The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

"Prayer For The Hopi Clowns" on this week's Hearts Of Space

Good news: "Prayer for the Hopi Clowns", off my new CD Deaths And Injuries, is featured on this week's Music From The Hearts Of Space show.

Check your local public radio listings or listen to it (not for free) at Hearts Of Space, www.hos.com. Usually HOS broadcasts on Sunday nights on many NPR stations. Sadly, here in Tucson we don't receive the show anymore but you all in Prescott, Show Low, Page, and Flagstaff do. And across the country and world.

Again, thanks, Stephen Hill and Steve Davis for playing some of my work on this week's show.

Look for the show entitled "Floating Waves"

From Thursday's 'Deaths & Injuries' CD Release Party...

Thanks to all who attended my CD release party on Maundy Thursday, supporting my new album Deaths & Injuries. A good time, I believe, was had by all. And if you want to see and hear a couple of the songs played that evening, just go to the StuTube and you'll find them there. I only played (or rather sang) one song from Deaths & Injuries. Watching me play atmospheric music is as entertaining as grass growing, plus it was a lot of fun to sing some old songs to everyone. I was a bit pitchy but I sang with commitment (LOL.)

And many thanks to Jeff Smith for pics and some vid, and to Kathleen Dreier for pics too. (Kathleen's pics have her watermark. All unmarked images here are by Jeff Smith.) And thanks to Laura for providing the wonderful spread of food for the occasion.

I can't thank everyone enough. Again, if you want to hear me play a Mike Ness song, a Buddy and Julie Miller song, and Man Of Constant Sorrow, just click on this link.

And Happy Bunny Day and Happy Passover. Prayers all around.

A CD Release Party at Studio BR-549

A gathering to celebrate the release of Stu's new CD "Deaths & Injuries" on Maundy Thursday, April 5th, 2012, at 549 N. 7th Ave, Tucson, Arizona.

I will be performing a short musical set from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Refreshments will be provided. I promises to entertain.

As an Episcopalian by birth (and partly by faith), Maundy Thursday is my Christmas, the night Jesus gave his final commandment, to love one another. Seems important to me.

I'll be performing a song or two from the CD, old mountain spirituals, punk rock songs, and sea shanties.

Please come if you can. It won't be dull. And all are invited. This is not a private affair.

Again, the performance will be from 8:30 to 9:00 on the night.

And I know many who read this blog are nowhere near Tucson. Wish you were closer. Wish you were here.

All 8 1/2" x 11" A/P archival pigment prints by Stu Jenks for $25, shipping, handling and taxes included...

Image: "Queen Esther Baptist Church, Lancaster, Virginia" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks (Just down River Road from Victoria's house. Love that luscious red carpet. And for you nocturnals out there, it was handheld. Rare for me.)

In this time of making photos on iPhones and Macbook Pros and only looking on screens, I forget I'm a old-school guy. I make a 8 1/2 x 11 work print on archival paper of EVERY image I make. EVERY one. It's the only way, for me, to accurately check for color shift, density, composition, etc. I really like my iPad screen but it's no way to make a good print.

And I have hundreds, if not thousands, of work prints artist proofs at my studio.

If you see an image of mine on The StuBlog or on my old website or on the Fezziwig Press Store or in any of my books, there's a beautiful small print in a box somewhere, perhaps with your name on it. And since I'm organized, I can find it.

Many of you can't afford my larger prints. I understand. I don't have an extra 50 or 100 lying around either. But I do have an extra $20 for stuff I really like.

So if you see an image of mine on any of my sites or in any of my books and you want it, it's yours for $25, shipping, handling and tax included. (I believe in paying taxes, sales and otherwise.)

Just email me at my facebook page or through the StuBlog or at stujenks@gmail.com, and tell me what print you would like or just pull the jpeg and send that to me.

I was just watching the Tarhells lose today in basketball, working on images at my computer when I thought, 'I bet people don't realize I have boxes of work prints here.'

You all do now.

Love and light,

Stu

p.s. Ignore the catagories belows. The computer went wacky. Another reason why I prefer a print in the hand as opposed to an image in The Cloud.

...The first draft of the novel is done!!!...

The first draft of the novel is done!!! It came in at 149,000 words, 552 pages in my document. Yeaaaa! I can't tell you how good it feels. The ending made me cry, as I hope it does you. (Last word in the novel, which won't change in revision: Sighs.) I want to jump right back to the beginning and start revisions, but Mary Ann suggests I take more than just a couple days off. OK. I'll take off three or four days. LOL. But then it's fixing this and revising that, then off to the editors. And I have ideas for the next novel in this series, too. I have some pretty great characters, I think, and I want to see what they will do next. But first things first. Get this novel to print.

One serious note: It took about a year to write this novel, but it almost didn't get done. With Mary and Pamela dying and all, I didn't work on it for about six weeks and it was so hard to get my momentum back. But I did. But it was difficult. If you are working on a novel or a large work, I recommend you plow through, even if the field is frozen. I've been told I'm very lucky to have gotten back on track.

Speaking of track, good luck to Danica Patrick tomorrow in the Daytona 500 and in the rest of Sprint Cup and Nationwide races this season. I might just have to go up to PHX next Saturday to watch her race.

By the way, did I mention I finished the freaking first draft of the novel?

Yeaaaaaaaaa!

"Deaths & Injuries" is now on iTunes and at CDBaby.com

"Deaths & Injuries" is now available at your local iTunes store on your computer and on your mobile devices, and at my CDBaby.com page, both as a digital download and as a physical CD. You can also buy the physical CD at the Fezziwig Press Store. CDs are $12.00 through me and $13.00 through CDBaby.com (S & H extra.) And the digital downloads are your standard .99 cents per track.

Thanks, y'all.

Stu

p.s. The above image, "Ed-Lil" is on the inside cover of this CD. Just tired of putting the same cover image on my blog to promote this CD. If you want to see the cover, just scroll down.

"Deaths & Injuries" Is Now Here!

Deaths & Injuries, the physical CD, is now here! (It'll soon to be on iTunes and the other platforms. When it's up in the iCloud, I'll let you know.)

One small thing: I'm having a little problem with the shipping and handling at The music section at the Fezziwig Press store. They are calculating a couple bucks too much for shipping. If you don't mind the slight extra cost, just buy the CD at the Fezziwig Press store. But also feel free to simply order the physical CD directly through my Paypal account. stujenks@gmail.com is my Paypal login. Just add money to my account, tell me what you are buying and give me your name and address. (And if you want me to sign or personalize the CD, let me know that too.) Either way, I'll get the CDs to you as quickly as possible.

Deaths & Injuries is $12.00 for the CD; $5.00 USPS Priority Mail in the U.S.A.; $8.00 US, International Mail. (Except through the Fezziwig Press store right now, which I think is calculating shippng at $8.00, worldwide.)

I'm very happy with the quality of the printing and pressing of this product. (Thanks, A to Z Media.) Very little color shift in the cover images and the sound quality is just excellent, better than the mp3s you find on iTunes. iTunes is fine. I buy a lot of music through iTunes, but the physical CD has a very wide tonal range, great for the atmospheric nature of this music.

Below is an mp3 of Prayer For Gabe Zimmerman. It sounds even better on the CD.

Download Prayer For Gabe Zimmerman by Stu Jenks

There is a fine line between self-confidence and arrogance, and we do live in a narcisstic time, don't you know, but I really like this CD. It's the best music I've ever produced. I guess all that practicing and running scales has paid off. And Craig Schumacher's mastering of the CD makes my playing shine.

I hope you enjoy Deaths & Injuries as much as I do.

Cheers,

Stu

P.S. There'll be a CD release party soon at Studio BR-549 in Tucson. I'll let you know more when I know more.

P.P.S. Play it loud in your car. It's really good loud.

On the Etsy now (and the new CD...)

I'm on Etsy now. (Click here to go to my Etsy store)

Frankly, I didn't know you could sell photography on Etsy. I was wrong. Happy to be wrong.

Book sales are OK (I say with a slight wince), but art sales have been down the last year or so. We are in The Great Recession, don't you know. But I completely understand.

It's easier, in this economy, to buy a $12 CD or $10 eBook or a $20 hardback book, than it is to buy a $100 to $200 print, or a large, more expensive, framed piece. That is, if you are part of the 99%, or the 90%, or the lower 50%. (I'm in the lower 28%. I looked it up.)

Good news: The new CD will be shipped next week. More on that later. I may have a CD release party but I have a very small studio. But I'm thinking about it. Maybe in the parking lot, some night, during the Festival OF Books in March.

Any ideas? I'm open.

"Two Candles At Grace Cathedral"

 

"Two Candles, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

I'll pray for many tonight, at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal. I'll pray for my dead family. I'll pray for my living friends and loved ones. I'll sing Silent Night. I'll light a candle. I'll go home, hoping that The Void Of God, that blessed emptiness where everything exists, fills my apartment in the morning.

I'm sure it will, for that Void is in my home now.

Right now. All the time. Always. Everywhere.

Merry Christmas Eve, y'all.

 

 

 

This year's 'Silent Night'

Two years ago, for the Gladstone Mothershead CD, I recorded Silent Night. Upbeat, bouncy, it was fun.

This year, I've recorded it again. Slower, sadder, hopeful of the coming dawn, I suppose. Still fun, but sadder.

2011 isn't 2009.

But it's still Christmas in a few days, and it's still Solstice tonight.

Call back the LIght however you do, and I hope you enjoy this little mp3 for you.

 

Silent Night 2011 #4 by Stu Jenks