Patron Saints
Our Illustrious Founders Willy Tea and Tom VandenAvond | |
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Just What You've All Been Waiting For Another 52 Weeks As of July 4th, 2007, the third cycle of the 52 Week Club adventure has begun. If you weren't privy to it from the start it's never too late to try and catch up, or just pick up from where we are currently, or just pick and choose whatever themes you might like to write about. Read below to learn all about the origin of the group and how it works. Check out the current cycles's list to see what the Club is currently working on. And, for curiosity's sake, check out the first cycles's list, and then the second cycles's list to see what we were working on in the past. Interested in becoming a member? Email us, and we will add you to our member list. We also have a discussion page at groups.myspace.com/52weeks where all us on-line savvy folks can wax whatever, and where we do our best to send out bulletins for upcoming gatherings. It was way back on July 4th, 2004, the wee hours (so maybe July 5th already) there was a barbecue, beer, and a hot tub (or was it a whiffle-ball field); anyway, they were the necessary ingredients for coming up with hair-brained schemes and making suspect decisions. The hair-brained scheme in this case: write a song every week for one year. Our hero, Willy Tea, had been kicking this idea around for several years prior, but nobody had the wherewithall until summer 2004, when it all of a sudden seemed like the best idea ever, and who wouldn't want to embark on such an ominous adventure. Fifty-two weeks, each week a new song based on the theme for that week, and everyone writes their interpretation of that theme. The themes would be simple words and phrases inspired by serendipitous moments, drunken ramblings, chance occurances, late-night delusions, eurekas, ahas, sheer idiocy. And so, on that legendary July night, the Club came into existence with the simple word "mooner". In short, the Club is a songwriter's collective, a songwriting workshop, and a campfire sing-along, all at once. Activities consist of writing songs and then, as often as possible, performing them for each other. Being a club there are of course very strict rules. Rule number 1: Write songs. The songs can be specifically about the theme, or they can mention the theme, or they can work the theme word or phrase into the lyric in a way that the theme did not intend. The songs can simply be inspired by the theme and not mention the words at all. The songs can be instrumental. It really doesn't matter as long as you write a song. One member even wrote poetry. Rule number 2: No fair using an old (already written) song that happens to be on the same theme as a particular week. The goal of our illustrous founders was to spark creativity, not just fill out the list with old material. The purpose of this club thing was to get our creative flows juicing, and we figured what better way than to set an oppressive deadline. But the club is not about deadlines. Everyone who contributes even just one song in the one-year period has made the club a success. The 52 Week Club is open to anyone. Writing just one song based off the list grants you membership and access to all the fine trappings the club has to offer. The club within the Club, however, includes anyone that finishes the task of actually writing all the songs in one year and is only reserved for people that are unemployed, or can slack off at work for hours at a time, or are just plain nuts. If you want to stretch your cognitive limits, improve your song-writing prowess, just see if you can do it, and possibly go mad in the process, then this is the club for you. The wealth of material that was produced during the first year spawned many projects. Multiple albums were recorded, a band was started, a collective was formed, a new music venue was created, and a movement was inspired. The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit's self-titled debut album released on the Heckabad Music Label is entirely 52-Week Club material. Willy Tea's debut solo album, Born and Raised, is nearly all 52-Week Club songs. Tom VandenAvond's self-titled debut solo album and his subsequent albums, A Gambler's Prayer and A Broken Home Companion are nearly all 52-Week Club songs. Ave Dabis' self-produced bootleg 50 Tweaks comedy album (you can get a copy if you know who to bribe) is completely Club songs. Chris Doud's 52-Week Club Sampler is entirely Club songs from the first cycle (the complete first-cycle, 52-song, four-disc set also exists as a bootleg) For more information about anything at all please contact us On July 4th, 2007, the third 52-Week Club adventure began. Here is the current cycle's listWeek 2 (jul 11) gristle Week 3 (jul 18) ransack Week 4 (jul 25) the mayor (in honor of Richard from the Cow Track) Week 5 (aug 1) knife collection Week 6 (aug 8) chilli pepper Week 7 (aug 15) Texas sun Week 8 (aug 22) what bar Week 9 (aug 29) butter Week 10 (sept 5) badger Week 11 (sept 12) rice paddy Week 12 (sept 19) blue shirt Week 13 (sept 26) mushroom Week 14 (oct 3) pillars of caterpillars Week 15 (oct 10) the roof leaks Week 16 (oct 17) banjo Week 17 (oct 24) we're ready Week 18 (oct 31) shoeless Week 19 (nov 7) the road to there Week 20 (nov 14) thumper Week 21 (nov 21) take the bottle Week 22 (nov 28) kippered snacks Week 23 (dec 5) blue baby Week 24 (dec 12) star upon the highest bough Week 25 (dec 19) barter box Week 26 (dec 26) puddles Week 27 (jan 2) can't hardly go wrong Week 28 (jan 9) almond blossom Week 29 (jan 16) hairy january Week 30 (jan 23) bus fare Week 31 (jan 30) thule fog On January 1st, 2006, the second 52-Week Club adventure began. Here is the second-cycle listWeek 2 (jan 8) player piano Week 3 (jan 15) kung fu dream Week 4 (jan 22) pink secret Week 5 (jan 29) round of rum Week 6 (feb 5) i don't want to Week 7 (feb 12) roses Week 8 (feb 19) first snowfall Week 9 (feb 26) put you to bed Week 10 (mar 5) gotta know somebody Week 11 (mar 12) waterlogged Week 12 (mar 19) grapevines Week 13 (mar 26) we're all old men now Week 14 (apr 2) camera Week 15 (apr 9) go fly a kite Week 16 (apr 16) 1987 Week 17 (apr 23) kiss the ground Week 18 (apr 30) spirits Week 19 (may 7) cabin across the creek Week 20 (may 14) space bag Week 21 (may 21) palm Week 22 (may 28) throw the sails up Week 23 (june 4) forget Week 24 (june 11) calendar girls Week 25 (june 18) wastin' money Week 26 (june 25) big sir Week 27 (jul 2) sunblock and deoderant Week 28 (jul 9) if'n she knows what's good fer her Week 29 (jul 16) nothing ever dies Week 30 (jul 23) whisky and gold Week 31 (jul 30) murder of crows Week 32 (aug 6) mountain lion Week 33 (aug 13) I know where life is Week 34 (aug 20) paint Week 35 (aug 27) Wilfred Brimley Week 36 (sept 3) eat the moon Week 37 (sept 10) treading water Week 38 (sept 17) baby girl Week 39 (sept 24) wrong way to run Week 40 (oct 1) poorhouse Week 41 (oct 8) still Week 42 (oct 15) sap Week 43 (oct 22) by heart Week 44 (oct 29) sleeping giant Week 45 (nov 5) blind side Week 46 (nov 12) ashes to dust Week 47 (nov 19) there yet Week 48 (nov 26) see the man Week 49 (dec 3) lemon peal Week 50 (dec 10) pearly Week 51 (dec 17) sherry wine Week 52 (dec 24) the gift On July 4th, 2004, the first 52-Week Club adventure began.
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week 1) mooner week 2) young when i left home week 3) hat size week 4) skippin' stones week 5) let it breathe week 6) classy week 7) turtle week 8) chuck week 9) brick by brick week 10) doubt it week 11) throw 'em out week 12) shout out week 13) faded week 14) midnight stew week 15) barkin' dogs week 16) lazy train week 17) gypsy week 18) no no no yeah week 19) johnny law week 20) shuffleboard week 21) lullaby week 22) chicken week 23) buried treasure week 24) reckless week 25) onery week 26) race car week 27) broken strings week 28) crayons week 29) off the cuff week 30) oranges week 31) tow truck week 32) shovel week 33) suit week 34) rue the day week 35) the pines week 36) hank week 37) caught up week 38) fishin' hole week 39) pack o' lies week 40) coyotes week 41) banana seat week 42) stay gold week 43) southern girls week 44) fiddle week 45) naked dance week 46) seeds of man week 47) old photographs week 48) the magic hour week 49) lightnin' week 50) holy fools die on week 51) cow track week 52) good luck fellas |
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Patron Saints
