"The Umpire Strikes Back" New Diva Hand Gesture to be Unveiled Tonight!

So, tonight's a big gig for Bucket of Honey. I've already papered facebook, but today is my day to blog so here's a little more paper. Nothing much going on other than that. Some things I have been working on lately as a musician are diva hand gestures. Yeah, Nate's been on me about having my hands in my pockets all the time. You know, as an actor, it's a little challenging being up there onstage and not be playing a character. So, I guess your the first to know, tonight I intend to play a character. Been doing a little research on the net, Mary J., Celine, Mariah, Whitney, the list goes on. Found a couple articles with some helpful suggestions, head dresses, bling, arching the back. Well, I've been perfecting my own move. I plan to try it out tonight on stage. I call it, the umpire strikes back. It's kinda like a great big "Yooooourr OUT!" hand gesture that I hope will really emphasize whatever I'm singing. I'm a little nervous about it. Wish me luck.

While doing some research I came across this bar graph which clearly depicts popular diva's levels of emotion while singing. I'm gonna be on this bar graph someday, I just know it.

The Players

As I'm sure you know by now, Bucket of Honey will be playing this Friday night at ToST with a couple other bands. We are hosting this time, and it's a good thing because Satellite by Night has been our host on more then one occasion! Also on the bill is a band we have not yet played with, Laguna, but are very excited to meet. This group is going through some changes from what we've heard, and we are excited to hear their new sound.

To add a bit of flavor to our sound, honey if you will, we have asked a couple ringers to come sit in with us. Here are the

additions:

Dan, the man, Milam

You may remember Dan from our last full band gig at Nectar a while back. He's a rippin' Bass player who really knows how to have a good time. His band, Mean Recess, is a duo like BOH and we are looking to mash our two groups up in the near future to make a Bucket of Mean Recess... Look for that soon!

We love playing with Dan... wait, that came out wrong, but you get the picture. It's so nice to have our good friend back with us. It is always a good time when Dan is around!

If you see Dan at the show, please, feel free to buy him a shot or a drink... he likes those!

Mark, I got the gear, Mattrey

Completely new to the BOH crew, Mark is no stranger to the music scene. If you like to frequent the Seamonster, you have seen Mark. He plays Bass in one of our favorite bands, Haiku-chi, and does a damn fine job if you ask us! You may also have seen him playing with me at our monthly open mic at the Seamonster, as he sits in for funsies quite often. Mark is a mad man on the kit, and we are confident you will love what you hear!

If you see Mark at the show, please, feel free to buy him a shot or a drink... he likes those!

Michael, fingers, Owcharuk

Also new to the BOH crew, Annie and I met Michael as fellow band members of 14/48 The Worlds Quickest Theater Festival. In fact, he wrote some of the songs we will be performing on Friday night with us at 14/48! We had such a blast with him, we simply had to invite him to come play a show. Michael is simply in too many projects to mention them all here, so instead I will point you to his website if you are interested is hearing what this creative cat is up to: Owcharuk Music.

If you see Michael at the show, please, feel free to buy him a shot or a drink... he likes those!

I hope you are as excited as we are about this show! If it is anything like I expect it to be, it will be a packed house too. So get there early to make sure you get in! It will be a hoot!

See you Friday!

Nate b

Bucket of Honey

21 Songs in Twenty-One Days

In November every year thousands of writers take on writing for a month and entering their work in a competition. NaNoWriMo is a non-profit group that hosts a contest every year in November for novel writers to test their skill against other novel writers. Unfortunately, I am not a novel writer and therefore will not be entering said contest. However, I am a writer.

I used to have this friend named Leroy (some names may have been changed to protect the innocent.) Leroy and I played music together in college a bit, and then both ended up in Seattle and found ourselves making music together on a fairly regular basis. At the time (2002, ouch I'm really dating myself now) I was living with him and some other friends at this house in Fremont affectionately named, the Pink House. Leroy and I lived in the back part of the Pink House and often went upstairs to make music for our friends who lived there.

Sometime in the beginning of November '02, Leroy asked me if I had heard that it was national writers month. I had not, and told him so. He went on to explain the contest and that it was not something we could do, but he had an idea of his own. Leroy wanted to write a song every day for 21 days, and each day perform what we had written. I thought two things: 1. why 21 days? and 2. I never have 21 days in a row I can commit to writing a whole song.

Well Jonn...I mean Leroy, convinced me to try this project out and away we went. Now, I can't say that we actually wrote a song a day for all 21 days, but at least 12 songs came out of that project for me. In fact, you can hear one I recorded with Blake Lewis (then Bshorty) on my myspace account: Nate b Music Check out the song, "I Said It All." Blake did all the production, I did the guitar and vocals.

Now, this is not the best music I've ever written, but it was an awesome exercise in writing and pushing myself to overcome writers block. I really only bring this up because Annie and I are working on our new album, "Songs We Wrote for Something Else" by writing for all sorts of other projects. Namely, the Bushwick Book Club.

So, whenever I get super down about the song writing juices, I remember pushing out those tunes day of and barely making it. Even if, "The Stalker Song" always got more credit then all the songs I wrote.

Miss you Jonny...ooops! I mean, Leroy.

Nate b

Bucket of Honey

The Nectar Lounge 10/27/10

If you have seen us before, you have likely seen us with the Zimm and Arock. This entertaining duo has hosted us on several occasions, including our first bar gig at The Sunset Tavern. After meeting the Zimm at one of our open mic Mondays at the Seamonster, Alex (The Zimm) came up to us and asked if we would like to play out with him sometime. Without hesitation we replied, "Hell yes!!" and magic happened. We have played several gigs with this group and are sure to be seen with them again in the future! If you've not heard these guys, go check them out:

The Zimm and Arock

You can catch us tomorrow night at Nectar Lounge playing with The Zimm and Arock, we go on at 9pm they go after us!

A huge thanks goes out to both these guys. We are lucky to have fellow musicians as committed to local music as these two are in our lives. Well played gentleman.

See you tomorrow!

Nate B

Bucket of Honey

Triple Five

My dad drove a cab when I was in high school. The cab you see in the photo is one of the cabs he owned after it had lost its use as a taxi. I inherited that cab, it's call number: 555.

For some reason, I have had it in my head lately that my new lucky number is five. Triple 5 to be exact. So, when I was setting out to sell my old car, worth about $700 or so, I thought to myself I would start high but settle at $555. Sure enough, I got what I had decided to settle for: $555. I headed straight for 7-11 to buy me a $5 lotto ticket. A little over half way through scratching the ticket I felt it was all a sham. Until alas, I scratched a win double the prize symbol! I won $40 bucks. Ok, no big deal your saying. But get this! I get an email forwarded from my girlfriend's dad saying that this month happens to have 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays, 5 - 5 - 5!! It's the first time that has happened in 823 years!

I guess what I mean to say is, I'm feeling lucky. If you have any ideas for things I can press my luck with, in 5s of course, let me know immediately!! Come on! Big Bucks, Big Bucks, No Whammys......


and.......


STOP!

Nate B

To Smoke or Not to Smoke; An Idiotic Question For You

Duh. But still . . . No, still duh. Lets make this interesting though. I'll argue for the afirmative here and leave the negatives up to, well, you. I'd like to hear from you.

To Smoke:

1. It's something to do.
2. I enjoy it for many reasons: a. It's oral, b. It's stimulating, c. It's fucking cool, d. My boyfriend hates it (I'm a rebel)
3. It's changed my instrument. In a positive way? I'm sure the best is yet to come.
4. I'm giving back to the community. Can you imagine how many homeless people I have provided with free cigarettes, just this week? Double digits baby.
5. Social life, smokers like smokers. Smoke them or choke them. I don't know what that is supposed to mean.

I stand behind all of the things I've stated here. At the same time, I hope you all take this with a grain of salt. Side note, I've noticed they've started selling nicotine vaporizers at my local 7/11.

So yeah, that's my "To Smoke," lets hear your "Not to Smoke."

-Anjan

New Guitar

After the rush of performing with the Bushwick Book Club on Sunday I've been itchin' to get my hands on my new guitar and write something. The sound is so wonderful, I have just sat here noodling for the last hour. What a joy to play.

So, I thought I'd give you the history of my guitar and all the wheelings and dealings I did to acquire it.

The story begins some 10 years ago when my mom, grandma, and aunt Yella all pitched in to buy me my first electric guitar and amp. Let it be known that grandma was none too thrilled about the "electric" aspect of this purchase, "it's too loud Nat en," my grandma said in her thick German accent.

I played my red burst fake Gretch through a nice Fender tube amp for all of two days maybe. While I know I should have been excited, I just don't like playing electric as much as acoustic. So, after several years of letting my nice stuff gather dust, I traded in my electric rig for a shiny newish Ovation Standard Balladeer. You have likely seen me play it if you have seen a BOH show. It was my only playing out guitar up until last week when I bought this, my new Martin acoustic. The Martin is not cheap though. I sold my Ovation (not the move) as well as my Blue Mic to pay for half of my new instrument. The rest, or a good portion of the rest, was paid for by you! Annie insisted that we spend the money to get a quality instrument, and I agreed! Thank you Bucket of Honey fans! Your support through CD sales, cover charges, and liquor sales has granted me my wish, a new Martin guitar! My mom and grandma would be so pleased.

WooHoo!

Nate B
Bucket of Honey

The Bushwick Book Club

Puppets, dioramas, and incredibly intricate Tralfamadore caps, OH MY! That ain't all. Bucket of Honey is getting crafty with it, creating new hits AND hats for your consumption. I am so fired up for this weekend's Bushwick Book Club (Sunday, 9pm, Can Can) where we will be one of ten artists sharing their musical musings on the book Slaugherhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Just say yes. Buy tickets at www.thecancan.com/calendar

TTFN

Anjan

P.S. It's a feel good event with a large portion of the proceeds going to the Seattle Public Library Foundation.

The 'Burg

Sitting at the bar at the Seamonster the other day, as I do, a man came and sat next to me. He is of the opinion that Bucket of Honey needs a Badger Pocket song. Badger Pocket is where I'm from, a nick name for the South East slice of the pie that is the Kittitas Valley, about 3 miles east of Ellensburg. He also tells me about an emerging, or emerged, new young singer/songwriter from Ellensburg. It's a small town folks, I was surprized I didn't know who he was talking about. Well, I went home and did a bit of home work, she sounds pretty neat. I intend to give her another listen. She looks and sounds a bit like Patsy Cline. The name of her band is Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs. Check it.

-Annie J.

Porch Interviews: Luke Harper

Porch Interview #1 - Luke Harper

My friend Luke hit Sea-town this morning fresh from his home town of Minneapolis, MN. I've known Luke since High School, and have been making sweet music with him from day one. Luke is a good friend with perhaps a slight... crush on me, so he has been kind enough to mix and master my most exciting projects that I have produced over the last 10+ years. Lucky for me, his work can be heard in many a hippy van as he toured with and mixed a plethora of String Cheese shows, among other things. I must admit I am still impressed with one of his first projects back at Thunder Factory, the digital remastering of King Kong. It was some time ago, and perhaps I'm cloudy with the details, but seems a cool thing to be able to say, "I had a hand in King Kong..."

These days, Luke runs his own studio complete with intern and shiny mixer. check out what he's been up to on his website:

audioaltimeter.com

If you've heard our New EP, "Easy to Swallow" you've heard the magic that is, Luke Harper. Enjoy this video interview with Luke and me, it's the first in what I hope to be a fun series!

Peace y'all,

Nate b
BOH

Seamonster Mondays

OPEN MIC W/ BUCKET OF HONEY

Once a month Annie and I get a chance to try out some new material, hang out with some good friends, and listen to some great music. We are lucky enough to be in a line up of open mic hosts who rock the joint every Monday night, so finding a great Seattle player layin down some funky good music is not a rarity.

Every first Monday night you can find Annie and I hosting a line up of talented fun folks. We've had some chill nights with poets and acoustic players keeping the attention of the crowd rapt, act after act. Some nights of sheer Tom-foolery! Walk on in any ole Monday night and see live music, poetry, stand-up comedy, even the occasional naughty book reading, me-ow!

So, if you have yet to come see a Bucket of Open Mic, get yourself down here! Every first Monday of the month at the Seamonster Lounge. 9PM till 1AM or later...


See you there!



Nate b
Bucket of Honey



Seamonster Lounge
2202 North 45th Street,
Seattle, WA 98103 (206) 992-1120 ()

seamonsterlounge.com

Here's to you, Martin!

You may know our friend Martin Woods from gigs at Tost or Nectar, (See video:"Money" Posted on the right) or perhaps you've just seen him around. Martin is an awesome drummer, which few in Seattle know, but many will now know him for his scrumptious cooking skills. We are lucky to get Mr. Woods to come and play with us, and now that his restaurant is up and running we may never get a chance to play with him. That said, check out this article on his new restaurant, Re:Public:

Stranger Article about Re:Public and Martin Woods

Like the Stranger writer, I am not a huge fan of the name, but the food will do all the promoting the restaurant needs. If you haven't gone out to Re:Public yet, make your way there and say hi to M-Dub from Bucket of Honey.

Martin, dude. If you read this, know that we are all so very stoked you finally get to shine! Note: you are still on the hook for Thanksgiving:























All the best on your new success!

Love,
Bucket of Honey

Random Video of the Week:

 

I don’t why I actually watched this whole thing. Nor do I know why I’m posting this. Quite frankly, I may need help. What I do know is that this guy can’t touch Nate B. 

    vs.  

 

-BOH Management

Multiply

After Annie and I started singing together I realized it would always be our challenge to make two people sound full and big. In an attempt to solve that I started using a Line 6 DL4, better known as the Line 6 loop pedal. We loop or effect guitar in several of the songs off our EP Easy to Swallow. The first track we did with it was the title track, but later I used the loop function to write "Pounding the Pavement" with Annie as well.

As we write now, I am starting to see that 'feel' is really the difference we are looking for when we write new songs. The Line 6 has a feel built into it to some degree. It is tried and true for sure, but I'm ready for something new.

A few years ago a friend of mine turned me onto an artist named Jamie Lidell. Super great songwriter and singer. He used a pedal that seemed to do magic. It did all these harmonies for him, and he must have had some loop station set up because I heard all this awesome singing coming from one guy. It was a pedal by TC-Helicon that turned out to be this super complex expensive pedal nobody I knew wanted to get into.

This morning, I found that TC-Helicon has a new pedal out called the VoiceLive Touch. This thing looks awesome! It has all the nifty stuff my Line 6 has, but some awesome added features, and what I hear is awesome quality!

Questions:
1. Can you take in/out loops in your looping session? in other words, does it have banks like the RC-50 from Boss.

2. Is it really $499? Anyone out there able to hook a brother up??

3. Does penis size really matter?

Heart you,

Nate b
Bucket of Honey

Worldwide Online Premier, Gangta’s Paradise (performed by BOH… covering Coolio… who rapped on top of Stevie Wonder’s music)

 

Feast your ears AND eyes!

-BOH

Coolio? Birfday? BOH?? AW HELLS YEAH!

 

Come hang with us at “Solo” (200 Roy Street)
 
This Sunday (August 1st)
at 9:00pm

To celebrate Coolio’s birthday, hear some tunes, and see BOH’s world premier music video! 

 
(click map to enlarge)

Vitamin D for Honey

I think Nate and I have both been feeling the bucket has been a little empty of late. How many times can you play a song before it's played? Bringing our milkshake to the yard turned out to be the move.

Sincerely,

Annie J.

P.S. This is approximately the color of my urine this morning.

P.S.S. "I hope some animal never bores a hole in my head and lays it's eggs in my brain, because later you might think your having a good idea but it's just the eggs hatching." Jack Handy

Cooking up Basement Videos!

Last week I bet Annie that we would get more hits on this video then any other. I figured people will search "Gangsters Paradise" and eventually find us... As it turns out, we are so far down on the list my plan may be foiled. However, in an attempt to beat Annie and win our bet, I'm posting this video here for you to help me!

Come on hits!!! I'll have bragging rights for the summer if I win this one!!

Nate b

First gig ever!

Bucket of Honey got it's humble beginings at a little spot in Capitol Hill in the theater district of Seattle at a place called, Ballagan Theater. Smorgasborg is a monthly late-night variety show hosted at Ballagan, where Annie sometimes does shows, and she signed us up for a slot on the roster. the rest is, as they say, history.

Enjoy!

Nate b

Bucket of Honey: The Origin

Open Your Throats...

Once there was a little donkey named Leroy who fell in love with a little girl named Pansy. She would visit him each weekend with armfuls of sweet thistle flowers for him to nibble. They would gaze into each other's eyes for minutes and make up explicit stories about what the other was thinking. But there was always the barbed wire divide.

The years flew by and Pansy grew into a young woman. She had many men but could never satisfy the fantasies that had been created as a little girl standing at a barbed wire fence. Leroy grew big and strong and was similarly dissatisfied with his sex life.
I really don't want to go into to much detail here, but this story implies the origins of the term "bucket of honey."