album release prep + show

: arian's show poster, using stills from "white owl" :

josh & i keep thinking we have one final push before this album is really birthed + shared, & we can rest.    we released the album four hours before beginning a 3-week tour.  then, upon our return to portland, we immediately began preparing for his official album release show three days later.

since josh was well-practiced from touring, the real prep-work surrounded merch.  so i spent the week gathering a few more vintage display items for the table, & we had another stamping party.  our friend chad captured a little video of the assembly line.  it would have taken me & josh precisely thirty-four hours to print these 500 cd covers that our friends have helped us make (in two installments).  thanks, bread&wine and chad witt, for saving us from carpal tunnel syndrome + certain madness!

we're so grateful to our gospel community for helping us pull these together!  we completed 300 covers in three hours, & we were able to give a hand-stamped album to every person who attended the show.

agents of future (todd & angie fadel + other folks from the bridge) opened for josh, then a few of the band members (along with scott franz on electric guitar) joined josh on stage for the finale, a sing-along raucous rendition of "the resistance".

the show far surpassed our expectations after doing so little promotion.  we'd rented out the theatre in faith that we could at least half-fill the theatre.  and it was a packed house!  260 people showed up; they were warm & enthusiastic--so encouraging.  we'd thought it might be a little anti-climactic to plan a release show several weeks after the album's actual release, & after already touring the album in the midwest.  but all of josh's practice put his voice in good shape, & his performance was solid.  it turned out to be truly moving & exciting evening--such a celebration!  (thanks, mom & dad garrels, for coming down to help + celebrating the finale of this year-and-a-half-long album project with us!)