Like a lot of my songs, I get about two lines into them, then get totally stumped, which makes it so at any time I am carrying around 10 or 12 songs in various states of completion.

Peace resumed sometime shortly after Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, which of course is now commonly considered to be absurd, though at that time, we should all remember, the press bought it. A lot of people bought it… or decided to buy it. It felt like the nation had completely lost it's mind. We were helpless and frustrated and all we could do was try to live like life was normal.

The song ends with a rearrangement of the spiritual hymn, Peace is Flowing like a River. Somehow, blindness seemed like a suitable consolation to complete loss of hope.

Albert Birney put together the video for Peace is Burning Like a River. I think he is AMAZING, and I am truly humbled by his agreeing to do this. Birney's work can also be seen in videos for Philadelphia greats The Spinto Band, and The Capitol Years.

See also:
Albert Birney
Capitol Years
Spinto Band

Greg is a main figure in the great psychedelic folk band, Espers from Philadelphia. He also plays in a group that has written a new score for Jaromil Jires’ Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) and is performing it live with the film under the name The Valerie Project. On top of that, Greg runs his own Hexam Head Studios where he has worked with Will Oldham, Fern Knight, Marissa Nadler and a ton of others.

Additional performance footage (my weird mouth) was shot by Conrad Zimmer, who also edited the video.

See also:
http://www.valerieproject.org/
http://espers.org/

This song reminded me of long teenage early summer days before you have access to a car and when you are just beginning to cause havoc (on foot/bike). Like the feeling of the early 80’s cult classic Over the Edge. These memories have a perfect combination of extreme boredom and endless excitement. Even though at the time all you want is to leave, I would go back there if I could.

The group of roving warriors appearing include my cousin Ashley and her friends Verity, Emme, Maddie and Mackenzie. Hopefully they will start a band together.

I make TV shows and movies.

Love,
Jon Michals (aka Jonny Mikes)

Once and for All
Song and Video #1 from the new album.

This was shot mostly by my brother, Ryan McTear. The performance footage is from Amy’s and my studio, MinerStreet Recordings. The rest of the imagery comes from the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia, and a beach under the flight path of LAX.

The video was shot in September 2006. The band was rehearsing for its first show in New York at Pianos. Though great attempts were made to perform with the album version of the song for the video (in a lip-sync fashion), most of it came from the rehearsal itself. The line-up, at the time, was Patrick Berkery on drums and John Sheehan on bass, as well as Amy Morrissey on keyboards and Brian McTear on guitar and vocals (Hey, that’s basically the Novenas lineup…).

Video Footage:
Ryan McTear
Brian McTear

Edited by Brian McTear

Actors:
Brian McTear: Himself
Amy Morrissey: Jesse Gallagher
John Sheehan: Mike Fleming
Pat Berkery: Ric Menck