http://twloha.sitecrafting.com/blog/ Latest blog entries from TWLOHA en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:11:14 PST Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:11:14 PST SiteCrafting, Inc. CMS http://www.twloha.com/blog/off-to-woodie-awards-thank/ Hey Guys, The mtvU Woodie Awards are tonight in NYC, a couple hours from now. Some of my favorite bands are nominated - Death Cab for Cutie, Kings of Leon, Phoenix... Ben Gibbard, Zoey Deschanel, Jack White and Pete Wentz will be in the room...  The Woodie Awards are for "artists", which typically means "musicians." Somehow, i'm nominated for the "Good Woodie" award. And since i don't have any songs, it's hard to know how this happened or how it's even allowed. Well, actually, i do know - it's you. It's been our story all along. Your passion, your voice - it's a powerful thing. It can build and move, it can opens doors. Just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for voting, but more, thanks for caring. Thanks for helping us invite people to live a better story. Thanks for helping us introduce people to hope and help and to the possibility that they were never meant to live alone. Thanks for helping us push back at the stigma that says depression and addiction are things we can't talk about.  TWLOHA is a story that i'm proud to be part of. The best stories are the ones that surprise you and inspire you to change. Thanks for all you do to make ours that sort of story. It's my honor to represent you at the Woodie Awards tonight, to get to be there on behalf of people who struggle and people who care.  Since i'm the only nominee who doesn't have any songs, MTV let me pick out the song for my nomination video. i gave it a lot of thought and ended up choosing Switchfoot's "Needle and Haystack Life" from their new album "Hello Hurricane." i'll leave you with a lyric from that song: "No, don't let go Don't give up hope All is forgiven You breathe it in The highs and lows We call it living All is not lost All is not lost Become who you are It happens once in a lifetime" Peace to you tonight. jamie PS: You can watch the Woodie Awards on  Friday, December 4 at 10pm EST on MTV, MTV2, mtvU and Palladia. ... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:24:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/pick-up-phone-tour-fall/ Hey Guys, For those active in the field of Mental Health, Fall is the season dedicated to Suicide Prevention. Over the past three years, TWLOHA has been privileged to be part of ongoing conversations on topics such as suicide that often are not talked about. We’ve been on the receiving end of countless stories that demand not only an emotional response, but also a tangible response. We are moved by the fact that suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for young Americans. We are challenged with knowing that suicide is the most preventable form of death. These facts require attention, action, and conversation.By being a part in these conversations, we developed a friendship with the National Hopeline, which runs the network many recognize as 1-800-SUICIDE. This free and confidential service has been operating for 11 years now and has answered over three million phone calls. Three million lives that in a moment of courage and confession reached out for help. Three million people reminded that their life matters and their story is important. Three million stories that might have ended too soon.Last year we launched a campaign to help pay 1-800-SUICIDE’s phone bill and ensure that their legacy of hope would continue. This year we are taking the commitment a step further and helping 1-800-SUICIDE along with PostSecret produce the first ever Suicide Prevention Music Tour featuring Blue October. The month long venture is called the Pick Up The Phone Tour. It is one thing to write checks, but what is closest to our hearts is proactively meeting people where they are. Keeping our vision in mind, proceeds from this tour will be going towards developing a new online chat network called IM Alive (Instant Message Alive) which will work much like 1-800-SUICIDE: free and confidential.The tour will be starting with a conversation, that you are invited to, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on October 21st. Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October along with Reese Butler, founder of 1-800-SUICIDE, will be addressing Congress on these issues. If you want to be a part of this first day and acoustic set, please visit PUTP.org and reply to the RSVP at the bottom of the page (while the event is free, the space is limited). Tickets are on sale now at PUTP.org for all the other dates as well as brand new Pick Up the Phone shirts. We can’t wait to join you for these nights of hope and healing, but even if you cannot join us on the tour, we would encourage you to check out the shirt and start conversations in your own community.For more information on the tour and what we believe about these issues, please check out our PSA below. We are really excited about this video and we hope that you will help us share it. It’s a combination of Jamie’s words, James Earl Jones' voice, video work by our friend Dustin Miller, and dozens of caring strangers that all came together in about two days… and we could not be more proud of the finished product. See you on the road. With hope, Chad ... Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:33:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/love-you/ Today, while reading the liner notes for The Avett Brothers new album, i came across a mission statement.  Non-profits are supposed to have mission statements but i'd never seen one from a band.  The words are meant to explain some other words, the album's brave title, "I and Love and You". i found it all brilliant and wanted to share it with you. Peace to you. jamie "The words "I" and "Love" and "You" are the watermark of humanity. Strung together, they convey our deepest sense of humility, of power, of truth. It is our most common sentiment, even as the feeling of it is so infinitely uncommon: each to proclaim these three words with his or her very own heart and mindset of reason (or lack thereof); a proclamation completely and perfectly new each time it is offered. Uttered daily and nightly by millions, the words are said in an unending array of circumstances : whispered to a newborn in a mothers arms; shared between best friends on the playground; in the form of sympathy - said by a girl to a boy, as the respect continues but the relationship does not. It is said too loudly by parents to embarassed children in the company of their friends, and by grown children - to their fading parents in hospital beds. The words are thought in the company of the photograph and said in the company of the gravestone. It is how we end our phone calls and our letters... the words at the bottom of the page that trump all those above it, a way to gracefully finish a message, however important or trivial, with the most meaningful gifl of all : the communication of love. And yet the words themselves have been the victims of triviality, a ready replacement for lesser salutations among near strangers, burst forth casually as "love ya." Truly? To what degree? Why, how much, and for how long? These are questions befitting of the stature of love, though not the everyday banter of vague acquaintance. The words have also been twisted by the dark nature of deceit : To say "I love you" with a dramatic measure of synthetic emotion; a snare set by those who prey uponn fellow humanity, driven to whatever selfish end, to gain access to another's body, or their money, or their opportunity. In this realm, the proclamation is disgraced by one seeking to gain rather than to give. In any case, and by whatever inspiration, these words are woven deeply in to the fibers of our existence. Our longing to hear them from the right place is maddeningly and simultaneously our finest strength and our most gentle weakness.The album "I and Love and You" is inashamedly defined by such a dynamic of duality. As living people, we are bound by this unavoidable parallel. We are powerful yet weak, capable yet temporary. Inevitably, an attempt to place honesty within an artistic avenue will follow suit. This is a piece which shows us as we are : products of love surrounded by struggle. The music herein is, in many ways, readable as both a milestone and an arrival. A chapter in the story of young men, it bridges the space between the uncertainty of youth and the reality of it's release. The record is full with the quality of the question and response. As far as questions go, there are plenty-normally residing within the tone and delivery of the lyrics themselves, which, ironically, are sung with so much confidence. Among songs and thoughts so driven and purposeful, the most basic relatable doubt comes through with a resounding clarity. Outside of the eternal theme of romantic love, the album speaks thankfully upon a landscape of light-filled rooms, word-filled pages, time machines, forgiveness, singing birds, ocean waves, art, change, confessions of shortcomings, and reasons to continue on. Hope and a cause for smiling follow naturally. In the midst of all this, there are allusions to the less-than-ideal conditions of life : the loss of memory, the inability to control temper, insecurity, indecision, jaded indifference, and the general plague of former and current weakness. "I and Love and You" is an album of obvious human creation, chracterized by it's best and it's worst. Emotional imperfection is a reality for those who recorded the piece, just as it is for those who will hear it. The conclusion of the song from which the title is taken admits that the words "I love you" have become "hard to say". And perhaps that difficulty is as common as it's counterpart. Perhaps the inability to say these heaviest of words is as much a part of life as the lighthearted candor of those who say them without any difficulty at all. And so it ends with the phrase whispered to and by those of us most defeated and most elated... I and love and you."  - The Avett Brothers  PS: You can hear "I and Love and You" (the song) along with new songs from Paramore, Switchfoot, Paper Route, Athlete, Ryan Adams and Noah Gundersen on our MySpace playlist. We just added these today... ... Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:34:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/live-webcast-from-twloha-hq/ We were going to post a blog today. Instead, we decided to try something a little different. The image below is an attempt to include you in the process. (click image to enlarge) We hope you guys can make it. We hope that you might even go as faras to get together with friends and with family and watch together. Ultimately, we hopethat when the cameras turn off, you keep talking.Click here to watch the live webcast on October 5th at 8PM EST. Music by Damion Suomi and Andy Zipf. To join the conversation, send all questions and comments via Twitter by starting your Tweets with @TWLOHA. You can also help promote the webcast by posting the banner below on your page or making it your profile picture. Add this banner to your page:<a href="http://img43.imageshack.us/i/webcastslide3.jpg/"><img src="http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/194/webcastslide3.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" border="0" /></a> ... Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:28:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/what-would-you-say-what-1/ Hey Guys. A few months back, i got the chance to spend a couple hours with Mike Shea in New York City. Mike is the founder of Alternative Press Magazine and we had a good time getting to know each other over lunch in Union Square and a long city stroll. Mike and i swapped stories about AP and TWLOHA and music and mutual friends and all sorts of stuff. Somewhere in there, we talked about ways to work together and he asked if i had any ideas. i told him that i would love to write... He asked what i'd want to write about and i told him i wasn't sure but that i'd love to be honest and that i'd do my best to challenge people and encourage people. i told him that basically, TWLOHA is an attempt to get to the heart of things, to remind people that they're alive and that life is worth living and perhaps that there are things that need to be said and things we're supposed to fight for.Well... My first article for AltPress went up today and i'd love for you to check it out. (i must warn you that it's a little bit spicy...) Our hope is that if the response to the online article is good, then they may invite me to write for the (print) magazine.  If you dig the article, feel free to comment, let AP know, etc.  Thanks for walking with me as the journey continues.Click here to check out the article on AltPress.comPeace to you from NYC, where Fall is starting to happen.: )jamie ... Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:52:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/united-kingdom-greenbelt-festival/ Hey Guys.Our friend Stuart was here last week, visiting from Glasgow, Scotland. He spent a few days with our team, helping us daydream about the future of TWLOHA in the United Kingdom. Stuart will be working with our friend Olivia to make some things happen there very soon. Keep an eye on www.twloha.com for details.On that note, we're excited to announce that TWLOHA will have a booth at Greenbelt Festival, where our friends in Athlete are among the headliners. Greenbelt is happening this weekend in England. There will be TWLOHA info and merch available, and we hope you'll say hello to Olivia from our team. Also, if you're interested in getting involved, Olivia would be a great person to connect with. Festival Info: Greenbelt Festival Cheltenham Racecourse Evesham Rd,  Prestbury, Cheltenham, GL50 4SH, United Kingdom Website: http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/ Tickets: https://shop.greenbelt.org.uk/tickets/ Peace to you, Jamie ... Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:12:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/damion-suomi-plays/ Here's a great video of our friend Damion Suomi talking about his music and where he's been and where he's going. Damion has been a friend of ours for a long time and it's an exciting thing to watch a friend come back to hope. Find Damion at damionsuomi.com ... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:23:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/forever-love/ We're excited to announce our collaboration with Forever The Sickest Kids. It is available now in the TWLOHA Online Store and will be coming this week to Warped Tour. "I lost one of my closest friends to suicide in sixth grade. When I heard about what TWLOHA does for prevention I wanted to do what we could to help support their actions. This shirt hopefully will open up more of our fans to the cause." - Jonathan Cook, Forever the Sickest Kids ... Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:48:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/new-filled-tank-1/ We have a new friend called Craig Owens. He sings in a band called Chiodos. We have a new tank top called Filled. They've been hanging out lately. We tried to think of a better name for Filled but we just couldn't do it. We should have asked you because you probably have a better idea...Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to let you know that our new Filled tank is available on Warped and it's also available in the TWLOHA Online Store. It's hot in half the world right now so Filled has been making lots of friends. Craig has been stopping by our tent lately and he seems to have a lot of friends as well. We hope you have a great day. We hope to see you soon.jamiePS: We also have new stickers. Big ones, small ones, ones for cars... You'll find those in the Promote section of the Online Store. ... Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:26:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/special-invitation-jamie-speaking-at/ Hey Guys. i am sitting at the coffee shop where i come when i'm home, the one that's not Starbucks, the one that plays good music and makes the town feel almost like a city... i have a theory that people go to coffee shops - well, i'm sure we go for coffee - but i think we go to feel less alone. i could write this in my room but i choose to drive across town to sit among the people. i might not talk to anyone but somehow it's better to be here... It's been a busy week, a busy few weeks really. We've got lots going on, getting ready for the summer. Lots of design happening, lots of ideas and getting ready for Warped Tour... i'm actually just writing to share some cool news and also to invite you. In the Spring of 2007, we were part of Anberlin's Cities tour. We were on the road for close to two months, all across America. On that tour, we got to know the guys from Bayside. Bayside is a rock and roll band from New York City. Growing up, i thought they were from my tiny town in Florida because they played here so much. After the Anberlin tour, Bayside invited us to be part of their U.S. tour and then after that they invited us to spend the summer with them on Warped Tour. It's safe to say we spent most of '07 with them and it's no small thing for a band to share their stage or bunks on their bus. That's where they make their living and that's home. Bayside's singer is Anthony Raneri and Anthony played our first "Heavy and Light" night at the Social in 2008. He came back to play it again this past January at House of Blues Orlando. And then we spent a couple weeks together in Australia, for Soundwave... All of that to say, Bayside has been incredibly generous and supportive, and Bayside has become part of the TWLOHA story. Anthony has become a friend and we take none of it lightly. This brings us to now. Anthony is hitting the road for a short solo tour w/ Andy Jackson (Hot Rod Circuit) and he's invited me to speak at his solo shows in Gainesville and Orlando (Florida) next weekend. i'm honored and excited, and if i'm honest, a little bit nervous. Saturday night (6/20) we'll be at 1982 Bar in Gainesville and Sunday we'll be at Back Booth in downtown Orlando. Back Booth is special because i went there with Renee when i first met her, to see Band Marino. We took a photo in the photo booth that night and that photo made ended up on NBC Nightly News a few months back. So Anthony is part of our story and Back Booth is part of our story and then it turns out that Sunday is Father's Day. As a lot of you know and remember, Father's Day is a day that matters to us... It's a day we've thought and talked a lot about. And then on top of all of that, there's this other thing. There's this other story that's bumping into ours and it's a big one. This other thing is a surprise and it's a weird one because it's connected to Sunday but we can't explain it until after Sunday... (You just sort of have to trust me that it's big and it's cool and eventually this will all make sense.) Anyway, this is me inviting you to these two shows. On a certain level, they're small and on some other levels, they're huge and i suppose that's the case with almost every story. Anythony has a stage and he believes we have something important to say and so he lends us his stage and we go because there's going to be people in the room and people are the most important thing on the planet. (And then there's this other thing, this surprise, perhaps another stage...) It would be really cool if you could help us spread the word and it would be the best if you could come. Beyond the speaking, some folks from our team will be hanging out and we would love to meet you...TWLOHA.COM FOR INFO Thank you and please have a great night. We hope to see you soon. : ) jamie PS: Here's a really cool photo of Anthony's band Bayside at Bamboozle last month. Thank You to Jered Scott for sharing this photo with us. ... Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:27:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/okay-to-say-real-things/ "Hope isn't something you create, it's something you let inside." Came across these words on John Mayer's Twitter tonight: Something to think about...Oh and if you have a couple minutes and you're a person of the twitter, we may have accidentally started a campaign to become friends with Mr. Mayer. i've often wondered if he's ever heard about TWLOHA, and what he might think. John seems like a guy who's trying to create things that matter and move... he gets music (obviously) but he also seems to get the power of words and importance of moments and the value of design - he values these things and i'm glad he's willing to speak up about them. This comes in contrast to a weekend where i saw a lot of bands led by singers who say the same things and say a lot and say pretty much nothing at all. There were certainly exceptions but it was strange and sad to watch band after band play to thousands of people and to hear them basically miss the moment - the chance to say real things, the chance to invite people to think or feel or ask a question or believe... It made me thankful for the artists we've connected with, folks who are trying to move people, folks with something to say in their songs and between their songs, folks willing to be honest, willing to be real, willing to dream instead of hiding behind bad laughs and empty chatter...Maybe this applies to all of us. It's been said that "All the world's a stage." We all have an audience. We all have some kind of influence. We all have a story and a voice. Our lives are our songs. Our hearts are our songs. It's okay to ask real questions. It's okay to say real things. Let's make things that matter and move, and let's chase after those things as well.Peace to you tonight.jamie PS: Didn't plan to write a blog. Was just going to share the JM quote as a bulletin... There will be a long-overdue it's-been-too-long new blog soon. PS2: Lowercase. PS3: Lyric from Ben Harper & Relentless7 song "Up To You Now":  "You can run away from home but you can't run away from your pain..." ... Mon, 04 May 2009 21:44:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/meet-damion-suomi/ Hey Guys.i mentioned something called Summerset in the "Welcome to Australia" blog. Summerset was a house that i lived in a few years back, along with Rich and Byron from the TWLOHA team. This was about seven years ago, so it was long before TWLOHA, but i think it had a lot to do with shaping the people and ideas that would become TWLOHA. Summerset was more than a place - i suppose we remember it as something more like a season or a chapter or the good kind of gang. We were a pack, we stuck together, we dreamed each other's dreams. We fought for each other. We shared money, food, couches and cars. And i suppose we lived this way because we believed that the dreams were more important than the details. We were better as one than apart. There was always music or talk of music, and it was also the season when i first started to get excited about writing... ... Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:10:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/banners-on-corner-sixth-trinity/ Hey Guys.We're in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest music festival. There's 40,000 people in town for this. The busiest street is Sixth and there are these two banners on the corner of Sixth and Trinity... i'm headed to Tallahassee, to speak at Florida State University tonight (friday night), along with our counselor friend Michelle Moore. (Michelle and her husband Aaron give countless hours in lending their voices and wisdom to TWLOHA.) Also, our talanted friends Band Marino will be performing acoustic. Our ties to Band Marino go all the way back to the original TWLOHA story, so we're excited to have them with us for an event. The timing worked out perfect as the guys are headed out on tour with As Tall as Lions. Anyway, if you live in north Florida or Georgia or Alabama, or you're feeling like a road trip, we would love to see you...Info:Tonight / FRI MAR 20Florida State UniversityA303 Ballroom at Oglesby UnionTallahassee, FL 32306 ALL AGES WELCOME.9:30 PM | FREE | www.unionproductions.orgThe rest of the gang will be here in Austin, as SXSW continues... Anberlin's Stephen Christian will be performing as Anchor and Braille, and our friends Zach Williams and Damion Suomi will be playing in Austin during SXSW for the first time...Tonight / FRI MAR 20The Give More Love Showcase. Troubadour Saloon 503 E 6th StAustin, TX 18 and up: $5 // 21 and up: FREE)TWLOHA's Rich Sullivan speaking briefly. TWLOHA info and merch available.3:20 PM - Anchor and Braille (Anberlin's Stephen Christian)8:00 PM - Zach Williams11:15 PM - Damion Suomii'll be back in Austin on Saturday morning, for our grand finale, which is free and open to absolutely everyone (all ages)...SAT MAR 21 The Give More Love Showcase. Troubadour Saloon 503 E 6th St Austin, TX  ALL AGES / FREE 11 AM - 1 PMJamie Tworkowski speaking. TWLOHA info and merch available.Zach Williams, Damion Suomi, All the Day Holiday performing.We hope to see you soon in Texas or Florida or maybe next week in Michigan or Vegas... Keep an eye on the calendar for everything we've got coming up. TWLOHA is about individuals. In the midst of all the busyness lately, all the planes and the places and the plans, i've been reminded that the heart of the matter is simply people. We do this stuff with you in mind. We tell these stories and we hang these banners because we believe that we're all in this together, that people need other people and that people need to know they're not alone.When we were trying to figure out what the banner should say, Chad from our team suggested that we try to say something about the Lone Star State being less lonely this week. We couldn't figure out how to say it, but i think he was on the right track. Our hope is that wherever these words find you, that you might be reminded that you do have a story, and you are connected to countless other stories. All of it is certainly important and you are not alone.Peace to you.jamiePS: Check out Noah Gundersen.  ... Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:30:00 PDT http://www.twloha.com/blog/to-australia/ Hey Guys.i want to begin by saying that we're in Melbourne now, and so much of our focus going into this trip was on our time here in Melbourne, getting to visit people and places affected by the fires. We had plans to brings artists to shelters, to offer their time and their songs in trying to make life a little better for folks who have lost so much recently. Anthony from Bayside, Stephen from Anberlin, Aaron from Underoath, and Jordan from New Found Glory were all excited to go. Because of the weather, we had to cancel our plans. Unfortunately, the weather is simply too dangerous in the areas that have already been affected. The concern is that there will be more fires because of the temperatures and the wind. i mentioned the guys who were planning to go because i think it's important to say that they care, that there are people on this tour who are thinking beyond the stage and the shows. i walked up to Jordan from New Found Glory a couple days ago and gave this awkward introduction, started trying to explain our plans and he stopped me mid-sentence with "I'm in." The good news is that all of us will be at Soundwave tomorrow, and we'll get to spend the day with thousands and thousands of people from Melbourne and the surrounding areas. My guess is that everyone there tomorrow has been touched by the fires in some way, and that some have known significant loss. It's our hope that tomorrow will be a special day in the middle of a difficult time for people here. There's no easy transition. i'll simply say that the fires have been on our mind and remain on our mind. Again, the good news is that we're excited to spend the day with the people of this place tomorrow. Say a prayer for Victoria.The trip has been great so far. Here's my best attempt at bringing you here with words:I went and said hello to the Bayside guys just before they went on stage at Soundwave in Sydney last weekend. My friend Jack plays guitar in Bayside and I asked him how he was enjoying Australia. This was his response: “I’m trying to think of one good reason why I shouldn’t move here, but I’m having trouble coming up with anything.” He eventually added that living in Australia would put him far from his family, though it was the only negative he could find.We heard similar things the next day when we introduced Aaron and Spencer from Underoath and Stephen from Anberlin to Bondi Beach. At Bondi, the shops and cafes and houses stand along the water like an audience, and whether you prefer city or coast, we all agreed it would be hard to find a prettier place or a setting more alive. (I’m a surfer so I may be a bit partial.)Our (TWLOHA) team on this trip to Australia is Chris Youngblood and Rich Sullivan and myself, and we are here primarily for Soundwave Festival, which happened last weekend in Brisbane and Sydney and will happen again tomorrow in Melbourne. Sunday is Adelaide and then we get one day off to fly across the continent to Perth. Adelaide and Perth will be firsts for us so we’re certainly excited. Chris was our first intern and when I met him, about two years ago, he had never left Georgia. I think his first time out of Georgia was to help us at The Almost show in Columbia, South Carolina. Over the last couple years, he’s become a big part of our story and our team. On our better days, Chris reminds us that community is not some idea for blogs and stages. It is something real and needed, as we have become his and he is part of ours and mine. He traded everything he knew to join our team.These days, Chris handles everything in the realm of the internet and social networking for TWLOHA. He also spent last summer representing TWLOHA on Warped Tour and will be back out there again come June. Chris and I just took a long walk down Chapel Street in Melbourne, Australia, and this makes me smile because it’s safe to say that he is a long way from Georgia at the moment. Rich is one of my oldest friends. A few years ago, we shared a room in a house nicknamed “Summerset”. Byron Cutrer is TWLOHA’s Director of Operations, and he lived there too. Well, technically he didn’t live there, but he slept on the couch probably five nights a week. Summerset was a bunch of guys who liked music way too much, doing life together and wrestling with dreams we didn’t know what to do with. We walked through a lot together. We look back now and smile because so much has changed since then, but also because the things we began to believe back then are the things we get to believe now with TWLOHA. Anyway, Rich was part of the first “Stop the Bleeding” tour we ever did, to Nashville and back in 2006. He has been a friend ever since, played a major part in HEAVY AND LIGHT last month, and started full-time with us just after that, focusing on all things related to music and events. Okay, back to Australia. (Sorry for the detour, but I feel like I am usually the one who writes these things and I like the idea of you getting to know the folks behind the scenes.) We’re here for Soundwave and we’re off to a great start with Brisbane and Sydney. Brisbane is a beautiful city on Australia’s east coast, the furthest north we get to go on this journey. Brisbane’s downtown is really cool – lots of shops and really clean and alive with lots of young people walking around. Sydney is hard to describe – I haven’t been everywhere but it must be one of the world’s great cities. It is a beautiful mix of harbor and hills and skyline and beaches. In trying to explain it to folks back home, I’ve found myself saying that Sydney is like San Francisco meets Seattle meets the tropics. I don’t know if that’s remotely accurate but that’s what comes to mind. To say it a different way, I could totally live here. The folks from Soundwave have been incredibly generous and inviting to us. We arrived the first day in Brisbane to find that they had set us up our own tent, more space than we needed, right next to the main merch tent. They have something like 50 bands to look after, not to mention thousands of people coming out each day, and we were blown away that folks from the Soundwave team kept coming by asking how our day was going, asking if we needed anything. It’s an amazing thing when people believe in what you’re doing, when people get excited and start sharing whatever they have, opening whatever doors they can. The kindness we found with the Soundwave team didn’t end there. It must be an Australian thing because people have been really amazing to us, thanking us for coming, asking how we like Australia, asking our plans for this place and how they can get involved. We’ve had countless conversations with folks here who believe in the work and mission of TWLOHA. It’s been exciting for me personally, to see the passion and belief in the people here. There’s something powerful about finding things are true around the world, that we share ideas and needs and solutions, that we’re all people in need and that hope is contagious and universal.  ... Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:33:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/australia/ To our friends in Australia, We don't know what to say.  i'm sorry.  We're sorry.  We'll start there.    Why?  Why does it snow in one place and rain in another while a third place burns?  Why is life like that?The following words kept me up most of last night.  This came in an email from a friend in Melbourne: "A few days ago i read a text message that a mother had received from her son who was trapped in the fire - it was his goodbye.  This woman broke down in front of me at the thought of never seeing her son again..."My friend went on to say that he had stood on what used to be a football ground. He said that 56 people had evacuated to this place at the last minute, believing it was safe because it was away from the trees.  All 56 of them were killed.  i don't know what to do with stories like that.  i don't know what to say in response.  i suppose we just want to say that this has our attention, and that we're going to do everything we can to help.  We're talking to friends, especially in Melbourne, to see what's being done and how we can get involved.  Rich, Chris and i head to Australia for Soundwave Festival next week, a trip we already had planned, before the fires.  The timing is certainly surprising.  It hit me late last night in reading that email from my friend, that we have to do something, we have to respond.  We have to be creative and do what we do best... i emailed some of our friends who are playing Soundwave, guys who are part of our story.  Amazing to think we'll be over there with some of our close friends (Anberlin, Bayside, Aaron Gillespie) in a moment like this.  Everyone is willing to help, to say this matters, to do something in response, to go beyond just saying words from a stage...In closing, i just want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Australia right now, especially those that have lost ones and homes.  We don't want to offer you cheap answers.  We do want to say that your questions matter to us, your pain matters to us.  Your families, your towns, your stories, your memories.  Real things.  They matter.  You matter.    As much as possible, across an internet and across all the oceans, we want to say that we're with you right now.  Australia is a place that moves us, that matters to us - i mean that personally, that i fell in love with Australia last year.  We're excited to go back and we hope to see you soon.    Peace to you, from all of us in Florida and around the world.  jamieWe will be at all five dates: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. (Yes, Perth!) Look for the TWLOHA tent and check the calendar for more info. ... Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:50:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/staying-in-iowa-to-speak/ Hey Guys. Denny and i spoke to a small group in Altoona today, in response to the recent suicides in the community here. It was a privilege to be in the room, just to be invited into the the conversation. We heard from a mother who lost her son, friends and classmates, parents and counselors, and even the School Superintendent. It was an honor to show up on behalf of this global community (you), to tell our surprising story of lives changing, people finding hope and help.More than anything, we came to say that this place matters, these people here, the lives lost and the ones in the room and the many outside. We came to say we're part of the same story, that the hope we believe in, the help we point to - we believe those things for people here as well. And for the great loss, the people who can't come back, we simply said we're sorry. We acknowledged the enormous questions and did our best not to offer anything cheap or tiny in the face of those. No magic formula or easy answers. People cried because there are things in life worth crying about.i found out today that the Anberlin guys will be here (Des Moines) tomorrow, on their tour with Between the Trees. So i decided to stay an extra day to spend some time with them, and to say a few words at the show tomorrow night. Hope to see you there.Also, the Superintendent and some other folks here asked us to come back, so we're going to come back soon, to speak at one (or some) of the high schools. We've been moved by the story here, and it isn't just the loss. We're moved by the people that we met today, the folks remembering and believing and asking for change. We'll certainly be back, and together, we'll continue to say these things that we believe. We'll do our best to meet each other in the questions, and to say that life is worth fighting for.Peace to you tonight.jamiePS: Don't tell Josh Moore, but i bought him a shirt today, at a store called SMASH. It says "The prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines." It's a Jack Kerouac quote. i don't know if Josh has been here, but i think he's gonna smile. ... Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:39:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/night-heavy-light-watch-entire/ Last night began like this:HEAVY AND LIGHT 2009 Video Intro. from To Write Love on Her Arms. on Vimeo.  You can watch HEAVY AND LIGHT from start to finish HERE, thanks to SyncLive.com.  You'll have to create an account but it's free and super easy and honestly, it rules.  It's basically like a DVD.  You can skip forward or rewind.  You can watch specific parts.  The sound is really good.      Here's what a few folks had to say...Jon Foreman: "My favorite night of the year so far! Good friends with incredible talents singing together for a night of validating the worth of the highs and lows of the human experience."Dustin Kensrue: "It was encouraging and life-giving to see so many people gathered with their guards down.  It's a rare thing in our culture to cultivate that kind of honesty and openness, and the way TWLOHA has managed to create that atmosphere was clearly seen last night.  It was beautiful to behold."Aaron Gillespie:  "It was my favorite show of the last couple years.  It reminded me of how I imagine the 50's in Nashville, with Johnny Cash and his friends learning songs backstage and then everyone playing together that night."My two cents: Last night was a dream come true on so many levels.  A few years ago, we started imagining these nights that could be more than music, nights where you could fill a room with hope and honesty, nights where you could also point to community and treatment.  It was unbelievable to see so many people willing to listen last night, people willing to engage this conversation.  And then obviously, the music was incredible and to be able to do it in this venue that we love, in the city where this began... It was a night we’ll never forget.We want to say thank you to Jon and Dustin for flying across the country to be there, Anthony and Zach for coming down from New York, Mr. Josh Moore for coming from Carolina, and Aaron Gillespie for making the drive over from Tampa, after being on the road for basically the last six months. Thanks to the House of Blues for having us, and thanks beyond words to everyone who came from everywhere to be there last night. It was seriously a beautiful night, and i needed it as much as anyone.  More very soon, pictures and sounds and words.Peace to you.jamiePS: You seriously need to watch the webcast.  All i can tell you is that it's safe to say there was some collaboration. PS2: Here's the link to the Intro Video on YouTube. ... Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:31:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/heavy-light-live-webcast/ HEAVY AND LIGHT Live Webcast!! Hey Guys, We've been busy getting ready for HEAVY AND LIGHT and we have some really exciting news to announce. There are still tickets available for tomorrow night but, for everyone who isn't able to make it to Orlando, we will be broadcasting the entire show right here. This live webcast is being made possible by SyncLive.com and they are helping us make this happen and there are a couple different ways you can watch the show and help spread the word. The night starts at 6:00 PM EST and ends at 10. You can watch it right here in this blog or you can go to our profile on SyncLive where the format will be chat style and you can join in a conversation with people from all around the world by clicking the link under the video player. You can tell your friends to watch by grabbing the embed code from our profile and posting the player to your page (blog, bulletins, etc). Watch this show and more at SyncLive.com See you tomorrow,Chris PS: There are still tickets available via TicketMaster or the House of Blues Box Office. ... Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:09:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/heavy-light-in-orlando-sentinel-1/ Hey Guys.Sitting here listening to Land of Talk's "It's Okay" on repeat.  Not sure why, just been feeling safe in this song for the last few days.  Her voice is calming. There's a great article about HEAVY AND LIGHT in today's Orlando's Sentinel. Check it out HERE.We drove over to House of Blues today to get a feel for the room.  We've been there a hundred times but there's something different when you know they're about to hand you the keys, when it's yours for a night.  The room was completely empty and Chad was trying to figure out where the shirts will go and Rich was working on internet stuff and i was wandering around talking to myself and thinking about Sunday - up in the balcony thinking about family and friends and down on the floor wondering who will be standing there and where they will come from and how they'll be feeling.  It's an amazing room but it's empty until you fill it with stories.  People make a place. The airplanes start arriving tomorrow so there's been lots of last-minute calls and texts and ideas.  Like last year, there will be some great surprises, some bright moments.  i'm still blown away that all of these guys are playing our show.  i would be excited if any one of them were playing and instead it's something like an all-star team.  More than half the names are known but we like the introductions as well.  You found us because our friends shared their stages so now we do the same.  There is a rookie by the name of Zach Williams who we think people need to meet.  He sings his stories with an urgency, something like a screaming.  Maybe we like him because we believe that there are things in life worth screaming about.  Maybe we find something true there, some sort of freedom.      Heavy and Light is about winning and losing together.  It's the idea that we were meant to live that way -  we were meant to share things, to walk together.  It's the idea of being honest about pain and hope.Also, we think music is pretty great so there will be a lot of music.  Music reminds us that we're alive, that it's okay to feel and care and ask and move, that maybe it's okay to be honest. We hope to see you Sunday when the lights go down at six. There are still tickets available. Come with a friend or simply bring your story.  Your story is important.Peace to you.jamie<a href="http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=61976377&blogID=454270742"><img src="http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7260/1108heavyandlightfinalbqs7.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a> ... Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:18:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/skylit-drive/ Last summer, we were approached by a music video director named Robby Starbuck about working with him on a music video project for the band A Skylit Drive. After hearing why he wanted to incorporate TWLOHA into this video and the response from the guys in the band when he pitched the idea, we had no hesitation. ... Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:13:00 PST http://www.twloha.com/blog/new-video-taste-road/ Hello from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Today is a driving day, Maryland to Tennessee.  We're making our way to Birmingham for tomorrow night's event at Samford.  After that, there is only Atlanta.  The talent has taken the wheel for the first time - Zach Williams is driving and Josh Moore is his co-pilot/navigator. It's been fun to watch these guys become friends on this tour.  Mostly, they keep us laughing all day and then they move us with their story songs each night.  We're thankful for both.  Denny Kolsch has been with us for the last couple days and his story has been a powerful addition to the nights.  Denny has known the darkness of drug addiction and it's been amazing to hear him talk about the power of community and how grace revealed in community has helped him find healing and sobriety.  Last few days have been great - long drives but worth the miles.  Every night is different. We were in a giant ballroom at University of Maryland last night, a tiny coffee shop just outside of Philly the night before.  In PA, the fire code was only fifty and atleast twice that many people showed up, so we did our best to make two shows happen at once. Zach and Josh stood on chairs outside and everyone huddled together to stay warm. Z and J had everyone clapping and singing and someone's yell of "Write a song!" was followed by the debut of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Except for Tonight (It's Cold)".  Aaron and i borrowed the chairs for the speaking, and it hit me as it was happening, just what a surprising night, and how strange it must have looked from the road, this gang of strangers huddled together in the cold, at first gathered in song and then staying for a conversation about things that most people never talk about.  What a rare thing and i was thankful.   Our talented filming friend Dustin Miller was with us for DC, Brooklyn, UMass Lowell (and all the in-between).  He does incredible work and we're really grateful for this video that he made.  He'll be with us again in Atlanta and we'll be posting another video or two next week.   For now, here's a taste of the road... Wish you were here, or hope to see you soon. jamiePS: For those of you interested in being a TWLOHA intern, we just posted our new application HERE. ... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:13:00 PST