1/1/07 -  Thursdays With ELEMENOPY... the revolution begins 1-11-07!!!

Dear Los Angeles area musicians, artists, poets, etc (as well as lovers and connoisseurs of all such things),

This may get a bit long winded, but if you fall into any of the above categories, we hope you’ll take the time to read it (and hopefully forward it on to others as well). We two lads from ELEMENOPY want to inform you about something we are very excited and proud to be a part of, and we'd like to invite you to come be involved as well. That being our 2007 THURSDAY NIGHT RESIDENCY at the greatest place for ambitious expression in Southern California: UNKNOWN THEATER. Hopefully in the coming weeks when we've gotten a little more sleep we'll come up with a name a bit more inspired than "Thursday's With ELEMENOPY," but we just returned from spending the holidays in NY, and we're a bit out of it, so it'll just have to do for now.

Anyway, here's the deal: We have been given free reign over Thursday evenings at Unknown Theater, and we are hoping to do some very special things with this honor. As both musicians and frequent patrons of various live music venues ourselves, we've become fed up and frustrated with the state of the local music scene. Most venues (especially those evil Sunset Strip joints), charge way to much for admission and parking, only to herd a half dozen or so acts on and off the stage for sets that only last a half hour, while making no real effort to book quality acts or form a cohesive night of good music. We know you’ve all dealt with this… you go to see a band you like, shell out $10 or $20 for parking, then sit through 3 or 4 mediocre bands until the band you actually came to see finally gets to squeeze out six or seven songs before the sound man says "five more minutes guys!" Then before you know it, another lame band takes the stage and belts out the same half baked tunes you swear you already heard earlier in the night, so you go settle your $38 bar tab for the four drinks you bought, and retreat home feeling like a little piece of your soul was just date-raped by the money-hungry, insincere and apathetic LA music machine. No wonder no one wants to go see live music anymore! And for the artists it’s just as soul crushing if not more so. Between all the pay to play nonsense, minimum draw requirements, lack of respect or support from promoters, crappy stages with poor sound, and that annoying “five more minutes” just when you’re getting warmed up... it's a wonder we all don't hang up our respective instruments et al. and go become accountants or something.

Well, for those of you who already know about Unknown Theater, you know what a unique and exceptional place it is. For the rest of you, we hope you will come be a part of our Thursday night residency as patrons and/or performers, to express yourself and/or to support local artists with a sincere desire to so something different, and to help us try and change the face of the local music scene, if only in this one small place. Of course there will never be a cover charge on Thursday’s, parking will always be free and plentiful, beer and wine will always be cheaper than you’ll pay at other Los Angeles bars, and you will be treated to a night of music that we guarantee will always be fun, engaging, and unpredictable. We plan to try a lot of new things this year as we continue to evolve and push the limits of our own talent and sanity, and we hope to share the stage each week with our favorite bands and other like-minded artists who want to shake up the traditional notions of what live music and art can or should be.

So please come join us January 11th and every Thursday thereafter, and spread the word to everyone you know who you think might care. If you are a musician or performer of any kind and you want to come on board (and if we are sending you this directly it’s probably because we love you and want you to be involved), please just let us know which Thursday in the coming weeks and months you might want to play, and we will start building the schedule. There will be no ticket selling requirements, you will be allotted approximately an hour-long set (longer if you want, shorter if you so choose… we’re flexible), and we won’t ever ask, “What’s your draw?” Plus you will play on a giant stage with great sound and lighting and a series of changing backgrounds depending on the play that is currently in production at Unknown. It is a great place to record a performance… just check out our video for “One Act Tragedy” below and see for yourself!

Also, Unknown Theater’s mission statement, as well as our own for these Thursday evenings, is to bring together ALL forms of art and expression in daring and exciting ways. So we are hoping to gather not only musicians, but also anyone with a passion for the arts to consider being a part of this movement. Poets, painters, dancers, filmmakers, actors, comedians, circus freaks, and more! If you are interested and sincere, we will make it happen and together create some very memorable nights!

Okay, I think that’s everything for now. If you made it all the way to the end of this letter, then we want to thank you so much for taking the time to do so. It proves that you indeed care about art, music, and expression, and therefore you are our kind of people. Either that or it just proves you are bored. In any case we will now award you for making it all the way to the end by revealing this little known secret that only those with the patience and diligence to see this letter through will ever get to know. Ready? Here goes: The hokey pokey really IS what it’s all about.

Love,
Joel and Nick

THURSDAYS WITH ELEMENOPY (soon to be called something cooler)
Every Thursday at 10pm beginning January 11th, 2007
Unknown Theater
1110 Seward St
Los Angeles, CA 90038
FREE

7/25/06 - Everyone said it couldn't be done. But it could, and it was. We actually went ONE FULL YEAR without writing an entry in our diary. Three hundred and sixty five days. Fifty-two weeks. Twelve months. One one-hundredth of a century. Sorry. But it isn't because we haven't been doing anything. On the contrary. We've been recording a new album, we've been playing out a lot in the L.A. area, we've been planning a tour with our new manager... and hey, we got a new manager! So you can continue to check back here every few years or so to see what we're up to, and we'll do our best to write what we can when we can, or you can just come to our shows and find out first hand. And there you can ask us everything and anything you'd ever hope to find here. What books we're reading, what we had for breakfast, where babies come from. Whatever you need, we're very approachable.
Cheers!

7/25/05 - So back in March when I last updated this page, I promised myself that I wouldn't write anything new until the 25th of July, and I'm a man of my word.  Actually, that's just a big lie.  I got busy.  Nick got busy.  We got busy together.   Not like THAT, you sickos.  We do appologize if we neglect the diary, but it will probably keep on happening.  So this will probably be the last update this year, maybe even until 2007.  But all of you who care already know what's up with us.  We're rockin when we can rock and we've got a CD now that hopefully anyone taking the time to read this already has a copy of.  We spend more time updating our myspace account than this one cause that's where all the crazy kids like to go (and we're crazy kids as well, don't let the gray hair in my goatee fool you).  But thanks as always for the love, and keep on rockin y'all! 
Your friend and mine,
-Joel

3/11/05 - Well I'll be damned. It would appear that some of y'all actually DO read our web diary posts! So for that I say thank you. The response to my previous entry was enormous (well, actually as of today I have receive exactly 4 responses, but I have no delusions of grandeur, so for as small as our fan base is, FOUR = ENORMOUS. So then, here are the emails I received in the order that they were sent:

---------------------------------------------------------------

From : Sean Grimes
Sent : Saturday, February 26, 2005 3:41 AM
Subject : fork it over homeboy

And what a great thing, I hope I'm the first, nick's mom stole my last ten bucks, and she already owes me twenty!!! Hope you are kickin ass, give the propers to robyn. and I talked to nick today, he doesn't count

ass freezingly,
the g.
---------------------------------------------------------------
From : amy judd
Sent : Monday, February 28, 2005 3:52 AM
Subject : its amy

did i win? i need ten bucks.

---------------------------------------------------------------

From : David Ciesielski
Sent : Monday, February 28, 2005 12:32 PM
Subject : I read it

Joel,

I don't know if I'm the 1st, but I read your blog (that's a fancy word for web log - I'm soooo high tech). I don't want your $$, but I want you to know that we're out here. Your fans. Your base. We're with you, man.

Best,
Dave

---------------------------------------------------------------

From : Paige Liberatore
Sent : Sunday, March 6, 2005 11:51 AM
Subject : $10

Hi Joel!

It's Nick's sister, Paige. So, I read your post......can I have my 10 bucks now? haha
Tell my brother to call me. :)

Paige

---------------------------------------------------------------

So yes, you all rock for responding, but this was an official elemenopymusic.com contest so here is the reality of how all prizes and moneys will be awarded:

Response #1: Sean
Sean, I love you man, and I appreciate the timely response (mere hours after I had posted) but I'm going to have to withhold payment until I see those ProTools tracks you were going to send us like a decade ago. Since I'm sure those will never see the light of the California sun, I can rest assured that my money is safe. But did I mention that I love you man?

Response #2:Amy
Amy came in a close second, but unfortunately there was no second place prize. However, since Sean was effectively disqualified from first place, she deserved something. So I put her on the guest list at our Rainbow Room show last night, which saved her $7 and cost me no money at all. Quite a nifty compromise if you ask me. Except that that left Robyn as our only paying fan who showed up, so I don't think the Rainbow will be calling us back anytime soon.

Response #3: Dave
Ah, good ol' Dave. Definitely our most altruistic fan. Not looking for a hand out or any kind of compensation, he only wanted to offer his support (and flaunt his impressive knowledge of cyber-speak). His kindness and support of Elemenopy puts a lump in my throat. You could all take a lesson from him. Literally. He will be holding a monthly workshop called "How To Be A Better Elemenopy Fan In Eight Easy Steps" on the first Saturday of each month. For more information write to: dave@elemenopymusic.com.

Response #4: Paige
Well, Paige, I appreciate your effort, but you came in fourth. They don't even make medal for fourth place. Not to mention you are Nick's sister, and the fine print in the contest rules specifically say: Employees of Elemenopy and their immediate family are not eligible to win. So I think the best you can hope for is a shoe in the ass like big brother got.

So thanks again all of you for your support and for your all around rock and rolledness. I think this contest has proven to us that we are ALL winners. Except Nick. He's a lousy shoe-assed loser.

2/25/05  - So, we made this New-Year's resolution to never post anything in our web diary ever again.  Perhaps you've noticed.  But like all good resolutions, this one must someday be broken, and TODAY IS THAT DAY!  Well, hot damn.  How y'all been?  Just in case anyone actually does read any of this (and I'm not convinced that anyone really does), allow me to inform you that we truly have been intending to revamp the website and finish our CD for some time now, but time moves slower in a Hell Dimension like LA (if you get that joke, you're a geek), and it's been tough to make it happen.  But we do have a new homepage picture, just one of a number of great pictures from our photo shoot with the award-winning photographer Julie Levy.  We also have a couple of new songs up on the LYRICS page.  And if we can ever figure out how to upload movie files correctly, we'll get some live clips up too.  Other than that, yeah, it's the same old site (or same old shite, if you prefer).  But again, I'm not sure if it matters anyway.  Does anyone ever even come to our website?  Does anyone ever even read the stuff we post?  Are you even reading this right now?  I'll tell you what.  The first person to email me (this is Joel, by the way) and tell me that they read this will receive a crisp new ten dollar bill right out of my pocket.  It is February 25th 2005, and the offer expires on February 25th 2006.  So if you're out there, anyone, anywhere, let me know and it will set my mind at ease and make you 10 bucks richer.  Well, except you Nick.  If you read this and email me, I'll just give you a dime and a shoe in the ass.

12/15/04  - Hello to all you crazy cats (and I suppose to the normal ones too). This is Nick. I wanted to say that Joel and I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, and that your cups runneth over with "Holiday Cheer" (AKA top-shelf vodka). We have a few exciting updates to pass along to you for the end of the month and beginning of the New Year: First off, we have almost completed recording the EP! We would like to thank Dr. Andy for adding a bit of his bass prowess to our album. Also, I am super-psyched as I head home for a week to the frigid temperatures of Syracuse, New York, to have my good friend (Not to mention original member of ELEMENOPY) Sean Grimes add his musical stylings to the record! John, Joel and I hope to start mixing in January, and soon after have it available to YOU. Be on the lookout in the next month as well for an overhaul of the website featuring new pictures from award-winning photographer Julie Levy! Finally, be sure to be at Que's Riverbottom this Saturday for ELEMENOPY'S FIRST ANNUAL HOLIDAY JAMMY JAM with the incredible Alana Sweetwater (see the Upcoming Shows link for complete details). See you there, and thank you all for your continued love and support! Rock Santa!!

11/29/04 - So, yeah.  We've been neglecting our diary.  Bad we.  But we'd like to thank everyone for their continued support of the website and our music.  And we'd like to especially thank Robyn Klock and Kristina Ciesielski, the only two ELEMENOPY fans who have thus far attended EVERY show.  You ladies ROCK!  Honorary mention must also go to Waldo Cardarople who has only missed one show, and Dave Ciesielski who has missed a few shows, but only because of his work schedule, and he's always been there in spirit (at least we THINK that's what that smell was).  We hope to see you ALL at our upcoming shows.  Rock!

11/4/04 - 'Alo!  We hope everyone had a happy Halloween, and that the Great Pumpkin brought you lots of toys and candy.  How about Bush's costume, huh?  He dressed up like a United States president 4 years ago, and since the supreme court let him wear the costume all this time, America became convinced that he really should be a president!  Yay!  Make believe is fun!  Maybe he has an even scarier costume picked out for the next four years...  In Elemenopy music news, we are putting the finishing touches on our upcomming EP under the watchful eye of engineer extrodinair John Graves (yes THE John Graves), so we will hope to bring that to you soon.  Until then, please continue to enjoy the website, and we hope to see you all at our upcomming shows.  Peace.

10/30/04 - Hi y'all, Joel here. A big thanks to everyone who came to last night's show at Hallenbeck's.  Okay, now that we have dispensed with the formalties, we need to set the record straight on the picture of us on our homepage.  No one seems to get it and everyone thinks we are insane.  Well, we are insane, but for the record: Yes there is a guitar in my pants.  Yes Nick is reading a how-to-play-guitar book called "Blues Riffs For Guitar - Volume 2." He is attempting to teach me how to play the guitar, and it is all just going horrible awry.   I dunno, we thought it was funny anyway.  But then again, we have poor senses of humor.  I don't even get that one about the chicken.

10/29/04 - Thank you so much, everyone who has come to visit our website so far!  Please come back often, and send a link of the website to everyone you know (and even perfect strangers, too).  Some of you have pointed out a couple flaws and they are being attended to.  The link to "Losing Sleep" on the Music Download page was not working... but it is now!  Check it out, it has some insane drumming by Nick.  Even though he was forced to play on an electric drum kit, he still beat the hell out of it.  And Lacey pointed out that she couldn't find the Lyrics page, and well, no one could.  It doesn't exist yet.  Sorry 'bout that!  But it is being built and should be up by the weekend.  Thanks again for all your support.  We love you all! (Except that one weird guy... you know the one)

10/22/04 - We launched our new website today!  Woo Hoo!  Have you checked it out yet?  Oh wait, yeah, I guess you have.  Well, in other news, we are in the process of recording a studio album which will hopefully sound much better than the ratty demos that we have been giving away at our shows.  Until that is finished however, please feel free to download some of our older recordings on the MUSIC DOWNLOAD page.