Happy New Year!

I am leaving for Philadelphia where we will bring in the new year together. Andy is meeting us there. Benji, Zach, Dave, Hae-jin, and I will be piling into the old tour van to road trip up to our home away from home. We have something special happening tonight so when you are done with all the fireworks and toasts, check out whatismae.com and start your year off right :)

01.01.09

This shoot was cathartic. It was mesmerizing. These are a couple of my iPhone shots captured throughout the day. I can't wait to see the real thing!

1. Off roading in the van and trailer on our way to the photo shoot... Not a great idea....
2. Dave's Grandfather "Pops" helping tow us out of the mud. Sadly, we got stuck four times on the way back to our shoot location.
3. Well worth it though because the location was perfect! This photo shoot is for the new song "The House that Fire Built" and the concept was a living room without the house. It was definitely pulling from the surreal and playing with the idea that the house is about to be built again. Figuratively (this next chapter of the mae story) and Literally (working together with you to build Rhonda and her family a house with all of the profits for this song!)
4. The fire = potential creativity that is about to be unleashed. The fire is the awareness of what is possible. It will continue emerge as we all work together to make a difference in the world this year. The thing about fire is it wants to spread. We are asking you to do just that. Take it, spread it, and let the world burn with a new sense of potential.

This may seem like a tragedy to some but we are about to go do a photo shoot for the new song, "The House That Fire Built." In it, we will be burning a piano. Keep in mind, this is not some brand new piano. It is old and broken down and doesn't really work anymore. But our friend Josh Bogart has been wanting to do this for some time and this is the only time it has ever made sense for us. "The House That Fire Built" will be coming your way on Jan 1, 2009. All the profits from this song are going to build a house with Habitat for Humanity for a woman named Rhonda Floyd and her family. When you buy this song, you are helping to build a house for Rhonda and her two kids, Tariq and Deja. This is how we will be doing things all year long. You listen to the music for free. If you like it, then you can download it directly from us and all of the profits go directly into projects like this. We want you to help us choose the next project for a song we will release in Feb! We have no label and no manager. We have you. You are the most important aspect of this band. You are the legs that will carry this project and make it a success. We are giving you the tools to make it happen on 01.01.09.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. I will post some behind the scenes pics later!
Jacob

I have been made a caricature from an iPhone app. Yay!

Graduation Day! 2008
Yesterday was a long day of celebration because Hae-jin Cameron is done with college. In typical Haej fashion, she graduated with honors and I am extremely proud of her. Exam week was pretty intense and she really persevered right through the finish line.
This was also a notable day because it was the first time that our parents have met each other. There was much anticipation about how the Camerons and the Marshalls would fare in conversation. Mr. Cameron is not exactly the most talkative person I have ever met (although incredibly generous and good spirited). Our conversations have mostly consisted of greetings and farewells with not a lot of fluffy filler in between. My parents can usually hold their own when meeting new people but I knew that both of them had been sick all week. I was a little concerned. The last thing you want is a long awkward dinner between two sets of people with nothing to talk about...
To be honest, I was blown away. After the ceremony we went to tasty Mexican restaurant called Abeulos for the celebration dinner. Mr. Cameron came to life in a way that I had never seen before! He was telling fascinating stories about his time working for NATO and the year he spent in Bahrain. We were learning about Saudi princes and their taste for Corvettes and Hummers. This of course makes more sense because gas is approximately 25 cents a gallon over there.
He gave a heartfelt toast and we all raised our glasses to a young woman who has impacted all of our lives and who has on this day accomplished a tremendous thing.

Then we went home to watch the news and weep about the job market ;)

Happy Holidays!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Can't wait :)

Congratulation to Kenna! I just found out last night that my old house mate from college days is an official Grammy nominee for the Best Urban/Alternative Performance group. Wow!
If you have ever met Kenna this comes as no surprise. He definitely has the "highest probability of success" statistic of anyone I know. If you talk to him you will immediately understand that he is gifted, hardworking and not settling for anything less than the entire world.

When I was still in college, Dave Elkins and I were up at our local mall and we stopped in to say hi to one of our friends who worked as a bar tender at an upscale restaurant called Kincaids. We were deep in shallow talk when we looked over and noticed Kenna sitting at a table in the corner. We went over to say hi and got a rather menacing look from two of the large men on either side of him. It was an awkward moment because we knew Kenna wasn't in need of body guards yet but these guys were clearly not normal friends. It is at that point that we noticed his dinner guest was Justin Timberlake. It was too late not to say hi but it was clear that we were not on the dinner party guest list. I said a quick hello and excused myself. Dave had been playing music with Kenna out in LA and Kenna quickly introduced him to Justin. Dave said "Hi, nice to meet you." Justin said, "Hey, don't make a scene."
In Justin's defense, this was right in the middle of the Britney break up and his guard was definitely up. But still...
A few years later, I was at a post Warped Tour party at Chris Kirkpatricks house in Florida. He was a really nice guy and he restored my damaged faith in N'SYNC. He even let me do dives off of his waterfall into his pool. It has been a strange and good life so far :)

Kenna was featured in the best seller, "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell and more importantly (kidding) he sang on our song "Novocaine." That song is featured as an iTunes exclusive and is one of my favorite songs we have ever created.
If you haven't ever heard Kenna's music, I can't reccommend it enough. It is amazing. Congratulations to an amazing artist and a great friend. Good luck on Grammy night!

Last night I saw a movie that will be stuck in my mind for awhile. One critic called it a "miracle movie." I am inclined to agree.
I would hesitate to recommend this movie though. It is not what you are used to. It pushes the boundaries. It pushes hard. It moves in a way that never allows you to become comfortable. It feels both faster and slower than anything I have ever seen before.
Half of the people I was with thought it was one of the best films they had ever seen and the other half thought it was one of the worst. I guess great art is designed to do that. To make you talk. To make you think. To challenge the way you look at life. If you have seen this, let me know what you thought.