sleep debt

fatigue!










chelsea jade.

fiction section

[teacups 'forest fiction' photoshoot]







i'm meant to be filling in an interview for a local magazine
but none of my answers seem very fascinating.


i'm getting restless telling everyone the same story of how we eventuated as a band.




maybe i should shake things up!



any ideas?








chelsea jade.

come home

two more days inside the portal

and

i have 17 days worth of tales to tell











cryptically yours,





chelsea jade

lost in migration

['resembles a crane' -hongi]








i know you're too far gone when i crane my neck to see you and you're nowhere in sight.









chelsea jade.

my new flumes

'emasculating james'




i probably nodded slyly when i agreed not to post that.



and probably this one too:

[james brushing his teeth]

as an aside from teacups

i play (sing, tambourine, occasional synth) in james' live band.





[finn at soundcheck]




as part of a new ritual that involved purchasing a tri-pack of toothbrushes,
we brush our teeth before hitting the stage.

unfortunately, the documentation remains trapped inside my phone until i can figure out how to pry the photos from it's clutches.

so here are some alternatives:

(finn, me, james//absent: chris, sean)




(photos by david grr)




(photo by silke hartung)

chelsea jade.

we washed our songs in rose water

(late 1940's vintage dress, madame hawke flying cape made from chicken feathers)



thursday last was the - cotillion - if you will
of our (teacups) album 'forest fiction'
(triple cheer for a solidly stilted sentence)
!



we made ourselves welcome the moment we arrived:
(i had fashioned this banner from an old sheet.
The clothesline effect is rather appropriate me thinks)

purely to showcase the quiet majesty of the architectural wonderment that is hopetoun alpha
(it was so bewildering i took an off-kilter photograph - also a result of dodging traffic)

during soundcheck our fellow band friendlies phil austen and the bayonets
took to the future audience's perches to nap it up:

liz is usually banished to play toward a wall because of the sheer volume emitted from her golden trumpet.

she's a student of jazz at auckland university.
this means she can coil each note around her little finger and let them go in the most wonderful patterns.

our friends who later served as our choir/hair & make-up/general elves of helpfulness,
hongi and kate.

they also were subjected to hearing us reherse things over and over
and were the guinea pigs for our new song 'party'.

(completed mere hours afore our stage-taking - sometimes we can be too eager about these things)

i bought this dress after some momentary deliberation
(how could i possibly walk away and never think of it again! it's pine-worthy and mysterious and gives me romantical butterflies)
and convincing from the company kept.

it makes me feel like i'm wearing the history of someone else's elegant affair.
i wonder if the previous owner was kissed whilst wearing it?

jocee tuck of bearcat fame was wrangled to play her solo collection of beautiful tunes before us.
she and i behaving mischieviously in the cosy hallways between stage entrances:

she took to the stage and i was completely unprepared for the wonderment that was to unfold when she unleashed her voice.

she played mostly glockenspiels and invited some friends to join her during her set.

i was utterly floored by the musical package she delivered.

completely hypnotising.



i love you, dear jocee! you've stolen my heart!

we spent all day long setting up the stage to resemble a miniature night-time forest with night skies sweeping their milky ways anywhere they could cluster their stars
(we used an impossible number of fairy lights to achieve this)

i had originally planned for the trees to be a forest of real christmas trees so we would be swathed in the piney scent of an actual forest.

but the season is a slight step too far from the cusp of christmas preperation so my visit to a christmas tree farm didn't eventuate.

i think it turned out to be quaint and charming anyway with our kindly donated faux-trees:
(thanks to liz for erecting that tent studiously of ramshackle ingredients when i had lost hope we would have one at all)

phil austen and his bayonets arrived next to the stage after a stirling (if not slightly fabricated) introduction by mister matthew crawl'tea' himself, who was kind enough to act as ring-master for the evening

they played such a wonderful set of acoustically-taylored songs.
phil has the voice of someone destined to be swooned over.

it was also welcome to have a male musical presence amidst all the lady-folk.

i am still secretly upset you didn't follow through on your 'can we all dress as robin hood' proposal, however.

i was so pleased to see my old high-school english teachers present.
as well as the boy who serves me at the art shop.

(and of course the flame-haired silke, who spotted me capturing the crowd dipping into darkness and made the appropriate funny face)

photos by me

these next few are from other people's perspectives since i am inept at the art of playing music and taking photos simaltaneously.


me being mesmerized by jocee's magic:

after all of our hard work and teeth-chattering anticipation we finally stepped onto stage to play in honour of our first album.

i shed a quiet tear when we had finished rambling through our songs.

it really was a dream sequence.

people could enjoy the most delicious plum liquor straight from a teapot and tiny rosewater cupcakes with their musical main course.



(talita, me, liz)
photos by amanda of static image

photo by rosabel of synaesthetic







i have a proud feeling sitting in my chest over the whole event.
(as well as the fact that we actually have an album that is going to be sitting on the shelves of music stores)



thank you to everyone who attended and bought albums.


you're all dreamboats!










chelsea jade.








p.s - it is available for anyone to buy here

'today i cried because i have an album with my two best friends'

It's out!
roundabouts.

more online options to arise...





the release party was a treat.




i've been a shoddy blogger but now that this has been unleashed i believe i will improve!
beginning with a lengthy post about the album release which left my heart bubbling over with happiness.







x
chelsea jade