Psalm One

The Chicago based rapper Psalm One visited our studios last week to drop some verse for the Think Out Loud cause. She is a member of the Rhymesayers crew, a Minneapolis indie hip-hop label. "The Death of the Frequent Flyer" (2006) is a great album worth buying (I got it on vinyl and love it). If you'd like to get a taste of Psalm One's remarkable style, you can download her song "Uptown" for free. Her impromptu and heartfelt verse for Think Out Loud left us all amazed. Psalm One is sheer talent. Thank you!

Chris Morrissey

Chris Morrissey (bassist for Mason Jennings, Haley Bonar, Andrew Bird, Chris Koza, The Pines) added some thumpin bass to the album this week for Think Out Loud. Adam Krinsky made certain it all fit together and Josh Dekker found us an upright on very short notice (it came crammed in the back of his Volkswagen, wrapped in a blue sleeping bag). Over morning coffee and donuts we made great music. Thanks to everyone for this pre thanksgiving jam! Check out the other records featuring this great bassist:

Ezekiel Records & Creative Group

We are a home brew record label and fine arts publisher that creates art we can enjoy every day. Our art has a charitable based mission behind it. We are a for profit company that gives back percentages (sometimes 100%) of our product profits to people in need. Hence the name Ezekiel Records. The Ezekiel Records logo is a skeleton on its knees. Ezekiel was a Jewish prophet. In a dream God led him down into a valley covered with dead men’s bones and asked him, “Can these bones live again?” Ezekiel then prophesied to the four winds to breathe new life into the bones. They came to life, rose to their feet, and they lived.

We believe art can make us more awake; sometimes, it can even breathe new life into us.

We have a desire to change the way art is done today. We like to look out for one another. That’s what the Think Out Loud project is all about. And as a lover of music and great art you have a choice of how you buy. What if you could buy great art while helping someone else in the process?

Trampled by Turtles' Ryan Young

Ryan Young, the fiddler from Trampled by Turtles, is immediately lovable. He is warm, kind, and full of laughter. And we were fortunate enough to spend an evening in Underwood Recording Studios with him. Young's talent brings out something trenchant and rascally, and after a few hours over beers and conversation—not to mention great fiddle playing—the Think Out Loud project was simply better. Thanks for volunteering your time and talent Ryan!

In the Studio...

#739 on myspace

If you'd like, you can now listen to me read #739 (Clay Eyes, 2008) on myspace.

Shipping CDs and an Award Winning Cake

Jayne Hotaling—a member of the Ezekiel Record's board, my self-proclaimed manager, my dear cousin—saw these 305 about-to-be-shipped records on my living room floor, and took this picture during our meeting yesterday. Check out her amazing photography here. She's also a one-of-a-kind baker. Read the story behind her award winning cake. Congrats cuz!

What is Think Out Loud?

What am I doing?

This fall I am making an album of original compositions. 100% of the profits will go to helping the homeless here in the Twin Cities through supporting and partnering with local agencies. My hope is to develop a long-term commitment and dedication to caring for the homeless in Minneapolis. An informative article on the problem of homelessness in Minneapolis has been written byMadeleine Baran.

Who am I?

I am a writer and local musician here in Minneapolis. My first album Out from the Darkness was released in 2008, under Ezekiel Records and Creative Group. I have published a poetry collectionClay Eyes in 2008, and my memoir Mud and Poetry: Love, Sex, and the Sacred is scheduled to be published by Fresh Air Books this spring. For information, visit www.tylerblanski.com

Why am I doing this?

I am a young man, and I want to have an impact. I want to make art that makes us more engaged to life. I want to help care for the homeless in the Twin Cities in a practical way.

How am I doing this?

Through building relationships with caring artists, business men, and local charities, I hope to produce a work of art that can have a positive impact on the Minneapolis/St. Paul community. I am building a team of trustworthy, loving people to manage the charity, accounting, legal, artistic and relational facets of project.

Learn more.

Rainy Day Rhyme EP (Free Verse)

Listen to me drop some free verse for the "Think Out Loud" EP

Click here to listen to "Rainy Day Rhyme", or the EP "Bourbon"

My Neighbor

My sister took this picture of me. The fall leaves were just starting to turn, and I'm gawking like a fool.

Most days I write in the sun room of my Minneapolis apartment. The windows are south-facing and in autumn the colors are amazing. Across the street lives a blind man who is also mentally handicapped. He walks with a stick and when he takes a cab, he pays in single one dollar bills. When he's not walking he rocks back in forth in place, holding his stick like Moses or Abraham would a staff.

Last October, I looked up from writing and saw a rush of wind sweep up ten thousand golden leaves to swirl and eddy in the sky. My windows were wide open. The air smelled crisp and sweet. So much color and light everywhere.

My neighbor stepped outside and immediately stopped. He began to rock—uncontrollably and forcefully—back and forth in place with a huge smile on his face. He could feel the leaves brush across him and hear their clatter all down the street. He could smell the crisp sweetness that flooded our neighborhood. Though he could neither see the angle of the light nor the canopy of color swirling around him, he savored something I felt I could not savor myself. And I've been haunted by his joy for over a year now.