cheers to all the incredible musicians, filmmakers, artists, and innovators who’ve brought their energy and creativity to Austin. We hope you’re having as much fun as we are! <3

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Photo credits: 10, 17, 18 — Hayley Rosenblum. 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 + “Brews n Bar-B-Q” — Sid Orlando. 14 — Tomasz Werner.

#KickstarterMusic

kickstarter

Catching Up with the #KickstarterMusic Team at SXSW: Part 1

1. Welcome to Austin, Kickstarter! We spotted Kickstarter creator Charlie Faye at the Austin Airport.

2. Once we got into town, we kicked off our time in the Texan capital by checking out some rad bands at the Hype Hotel.

3. Patrick O’Neill, the founder of OlloClip, shared some stories about the company’s history (and made our iPhones a little cooler. Thanks, Patrick!). Fun fact: when OlloClip ran their first Kickstarter, Patrick’s daughter noticed that tons of backers wanted their rewards shipped to a mysterious place called “Infinite Loop”…

4. We hopped into NASA space suits because we love you to the moon and back and wanted to make you smile. :)

5. Hayley talked on a panel called “You Can’t Pay Bills with Facebook Likes” (and Sid wrote about it).

6. We ate tasty, tasty food. (Not pictured: waffle fry poutine.)

7. The Smart Studios Story documentary screened, and we hung out with director Wendy Schneider and producers Butch Vig and Kerry Brown. AMAZE.

8. We ran into friends.

9. And we learned that everything really is bigger in Texas, including the garnishes on your Bloody Mary.

Hey, we’re not done yet! Follow along with us via #KickstarterSXSW, and check back for a second installation of our adventures in Austin coming soon!

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Photo Credits 1, 2, 7, 9 — Hayley Rosenblum. 3, 4, 6, 8 — Sid Orlando. 5 — Tomasz Werner.

alice-bag

“The more risks I take, the less scary they are.” Allison Wolfe talks with me about the nature of work, close encounters of the employment kind and supporting yourself as a musician and artist in this audio segment.

Lu's cool new T designed by Tia Mar!

Lucia's teacher posted this photo of Halloween in class. "TBT Even with extra limbs to manage, toddlers are still able to maintain concentration on their chosen activities." Hilarious!

alice-bag

The New World Tarot of Cristy C. Road

Validate the culture you wish to see in the world - this is something I often say to audiences who come to hear me speak. It’s one thing to criticize the false idols foisted upon us daily by the mainstream media; far more impactful is creating and supporting a vision that reflects oneself and one’s world view.

I first met Cristy C. Road (interview with her here) a few years ago at L.A. Zine Fest, where I was speaking on a panel. Cristy was in the audience. Afterwards, she introduced herself, expressed interest in my work and handed me a copy of her graphic novel, Spit and Passion. I am a sucker for graphic novels so I gobbled it up that same night, slowing down from time to time to marvel at the way her expressive artwork perfectly complimented the text. By the end of the night I was a Cristy fan.

Time passed before I would see Cristy again. In 2014, we both happened to be in Champaign, Illinois. She was staying with a mutual friend, Mimi Thi Nguyen. We hung out together and before long Cristy was treating us to a living room serenade, playing and singing acoustic versions of her rock songs. That night, over a late night supper Cristy started talking about a tarot deck that she had been working on. She asked me if I would like to pose for her and of course, I said yes! I have to confess that I was a little confused when she asked me to get down on the ground and strike some unfamiliar poses, right there in the restaurant. Her imagination was racing much too quickly for me to catch up to her. A few months ago I saw some of her tarot deck drawings. The illustrations were colorful and vivid. They depicted beautiful, badass women - the type who are not typically portrayed as beautiful: women of different ethnicities, body types and ages. It was a powerful affirmation of a woman’s worth. Then I saw myself.

Cristy had drawn me, picking up jewels from the ground. It thrilled me to be included. I wanted to buy decks for my daughters and my friends but the deck was not finished. Doing enough drawings to create an entire deck of cards was requiring time and money. Cristy is no slacker. Earlier this year I contacted her with a crazy request. I asked if she could illustrate the cover of my book which was going to the printer in two weeks. To my surprise, she said yes. Within days I had sketches to approve and two weeks later a front and back cover for my book.

Cristy works hard. She is a super talented artist doing important work. I hope you will join me in supporting her Kickstarter campaign.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/croadcore/the-next-world-tarot

Here is the link, and even if you can’t pledge, I would very much appreciate you sharing this post to help bring attention to this campaign.

CRISTY C. ROAD’S NEXT WORLD TAROT PROJECT

nylonmag

6 rad spring beauty looks for riot grrrls

simplesocial

Ha ha ha

Check out this news article, 'Hey, Billboard: Your New Chart Formula Robbed An Indie Music Community of a Win,' on AbsolutePunk.net.

Happy Valentine's Day, family and friends! We are grateful for your love.

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Becca Albee in conversation with Matt Wolf

January 2015

MW: What’s your favorite color?

BA: Well the first color choice I remember making was the combination of light pink and kelly green.

MW: Where did that combo come from?

BA: When I was in first grade I chose to have my bedroom carpet green and the walls painted pink. I thought of the carpet like grass. I think I got the idea of the combination from The Preppy Handbook, this old satirical how-to book about being preppy that my brother had, emphasizing the pink and green color combination.

The girls had a play date today and Lucia wasn't the youngest!

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Becca Albee

Exhibition at 356 S. Mission Road

January 24 - March 1, 2015

Opening reception on Saturday, January 24

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