The Jolly Raj

Jen in her summer glory

2009-09-27T21:46:00.001-07:00

Street performer at home

2009-09-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Amanda on her laptop after playing music at Saturday's market.

I remember doing this when I was a kid

2009-09-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Emily and Tyler trying on my old specs.

Amanda's 12 birthday

2009-09-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

I know, it was in May. Now you know how far behind I am with my pictures :]

Kids are growing up!

2009-09-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Photography by Jen.

Stop and smell the roses

2009-09-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

Amanda captured this one. These are flowers from the yard that Amanda organized in a bowl of water.

NAU Pilgrimage to the Northwest

2009-07-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

Had some of my favorite brethren in the world come out and spend some quality time. Aaron and I spent the majority of a day promoting his new kombucha business. You can enter to win a free case of my new favorite beverage right here: http://www.scobykombucha.com/

Steve and Dave joined us later that day. And there was much music, feasting, and making merry.

Tapwater

Moonstruck Chocolate.

Jam in the crow's nest

2009-07-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

One evening, Doug and I broke out the guitar and bongos for a spontaneous jam on the deck. The puny microphone on our Mino recorder doesn't really do justice to the acoustics of the moment, but the shadows and outlines are there.

Weekend in the Cascades

2009-05-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I spent a weekend camping in the cascades with Mike and Hunter and I fell in love with camping all over again. We had a rootin' tootin' good time to say the least. We threw a tent, some sleeping bags, and a cooler into a boat and found a cozy sandy beach and camped right on the shore. We caught a turtle and handfuls of frogs and fish. We experienced the thrill of an osprey striking Tyler's fish as he was reeling it in, while I was next to him reeling in my own fish. We drifted the glassy evening and morning waters casting spinners while loons called. We roasted our fish on the campfire. We gazed at the stars. The kids caught frogs at night with flashlights. I'm already hearing the call of the wild again.

Mouth harp. Heck yes.

Poppy

2009-05-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Gypsy Moon

2009-04-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

Jen came up with some great percussive clapping to go along with this tune I wrote for the uke. This is song-writing in progress so none of the stops are polished (second time we ever played). We invented the tune only moments before.

(I recommend scrolling to the bottom and turning off the music player before playing the videos)

Swallowtail Jig

2009-04-26T12:05:00.001-07:00

Here is Emily's latest tune on the violin that she recorded early this morning. It was nice waking up to these lovely celtic sounds.

Piano duet

2009-04-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

Tyler playing a tune with his piano teacher, Gary.

"Sadly this is what we do on Saturday nights!"

2009-04-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

This might need some explaining. The other night, Jen was singing while grabbing something out of the fridge and noticed that one of the notes she sang hit the resonant frequency for some foil on a can and it vibrated like crazy. The entire family gathered to see what the fuss was about (and to participate, of course!). Amanda, sensing a video opportunity, captured this amusing video.

Recipe for a great Saturday

2009-04-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Start with a day in the high 70's. Throw in a generous amount of gardening.

After sweating a bit, find some shade, grab a bottle of Scoby Signature Blend premium kombucha, and pour.

Then, pour yourself a shot of Absinthe - "The Green Faerie"

Gratefully accept a margarita from your loving partner and line up the brew and spirits on a table next to a reading chair. Sip, mix, and garnish with one of your favorite books!

The Scientist

2009-04-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Tyler's favorite subject is science. Here, he's learning about the visible spectrum of light with a prism and a ray of sunshine.

ROYGBIV!

It burns! It burns!

Working with BIG numbers. And obviously very proud of himself.

Schooled

2009-04-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ever since Tyler started homeschooling, Amanda has been begging to join. So she did. Here they are getting a regimen of art and art.

Amanda surprised me with a painting for my office.

I call it "Cosmic Daisy"

Tyler working on a comic strip featuring potions and aliens.

3 Doors Down

2009-04-26T09:49:00.001-07:00

The other night, Amanda and Tyler both had sleepovers planned at their friends' homes, so we took Emily to one of our favorite places to eat - 3 Doors Down. Emily was extremely excited to have an occasion to wear her favorite pink dress.

Curling Em's hair.

A little jig before we go.

Silver Falls

2009-04-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, Tyler and I camped out in the woods at Silver Falls with his scout friends.

Spring was just breaking out for the first time and the forest was brimming with green about to go greener. The forest almost seemed Jurassic at times.

Tyler and a couple of his uncles

2009-04-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

The Funeral

2009-04-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

This moment is heavy.

Nani

2009-04-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

The world lost one of it's finest today. My Nani passed peacefully in her sleep last night. Fate brought us together a few weeks ago for a bittersweet day to celebrate what this sweet woman means to all of us. We played music, sang, shared meals, and basically threw an all day family party. There was a lot of love in that room.

In the spirit of mischief, we struck this pose for the camera. Be sure to enlarge.

I put together a slideshow for Nani's birthday a couple of years ago and enjoyed watching it again.

What a woman. What a life. So much love. - Atony un poco

Mona Tyler

2009-04-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

Jen is now homeschooling Tyler for at least the remainder of this school year. Their first field trip was to the DaVinci exhibit. Learning is fun? Oh yeah.

Daddy Yorke

2009-04-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Amanda's newfound photo editing skills, I now perform with Radiohead.

I'm a HUGE fan.

Bacon gum

2009-03-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

I walked into the kitchen the other day following the irresistible scent of bacon. Amanda had prepared a side of bacon with a hard-boiled egg and I noticed that she was chewing on something. A few minutes passed and I noticed she was still chewing. I thought she was chewing gum. She spit the gum out, ripped a piece off the bacon-soaked paper towel in the picture below, put it in her mouth, and started chewing again.

Eleanor Rigby's new best friend

2009-03-09T17:07:00.001-07:00

My friend Alan Vawdrey composed this little masterpiece recently. The song is called Edward Blake and it's a great jig for a dark fairytale, something along the lines of Tim Burton, methinks. I wrote a song last month about a ghost unlike most that follows a similar theme, but for the uke. We must have been tapping into a similar macabre vein of music independently of each other. Our songs are even in the same key. I'm really into this creepy style of songwriting.

Here's a picture of Edward Blake with Eleanor Rigby.

I'm really digging Edward Blake. I used to sit behind Al in band class for years while he hooed on his clarinet and I tooted my trumpet. Great to hear the clarinet back in action in this song.

Check it out.

Edward Blake - Copyright 2009 - Alan Vawdrey

Knitting

2009-03-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Emily has taken up knitting recently. Here's a stocking cap in progress.

Better with age

2009-03-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of this little black cocktail dress and the woman inside.

Who Has Your Heart

2009-03-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Paisley and I had a hoedown of a great time at Amanda Richard's CD release party for her new album Who Has Your Heart! I was impressed with the amount of hard work, dedication, and community effort that goes into making a show like this come alive. Our friend, Amy, captured some of the fun in these pictures. You can find more of her amazing photography here

http://www.amycrawfordphotography.com/

Dryad's Promise

2009-02-18T20:07:00.001-08:00

It's time to revisit a few pictures from the forest, rendered in vibrant color, to set the mood for this song.

Scroll down, turn off the other music, then click here to enjoy the Dryad's Promise, written and performed by Aaron Ballard, one of my good friends since adolescence.

The song has this great Rush/Led Zeppelin classic rock feel and the imagery is fantastic. He mentioned that the picture I took of the mushroom below helped inspire the feeling for this song. Recently, my childhood friends have been writing and sharing music online and I've been eating it up. Great to hear them playing music again!

Dryad's Promise - Copyright 2009 - Aaron Ballard

Fourth Grade Picasso

2009-02-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

Jen volunteered to put together an art project for a fundraising auction at our kids' elementary school this year. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. She got the fourth graders in Emily's class to each draw a self-portrait in the Picasso style and then organized the portraits on these colored blocks that the kids painted. I think this art would look great in our home.

Click to enlarge and get the full effect.

Handing out flowers

2009-02-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

On our way to Valentine's dinner, Jen felt inspired to pick up a dozen white roses from a guy that sells flowers at the top of our street and to hand them out to complete strangers we met throughout the night. I thought it sounded like a great idea. So we found a parking spot a few blocks from the restaurant and started walking up Alberta St with a bundle of white roses in Jen's arm. We passed a hole-in-the-wall doughnut shop and Jen led me in and started handing out roses. The first guy received the rose the way I would have expected - a little taken back, curious, and polite. But, I wasn't prepared for what followed. Almost every other rose thereafter brought on strong emotions, starting with the elderly old woman behind the counter. She stared at the rose like she would break into tears any moment and choked out a thank you. Then, a girl that couldn't have been older than three reached towards Jen, grasping for a flower. Jen handed it to her father to give to her (because of the thorns), and he looked so impressed by the random act of kindness. I'll never forget the look on our hostess' face when we walked into the restaurant and she saw Jen holding the three remaining roses. She remarked how beautiful the flowers were and Jen immediately tugged one from the paper and handed it to her. She was visibly moved and told Jen that it was the first flower she had received. It was so romantic and fun.

I really enjoyed the unexpected reactions. Especially from the homeless guy that was picking up broken glass off the ground. He didn't seem to quite have it together. I warned Jen that the guy was holding broken glass as we approached him (being the cautious fellow that I am), but she didn't miss a beat. She handed him a white rose and wished him a happy Valentines day. I was pleased to see that he placed the piece of glass back down on the ground, but I was quite surprised and amused with what followed. He held the rose high as though it was the olympic torch and ran into the nearest candlelit restaurant with the flower in the air. That's when Jen and I started walking away really really fast. I noticed that a couple with window seats had witnessed the whole scene. I wondered what they thought. Especially when the guy came storming into their restaurant waving the flower in the air.

If you're wondering how to make your next night out more interesting, I suggest handing out flowers.

Double digits

2009-02-15T19:57:00.001-08:00

Emily turned 10 on Valentines day!

Blowing bubbles on a Saturday afternoon

2009-02-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

I love the high kick.

Emily-a Earhart

2009-02-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Emily has been working hard to prepare a speech about Amelia Earhart for school. We finished the poster-board costume today. I'm impressed with Emily's memorization skills. She wrote and memorized a 5 minute biography that she delivers with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Making lemonade

2009-02-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

I was so pleased to hear Amanda strumming some chords on the guitar without any direct encouragement from us. She was out on the deck alone with her guitar so I decided to investigate with the camera. Turns out she was really missing Ellie and was writing a song about it.

Let's get a close up on those socks.

Paisley Rose

2009-01-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

We spent last weekend in Oakland and Roseburg, hanging out with the cousins and watching Paisley perform at the Show Room!

Here's Paisley warming up on the day of her show. 'Paisley' is Jen's singer/songwriter name.

Paisley left early to join Amanda Richards on a radio promotion for the show. I can't tell you how fun and surreal it was to turn on the radio as I was driving into southern Oregon on I-5 with the kids and to hear Paisley and Amanda on the radio.

Here's a clip of Paisley performing one of my favorites at the Show Room. The song is called Beautiful Dreamer. I was so proud. The show that night was one of those moments that I folded up and tucked away forever.

Beautiful Dreamer from anthony burrell on Vimeo.

Anthony has been around the Sun 34 times

2009-01-31T16:12:00.000-08:00

In keeping with my New Years Resolution (see the New Year's post below), we had sushi again for my birthday. I've got a maple bacon bar from Voodoo Doughnuts in one hand and some of my favorite music in the form of vinyl in the other hand. Jen hand-picked some of my favorite beverages, including some amazing sake, which we opened right away to wash down the sushi. What a way to celebrate another trip around the star we call Sun.

Two glasses full of bliss

2009-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

Kombucha is the perfect way to wind down at the end of the day. For those who haven't heard, kombucha is a tea fermented using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It's tasty and healthy. Also, it's ancient. People have been gulping this delicious quencher for millennia. The two specimens depicted here are also flavored with a splash of blueberry juice and ginger in one, and aloe in the other. I've brewed a few batches myself and hope to do it again soon.

Calling all druids and dryads

2009-01-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

The sun peeked out recently so we took the entire family to wander the trails of the woods near our home with Tyler's scout friends. I took some pictures and was reminded why I love the forest so much.

Green is my favorite color and the forests near our home are full of green. Even in the middle of winter.

We seriously have this much fun every night

2009-01-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a little bathroom band jam from tonight.

Bathroom Band jam from anthony burrell on Vimeo.

And sometimes we sound better than this!

Truth is marching...

2009-01-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out how to somewhat control the pitch of my new mouth harp with my tongue. In case you are wondering, a mouth harp is one of the oldest musical instruments and is widely known and used across many different world cultures. It's basically a metallic reed. Here's my harp.

The kids especially dig the cartoon "boing" sounds and robot voice sounds that can be made with the harp. Hours of entertainment, I'm telling you.

Just for kicks, I recorded Battle Hymn of the Republic on two tracks. Well, here she is in all her glory.

Antonio

Special guest Paisley

2009-01-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

Look out Roseburg!

Paisley is Jen, by the way.

Ellie

2009-01-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Ellie. our sweet havanese puppy, this past weekend. We're really feeling her loss. We depended on her for many things and loved her for countless reasons. For four years, she kept the kitchen floor clean, let us know when people arrived at our door, protected the kids against ghosts and monsters who regularly used her to keep them company when scared, kept my feet warm when I worked from home through school, and she was the best reason to come home from anywhere. She would always greet us with an "Aroo!" and the playful pitter patter of her feet. Her gentle personality is already missed. The spirit of our home has changed without her.

Ellie liked watermelon, bacon, Coldplay, and especially the beach. She was happpiest there. She would run for hours in the sand. Ellie couldn't eat bacon for the past year and a half due to her liver.

The vet put her to sleep in our arms. We lit a fire upstairs, sang her some songs, and put on some of her favorite music. We wrapped her in a blanket, fed her as much bacon and yogurt as she wanted, and we huddled around her and comforted her while we said goodbye.

Every night when I tucked the kids in, Ellie would be curled at Tyler's feet while I sang Edelweiss, their favorite bedtime song. I changed the words a few years ago to "Ellie Weiss", which means white Ellie. I think the words were appropriate for her.

Ellie Weiss, Ellie Weiss, every morning you greet me.
Strong and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever.
Ellie Weiss, Ellie Weiss, bless my home forever.

Goodnight little ewok.

Amanda chose the songs in this video, saying that the words are about Ellie. I think she's right. She pointed out that Chris Martin says "Aroooooooooooo" multiple times at the end of "The Scientist", which is the first song. "Arooo" is what Ellie would say when she was most content. Ellie passed while this particular song was playing.

I recommend scrolling to the bottom, turning off the music player and then clicking on the link below.

In loving memory of Ellie, Dec 2004 - Jan 2009.

Ellie from anthony burrell on Vimeo.

New Years Resolution

2009-01-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

We rang in the new year with some tasty take-out sushi and homemade chocolate mousse.

This year I resolve to eat more sushi and chocolate.

A short jingle on my new uke

2008-12-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting a(n) ukele for ages. This year, Jen surprised me with this beautiful uke on baby Jesus' birthday.

I immediately fell in love with the big tenor sound. Here's a short song that popped out of me when I picked up the uke for the first time. Someday, I think I'll add strings and maybe a xylophone, but the concept is there. Please pardon the amateur recording/performance. I recommend scrolling to the bottom first and turning off the music player, then clicking the video below.

grow from anthony burrell on Vimeo.

If you listen carefully at the very end of the clip, you can hear Paisley in the background. She was rocking her heart out in the bathroom while I was recording.

Impressionist Santa

2008-12-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

Amanda recently organized some blocks on the floor to look like this.

Hunters and Gatherers

2008-12-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

With the ice age upon us, getting groceries from the store to the kitchen has become much more entertaining. Rather than risking another whipeout in the automobile, Jen and Krista decided to transport groceries by raft.

I'm a little disappointed that they didn't ride down the street in the raft with the groceries.

The last 50 feet was the trickiest, so I hear. I would have helped, but I was too busy being amused.

Ice World

2008-12-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Here, Tyler is pointing out the level of a snow drift outside our 2nd level window. As you can plainly see, he is anything but disappointed. These may be the luckiest kids ever. No school again this week.

Does anyone have an ice axe I can borrow? I'd like to get into my car.

Cold Remedy

2008-12-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Pick your poison.

The 9th Level Druids

2008-12-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today we dressed up like druids and played Dungeons and Dragons.

Not really, but that would have been fun too.

I'm not sure what Jen is saying in the picture above. But, it is obviously really good.

The power was out all morning due to a massive ice storm that hit last night, so we gathered around the fireplace and played music and board games most of the day. These two have recently put together a great tune. I hope they'll record it soon and let me post it.

Also, I think "The 9th Level Druids" would be a great name for a band.

Elsinore del Rosario or "Ellie" for short

2008-12-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

Some people have problems with dogs wearing clothing. I would normally side with those people, but not in the case of Ellie. Ellie is not really a dog. She's more half rabbit/half ewok. And she's all smiles in her sleeveless vest.

Click to enlarge and feel the full presence of her smile.

I thought we lived in a RAINforest

2008-12-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

Sledding is the new mode of travel in our neck of the woods. Tyler was invited to sleep over at a friend's house up the street last night and so Tyler's friends rode their sleds down the street to pick him up. It's how we get around anymore.

We've been pretty much iced in for a week now. Wasn't there some movie filmed in Oregon about some family that gets snowed in for about a week? Red Rum? Yeah, we're praying for a nice and rainy Christmas.

We're actually having fun with the snow too.

My favorite zen moment of the week occurred while zipping straight down the middle of our steep unplowed street, while sitting cross-legged on the circular disc you see below, with my hands on my knees in cupping shape.

Snowball Warriors

You've gotta click to enlarge this one to get the full effect of Amanda's expression. Amanda and Krista are suffering the wrath of my snowblower maneuver.

Fending off the snow with Mimosas

2008-12-16T23:08:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread Row

2008-12-16T22:57:00.000-08:00

The gingerbread village moments before being eaten alive by a pack of snow-crazed children.

Ellie somehow got into the left over candy and we've been trapped all day with a dog puking cinnamon bears. As you might have guessed, it's getting a little snow-crazy around here.

13°

2008-12-16T22:06:00.000-08:00

Jen and Krista risked life and limb to get some groceries today. Jen crashed the FJ into a dirt hill after hitting a patch of ice and swerving backwards into oncoming traffic on Cedar Hills Blvd. I should mention that it was the ONLY dirt hill on Cedar Hills Blvd. Everything else was houses, pedestrians, babies, puppies, and ravines. Not even a scratch in the FJ and everyone's fine. Jen and Krista report that they felt as though they were being carried away on angel's wings onto a fluffy pillow. Sounds like fun. Makes me want to wreck the car too.

And so it's thirteen degrees in Portland tonight and we've got another storm on the horizon. The kids are ecstacic. Tonight they learned that school will be cancelled again tomorrow, making three snow days in a row. Portland is a great place to be a kid.

I predict more sledding and hot chocolate in our future.

Paisley at the Rusty Grape

2008-12-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I was Paisley's sound guy at the Rusty Grape vineyard where Paisley played the wine tasting room for a private party. Paisley and I have a bathroom band. The bathroom band is the new garage band.

Welcome aboard the Jolly Raj Mahal

2008-12-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

I should start by saying that we recently decided to name our house "The Jolly Raj Mahal". Our house is part pirate ship and part Mahal. It even used to have a poop deck, but no longer. The name is a combinaton of two phrases - The Jolly Roger and the Taj Mahal. I think the Jolly Raj is well on it's way to becoming the eighth wonder of the world. Of course, the name has deeper, hidden meanings for those who like deeper meanings. Here's a hint: Sanskrit. I think the Jolly Raj braves the fierce torrential waters of the Northwest winters with a certain Oriental grace.

It's an exciting time at the Jolly Raj Mahal. The fireplace is a cracklin', the spiced aromas of ginger and molasses hang thick in the air, and the kids are gathered around their gingerbread houses licking the frosting off their fingers and loading up on gumdrops and M&Ms. In the words of Perry Como, which is currently at the top of our holiday playlist, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

The Jolly Raj Mahal is pleased to welcome Krista aboard. Krista is a musician friend that brings a wealth of great energy to our home. She's renting our guest room downstairs and has brought Feng Shui in the form of many plants, pleasant smells, and music to her new lair. We're happy to have her aboard for this leg of our journey!

Check out this amazing sunset we caught from the crow's nest. Krista and her girls below.

Yours truly.

Stuffed and grateful

2008-12-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

We hosted Thanksgiving at our place this year. Gobble Gobble.

Here's Jen, looking fabulous, and placing an orange inside of a turkey.

We reconnected with friends.

And made some new friends.

There were balloons.

And other forms of merry-making.

And, of course, there was food.

And there were dogs.