I just updated the Unwed Sailor Web site with a bunch of new information about their latest album, The White Ox, which is now available for purchase via the online store. In addition to the release of this album, Unwed Sailor is also going on yet another tour. I’ve posted the dates up in the tour section of that site as well, including one at the Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines, IA that happens in just a few weeks.

My post about this from the Unwed Sailor site:

The White Ox has officially been released! Of course, what that means is that you can now take home your very own ox from the Unwed Sailor cattle farm, conveniently accessible through the clever guise of an online band merchandise store, right here. Take home a beautiful, plump white ox today, and while you’re at it, take a look at the new tour dates! Also, if you’re interested in helping promote one of the fall/winter shows on the upcoming touring stint, please contact Johnathon, and he’ll get you some promotional materials, along with a free ticket to the show in exchange for your help!

After about a year and a half of keeping a barely functional MySpace page for the sake of informing friends on upcoming projects, I finally decided that MySpace was a terrible environment for this sort of thing. Regardless of my non-participation in many of the wretched goings-on, I decided to do away with my page, and I left an essay as explanation here. Three others deleted their pages as well, one of which was my girlfriend and fellow Grimfeather musician, Savanna Blazina. Her take on MySpace can be found here, and is well worth reading.

An excerpt from mine:

If anyone out there is actually reading this incredibly rare blog from me, hello to you, friends. For quite some time I’ve struggled with using MySpace, it being mainly used as a place to build giant, self-glorifying monuments to people’s bodies and mindless conversations. From the beginning, I decided I would only use it to promote my work and not my personal life, but at this point, I’ve decided the whole thing needs to go, for reasons that the mass-abuse of this system has driven it into a weighty corruption, though I doubt the intentions of its creators were such. After witnessing, but not partaking in, the giant load of pointless comments left on people’s pages, the self-serious photos and blog-banterings, and the public cries for attention through supposed emotional strain, I’m finally through with even my small share of this Web site. I don’t really want to have people seeing links to my art projects on the very same page as a bunch of potentially lust-inducing ads, nor do I want people to be inclined to judge me based on my “friend count” or popularity ranking. I’m not claiming to be the moral captain of right and wrong, but I have some very strong convictions that I feel I need to apply, and I thought I’d share them with you, in case anyone cares, because, in that case, it may be helpful. I also think in this environment, where these issues generally seem to go ignored without question, it might be wise to at least examine the potential negative effects that can emerge from this mess.

Aside from all the factors I just mentioned, I also wrote an essay awhile ago, critcizing MySpace from the point of being a Web site designer for ten years. It is called ‘The Tragic Cost of Convenience,’ and it’s posted at the link below, since MySpace strips any blog writings of quotation marks. It’s somewhat formally written, but I’ve figured there’s a chance you might not think I’m a giant bastard and understand me (even if you don’t entirely agree with me). I feel that I’ve made some mistakes in the past, but that I’ve learned from them, and more importantly, acted upon them. I’m certainly not where I want to be yet, but I’m trying, and the essay is simply a reflection on what I’ve learned so far. That said, I argued my point without backing down very much, so it could come off as a bit harsh – it’s honestly not meant to be, but I felt that it shouldn’t be softened for the sake of not offending people. Anyway, this MySpace page is most likely going to be down in a week, for those reasons. Not that it’s any tragedy, but I thought I might notify anyone who exclusively contacts me through this MySpace page, so they can write down my e-mail address. So, if anyone wants to get ahold of me, I’d suggest sending me an e-mail at my An Umbrella address.

The essay: The Tragic Cost of Convenience

Spitting them out at a rapid pace, another piece of writing is now up at Tracing the Seams. This one is entitled “A Well-Orchestrated, Elaborate Escape from Reality.”