UPDATE: The last shows at the GNU will not be on June 21st and 22nd, but June 19th and 20th. Otem Rellik and I will not be playing.

GNU: Experience Gallery, the beloved Fort Collins DIY venue, is slated to close this month. For the community of artists, musicians, and filmmakers that convalesced around this space, it is a sad occasion. Luckily, Tomas, Sarah and Brandton aren't planning to stop doing what they do. The future of the gallery will be cloudy, or whatever people call things on the internet. With production equipment and a Youtube channel, they're creating music videos, experimental shorts, and video playlists, a new kind of gallery for the era of mass communication.

I will be playing the last show at the current space on June 22nd, with Otem Rellik and many, many more artists yet to be announced. It will be my final show in Fort Collins before I leave Colorado in July to attend Deep Springs College. It will be hard to bid farewell again to my hometown, but I have learned over the past year that you can never truly sever yourself from the people and places that have shaped you.

-thrifty

p.s. Have you seen this video that the GNU made recently?

It has been a quiet winter for Thrifty Astronaut, but spring is almost here. I can think of no better way to celebrate than with the tongue-in-cheek bubblegum pop of Cheers Elephant. Though they hail from frigid Philadelphia, their music has been known to incite spontaneous outbreaks of cutoff shorts, inflatable pool toys, and childlike summertime abandon. As for me, I have been focused on learning how to sew and haven't been practicing lately. Hopefully, I will come up with a good set for this one, or else I will probably just sew on stage for 30 minutes. Regardless, I want people to come dance with me. Details can be found here. I'll leave you with a video of Cheers Elephant playing with Chubby Checker, because I think it is pretty cool.

Love,
Thrifty Astronaut

As the fall semester begins, it may be a surprise that I am not returning to Denver. My adopted home for the past year, I had come to appreciate the city immensely for its exuberant community of artists, musicians, and generally rad people. As it turned out, however, I was unable to stay for another year at the University of ******. Inflating tuition, unusual financial circumstances, impenetrable bureaucracy, and a frustratingly cro-magnon social atmosphere all converged into a collegiate clusterfuck, effectively making me a drop-out.

I returned to Fort Collins, finding work as a security guard at an ethanol plant. There, in my 25 square foot guard shack, I have an inexhaustible amount of time to contemplate the windswept landscape of the Colorado plains and my own existential listlessness. Having fully matriculated in the College of Second Hand Book Stores, I bring with me David Hume, Aldous Huxley, Richard Wright, H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Herman Hesse, Sylvia Plath, Arthur C. Clarke, Michel Foucault, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges, and Thorstein Veblen. In my notebook, I scribble potential lyrics for a new album about the loneliness of the American West.

This time next year, I hope to be going back to school, though I do not yet know where. I could soon be in Chicago, the woods of Ohio, the hills of Vermont, or the desert of California. Whatever the case may be, I will continue to write songs about it, because that is how I understand the world. I only know how to be thrifty astronaut, and always will be anywhere I find myself.

Love,
thrifty

Our hometown David, The Lyric Cinema Cafe, has done battle with the Goliath film industry before. Whether it be multiplexes on the other side of town or studios across the country, no shortage of obstacles have appeared in their quest to bring sophisticated films to Fort Collins. Along the way they have highlighted the local cinematic talents of my friends Noah Besser, Toby Otem Hendricks, Tomas Herrera, and others, invited countless musical acts to perform including myself, and opened up their doors for local events like FoCoMX and TriMedia Film Festival. Over the years, their friendliness and generosity have made the theater into an institution for our community to gather, relax, and express itself, on a short list of local businesses that are absolutely indispensable to our city. Now, the national studios have made an ultimatum that all theaters must convert their 35mm facilities to digital projection by the end of this year, a process that is likely to cost $150,000. They are calling on us to help them overcome this problem with a new Kickstarter page that will be running through July. If you have ever been there before, you know that it is worth digging through your pocket lint to help save the Lyric, or, if you have never been there before, you can start your relationship off right by getting some free drinks or t-shirts with your donation. Go HERE to contribute! 

Love,
Thrifty

For those of you who haven't heard Ilya Litoshik's Turvy Organ, I guess you don't know yet that he is one of the most unique songwriters in Colorado. He has set up this house show next weekend that should pretty awesome. I hope to see you there on Saturday, 9pm at 2535 Glenarm Place.

Love,

Thrifty

The fourth annual Fort Collins Music Experiment is nearly upon us! As always, it will be an amazing opportunity to explore the Colorado music scene sprawled across 2 nights, 30 venues, and featuring more than 300 bands. I’m performing with Sean at Bizarre Bazaar at 11:45 on Friday night, right after Galaxies. Plan out your whole weekend with the schedule here, and don’t forget to buy your pass here in the next week to get the pre-sale bargain.

I'm back at school again, and it may be a while before Sean and I will be playing together. Luckily, I had so much fun playing acoustically(ish) in the fall that I've booked some more shows for a solo set. I'll be playing at Unit E in Denver on the 17th and GNU in Fort Collins on the 24th. I'll probably be doing a bunch of material that I don't usually play: maybe some stuff from my debut EP and Caffeine Heartache, a cover or two, and definitely a few brand new, never before heard songs. Look out Denver and Fort Collins, because I won't stop until you demonstrate mild enjoyment!

A thousand valentine candy hearts from,
thrifty

You may have already heard my new Christmas song "Television Special," but now you can download it for free as part of the wonderful new Act So Big Forest compilation, Christmas Forest Vol. 5: Golden Ring. It includes some awesome stuff by the likes of Otem Rellik, Candy Claws, A.M. Pleasure Assassins, Galaxies, Cotton Keys, Sour Boy Bitter Girl, and so much more!


Also, I've just announced a new show for December 30th at The Terminal. It's going to be a fairly awesome, almost-New-Year's-Eve party with //Helvetica from Boulder and Bruce and the Deadites. Click on the poster for more:

I've been lonely on stage for too long. Finally, I'm back in town and Sean is resuming his role as the Thrifty Astronaut Orchestra. We played a smattering of shows together in August, in Fort Collins, Boulder, and Pueblo. Now, we're back together to play a few more this month, finally getting to Colorado Springs and Denver. Check out the Upcoming Shows page for more complete information. Below is some footage from our rehearsal yesterday.

Love,

thrifty


November is finally upon us and the holiday season has arrived. Soon Thanksgiving and Christmas will roll around, and most importantly Black Friday. You may remember that I posted a protest song last year entitled, "Jesus Saves on Black Friday," and this year I will be giving it away again for free here. So I hope you check it out and send the music video to your friends, because it will only be available until November 26th.

love,
thrifty