Depeche Mode Flashback

So Citizen D was waiting for an order of chicken and broccoli at the local Japanese fast food, when she found herself bopping her head and keepin' time to Depeche Mode over the speakers. The guy behind the counter, he was keepin' the beat too, and soon they were both singing: "Never again is what you swore the time before." Classic Depeche from the early 90s: "Policy of Truth," the song, record: Violator.

Awesome.

Musical moments.

Brought to you by Japanese fast food and really cool guys behind the counter.

Peace in music.

(Photo: Depeche Mode website: www.depechemode.com)

Rough of New Design: I'm Just A Girl...

Musicians' Village - New Orleans

Being a creative person is awesome on so many levels: the relationships with others, with oneself, with art...but oftentimes artists don't have the resources to rebuild if their lives are upended by health or other tragedies. There are a lot of great groups out there: from the SIMS Foundation (www.simsfoundation.org) for musicians in Austin, to retirement villages for actors in Los Angeles and New York. Artists try very hard to take care of other artists and that is one of the very unique thing about creative people.

The Musicians' Village in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans is no small example of this sort of concern. Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis spearheaded this effort to create new homes for artists - extremely talented musicians - whose lives were scattered by Hurricane Katrina. Do a google search and you'll find lots on this project... It's definitely worth knowing about.

(Pictured: Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., and Jim Pate at the Musicians' Village site: photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity: www.habitat-nola.org.)

(Photo: ravaged New Orleans: photographer: Scott Landis: www.scottlandis.net.)

Cool Images

Click on this link for some awesome images from around the world: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7215283.stm

(photo above: AP Services)

Series I - Sometimes wonderful...

Just a sneak peek at one of the designs for Series I: Sometimes wonderful, sometimes tragic. This shirt was inspired, as we mentioned before, by lyricist Deborah Dalton and the song she performed with Burden of the Blissful: "When it's Real."

We love it.

Hell-e-copters

We are thousands of miles from the nearest war zone, but right now a thundering, military helicopter is flying over the Citizen Reindeer headquarters. There's a military base close by, so it makes sense...but, damn, wouldn't it be so much better if they weren't necessary? Reminds us of Burden of the Blissful's song, "Machines":

I'm tripping down denial road

High from meeting with Sir Halliburton

Up above, a Black Hawk's singing

Who's the voice behind the oval curtain?

But I'm alive in helmet and tie

So boys and girls

See "Steel Boats" and "Iron Men"

In your mouths taste the engine's ride

Close your eyes

Your "Angels Over America"

Citizen Reindeer no like military recruitment videos - especially when packaged the way the US military puts them together. However, to be completely legal: The references (very tongue in cheek) "Steel Boats," "Iron Men," and "Angels Over America" are titles of US Military recruitment videos.

The good news is, you can't copyright titles and that left it wide open for Burden of the Blissful to create, create, create.

Peace.

http://www.myspace.com/burdenoftheblissful

UFOs

Citizen Reindeer has no official statement on the recent UFO sightings in Texas, and other parts of the world.

(photo courtesy of http://www.ufocasebook.com)