Ah, horsefeathers

Watch the entire film featuring groucho, chico, harpo and zeppo on hulu.com

Scrabbled eggs

At long last, scrabble has found a home with the rockeys.

Bird is the word.

As in, "these guys are the..."

Cast of characters.

Elephantes blancos.

Finally, this is where my songs will hang their hats on the interweb

Get some rest.

Elevator music

Mere puppetry.

Casiotone def.

Blue jane baby.

Nostril extension.

KA BOOM

Remember Rock-Afire Explosion? They've been away far too long and it appears they've regrouped for a face-melting comeback.

Unless you're prepared to be swept away on a cloud of magical bliss, do not watch this video. Otherwise:



Apparently we have a documentary to look forward to.

Laugh, baby, laugh

He was a man...

Find this movie. Rent it, buy it, send it to me as a gift.

Take me to The Fish

The following is a photo montage inspired narrative by Rachel M.

She had known it would be a dangerous mission. An unprecedented one. And now, it came to it.

Olivia took a deep breath as she prepared to address the crew through the new hi-tech orange intercom mic. The “mom” tattoo was still fresh on her chest as she suppressed her uneasiness.

“Today”, she firmly announced, “will go down in the annals of history. Today, there is no gender, no race, and, indeed, no country. Today, we are all humans, reaching out into the great beyond. Today, mankind is one... one against the striped subterranean sea that has plagued us and ruled us these last 142 years. Today, you stand for freedom for mankind, and I am proud to stand with you.”

“Captain, NO!” Her first mate burst forth in a craze, grabbing her by the legs and screaming. “It's too risky! We'll live with their tyranny, just don't do it!”

“Damn it man! Don't try to stop me! It's got to be done... in the name of justice.” Olivia and a few others pried him off. He ran to his quarters and wept.

Olivia steadied herself and prepared to meet the enemy head on. As the doors of her submarine chamber opened to the cursed sea, she stared, determined, into the unknown.

She stepped out from all that was familiar into the weightlessness of the striped water. No one knew much about the ones who held them captive from 50 miles beneath the earth's crust, but they did know that the Red-Striped Fish was their leader.

A greenback seahorse and aqua-bird were the first to meet her.

“Take me to The Fish.”

They guided her directly and silently to the one on the throne, an hour's swim away. Upon arriving, the pair hovered menacingly on either side of her.

Olivia cleared her mind and began the speech others had crafted, the one she had repeated countless times for the last two months.

“I have come as representative for the human race,” she started. “I come to--”

“Did you bring any Mentos?”

“Beg pardon?”

“Did you bring any Mentos with you?” the Fish asked again.

Olivia, taken aback and not quite sure what to think, answered,“Well, I, uh, I have a few Lifesavers... but they've been in my wet suit pocket for a while. At least a couple hours.”

“That'll do.”

She handed them to the seahorse, who delivered them to The Striped One.

“Mmm...oh, that's like heaven. Watermelon?”

“I believe so.”

Olivia collected herself and threw the memorized speech aside. “So, will you return the earth to its previous state and allow us autonomy once again?”

The Fish looked puzzled. “Oh... are things not going well up there?”

“Um, no... we'd like to live our own lives again.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” replied the Fish. “Consider it done. No problem.”

“Wow, uh, okay, great. Well, great to meet you, and good luck and everything.”

The swim back to the sub didn't seem to take half as long as on the way there. Back home, Olivia wrapped up warm and snug in her favorite duckie robe.

Mother was not pleased about the tattoo.

Congratulations Rachel! Your story has earned you a collection of six vintage cabbage patch kids 3-D holographic stickers (aka solar glowers)!

Why yes, that IS a unicorn. Enjoy.

Oh well, okay

Working hard while hardly working. So to speak. Several projects have been underway with the mustard room under quasi-renovation. Illustrations for the SOLD project, tees and hoodies for the strange brew and logos for amigo josh lemons' youth ministry, etc, etc, etc have been keeping me busy at home, while working only a handful of hours at the coffee house of other employment.

Leaving home for a few hours three days a week to make drinks for occasionally impatient patrons has been a tad painful after three short months of spending all day long with miranda and our beautiful baby girl. However, the benefits and free pound of coffee every week keep the complaints to a minimum.

One Horrell of a thanksgiving.

Promises to be an interesting first christmas for little olivia. For those wondering about gift ideas, ask us about her college fund.

Way back in november, we along with three other couples honoured the birth of our new babies and those babies who we've had to say goodbye to during a service at st. francis hospital's chapel. It was a beautiful ceremony thanks to the reading of a letter written to olivia by our amazing friend JJ.

The photo on the bottom right is my darling grandmother, JJ and her husband erik having an intense conversation about the drama surrounding one of their most beloved television programs, dancing with the stars. The exchange got pretty heated and they almost came to blows over differing opinions of who rightfully deserved to win the previous weeks competition. We're currently working on a reconciliation strategy between the two parties.

In other news...

Olivia has just recently discovered balloons and all their majesty. Behold.



Sorry to be away so long.

Let's never fight again

I dig baby talk

A conversation on natural resources

Friday morning craptacular

Olivia likes to wake us up in the morning with what is at first difficult to discern between a cry or rambling to get our attention. She's not particularly hungry, she's just not sleepy anymore. It's a bit more delightful being waken by a baby who proceeds to be cute and playful for the next hour while you both chill to some bon iver.

Then the morning rolled forward...
Reinforced pampers full of poop...
Emergency bath time...
Suicide cereal...
Uncooperative espresso machine is given the what's for...

Next up:
-Screw the espresso, brew some tasty joe
-Make southminster sexy
-Drop a phat/fat beat
-Get the band back together

In other news...

Look who's sexy

Let's see...

Too much time on my hands?

Apparently.

Good read

Golly i enjoy the wilco

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Wilco Song
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Jeff Tweedy and Co. perform 'Wilco the Song' exclusively for The Colbert Report

First slide, eh whatever

An aural supplement, episode 11

Running Time: 59:13| File Size 68 MB
Download: .mp3
To subscribe to this podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ARockeyHomeCompanion

Reunited and it feels so weird. Throw a sheet over your head and hold out your dirty mitts for some tricks and treats. Cinematic fare and gems both hidden and rare poke their proverbial noses into this piping fresh piece of podcast pie. We've been mining for a mighty long time and we thought we'd share some of our favorite nuggets wrapped up in other folks' rags.

1. Articolo 31 “Come Una Pietra Scalciata (Like a Rolling Stone)”
2. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers “Change the Locks”
3. Jesse Malin “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”
4. Bettye LaVette “Just Dropped in (to See What Condition My Condition Was In)”
5. Foo Fighters “Danny Says”
6. The Black Keys “She Said, She Said”
7. Laura Cantrell “Indoor Fireworks”
8. Wilco “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”
9. Neil Finn “Billie Jean”
10. Matt Nathanson “Starfish and Coffee”
11. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova “Into the Mystic”
12. Beck “Which Will”
13. 16 Horsepower “Nobody 'Cept You”
14. U2 “Everlasting Love”
15. Mark Lanegan “Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That girl"
16. Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl “Innocent When You Dream”
17. The Shins “We Will Become Silhouettes”

Modesty During Bathtime or Allergies and a Dead Duck

And once again bathtime ends in cuteness.

Mama tells olivia all about it.

I just don't know anymore

No 'y' in beauty to be heard

The winner of create a story for this photo montage #1 is mr andrew f. His story is as follows:

Once upon a time there was Olivia. She was asleep. She must have been thinking about rice krispy treat cereal or something of that sort because the smile that she wore on her face penetrated everyone's heart. It was too much for anyone to handle. Anyone not blood related to her would most likely go into a coma after glancing upon the infant's smiling countenance. This was serious.

When driving to ikea one september day about 2008 years after the death of our Jesus, something happened. Joel saw a lady lying down in the middle of the street. She went into a coma. Unbeknownst to Joel and Miranda, the expressionless lady had caught a glimpse into the saturn only to see the lovely smiling face of Olivia within her safety straps. Miranda got out of the car and checked on the old lady while Joel made sure that Olivia wasn't smiling. Joel said,"No, not another victim of our child's beaut!" But at that point, there was no y in beauty to be heard. Because at that point my friends, Joel and Miranda's immunity to Olivia's smile had ceased to be.

That, my friends, is the story of the trip to Ikea.

Congrats mr andrew f! You may claim your hot date with mrs fields in the kitchen of the rockey home.

Boo who

Our up-until-yesterday trusty canon powershot a610 went to be with the lord yesterday. Services will be held friday at noon at the rockey home. A slideshow of photos taken by the canon powershot a610 will be shown in memory of its years of service to the rockey family. monetary donations left in sealed envelopes inside our screendoor are welcome in lieu of flowers.

We leave you today with canon powershot a610's final photograph. It's not wildly impressive or exciting to look at... But it was its last.

Here i sit all broken hearted,

This preceding week has been been a whirlwind of funtivities featuring in no particular order, grandparents, catfish, painting a barn, friends, acts of apostles, children chasing soccer balls, pizza, friends, pumpkin seeds, puddles of poop, songs, apples, fire bowls, thank you cards, gifts by mail, returning diapers, receiving diapers.

Today, we will attempt the following:

-play the sexton
-lyricize
-seal the deal
-crack the shack
-send for hoodies

Complaints?

Tell it to this guy.

Something we all needed to see

Thanks wendy.

The gift of peace queer

"Clearly, anyone who looks at the photograph can tell that I had been abducted by an international league of peace queers and forced to write protest music. You know, for their cause," says mister todd snider.

Download todd snider's eight song album 'peace queer' for absolutely free dollars.

If you're not familiar with mister snider's songwriting, familiarize yourself now.

Dig.

Pushing back

Television on dvd has undoubtably been the single greatest invention of the twenty first century thus far. To date we've been able to buck the cable companies and still enjoy a few of our favorite programs such as showtime's weeds and dexter as well as hbo's curb your enthusiasm, flight of the conchords and a&e's mad men. However, another show which has recently captivated us via dvd rental is the colorful, quirky self-proclaimed forensic fairytale, abc's pushing daisies. I'd heard things, but for whatever reason never gave it a chance during the cut-short first season. However, when season one released on dvd a few weeks back, miranda and i stepped into a magical world of dead people and pie and have found it impossible to look back.

Here's a brief synopsis of pushing daisies' premise...



I keep hearing rumors that abc is going to cancel this enchanting, inventive program and my heart begins to cry little baby tears... much like when i first heard the rumors of arrested development's impending doom.

I know, i know, we never should have gotten ourselves so emotionally invested in another show whose future was already in dire straits, but it's too late to turn back now and we will not live in a state of regret. Instead, we shall rally the troops around the beloved patrons of the pie hole and fight the good fight!

Do yourself and the wonderful people behind pushing daisies a favor, rent season one on dvd, catch up with season two on abc.com, watch every wednesday night at eight o'clock pm on abc television and right your congressman demanding their support for the future of pushing daisies. You know what, let's stop waiting for our government to get off their hind quarters to move for us. We're for the people by the people! Let us get behind pushing daisies ourselves and start pushing back!

Things to do:
-save pushing daisies
-watch arrested development (single greatest comedy on television ever)
-rock out to dire straits
-enjoy some pie
-punch tv in the face

shine on.

Verbal

Seasons

Floating...

Drifting...

Mud crutches

A young robert zimmerman once said, 'you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.' Even earlier, he also said, 'a hard rain's a-gonna fall.' Essentially, zimmy's treatise was this; rain will come and your beloved meteorologist cannot be trusted to tell you exactly when that will be.

I don't believe i'm putting words in the mouth of dylan.

Maybe i'm speculating only slightly, but when i woke up on tuesday morning and decided to take the family on a trip to brown county state park, i hung a whole lot of hope on the accuracy of my local weather forecasters.

This is not the face nor hair of a man thinking rationally nor realistically.

After a drizzly drive south and a scenic picnic from the confines of our car, the whole family took a hike down our favorite stream. Despite the light rain there ain't alotta water flowin over the limestone.

After a brief turkey chasing excursion, we moseyed on into the hustlin, bustlin town of nashville for a couple of homemade waffle cones. We continued on our stroll and happened upon this quaint destination...

Haunted wedding chapel or theater of the dead?Just minutes from continuing our journey homeward, we stumbled upon what might be the single greatest find of our travels this week outside the sausage wagon in bargersville...

Ol' jonesie's really trying to sell it with that tagline.

We decided to take their word for it.

Chill cuz

Olivia made her first trip to the mighty fort of wayne last weekend.

Not only was this her first journey to her mother's homeland, but it was also her first overnighter outside the rockey home since her departure from the hospital of her birth. Upon arrival, she was greeted with a portrait rendered by her cousin megan (girlfriend really nailed those bright blue peepers, eh?).

As one can tell, olivia and megan enjoyed some endearing nonverbal exchanges...

Megan's brother kyle is completely enamored by olivia - particularly her little feet. He'll just sit and look at her and laugh and point out the bubbles she makes. He seems just as infatuated with her as anyone. He held olivia's attention fairly well too. Perhaps it was the canine costume which he paraded around in for the better part of the evening.

Our girl's already up to just under nine pounds. After a decent night of eating and falling swiftly back to sleep, so far today there has been very little keeping her satisfied. We do believe a growth spurt is on its way. She just cannot get enough to eat.

Here's what baby girl's been rockin out to today...

We got some things to get done.

They are as follows:
-Lick this logo
-Help a sister out
-Make a modest buck
-Take a chill pill
-Ride the dragon

Holler if you feel me.

Pumpkin patch particulars

Tuesday morning (approximately 10:00 am, which is actually quite early for us these days) we skipped town with our friends chris, amy and bella to the booming metropolis of trafalgar, indiana. Trafalgar is the home of one Apple Works, an immaculate apple orchard which features a country store, petting zoo, super slide, bamboo maze, pumpkin patch, disco parlor, iced cream farm, monkey-go-round and a salad bar. They have a wonderful balsamic vinegar.

These dudes are serious about their snacks.

The final destination during our Apple Works visit was the pumpkin patch. Apparently, there's been a shortage of hay what with the economy and all. Therefore, we were left hayrideless to find our own way down the twisted gravel road which ended at the fabled patch of gourds. Fortunately, from in the distance, a gigantic, apparently angry pumpkin called us forth to gather up his kin for our own.

Olivia had a decidedly delightful time as she searched high and low for the perfect pumpkin to take home with her. She could not contain her shrieks of absolute joy from erupting uncontrollably. It was an incredibly emotional traipse through this particular patch of pumpkins.

proper.

Diapers of diamonds

This weekend began entertaining the fantasy that our little olivia had produced a diaper full of diamonds. This happened to be untrue as we discovered those tiny diamonds were merely beads of super absorbent polymer commonly found in diapers. Miranda of course thought that olivia's pee had crystallized overnight, but i knew instead that our little girl was a diamond producing phenom.

Nope.

Just polymer.

On saturday morning, i had the joy of playing a completely acoustic, unamplified set of songs at the indieana handicraft exchange. It was fun to get out and play again while visiting friends and making new ones. I also got to sit in on harmonica with the half step sisters on their rendition of bobby dylan's 'you ain't goin nowhere'. Delightful time. Thanks to all who came out and showed support and bought some sweet handmade stuff.

In other baby news: Olivia is still adorable.

Today's tasks:
-mind the mustard room
-rock some chili and some d. johnston
-looooong walk
-explore other options for producing diamonds internally
-poop

You do the same.

The following is a paid political advertisement

How was our night you ask? Tacos by roscoe's and a small reunion of former stonegate personnel made it mighty fine indeed. A triple shout out to our girl wendy!

Late nights are when olivia gets to chill with daddy. And by chill I mean chug a couple ounces of soy peppered with a healthy dose of burps and bellyaches. It's hard to resist when she burns a hole through your soul with those baby blues. Consider my heart fondue.

Activity for the home viewers:
Congratulations to mr. andrew who was the only participant and therefore by default the winner of the last create-your-own-adventure montage. His winnings were not, however, unmerited. His story will be published in a future post. Mrs. fields is waiting for you sir.

Here's this weeks create-your-own-adventure montage. The winner receives a surprise. Step up to the plate y'all and tell us what's goin on in this series of dramatic photographs...

We interupt your regularly scheduled blog posting for this important bulletin:

Don't forget to come out to the second annual indieana handicraft exchange at the harrison center for the arts in downtown indianapolis this friday and saturday. Your own joel rockey will be sharing a set of handmade songs, tee shirts and digital music discs on saturday morning at 11:15 am. The harrison center for the arts is located on the corner of 16th and delaware in beautiful downtown indy.

Later in the evening, my pal katie basbagill has an opening reception for a showing of her photographic work at B-Java. More live tunes.

In other news:

Just over the horizon is the fabled return of a rockey home companion's beloved podcast known affectionately as the aural supplement. To satisfy your appetites in the following days, I will be posting links to previous episodes for downloading and trading with your friends.

Podcast Archive: Episode 9:
The ground grows colder by the hour as we construct our masks and ask to devour the candy corn cobs turning to dust in the wake of Autumn's final gust. Chilled to the bone, guest host Senor Hector LaVeta tempts the recesses of your ears with hallowed tones of excitable stones being thrown in the dark of night.

MP3 Download: Episode 9

Cheers!