Braddigan

Ripples Today, Waves Tomorrow

2008-01-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Our friends Deron Triff and Alex Hofmann, co-founders of Changents, were featured this week on ABC News. Changents is a new social networking site that connects innovators on the front lines of social and environmental change with the people who want to help them. Deron and Alex talked about Brad Corrigan's work in Nicaragua and as a featured Change Agent on their site.

Watch the video...

Now you can be a part of Braddigan's story! Join him on Changents and show your support by becoming a backer! In little and big ways, you can stand up and make a difference. As Alex posted on the Changents blog:

"We need our beacons of light. We need our Change Agents. They are living proof that we can change and examples of where we need to go. Let's share their stories, back their efforts, join their teams, carry them forward, pick them up when they fall... protect them. We need them, and they need us. On dark days it seems nearly impossible to imagine... but we can change. We can change."

Show your support and let the world know about Braddigan and his story!

Japan Tour 2007

2007-10-11T01:01:00.000-06:00

so it's been quite a sushi grade romance that we've had with the land of the rising sun :) yes indeed a raw adventure every time... and this being our 4th jaunt through the green lush misty mountains and tall mirrored riddle high rise skylines of Japan, well we sort of think we're getting the hang of it... i guess it's because we know how to say really important things like Utay (shoot!) or Magiday (oh really?) or moto popocon kudesai (more popcorn please!) that is giving us a new sense of confidence as we remember the glories and laughs of this tour... yea, we're almost locals...

so the first few days of our tour were spent at the surf, skate, and snow convention called Interstyle where we played and hung out with our sponsors (Jedidiah, Cobian, Keen, Surftech, Christian Surfers) and ogle over all the up and coming gear for riding the waves, mountains, and sidewalks... life is truly a ride :) and then after that we headed right out to the countryside beach town Ichinomiya where we bunked up with our buddies at the Surf Garden for a few days... just chilling, sleeping through our jetlag, and surfing was such a great restful break for us... and then we headed to Kanazawa where we played an incredible show at a really viby place called Cajon! yea, a place in Japan named after rey's favorite piece of percussion?? it was too cool... surf shop up front, amazing restaurant inside, and a beautiful all wood listening room w a stage... so we played there to about 90 people who bought tickets to come? we had no idea that it was a ticketed event, and we also didn't know that anyone knew our music... so it was really cool when everyone showed up and man were they stoked? we were fired up because of it and we'll be going back there every time now from here on in to reconnect w Yuki, Miho, and the rest of our Cajon family!

next was a show outside Bros Surf shop in a parking lot where these 2 pit bulls were running all over the place... sort of fliiped me out at first, but then i realized that they were lovers... i guess not all pits are scary :) anyway, the Cobian guys sponsored this show for us and it was a blast... grassroots parking lot rock and roll! an the beach was super close and a huge harvest moon rose as we played... Five For Rose was really fun and furious and Fare thee Well made us smile too... (Fare thee Well really seems to be a japanese hit for some reason??? everyone sang along at nearly all the shows we played?)

then we headed for the Navy base and hung out with our good friends the Rhineharts and their 2 little groms Gavin and Taylor... such a sweet family and they always take such amazing care of us that it's brutal to leave... tatami floors, endless royal milk tea, and Nashi???? oh my gosh it's my new favorite fruti in the world FOR SURE... Japanese pears?? who out there knows what i'm talking about? amen. unbelievable. our shows at the navy base were really cool, met a bunch of dispatch fans, played with marc broussard, and it's always great to be able to hang and bless the sailors that are over there serving...

last stop Okinawa... paradise for sure! mr mayagi's home in karate kid? yea you know it... it's really the hawaii of japan... it's about 3 hours south of tokyo by plane and man is the water amazing- it's just super laid back, the island is lush and the reefs make the water look turquoise. we went there to play our first Japanese Festival, the Blue Lagoon Fest... it was a really good experience for us to roll into a place where no one knew us and to just play to try to win new fans one at a time! we only had 25 minutes to play but we loved the challenge, and that there were palm trees everywhere, and a gorgeous sandy beach right behind us :) made some great friends, had some hilarious lost in translation moments, and managed to get ourselves really lost driving on the wrong side of the road a few times... yea i'm a japanese driver now. it was crazy trying to rewire my head that the turn signal and wiper blades were backwards and that the stick was on the left side... but we survived the adventure with a couple "watch out, watch out, WATCH OUT! WRONG SIDE!" or with me getting perturbed that i always turned on the windshield wipers whenever we wanted to turn...

anyway, clearly Okinawa is going to be a new home for us as the entire culture there seems to love our style of music, and the place is as restful as they come... God spent a little extra time there lingering over the sunset paintings and clouds... i absolutely promise you i saw a perfect little bear staring down on us, eyes, nose, ears and all in the clouds there... i mean every night it was the cloud show? amazing...

so thank you to names like Momo, Youichi, Yuki, and Tomi... and still dreams of meeting a girl named Koyuki over there :) and many mmany sushi and sake memories until next time...

oh and i broke my first board ever over there. yea! "nice attack" said Youichi with a smile...

Review: Worth The Wait

2007-10-10T23:59:00.000-06:00

Here's a fan review of The Captive from Paul Benton, a recent high school grad.

It has been over two and a half years since Braddigan last released an independent studio album. The end result, however, is well worth the wait. The Captive releases on Thursday, following Braddigan's debut solo project Watchfires and a live album recorded at Goucher College.

The Captive is the first studio record with the band's newest member, Tiago Machado of Brazil. Although he plays several instruments on the record, Machado is an absolute virtuoso of bass. Originally from Brazil, Tiago has traveled all over South and Central America and has lived in Hawaii until recently. Reinaldo DeJesus, the band's incredibly talented percussionist, is from Puerto Rico and has traveled Europe, Japan, and many other nations playing alongside many great musicians. Even the band's American leader, guitarist and singer, Brad Corrigan, has traveled extensively throughout Central America, to Africa several times, and even to Japan since Watchfires was released.

Every song on The Captive is infused with influences from all over the world. These influences are evident in every song. The album even includes songs in Portuguese, Spanish, and Ketchwa. Although not included on The Captive, the band has re-recorded a new song, “De El” in Japanese. The overall feeling of the album continues the laid-back acoustic style from Watchfires, but also incorporates a reggae undertone throughout the record.

Two songs on The Captive, “Ileana” and “Mercedita” were inspired by a journey to Nicaragua. While outside Managua, Corrigan was invited into a garbage dump called “La Chureca” by a 13 year-old girl who resided there with her family. Corrigan was so deeply impacted by Ileana's family and the estimated 1,500 others who lived inside the dump that he wrote these songs, and started a non-profit organization called Love, Light, and Melody dedicated to the bettering of the lives of those living in La Chureca (www.lovelightandmelody.org).

Some songs, like the opening track “Valeu, Valeu,” “Customs,” and the previously unheard “Five For Rose” are incredibly upbeat and really display the reggae influences of the band. With driving percussion and swift bass-lines, these songs are catchy and stick with the listener throughout the day. Other songs, such as “Fare Thee Well” and the closing track “On The Mend” show a softer more contemplative side of the band. With mellow guitars and vocals, the lyrics to these songs are clearly meaningful to the band members and the songs seamlessly incorporate new instruments like harmonica and piano.

Some fans will recognize some of the songs on The Captive from Braddigan's Live at Goucher College CD, as well as Corrigan's days reunited with Dispatch for the Zimbabwe charity concerts at Madison Square Garden. The album as a whole is more of what Braddigan's fans have come to expect – incredible, meaningful music inspired by the band members' real life situations and experiences. Fans new and old will be sure to enjoy The Captive.

Get your copy of The Captive now...

Review: The Wait Is Over!

2007-10-10T23:48:00.000-06:00

Here's a fan review of The Captive from Mike Hilger, an undergrad from College of Dupage.

Finally the wait is over and The Captive is in most of our hands. We, the chosen few who were able to recieve it early, to which I owe a massive amount of thank yous, that I had the privilege of hearing the amazing new album. If this is too indepth, that is because this is an indepth band that put a deeper meaning into each song.

Being able to sit down with the ablum and hear it out right, from the first track to the last track and back again, this first album from the full band definitely allows for many great albums to follow . From Valeu Value to On The Mend this album is definitely different than what we, as Braddigan fans, are use to, but as it is said, "with time comes change." And this change is a great one.

With the newer songs like Valeu Valeu, Ketchwa Song, De El, and Ileana (not to say there aren't other new songs), the album has this feeling of what the band really is, a diverse unification of three people who all have the same feelings behind them. The fact that several of these songs are not in English does not bother me. It actually suprises me but I fall in love with Ketchwa song everytime I hear it, being that Ketchwa is a language that is rarely spoken that was begun by the Incan Empire.

Our favorites return and a few live tunes that we've longed to hear on an album are on The Captive as well, "Customs", "Fare The Well" (a newer tune), "Solace", and a great new piece between Braddigan and Josh Garrels called "Walk On" which is a great bluesy tune along with "Fist in the Ocean" which is a great regge/surf rock song that anyone can listen to and picture themselves on the beach watching a group of surfers catch some great waves.

All in all this album is a fantastic new direction for the crew of Braddigan and the message behind it all is even better. The strong cultural stylings of the three: Brad Corrigan, Reinaldo DeJesus, and Tiago Machado definitely bring about this first album perfectly and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for these three!

Get your copy of The Captive now...

Review: Five Stars

2007-10-10T23:39:00.000-06:00

Here's a fan review of The Captive from Joe Conway, an undergrad from University of North Carolina.

Braddigan’s new album, The Captive, is an eclectic mix of many different genres. Electric and acoustic guitar, cavaquinho (a Brazilian instrument), piano, harmonica, and percussion/drums come together to create a spread of reggae, folk, Latin rhythms, and ballad tunes. With the addition of bass player Tiago Machado, this album sounds radically different from Braddigan’s previous album, Watchfires, released in 2005.

Braddigan is an international band with members hailing from Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the US and this album definitely reflects that. The Captive blends a variety of songs in different languages including Portuguese in the album’s opening track (Valeu Valeu), Spanish (De Él), and the indigenous Central American language of Ketchwa (Ketchwa). Even if you don’t understand the language and the lyrics of the song, you are still drawn into the music and can see the world through Braddigan’s eyes. The album tells stories about Braddigan’s travels in even talks about Braddigan’s new non-profit organization, Love, Light and Melody (Ileana). Braddigan crafts songs about living in a trash dump (Ileana) to leaving your past behind and looking towards the future (Fare Thee Well). Josh Garrels also joins Braddigan for a track (Walk On). This album can’t be classified into one genre or specific sound because it is full of many and combines a lot in each song.

The Captive shows Braddigan’s evolution from a duo band with percussionist Reinaldo De Jesús to the current trio with Tiago Machado on bass and other string instruments. Braddigan’s song writing style also evolved to the point where you feel as though you were on his most recent trip, whether it be to Nicaragua or Japan. Braddigan also brings his family and friends into this album to have a sing-a-long ending to one of the albums more reggae tunes (Fist in the Ocean). Overall this is one of the fall’s must have albums and one of the best albums of 2007. If you’re a fan of Braddigan or “acoustic folk” you have to pick up this album. Overall rating: 5 Stars

Get your copy of The Captive now...

Beleza!

2007-09-12T06:47:00.000-06:00

Beleza! Valeu Valeu a todos :) yea that's as far as my portuguese goes after a week rolling through the hills of Brazil... & what a beautiful country? unreal. mountains, trees, every shade of green, cliffs, beaches, & little towns scattered like gravel all over the countryside with some of the warmest smiles you've ever seen wherever we went...

so i've got to rewind the tapes a bit here - back to the the first time i heard mention of this amazing bass player from Brazil... i was in Hawaii hanging with some friends at YWAM when i overheard some of the local musician guys talking about this guy Tiago Machado who was set to return from a few months travels... they said he was a great bass player and remember wondering why that i'd try to cross paths with this guy before heading back to CO... i knew when i heard a friend in Hawaii mention this bass player from Brazil.

Sao Paulo was such a wild experience... i flew in from Nicaragua, 10 hours total of flight time, and arrived at Sao Paulo's Int'l airport at 8:30pm - well we had a gig scheduled for 9:30pm the same night as it turns out and when i got there at 9:20pm we found 1,500 people waiting there for us... it was epic! such a killer cool crew of people and such a warm welcome to Brazil... it really set the tone for the trip, such grace and warmth - i mean we've never played there before, we've not paid our dues in any way, and people were lining up around the block to come in and see us play... really because of three things: 1. Walking on Water's films are big down there and so our music has been there a little ahead of us 2. any int'l band is celebrated down there bc they're super hungry for new music 3. there are a crazy core group of Dispatch fans down there too... unreal - but yea, what a crazy first hour in Brazil being whisked off to an "i must be dreaming" show that was there waiting for us...

so we left the sprawling city of Sao Paulo and headed off into the countryside in our tiny little hatchback of a tour bus! it was hilarious... we were supposed to have a van reserved but the rental shop just shrugged their shoulders and gave us our little turtle of a car... she was a speedy little number though and we must have put in about 400-600km a day - Piritininga, Curitiba, Floripa (Florianopolis), & Guaruja were our stops on this test the waters tour... Rio was on the docket but we had to can it in favor of some other towns... but we'll be back there for sure in January ...

Check out a cool video Rey put together and some photos from Tiago and some friends down there...
-Braddigan

UPDATE: Our friends at Plywood Surfboards wrote a post with photos from our visit (in portuguese). And our friends who came to the show in Floripa serenaded us when we arrived!

Six Hours To Go

2007-07-08T22:22:00.000-06:00

greetings from Colorado... we're deep in a recording studio just finishing up our new record, and it has been one heck of a ride! we've been in here 12 out of the last 13 days working long burn hours, but loving every minute of it as the record has been taking shape... 12-16 hours a day focusing in on sounds, words, melodies, rhythms... recording is always such a time warp, but it's really cool once you hit your stride!

so we're into our last few hours and then that's it, the record is done! it's 1 am right now and we're putting a few more tweaks to all the mixes... tiago is asleep on the couch, rey is getting lost playing one of his congas in the big room, and i'm up here in the office perch typing away listening to the songs wafting up the stairs... such a cool place to be right now reflecting on what has been one of the most exciting few weeks of my life...

ok, now it's 325 am! had to take a bit of a break and go play some drums w rey... in the meantime our engineer, brad jenkins, is still grinding away on mixing Solace, the last of our work. unreal, how much goes into some songs and how easy others are... so last night some really good friends, and my parents, came into the studio to listen to some of the songs and celebrate- then we got everyone into the big room and around a room mic, everyone picked up one of rey's percussion toys, and then we all sang the end of Fist in the Ocean together... it's a sweet laid back reggae tune with a crowd singin' ending :) was so fun to be jumpin' around the room and watching some friends get their first recording experience, and they were solid i have to say!

so far my favorite mixes are "Five for Rose," because of Rey's insane drum solo against all our cut time changes... and "Valeu Valeu" is a funny little surprise too, a sort of brazilian jam that Tiago was smiling to throw down :) we also ended up with a totally unexpected song a few days back called "On the Mend"...

alright i've got to head down there to listen to Solace! brad just gave me the call....

610 am... we're still here- found a harmonica at 430 am that we'd been looking for forever and did a last minute take... now we're trying to pack as fast as we can and get the songs in the sequence... yikes man, and then to the airport to drop off our engineer/producer who has just worked a 19 hour day??

this is nuts... but for some reason we all still love it- some of the craziest moments inspire the best music...

720 am... it's over, we're done... CD in hand, but we really have no idea what we've done... the last few days have just been a blur- and such a wild ride where the days just melted into one another... BUT, who knew that 10 songs would come together in 12 days?! rey, tiago, and i are super stoked... finally we have our first album together as a band, and now we can sleep :)

can't wait for the music to be heard... it's coming...

blessings, bc

Japan Tour #3

2007-04-02T22:53:00.000-06:00

Japan. feb 15-24, 2007. no matter how many times i've been driving on the wrong side of the road, my heart still jumps whenever we come around a bend and see a car coming... and yes it is the wrong side- some may say opposite side, but i think it's just flat out "wrong." i mean come on, how hard would it be for everyone the world over to just agree on driving on the right side of the road?! obviously it is called the right side for a reason, hello :) but then again there is the whole metric vs inches bit too... and funny cell phone stuff the world over too come to think of it... ok, ok- enough said... i guess the bottom line is that i just need to stay on the passenger side of the car whenever we're in Japan (which funny enough takes retraining too bc you're naturally walking to the driver side to get in as a passenger!)

so Rey, Tiago, and i just got back from our first full band trip to Japan! it was such a good time, packed with plenty of adventures, sushi, and laughs... returning this time was cool too bc it was our third trip, so we had a boatload of friends to return to- and everyone there was so stoked to meet Tiago after all that we went through last time to try to get him there, but to no avail... this time though everything came together for us and Tiago was able to fly 11,000 miles from Brazil to meet us in Japan (via DC?? ouch!)- it was pretty crazy bc while Tiago was up in the air for days, Rey flew direct from NYC to tokyo... and i flew from denver- san fran- hawaii- to tokyo... so all 3 of us were up in the air criss crossing all over the globe, eventually to come back to the ground to hook up in the Narita airport by our favorite fresh mango juice stand... we just laughed man to think what random band mates we seem to be- God's got a great sense of humor :)

we also forgot about the international date line somehow and ended up arriving a day later than we had planned?! now that was a rude awakening... so much for a day of rest before starting to play our shows?! so we ended up driving straight to the first venue with no sleep and completely confused jet lagged heads to play the kick off gig to our japan tour- Jedidiah ended up co-sponsoring our tour, alongside the US Navy that brought us in to play a base-wide Presidents' Day concert... so we were able to reconnect with all our Jedidiah Japan buddies for the first few days, and then made our way over to Yokosuka to step into a little bubble of America over there on the Navy base- just such a cool experience for us to get closer to the reality of what life looks like in the military, and to be able to support and bless the families that are sacrificing so much in their daily lives over seas for us back home- i keep coming away from there so humbled and thankful that i live in the US near my family bc of all they do...

then the third chapter of our trip was playing the Interstyle trade-show again... It's the biggest surf, skate, and snow convention in Japan, where we've been invited to play the last two times- it happens twice a year, and this one was the biggest yet. It was incredible getting to be a part of it, meeting so many huge names in the surf world, riding all of these new fangled skate boards and funky bikes around the convention hall, reconnecting with our friends from Cobian, Keen, Jedidiah, Arbor, Surf Tech etc... Just one big party with loads of smiles and laughs, and as always there were plenty plenty "lost in translation" moments!

Other than than, all i have to report is this: Koyuki is still playing hard to get, Japan has the coolest vending machines in the world, Royal Milk Tea is definitely still my favorite beverage anywhere anytime (hot or cold watch out Starbucks!!), Jedidiah Japan will someday rule the universe, 7/11 is crazy crazy crazy over there, (if you've been there before you know what i'm talking about!) japanese taxi drivers wear white gloves, Yen bills are like little pieces of art compared to our boring dollars, and the newest discovery for us this time around was definitely trying out an "Ontsin," which is a Japanese hot spring that feeds into a bunch of different pools/baths- sort of like a natural water park, with all of these hot restful pools carved out of the rocks along a mountain side... and then if that's not cool enough, each bath has a different blend of ingredients from green tea, sake, charcoal, red wine, eucalyptus etc... yea, cold chillin' in J-pan- can't wait to get back...

Bahamas Conch :)

2007-02-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

Conch is hard to pronounce. i know it looks easy, but go on and try it. ok, now 99% of you are wrong... and me too, because it's pronounced "conk." yep, they just mispelled it, that's all :) i was wondering why every time i said conch with a "ch" everyone always smiled... at first i thought maybe it was just their favorite food, but as it turns out that word tends to separate us tourist kooks from the true islanders with a laugh - anyway, i be a true islandah naw mon... conk. so rey, tiago, james, and i just got back from a handful of days on San Salvador, one of the most eastern islands in the Bahamas where Christopher Columbus is said to have landed on Oct 12, 1492. it's a beautiful sight to behold bc there's not much to see other than water and sand. around 1,500 people live on the island, 90% of which are locals... and there's hardly any build up--only a few towns and a lot of green brush. Coconut juice, a boatload of sashimi'd wahoo, and sandra's banana cake too... yea...

Our good friend joe had a vision of bringing the islanders together under the sun and on the beach and so he brought us there to provide the tunes from the stage. The island's main watering hole, the Juice Bar, is a bunch of dance rooms, each literally lined with speakers and subs and the music is always blasting the thoughts right out of your head! I think all the bass thumpin' from the subs adjusted my heart beat. We MacGyver'd a sound system with those speakers and a mixed bag of cords, microphones and some borrowed amps and set up in an open air room attached to the Juice Bar. We started playing just in time to watch the sunset on the beach, and soon after dusk a grill sparked up and carloads of smiling faces pulled up.

Saturday morning was busy - snorkeling, spear fishing, reading, and just chilling in the sun :) as the band was preparing songs back at the house for the celebration, joe and a crew of island architects were building the stage! Right on the beach, between a monument to Columbus' landing, a monument to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, and a beach volleyball court! Just around the time the stage was finished - built on sand with cement blocks, 2x4s, and plywood (it even had steps!) - Rey speared his first fish!

The show ended just after the sun disappeared behind the waves with an island jam of Fallin' - literally the island was jamming on Rey's drums!!! We invited all the kids on stage and quickly rearranged all the mics so that every kid with a drum, shaker, tambourine or clapping hands could be heard across the beach! So many smiles that night...

the Bahamas. wow, what a beautiful bunch of islands... as you fly over them they start looking more and more like little stepping stones to paradise- but when you land you find the truest beauty in the people that come grinnin'... And if you don't have a smile to give back, you might as well go home. "too blessed to be stressed" i saw hanging in Wenzalee's car window... and her husband Floyd's smile speaks the same wisdom. Granville's eyes sparkle like the waters behind him... Kenny the Carver just sits chippin away at blocks of wood laughing the day away...

Just remember CONK - its the way to becoming a true islandah!

Trash

2007-01-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

i'm not entirely sure where to begin because i don't actually remember a start to all this... Rather it's been just one little step at a time into a world unlike any i've ever known, and it's all been moving fast... my education in the dump that is, and the building of this new community of family and friends with whom i now have the privilege to share my life with in and among the heaps... so it's every month or so that i'm back down in Nicaragua now, in La Chureca walking along side some of the families there, getting to know the both dark and beautiful reality of their lives... And it's the dustiest kids that i find there with their lightning smiles and unsinkable imaginations that have the strongest hold on my heart, and their fingerprints are just all over my life now- they are stealing their food, fun, and hope from trash- and they're giving me the teaching of my life.

so with every trip i have yet another duffel of stories to unpack and storehouse of photos and memories to share... so many snapshots of this simple yet tragic life of a people that have nothing other than trash to convert into currency, and an endless amount of darkness and light battling at every moment- what has distinguished the last few months' trips though, is that every memory and image is shrouded in smoldering fire and chalky white smoke... it is the dry season and there are more fires and smoke on the horizon than ever before, from burning tires and plastic above ground to spontaneous combustion below from all the natural gas that has built up in the rotting... i've witnessed more corruption, joy, sickness, dirt encrusted smiles, glue huffing, and new little babies than ever before too. how about this one? wild cows and dogs walking alongside a young mother and her kids. she is 9 months pregnant and still working the trash daily looking for anything of value... vultures, fires, and smoke are her context as she sifts through garbage up to her knees carrying a box of plastic... her name is Damaris and her kids are now our kids, her struggle is now our struggle. la lucha. and man is she beautiful in the way that she carries herself.

i fought a handful of laborers with words and prayers in broken spanish who were told to drop a load of old tires just inside the entrance to the dump, right next to a little community of families living in their cardboard and tin shanties... i've never had so much adrenaline inspiring and confusing my spanish, but i got the point across. 2 more minutes into the dump and these tires wouldn't have been a threat to anyone, yet there they were insisting it was their right to dump them quickly... we offered to pay them to load them back up and into the center of the dump, but nothing. so they just dumped all the tires right across from the families just a few feet from some existing fires and drove off, a few of them laughing. i was unsure of the situation but to my core convinced of our purpose, and i was flat out pissed... so we stayed and found a man w a small truck that lived inside the dump and paid him to relocate the tires... and we also saw the weather stir as our emotions ran high as a tempest of rain clouds came in out of nowhere (during dry season?) and whipped up a 5 minute storm which helped us attack the open flames... it took us an hour or so, and we were covered in dirt and black flaked rubber, when all was said and done... but we were able to see these tires burned away from the hearts, heads, hands, and feet of the people that we'd grown to know and love in that community.

trash and people don't go together. these stories are straight from my journal. this stuff is real. thanks for being willing to open your eyes and imagination up to this place... more to come-