Getting Ready for Goner!

In a few hours we'll be heading up to Memphis, Tennessee with a car full of friends to celebrate Gonerfest 6! Neither of us have ever been to Memphis, let alone Gonerfest so needlesstosay we're STOKED! A huge thanks to a couple of our friends who are taking care of our cats and our record store while we can partake in this fabulous business trip. We'll be back in town on Sunday, and next week have a plethora of new music available to our dear Huntsville.

Be prepared for photos, videos, and other nonsense to be posted! And if you're coming to Gonerfest then we hope to see you there!!!

Music for a Music Blog

So I'm going to try to get better at posting weekly/monthly charts from our last.fm account...and here's the first since the last time we signed in (lol which was in July of '08!)

A Shift

Initially Vertical House was going to be an "everything under one roof" kinda thing, but we outgrew our britches...and it's for the best, for sure! Plus, when life hands you lemons, you dye that shit pink and have a pink lemonade party!!! All puns aside, there is a point to this entry.



My friend Stephanie (and her lovely family) moved back from Portland and we decided to merge our photog businesses together under the new name of White Rabbit Studios! This has been a very harmonious adventure so far and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us! We capture anything in life you want to remember and of course we have all sorts of ways you can see our work: website, blog, and flickr...and we love new friends!

I will continue to post photos here, but not so much of the wedding/engagement/portrait esque type...more of 'Hey! This was an awesome show!'

Also, this blog will be utilized (finally) for what we initially set out to do: share music and talk about great bands! Speaking of great bands, we're excited for the end of September as it's GONER FEST time!!! Seriously...I cannot wait! Hopefully we'll be able to come back with lots of great 7 inches and lps to share with the fine folks of Huntsville.

But since September 24th is still a ways away, I'll leave you with this awesome diddy by Diamond Rings entitled "All Yr Songs"...this totally belongs on our Final Summer Mix Tape, which is taking shape.



For more instant music satisfaction, add us/listen on these sites: blip.fm and last.fm!

What's in a Name

Some may know this already, but the name of our store actually came from our house. The original plan was to have our store above where we lived. After thinking about it longer we laughed at that thought, but the name kinda stuck...Vertical House.

Our house is under going a restoration. We are about 90% finished with the downstairs. And we basically started from scratch. During our first walk through of the house it was nothing but mold, dust, bad smells, and even a puddle 'o' piss in the kitchen...it was PERFECT! Not then of course, but it would be! We knew it! The house had been rented out for 30 some odd years as a duplex. I'll be nice about this...um, you could tell it was a rental. We took everything down to the studs and started all over. The goal was (is still) to restore the house to it's single family resident, gorgeous, potential...and maintain the integrity of the home. So we're a little less than half way there.

I've got our restoration all over the internet, but it's always nice when other like minded folk appreciate what we are doing. One such doll is named Liz! She has a glorious little blog filled with kind, beautiful words and sweet photos documenting her life and what inspires her.

The other day I saw that this cute little icon on flickr had favorited several photos of our house. After clicking on her stream and having an eyegasm for her new sofa, I clicked the blog link to read about it! And the rest, as they say, is history. I added her on flickr, and she asked to feature my home on her blog! But of course! What an honor!

So, yesterday, on my dad's birthday, Liz featured our house :)





Thanks so much Liz for everything!




*Ashley

Alicia & Brandon Engagement

Capturing moments of love and emotions between two people is exhilarating. Capturing your best friend laughing and smooching the love of her life is on a whole new level. Alicia and I have been friends since high school and I never imagined I would be the one to watch her through the lens dance with the man of her dreams. To push the shutter and freeze the smiles and kisses of my friends makes me love the path I've chosen more and more each day. Congratulations to Alicia and Brandon! I look forward to their wedding in December...it will be a very intimate ceremony and a larger reception in Birmingham. I'm honored to be the one that will provide them with memories for a lifetime.

Lianne & Sean Engagement

Lianne and Sean were such a pleasure to work with! Both were so relaxed that you could just feel their attraction to each other as they carelessly demonstrated their love for the lens. Lianne asked that we get some photos on Monte Sano Mountain since that is where Sean proposed. After receiving weeks of rain, the trees boasted their canopies of green, perfect for kissing under. Lianne and Sean will be getting married in her native country of Panama, but I hope to be able to capture a few more moments with her before the big day.

Brandy & Michael's Engagement Party

I met Brandy a while ago through a popular site called livejournal. We became friends from across the nation as she was in San Francisco and I here in Huntsville, Alabama. It was awesome to finally put a face to the personality I was reading about. Brandy and Michael are getting married in Nashville, but decided to celebrate their engagement with close friends and family that still reside in Huntsville. In lieu of "traditional" engagement shots, Brandy requested that I attend their party. There was wonderful food (the menu was mainly yummy Greek items), fantastic company (we ended up having several mutual friends), and lots of laughs and love. It was great fun meeting them both and I wish them endless happiness!

T-Shirts Now Available!

Our dear friend Travis T. designed and illustrated this awesomeness and we have made t-shirts! We're planning on making tote bags as well, I'm just on the hunt for the perfect ones...at least 12" so it can hold LPs.

But yeah, Travis is a fantastic illustrator and writes hilarious comics (available at our store!) so we were ecstatic that he wanted to design something for us. We didn't have any clue what we wanted, but this is perfect!

Man, so far Bamalama Fest has been a blast! Tonight I'm looking forward to Dan Sartain and the Jacuzzi Boys the most :)

May 20th 2006 (re-visited)

Our three year anniversary was yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to make this post until just now. After three years I finally got around to processing our wedding photos*. I didn't do a whole lot to them, but gave them the look I visioned.

So three years (and one day) ago I became a Mrs. to such a wonderful Mr.
























































































HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ANDY!!!

*Our photographers (Beth and Richard of Downtown Studios) gave us a great deal since I requested they just give me the RAW images straight from the camera and I'd do my own processing. So I thank them for giving me such fabulous images to work with!

And here's a list of all the music that was played throughout the ceremony and reception. We made discs of all the ones listed as "801 Franklin" for our guests to take home. Apparently they were a big hit and I have friends that tell me they still listen to whatever disc(s) they got.

GARDEN BEGINNING (to be played as guests are being sat)
Christopher O'Riley :: True Love Waits

GARDEN CEREMONY
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World (what I walked down the aisle to)
Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell - Dusty Wreath
Radiohead - Meeting in the Aisle
Air - Mike Millis
Sufjan Stevens - Tahquamenon Falls
Belle and Sebastian - Consuelo
Iron and Wine - Jason Loves Kentucky
Air - Alone in Kyoto
M. Ward - You Still Believe in Me
Belle and Sebastian - Fiction
Sufjan Stevens - Enjoy Your Rabbit

801 Franklin DISC 1
The Ladybug Transistor - Vale of Cashmere
Antony and the Johnsons - Mysteries of Love
Feist - The Mast
The Velvet Underground - Guess I'm Falling in Love
Rufus Wainwright - Pretty Things
Elvis Costello - Can You Be True?
Neko Case - Tightly
Frank Sinatra - I Only Have Eyes for You
Bob Dylan - If Not For You
Winterpills - Found Weekend
The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??
The Zombies - She Does Everything For Me
Nada Surf - Concrete Bed
n.Lannon - Turn Time Around
Ben Gibbard - The Dream of Evan and Chan
Emmylou Harris - Love Is
The Stills - Baby Blues
The Beatles - Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds
Al Green - Let's Stay Together

801 Franklin DISC 2
Iron and Wine - Love and Some Versus
Talking Heads - Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town
Sondre Lerche - Night and Day
Harland T. Bobo - Only Love
Margo Guryan - Don't Go Away
New Buffalo - Recovery
Akron/Family - I'll Be on the Water
Devendra Banhart - When the Sun Shone on Vetiver
Billy Bragg and Wilco - Secrets of the Sea
Interpol - Take You on a Cruise
Jason Collett - Fire
Decibully - We Belong on Rooftops
Devendra Banhart - Luna De Margarita
My Morning Jacket - It Beats for You
The Flaming Lips - One More Robot
The Magnetic Fields - Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
Ben Folds - The Luckiest
Rogue Wave - You
The Velvet Underground - I Found a Reason
The Elected - Beautiful Rainbow

801 Franklin DISC 3
The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year
Talking Heads - Heaven
Stars - The Aspidistra Files
Iron and Wine - Fever Dream
Jeff Mangum - I Love How You Love Me
Travis - Flowers in the Window
Kevin Devine - You are the Daybreak
Postal Service - Grow Old With Me
John Vanderslice - Lunar Landscapes
Starsailor - The Way Young Lovers Do
Little Wings - I am With You
Wilco - I Got You (At the End of the Century)
The Flaming Lips - When You Smile
Old 97's - Question
Vetiver - Amour Fou
Ryan Adams - Wonderwall
Mark Kozelek - Love at First Feel
Margo Guryan - I Think A Lot About You
Feist - Tout Doucement

801 Franklin DISC 4
Coldplay - 'Til Kingdom Come
Elvis Costello - From Head to Toe
M. Ward - Here Comes the Sun Again
The Zombies - Walking in the Sun
John Vanderslice - Keep the Dream Alive
Gram Parsons - A Song For You
Decibully - Your Love is a Tempo
Iron and Wine - Such Great Heights
The Magnetic Fields - I'm Tongue-Tied
Pinback - Charborg
Radiohead - Arpeggi
Jason Collett - I'll Bring the Sun
Devendra Banhart - It's a Sight to Behold
Page France - Chariot
Interpol - Length of Love
Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place
My Morning Jacket - Golden
Stars - Sleep Tonight

801 Franklin DISC 5
Pete Yorn - A Girl Like You
Emmylou Harris - A Love That Will Never Grow Old
Wilco - I'm the Man Who Loves You
The Flaming Lips - With You
Radiohead - Nobody Does it Better
Bob Dylan - Wedding Song
Smog - When You Walk
Talking Heads - Radio Head
Page France - All Things, All Right
The Magnetic Fields - It's Only Time
Iron and Wine - The Sea and the Rhythm
Ben Gibbard - They Don't Know
Stars - Theme From The Stars
The Zombies - You Make Me Feel So Good
Kevin Devine - Lullaby for a Snow-Faced Girl
Sufjan Stevens - The Dress Looks Nice On You
The Notwist - Pilot
The Dears - Lost in the Plot
Maritime - Lights

801 Franklin DISC 6
Feist - Mushaboom
Nada Surf - Always Love
Death Cab For Cutie - Earth Angel
Neko Case - I Missed the Point
Bob Dylan - To Be Alone With You
The Flaming Lips - Sunship Balloons
Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man
The Magnetic Fields - The Book of Love
Elvis Costello - Let Me Tell You About Her
The Zombies - The Look of Love
Neil Young - Natural Beauty
Isobel Campbell - The Breeze Whispered Your Name
Maritime - King of Doves
Smog - Golden
Hubert Kah - Rosemarie
The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Al Green - Light My Fire