Valencia

Our year end lists have been posted here: http://www.valenciamusic.net check them out!!!

-brendan

our friend jeremy made us a new website.

you can check it out at


http://www.valenciamusic.net

check
it out, it's kind of a blog based website, i think it's pretty cool.  a
lot more user friendly than our last website if you ask me.  tell your
friends about it.

how about that new youtube placement of the embed code... phew! what will they think of next?!@#?

anyway this video is clever:

http://www.youtube.com/v/WBniebL55bw&hl=en&fs=1 (i can never figure out why the code is so weird on buzznet's journal section but it wouldn't let me show it to you on here so just click the link)

in other news. these shows are a lot of fun. i showed up to delaware and it felt like the beginning of another 6 week tour and i was ok with that.. but then i realized it was only 4 days and i was ok with that too. these shows are going to be quick and fun and packed and full of old friends (and new because we've never been to portland) like holiday shows should be. the only shitty part about the whole thing is the drive tonight. we played in vineland tonigh and now it's 430 am and i'm typing in a hotel halfway between there and portland, maine. this drive feels like we're back in the midwest on a national tour... but it's all good, we're used to this. plus i haven't been to portland in years and i'm excited to play there.

the shows get done on the 30th and then i have no idea what to do for new years... but i can only assume it'll be good times whatever happens... new york could be fun, but probably too hectic and too much traveling after doing a tour.

look at that... how is that appealing to anyone. but i wasn't talking about that, i was talking about a nice brooklyn new years... but who knows if i'll end up doing that... i'll probably just ride my bike to a party in philly and stay till midnight and then be too tired to want to stay any later and go home but stay up till 5 am so i probably could have stayed hypothetically at this hypothetical party. anyway this is getting ridiculous and delving deeper into things that shouldn't be delved in... anyway enough is enough, clearly 4:40 am is too late for any human to be making rational thoughts so i will be heading to sleep now and heading to portland in the morning. maybe i'll have something interesting to tell you when i get there.

brendan

christmas eve at my house with the whole family.  sarah and sammy beat me in tug of war and my grandmom and i were partners in crime.  it was a good one.

today is christmas eve... a very exciting day to be with family etc. unfortunately this year my family is very spread apart. my dad is at work right now, my pop pop is in his nursing home, my grandmom is in a nursing home, my sister is in georgia, nicole is in kville and other various cousins and aunts and uncles are at their respective homes. either way we're going to make the best of it, but it just doesn't feel like it used to. we used to have all our aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents at our house with piles and piles of food and enough cookies and pies to make you sick (or my dog sick because she would jump up on the table when no one was looking and eat them). this year it's just not like that... i'm still glad to be hom but just wish i could spend it with everyone we used to.

in any event, here is our attempt at these delicious vegan cookies that were really really good:







pre-oven...


oven...


post-oven...


pre-icing....


icing


post-icing...


PRE WRAPPING


WRAPPING


POST WRAPPING


we pretended to buy a tree from these guys just to get a few pictures but didn't work at all, they were not having it. so they sent 'joe the cutter' after us to tell us about the trees.

got harassed about douglas firs right after this...



not christmassy at all, but it just kind of sucks... and kind of funny at the same time... but not really

either way... i hope everyone has a great holiday... whatever you're celebrating, have a great one...

BRENDAN

Hey everyone! So as the year comes to a close, all of us just want to say a big thank you to everyone that made our year special. It has been one crazy combination of events that have lead us to where we stand. As crazy as it was, it was so much fun, and we can't wait to see what's in store for '09.

On a recent trip to California, Shane was able to get together with our pal Ariel Rechtshaid, who produced We All Need a Reason to Believe, and Vince Ratti (This Could be a Possibility) . We put together a nice holiday present for all of you. Feel free to download and enjoy the gift of music! So Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever it may be that you celebrate. We love all of you, and we'll see you all in the new year!

Click here to download Pennsylvania Holiday for free!

The song is also on our myspace page!  Add it to your profile and show your friends.  Let us know what you think of the song in the meantime!

- Shane, George, Brendan, Jd, and Max

P.s. Don't forget to come check us out at the end of December with Bayside, and on our headlining tour starting at the end of January.

so old school.  from the days of the band i was in with jd, brendan, and our friends ryan and of course, sean mundy.  we were friends with max and shane but they were in different bands at the time.  this is when we played our first show outside of philadelphia with the drunken' beeruts.  we were like 16.  look at how sweet my shirt and hair are.

got some sweet ecards in my email this morning from lenny new york:

and if you haven't seen the new trailers yet, here's the latest:

i know not everyone is crazy about this show but if you ever watched it, there's no way you're not. except i might be a little overboard when it comes to my obsession with it.

Sorry for not updating too much these days but it's been a hectic few days. We had a show get canceled on Friday because of snow and then we had a scare yesterday and almost had to cancel ANOTHER. We ended up making it and they didn't cancel the show. It was definitely worth it to play the show. Here are pictures from the way up and then when we got there too:

BQ hanging out... looking like a serial killer.

So much traffic... it took us 6 hours to drive a (normally) 3 hour drive.

We got out on the highway and hung out for a while because we were at a stand-still... George was taking pictures of us. There was a guy playing guitar in the driver's seat of his car and some other friendly people that we met along the way of highway 684.


We finally made it to the show and this is the site we saw. A sweet ass marquis and a really fun show inside.


AND I signed a baseball. As soon as I got asked I threw my camera at the closest person to take a photo of me signing it. It was sweet. It was like, oh Brendan? Not only does he play some awesome music he is the greatest baseball player since Honus Wagner. Lou Gehrig, Nolan Ryan, Babe Ruth? No way, this is a whole 'nother ball game - pun intended - now that Brendan is in the game. Look at him signing that ball. What am I talking about?

Today I am headed back home to see my parents and other assorted family members it should be a good Christmas week. So I've got another long drive ahead of me today so wish me luck. Adios!

b

Almond Brothers.
Get it?!@#?!@?#

i’ve been kind of a degenerate the last few days with the updates, but that’s because i have, in fact, been getting all stressed out about my christmas shopping.  so for the past few days, i’ve been christmas shopping, ALMOST going to poughkeepsie but then turning around because it snowed too much (i heard that show is getting rescheduled to january 4th, by the way), and doing some more shopping.   i think i’m pretty much done though, so now it’s back to showing you things like this drunk guy retelling history video featuring michael cera.

in this blog i just wanted to let everyone know that the kinks are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. they could never pass the beatles or radiohead, but the more i listen to this record the more i realize how great this band is. i've really loved songs like 'this time tomorrow' (which made my top 100 songs of all time list) and a few other songs from 'lola versus the power man...' but this record never sunk in AS much. i've always really enjoyed it, but i heard animal farm out of the blue the other week and reminded me to put this record back on. since then i've listened to it about 10 times and it's fast approaching a top 10 album for me. there are such witty lyrics, great subject matters, clever song structures and just awesome musicianship throughout. if you haven't really heard much of the kinks other than 'you really got me' or 'lola' look deeper into it. songs i recommend are: "The Village Green Preservation Society" "Strangers" "Last of the Steam-powered Trains" "This Time Tomorrow" "Big Sky" "Waterloo Sunset" "Animal Farm" and then here's the great christmas song they did, since it's that time of year:

all last week and this week i was posting things saying like 'i am so stressed out' or 'what am i going to get for everyone' 'so much xmas shopping to do' etc, etc... so i decided i would show you what was really going on and what i got...

well the whole stressed thing was that i was a part of a 'pyramid scheme' in a way to make money. i mean i thought when the guy called up and said 'do you want to be a part of a pyramid scheme?' that scheme was a good thing. turns out i should have looked in the dictionary. needless to say, i lost all of my savings because i was at the bottom of the chain. either way, i had to find some new way to get gifts since i had 0 dollars!

so i went to the library and checked out the internet and pulled some things off the web. turns out there's a site called 'craigslist' where you can do anything from buy a couch to a new dog to get a job to whatever else they might do... anyway i went to the "free" section and i got so many sweet things... check them out

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

hospital bed - for my sister. but who couldn't use this great gift?! it's fully functional!!

________________________________________________________________
ALMOST full bottle of massage oil - for my cousins to share. it's ALMOST full, a bunch of people could probably use it, right? it was totally worth the 45 minute drive out to levittown to get it, because it's FREE!!!! the gas probably cost me about 5 bucks but an almost full bottle would probably cost me about 5.25 at cvs or something... totally worth it.

__________________________________________________________________</a>
speed boat - for nicole. she'll have so much fun riding it up and down the delaware river. can you believe this thing was free???

__________________________________________________________________
free handles to 5 gallon buckets - for my dad. he's always losting the handles to his 5 gallon buckets, this is the perfect gift. CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE WERE FREE?!@?#


__________________________________________________________________
pooing santa - stocking stuffer for my uncle. this whimsical novelty is a holiday classic and would fit for anyone but i decided my uncle should receive it.


__________________________________________________________________</a>
hair fade video - for my mom. her fade is always messed up! she needs to learn how for real.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
anyway those are the gifts that i got... hope they'll go over well. let me know if you have any other suggestions for me.

if you're like me, the holidays have left you all stressed out and on your last nerve trying to figure out what to get your friends.  it always takes me to the last minute to find something good, or whenever i ask my friends and loved ones what they want, they never give me a straight answer and it always leads to me getting the completely wrong thing and subsequently getting into all sorts of trouble for a good month or so.  michael black helped me with my shopping, so why not help spread the cheer to the rest of my compatriots.

anyways, that being said, i've taken the liberty of doing all of your holiday shopping for you.  i've got something on here that's for just about everyone on your gift list, so you can leave all your holiday worries at the door and have everyone talking about how thoughtful you are during christmas dinner, and you may even get a little something special underneath that mistletoe, if you get my drift.

first, for your loved ones that just love music, we have the new Valencia CD, "We All Need a Reason to Believe," which can be purchased on iTunes for the low price of $7.99.  If you prefer the hard copy, you can get it at FYE for only $5 more, and with that you get a nice booklet full of pictures and other nice things to look at.  By giving this as a gift, you will definitely ensure yourself "jiggy-with-it" status when everyone thanks you for giving whoever-puts-it-on-during-a-party this CD.

for the people who prefer more visual stimulation, you can head to iTunes and buy the new Valencia video for the song "Where Did You Go?" for just $1.99.  $1.99?!  that's only about 40 cents more than a bottle of cheerwine and it will last SO much longer.  not only that, but it will offer some insight for some great places to travel to should you find your way into philadelphia, so it's also invaluable for planning travel.  a singing travel agent for $1.99?  unbelievable.

for the more stylish of your loved ones, no need to spend hours on end at metro park, "urban outfitters," or any other trendy store where the sales people make you feel inferior because you may not have as cool of a haircut as them even though you still wear the same jeans, you can pick up a new shirt from Valencia's fall line.  Not only will you look great (and they're not just saying that), you won't get a dirty look at point of purchase.  How can you beat that?

lastly, for the more cultured, for the more outgoing companions, Valencia will be doing holiday shows at the end of December, as well as a full tour of the United States during the months of February and March.  You can pick tickets up to those over at the Valencia MySpace page, it's a sure way to win the hearts of all your social butterflies.

i'm glad i could help you guys out with your troubles.  i've already gotten all of my friends the new Valencia CD AND the music video, and it's a surefire way for me to fit back in during the feast of the seven fishes that i no longer partake in on christmas eve dinner.  it will definitely solve all your holiday problems as well.

i have some beef with sleep. i mean really... where does sleep get off. making us shut down our entire bodies and minds for 6-10 hours a night. it's really preposterous. i have things to do, sleep. can't you be conscious of that? unless you're a fool and you have a job, nothing else will make you commit such gross amounts of time and dedication to it. i prefer to get into activities that don't take more than an hour. listening to a cd, watching part of a movie, showering, moving into a new house, etc. it is reccomended that infants sleep 14-18 hours a day... what a freaking waste of time. if you're only up for 6 hours everyday, you'd break it down like this. 1 hour to lay in bed contemplating wether to skip all your day's activities and remain in bed, 1 hour to shower and get ready, 1 hour to nap again before you get started doing anything, 1 hour of internetting, 1 hour of tv, 1 hour of getting ready for bed, and then 1 hour laying in bed trying to get to sleep.... that's all there is! what a waste of your life... same goes for us... except there's a few more hours of internetting and a few more hours of tv watching/movie watching/reading/any entertainment that will waste your days.

why can't i be like this guy? http://oaklandnorth.net/2008/12/01/now-80-marathon-runner-plans-to-keep-running/ he wakes up at 2:30 everyday to start his day and run miles and miles and accomplish tons of things in his life. it's great... that's what i want! i'm gonna start today. hopefully i make it to tomorrow.

on the real though, if i'm ever granted 3 wishes... sleep would be altogether eliminted! anyway, enough about sleep. i've got more to say but i don't feel like it right now....

HEY! kitchen sessions are still going on and here's the 3rd edition. This one is "Where Did You Go?" oh and how great is this:

kitchen sessions #3: where did you go?

part 2: trusty chords - hot water music cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9r50abBTJ4

part 1: better be prepared - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3aHoSVL6GU

happy holidays!

http://www.youtube.com/v/ePGvxEtvThI&hl=en&fs=1

"so what if the guy threw a shoe at me?"

the guy's got cat-like reflexes, that's for sure.

this venue in philly, the trocadero, always prints limited posters for some of the bigger shows they would do. at least they used to, i'm not sure. i started off asking if you remembered when places would do this, but they still do, i just think the most creative ones were from a few years ago.

this one is from a bright eyes show at the troc in philly back in 2002. i remember when brand new played the troc on halloween that year or maybe the year before, their poster was INSANE. i think i have it somewhere in my room, i'll try and post a picture of it sometime.

george posted one of his the other day so it reminded me how not a lot of people know our love for pun cartoons. we started in school with the famous mike albert 'corn on the job' and 'ahh-valanche' and 'the kettle calling the pot the n-word'. however it has grown over the years and we recently had a pun cartoon contest and i BELIEVE i won. i think? either way... here was the winning cartoon, allegedly and i will send you the rest daily!

hey guys,

we now have a twitter account for the band!

you can follow us by going here:

http://www.twitter.com/valenciamusic

- VALENCIA

hey guys,

we did some stripped down, acoustic versions of some of the songs from our new album, as well as a cover song that we did during some down time on our last tour.

there are four videos, and starting today, we will be posting a new one every tuesday for the next four weeks.


you can check out the first video by going to this website:

http://www.absolutepunk.net/video.php?title=Better%20Be%20Prepared%20%28Acoustic%29&v=youtube&l=6421&c=H3aHoSVL6GU

make sure to let us know what you think!

love,
the band valenciaat