Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #11

...I think I've decided that this next set of SiPIP videos will be on keyboard or piano. We'll see how that goes. This experiment, I wish I'd have realized how quiet the keyboard was to the camera. Bummerville. Oh well. It's my song, "DXO" played at Odle Middle School in Bellevue, WA. I think Heart went to middle school here. For me, this song is about how sometimes, even with the best intentions, it just doesn't make any sense to be with a person.

Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #11 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

SiPIP #10: This Never Happened

This week's SiPIP takes place in the tunnel at Golden Gardens in Seattle, WA and is a song called "This Never Happened" which I wrote just a few hours before filming today. For me it's primarily about friendship, discovering a landsman and the way home - whether or not you can get there.


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #10 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #9

I am in California right now. Again. Rachel and I are here for a couple of Visqueen shows. (We get back Thursday afternoon, at which point I will dress up in something Madonnaesque and party at Havana in Seattle!)

I lived here a couple of years ago. I went to school in Hollywood. I think at the time most of my friends didn't believe I'd leave Seattle, they would talk to me often about how horrible LA is. When I left, I remember feeling like it was the least cool thing you could do in Seattle to be forthright about having ambition as a musician. The idea that Los Angeles was the exact opposite of that, that everyone else was insane enough to follow their ambition away from home and that this isn't a place you come to hide that... it was enough to call me down here. That's when I wrote this song:


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #9 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

The thing is, I'm moving back down in November.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #8

(Soooo.... This video has been up since Tuesday, but since Adam's computer kind of 'sploded when I tried to blog about it, this part is later than I hoped it would be. Sorry.)

I think some version of this idea appears in the book and film High Fidelity: pop music traditionally champions the unreasonable. I don't look at it in quite the same guaranteed heartbreak kind of way Rob discusses ("Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or, was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" Something like that, right?), though. I see it as a celebration, documentation and maybe immortalization of some of the coolest parts of the teenage experience... at least as I knew it (parts like the unshakable certainty that the person who is obviously not meant to be the person you spend the rest of your life with is; that kind of young confidence in your gut feeling. Nevermind that it probably wasn't your gut and that it was probably hormones, you knew).

This week I played "Fool" in an alley in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, around the corner from where the original Sonic Boom Records used to be. It's a pho restaurant now, but it used to be my playground. "Fool" is a song I wrote when I was 14 or 15 and I knew I was right. Nine years later, I like the song even though I definitely wasn't.

Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #8 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #7

Today is my friend Matt Garman's birthday! A year ago today, we were trekking across the country in a rented Suburban. He was Connecticut Four's wingman for that tour, and now the midwest has a hold of him. He's all the way in Chicago now, so I decided to push this cover song ahead in the SiPIP line since he asked for a recording of it some time ago. So, here's my version of Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" performed on a rock in the lake at Robinswood Park in Bellevue, WA. I was a little nervous between the passing children and the couple of times the word fuck appears in the first verse (it's the Eastside; I'm sure some parents still censor at home here), but I did change it so I don't sing the n-word... so... that's probably okay, right? At least the ducks didn't seem too bothered.

On that note, happy birthday, Matt! Seattle misses you so much it even let summer in today.


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #7 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #6

I don't know how, but I think the PIP day has moved to Wednesday. Or it's trying to. Bugger.

This week, at my friend Valerie Brogden's request, I sang "I Don't Want You" at Casa Que Pasa in Bellingham. For those who don't know, that's her in the black jacket at the table behind me:


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #6 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

This song was one of of a few written stream-of-consciousness style on a train between Barcelona and Paris about three years ago. There was a month or so that I spent traveling alone, I think to explore the world outside of me after the one in my head had been shaken up. Paris to Barcelona was the last train ride of that trip, and by that point, cliche as I know this seems, there was a sense of perspective, fire and looming liberation... if that makes any sense.

Regarding Casa Que Pasa, if you've never been and are ever in Bellingham, it's one of my favorites. Jackson (of BOAT and Two Sticks Audio) introduced me to Casa when I was 14 and we played in a band called Paxil Rose together. In fact, he introduced me to Bellingham... I remain attached in many ways. Those are some of my B'ham friends - Fiona, Joe (of So Adult) and Valerie (Connecticut FourMechanical Dolls, general badassery all over the place) - at the table behind me. I love them and we had just stuffed our faces together. Valerie and I split a rancho burrito that she requested have "so much sauce that it's borderline disgusting." Yum!

OH! Also! Since I did five videos on the ukulele, I'm now doing five on the guitar. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see or hear!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #5

Oh man. Technical difficulties were all over the place yesterday. Finally got the video up today! Jeeeeeez.

I've decided that every 5th video will be a cover. I'm making up all kinds of fun additional challenges here. Every 5 videos, maybe a new theme or instrument or something! What do you think? This being my fifth, I chose to cover my favorite song in the whole world,  Modern English's "I Melt With You." No matter where I am or what I'm doing, I'll stop if the song comes on. I mean, I'll even pull my car over half the time. So... here's my version of "I Melt With You" performed in the Georgetown P-Patch in Seattle, WA. It doesn't have the rolling toms I love in the original version, but it is dedicated to Adam Smith (who encouraged me to sing in an IHoP at midnight). "You've seen the difference..."

Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #5 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #4

Sooo.... I'm a whole day late with it this week. I swear, I'll get my stuff together. Someday. However, this one was filmed at midnight or so in an IHoP, so imagine the hilarity. Just imagine. I did break one of my rules about not having a friend hold the camera for this video, but I'm not sure how my consequence system works for that kind of thing yet. Maybe every time I break a rule, you guys get to pick the next song?

Anyway, here's my song "Independent Together" at the IHoP on Madison in Seattle, WA. I have a few memories there. Late night coffee and side dishes, being called to pick up and escort a friend out of the place at roughly 5 AM.... Actually, maybe it's just those two. This song was the counterpart to "Once Electric." It's kind of about finding out that it might be time to give up the chase, and it's full of trivial references to things I was reading at the time. Prairie voles are maybe the most commonly studied creatures when comparing human mating behavior to what goes on in the animal kingdom as they're one of few species that bond monogamously. Blue light is most efficient at cutting through fog. "Endless Summer" and The Knack are less efficient, but really good to have on vinyl nevertheless.


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #4 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #3

It's a late one today, sorry! I decided to take it back a bit and play "Once Electric." This is a song I wrote on the ukulele that Connecticut Four adopted. We played it much louder. Since the first tour I ever went on was to the midwest and south with CT4 last year, I felt my heartstrings tugged at a little extra along this past Visqueen tour. (Sidenote, Rachel did some guest backing vocals on the Connecticut Four recording of this song!)

Today's Potentially Interesting Place was the Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue, WA. Challenges faced included: my cold I've been fighting off since Missoula, the super squishy and wet ground (I got some pretty epic wet-butt while trying to set up the camera), finding a place in a blueberry bush to hold a camera, and maybe this isn't so much a challenge, but a lot of folks walking past can get distracting. I imagine when people see someone playing ukulele and singing in a blueberry field it looks ridiculous, but the thing is... it is ridiculous. I'm ridiculous.

Aaaaaanyway...


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #3 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

"You're out of my life! ...except for forever!"

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places #2!

Vimeo is processing this week's video as I type this. We had some technical issues earlier. So it goes.

I made this one this morning before we left the Chicago Days Inn where we stayed last night. Apparently it's the "rock and roll" hotel of Chicago? That part's debatable, but we had an okay time and they treated us quite well. Since I received a comment last week about the noise, I thought I'd try to find a quiet place this week. I chose the hotel stairwell. I personally think this is one of the videos where the "I only get one take" thing is totally apparent, so that's... super comfortable for me [/sarcasm]. Also, I think you can hear it in the video - a person or two came into the stairwell on a lower level. I think they just hung out until I was done. 

Anyway, this song is called "Space Between" or "The Space Between" if you prefer. I know everyone writes dumb love songs, but this year I've been remapping my brain and heart a little bit, redefining my idea of love... so it is taking up a little extra space in the writing tank. It's evidenced in last week's song, "The Opposite of Love," as well as this one. "Space Between" was written in February about the sense of resignation that came with feeling committed to people who were perhaps terminally noncommittal. Please try not to mistake people who write songs for the characters who sing them; I'm not entirely convinced I work this way... anymore... I hope.

Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #2 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Potentially Interesting Places.

This is one of several challenges I'm placing before myself this year: Once a week, I'm recording a performance for anyone who comes here and presses the play button. I make a lot of music, the vast majority of which never leaves my home. I'm about to loosen the spigot for the first time in a while, probably alone, probably unplugged and certainly in places where performances do not typically occur. Being on stage tends to be comfortable; it's the rest of the world where I feel ridiculous. My hope is to find a new location every week that is beautiful or awkward or scary and a way to be resourceful about recording a single take. That's it. One song, one take, once a week, a new place each time.

Please send feedback, requests, ideas, anything short of explosives, really. As far as I'm concerned, this is a fun art project, and I'd love if it was interactive.

... And on that note, here's my first go at Potentially Interesting Places. A new song of mine called, "The Opposite of Love" recorded in a place more beautiful than scary, a driveway in Closter, NJ. It's the first one... no major challenges, just a pretty place.


Songs in Potentially Interesting Places #1 from Cristina Bautista on Vimeo.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Structural integrity.

Visqueen shot a music video this weekend! It was primarily filmed in an auto wrecking yard in south Seattle... Just imagine fields and towers of smashed cars. Rachel even got to crush an SUV!

Meanwhile, the rest of us got to hang out in a sweet old '55 Buick Special. It actually was pretty effing special.
You'll get to see the whole car eventually... in the video.

Also, for the record, Boeing Field and that access road that goes into Georgetown is one of my favorite places in Seattle. I just want to go down there with a couple of sandwiches and watch planes.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Lately... lately.... lately

It turns out being home is busier than I thought it would be. Before that happened, though, my brother and Ollie and I went on an adventure to find a ghost town.

We got most of the way there only to find that the road to get there was still covered in snow since it hadn't been warm long enough. Super treacherous. Not Prius conditions, certainly. Bummer.

Then Sean Nelson and Jacob James played In the Round (with Eric on guitar, of course. That's just what you do for magic). Jon Sands performed also. They almost made me cry about five times. What a brilliant event.

A day or two later, I made my triumphant return to the House of Breaking Glass to dust off some old sessions to send to Ben to maybe mix. That's right, my songs are moving around again. ...like zombies!

That's a gun in the guitcello. Did you know Phil Peterson's middle name is Spector? (...That's 'cause it's not.)

And Visqueen got back to practicing again. I have a personalized parking spot at the space. Kinda.

Oh, and Strap Straps played! Ben Hooker plays bass, y'all!


Anyway, now there's a whole bunch of administrative work (and more practice) going on. I mean, it's actually chaotic and ridiculous. Gearing up for tour always is a little bit, but things are being shaken up a lot with this one. You'll see. And on top of that we have a show on Vashon Island and another video shoot this weekend.

ALSO!!!! The video for "The Capitol" is premiering REALLY, REALLY soon. I'm excited for you to see it!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

I thought it was a bird...

Having to stay alone in bed for a few days does terrible things to my head. That should probably never happen. Despite being functional again, it's a fight to not miss playing shows every night and laughing with people I adore who live far away from me. But I am fighting, and my weapons include gorgeous brand new music and the promise/threat of gorgeous brand new music from 

...and, you know, those favorites I keep writing about.

I've also been keeping myself occupied with piano and violin on top of my typical instruments. Maybe I'll be competent with them someday! I'm spending at least 10 hours a day making music right now learning other people's songs, practicing and writing a ton. I want to start something similar to Jonathan Coulton's "Thing a Week," but that might wait a minute because...

I just put up audition videos for Glee. Yeah, really. Go look at them if you don't believe me... or if you just want to see me play "Rehab" with a ukulele! And if you feel inclined to "give me a gold star," I sure won't stop you. 

We'll be back on tour in about a month. I posted some of our dates coming up, and you'd better believe I'm about to start ticking down days.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

All this sleep is exhausting.

Home now. Sick, too. I woke up with a sore throat in Tucson and didn't even party in Vegas after the show. However, Rachel won $800 at a roulette table right before bed just on a whim. Pretty sweet!

SXSW was a vortex of mostly wonderful things. It was my first time! I've been hearing about the festival since I was 11, and the most recent words came from people comparing it to "intentionally stepping in dog shit" (someone please tell me where that quote is from?!). I, however, had a great time. Visqueen got to play some amazing shows, including the NPR showcase at Stubb's on opening night with Spoon, Broken Bells, Sharon Jones + the Dap Kings and the Walkmen (listenable here!). I felt completely honored and spoiled, and in a place literally overflowing with bands, I am so grateful that people came out and saw one that I play in.

I spent just about all of my free time hitched to the Hounds Below (this time with a trombonist!). They played something like six shows throughout the festival (which is insane). I was there for all but one, which is maybe not how you're supposed to do SXSW, but you know what? It's rare that I get this excited about a new band, and I'll take my obsessions where I can.

Also, I got style-blogged on the day that I probably most needed a shower and a change of clothes. I honestly hadn't showered in two or three days and was in the middle of carrying Rachel's guitar across town. The crew stopped me and I thought they were joking.

Anyway, rather than attempt to do a full recap, I'm just going to unload pictures from my phone from the last couple of weeks...

Cans of High Life the size of my forearm in Lubbock, TX!
Summer Snow!
I ate barbecue under this while the people at the next table talked about the Bible. I think the deer lost an eyelash in my food, too.
This is Puck. Puck was a houseguest where Visqueen were also houseguests! Rachel's girlhood friend Janine and her family were kind enough to put us up at their epic home in Austin. They also cooked amazing dinner. Thanks, Jacobsons!
This was at the Hounds Below's house. Little packets of vodka. Good thing everyone in their band can't stand the stuff!
Ben's food at Uncorked marked the second time on this trip that I realized just how much potatoes can resemble testicles.

We've got a bit of work to do this month before we hit the road again, but it looks like I'll be spending this weekend in footie pajamas catching up with this gentleman:

Monday, March 15, 2010

Goodbye, snow... please?

The last couple of nights we played in Boise, ID and Denver, CO. Good times and epic driving. Eleven hours in the van across three state lines yesterday after four hours of sleep the night before. It's effing cold and we're turning toward Texas today. I never thought I'd be so excited to get to Texas. Here are some photos...
We usually eat healthy. Sometimes we party.
Sorry, Best Western.
Rachel's new and incredible mug. We think it might be a potato, but we're not 100% sure.



Here are the announced shows Visqueen's playing at SXSW. Please come say hi or tell your friends to!
3/17 - Levi's/Fader Fort (1:30 PM)
3/17 - Stubb's/NPR Showcase (8:00 PM w/ Spoon)
3/20 - Beauty Bar/SXSeattle Party (12 noon)
3/20 - Official Showcase Habana Calle 6 (9PM)

Friday, March 12, 2010

I'm gonna catch up with you if it's the last thing I do

I am packing... or I should be. Here is what I am listening to. You can even download some of it for free!

1 - Lightning Love November Birthday! What a great record! I kind of can't stop listening to "Wait, Wait" especially. I get about halfway through it and already know I need to listen to it again.
2 - Ted Leo + Rx Brutalist Bricks! I was streaming this for a few days before it came out after totally losing it when I first heard "Even Heroes Have to Die" a few months ago. Thanks for never letting us down, dude!
3 - The Hounds Below 7"! Free downloads currently available at the link! You know how I feel about them. See previous posts. Love love love.
4 - The Juliets (s/t)! Free downloads available until tomorrow! Go now! Gorgeous orchestration, totally inviting. I'm really starting to like Michigan.
5 - Ben Collins Ghost Stories! He made it available for download for me and hasn't changed it yet! I highly suggest a purchase. Such a great idea, delivered by probably my favorite voice in the world right now.

So now that we can all listen to beautiful music together, really, I am packing. Really. Excited to jump back in the van tonight! Boise tomorrow! (pssst, Matt, if you get this in time, will you tell the Very Most to come see Visqueen? I don't know how to contact them!)

Oh yeah, and we're NPR Song of the Day today! Free download over there, too!

...Okay, okay, I'm packing! Really, I am!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Hibernation.

Visqueen's show on Friday night at Neumo's was something of a homecoming and send-off. It sold the eff out. We could hardly believe it. Ben came over from the Hounds' show at the Showbox and we had to weave and push like very apologetic assholes to get from one side of the room to the backstage door. Sorry! We all got a "SXSW survival kit" gift bag:
...so now I never have to know what life is like without PBR lip balm ever again. Or until I run out of the stuff.

Fences, Mash Hall and Hey Marseilles played the show with us. I hadn't properly seen Fences before. I did wander into their set once when they played as a stripped-down version of themselves and I guess were having a rough night. Friday night? I totally loved them. Gorgeous, gorgeous songs.

Lori Paulson took some really beautiful pictures at the show, too! I like this one of me:

I slept for 12 hours last night. Crashed hard very early. Trying to make a dent in all the damage I have to do before we leave this week. I'm so eager to jump back in the van, but I really have a lot to do before that happens. Right now, it looks like a grenade went off in my bedroom from packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, laundry and my recent decision to sort through everything I own and eliminate 75% of it. Post-SXSW garage sale? And then we'll talk about moving...

Friday, March 5, 2010

I fold up really small.


OH KAY. Sorry. Sometimes I think I'll be good at keeping this thing updated and then I'm not. On Wednesday my friend Eric and I impulsively flew to Las Vegas. Yesterday we missed our flight, eventually got on another one, and I headed straight to band practice and to see my friends play shows (only to get there right as they started tearing down, of course). Now I'm trying to figure out if I have a single clean article of clothing to wear to play in tonight. This is how it got here:

On Saturday, Visqueen played at the Blank Club in San Jose with the Hounds Below. For whatever reason, it's become rare for bands to introduce themselves to one another when playing shows together, but these folks were the hand-shaking kind. And then their soundcheck made my heart swell. I followed them to dinner. Rachel talked them into staying at our hotel in San Francisco. Ben (Collins) and I stayed up all night looking for food and then not eating it, discovering murals of wild animals, watching the front desk agent like a movie and then hiding from him. We played Bottom of the Hill for the Noise Pop festival together a few hours later.
Needless to say, I fell in love with the band and everyone in it. I found my new best friend. If it wasn't a total violation of camaraderie and my first tour with Visqueen, I absolutely would have jumped ship after San Francisco to live in their van for the week and sell their merch.
...But I didn't. Instead I got home on Monday from the west coast leg of the tour and asked my friends to talk me out of flying to San Diego that night to get back beside the Hounds Below. Tuesday morning, get a text from Eric saying, "I wonder where you are." I explain that I am home but that I could be in LA that night, Vegas the next day or having breakfast with him. He says that we could be having breakfast in Vegas... so we bought some plane tickets. No joke; we're just ridiculous people. Plus, I had never been to Las Vegas before. Surprise, Hounds! Don't ask me how (mostly because I probably can't remember), but I got home still unmarried. It wouldn't have been right without Rachel there as maid of honor, you know?

Anyway, Visqueen is playing at Neumo's tonight with Hey Marseilles, Fences and Mash Hall. The Hounds Below will also be in town tonight at the Showbox (Market) opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Maybe you want to go see them and then come see us!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Turn it around

LA made last night so incredible. I mean, people were there! I wasn't sure that happened out here. Also, someday I will have to take a photo of the eight foot difference between Ronnie, one of my VQ bass predecessors, and myself. Hilarious. A nice young fella took pictures, viewable here. He thinks we play pop punk ska songs. I might disagree.

Also, Bear Hands and Adam Bones + Ari Shine opened. Totally fun pop from opposite ends of the spectrum (my spectrum in this case ranging from traditionally accessible to, well, Brooklyn). However, and I'm not naming any names here, but for the record, it's incredibly poor etiquette to rest your sweating beverage on the other band's equipment, like an Orange amplifier, for example. It leaves a puddle. We know you did it. Liquids and amps are a risk you really ought to leave up to the people who own them. Thanks.

Anyway, we've been totally spoiled crashing with our friend Edward in Santa Monica. 
He has pretty much everything the Replacements ever did on vinyl...
Bet you've never even heard "Nowhere Is My Home." Oh, and he has that Bruce Willis record you see beneath the Replacements here. Pure poetry.

Off to San Francisco in a few short moments. Trip will likely pause for some Andersen's pea soup, but then we're playing at the Hemlock tonight and I'm hanging out with Brendan! Yay!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Nu bruises.

I tripped on my guitar stand in the middle of a song in Santa Cruz the other night and I'm still finding new bruises. This is the real reason I wear tights.

Updates that I haven't made:

A lot of incredibly scenic driving. The most gorgeous pee I've taken happened behind the fallen tree you see here:
Then we stayed at this lovely hotel. It was karaoke night. I couldn't stay upright for laughing so much.
Smiley breakfast.
But then the weather got crappy jut in time for us to go play in Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz, home of the bruises. It was seriously just cold and raining. Good thing we left Seattle when it was sunny.

Yesterday we played an in-store at Amoeba in Hollywood as the toned-down trio version of Visqueen. Just Barb, Rachel and me. We'd never performed that way before, and it's a little bit nerve-wracking when you're used to being loud and bouncy.


I got all nostalgic about living in Hollywood, especially when a kid I went out with twice when I was 19 showed up, gave the smile of recognition while I was on stage and then didn't say hi. That's cool, I only introduced you to Singles AND Baraka. People, be nice and say hello, please! Justice had the courtesy of trying to play personal shopper for me when they set me loose on the store with $50 of credit. I kind of ignored him and made off with Otis Redding, Ethiopiques and Thurston Moore (and change, which will soon be used on Ladyhawke).

I know this is not new, but I squeed nonetheless:

After my shopping spree/squeefest, it was off to Alex's Bar (or, if you're ridiculous like I am, Fangtasia) to play with Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts (who absolutely blow my mind).
I found myself on the bathroom wall:
I don't know who this artist is, but I was absolutely smitten with their work.

WHEW. A lot of catch-up. Sorry about that. I'll try to be better. We are finally spending a day not driving, which is exceptionally great as we're at a friend's place in Santa Monica and the sun's come back out. Tonight we're playing at Spaceland with Bear Hands, and I'm so excited. I hope to see some good folks there! Tomorrow we're playing a "secret" show at the Hemlock in San Francisco. Please, please, please come say hi or tell your friends to!