Boy Eats Drum Machine

snack 34

Sent: 2009-12-14 09:14:43 (PST)
Subject: snack 34: “Hoop and Wire” / what are you doing new year’s eve?

Hello and happy holidays! I hope you are well. Yes, this is another edition of the BEDM snack list. Hiya.

First things first, I’ve got some PDX dates in the next few months that I would love to pimp:

new year’s eve @ Radio Room - http://www.radioroompdx.com/ - set time TBA

Thursday 1/28 @ Portland Music Awards - Crystal Ballroom - 6:30 pm

Saturday 2/27 @ Doug Fir - CD Release Party! with Finn Riggins - 9 pm

———-

As you can see, the cd release party is ON for 2/27. The release date is 3/2/10. Here’s the track list (isn’t it geeky when artists do this? *tee*):

Artist: Boy Eats Drum Machine
Title: Hoop and Wire
Label: Tender Loving Empire

1. Hoop + Wire
2. Constellation
3. ABQ
4. Syncopated
5. Gold In The Hills
6. Lolo Forest
7. We Make Our Own Light
8. The Pieces Fit Together and Never Fall Apart
9. Mr. Train
10. New Mexico To Old Arizona
11. 70 Miles An Hour

I’ve been blogging about the recording process on my website:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com

There are a few guests on the disc: I use Drum Drops (love ya, Dave Crigger) for the drum kit grabs, and track 10 features my mom on backup vocals and my nephew on trumpet.

As of yesterday, the mastering of “Hoop and Wire” is done—thanks to Jeff Stuart Saltzman. Also, thanks to my hours of drawing, scanning, and plunking about in Adobe Illustrator, the cd and vinyl artwork are ready for final processing. So I’m making my lil’ deadlines thus far. There is A LOT more to do, but I am so thankful to be done with the disc and very much appreciate the support and love you have given me this year. THANK YOU.

——–

And thanks for reading this! I’ll have more news soon, as well as chicken-with-exposed-neck-flailing action to announce for the spring and summer. I can’t wait!

Happy holidaze to you and yours:)
/jon

————–

snack 33

Sent: 2009-10-16 08:49:30 (PST)
Subject: snack 33: links / ToNiGhT: BELLINGHAM / + more…

Hello and welcome to another addition of the BEDM snack list. I hope your week has been fabulous thus far. This time around I’ll be plugging some shows, updating some links, and throwing in some ‘etc.’ Here’s the shows:

TONIGHT (Bellingham/WA) Boundary Bay Brewery w/ No-Fi Soul Rebellion.

yea. I love you, No-Fi. I love you.

HALLOWEEN! (Portland/OR) Rontoms w/ Black Elk

RAWK. and it looks like:

SAT 11/7 (Eugene/OR) 2pm - KWVA event at UofO

—

Like I said, I think it’s about dang time to update some linkables. Aren’t emails supposed to contain more ‘tidboids’ of info. than you could possibly need? If you just nodded, I >totally< agree;)

1- recording blog: http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com

I'm almost done recording my next (heretofore unnamed) LP, but I'm writing about my recording process one step at a time, starting with the initial idea in my head. It's going well so far: a geeky, possibly interesting read, depending on whether or not you think about such matters. I reference Paul's Boutique. So that's good...

2- (free) downloads: http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/downloads

This page includes several mp3's: additional tracks from the 'Booomboxxx' and 'Two Ghosts' sessions, my Trailblazers theme, a couple of mashups which contain Michael Jackson and/or The Talking Heads, and a couple of Radiohead remixes, and more.

3- tour diaries on localcut: http://blogs.wweek.com/music/category/tour-diary/boy-eats-drum-machine-tour-diar y/

Well that kind of sums it up: Tour. Diary. I reference tiny musical elves in the latest entry about Spokane and Missoula. Hmmm...

4- snacks archive: http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/snacks

A comprehensive collection of BEDM news and ramblings sprinkled with donut references. You know, the whole megilla. The snacklist is four years of info which, much like that shaker thingy of parmesan cheese in your freezer since the year 20??, continues to retain just enough freshness to be considered consumable. Just enough.

-----

Sooooo. Yes. I guess that covers it for now. I'll be driving all day today to the great Northwestern part of the great Northwest. I hope your weekend is terrific!

Thanks for your time,

/Jon

jon@boyeatsdrummachine.com

-----

snack 32

Sent: 2009-08-22 11:57:20 (PST)
Subject: snack 32: shows / FREE b-side

Hi sweet peeps! I have some exciting upcoming shows, starting with TONIGHT in Seattle:

8/22 SAT (seattle/WA) sunset tavern* #?
8/27 THR (salem/OR) the space?
8/28 FRI (chico/CA) empire coffee?
8/29 SAT (san francisco/CA) bottom of the hill*?
10/1 THR (spokane/WA) baby bar #?
10/2 FRI (missoula/MT) badlander #?
10/3 SAT (spokane/WA) caterina winery #?
10/9 FRI (boise/ID) VAC w/ Finn Riggins?
10/17 SAT (seattle/WA) the funhouse w/ Partman Parthorse

* - with Boy In Static?# - with No-Fi Soul Rebellion

I'm pretty stoked about how 2009 has gone. I've played quite a few shows in the West. Also, I've been in the basement lately working on new songs for the next BEDM full length LP. It seems as though next spring is a fair time to expect it to be out, but we'll see how it progresses the rest of the way. I have 12 songs that I am working on, and I hope to go with the 10 that turn out best. Hopefully, I'll be playing a few of them live in October too. Tentatively, the album is called 'Unicorn'. At least that's what I've been calling it. Will the name stick? Hmmmmmmm.

I'll be posting a recording blog on Pamplemoose.com. Woot. Do people say 'woot' anymore? It seems to have gone the way of 'gag me with a spoon'. I prefer 'woot' over 'boo-ya' any day though. Here's a math equation of my observations:

woot > boo-ya > gag me with a spoon

I don’t know…it may require some re-testing…

—–

I auditioned my ‘Blazer Theme’ for the Portland Trailblazer marketing and production crew last week. If you’re a Portlander like me, chances are the original trumpet funked Blazer theme brings warmth to your heart. If all goes well I’ll get to make a video of the theme to air at the beginning of some of the games. Basically, it would be greatest moment of my life, with the following exceptions: my birth, my wedding day, and…well…yea…I guess that’s it.:) Anyways, the audition went fine and my fingers are crossed that I’ll hear back some good news next week.

—–

aaaaand that’s it for now. I hope you are well. Thanks for reading this email! Oh—did you get the FREE ‘Booomboxxx’ b-side yet?:

http://boyeatsdrummachine.com/DOWNLOADS/BEDM-untitled.mp3

please download it and give it to your pals. (thnx!)

—-

ok. now THAT’S it. Have fun,
/Jon

jon@boyeatsdrummachine.com

—–

snack 31

Sent: 2009-05-19 22:33:56 (PST)
Subject: snack 31: tour

Hello and thank you for being on the BEDM email list. This particular ’snack’ is all about the tour that kicks off this week starting with Spokane on Thursday night!:

5/21 THR (spokane/WA) mootsy’s
5/22 FRI (billings/MT) the railyard
5/23 SAT (bozeman/MT) filling station
5/27 WED (denver/CO) old curtis street bar
5/28 THR (colorado springs/CO) rocket room
5/29 FRI (albuquerque/NM) atomic cantina
6/05 FRI (san diego/CA) bar pink
6/09 TUE (san francisco/CA) thee parkside
6/13 SAT (salem/OR) ike box

(and there’s a fun PDX show coming up next month too:)

(6/18 THR (portland/OR) mississippi studios)

I’m very excited about this string of shows; it will be my first time playing in 5 of the cities. Just a quick shout: if you have any pals in any of these cities I would love you so much (even moreso than I already do) if you could give them a head’s up about my date there. I have some professional ‘pub’ going out for these shows, but being a first-timer in most of these spots, every peep that comes out is greatly appreciated. I mean, that goes for every show I have ever played but…yeah…I’m sure you follow me.

Also, I should have some tour blog activities on localcut.com—I’ll just need to find a wifi spot once a week, or so, where I can hunker down for a few hours. I’m not sure that I will be sending you email updates with head’s ups on these though. I mean, should I? I sort of use this email list every month or so (or three), while blasting my myspace and facebook and twitter with stuff about coffee and burritos on a daily basis. So what I’m saying is, if you want more info—if you’re like “oh man—when is this guy going to start rambling about food? when?!”—yea, if you’re feeling that way, I AM kind of doing that already via the aforementioned social networking vehicles. So, if you havn’t already, please hop on one of those if you like! And, as I have just now free-formed my way into deciding—just now, I’ll keep these emails monthly (or so) and mostly ramble-free. Deal?

on a related note: there are links to my myspace, facebook, and twitter at the top of boyeatsdrummachine.com right now.

—–

Wow. Is that it with the news? I feel like a lot has happened since my last ’snack’, but these days 2 weeks ago seems like an eternity, making all of that ‘old’ news. Sheesh! Ok. I’m over it. There’s some fun stuff to talk about. Here’s a quick ‘catchup’ as to the goings-on(s) of the past few months:

I made a Blazer Theme (http://localcut.wweek.com/2009/04/14/boy-eats-drum-machine-blazer-theme-self-re leased/),

hand-made some more fancy vinyl (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=30591635&blogI d=489181290),

and did a really fun interview with ‘Perfect Sound Forever’ (http://furious.com/perfect/vinyl69.html)

There is also some intimate high-def footage of my last show in Spokane, which is easily one of my fav shows ever (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9gzcUg_nlM). Thanks again, Andrew!

—-

OK. I think that’s good for now. I hope you are well. Thanks for reading this!

Have a great week,

/Jon

—–

snack 30

Sent: 2009-02-17 09:48:21 (PST)
Subject: snack 30: Is it spring yet?

Hi peeps! Thanks for being on the BEDM email ’snack’list. For Portlanders, I’m playing a sweet show this Wednesday night at Holocene. 5 local photographers will be showing their work. Here’s the rest of my upcoming shows:

2/18 WED (portland/OR) holocene w/ Lovers, Key Lines, and DJ Kevin O’Connor 8pm/$6/21+

3/08 SUN (portland/OR) someday lounge w/ Jack Conte and Atole 9pm/21+

4/11 SAT (salem/OR) ike box cherry city music festival
4/16 THR (spokane/WA) baby bar
4/17 FRI (missoula/MT) the badlander
4/18 SAT (spokane/WA) empyrean all age
5/02 SAT (tacoma/WA) new frontier lounge
5/16 SAT (portland/OR) backspace / TLE bday party! all age

—–

Also, if you havn’t seen it yet, I’m featured on the cover of a fun local ‘indie musician guy’ calendar! These pics are not for the more prudent among us but the rest of us may very well find them to be hysterical:

http://crappyindiemusic.blogspot.com/2009/02/portlands-sexiest-indie-musician-gu y.html

hehe. Honestly, this was easily the most fun I’ve ever had during a photo shoot.

—-

I’ve got some out of town dates shaping up for the spring. I’m very excited to be getting back to Spokane and Missoula. Also, I’ll be touring the West in late May through mid June. If you have a spot in mind that you would like me to play please send it my direction: jon@boyeatsdrummachine.com

—

The latest ‘Booomboxxx’ press is courtesy of comfort comes:

http://www.comfortcomes.com/2009/02/16/boy-eats-drum-machine-booomboxxx/

and okplayer (the blog started by my fav drummer, ?uestlove!):

http://blogs.okayplayer.com/blogarhythms/2009/01/08/gimme-a-two-thousand-and-lei ght-pass-vol-1-boy-eats-drum-machine/

–

Thanks for your time. I hope you are having a great 09′ so far!

muchlove,

/Jon

—–

snack 29

Sent: 2009-01-06 10:36:39 (PST)
Subject: snack 29: Dear 2008—thanks for the laffs!

Hello and happy new year!,

Welcome to another batch of snack-speak. This time around I’m doing a BEDM yearly ‘wrap-up’ type of thingy. You know, I’ll jot down much of what happened last year (I try to keep the ideas fresh around here!). Aaaaaaanyways…The year was 2008, and here’s a quick list of what went down:

—-

BEDM in 2008:

-signed with (sweet) lil’ Portland label Tender Loving Empire:

http://www.tenderlovingempire.com

-started getting booked by Carly of Starbird Promo

-put out ‘Booomboxxx’ on cd and 12″ vinyl

-played several music festivals, including Georgetown (Seattle, WA), CMJ (New York, NY), Musicfest NW (Portland, OR), Mix N’ Mash (Salem, OR)

-played/interviewed at several radio stations, including KEXP (Seattle, WA), KUGS (Bellingham, WA), KOPB (Portland, OR), KBVR (Corvallis, OR), and KWVA (Eugene, OR)

-put out two Radiohead remixes and a remix for my label mates, Jared Mees and Grown Children:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/downloads

-put out two ‘live mashups’, which featured the Talking Heads and The Cure, and performed those tracks with a backing band at a Cure/Talking Heads tribute at Portland’s Wonder Ballroom:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/downloads

-had a track placed on a cool PDX indie film about bicycling:

http://www.bicycleforaday.org/

-scored music for a student film directed by Tami Galvin called ‘Thank You, Amelia Bedelia’

-had tracks featured on compilations by Tender Loving Empire (Friend’s and Friends of Friends), Travel PDX, Localcut (Another Grey Christmas), and Union Records (We Rock For Food - Oregon Food Bank charity)

-aaaaaand ‘Booomboxxx’ got lots of spins on college radio and a healthy dose of press:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/press

-I also drove across the USA in a Honda Fit while eating way too much junk food and listening nonstop to DJ Anjali mix cd’s:

http://www.anjaliandthekid.com/

-and my pal Erik Stanfill got some cool vids of some of the performances I threw down during said trip:

http://www.vimeo.com/user838357/videos

-’menomenation’ shot some live footage of a first Thursday performance in Portland’s Pearl District:

http://www.vimeo.com/2618263

plus, The Penny Jam shot a live vid for ‘Booomboxxx’!:

http://vimeo.com/2624267

—-

(I think the word is ‘whew!’)

Most of those events were after May as I spent much of the first half of 08′ recording ‘Booomboxxx’. All I can say is thank you to TLE, my wife Beth, and Carly of Starbird for making such a fab year possible. I love you all very much. Thanks!

Now bring on 2009!

—-

(speaking of)

Upcoming shows:

1/24 SAT (portland/OR) Oz Cafe grand opening! (1720 NW Lovejoy) w/ Jared Mees & Grown Children, Graititillium, and Yeah Great Fine 7pm/FREE/all age

1/30 FRI (salem/OR) grand theater w/ Massive Moth and Symmetry/Symmetry and more! 7pm/$5/all age

2/10 TUE (portland/OR) berbati’s / opening for Yo! Majesty / 9pm/$10 advance, $13 at door

3/08 SUN (portland/OR) someday lounge w/ Jack Conte and Atole 9pm/21+

4/11 SAT (salem/OR) ike box cherry city music festival

—

Finally, thank YOU for making 08′ so fun. I appreciate you reading this and for all the collective love and support you showed me in 2008. As a new Portland up-and-comer it really means a lot to me and I feel very very lucky to get to make art.

Happy new year indeed!,

/Jon

snack 28

Sent: 2008-12-06 10:12:12 (PST)
Subject: snack 28: happy seasonals + newzzz

Hello sweet peeps. I hope you are having a fabulous festive season thus far. Mine is going well, with lots of shows and much making of LP jackets. There has been printing and gluing and folding galore. More on that in a bit. First, some upcoming shows:

12/06 SAT (pdx/OR) hawthorne theater
all age/doors@8pm/$8

12/13 SAT (eugene/OR) lorax manner7:30pm/$5
12/19 FRI (salem/OR) ike box all age
01/02 FRI (seattle/WA) the comet 9pm/21+

—-

So batch 2 of the vinyl is done and located at several stores around PDX town (TLE, EM, Music Millenium, CD Exchange Hawthorne) and EM in Bellingham, as well as bridgetownbreaks.com.

One of the reasons I’m so excited about the 12″ record is the fact that I really love vinyl. The other reason is that each one is hand made, making them a fun thing to sell. I’m not a natural at selling people things, I’ve even been a little self conscious about it in the past, but the TLE swag makes me proud.

—

I played at KBVR tv in corvallis! I still havn’t seen the footage b/c my computer OS is so outdated that I can’t download the correct flash plugin for viewing (sigh. long story. laptop broke. recording ‘puter is outdated. oh well). Here’s the link though:

http://oregonstate.edu/~kempj/video/player.html

click ‘locals live’ and look for BEDM, I guess. And please let me know how it looks!

I’m getting my OS updated to ‘Tiger’ today at some point btw. If you are a mac geek you must know how very behind in the OS department I am indeed. And if you work for the OS patrol I’m sure you will no doubt be issuing me a citation for using an OS named after a cat from, like, eons ago! (so slow it ought to be renamed ‘Garfield’—eh?—eh?—zing?). Oh mac jokes…Sorry about that…

—

In other festive news, Songs from ‘Booomboxxx’ have been getting a righteous amount of college radio airplay, which makes me pretty happy. I even cracked into the CMJ top 200 the last few weeks! I tried to start a chant of “I’m number 160! I’m number 160!” at KUGS in Bellingham during my recent show there, but they were giggling too much to join in. I’m sure they, along with you, are totally impressed though! Seriously though, some 40 stations are reporting plays for Booomboxxx and I am totally honored and thrilled by all of that. If I crack the top 100 I am soooo cracking open a bottle of cheap champagne!

—-

hm. hm. I don’t usually do this whole free form email thing. I’m out of my element! I’ll stop and just mention that I truly hope you are doing very well. Thank you for reading this and paying attention to my little corner of the world, if even for a few seconds. I keep meeting people who are so encouraging—it really makes doing art more fun. So thanks for the love.

yea!,

/Jon

snack 27

Sent: 2008-11-06 08:49:51 (PST)
Subject: snack 27: NPR / tour / vinyl online

Dear Snacklist,

Hello! I hope you are having an excellent fall season thus far. In this email I summarize the BEDM + USA tour of 08′ and pump up the release of ‘Booomboxxx’ just a bit more. But first, here’s some upcoming shows:

11/06 THR (McMinnville/OR) Linfield College

11/07 FRI (seattle/WA) the back room at piecora’s

11/08 SAT (pdx/OR) someday lounge

11/14 FRI (bellingham/WA) boundary bay brewery

11/28 FRI (pdx/OR) crystal ballroom / all age

12/03 WED (pdx/OR) The Old Church FREE

12/19 FRI (salem/OR) ike box

—–

As I write this, ‘Booomboxxx’ has been in stores and online for over a week, including Amazon and iTunes. I’m keeping the press reaction to it updated here:

boyeatsdrummachine.com/press

The latest ‘Booomboxxx’ appearance is here on NPR:

http://www-cdn.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96580526

NPR!:D

—-

As ‘BEDM US Tour’ suggests, I drove across the US and played some shows. Erik Stanfill drove with me on the way out and caught some vids:

boyeatsdrummachine.com/video

+ here’s some pics I made:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bedm/sets/72157608360671093/

I guess they tell a fair portion of the whole story, including the beautifully lonely drive home across North Dakota and Montana. I’ve decided I prefer camping and/or sleeping in the car to hotels. Also, Del Taco is more than pretty good. And thanks to Starbucks being, well, everywhere, there was decent coffee all along the way.

I saw the Black Hills in South Dakota, where the Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments are. The Black Hills are incredible. I just wish people didn’t dynamite the hills apart—I bet they look better without faces and such blasted into the mystique of their time roughened surfaces. What can I say?—I’m a purest. Regardless, the Black Hills are a great destination and I’d love to camp there some day.

I also had just enough time to scoot into Canada and see Niagara falls from the North. Beautiful place. Just take a pee before you show up. WOW. If you have to pee and you look at all of that water falling and squishing you might have issues. I bet one of the gift shops or high rise hotels has a restroom though. I’m just glad I didn’t have to find out.

Aaaaaand there was a lot of pals and sightseeing in Chicago and NYC. The pics prove it. Nice times indeed.

—

If you ‘re interested in the limited edition vinyl version of Booomboxxx, you can order it from Bridgetown Breaks:

http://www.bridgetownbreaks.com/boy-eats-drum-machine-booomboxxx-lp-now-availabl e-in-the-store

–

YES. That’s all I got for now. Thanks so much for reading. Hope you have a fabulous weekend,
/Jon

snack 26

Sent: 2008-10-06 07:34:45 (PST)
Subject: snack 26 / tour + vinyl + more (LOTS more)

Ahoy there, mates! I hope you are having a fun and productive transition from summer to fall. I’m going to write a bit about my upcoming tour, new cd and hand made vinyl, new Radiohead remix, and sprinkle some recent press reaction to ‘Booomboxxx’ too.

1st, here’s my most recent list of confirmed dates:

10/10 FRI (salem/OR) mix-n-mash festival
10/11 SAT (seattle/WA) the wild rose
10/16 THR (pdx/OR) holocene cd/vinyl release party!
10/17 FRI (spokane/WA) baby bar w/m.p.h.a.n.
10/18 SAT (missoula/MT) the badlander
10/23 THR (boston/MA) 12pm the speaker project
10/23 THR (nyc/NY) og art sessions @ john-street
10/24 FRI (nyc/NY) knitting factory / cmj
10/28 TUE (st.paul/MN) big v’s
11/01 SAT (boise/ID) visual arts collective
11/06 THR (McMinnville/OR) Linfield College
11/07 FRI (seattle/WA) the back room at piecora’s
11/08 SAT (pdx/OR) someday lounge

I’ll be traveling with my pal Erik for much of the trip. I’ll also be looking to play a few ‘gorilla’ style shows in interesting locations. For instance, I’d really like to play a convenience store in the midwest that has ‘lil smokies’ basking under red florescent and staying toasty behind the glass in little paper trays. I don’t know why, but it always comes back to the lil’ smokies.

—–

2ndly: Thanks to a sharp layout by Danny Seim and gallant screen-job by Jared Mees at TLE, the ‘Booomboxxx’ cd is done and lookin’ snazzy. As for the vinyl, Jared and I will be working on silk screening each individual record jacket tomorrow. Each record is hand made and unique. I am using all recycled materials (old record jackets that need new love, mostly) except for the glue and ink. They will be hand numbered and available from now on at all BEDM shows and the TLE store in Portland at 1720 NW Lovejoy. TLE has a new website too. It’s hellza cute: http://www.tenderlovingempire.com.

—-

3rdish: I’ll be posting a remix of Radiohead’s ‘Reckoner’ for stream/download later on today. Please stop by http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com and check it. It features a lovable dose of lovable beat boxing courtesy of the world’s most lovable walking vegan drum machine: FOGATRON. Yes. Check more FOG here: http://www.myspace.com/fogatron. He is a rad cat.

—

4th: whoa! I almost forgot about all the downloads and such available here: http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/downloads. There’s fre*e*p, which has 4 songs from Booomboxxx and a remix by Main Sequence. Also, there are two ‘live mashups’ I did. Plus, there’s ‘more’. Wait…no…’more’ doesn’t seem like quite enough. There’s LOTS more. Yes…yes….’LOTS more’ will do. Just get your browsing booty over there and take a looky-see (thnx).

—-p-r-e-s-s-|-q-u-o-t-e-s—-

aaaaaaand lastly: Here’s some recent press for Booomboxxx, which officially comes out 10/28 on TLE:

Sound Magazine - Boy Eats Drum Machine - Booomboxxx - 3 1/2 (out of 4) stars
“Clocking in at 32 minutes, this 10-track album is the third full-length from Portland’s Boy Eats Drum Machine, a hybrid of DJ, musician, producer, songwriter and all around noise maestro. The one-man show is driven by Jon Ragel, who impressively mashes it all together to create an album full of music to move to. The saxophone is effortlessly thrown into the mix, adding depth to tracks such as “Demonic With Horns” and “The Crack in the Sea,” among others. The beats are borrowed and adapted from Portland’s Bridgetown Breaks Vol. 1 & 2, featuring drummers such as Danny Seim from Menomena and Kevin O’Connor from Talkdemonic. Every piece of music here serves a purpose, with never an unintentional lull or pause. “I’m Alive Don’t Bury Me” gives listeners a melodic chorus and straightfoward lyrics repeating phrases like “Im alive under here,” which creates vivid imagery through simplicity. Ragel’s skills, as both a DJ and composer, impressively creates the illusion of a full band performance making Booomboxxx a work of art, even when you aren’t dancing to it” - Jessica Harbert

“BOY EATS DRUM MACHINE
Booomboxxx (Tender Loving Empire)
Boy Eats Drum Machine is this one guy from Portland named Jon Ragel who samples drum loops and creates songs around them with a battery of different instruments and his own damn voice. He even did the album artwork hisself, this Renaissance man. He drew a boombox with teeth on it for the cover. It’s cute, you know? In between tasty tenor sax licks and well-placed samples, Ragel has some interesting songwriting going on. I’m trying to place his singing style right now… and it reminds me of a happy-go-lucky Trent Reznor. Methinks he’s trying to convey some kind of positive message for the kids. Admirable.”
out there monthly 9/08

——

thanks for reading this! I know I’ve forgottin’ a few little things here and there but overall I am satisfied with my summation of things summable. Oh yeah- I’d like to throw down some generalized begging:

“Hi. I noticed you live in ____________. Well, can I sleep on your couch when I’m coming through ___________________? It will save money on a motel and I’ll be able to take pictures of the items in your fridge when you’re not looking. Thanks!”

You can reach me here: jon@boyeatsdrummachine.com

Thanks for your time!

/Jon

snack 25

Sent: 2008-07-04 15:05:04 (PST)
Subject: snack 25 / booomboxxx + TLE / downloads / hollowearthradio.com

Hi peeps. I hope you are having an excellent summer thus far. It seems like a pooh-ton of stuff has transpired since my last email list send, so I’m going to stick to the precedent: hard core info (chuckle) with minimal rabbit trails (hah!). OK…maybe I’ll throw in stuff about the delicious nature of eggs and how much respect I have for Bob’s Red Mill hot cereals right now (seriously! cream of wheat—only—it’s good for you? YES). Basically, I like breakfast a lot. First though, some upcoming shows:

7.12 SAT (pdx) pix bastille day FREE outdoor party
7.12 SAT (salem/OR) the space w/ jared mees
8.16 SAT (pdx) wonder ballroom 9pm/$7
9.05 FRI (pdx) music fest TLE showcase @ slabtown
10.24 FRI (nyc/NY) knitting factory / cmj music fest

YES. NYC in October. plus your city if I’m lucky. let me know if you have any ideas for places I should play along the way: jon@boyeatsdrummachine.com

October is also when ‘Booomboxxx’ comes out on Tender Loving Empire. This is very exciting for me as I’ve put my own stuff out in the past. TLE hand makes it’s releases. I’m very much looking forward to working with them. They also have a store in NW Portland. check em’ out: tenderlovingempire.com

TOMORROW, Saturday 5th, at 2pm pacific time, a portion of my set recorded at Georgetown Music Fest will be aired on hollow earth radio: www.hollowearthradio.com

There’s some new things hap’nin on the website. Basically, I’ve been busily updating the (free) downloads page like a beaver chipping away at a fresh log with it’s finally oranged choppers. There’s the newly mastered version of ‘demonic with horns’ (booomboxxx- 10/22/08- TLE), ‘one angel’ (b-side to ‘two ghosts’), a few remixes of BEDM cuts, videos for your ipod (or other such devices), as well as mp3s of my recent performance on KEXP (lub ya, KEXP). I’ve also been making blog post after blog post about shows and news and things of that nature. I’d love to condense it all for you but the point of emails is simplicity so I’ll just hit you with the link: boyeatsdrummachine.com/downloads

oh no. This email is getting lengthy and I still havn’t mentioned eggs. hmm. Well, I like to keep it simple: 2 eggs over easy + toast + hot beverage.

That’ll do for now. I really do hope you are having a fabulous summer and have a safe 4th of July weekend.

Thanks for your time!
/jonny

————

snack 24

Sent: 2008-05-29 11:40:46 (PST)
Subject: snack 24: let’s get everything started

hi sweet peeps of the snack list. times are exciting as I’m playing shows again and almost done with a new LP. I can’t wait to get totally out of the basement for a while(!). speaking of, here’s a few upcoming shows:

TOMORROW NIGHT:
5.30 FRI (pdx) holocene w/ Blue Skies For Black Hearts 9pm/ $5

then it’s:
6.14 SAT (www) 6 pm- live in studio on KEXP
6.28 SAT (pdx) doug fir w/ climber 9pm/$7
7.12 SAT (salem/OR) the space w/ jared mees

the show tomorrow night is in celebration of Blue Skies’ new disc and I’ll be playing my longest set yet as a solo turntable entity. my set list will likely include several new ones along with ‘let’s get lost sometime’, ‘from an oregon shore’, ‘introduction B’, ‘eunuch’, and ‘well blacken up the sky’. I hope to see some of you PDX peeps out.

btw- the shows have been going really well and I greatly appreciate everyone who came out. THANK YOU!

here’s a few pics of the show at milepost 5:

Justin Kent’s Flickr set

—-

like I said, I’m almost TOTALLY done with the new disc. it’s called booomboxxx. it has 10 tracks, one of which is free and downloadable on the new free download page:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/downloads

there’s also a 3000FLARES remix and the song ‘one angel’, which is the b-side to last years BEDM LP ‘two ghosts’. don’t ask me why we still call songs b-sides when only cassettes and records have b-sides. I’m guessing it’s a case of nobody being able to come up with a better name for it. it’s the digital era though, and I’m thankful for that as my cassette dubbing deck is in great need of retirement.

—

which brings us to something new and completely nostalgic (and yet modern like a fox): the digital cassingle!:

http://bedm.muxtape.com

so while both of those new songs are already up on the website and myspace, muxtape allows you to listen to the songs and stare at a refreshingly elegant cassette design. it’s cute. kinda toasts the heart, actually.

—

oh and: ‘crack in the sea’ is available on this snazzy new compilation:

TLE comp

love ya’, TLE!

–

there’s a new BEDM interview in the vanguard:

PSU Vanguard interview 5/28/08

-

I don’t know what else to say. I can’t wait to get the new disc out and start playing more shows. I anticipate a fun summer. thanks for sharing it with me in this semi-digestible email form!

muchlove,
/jonny

—-

snack 23

Sent: 2008-04-07 12:07:34 (PST)
Subject: snack 23 / radiohead remix / shows ahoy

oh sweet snacklist. I hope 2008 has been fun-filled for you and yours thus far.

This will be a quick lil’ snack as I just want to make sure and pump up the radiohead remix I made and plug some upcoming shows. oh and there’s mexican food haikus and a free 2001 demo to mention too…

——

First, the remix: http://radioheadremix.com/remix/?id=620

It’s the first remix I’ve ever made. I stretched and chopped Thom’s voice for ‘nude’ over an instrumental I’ve been working on called ‘gun fight’. there was a lil’ review of the mix on localcut:

http://localcut.wweek.com/2008/04/06/boy-eats-drum-machines-radiohead-remix-is-b etter-than-yours/

if you’re up for it please send the link for the song to your pals so they can check it. THANKS!:)

—-

next, I booked some shows for may and june:

SAT 5.10 (portland) TLE party! 8pm/$5 (venue TBA!)

THR 5.15 (seattle) the comet w/ eldridge gravy

SAT 6.28 (portland) doug fir w/ climber 9pm/$7

there will be many more to come. I just wanted to make sure you all knew that these are solo shows. I’ll have several instruments too but from now on the BEDM live show is going to be more of an electronic DJ dance party rather than the experimental rock band you saw in 06 and 07. it’s a new thang. and it will be different. I think it’s going to be a blast but what exactly it will look like, and how it will ultimately work out, I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see…;)

—-

also, I blogged about SE PDX mexican food in haiku form:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com

AND made the first BEDM demo available for free download right here:

http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com/bedm-2001

—

I’ve been busy with various lil’ projects and especially busy working on the next BEDM full length. I’ll have some demos to put up soon and I hope you will like them.

thanks for your time(!)
/jonny

snack 22

Sent: 2008-01-01 11:14:04 (PST)
Subject: snack 22: Thursday at Doug Fir / happy 08′!

Happy New Year!

oh sweet peeplings. HI. I trust you are feeling festive amongst all the festivity of the new year. It has been a funtastic year to be making music. THANK YOU to everyone who came out to a show or gave BEDM a spin.

—-

upcoming shows:

THUR 1/3 (portland) at doug fir lounge / $8 / 9pm

FRI 1/18 (portland) at holocene / $7 / 9pm

these shows will likely be the last for awhile for BEDM. I’ve started to demo some songs and it just seems like the right time to hunker down in the basement for a spell. so please come out if you can:)

BEDM will also be at SXSW this year! details to come.

—-

again- happy new year to you and yours!

/jonny

snack 21

Sent: 2007-11-05 10:06:48 (PST)
Subject: snack 21: FRIDAY (pdx) rotture

Hi snack peeps. I trust the crisp fall is treating you well thus far. The big haps right now with me is the PDX show this friday at Rotture with The Trucks. When BEDM last played with them in Bellingham they hosted an amazing musical party with clever songs and dancing. I expect much of the same this friday. hope you locals can make it out! Rotture is at 315 SE 3rd (behind office depot). Show starts after 9pm. Black Eyes and Neckties play too…

upcoming shows:
11/09 FRI (pdx) rotture w/ the trucks
11/30 FRI (eugene/OR) luckey’s

—-

sooo. You can make a nifty video for the song ‘two ghosts’ on the music nation website right here:

http://mylifeisgo.musicnation.com/overview

pretty neat.

—

I won’t make this much longer. It’s just so nice outside and I’ve been in the basement alot working on another soundtrack for a student film. It involves power tools and glockenspiel and a few other nick nacks. Can’t wait to talk more about it when the film is finished later on this month.

I hope things are well with you and yours

(and thanks for your time)
/jonny

snack 20

Sent: 2007-08-17 09:58:23 (PST)
Subject: snack 20: PDX. TONIGHT. jupiter hotel.

oh snacklist. I love you. I’ve finally figured out how to make one of these short and (hopefully) sweet. I’m in a terrible rush. almost. actually, there’s little need to say more; the title of this email sort of gives it all away.

If you’re a Portlander you likely know where the jupiter hotel is. (pssssst- it’s on east burnside right above the doug fir—you know…in the center of the universe!). we’re playing TONIGHT (the caps don’t lie) around 8:30pm in the outdoor courtyard. this event may or may not be catered. it may or may not be free. but it’s a party and you’re invited.

and here’s more upcoming shows down here:
8/18 SAT (bellingham/WA) nightlight w/ the trucks
8/24 FRI 8pm (pdx) grape drink / ALL AGE
8/26 SUN (st helens/OR) KUFO rockfest
9/22 SAT 7pm (pdx) fir fest / jupiter hotel / FREE
9/29 SAT 8pm (salem/OR) ike box / ALL AGE
9/30 SUN (pdx) towne lounge / WW lounge series
10/19 FRI (pdx) berbati’s / climber cd release

xo,
/jonny

snack 19

Sent: 2007-08-09 10:26:58 (PST)
Subject: snack 19: cd wrap-up / sprinkles of etc.

welcome to snack 19. it’s bite sized info. some chewing required. hope your week is going fantastic so far(!). I’ll be reflecting on our cd parties a bit (and more) but first:

upcoming shows:

8/18 SAT (bellingham/WA) nightlight w/ the trucks
8/24 FRI 8pm (pdx) grape drink / ALL AGE
8/26 SUN (st helens/OR) KUFO rockfest
9/22 SAT 7pm (pdx) fir fest / jupiter hotel / FREE
9/29 SAT 8pm (salem/OR) ike box / ALL AGE
10/19 FRI (pdx) berbati’s / climber cd release party

show reviews:

7/20 doug fir / cd release party
170 cupcakes! 270 people! yes! one concertgoer even boasted of eating 6 cupcakes. worthmywhile choked on a cupcake while dancing to dat’r. her hilarious cd party account: (worthmywhile.blogspot.com/2007/07/boy-eats-sophomore-album.html). erik stanfill made a freaking movie about the show (pampelmoose.com/mspeaks/?p=838). my neighbors did a brilliant surprise michael jackson dance routine as part of the quartet dance troupe knows as “six six sick”. the green room was stocked with both pbr AND amstel light. dat’r and junkface tore it up. sigh. it was pretty much the best night ever. jusin kent took pics: (flickr.com/photos/justinkent/sets/72157600939236642/)

7/28 nemo party / (another) cd release party
this was a free party at nemo HQ in furthur celebration of the new disc. they hosted almost 400 beloved peeps and provided drinkies and access to a very nice ping pong table. there were mannequins (they’re usually in my basement), a sweet guest appearance by miss murgatroid for “damned” and “with the village bells”, and dj’s Izm and Rockatansky. the shindig was documented here: pampelmoose.com/mspeaks/?p=847. again, pretty much the best night ever. just kent took more pics: (flickr.com/photos/justinkent/sets/72157601080224027/)

8/2 outside in
last thursday BEDM got to play an afternoon set in the courtyard of “outside in”, which is a nonprofit in downtown PDX supporting homeless youth: (outsidein.org). there were around 15 kids sitting and clapping and cheering. I could hear the sounds of the drums bouncing off of the buildings. I met some of the staff and can’t speak highly enough of “outside in”, it’s mission, and it’s excellent facilities. props.

—

this from Beth Clyman of portland’s KINK FM: “I’ll be spinning the song “Two Ghosts” on August 21st around 9:20pm on the air at 101.9 fm, and online at www.kink.fm.” word. BEDM has been featured in Portland on 94.7 KNRK, 101.1 KUFO, 1450 am KPSU, and PRA.org. speaking of KUFO, BEDM will be playing on the localstage at rockfest on the 26th! slot time and such to come. you know I’ll let you know…

speaking “…”s, how many “…”s does one need to communicate a dramatic pause or the taking of a breath? I would like to now point out that I am not a grammatical expert (a shocker). however, it just seems to me three “.”s is perfect. four “.”s is gratuitous. two “.”s is just not enough. I’m sticking with three but if I’m totally incorrect I’m sure someone will let me know. oh yes: I would also like to know how to correctly use “—”s. naturally, I’ll make the rest of the rules up as I go…

—

real quick though—we really ought to start some laws against using too many “!!!”s—perhaps even fit unruly texting-types with finger restraints. ok. finis.

hope it is well with you. thanks for your time!!!!!,
/jonny

—-

snack 18

Sent: 2007-07-19 11:04:23 (PST)
Subject: snack 18: cupcakes(!) / musicnation/ web&radio

Hi from Portland, where the clouds are extra thick and blue sky peeks through the cracks. hope it’s good with you wherever you are.

this may very well be the most exciting week ever for me: the record is out, web appearances abound, I’ve learned how to bake 150 cupcakes, I have my cd release show tomorrow night to look forward to(!), BEDM got to appear on KPSU AM AND was this week’s “Judges Pick” on musicnation.com, an industry-savvy showcase for unsigned artists.

but first, the upcoming cd release party:

7/20 FRI (portland) doug fir lounge w/ dat’r and junkface. 9pm/$8
I mentioned the cupcakes. they were a hit at music millennium last week. I had no idea: it’s easier to bake things when you follow the instructions. I’m crossing my fingers on special guests and surprising hijinx. naturally, I’d love to see you out. hells yes.

—

I’ll go ahead and throw down a list of recent bedm web appearances:

portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=370370&category=22153

genartpulse.com/archives/2007/07/music_nation_pi_6.php

mog.com/Jenny_Tatone/blog_post/96482

willametteweek.com/editorial/3335/9226/

BEDM was also on portland’s KPSU last night. the performance and interview can be checked here:
http://131.252.78.131:8080/node/6199

BEDM’s appearance will repeat tomorrow night at 7pm (stream it: KPSU.org). the bedm portion of the show starts several minutes in. dave cusick was kind enough to host us, interview us, and rock some “HUH!”s on “…open spaces of the west”. thanks, dave! (and) big ups to brandon for engineering the show.

speaking of radio: BEDM recently appeared on this show on portland’s 101FM KUFO:
myspace.com/vivalaluna

check it sundays at 9pm. thanks, Lisa!

—-

musicnation.com:
it’s an honor to have industry insiders checking out what I’m up to and reacting to the songs. I imagine these people are busy and with the thousands and thousands of bands out there it’s incredibly flattering to be picked as a “band of the week” on any website. to give BEDM some support on music nation goto: bedm.musicnation.com

—

show review:
7/13/07 FRI (portland) music millennium NW.
bittersweet: with the sad news that this portland institution will be closing it’s doors next month coming the day before, it was difficult to feel the full festivity usually in effect at music millenium. however, the employees were awesome, the peeps in attendance totally kind, and (I do say) the cupcakes were surprisingly dee-lish. I had a good time playing music and visiting with some peeps. furthur, I found a replacement copy of my fav duran duran album on vinyl. girls on film. nuff said. thanks for coming out!

—-

that’s all I got for now. I will be baking a ton of cupcakes for the cd release party over the next 24 hours. if you’re anywhere near portland tomorrow night bring it on(!). thanks for your time,
/jonny

boyeatsdrummachine.com

snack 17

Sent: 2007-07-07 09:48:53 (PST)
Subject: snack 17: more about starbuck / bribes

oh no. oh yes. it’s 7/7/07! now that’s one lucky number. the perfect day for a wedding. the perfect day to be in the flower business too. hi. it’s sunny here in Portland—a great day for rehearsing in the basement and/or sitting on a lawn chair dabbled in perspiration with one of those foiled reflectors pointed at your hairy chest (ewww—why do dudes do that?). this is the BEDM email list, and I am your MC.

actually I’m not an MC. but I did open for one recently. sci fi references and crowd hijinx ensued. I’ll talk about that soon in a show review. it’s down there somewhere. no don’t scroll yet! first please read about the upcoming shows:

7/13 FRI (pdx) music millennium nw 7pm- cd sneak peak showcase
musicmillennium.com

7/20 FRI (pdx) doug fir lounge 9pm- cd release party(!) w/ dat’r and junkface
dougfirlounge.com

the first 20 copies of the disc at music millennium will include an extra hand made cd with the album’s b-side, ‘one angel’. also, if you buy a couple tickets for our 7/20 doug fir show at MM (or any other ticketswest outlet) just let me know and I’ll be happy to give you a disc. tix by internet are here:

http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3aTWS%3aP DFL07:PDFL0720%3a&linkID=twspok

I’ll even mail you a cd if you buy a pair of tickets on the net. just send me an email with a real mailing address and I’ll oblige:
bedmnutrition@yahoo.com

basically, I want peeps to come out to the doug fir on 7/20 and have a good time. it would also be nice to have some folks familiar with the songs and ready to sing the interactive shouting parts on “…open spaces of the west”. for reals.

show reviews:

6/29 FRI (pdx) dante’s w/ MC Chris
you have heard of MC Chris by now, a man central to the fun musical movement some refer to as “nerd rap”. dude rhymes in a self-described “chipmunk” voice about video games and geeky culture. it’s awesome to me. and the people in attendance had no problem getting down. they shouted a lot too:

“you are the most intelligent audience we’ve ever played for”

“YEA!”

“I heard someone talking about star wars. it’s great. we’re geeks. we’re proud to say.”

“HORRAY!”

“although benjy over there still hasn’t watched all of battlestar gallactica season three yet.”

“BOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

for the record benjy has now caught up with the rest of us—he claims to have finished watching season 3 last weekend (mere hours after getting booed at the show if I’m not mistaken). now, we can finally discuss theories about the origin of cylons and the nature of the human race’s exodus! this is very exciting.

ahem. so the show was great. I missed out on going to voodoo doughnuts with the extended crew but hung out and talked to a lot of fun peeps. thank you, dante’s.

6/30 SAT (pdx) south waterfront- OHSU cancer benefit

there’s footage of “eunuch” from the show on my video page:
boyeatsdrummachine.com/eunuch

thanks for that, Mathias! the event was breezy and laid back. good times.

well it’s time to do some spiffing up around the house before rehearsal. hope your weekend is great. thanks for your time,
/jonny

snack 16

Sent: 2007-06-29 13:05:51 (PST)
Subject: snack 16: here it comes

sweetest peeps:

thanks for being on the bedm snacklist. read away and I’ll try to keep the news juicy and the semi-related anecdotes to a minimum (hah!). times are good: as I write this the video is out, the (hand made) press releases are out, the website is updated (mostly), and the cd is sitting in the basement in boxes. basically the deadlines have been met and now I get to go back to playing shows, hangin’ with pals, and meeting new people. I don’t mind the tedious things so much—I enjoy getting things done I know are important—it’s just best to concentrate solely on playing music because that’s why I got into this in the first place. speaking of:

upcoming shows:

tonight (pdx) at dante’s with MC CHRIS
tomorrow (pdx) at the south waterfront at 1pm (free/all age)

(and) I’ve set the pdx cd release festivities for:

7/13 friday 7pm- music millennium NW- a sneak peak show. free. all age. check the disc (and buy it even) before it comes out anywhere else. free cupcakes.

7/20 friday- doug fir lounge- the cd release hootenanny with dat’r, junkface, and more free cupcakes.

yes cupcakes. the logistics are staggering. but I have an oven and I’m not afraid to use it. if you are vegan, I’ll still have you covered.

——

so the video is up on our website:
boyeatsdrummachine.com/video

and in quicktime format on pampelmoose:
pampelmoose.com/mspeaks/?p=772

there is also a windows media styled version up on musicnation:
bedm.musicnation.com

the latter is a rather corporate web-based band contest of sorts. if you are the ultra-competitive type who can’t stand seeing bedm lose to a death metal band from new jersey you can simply text “BEDM”to the number 628466. it sends you back a “thanks for voting for boy eats drum machine vote again tomorrow” message. or you can go to the bedm.musicnation.com page and look into registering to vote. hopefully this is all training for young people to learn how to register to vote in the next elections, which will go something like: “seacrest here—for obama text the number “1″ to 1-800-GOT-GOV! for _____________(?) text the number “2″ to 1-800-GOT-GOV! For a third party go ahead and just save yourself the 10 cents and your fingers the hassle and watch this commercial quietly.

——

from cupcakes to political satire. man is this a bizarre email or what? goes to figure: the new disc “two ghosts” is a satire of sorts. it’s sci fi. it’s a bit like the book ‘1984′ in it’s linear story. yes. breaking news: I’m just a little weird.

—–

show recaps:

6/09 SAT (pdx) rotture-

rotture used to be the upstairs of loveland, last year’s site for PDX POP fest. it’s a cool dark space good for dancing. they also have “old german” beer in tall cans for the bands. not quite bad. not quite good. definately far from zer gut. I have to wonder why one would market any beer with the word “old” on the can. unless it’s a scotch or red wine that takes to aging I tend to avoid any food product with the word “old” on it. is it what grandpa drank “old”? is it “this recipe aint’ changed in 500 years” old? whatever the case I had a good time and the whole thing benefited the PRA, and that station never gets old: praradio.org.

SUN 6/24 (eugene/OR) indigo district-

after the show it looked a little something like this:
benjy sitting shotgun with headphones on hugging up to starbuck on his video ipod. peter dozing in the back. me sitting in silence watching the stinky paper mill near albany oregon sneak by with lights and smoke signaling it’s bustling activities. it’s our first drive in months and it feels pretty good.

earlier in the evening I had stopped in eugene at “the bier stein”. any place with the word “bier” in it has got to be good. also, the word “stein” is often a positive signal that something tasty is going on inside. but put the two together though? heaven. this logic is based on my assumption that in germany the penalty for making beer wrong or adding unwanted chemicals to food is some sort of flogging. or for people in munich at least one month without roller blade privileges. so I tend to gravitate toward any food product with a german name—unless it’s packaging has an inclusion of the word “old”, that is…

upcoming shows:
6/29 FRI (pdx) KNRK get local dante’s w/ mc chris
6/30 SAT 1pm (pdx) tram run south waterfront
7/13 FRI 7pm (pdx) music millennium
7/20 FRI (pdx) doug fir lounge w/ dat’r & junkface
7/21 SAT 5pm (salem/OR) salem art fair
8/02 THR 2pm (pdx) outside in
8/18 SAT (bellingham/WA) nightlight w/ the trucks

hope it’s all good with you
(and thanks for your time)
/jonny

snack 15

Sent: 2007-05-29 08:49:47 (PST)
Subject: snack 15: from may to june

Hello from the city of roses. yes(!) it’s extra sunny today. our soggy eight month wait has finally paid off and it’s pure paradise. So welcome to another happy snack—it’s the bedm email list doods: I talk about bedm and it’s goings on, make a couple jokes and food references, and look ahead to exciting shows and other exciting things. Here we go:

Next shows:

SAT 6/09 (portland) rotture
www.rotture.com

SUN 6/24 (eugene/OR) indigo district
www.indigodistrict.com/

as I’ve said before, the cd is ‘done’. And that’s still true. A big batch of them is being made right now. Hopefully by elves. So the big haps of late is planning the cd release week: 7/17 it hits stores and 7/20 is our cd release at portland’s doug fir. There will be advance tickets available. And bribes to buy them. More info coming!

the video shoot for 3000FLARES went really great. Basically peter wears a sweater vest and bow tie and benjy dresses up as a deliver guy. I got the fun role of being the guy who quits his job and gets beat up by two guards with broom sticks. I guess you had to be there. Well thankfully, through the magic that is cinema, you WILL be there—-whenever the vid is edited and pasted up on BEDM’s myspace and website, that is. It shall be thrilling. Big ups to the director: my best pal erik stanfill, who is graduating from the Art Institute this year and already has prospective jobs lined up. Duh. If you don’t hire this guy you’re not very smart. It was great mooching free videos from thee, erik. Good luck! I know you’ll make us proud. Speaking of: erik’s vid for “eunuch” is showing at the Utah film fest. Only 50 works are showing and “eunuch” is one of them. It’s also up for a grand prize. More on that later.

—-

We did some fancy band pictures with Alicia J Rose:
www.flickr.com/photos/aliciajrose/sets

now you know why I love my lil’ van. He is minty. At one point in the shoot we were driving out toward st helens while bobbing to the meters and alicia pulled out two egg shakers. Soon the van was filled with little “shhhhooka”s and “snnnnnks” and all kinds of grooves. Outstanding day. She also used the egg to train us to losen up. “OK boys. You’re lookin a little stiff. Shake it out. Come on” *Snooka snooka*. This all supports my theory that bands are happier when treated like dogs. But kindly. Fancy dogs. Feed us. Give us drink. Shake shaker at us. We will love you. And to serve as final proof that we are dogs: benjy peed on my foot during a potty break in the bushes above the lower portland tram tower. Yes you did. Bad benjy. But great pictures. Thanks for shakin’ it with BEDM, alicia!

Show recaps:

SAT 5/19 (portland) ash street:
This may have been BEDM’s most insane club show ever. There was sweat and hollering and people seemed overall to be toasty in every way. Toasty and happy. the after-show crew walked around the corner to voodoo donuts and two of the pals got maple bars with strips of bacon on them. Oh my. It was like a breakfast cerial with the ham on the side on the inside. I got the triple choco penatration. Stop snickering. This is for reals. It’s so chocotastic. One must be fully committed to chocolate to endure it’s great richness. Nuff said.

SUN 5/27 (portland) doug fir lounge:
To top the month of may we got to open for the clientele (london) and beach house (baltimore). Peter overheard one of the nice boys from the clientele explaining to an adoring fan: “I have an english accent because I GREW UP in england”. well stated. Beach house was also very nice and their dreamy tones filled the house. Other highlights: taylor bought me a shot of bushmills, the green room had fancy beer, and I found a parking spot right next to the club. All good. All true. Fun show.

So that’s it for now. There will be a lot of hustling and bustling soon enough.

Thanks for your time,
/jonny

———

snack 14

Sent: 2007-05-02 10:47:18 (PST)
Subject: snack 14: two ghosts

(next show: SAT 5/19 portland- ash street)

secret pals,

well after much fun and toil two ghosts is done and ready to press. right after jeff saltzman masters it next week, that is. “what’s mastering”, you ask? it’s when someone listens to all the songs and massages the frequencies and makes them balanced and more fat and sounding. hopefully the outcome will render them bombastic enough for a monster truck commercial and charming enough to sound good coming out of a little fisher price boombox. fingers are crossed on this. I drew the artwork last winter while on the plane and in germany visiting one of my brothers. my friend danny has his skanner and layout skills in overdrive, meaning I will likely have the cds back by mid june. you’ll be the first to know.

this is the first email snack I’ve sent in a while. I’ve kept a recording diary though. it, along with many other things bedm, can be found here:

[http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com].

I don’t want to carry on too much. I’d like to share the cd credits and lyrics with you though. they are pasted way down there. to sum: two ghosts is basically the soundtrack to an imaginary film set in the oregon and midwest of a twilight zone episode. our character decides to quit his damn job (3000FLARES), convince our other character to run away (from an oregon shore, into the open spaces of the west, asleep), worries about getting caught (in crossing wind), gets caught (we’ll blacken up the sky, tie them to the trees), debates with his captors (rebuttal 1, slow guns, rebuttal 2), rots in jail (damned), gets very socially jaded (alliances), gives up on seeing our other character ever again (with the village bells, two ghosts) and wishes he could do it all over again (open space reprise). if this general plotline sounds similar to orwell’s 1984 give yourself a psy fi pat on the back, secret vulcan handshake, or an imaginary smooch from starbuck (dirk or kara—whichever you prefer—I’m a kara man myself). so before the dork alert shorts out I shall eject and leave you with piles of credits and lyrics and things.

thanks for your time,
/jonny

two ghosts:

jon ragel- vocals, turntable, guitar, alto saxophone, percussion, bass synth, organ

benjamin rickard- bass synth, stringed bass, guitar, timpani

peter swenson- drumkit, timpani

featuring:

fogatron- beat-box* (2, 14)
fogatron.com

laura gibson- vocals (2, 3, 5)
lauragibson.net

kate o’brien-clark- violin, cello (4, 5)
myspace.com/kateobrienclarke

brandon summers- flute (7)
theheliosequence.com

josh skins- drumkit* (10)
myspace.com/easybeatsstudio

miss murgatroid- accordion, vocals (13)
missmurgatroid.com

mike mckinnon- drumkit* (13)
wetconfetti.com

*- sampled from bridgetown breaks
bridgetownbreaks.com

laura appears courtesy of hush records
brandon appears courtesy of sub pop
mike appears courtesy of pampelmoose

all songs written, produced, and recorded by jon ragel
(copyright 2007, all rights and so forth, ASCAP)

mastering by jeff saltzman
artwork by jon ragel
art layout by danny seim

lending of nice mics by nick heinsohn
lending of nice room and neat timpani by jon jones
lending of alto saxophone by marisa swenson
lending of classic guitar by janet watkins
lending of big cowbell and lil’ shaker by kim vick
lending of kind ears by erik stanfill, bob stark, and alicia rose
lending of zills by beth ragel

boy eats drum machine two ghosts

3000FLARES
this is a warning you are losing one of your sons
Ive fallen away from my occupation
cuz when I push the pencil they load the shells
that turned heaven into hell
this is a warning shot across the bow in high and tight
3000 flares didnt do nothin but light up the sky
and fall as limp reflections in your eyes
so this son says goodbye
Ill try to take my mind off of the shells
that turned heaven into hell

from an oregon shore
here at the end of the war where the water meets sand
on an oregon shore we stand where the land cheats the sea
all covered in snow but its not really cold at all
cuz when the sky went crack and temporarily black
it left a poisonous sun
when they shot we shot back again
but theres a place I know and I think we should go

so come with me away from time
we’ll let the road fall behind alone
cuz the world keeps getting worse intentions
and I dont want a piece of it anymore

and so we cross this line in the nick of time
when you work for peace sometimes you find
youre tangled up in the lines to the accessories of the crime
because weve lost our way and sense of touch
now the thought of peace it doesnt mean that much
no I swear Ive never been less blind
its just they redefined the word peace

so lets free these sands of imaginary lines
and what we find we’ll find

into the open spaces of the west
so my love theres nothing left but for us to run
to a distant open space safe from this warming sun
therell be nobody to greet us and no goodbyes
weve got to make this all gone
and leave behind this fading sky
step and step mile by mile through the western gorge
until the river has run gone and the cliffs look down no more

so let the mountains face us and the armies chase us
well stay low to the ground and well make no noises
there comes a time a time of ending
here at the midwests beginning
weve left no signs no trails no holes
well find an open space find an open space to go

asleep
close your eyes my love be still and breathe
feel your mind wandering
see a world opening up for us to dream
sweetly deeply asleep
sleep as the stars fill the sky
each of them wandering by
see a world opening up for us to dream
sweetly deeply asleep

(in) crossing wind
one day we escaped but now Im looking over my shoulder
cuz theres a wind blowing over the grass
is it a sign will it knock us down or will it pass
now my love I have no plan no actions to take when you awake
cuz I’m a fool to try to run when I dont how
Im a fool but sleep for now my love, sleep for now

are we caught in this crossing wind blowing

‘we’ll blacken up the sky’
if peace should find a way well find another way
if they should stop the fighting well fight another day
you cannot stop the marching so dont you even try
if sun should find your face well blacken up the sky

rebuttal 1
this is not a hollow trick if I dont stick into your clique
I am not responsible the bones around your brains are thick
one good turn deserves another so I refuse to be defined
by the narrow thoughts inside your mind

slow guns
I hate the war
and that settles things youve said your piece is there nothing more
I hate the war
well what dont you hate you criticize while we restore
youre all confused
no I’m afraid thats you with

the people around on the highest horses
with slow guns and meticulous voices

if you love the war then say you love the war
and I guess well never agree

cuz theres a lot of opinions conflicting emotions
blind optimism and hopeless devotion all round
when all we want is common sense and you dont make no sense

its all a lie
tell me wheres the proof how do you tell the lies from truth
give it time
yes yes time will speak with the battles won in the coming weeks
its all a lie
youre just following

rebuttal 2
will this conflict you make finally take down the sun
cuz theres always more errands for the poor to run
tell me when will it be that you finally make your peace
when will you make your peace

damned
as bars go these are not the worst ones
I can see my hand reach in and through
sometimes it makes a shadow
its like a bird flying across the room at noon

theres too many people not laughing
their smiles just dont any-things grab your attention
theyre gonna take all your attention

your damned if you do and damned if you dont
with all of your dos and all of your donts
damned if you will and damned if you wont
with all of your dos and all of your donts

now its not clear what the bricks in this room mean
and the lines between do they mean what I think
its a map its a plan for a city
and everywhere you go its ninety degrees ninety degrees

theres too much organization and not enough participation
and I think you know what I mean when I say participation

theres too many people making ripples sneaky silent swimmers
incapable incapable this damn pool needs a cannon ball

alliances
Im gonna choose my alliances
not by your face or sound of your voice or quality of speech
but what you can do for me and what I do for you does for me
so here we vultures sit two in a row
which one is the madam and which one the ho
no I dont know anymore
I wanted to be a ringing voice
but the loudest bells are hollow inside cuz they give the greatest ride

with the village bells
Im ready to let go right now my love
time can only heal what it cant find
so thats game that has to be I forget you you forget about me

two ghosts
woke up in time to see you turn into a ghost
from the top of the world
theres a view of sun so clean you can only look once
I see you carried away by the wind now
no matter what we say the things we claim dry out and blow away

its over my love
now were just a piece of the scenery in a painting signed anonymous
over my love
over just out of reach in retrospect I guess I loved you too much
loved you too much
loved you loved you when all I really needed was someone to touch
someone to touch
someone someone coarse enough to resist any powerful force

I hear a sound I think maybe youre here somewhere now
sometimes you hear sometimes you see but youre only imagining
if theres a season theres got to be a reason for it
you make your peace you make your mistakes
sometimes the world gives sometimes it takes

open space (reprise)

I wanna go where the sky lies overhead peacefully peacefully
and well never have to turn from the sun
in an open space tomorrow in an open space tomorrow

I wanna go where we see these certain signs
that we only borrow time
and this place is partly yours and partly mine
in an open space tomorrow in an open space tomorrow

I wanna go to an open space tomorrow

snack 13

Sent: 2006-12-28 12:03:43 (PST)
Subject: snack 13. kiss me kiss me, 2007!

snack 13? the baker’s dozen? yes(!) and there’s a new year coming to boot. think of it: 2007. 007. double ought seven. the sweetest looking year ever. perhaps 0000 was a cooler looking year but I don’t think people in year zero realized they were, in fact, in year zero. if it ever exhisted at all.

so welcome. I’m in the canning cellar. or cave. it’s where I record from. fitting that I should write this email to ya’ll from here as it’s where I’ve been living for the last couple weeks. after demo’ing and thinking and begging friends for gear we finally got the party started with p and his drumkit. he was in the living room. a demo of the first effort, we’ll blacken up the sky, can be heard on my new haystack page:

[http://www.haystack.com/bedm]

additionally, I’m keeping a recording diary complete with pics and food references applenty on our website. such a pink flavored website:

[http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com]

the plan is to make a record. then I’ll decide what to do next. likely BEDM will spend much of 07′ playing shows on the west coast. I’ve still yet to make it to LA. or SF. or new mexico or new hampshire, for that matter. after I play new mexico and new hampshire I’ll have been to every state starting with the letter ‘N’. but we’ll see. right now it’s really all about the cellar.

there’s also links on the website to interesting places I’m forgetting about. so peek. but I won’t be forgetting about these memorable occasions anytime soon:

—-

show reviews:

11/03- ACME (portland)

this was a benefit for portland’s community cycling center. it proved to be a fun party with ACME enjoying another raucous group of patrons. I’ve heard ACME has gone DJ only since then but have yet to confirm it. being hauled up in my cave recording doesn’t help but I’m sure I’ll get the straight scoop on ACME soon enough. PSOOTV and alan singley were fang-dangled-jangly and made the beers taste even sweeter.

11/25- doug fir (portland)

yes. doug fir. awesome club. dat’r was really fun. I’m getting excited to hear the new dat’r disc coming out in early 07′. should be the sountrack for many parties to be.

12/16- satyricon (portland)

I got to duck into ground kontrol for some video games before the show. let the record show that I got the high score on punchout. you think glass joe is a pushover? think again. dude learnt some nasty new tricks while I was kicking mr sandman’s ass. ouch. and those new blue trunks. murder. and I do mean murdA. the show went fine. I know there’s youtube footage of it floating around. link is on the website. scroll low.

—

well. happy 2007! I’ll be getting back to recording now. and I’ll have demos up every couple weeks. you’ll be the first to know. muchlove,
/jonny

snack 12
Sent: 2006-10-27 11:23:42 (PST)
Subject: snack 12 / dave allen / vote eunuch / demo up

hello. welcome to another edition of the boy eats drum machine snacklist. it’s informational. thanks so much for readin’. hope the fall weather is suiting you and your wardrobe. scarf: so much more elegant then it’s name implies. but boys should not wear scarves with t-shirts. not without a jacket. that will be my only snacklist fashion tip. ever… ok. onto the shows:

—-

upcoming:
fri 11/3 (portland) ACME: this is a benefit for the community cycling center. they give bikes to kids. also playing is alan singley & pants machine and please step out of the vehicle. this show will mark the first time BEDM has ever had the fewest syllables in it’s name amongst the bands on the bill. what are the odds? also, I’ll be playing two new cuts: “well blacken up the sky” and rebuttal 1. come on down…

sat 11/25 (portland) doug fir

—

news: dave allen was kind enough to play pleasure theme song on his fine podcast. give him a click. thanks again, dave. a demo of rebuttal 2 is up on our myspace. the eunuch vid is currently up for vote as part of paste magazine’s rock n’ reel festival.

—-

show review:

sun 10/1/06 (portland) holocene: I love holocene. and I really enjoyed asobi seksu of brooklyn. the only thing is I couldn’t hear what the keyboard guy in the back was doing. there was alot of guitar. enough and then some. but I suppose you don’t get referred to as ’shoegazer’ without ample doses of guitar. guitar. it’s what’s for dinner (if you were standing in the front). there was also a slight shortage of fancy pants. but I’ll try to get people dancing next week at ACME. —- hmmm. I think that’s it. hope it’s all good with you,

/jonny

snack 11

Sent: 2006-10-01 09:01:52 (PST)
Subject: snack 11 / shows and demos

hello to all pals(!). hope things are well with you. I’ll start with a proper plug of our:

next show: tonight(!) (portland/OR) at holocene. opening for asobi seksu (brooklyn). 9PM/$8. this is our last show for a little while. we’ll be working on the next cd.

—-

news: hmmmmmm. I don’t have much news. some important things close to being news remain in ‘don’t jinx’ status. so I can’t say. more soon. I hope. I’ve demoed 16 songs for the next disc. I supposed I’ve been a busy lil’ beaver in the basement…a sneak peak at some of the song titles: damned (hehe- no really- a busy beaver), “we’ll blacken up the sky”, two ghosts (and 13 more). it’s nice to get back down in the basement and make art.

—

show recaps:

8/26/06 (portland) doug fir lounge:
menomena returns! it was packed. they gave us free food. and beer. and we really did have a great time. the audience was very kind (an encore. how kind is that?). nice nice played after me and caused me to dance. thank you, menomena and doug fir.

9/2/06 (portland) ACME (PRA BBQ bangaroo) after music by DJ TANT, Hott Pink, Dat’r, Brocaw, Casio, Wilding, Wooden Nickle, Raging Family, Uncle Nancy, Collective Consciousness etc., BEDM closed the night out on the patio under the stars. is there a better place for dirty indie music then portland in the summer? eugene crew was up and in full effect. nice excellent lil’ pocket-bottles of tequila were spotted. someone licked my face. my butt was grabbed liberally by a certain journalist. you just can’t script this stuff…

9/6/06 (portland) music millenium NW- continuing the tour of portland..it’s always a good night to play the best store ever. there are rows of records and cd’s and a couple couches in front of the stage for snuggling. and this night there was free beer. yea. and yeshhh. we took a request. well, I took a request and played an acoustic version of ‘intro A’. trivia Q: places we’ve played ‘intro A’?- tonic lounge, des moines, and now mmNW. those boys from northwest noise were out. shout out to cosmo: you rock big time.

9/15/06 (salem/OR) ike box: benjy and I both polished off large cinnamon rolls (with the icing melting over the side) and room temperature mochas. I can’t remember what peter had… fun show though—dancing portlanders (lindsay! we really did miss you, dear) and polite crews from salem and eugene. raeanna of the ike box crew drew us an excellent map to help us find muchas gracias. yes, muchas gracias. get a burrito. not a fish taco. and if you’re me get both and eat the burrito and half the taco…

—-

hope your autumn is going more then satisfactory,

/jonny

—————————-

snack 10

Sent: 2006-08-17 08:58:17 (PST)
Subject: snack 10 / the return of menomena

warmest greetings to all and welcome to the latest snack: a snippet of bedm-related ‘news’ . there are several show reviews to get to, more details about the arena rock compilation, but most importantly….

—–

(show preview: 8/26 (portland) doug fir lounge)

it’s the return of menomena! (my fav pdx band) I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I’ve seen these gents play. many portlanders are no doubt tickled to hear of the group’s return next week at the doug fir. furthurmore, they have a new (and brilliant) disc coming out early next year on barsuk records. we get to open, so if you’re out for the show come check us at 9pm. yes 9pm—the doug fir actually runs a consistent fan friendly schedule (nice- eh? now if we could only get the beer prices a little lower…). the show may sell out so I’d recommend getting tix early here: 8/26 tix. the epic jammings of nice nice will also be on display.

and you could always take a peek at the boys’ zany webbysite: menomena

—

(and) this from arenarock.com:

“Arena Rock to release a random covers compilation to benefit local non-profit: p;ear (www.pearmentor.org). Portland artists contributing tracks include: Britt Daniel (Spoon), Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie), Decemberists, Talkdemonic, The Kingdom, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Wroom, The Minus 5, Pt. Juncture, WA, The Minders, Tara Jane O’Neil, Viva Voce, Pat McDonald and more! Out late 2006.”

the random tracks are reportedly all classic rock. we did bowie’s ’starman’. I do believe there will also be a lackthereof cover of a michael macdonald song. groove on, brothers and sisters!

—

show reviews:

7/22 (portland) dante’s

I played with a pair of portland’s best melody driven rock acts Jonah and The Dimes. these are really cool guys. if you get the hunkerin’ for some rock I highly recommend both of em’. peter and I walked across the street after the show to get some voodoo donuts (big surprise). I don’t mention this simply to keep my string of donut mentions on snacklist intact. no. I say this because just when I thought I had tried every donut voodoo has to offer I discovered the triple chocolate penetration. where have you been all my life TCP? mmmmmm. choco-cakeyness. best. donut. ever….

7/26 (seattle) baltic room, 7/27 (seattle) the comet

chris (who books seattle’s pleasurecraft) was kind enough to hook me up with a pair of capitol hill shows. the small audience at the baltic got a very healthy dance party going, while the comet offered the many patrons ample places to lean and sip fine ales. between shows we caught a movie (strangers with candy), ate italian food (delicious tourist trap right by space needle), and freeloaded off our new pal, jacquie. she let us crash at her house, which boasts a spacious living room. it was there at 7 am, in my supine semi-slumber on a nice brushed suede couch, that I was witness to the greatest cell phone conversation I’ve ever heard:

j’s roomate on cell phone (as though talking to someone upstairs):

“dude!…yeah….I’m downstairs and I’m out of cereal….yea….could I score a bowl of your grapenuts?!…..thanks!”

yes. grapenuts for all. (happy birthday, jacquie!)

I love seattle. it took a while for me to warm up to it but I can no longer deny the greatness of the emerald city.

7/29 (portland) PDX pop now!

picture an all day festival featuring scads of indie acts. sprinkle a few electronic and hip hop groups in. make it free. and all age. then stretch it out for two and a half days straight. how can you beat that? I applaud the volunteers. the thing is free and I enjoyed alot of the artists. it’s really pretty amazing when you think about it…

8/12 (portland) le bloody hummus haus

yes. another house party featuring captured by porches beer. I think zeb, punk rock beermaster that he is, is starting to outdraw the bands. deservedly so. check his schedule and pay him a visit sometime: CBP.

–

(thanks for reading) hope you are well,
/jonny

————————-

snack 9

Sent: 2006-07-19 08:19:16 (PST)
Subject: snack #9 / a quick batch of ‘etc.’

hello hello from sunny portland oregon. BEDM picked up some new subscribers to this here email list while on tour (and welcome to you- thanks for being a part). to set the table for what is surely to be served up weekly (errrr- monthly) on this list I’ll give you a quick preview: I generally come in, talk about some shows, reference food a few times, make a couple wise cracks, let you in on news that’s not quite news yet, and do the dishes before you even get up from the table. it’s ‘wham bam’. no—it’s better then that—it’s ‘wham’(!).

so the tour was alot of fun. here’s a link to the diary: td1. it comes complete with pics and such, including press quotes and links at the bottom.

—-

portlanders and seattle(ites): I’ve got a healthy batch of regional shows coming up, including THIS saturday (7/22) at dante’s in portland, and next wednesday/thursday in capitol hill (baltic room and the comet). scroll on down to upcoming shows for more details…

—

extra saucy news:

BEDM made the roster for the (free / all age) PDX POP NOW fest at portland’s loveland next weekend (7/28-7/30) but I don’t know the exact slot yet. stay tuned: pdx pop

a boy eats drum machine cover of david bowie’s ’starman’ will be appearing on an upcoming indie compilation on portland’s arena rock records. we just recorded it. it’s basically a drum n bass / space folk version. muchlove to nick for lending mics.

a couple bedm unreleased tracks will be in a new movie called “Lifecoach: The Movie”. I worked up the lil’ numbers especially for the movie. one is an instrumental version of ’si(x)cuse me’ and another is a distorted drum edit called ‘dirty break’. it was done dirt cheap. watch out for that movie. it’s gottin’ good reviews and I do believe it will be appearing in a theater near you sometime soon.

—-

shucks. I’m out of ‘etc.’. there’s more to come-I’m sure. thanks for your time:)
/jonny

————————

snack 8

Sent: 2006-06-15 07:06:50 (PST)
Subject: snack #8 / tour / DVD / extra etc.

snack 8 (a snow cone of info with extra syrup)

so here we go. to the east coast and down to the south and back again (a couple tour press items pasted below). I hope I’m playing in your town. sorry if I’m not—I’m sure I tried. I likely pimped bedm to a booking agent in a club near you. if that’s the case there’s always next time. either way I’ll be trying to keep the pics and info up-to-date on our website. my phil collins groovy kind of love for you never ends on boyeatsdrummachine.com. unless the server crashes. but that’s only a temporary breakup. even joni and cha-chi had those. anyways—-I suppose I ought to get to bid-ness here:

—

show review:

THR 6/8/06 (portland/OR) hawthorne theater:
if you don’t know who joni and cha-chi are you really owe it to yourself to rent a ‘happy days’ DVD of some sort. I’m sure they have ‘em by now. you will no doubt recognize ron howard, who has turned into a director of blockbuster movies and made a nifty simpsons cameo appearance. there’s also the fonz- who lived in an age where remote controls were no match for a good thwacking of the juke box. and no—weezer does not make an appearance. I wish. that was just a video. and I’ll be damned if that wasn’t the catchiest song of the 90’s.

anyways—the show was fantastic. the eugene and gresham crews were in full effect. on a school night. thanks so much to all who came. the hawthorne theater crew is nice. thanks to some t-shirt sales we raised enough gas money to get us to montana. and then some. also, it was the last appearance for awhile of our consistent merch diva, jacquie. she’ll be travelling and living the rock and roll dream this summer and I wish her only the best. thanks for being so awesome, jacquie!

on a don’t-read-this-if-you’re-squeamish note: benjy was quite sick at the show. he was a trooper in coming down and making it through the set, only to return home to lose his lunch, breakfast, and afternoon tea into a salad bowl. he claimed in a text message to have ‘filled’ it. yes. a ‘large’ salad bowl. eek.

—-

the pleasure 5.1 DVD is practically done. I mentioned it a few months ago. it contains 5.1 mixes of the songs as well as 2 videos and a 1 minute documentary called ‘the making of pleasure’. erik stanfill has been working on the menus and even had us come in to record commentaries for the two videos. it’ll be ‘out’ in july. and by ‘out’ I mean it’ll be for sale at shows and in a few portland stores. erik did an amazing job and will likely be using it as a school project. the pleasure DVD. it’s nifty.

—

I leave early friday morning. I’ll be back in portland july 4th and might even be playing an underground party on saturday july 8th. see you all soon:)

/jonny

———–

snack 7

Sent: 2006-06-07 15:17:55 (PST)
Subject: snack #7 / THR at hawthorne theater / tour swag

snack 7 (bedm info in digestible tablet format)

hello from the city of roses- in bloom and readying itself for another onslaught of ships and sailors. let the fun begin… thanks for being on this here bedm email list. past snacks can be nibbled and sampled right here . I’ll do a little dabbling in our last 4 shows, talk tour stuff, and maybe even try to sell you a t-shirt (or two). hope things are well with you.

—

show reviews:

4/29 (portland/OR) holocene:

BEDM was part of the 10-band ‘electrofest’, which also featured salem pals in ’sad panda’, the legendary ‘punk group’, new friends in seattle’s ‘pleasurecraft’, and several others. as it turns out dancing was occuring with regularity and drinks were looking stiff as boards coming out of the bar staff’s hot mits. alot of people seemed to be having alot of fun. and what’s better then that? I dig holocene and it’s snazzy rooms. it’s a palace of indie electronic dancing and drinking. we shall be back. and hopefully make of habit of doing so…

4/30 (portland/OR) hawthorne theater:
BEDM’s first all age PDX show? yes. and it was a blast. bill runs sound and did a terrific job. I was able to soak up some of the hawthorne haps before the show at the baghdad mcminnimens (pizza + beer = good). but most rad of all: gresham and eugene crews represented. thanks for coming out!

5/19 (portland/OR) vanessa’s house underground PRA radio BBQ hootinanny:
wow. fun party. the food was enough—but the cozy basement had surprisingly good acoustics. captured by porches beer was responsible for some of the good times as well. this was BEDM’s third underground party in as many months and it proved to be equally merry. vanessa’s house is also amazing with a great back yard for people to stand around and chew the fat (and talk too)- she even named her cat after a geographical area. I love it when people do that.

5/26 (salem/OR) ike box:
salem is awesome: they have a sweet all age club tons of people enjoy going to, a fun downtown area for meeting up after the show, and a delicious 24 hr mexican joint called ‘muchas gracias’ to stop in at on the way to the freeway. are you kidding me? I wish BEDM could do a tour with 30 salems in a row. thanks to sad panda for hooking me up with the show and for everyone who came out. serious good times were had.

—-

tour update: 14 states in 17 days. I was hoping I’d have 13 shows so I could call it the ‘bakers dozen’ tour. then someone told me a bakers dozen isn’t 13 donuts as I foolishly believed but, in fact, an actual dozen of the bakers choice. what? if it were my planet one dozen would always be 13. regardless, coming up with a catchy name for a 14 date tour seems kind of silly. In fact, catchy names for tours are downright—-errr—-silly. remember the ‘hell freezes over’ tour? I rest my case.

—-

swag update: swag shall be defined on the snacklist as merch. maybe I’ll just call it merch to keep it easy. but if I slip up and say something such as: “we peddled some swag in des moines”—you’ll know I meant “we sold a substantial ammount of merchandise in des moines”. “but bedm doesn’t have merch”- you say? not so fast. we now have t-shirts, stickers, posters, AND cd’s—all of which will be on display at our portland show tomorrow night(!), as well as on the ‘extra spinkles tour’! or was that the ‘bakers dozen plus one tour’? whatever…

you can take a peek of our shirts here. holy crap that’s a long link…

—

upcoming shows:

thr 6/08 (port/OR) hawthorne theater
fri 6/16 (bozeman/MT) zebra lounge
sat 6/17 (billings/MT) level 504 gallery
sun 6/18 (st. paul/MN) big V’s
mon 6/19 (chicago/IL) the elbow room
tue 6/20 (kent/OH) the ecc
wed 6/21 (washington/DC) black cat
thr 6/22 (chestertown/MD) andy’s
fri 6/23 (nyc/NY) sin-e
sat 6/24 (northampton/MA) gallery TK
tue 6/27 (chapel hill/NC) wetlands
wed 6/28 (johnson city/TN) hideaway
thr 6/29 (n.manchester/IN) the firehouse
fri 6/30 (omaha/NE) oleavers
sat 7/01 (des moines/IA) GT
sat 7/22 (portland/OR) dante’s
wed 7/26 (seattle/WA) ::W:I:R:E::
thr 7/27 (seattle/WA) the comet

—

thanks for your time:)

/jonny

[http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com]

—

snack 6

Sent: 2006-04-29 15:50:32 (PST)
Subject: snack #6

snack #6 (a donut of information / jelly filled / procrastination sprinkled)

hello from portland:) I’ve been hellu busy with shows, tour booking, van purchasing, new packaging for “pleasure”, and I’ve even found a little time to watch a few M*A*S*H* and twilight zone episodes (thank you, public library!). hope this warmer type of weather is suiting you well.

—

show reviews:

03/25/2006 10:00 PM - bacteria circus (portland)
such a fun PDX underground party! a packed basement at 2AM never sucks. ever. thanks again to reverse dotty for letting us be a part.

03/27/2006 09:00 PM - ACME (portland)
big ups to the photo atlas (denver) and little brazil (omaha) for driving to our fair city and sharing hard hitting dance-rock. we’ll be meeting up with little brazil’s oliver and one of his other musical projects when we play omaha 6/30. ACME was as gritty and sweet as always.

04/01/2006 06:00 PM - WWU- hig festival of music (bellingham/WA)
nice show with a friendly and accommodating staff. looong drive. well worth it. bellingham has a certain quality to it. a good quality. must be the canadian influence due north only a few miles…

04/07/2006 09:00 PM - towne lounge (portland)
have you been there? this place is great! nw noise was on hand. their recap of the night can be found here (thanks again, gents).

04/12/2006 09:00 PM - yuri’s night seattle
we met an astronaut! I shook her hand. her grip was impressive. totally cool museum if you like planes and space travel. they really need to hire a tattoo look-a-like to stand and point at each jet and scream “da plane da plane” though. otherwise the joint is flawless.

04/15/2006 10:00 PM - ::speak:: house party (portland)
underground party II was equally rad. captured by porches beer, ami’s awesome golden retriever, and some frenetic sets by sexton blake, reverse dotty, and bugs of lightening made the night go down rich and smooth.

04/28/2006 06:00 PM - live on 1450 AM KPSU (portland)
(whew—is this really the last recap?) KPSU rocks. I’ll have some mp3’s soon—as soon as I find time to edit the cd they were so kind to burn us. click

the eunuch video is up and internet tested. check it here
or here even

“pleasure” is getting new packaging. I’m not hand-drawing the disc anymore and the folded pages are morphing into a thick paper digipak from stumptown printing, handscreened with love (thanks danny! you are the greatest), with the disc and lil’ lyric booklet inside. this is all for good reasons, including the saving of time (each of cd’s 1-450 took me about 3 minutes to draw), the attractiveness of lil’ booklets and places to stow them, as well as the appeasement of stores nationwide and what they prefer for display and stocking use.

new distro of “pleasure” to those stores nationwide will be handled by burnside distribution. we have the tour in june and convinced them to kick copies of “pleasure” all over the place—especially the cities we plan on playing (the website will have the latest info on those cities). bdc is portland based and contains a staff of music lovers we are excited to work with. true story.

I also have a new van (chevy astro). it’s like spearmint chewing gum. it’s so fresh and so clean. not to mention stealthy, which should save money on gas. for those who would wish to congratulate my old van on a job well done I shall send her your love. she is now embarking on a much deserved break from musicians and the things that come with the life of shows, donuts, and such. I won’t sell her to the circus. that’s worse then being owned by a musician I bet. but anyone else is fair game. just make me an offer, yo.:)

—

I’m sure I’m forgetting some things. which is good. this is long enough I do believe. thanks for sticking it out. I can only offer you my warmest regards. it’s a blast to make music. and there’s so much work that comes with it. but getting to share it with people like you makes it all fun and worthwhile. well- worthwhile at least. bidness isn’t always fun. but I feel lucky that I get to make art and share it. thanks so much for listening (and in this case reading).

muchlove,
/jonny

upcoming shows:

sat 4/29 (portland) holocene
sun 4/30 (portland) hawthorne theater
fri 5/26 (salem) ike box

————————————————-

snack 5

Sent: 2006-03-20 08:06:16 (PST)
Subject: 5/ show recaps / eunuch video premier / pdx house party

snack #5- semi-solid information—extra sprinkles…

hi and welcome. hope things are well with you. there’s some gabbing to do so I’ll get started with a couple show recaps:

—-

3/16 (portland) ACME—I got to see alaskus and thirty two ways and meet the mysterious joezilla:). links to her bloggery are on the bedm website. (james gill: thanks for the pics, my man!) I really like ACME—something they do that makes being in a band easier is closing out tabs at the end of the night. in my haste to clean up my gear, load it into the van, secure the band’s money, and take off before being booted from the bar I sometimes forget to do that. take berbati’s, for example:

3/18 (portland) Berbati’s—all I really want to write about is the voo doo donuts. mmmmmm. but wait—I had an anecdote going—yes—-my tab. back to my tab. so I left it open after the berbati’s show. my bad.:) it all turned out nice in that I was able to come back the next day, grab my debit card, and talk to a few of the nice people running berbati’s. I speak a little greek. well—please, thankyou, good morning, etc. they were nice—I highly recommend supporting berbati’s (and anything greek for that matter). feeling adventurous after a fun show, I got zany and decided to try the voo doo donuts dozen. whoa. there’s lotsa breaky cerial all over em’. and they’re all sweet. unless you are cheech, chong, or at a phish show I doubt you’ll be needing this much sweetly sweet sweets. thankfully there a few regular ones mixed in. did I mention the show was fun?

—-

eunuch video premier!

(from erik stanfill:)

The world preem of Boy Eats Drum Machine’s second cinematic adventure “Eunuch” will be this Thursday night at the Hollywood Theater (4122 NE Sandy Blvd) along with a variety of epic short stories from upperclasspersons from my school (i’m still junior-level). It’s free and will smell like popcorn, like all good screenings should. Please note that it looks like the time has changed to 6:30, not 7 as I’ve told some of you already, and this fills up fast, arrive early for best seat selections!

Senior Shorts 3: A Digital Cinema Showcase presented by the Students of AiPD
The Hollywood Theater
March 23
6:30pm

A Digital Cinema Showcase presents the work of senior-level students from the Digital Media Production department at The Art Institute of Portland. The program features a variety of genres and styles. Admission is FREE. First come, first served until we reach theater capacity! For more information, contact chermann@aii.edu.

(congrats on getting in the senior showcase erik!)

—

pdx house party:

saturday 3/28- BEDM will be playing a house party in N Portland. it’s free and fun and there will be dancing into the early AM for sure. I play around midnight and will be followed by the excellent neighborhood DJ! email me if you would like directions and/or more info

(thanks!- /jonny)

—

*dusts hands*

almost there. I should mention there a few webby updates on boyeatsdrummachine.com. but they’re subtle. soon I’ll have some video stuff and demo songs and such. you know there will be more info as soon as such info becomes more—-well—informative.

—-

upcoming shows:

3/28 (portland) N PDX house party at bacteria circus
4/1 (bellingham) WWU higgenson festival of music
4/12 (seattle) museum of flight- yuri’s night
4/30 (portland) hawthorne theater ALL AGES

—

hope you are well. thanks so much for your time,

/jonny

————————————————-

snack 4

Sent: 2006-03-02 08:52:48 (PST)
Subject: snack #4 (dunes show review, video news, PDXmag press)

snack #4 (semi nutritious reading on the BEDM email list)

hi from portland, where the garbage trucks are loud (it’s 8am and I’m now up) and the mullet is ironic (when paired with a PBR, that is)…..ummm….that will be my only attempted one liner of this email (fingers crossed). hope you are well.:)

I’ve got a couple things worth mentioning. and I assume by signing up for this here list you’re game for extra innings of info and switch hitting anecdotes. I mean, if you just wanted to see cutesy pics of us boys and check out our fancy ‘upcoming shows’ menue, the website is only a click away:
[http://www.boyeatsdrummachine.com]

but I presume you want more then that— a supersize of info. well let me tell you brothers and sisters—I’ve got a soda fountain of ideas simply bubbling with useful(ish) info. but first things first:

—-

show review for

mon 2/27/06 (portland) at dunes:

for starters, dunes belongs underground. there should be a password given through a rusted slot. following that, you would walk a dank hall and sulking cement stairs. finally, you would find yourself in a small room filled of leaning conversations and content dancers shaking in earnest concentration on the dj’s latest spinning record. what I’m saying is: I really like this place. it’s dark. and yet friendly. mark, who cares for this hip little joint, is a sweet guy who runs the sound from the bar and pours drinks with mean intent. good things come in small packages.

so I had a nice time, covering the cure’s ‘lovesong’ for a pair of lovebirds in the audience (congrats again, you’re too damn cute!), and a new song. the new dark little number is yet to be named. upon asking the audience if they could come up with a title for it (what was I thinking?), they yelled out “johnny 5 alive” and “free bird”. heh. thanks for that. frank—aka neighborhood dj, threw down some viciously sweet cuts after our set, making mingling and packing up gear a treat.

(thanks mark, frank, dunes, and everyone who came out!)

—

videos….

whew. that was one long-winded show review.

so- the video for ’sometimes…’, which features the talented erin charles, is complete and will be up for viewing soon. many many thanks to erik stanfill and all of the crew (moochable friends and family) for making the video possible.

as mentioned, erik and co. have now moved on to making a video for ‘eunuch’. today will be the second day shooting—-and mr stanfill isn’t fooling around here. stay tuned for more details. I’d write about items of issues pertaining—but I’m still sucking wind from that show review. so I’ll simply drop a few hints. eunuch video: chasing through yards. unsafe driving. little keyboards. etc.

—-

upcoming shows:

PDX:

thur 3/16 ACME with thirty two ways

sat 3/18 berbati’s pan with the gentry and sad panda

thur 3/30 hawthorne theater

SEATTLE:

wed 4/12 yuri’s night seattle- museum of flight

—

press:
the 3/16 ACME show is previewed in PDXmagazine.com (page 41). I’ll paste the text down there…

—

sliding home:

thanks for reading this. I hope things are well with you,

/jonny

————————————————-

snack 3

Sent: 2006-01-25 12:49:48 (PST)
Subject: donuts in 5.1 surround

snack #3 (a semi-edible installment of the bedm email list)

greetings.:) hope 06′ is off to an excellent start for everyone. I’ve been catching up on some things (more on that later). watching a little football. etc.

—-

show recaps:

tue 1/3/06 (seattle) at nectar: fun had by all. nectar is a sweet lounge in the freemont district. free food(!), kind staff, and a secret hatch next to the stage full of beer made it an awesome way to play seattle for the first time.:) I was disappointed on the drive back to find that krispy kreme tacoma was closed though. apparently business isn’t as good as it used to be. why? it’s a donut. how can it fail? fortunately excellent donuts were available after the next show:

wed 1/11/06 (portland) at berbati’s: skipping ahead to the donuts at voodoo (next door to berbati’s): is the portland creme not the greatest invention for late snacking since 7-11 nachos? can a donut get any better? I had pleasant memories of the show to accompany the sweet doughy voodoo flavors too: berbati’s staff was nice, the falafal crispy, david (once again) ran the tightest board, and we just plain enjoyed the crap out of the entire evening.

thanks to all who attended.

—

news (just in case you were curious):

HiFi enthusiasts: pleasure was recently remixed in 5.1 surround by longtime pal (and extremely talented chap) erik stanfill. he did it for the fun, experience, and purest love of theater format sound (of which I know little about). for those of you who don’t know what 5.1 is I’ll give my best attempt at explaining: basically, 5.1 is when you’re sitting there and sounds are coming from the back and sides and front while the bass sinks deeply into the floor. it’s like being at a movie. without the movie. and you can turn it up as loud as you want. the mixes are currently being mastered by another generous pal (more on that next time), and a DVD with the 5.1 mixes and a video or two will likely be coming out this spring.

speaking of the video(s): as if I weren’t exploiting his talents enough (but that’s what are for friends for—eh?), erik, who is attending the art institute of portland, will be doing a bedm video as a school project. ’sometimes you wanna go where nobody knows your name’ will be shooting this weekend. more info and people to thank coming soon! we may even do another. who knows?

I would like to once again reiterate that I am a mooch and that I have awesome friends.

—

upcoming shows:

mon 2/27 (portland) at dunes, 1905 NE MLK. one band show followed by neighborhood dj. 9PM/!FREE!

—

web updates: ‘news’ (bridgetown breaks bedm feature), ‘about’ section (pac man mug!), links, press (bedm musicGeek interview, and who knows what else.:)

—

thanks for being on this list. you can always reach me with questions/comments/etc. at infoATboyeatsdrummachineDAWTcom.

muchlove,

/jonny

————————————————-

snack 2
Sent: 2005-12-26 14:14:07 (PST)
Subject: december wrap-up / upcoming

snack #2 (an edible installment of the bedm email list)

ho-ho-holy holidays, batman! it seems like december has pretty much come without warning and is already bolting from the building. and it’s leaving an empty milk glass and a plate with several cookie crumbs on it. I mean- what just happened?:) anyways, seasonal greetings to you. I hope it’s all good with you and yours. and, oh yes- thanks for being on the bedm email list. I will try to keep this weekly or so. content is optional! just kidding. I plan on rambling a bit. that’s just me. but info—yes info—will certainly be included. starting here with a couple show reviews:

—

show review for 12/17 at portland art center benefit (portland)

played:

eunuch
pleasure theme song
taste of your mouth
si(x)cuse me
let’s get lost sometime
introduction B
angel telling lies
5 - 0
stepping on your grave

notes:
the new space for the portland art building will soon be under construction. it’s going to be marvy! they need a couple hundred thousand dollars and this benefit was certainly a good spirited attempt at raising a few bucks for the cause. I met some swell folks from portland’s ’sleepy children’ and the bartender was apparently pouring heavy on the maker’s mark. good time had by all, but pretty much the coldest loading and unloading of the van I have ever done. brrrrrrrrr! special thanks to erik stanfill for running sound.

—

show review for 12/23 (12/24) at tonic lounge (portland)

played:

‘last christmas’ wham! intro
eunuch
pleasure theme song
taste of your mouth
si(x)cuse me
let’s get lost sometime
introduction B
angel telling lies
5 - 0
stepping on your grave
introduction A

notes:
lowenbad was sweet and sultry and cal, my favorite pharmacologist, tended a mean bar. he’s now taking a well deserved vacation from show bookings and his work at the tonic. if you’re at the tonic in the near future- please let them know you love cal. regarding a discrepancy in the date of the show: BEDM went on after midnight (!)—therefore it was actually 12/24:)—alot of people stayed, however, and a grand time was had. steve ran sound and the tonic once again proved to be a worthy haunt for a late friday night of live music.

—

website news: ‘press’ and ‘about’ sections updated. have you checked the ‘lost’ boombox mix yet?:)

—

upcoming shows:

tue 1/3 (seattle) at nectar, 412 N 36th 98103. 8pm/!FREE!

wed 1/11 (portland) at berbati’s, 231 sw ankeny 97204. with ‘paint and copter’ and ’simpl’. 9pm/!FREE!

—

thanks for your time,

(and muchlove)

/jonny

hot links:

nectar
berbati’s

————————————————-

snack 1

Sent: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 09:01:05 -0800 (PST)
Subject: doug fir recap / things december

snack 1: (an edible installment of the bedm email list) hello. thank you for signing up for the bedm email list. I plan on sending out one of these every week or so, and I hope you find the info and tidbits to be useful and entertaining.:) —– ?

show recap for 12/3- doug fir played with: princess superstar and strength set-list:
eunuch
pleasure theme song
the taste of your mouth
si(x)cuse me
let’s get lost sometime
introduction B
angel telling lies

show notes:princess superstar and her crew (alex- turntable, eddie- guitar) put on a memorable performance, and I finally got to see strength, who had the licks and swagger to put everyone in an ass-shaking mood. this was pretty much the first bedm show ever. I had a great time, and although the sound and amenities were top-notch, the highlight of the evening for me may have been when the guy restocking the paper towels in the men’s room said “excuse me, boss.” I don’t know about you, but I love it when people call each other ‘boss’. it’s tuff. so thank you, doug fir lounge!.

The show was also reviewed by amy mccullough of willamette week. I’ll paste the text down below. or you can read it online by clicking thusly: story

news: the official bedm website is close to completion- you’ll be the first to know when it’s operational.:) pleasure is available for purchase in portland at both music millennium locations, and online here There is also a bedm ‘introduction B’ cassette single available at the millennium nw 23rd location. do you remember the elegance of the cassingle? —

upcoming shows:

saturday, 12/17- portland arts center (32 nw 5th, portland), a festive fundraiser for the center’s new building

friday, 12/23- the tonic lounge (3100 ne sandy, portland), with lowenbad, timsmith and the beauty

tuesday, 1/3- nectar (seattle) —

relevant links:
ww show review
pleasure on cdbaby
princess superstar
strength
lowenbad
portland art center

- muchlove to you and thanks so much for your time,

/jonny, bedm