For the second year in a row, we were asked to speak at the regional SBDC New England Conference which took place in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. We had a lovely stay at the historic Red Lion Inn and were surprised to find this familiar face in our room.

It’s an American folk portrait of Mary Jane Smith by nearby Springfield MA resident, Joseph Whiting Stock, and we have our very own copy of it in our living room!

Happily we learned that Mary Jane Smith has a companion painting by John Brewster of Buxton, Maine. It’s appropriately titled, “Boy with Finch”. (I secretly think they’re siblings.)

That evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal at the The Lion’s Den…

…and the two portraits watched over us while we slept.

So, that was quick. 11 hours to be exact.

And now we’re gonna need to find somewhere else to live…

How ’bout Keene NH?

I have truly loved living in the New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Truly. For peaceful isolation and rural living that’s full of interesting people, the North Country is hard to beat.

But after nearly 5 years in Campton, it’s time for us to move on. It’s a bittersweet change.

We’ll always have the memories. And the listing photos.

So this is our FIFTH Jamboree?!?!?

Well, what better way to test Ruby Jean’s new upgrades than a series of intense rock gardens and the famous “Roller Coaster” (which was more like a slip-n-slide after a night of rain?

As always, we learned lots of new things, but it is the people that make these events so freakin’ wonderful!

I like to camp. A LOT.

Zorro and Fletcher like it too. (especially Fletcher) And wherever we camp, Ruby Jean is there. Which is why after 7 years, it was time to upgrade to a proper towing suspension that’s still at home off-road.

Enter the Teraflex 3″ Outback Overland Suspension…

I think camping time is coming soon…

With the first 20 minutes of music tracked in total isolation, we bounced a rough mix (minus vocals) and presented the result to a few friends we know to be interested in unusual music and vampires.

Our goal was to represent a general idea of how the finished project might feel and gather feedback. So far, we’ve learned two important things:

1) The Concept Is Strong

One of our initial concerns was whether or not audiences would accept the back-to-back juxtaposition of Alison’s smart and edgy (but still relatively accessible) songwriting with my highly experimental works for piano and computer that are (at best) quite challenging for most listeners. Not to worry! If we can manage to keep the vibe evolving with a certainly regularity, this is actually one of the more attractive features of the project.

As far as I can tell, the reason for this is that the film (which is full of incredible visuals) provides viewers with a potential reading of the musical gestures that’s tied to a clear narrative. The result is that sound cues that might otherwise appear disconnected feel motivated by action on the screen.

2) Some Accidents Are Better Than Others

And that brings me to one of the more unexpected discoveries with this project. We’re mostly adapting existing music to accompany the film and have found that if we’ve done a decent job pairing the mood and flavor of a piece of music with a specific scene, almost inevitably, at least a few key sounds and gestures will line up with the visuals.

Of course these are accidents, but during our pilot testing we found that some people reported a very strong (and often unexpected) connection between these unplanned coincidences. This meant that when a related action occurred on screen and the audio cues were missing, audience members felt their absence and wished they would return in some way.