Craig Carrington / Nights on Venus

summer, fall, new single, re-branding…

First things first. The new release, “Velocity of Being” is out. By Craig Carrington.
Yes, I’ve gone ‘solo’ (surprise, no surprise).

And you can find it here on the newly-updated Craig Carrington/Nights on Venus website available for download:
https://nightsonvenus-cct.com/single/64559/velocity-of-being ,
as well as on Bandcamp, Apple iTunes & Apple Music, SoundCloud, and Spotify among others. The single was recently released on October 6, 2022.

*Fall colors on the Hells Hole Trail, Mt. Evans Wilderness, Oct. 1.2022*

“Velocity of Being” is the first advance track from a new album slated for release in the 2nd half of 2023 which I’m currently working on, to be entitled, Psychic Physics.

This song was originally recorded under a different working title in June, 2010, but never released. It was part of the original material recorded for what I thought would be my first album (solo), pre-Nights on Venus. “Nights From a Rooftop”, which was on the NoV debut album, came from this period.

12 years later, I’m now starting to release some of the original material that led to the more mellow side project, Nights on Venus, revised and re-envisioned of course, alongside songs from even further back, new material, and at least a couple of covers. Including – for the first time – vocals (mine).

A second advance track, “Trajectory“, is scheduled for release very soon, right around New Year’s. Proposed cover artwork for the release…

A few highlights from the summer and fall hiking season, 2022…

*Fall colors at Beaver Brook, Hwy. 103, early morning*

*On the Grizzly Peak Trail, Loveland Pass, Erin up ahead of me, August*

Why the re-branding?
It was simply time. I felt I’d taken Nights on Venus as far as I could and actually much farther than I initially thought. 6 full-length albums, 3 EPs, and 4 singles in 11 years.

The single “Planetary Reset” from May, 2021, was officially the last release by NoV and the end for now, but in the time since it came out, I’ve come to see it more as my first “unofficial” solo release. This song has more in common with the material I’m currently working on – more uptempo, more electronic – and that’s the direction I’m heading. My late 1970s, early 80s roots, so to speak.

*The Continental Divide from the Butler Gulch Trail west of Empire, July, 2022…*

*On the Pesman Trail at timberline, Mt. Goliath, Mt. Evans Wilderness, July, 2022…*

*On the Stanley Mtn. Trail, affectionately known as the “switchback” trail… Vasquez Peak Wilderness, west of Berthoud Pass and above timberline, end of June, 2022…*

Oh, and I had all but forgotten this, but the Nights on Venus albums were getting harder to find on several search engines. Venus was getting a little too crowded for my liking. So all previous albums/singles/EPs from Nights on Venus are available on my website, as well as iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon MP3. Streaming on Spotify and Tidal.

Check back for more details on the release date for “Trajectory” – it’s right around the corner as is 2023. The coming year will bring many big changes, not the least of which is Erin and I will be moving to a new home in a new locale in the spring.

*Rock formation, Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, November, 2022*

Follow Craig on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

*Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, November, 2022…*

new single released, today on bandcamp…

The new single is now officially released and up on Bandcamp, download available in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, and WAV files among others, and can be found here:
Planetary Reset (I. Entropy II. Attrition III. The Disinformationists/Reset)

Enjoy!

The song itself is a continuing exploration of late-1970s electronica and retro-futurism in 3 parts and as mentioned earlier, “Planetary Reset…” will be the leadoff track on the new album coming out later this year. Originally, the song title was to also be the title of the album and the composition was to be in 10 parts, but early on in the fall of 2020, the project began to morph into something much different. I liked the ending of part III. (“The Disinformationists/Reset”) as the ending of this song left several directions I could go in. Look for the new album, as yet untitled, sometime in the fall, 2021.

*Harriman Lake and Red Rocks Amphitheater, 5/21/21. Photo by Erin Foley.*

All previous albums/singles/EPs from Nights on Venus are available on iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon MP3, and the NoV website. Streaming on Spotify and Tidal.

Follow Craig and Nights on Venus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
And actually, this is as good a time as any to list my full discography as it has come to my attention recently that a few folks are having trouble finding some of my albums on Amazon when they do a search on Nights on Venus. This is the REAL Nights on Venus right here. It may be getting a little too crowded “on Venus”…

Planetary Reset (2021) – single just released.

Late Night Meditations In Suburbia (2020) full album

The Wheels Are Coming Off (2018) single

Snow Day (2017) EP

We Are All Haunted By Something (2017) full album

Speed of Life (2016) single

Unearthly (2015) EP

Santos (2015) EP

Perspective (2014) full album

Impermanence (2014) single

Summer Madness (2014) single

Another Day In Paradox (2013) full album

In 4 the Evening (2012) full album

Nights on Venus (2011) full album

turn up the eagles the neighbors are listening…

[This is the first in a new series, a series of recollections about some of the songs, albums and music that had a lasting impact over the years, decades, and any stories associated with the music, taken directly from journal entries and written sometime later – in most cases, quite a bit later. For instance…]

From Sept. 29, 2014…
In October, 1975, ELO’s new album Face the Music had been released the previous month and the first single from the album was “Evil Woman” which was all over the radio. Everywhere. Actually, it was kind of inescapable, which was fine – almost as much as The Eagles’ “Lyin’ Eyes” was also pretty much inescapable, which was not fine. “Lyin’ Eyes” was also released in September, then “Take It to the Limit” followed in November, inescapable as well. If there is any song I can’t stand as much as “Lyin’ Eyes” it would take me a very long time to think of what that song might be. I know Erin thinks “Jessie’s Girl” is the worst song ever recorded but it’s not. Rick Dees’ “Disco Duck” will forever hold that title until someone comes along and does an ill-advised cover version of it. I will gladly listen to “Jessie’s Girl”, particularly from the scene in Boogie Nights (and think fondly of 1982), before I listen, willingly, to “Lyin’ Eyes”. If I never heard “Lyin’ Eyes” ever again, I would not miss it one bit and would consider it some sort of minor miracle, but I know I won’t be so lucky. Some cover band at the Little Bear (Evergreen) is going to play it when we’re there on a Saturday afternoon – “I just know it!”

Of course, the real reason I can’t stand that song as much as I do is because it was sooooo overplayed on the radio, because that’s what mainstream radio does, especially so in the 1970s. Yeah, Eagles, then Fleetwood Mac – ubiquitous would be the word, from 1975-1978, except I always liked Fleetwood Mac. Good word, ubiquitous. As it relates to the airwaves it means… inescapable. That fall, more and more of Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album was coming out as singles – first “Over My Head”, then “Warm Ways” and “Rhiannon” came out after the new year. I had that album on cassette tape back then and I’m sure I wore the damn thing out.

Back in the dorm – Coleman Hall at Texas Tech in Lubbock – my freshman year roommate Tony loved the Eagles and I remember him telling me early on in the first semester that his favorite song was “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. “Peaceful Queasy Feeling” is what I used to call it… as in “‘Cause I get a peaceful queasy feeling, and I know you’re feelin’ it too…” So I was never what you would call a big fan of the Eagles… until Joe Walsh joined them on Hotel California. Before that, “Bitter Creek” was probably my favorite song from them. “Ol’ 55” from On the Border is another fave. But if I was going to do the country rock thing in the early 70s, the majority of the time I listened to Poco. Other than Hotel California, I like Don Henley’s solo albums better.

I think at one point I must have been going back to Dallas every weekend that first semester when there wasn’t a football game in Lubbock. The most harrowing trip, and certainly the quickest – and the most harrowing trip because it was the quickest – was the time I got a ride off the ride board with this guy who drove a GMC pickup truck whose CB handle was the “Virgin Surgeon”. “10-4, good buddy“, [squawk]. I remember hearing a couple of songs off Elton John’s new album Rock of the Westies – “Street Kids” and “Island Girl” – and I know I heard plenty of Eagles on this trip, including the aforementioned “Lyin’ Eyes” (on 8-track tape no less!) in between the random squawks coming from the obnoxious CB as I watched the mesquite trees whizzing by and behind us out the passenger-side window. Cruising along at speeds of 95-110 mph we went from Lubbock to Dallas in just under 3 1/2 hours when it usually takes 5 1/2 to 6, and this was when the speed limit was 55 (thank you, Nixon!). The Tech ride board was always kind of like the proverbial “box of chocolates” – you never knew what you were gonna get – and then there was still the return trip back to Lubbock to look forward to.

Nights on Venus News:
New music is coming soon, very soon. This month. Currently putting finishing touches on “Planetary Reset” before mastering – full title “Planetary Reset (I. Entropy II. Attrition III. The Disinformationists/Reset)” – all 11:52 of it. This will be the first advance track off the new full album – as yet untitled though it does have a working title – coming later in the year.

‘Til then you can find all of Nights on Venus releases on iTunes, Bandcamp,and Amazon for downloads; Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal among others for streaming. I am everywhere, ubiquitous… except on radio.

April 10th…

Perfect spring day and tomorrow… then snow all day Sunday and most of Monday. Springtime in the Rockies!

West Colfax Ave. in Lakewood, completely empty on a Saturday morning, on my way into Golden…

Day 12 (Erin post-surgery)… Much later at night, I’m listening to Three Dog Night’s “Golden Bisquits” album, a staple from the early 1970s in Dallas, in junior high school – St. Mark’s, bowling leagues at Preston Forest Lanes, when I started getting rides back home after church, eschewing Sunday school indoctrination (cleverly packaged as Christian “education”, even in the Episcopal church – the most liberal of sects!) to go home and listen to and commune with “my” music… and Evergreen Conference in the summers.

1970… “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”. Remember this from going down to Lakeway Inn on Lake Travis just outside of Austin, Texas, for a weekend. That was our vacation in 1970 – we didn’t go to Evergreen that summer. Katie and her husband, friends of the family, came down with us for whatever reason, or maybe they invited us, I don’t know… this was pre-Kent (her 2nd husband). The swingin’ 70s. Is that place still there? Yes… and it’s called Lakeway Resort and Spa now (thank you Google Maps). The area around it has developed significantly of course since then. This is 50 fucking years ago… half a century! I would’ve rather been in Evergreen that summer at the conference and every summer for that matter, but hey, that wasn’t my decision. I was thirteen.

So I’m listening to “Out In the Country” now – here in 2020…

“Whenever I need to leave it all behind
Or feel the need to get away
I find a quiet place, far from the human race
Out in the country…

Before the breathin’ air is gone
Before the sun is just a bright spot in the night-time
Out where the rivers like to run
I stand alone and take back somethin’ worth rememberin’…”

Shmoopy and I saw Three Dog Night in 2013 at Belly Up in Aspen with Claire and jeez, even that’s 7 years ago now. Cory [Wells] was still with them. That was the second of two shows we saw at Belly Up that year – the first was the Todd Rundgren’s State Tour in July.

Speaking of travel, Shmoopy (Erin) and I had a talk about that tonight, ’cause we do have a trip coming up to Santa Fe in August, and we decided that this year we cancel all travel plans. Meaning Santa Fe, which was the only thing we had scheduled anyway. At Ten Thousand Waves. In August. She’ll still most likely be re-learning how to walk on a reconstructed, refurbished right hamstring and we’re not going to the opera and be sitting next to people even in August. I cancelled my travel plans last month to go to Dallas for my dad’s 91st birthday as the outbreak was ramping up in the U.S. It seemed irresponsible to travel and then the assisted living facility he’s in went on lockdown a couple of days before his birthday. Couldn’t have seen him anyway.

This, the coronavirus, won’t be over by August. No National Football League either this year (sorry, people). So I called up Ten Thousand Waves earlier. They’re closed right now, through May 31st… they’ll be missing the Memorial Day weekend. But I need to call them and cancel our reservation for August 20th. Hate to do that, but 2020’s cancelled. Shut it all down, 2020… So says Neil Young.

I’ll call them whenever they do re-open. June?… July?

goodbye 2018… hello, 2019!

It’s that time of year again, when one year passes into the next, and depending on what has transpired in the year that’s coming to an end, we’re either glad to see it go or remembering it at least somewhat fondly… or both, but we’re always hopeful for what the new year will bring. It’s like there’s this totally clean slate, if only for a few brief hours (or minutes) before we do something stupid.

So, on this last day of the year, buh-bye, 2018… and welcome 2019!

For Erin and me, 2018 has been a year of massive change (one big move).

I expect that for us, 2019 will be another year of massive change (another big move, probably to most likely).

I suspect (and predict) that for everyone, all of us, 2019 and every year from here on out, will be years of massive change.

I am told that if you start the movie Forrest Gump at exactly 10:38 pm, when you reach 12 midnight at the start of the new year, you will be celebrating with Forrest and Lieutenant Dan… wherever you are! This scene…

Well, some smart person just figured out that this scene occurs 1 hour and 22 minutes into the movie.

And hey, didn’t the Poseidon Adventure take place on New Year’s Eve?

Why yes it did. But you know, there’s got to be a morning after…

And then, who can forget the New Year’s Eve party scene from Boogie Nights? I know I certainly can’t… I lived it!

So now you know what we’ll be doing, what movies we’ll be watching tonight as it has been snowing all day here and it’s now 9 degrees in Littleton. We are, as they say, “In 4 the Evening“…

And does it seem odd to anyone else that we have arrived at 2019? Let that sink in for a moment… twenty nineteen. Could we see that far from say, 1980? One year away now from 2020…

Work progresses slowly and steadily on the new full-length album “Late Night Meditations in Suburbia“, slated for release in 2019. I should have some new previews of songs from the album up on SoundCloud in February.

I hope 2018 was kind and good to you and that the coming year will be even better. Here’s to a happy, healthy and prosperous new year in 2019. Cheers!… Happy New Year everyone!

Cover artwork for the 3-song single/EP “Snow Day”, which was released on December 23rd, 2017. Available on all digital media outlets…

Cover artwork for the “The Wheels Are Coming Off” single, released on June 12, 2018. Click for the larger image…

The most recent releases from Nights on Venus are the 2-song single, “The Wheels Are Coming Off“, released in the summer of 2018, and the 3-song single/EP, “Snow Day“, from December, 2017.

The most recent full-length release “We Are All Haunted by Something” was released in the summer of 2017 and includes the 2-song single “Speed of Life” and “Confirm Humanity (I’m Not a Robot)”. All albums/singles/EPs from Nights on Venus are available on iTunes, Bandcamp, CD Baby, Amazon MP3. and the NoV website.

Follow Craig and Nights on Venus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

the end of… the album (as we know it)? three articles on the demise of the download…

Cosmo, on a lazy Sunday afternoon… awakened by… opera!

This is a trend I’ve posted and commented on here on the blog a few times in the past but now it appears we are rapidly approaching the end of the download on some of the largest online music outlets, specifically, Apple iTunes. The music download, which had appeared to be so strong even only just a few short years ago, is going the way of the CD… and vinyl before it. Downloads are now becoming a niche market, just like CD and vinyl, and will soon be found only on music outlets such as CD Baby and Bandcamp. First quarter of 2019, as Apple outlined, is looking like the timeframe for this to occur. In part, this is due to the success of their streaming service Apple Music, which now is generating more revenue than Spotify.

Check out the three articles below, first from Digital Music News on the impending demise of the music download:
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/07/10/music-downloads-extinct/

The second, from Forbes, taken from the RIAA’s (Recording Industry Association of America) annual year-end report:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2018/03/28/physical-albums-sell-significantly-better-than-digital-ones-even-today/#388b6051b538

And the third, from Billboard on CD sales: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8477070/cd-sales-not-dying-but-heading-towards-niche-status-vinyl-analysis

Granted, a couple of these articles appeared much earlier in the year but one can assume that for CDs and downloads, and specifically album downloads, the trends haven’t reversed themselves since then.

I’ll throw in an additional article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette which asks the musical question “should you hang on to your CDs”:
http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2018/02/21/CD-compact-disc-sales-decline-Juke-Records-Billboard-Best-Buy-Target/stories/201802210158

The takeaways from all these developments would appear to be obvious:
Streaming has now become the de facto medium for recorded music and appears to be the endgame… for now. I had mentioned this in a post from 6 years ago, although it didn’t really occur to me at the time that the download would go away (and it won’t, completely).
As far as streaming being the endgame, it has been the self-perpetuating nature of the music industry to come up with new delivery formats along the way as technology evolved, so I suppose eventually, something may come along to replace streaming. Except that the streaming platform really didn’t come from the music industry, did it? That came from the tech industry. What new medium could replace streaming? Right now, I think most people don’t know.
Albums sell more on the physical format – CD – than on downloads and are most effective sales-wise, but only when the CD is released on the album’s street date. If artists don’t release a CD on the street date, they’re leaving money on the table… And then retail outlets like Best Buy pull their CD stock off the shelves.
There is this, however, from the Forbes article: “People have been saying for a long time that the physical album is done, but the category is responsible for more money coming into the music industry than digital album and song sales combined.”
And this from Billboard: ““If we had CDs on those albums, the [format’s] sales numbers would tell a different story,” Newbury Comics head of purchasing Carl Mello tells Billboard. “When 90 percent of the most popular music [hip-hop] in America doesn’t show up on CD, of course sales will be down. Duh.”
There is no music industry “recovery”. The tech industry has effectively hijacked the music industry. Or, maybe as one label executive has said, “[the labels] are reacting to what’s happening in the marketplace, not causing it.”
I tend to think that’s the case.
Until some new/revamped format replaces streaming, any recovery has been put on hold. Indefinitely.
If there’s any music or any albums you need to download, you should probably do it by the end of the year, and also back up downloads you have purchased in the past (blank CDs are good for this… you can still get them at Office Depot/Office Max and online). Just sayin’…
After that it appears that CD Baby, Bandcamp, and eMusic will be the last refuge for digital downloads (and most of their inventory is independent or emerging artists… hey, like me!).
And to answer the question of whether you should hang on to those CDs (or vinyl, cassettes, or anything else other than 8-tracks)… well, do you listen to CDs? Keep ’em. Did you have vinyl, sell or get rid of it in favor of CDs, only to regret it later? Do you have downloads? Back ’em up. Streaming is hot now… but for how long?… ‘Til the next “hot” format comes along?
Remember that the music industry has historically made and continues to make a significant chunk of their money from selling the music consumer the same music over and over again, just in different formats.
And please, continue to purchase music… rather than or in addition to streaming. Thanks!
I’ll leave you with this from musician Danny Michel to illustrate what streaming has actually done within the music biz: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10160771798630467&set=a.10150674561930467&type=3&theater

Nights on Venus news:
Currently, I am continuing work in the new studio, recording and mixing songs for Nights on Venus’ next full-length album which will be my 6th full-length album… entitled “Late Night Meditations in/on Suburbia” (yeah, it keeps morphing a bit), set for release in 2019. It has taken a while to get back in a groove after the move, almost 5 months ago, much longer than expected, but I think I’m there now… only to be interrupted by the holidays of course, but I’m taking everything right now as a work in progress in this, a transitional year, year-and-a-half, or for however long our interim residence in the suburban hinterlands will be and it’s all coming together. There is new music posted on SoundCloud – excerpts from the forthcoming album and you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/nights-on-venus/sets/excerpts-from-late-night

Includes the already-released single “The Wheels Are Coming Off” from this past June, 2018. I will be adding to the playlist over the coming months.

The most recent releases from Nights on Venus are the 2-song single, “The Wheels Are Coming Off“, released this past summer, and the 3-song single/EP, “Snow Day“, from December, 2017.

Follow Craig and Nights on Venus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

annual fall foliage tour, pts. 1 & 2, works in progress…

Happy fall, y’all! Best time of the year. The autumnal equinox occurred yesterday evening at 7:54 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time…

When this time of year rolls around, it’s time to get on the road and get to the high country for the annual fall foliage tour of the aspen leaves turning bright yellow, because that’s what we do here in Colorado. Usually we go to Squaw Pass, right up the road from Evergreen on the way to Echo Lake and Mt. Evans, and we did that yesterday, combining it with a hike up Chief Mountain, a trail we hike every year. A very windy hike I might add. This is fall foliage, part 1… there wasn’t a whole lot of fall color except for a few areas. The peak color should be this week, and we’re going to Vail for a few days later this week. That’s part 2, and will be an update next Sunday. A few pics from yesterday:

Looking toward the Mt. Evans massif from the Juniper overlook on Squaw Pass Rd. (Hwy. 103)… (sized just right for a screensaver)

Erin and me… the Shmoopies, windblown on Chief Mtn.

And of course, every completed hike ends with beer… good beer. This is from El Rancho Brewing Co., Evergreen… a Peach IPA on the left and a Hatched Milk Stout on the right, infused with Hatch green chiles…

And just because this song is lodged in my head right now, I remember that I was listening to this 39 years ago when I was living in Midland, Texas…
“Hold on, hold on, hold on, to what you got…”

Nights on Venus News:
Well, when you make one major change in your recording setup, you should expect systemic changes all the way down the line and that’s what has happened. Major studio upgrades which I’ve been incorporating over the last month-and-a-half. Everything right now is kind of a work in progress (and ironically, the street we now live on is named Progress Circle). I’ve renamed the studio – for the length of time that we’re here in the ‘no man’s land’ of west Littleton – to Confluence Music Studio, and I’m pushing everything out into 2019. So, there will be no release of a new single next month. There may be one in December and then the full album will come out in the first half of 2019. And, oh yeah, the title has changed… the album title will be “Late Night Meditations in Suburbia“. We’ve jumped tracks… expect maybe one or two surprises.

‘Til the update next Sunday…

And Part 2 of this year’s Leaf Extravaganza… 9/30
The pictorial continues… we are true fall leaf/color junkies.

On the Meadow Creek Trail, just north of Frisco…

Looking southeast back toward Lake Dillon…

The Vail Valley… early morning on the Booth Falls Trail…

Hello, October!

Looking south from the top of Eagle Bahn… Mt. of the Holy Cross is the high peak in the center…

Riding up on the Eagle Bahn gondola right before sunset…

Looking north toward part of the Gore Range, Vail…

Although we missed peak color by about a week going further up into the high country – it’s always a bit of a crap shoot – there was still more than enough spectacular color and scenery, and it was good to get away and relax for a few days during the low season. We’ll do it again next year.

The most recent releases from Nights on Venus are the 2-song single, “The Wheels Are Coming Off“, released this summer, and the 3-song single/EP, “Snow Day“, from December, 2017.

Follow Craig and Nights on Venus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

the dust settles… suburbia, santa fe, and sea change…

We made the move back on July 6th and Erin and I have been here over a month now. The whole process has felt like falling into a black hole and now we have emerged on the other side, dropped off in generic, white-bread suburbia. All in all though, aside from the unrelenting glut of corporate chain stores and restaurants and the clusterfuck that is the South Wadsworth and Bowles area in Littleton, which we avoid as much as possible, I like where we are now as it seems to be a kind of “no man’s land” that the greedy developers haven’t discovered yet. That of course, will change, but hopefully by then, we should be moving again. We went from Golden Ridge to Dakota Ridge, traded in a view of the dilapidated trailer park to watch the goings on at the dog park, which is infinitely much better, and we’re still about 15 minutes away from Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison.

The view to the northwest toward Morrison, afternoon thunderhead. Yes, we live next to a freeway but we hardly ever hear it.

The energy has shifted in a big way over the last month… so much that is new and all for the better, but I underestimated my down time in the studio; I am only now getting back to work and it’s August. The addition and incorporation of new gear in a new recording space always slows things down a little and some of that had been anticipated – the purchase of my first completely analog synthesizer since 1986 – but replacing a computer, operating system, and installing a new version of the music software I’ve been using was not expected but became necessary. A certain learning curve is involved. As a result, the full album, Outlier, will be coming out sometime in the first few months of 2019. I’m already hearing that this is a going to be a very different sounding album from what I first envisioned. A sea change. So now a 2-3 song single release is planned for October, early November as I finish up with what has already been recorded and mixed and only needs to be mastered at this point.

The dust continues to settle and new routines become established… In the meantime, we took a short weekend trip down to Santa Fe last week for the opera and to do all the usual Santa Fe things we do. And it became a kind of nothing-goes-as-planned weekend (brought to you by… Mercury retrograde, of course)… from almost getting fried in the Waterfall pool at Ten Thousand Waves when a lightning storm moved overhead to power outages in town and technical difficulties at the opera the next day.

We ate enough excellent New Mexican food at Maria’s and the Shed with coin margaritas to make up for it. A much-needed road trip in the midst of all the recent changes. A brief pictorial here:

Santa Fe Opera House, waiting for sundown…

Margs at the Shed… It’s very orange-y in here…

First ones at the Cowgirl on Guadalupe St., always a fun place…

Heading back home through the Springs, Pikes Peak in the center…

‘Til next time, when we’ve gone hiking for the first time this summer, just as it’s coming to an end (thankfully as always).

The most recent releases from Nights on Venus are the 2-song single, “The Wheels Are Coming Off“, released this summer, and the 3-song single/EP, “Snow Day“, from December, 2017.

Follow Craig and Nights on Venus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

the new single is out now, and move update…

“The Wheels Are Coming Off” was released this past week on June 12th and is now available on iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon MP3, Bandcamp, and all digital media outlets, including Spotify and Tidal. The final cover artwork appears below from the Bandcamp page.

The “B-side” on this is “Our Alternate Lives” which features Erin on alto sax. The mastering on the songs was done by Brian Hazard at Resonance Mastering as always. Thanks for listening!

Originally I had scheduled this release for the end of May, early June, but back then I did not know we would be in the process of moving during this time. We made that decision on May 4th and a month later, after the first and only weekend of showings, we went under contract (yes, the Golden market right now is hot, hot, disco… muy caliente). The inspection took place and has been signed off on this past week. We’re only waiting for the appraisal at this point but we will definitely be moving now in just 3 weeks, finalized as of yesterday.

It’s a sideways move, and speaks to the power of intention, the intent being that we would sell the house quickly and make this move with relative ease. So far it has been, and what seems like a puzzling move to some of our friends will ultimately get us where we want to go, which is back up to the mountains. Evergreen or beyond.

De-cluttering and packing is in full swing now. Even though we de-clutter twice a year already, there’s still a lot of stuff we’re getting rid of now – 6 years of being in one place. Moving is always a pain in the ass – it’s bittersweet, but you just can’t be attached to material stuff.

I won’t have too much down time in the studio during the move – the full album release is still planned for late November/early December, but if the release date slips into 2019, there will be another single release in mid-October.

It’s raining right now, finally… first time in a month. We need the rain, but no hail. Not here, not now.

All previous Nights on Venus albums are available as MP3 digital downloads on Bandcamp, CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon MP3, and also the NoV Website.

Sunday afternoon in the The ‘Cave Studio, Golden,CO… one corner of it anyway. Fender Strat “Buddy”, red Reverend Charger 290LE “Prince”…Reverend Rocco “Goldenboy” in the background…

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“Everything popular is wrong.” – Oscar Wilde

on the move in the summer of 2018…

After 6 years here at la casa NoV in west Golden, we are moving to new digs within the next couple of months. This is the move we didn’t see coming but now it has come to pass, and this week, the purging, de-cluttering, and packing has begun. So this summer will be completely different than the last 6…

And the month of June now will be spent purging and packing as well.
Anybody out there a big fan of moving? Yeah, neither am I.
I’d rather be hiking.

Erin and I would probably spend another few years here in the quiet oasis (bubble) we’ve created with our home, but the surroundings outside that bubble are what’s precipitating this move now. Long story short, the neighborhood had begun its precipitous slide downhill over the last 2 years or so, but especially over the last 6 months, aided and enabled by the City of Golden (boooo!).

The neighborhood wasn’t like this in 2015. Now it’s the constant construction, the increased traffic on the narrow streets, the un-maneuverable roundabout on the main thoroughfare in and out, the behemoth “luxury” garden duplexes, the eyesore to our immediate south, the nascent competition between two biker bars that will turn a half-mile stretch of West Colfax into mini-Sturgis this and every summer to follow. It has been the druggies and the “Breaking Bad” DIY meth lab in the trailer park (which the police, to their credit, did find and shut down), and the fence – the Goddamn tattered, ragamuffin fence of said trailer park which is owned by corporate slumlords based out of Chicago (hey, City of Golden, you ever hear of code enforcement?).

Erin has called it blight and she’s right. Granted, it’s far from the worst blight I’ve ever seen but it’s more blight than we care to deal with. This ain’t wine and it’s not going to improve with age. To the buyers of those new $700,000-$800,000 “luxury” eyesore garden duplexes, you’re going to just love your views of that trailer park and the ease of access into your new [overpriced] home. Enjoy! I imagine you will be talking to the City of Golden (boooo!) a lot in the years to come.

So, our house goes on the market in two weeks and we’re gettin’ out while the gettin’s good… Or as Chuck at the nearby U-Haul said, “Oh, you’re cashing out…” Something like that. Well, we won’t be going far… just 5-8 miles away, ’cause we’re westenders.

Right now I’m finishing up on current projects including the new 2-song single from Nights on Venus – “The Wheels Are Coming Off / Our Alternate Lives” – will be released on June 12th (6.12.18), about 3 1/2 weeks, in the midst of all the packing and general moving mayhem which I’m hoping can be kept to a minimum. The mixes on the songs are finalized and are going to mastering this week. And here is the preliminary cover artwork…

Final cover artwork may vary. We will see you next month, in transition.

Album cover for “We Are All Haunted by Something”, released on July 23, 2017. This is the old abandoned Apache Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico – shot taken in 2009. The image of the night sky is from Justin Marsh, added with his permission.

Cover artwork for the most recent 3-song single/EP “Snow Day”, released on December 23rd, 2017. Available now on all digital media outlets…

The most recent releases from NoV are the 3-song single/EP “Snow Day” and the full-length album, “We Are All Haunted by Something“, both from 2017. “We Are All Haunted…” includes the 2-song single “Speed of Life” and “Confirm Humanity (I’m Not a Robot)”. All are available on iTunes, Bandcamp, CD Baby, and Amazon MP3.

“Speed of Life“, “Unearthly“, “Santos“ and all previous Nights on Venus albums are available as MP3 digital downloads on Bandcamp, CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon MP3, and also the NoV Website.

Follow Craig and Nights on Venus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

“Everything popular is wrong.” – Oscar Wilde

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