i am sitting on the starboard
of your only way
back home




Jana%20Pochop
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Friday, August 29, 2008

And then there was DONE.


By all accounts The Early Year is out of my hands for the next couple of weeks! The fabulous people at Oasis received the artwork from Emily, (who did just a fantastic job and you should hire her for all your graphic design needs and pay her a lot of money)...and the master is sitting somewhere in New Jersey because the post office overnighted it. Flying. Like an eagle. Into the future.

Now what? Well...I suppose you could pre-order it (pre-oderitpre-orderit!!!) while I take a nap. There's a little something something in it for ya if you order early, so Czech it out.

More merching this weekend...if you are in Wimberley or Marble Falls or Fredericksburg (or you want to be and really, who doesn't when there's Susan Music involved?)...come say hello!

Oh, and I realized that I made an egregious error in my liner notes and neglected to thank a very important group of people that had a big role in the production of The Early Year. I'd like to write them a special note right here right now:

Dear President George W. Bush and the Federal Government,

Thank you very much for the tax refund check that I found in my mailbox this summer. Thanks to you and your generosity, you have allowed more singer-songwriter folk music to be released into the world, which as I recall was one of the lesser recognized tenants of your father's "Thousand Points of Light" speech in 1988.

I promise to do my best to give back to the economy with The Early Year by using it to facilitate more gasoline consumption through touring, buying pretzels and Starbucks in a can from various convenience stores across the country, and by recycling all my guitar strings by making yard art and jewelry. Again, thank you very much and when you move back to Dallas/Fort Worth please come to a show. I will buy you a scone.


Sincerely,
Jana

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

So close it's thisclose.


There's a proof of the CD itself in all its greenery! I am so stoked for everything. I tied up a lot of the loose ends this week, and I think it's all almost in Oasis' hands as far as printing. The master is ready. The artwork is done. I need to fax some info, Emily will upload the artwork, and I will Fed-Ex the master to New Jersey. In about 3 weeks I'll get 1000 copies of The Early Year. Then hopefully people will take them off my hands, because I certainly don't need 1000 of them!

Phew.

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A Teaser!

My brother found a neato site called Animoto. Much fun with the slide shows. Here's a chorus from "Paper Rock Scissors" off the new record:



(Yep, I played everything you hear on the record. Cheap labor!)

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Sheep in San Angelo and Other Road Oddities

Another fun merch adventure...this time at the Steel Penny Pub in San Angelo. Lots of interesting things to look at!

Eden, Texas - home of the most barbed-wired prison I think I have ever seen. It was someone's job to wind miles of razor wire around chain link fencing. Wow.

We tailed this towed RV for a long time...they left the back window blinds open and a giant mirror was hanging on the wall. Total safety fail.

There was a very patriotic sheep in front of some offices in San Angelo...The Sheep of Justice, as I called it. Note the weird cherubs on the sheep itself.

The merch table at the Steel Penny.

I graffiti'd on the dart board score keeper.

Awake after waking up for laundry at 8 AM, playing the Artist Market in the afternoon, driving to San Angelo, and merching it up. Long day! Wouldn't change a thing.

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Saturday, August 23, 2008

San Angelo to Switzerland

I'm off to be Merch Girl in San Angelo tonight, kids. In the meantime...here's a tune too new to be on EP 1, but I am pretty set on having it on the next record. It's my $20,000 History/Poli Sci degree at work!


Switzerland from janapochop on Vimeo.

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Friday, August 22, 2008

It's Done. And other random updates.

Well...we have a mastered version of The Early Year that is going to be the one that everyone gets in their mailboxes, email boxes, on their computer speakers, and on their turntables. Ok, no turntables. We're not doing a vinyl release...yet, hehheh. I am proud of it. With a capital P! And there's the cover...woot!

What is holding me up right now is that I am a little slow to comprehend the embedding of ISRC codes on the tracks, still...so I did not realize I needed to register with the RIAA before this could occur. So I am registering, and then we'll get the codes, which get embedded in the master, which gets shipped to Oasis for duplication. I hope this goes fast.

Today is busywork day so I can get my PO box set up (as much as taking orders from my home address via the internet is appealing, haha) and file our paperwork for Bourn Records. And send a fax to the RIAA. Who has a fax machine these days? Oh, that's right...business people. (And Kinko's! Woot!)


I am still all happy from last weekend at Threadgill's. Jamming on stage with Terri and Lloyd and Glenn was pretty much a highlight of my...forever. It's neat to think about the things I've been fortunate enough to do in my two years of living here.



A lot of the above paperwork and business stuff is thanks to Terri and Lloyd and their never-ending sharing of smarts and experience. From the Life's A Song workshop last October to Terri letting me harass her and pick her brain all the time throughout this past year...it's good to have people who have your back. Dan and Suz and Terri and Lloyd are all really insanely integral parts of me as an artist and of this record...I hope it does them all proud. Thanks for the chance, kids.

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday Hijinx


Today I saw The Dark Knight and hung out at KUT while Susan played on the radio. That was pretty fun, I had never been in there before. We were live in Studio 1A...the very same one Terri and Lloyd were in last Saturday (see the audio below). Well, Susan was live and I was doing my best to very quietly sit at her feet. She did great and the KUT folks were class acts.

Literally: feet.


We decided such seriousness and quietude in studio required Thai food and a loud explosive movie. I'll admit it right now on the intertubes...this was the first Batman flick I have ever seen. It wins. I guess I'll have to work backwards.

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Monday, August 18, 2008

If You Miss the Bus


If You Miss the Bus from janapochop on Vimeo.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Threadgill's with Terri and Lloyd


What happened last night? THAT happened last night. I was surprised at the end of my set by Terri, Lloyd, and Glenn joining me on "Blonde on Blue" and "Paper Rock Scissors". Talk about fun! Such class acts.

If you came to the show, thank you so much. Such a fun night, and thanks for braving the raindrops!

More on the evening later, I am off to Gruene Hall with my college buds to show them some Texas culture...


And thanks to Maestro for the photos!! His clicking finger was on fire.

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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Yay KUT!

All kinds of fun things happening today! We just had a great hang with some friends over Thai food at Madam Mam's -- red curry for me, always. They do tofu right there.

Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines were on KUT's Folkways program this afternoon and were kind enough to give a jpo shoutout. Thanks, kids! That was neat.



Check out the KUT site - Susan Gibson will be on this Thursday. I have a little bet with her involving her saying something on air. If she does it, I clean her van windows. The game is on. (And they used my photo from our Very Large Array trip!)

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Before the Big Gig

Opening for Terri Hendrix tonight at Threadgill's!!! Come see us.


People Being People from janapochop on Vimeo.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Productive Trip

Back in Austin with my college buds Jamie and Mike. The 12 hour drive was punctuated by convenience store stops and a couple of detours in Lubbock and Abilene. Jamie had the joy of driving through the construction, but she navigated well!


While in Albuquerque enjoying the family, business partner Josh and I also managed to squeeze in some quality productivity time. We signed the DBA for our Bourn Records label, so The Early Year will have a home. Keeps things tracked and accounted for easier. Why Bourn Records?

The definition of "bourn", in an old timey (ok, archaic) translation, is "a destination or goal." We also liked that when you pronounce it, it sounds like the usual "born." So it covers the beginning and the goal of things and we like that. Cool.


I also got my songwriting publishing paperwork in order through ASCAP, so now all my songs are published under Patient Grasshopper Music. Again, another term that Josh and I repeat to each other a lot. The last couple years have been full of meeting full of, "Wow, I wish we could fast forward to..." and the other one saying, "Patience, Grasshopper!" Lately stuff is moving at a good clip so we don't say it as much. I thought it would be a good reminder at all times, though...even songs come at a slow pace. That's cool.

So...a record label and some publishing. Not bad for a week in Nuevo Mexico!

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Flying Star hello

Greetings from Flying Star...one of my favorite coffee hangs in
Albuquerque. Business partner Josh and I had a little film session
this morning and I actually got some writing done, too. Productive!

Tomorrow I hit the road with co-pilots Jamie and Mike...back to
Austin. Ready to play at the Terri Hendrix gig on Saturday at
Threadgills! 9 PM, kids. Be there.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Learning from the Master

Postcards to hand out so people know The Early Year is on its way!

Greetings from the mountains in New Mexico. I'm holed up outside of Albuquerque for a family reunion and there are good times all around, including games of speed Scrabble, green chile stew, hiking, and blue skies to the moon and back. Excellent!

Thank goodness wifi extends to the outskirts of civilization, because we've been going back and forth with the very cool dude who is mastering The Early Year in Berlin, Germany. The wonders of the internet allow us to upload files and he sends them back, and nary an ocean crossed by either of us. Amazing.

The past two days between fits of Scrabble and harassing my nieces and nephews, I've been cramming in a bunch of info about the mastering process. Apparently you embed ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) info into the master...which enables royalties to be tracked and tells your computer/iTunes/whatever info about what track is what. Makes sense. Lots of numbers and letters.

Off to harass some more family members, haha...

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Friday, August 8, 2008

EP 1 Cover: Almost There...


Ah ha! A bit of color for the cover of The Early Year!

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Puzzling.

A moment in Cracker Barrel somewhere between Fort Worth and Austin.
Never got it down to one peg. The coffee was good, though.

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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

To the Top of the World

This is one of the most gorgeous versions of this tune...



(If you squint you'll see Lloyd in the background behind Emily!)

I'm driving to New Mexico, y'all...see you on the flip side in the Mountain Time Zone.

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Sunday, August 3, 2008

Merch Girl Escapades


Last night was another fun one involving Susan Gibson music, Diet Coke in cute little glass bottles, and lots of t-shirts flying off the...rack? Shelf? Bin? Can things fly out of bins? (They can when j-po is merching, hehheh).

Cheatham Street is one of my favorite venues in Central Texas because it's full of history and there's live music almost every night of the week. Their open mic is highly respected as one for songwriters because people actually listen, and it was one of the first ones I hit up when I moved here.

There was also space for hanging things which took the merch set up to another level. I was jazzed. I think we'll incorporate these grids into the traveling merch set up, and I have some other ideas, too. Lighting. A listening station. We're going hi-tech, y'all!

Beauty.

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Saturday, August 2, 2008

Girl Crush on Imogen Heap

I'll admit it...I have a girl crush on Imogen (don't worry, the NYT says it's cool). I watched her latest video blog just now and my mouth kept dropping at each new bit of sound-making genius.


From the swirly tube thing that we all had as kids and never quite knew what to do with except annoy the crap out of our parents...to using the Gameboy start up sound on her song...sheer genius. SHE PLAYS THE GAMEBOY. ON HER RECORD.

And I thought I was all cool playing the banjo.

Imogen, if you need someone to play the Diet Coke bottle, or flip flop around the studio loudly, or perhaps type with 3 fingers on a keyboard really fast...I'm your girl.

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Coffee AND Pizza. And Gig.

I had a very fun gig at Constantine's in Buda last night, and lo and behold photos were sent directly to me from an iPhone, haha. I love technology. I'm pretty in love with their pesto, and they also sell coffee. Folks, pizza and coffee in ONE establishment? I might move in. Reserve that booth, kids.
See that halo? That's just the sun.

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Friday, August 1, 2008

EP 1 Cover: The Early Year


The title. The Early Year.

How it came about: I was mulling over what to call this thing during the entire recording process. I put it off by calling it EP 1, and seriously considered the official title of "One of Three" because we are going to make 2 more of these in the next 2 years...but the cleverness of that title choice would not be evident until 2010 when "Three of Three" comes out. Scratch that.

I thought about "Fortunate" because that's the name of one of the tracks and kind of the mantra for the whole process...I felt fortunate to be doing it. But singling out one of the five tracks didn't sit right with me, either.

While discussing options with Dan, about how this was the first of many records to be made and therefore my baby EP and how I wanted to reflect that, I said, "But I don't want to call it something pretentious like "Jana Pochop: The Early Years" or something like that."

Which caught Dan's ear...and suddenly dropping that plural from Years was the perfect solution.

Yes, it was an early year. The getting up at 5:30 to write songs before going in to work at the county job and then spending many hours at Red Leaf after that. Each one of these songs was either born, finished, or refined in that morning writing time. I think everyone's had an early year or many...whether it was school or a job or family stuff or jogging or writing...alarms have to go off early sometimes. It just means we're all getting stuff done, which is always worth celebrating (sometimes with a nap, haha).

So cheers to the early year -- I hope there's many more.

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