The Internet finally came to my house today!

Don’t forget to watch this cartoon and download this free album.

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Click here to get the new freeeeeee album

The newly released definitive compilation Chris Merritt – My Life In Melody:  Greatest Radio Hits (2007-2009) represents years of explosive radio hits and genre-shattering staples from the dynamic Chris Merritt songbook.  Explore one of this generation’s most well-respected and colorful international sensations.

But seriously, here’s a bunch of free songs that I threw together on an iTunes playlist.

Actually I made this thing so that I, or anyone, can easily refer people to some Merritt music.   I actually picked these songs very carefully.  Every track on this record follows certain guidelines; they’re each one of my very favorites, and they’re each fairly accessible to first-time-listeners, but none of them are too “poppy”  (I tried to avoid songs like North and Dance Karate and Virginia.  Not that they’re particularly poppy but they had to have this certain kind of quirkiness to get on this comp).  Also, all the songs tend to be on the shorter side.  I’ve done radio edits of three songs (Madison, Bleach, and Cruise Elroy).  The record I think stands on it’s own and has it’s own atmosphere too.  I’ve been fine-tuning it for over a month now.

This record isn’t necessarily for the adamant fan, but rather for the adamant fan to show his friends.  It’s an easy place to refer people to.  I’m trying to expand my little tiny indie future world non rock-star following.  Oh, by the way, send this thing to everyone you know.  Twitter it.  Facebook it.  Email it to your dad and mom.

1  I Don’t See You Here  – from Virginia Is For Hoverers (Part One) (2009)
2  Madison (edit)        – from Pixie And The Bear (2008)
3  The Long Road         – from Pixie And The Bear (2008)
4  Arizona               – from Pixie And The Bear (2008)
5  Bleach (edit)         – from Pixie And The Bear (2008)
6  Flightless            – from Demos Of Nod (2009)
7  Tarmac                – from Virginia Is For Hoverers (Part One) (2009)
8  The Singularity (1998)- from Demos Of Nod (2009)
9  Cruise Elroy  (edit)  – from Pixie And The Bear (2008)
10 The Beautiful Ms. Parker And I Approach The Singularity – from Demos Of Nod (2009)
11 Los Angeles           – from Hello, Little Captain (2007)
12 The Cult Of Karl      – from Pixie And The Bear (2008)
13 The Palace Flophouse  – from Hello, Little Captain (2007)
14 Sugar                 – from Demos Of Nod (2009)

If you haven’t seen the new animated video yet well then I just don’t know what you’re doing with your life

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Don’t forget to check out the new animated music video for Cult Of Karl by Steve Pick.

New best-of album here for free.  Tell your friends and mom.

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Not too long ago, I wrote a song called The Cult Of Karl, which was on the record Pixie And The Bear (2008).  It’s a song about an obscure radio show about a reluctant and brilliantly strange British man who is friends with a well-respected British comedian and taller well-respected British comedian.   The song is a summary of the incredible Karl Pikington’s absurd philosophies.  I wrote the lyrics almost exclusively to entertain myself and I’ve performed the song for hundreds of confused people all over the world.

ANYWAYS, check it out.   So then this insanely-talented English superhuman named Steve Pick wrote, directed, and animated a music video for the song….all by himself.  It’s……well, I don’t even have words.  It’s simply phenomenal.  Layered, clever, funny, touching, pretty, and absolutely perfect.  Ok, well I guess I do have words.

ANYWAYS, check it out.  Here’s the world premiere of the coolest thing ever.  If you have no idea who Karl Pilkington is, click the links under the video.  Here she is, boys and girls.

Karl Pilkington 101

(prerequisites:) Click here first, then here

(now pilkington) then here, then here, then here, then …. okay, coffee shop closing (I thought New York never slept??).  I’ll leave you to explore more Pilkington media.  I promise you that it’s worth it.

Oh, and in the meantime, you can get your copy of the new FREE album here.  I’ll do a post about it, but not right now.  I don’t want to spoil the moment.  Congratulations Steve!

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Earlier I was surrounded by these tough guys at the coffee shop.  There was a huge, six-and-a-half-foot tall guy with long hair, who only spoke one or two words, both Serbian.  There was a shorter, thick guy with dark features who talked constantly.  “Buddy, you like a computer guy, huh?  You know if a stolen computer can be traced?  Like an Apple laptop, could you trace one of those?”  Me : “Why, did you get your computer stolen?”  Short guy looked at tall guy and they both started laughing.  He said “Yeah, right.”  I gave him a twenty-second footnote on serial numbers and security software.  “Wow, huh?  That’s amazing.  You must be one smart guy, huh?  Hey, you know anyone that needs a computer?  You need an Apple Laptop?  You need a computer?”  “I’m more of a PC person.” “Hey, where you from?  You from PA?  VA?”  “Virginia.”  “Yeah, you’ve got that laid back, humble attitude.  I like that.  You’ve got a really good attitude about you.  You want something to eat?  Let me buy you a coffee here.  You helped me out a lot.  You need a sandwich or somethin’?”  “No thanks, I’ve been here all day.”  “You know a lot about computers, huh?  What do you do, you a computer guy or somethin’?”  Etc. etc.  So I tried to get out of there as quickly as possible while still seeming chill and nonchalant.  Then, when I was leaving, “Hey, where you going?” “Gotta work in an hour.”  “Hey, listen, you need anyone beat up or anything?  We can take care of that stuff for you.  You got anyone you want to beat up?  You just come to us.”  Yeah, so anyway, that was pretty freaky.  Oh, and also really really cool.  Brooklyn, man.

So I’m trying to finish this best-of compilation.  Here’s the cover:

Then we’ll be premiering the brand new animated video that Steve made for The Cult Of Karl.  At some point, I still need to tell you about blog icons.  Wes, Dave, Heidi, if you’re reading this, call me.

UPDATE:  We may not be premiering the video\best-of comp. until tomorrow.

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Hey!!!  I’m in a good mood today!  I have a JOB!!!  I’m working as a…….wait for it…….MUSICIAN!!!  ALL RIGHT!!!

The first job I can’t say much about right now.  I’ll tell you about it next week.  All I can say is that it’s hilarious.

I also had my first night as a working piano player in New York City last night!  I played at this place in Manhattan, in this Hotel/Restaurant that should be named The Silly Bezilly Rich And Fancy Place For Really Rich People.  I wish they would let me name these places.  Anyway, it was awesome.  I played old jazz standards in a suit and tie for old millionaires.  And they paid me for it.  I walked out of that palace of marble into the breathtaking lights of midtown Manhattan feeling on top of the world.

Oh, and also, when I was just leaving, this thirty-something, tall, millionaire-stock woman ran out of the restaurant yelling “WAIT!!  WAIT!!  COME BACK!”

Me:  …huh?  Me?

Lady:  I left you something in the elevator!

Me:  You…what?  (I walk closer, realizing she’s had an adult beverage or two)

Lady:  Wait, you’re not Charles!!  Where’s Charles?

Me:  Umm…..what’s he look like?  Me, presumably?

Lady:  He looks like…. (her face hardens and her tone becomes serious) …he looks like….a monster.

Me:  Allright, if I see him, I’ll um….have a nice night!

I’ll never know what she left in the elevator for Chuck.  Maybe she just farted in the elevator.

Oh, and I also got a job through a temp agency, that I agreed to before these music jobs came through.  My job next week is sitting at a desk in a giant skyscraper pretending to do work eight hours a day.  And I’m not being tongue-in-cheek.  This company is paying to have people look busy so it gives the impression to visiting investors that they have more going on than they actually do.  It sounds like something from a Chuck Palahniuk novel.  It would be a great job to have as the worst they could ever do is pretend to fire you.

At the coffee shop.  A couple Serbian tough guys are currently pestering me about buying stolen computers.  Time to go to the library.  Today I’ll try to get the best-of up and cult of karl up.

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Hello! Cathy here, in for Chris.  He’s super busy acquiring some steady music-related work in the NYC, and this announcement is just too cool to overlook. Today, two exciting Web video premieres are taking place, and Chris is featured in both. Here’s some background on the first:

Back in July, Chris played a show in the suburbs of Chicago with fellow 8-bit NES rockers, I Fight Dragons.  A friend of the band, Andrew Lothian, who interns with them offered to have Chris stay over at his house during his visit.  It just so happened that Andrew’s brother, Patrick, was working on a new Internet TV series called Maybe Hip, and one of the segments would feature indie musicians.  The result: Chris sat down with Patrick and Lexie for an interview, then played some of his hits live.  The finished product is really well-done — it’s probably the most professional and polished web series I’ve ever seen.  So, CHECK IT OUT! Let us, and the folks at Maybe Hip, know what you think! (Note: If you hear congestion in Chris’s voice, you are correct: bless his heart, Chris was recovering from a terrible cold. I think he did quite well considering!)  Also, be sure to read Chris’s entertaining blog update on Maybe Hip’s site, plus you can view an extra performance not featured in the episode: http://blogs.maybehip.com/2009/12/chris-merritt-2/#more-699

The NEXT exciting bit of news is that the LONG-awaited Cult of Karl animated video that the talented Brit, Steve Pick, has been painstakingly working on for months is DONE!!! Well…nearly done.  Like 3.999/4ths done. It’s being rendered at this very moment and will be live at some point later today.  I’ll let Chris do the honors of posting it, as this is, after all, his blog.

~ Cathy

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this isn’t exactly new…..err, more like 5 years old. But I’m posting it because we might be doing something with it for the next record!

to do:  answer ancient rotting emails buy internet post best-of album finish cover “art” for best-of album finish christmas song get internet

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I hung out with my German friend Hanna and her German friend Julia last night.  We went to Times Square which I hadn’t done since living in New York City.  I had this weird thought out of nowhere: “I’ll bet I’ll randomly run into my old college friend Jonathan Pilkington Kahnt tonight”.  It happened to me once before, but I was thinking, “what are the odds of that?  There are ten billion people all around” (remember this part for later in the story).  We went to see the ginormous Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center but it wasn’t lit up yet and there were ten billion people all around.  So we went to Union Square which is an awesome spot.  They set up billions of little outside-market-tents on the weekends which I know sounds insanely boring but they’re actually really cool.  Then we went to this bookstore called Strand has billions of new, used, and rare books, and this really weird thing happened:  I ran into my old school friend Jonathan Pilkington Kahnt!  I wasn’t even surprised.  I knew it was going to happen.

We watched Men Who Stare At Goats which I thought was really good.  The German girls were talking in German a lot which is weird because all you can do in those situations is kind of smile and pretend you are part of the conversation, even though you know they’re saying things about your dorky glasses or something.   We were giggly as hell all night.  In a cafe I shamelessly showed them the differences between American accents like southern, boston, new york, california, and then different British accents like london and manchester and southwest england which I was mostly pulling out of my butt.

Speaking of the British, I was reading writer/comedian Steve Merchant’s Wikipedia page the other day and this part made me laugh out loud in public:

Merchant’s considerable height (6 ft 7ins or 2.01 m tall) has been a source of humour and teasing throughout his career. He made a cameo appearance in The Office, playing a character called the Ogg-Monster, whom David Brent called “a big lanky goggle-eyed freak” because of his size^. The Daily Mail newspaper described him as a “giant albatross hopping on stilts”. Friend and collaborator Ricky Gervais has likened him to an “upright lizard being given electro-shock treatment” and a “stick insect with glasses”, or Beaker from The Muppet Show. Radio producer and co-host of Merchant, Karl Pilkington, has described his moves as a “bit of weird art^” in the past, while British comic and broadcaster Russell Brand has likened him to a “graceful grasshopper”^.

A “bit of weird art.”  Genius.

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lame excuses include:  -no internet -sick

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