Photo & Design by Jake Buntjer
Art Direction: Jake Buntjer & Corey Fox

The new album: Turn Coats
Available Dec 3rd @ The State Room in SLC, UT
And Dec 11th @ The Walnut Room in Denver, CO
And March 2011 to the rest of the world

Touring w/ JJ Grey & Mofro - Telluride Blues & Brews Festival

photo by Nathaniel Ray Photography

...touring with JJ GREY & MOFRO and the blessed town of Telluride

Boise, ID - Salt Lake City, UT - Telluride, CO

Grateful, gratefilled, gratitude, blessed... What an ultra smooth week...

"Well, that couldn't have gone any better" - Eric

JJ, Dennis, Andrew, Todd, Art, the Anthony's, Colin and Aaron couldn't have been a smoother, kinder more laid back group of guys... We enjoyed our limited time with these guys and hope to do it again.

"Hey man, JJ and the guys are giving us their hotel room for the night." - Josh
"What? Are you shitting me?" - Cory

"Nope." - Josh

photo by Dustin Christensen's Iphone

The road was kind this trip (knock,knock) and the venues, cities, friends and fans were even kinder... The Boise Knitting Factory was run and operated by some of nicest folks we've ever met, thank you Cedric, Chris and Wayne (to name only a few). We hope to get back there soon, real soon.

"Well, that couldn't have gone any better" - Eric

photo by Nathaniel Edwards

Salt Lake City @ The State Room - ultra smooth as always - Sold Out crowds are very nice to play to. We owe alot of our recent success to Darin Piccoli and The State Room - many thank you's to both and to all who attended and brought good vibes with you...

"Nice song man, im going shopping" - Anthony Cole

photo by Nathaniel Ray

Telluride... We love this little town. The Bubble Lounge... We love this little club. Telluride Blues & Brews Festival... We love this festival and the people involved. No pretension here... Just people being happy people. We play a 2, 1.5 hour sets at The Bubble and Cory ends up winning the Blues & Brews acoustic competition the morning after (gratitude, humility) and is awarded what ends up to be a 40 minute slot on the main stage playing in front of a good 9 to 10,000 folks, sandwiched between JJ & Mofro and Galactic (more gratitude and an extra cup of humility) along with a Gibson guitar and some much needed cash. Such an honor. We hope to be back to the festival as a full band someday.

"Well, that couldn't have gone any better" - Eric

photo by Joshua Dunn's Iphone

Many thanks to JJ Grey & Mofro, Joshua Knight, Jerry Lima, Monterey International and Valerie James along with the rest of the Telluride Blues & Brews staff.

"Very true Eric, it really couldn't have gone any better." - Cory

V-TUNES MUSIC FESTIVAL
Big Water UT (Lake Powell)
www.vtunesmusic.com

Speechless... words can't describe the gratitiude...

The good folks of V-Tunes Music Festival and Big Water UT were kind enough to invite us to play their festival again this year. We were treated like kings of a most royal lineage. This was a truly humbling experience to have been treated so well and to have been so well received. As we headed back towards home our good friend Mr. Corey Fox put it best, "Man after this weekend I'm sure to come crashing back down to reality...". But for the next 6 hours as we traveled home in the beloved "Brutus" we were still living in the bliss that we had experienced for the 3 days previous...

We were provided an immaculate house boat 'The River Run' for the weekend. We had been told that this would be the case beforehand... but we were floored by just how big of a boat it was when it was delivered to us on Lone Rock Beach.

Josh and myself headed down late Thursday night with our best mates Scott Shepard (from book on tape worm), Corey Fox (owner of Velour Live Music Gallery) and Patrick Kintz (from the upstairs bedroom of our house aka 'Starlight Manor').

We ended setting up camp around 4am and woke up to a horde of naughty little nats and the scorching Lake Powell sun around 7amish. We met up with Vallis, Austin, Easy, Sarah and Jessica from V-Tunes said our hellos then ran into the town of Page Arizona for some breakfast at the Ranch House with the local natives. We then picked up some necessities (sun screen, coca-cola, gummy worms, towels) and headed to Lone Rock Beach were we met back up with the V-tunes crew along with some of their friends.

We were escorted about the lake on fancy schmancy boat, did some swimming, wakeboarding etc. The house boat arrived a bit later followed by Eric, Jacob, Jana Thompson, Sarah Skaggs, Matt Skaggs and Dustin Christensen (from Dustinonline.com) and a handful of other friends (thank you for coming yall know who you are). Tons o' swimming, sun-bathing, grunge rock hits on the classical guitar, boondogglin', jumping off the house boat, rope swinging, sliding, the ever so common Skaggs act pushing an unsuspecting companion into the lake and good conversation were had...

We were honored to play the festival with a talented crew of artists including Pat & Rose Maloney, Steven Swift, Dave Mcgraw, Austin Joseph, Easy Joseph and The Remnants. We were especially stoked to share the stage and the houseboat (if but only for a short while) with our good friend and brother Mr. Joshua James (www.joshuajames.tv) who by the way is one of my most favoritest of songwriters and musicians. Love you brother friend.

All in all we had ourselves a handsome little vacation and were able to participate in a ultra-smooth music festival that feels much like a large family gathering. Good souls enjoying one another, good music and some good food, all goodness. There are too many people to thank individually for what could possibly have been the best and most heart warming musical experience of our short career.

A trillion thank yous to Big Water, the V-Tunes crew and all of our friends and fans that traveled to the festival! We love love love you all... we are family.


"C'Mon Cory Mon!"

So there are shows/road experiences that encourage a musician to keep pushing forward and then there are those that make one question what in the hell one is doing with one's life, oddly Denver w/ Wes Kirkpatrick was a mixture of both...


Travelog:
Cory Mon, Eric Ellsworth, Josh Dunn, Brandon Cummings

Thursday 18th

9pmish: Depart from Orem
930: Stop in Spanish, food jokes (mainly Payson folklore with Joshua Dunn and references to Leroy Jenkins - Brandon plays with country artist Charley Jenkins, check him and Leroy Jenkins out!), back to the road - dry roads trying to stay ahead of the prospective storm

Friday 19th
330: through the Eisenhower tunnel into a massive snow-storm (it was like we warped into another world)
630: Denver - what should be an hour drive took 3 through the snow
700: Englewood -Clarks (thanks again Bronco), bedding down
1230ish: Downtown food at Earls with Wes and Company
5ish: Sound Check (tired, extremely)
8ish: Doors open (it's snowed a good 7-12 inches in downtown Denver since the morning)
830: the wonderful Stephanie Mabey (www.stephaniemabey.com)
930ish: Music (the smooth part- mostly smooth;) )
1030ish: Wes Kirkpatrick (www.myspace.com/weskirkpatrick) - sounded great
12ish: load up and head back to clarks
130-230ish: bed

Saturday 20th
11ish: wakeup (much needed long sleepness)
12ish: Boulder Colorado
1230ish: Truck starts making funny noises (sounds like the trailer hitch just acting up - maybe we packed the trailer poorly)
6ish: back to Clarks for the Cougs NCAA tourney game (truck making more noise - better get this checked out)
9-10ish: Dinner and truck trouble shooting, mechanic referrals? (definitely need to get the truck looked at - we've got issues)
11ish: a little cards action followed by bed

Sunday 21st
8ish: calling around
10shi: Mechanic, waiting, Orange Julius, Borders
2shi: bad news (transfer case needs replacing we cant do it here nor can anyone on Sunday)
3ish: Walmart for a trailer lock and back to Clarks to load out (yes the truck still runs but she be sputtering and clanking - with each individual clank Brandon exclaims "oh!" "ah!" "eee!")
5ish: Hotel nap
8ish: Movie Repomen (great flick Josh loved it especially the scanning scene is a must see - me a bit disturbed due to the fact that i dont have the most healthy of hearts...too close to home)
930: we schedule a professional band photo shoot with the photo booth
9:31: photo shoot is complete, photos in hand
9:45: Hotel Lobby hang out with our new friends
10:00: swimming and pool dance competition (Eric destroys)
12ish: wind down in front of the boob tube and eventually fade in to sleep

Monday 22nd
8:00: searching for a mechanic that says they can take a look and possibly do the job
8:10: found the man (thanks to Jim Lacher @ buffalo wings)
9:10: Pit Row Auto - waiting, cards, guitars, bad news , frustration, scheduling flights (Josh and Brandon)
2ish: Josh and Brandon say farewell and head for the airport
5ish: Scott (pit row auto) comes through like a champ and we are fixed up and ready to go
6ish: we depart - many conversations had, lots of driving, snow through spanish canyon

Tuesday 23rd
1amish: home, unload, wash the trailer take it back (thanks Justin)
2-3ish: bed

I hate money, I want nothing to do with it. Unfortunately those who have it or access to it are typically open to more freedom (i am aware that philosophical minds could debate this somewhat ignorant comment over and over again). I love people, I love my friends, I love my boys (my brethren in life and music) and spending time, adventure with them. This was the first show with our current band line-up (very positive and exciting despite the not so awesome turn-out due to 8-12 inches of snow). On the road is where I am me, Cory, the most. I feel more, I am more aware, I am challenged... this was a rough one... an expensive one... but my resolve to make music with others and bring it to others in only strengthened.

times up, let's do this!

ok, ok... somebody is reading this besides my mother...

so people be reading... my mother and at least the two friends who contacted me over the last 5 minutes....

The record is recorded. Mixing is next. 10 songs:

Lover Come Home (formerly known as 3/4)
3 Step
Wings
Gypsy
Hold
Venus
Fever
Dr. Pleasure MD
Broken Train
Colors Fade

apologies...

So we were going to update this as the record was being worked on... ha! A bit of stress mixed with the amount of focus it takes to record contributed to our lack of posts.... does anyone read this?

THE BASEMENT SESSIONS

So it's been a while since we have updated this here blogdogger... We've had a great year of music and have been blessed with many opportunities to share the stage with some amazing musicians. We, The Starlight Gospel, find ourselves working on another record with our good friend Mr. Chad Weis. Chad has flown out from Minnesota to Utah and will be living with us for the next 2 weeks as we make the new record out of the comfort of our own basement. We have been putting together a "make-shift basement studio" over the past 2 days and come 5pm this evening we will begin the actual recording process. I would like to publicly thank and praise our friend Jordan Clark who has lent us a good deal of his gear...he's a saint, a scholar and a gentleman... we owe him bigtime. We are shooting for 10 songs on this record. Unlike the last one (6 days in the devils workshop) this coming record is quite undefined coming into the recording process. We have 6 solid song choices and then alot of options for filling out the rest of the record. It's got us a bit nervous, on edge to work like this but i must say it is also quite exciting to know that alot more of the creating process will actually happen in studio. We also have a new change in the band lineup. We are excited to announce that our pal Josh Dunn will be laying down the baselines for this record. Our good friend (and future band lawyer) will take a different role in this coming record. Devin enters Law School come next fall and has found himself less and less available to "SG time". We are sad to see "Devballs" go but we are thrilled that he will be here for a portion of the album giving feedback, coaching and coordinating with Josh and of course playing some stand-up bass where needed. It's an exciting time for us. Of course we are saddened to see Devin fade into lawdom but this is something that we knew would eventually happen. With each new band member there comes a new feel, a new energy and I must say after just a handful of practices with Josh I am really excited about the energy, groove and heightened sense of rock that Josh brings to the mix. So we start recording Jacobs drums in about an hour. We'll try to have atleast one band member post daily so come along yall who like to be in the starlight know...

Fort Collins, CO

I am alive again! I had no idea how numb I had become since returning from the MN and the road travels that occupied a solid portion of my summer. I just returned from Fort Collins where I played a show with my good friends The Kirkpatrick Project. I also had a great opportunity to play a live 1 hour long radio show. The time away was good for my soul. On the road for music purposes = peace. I dont know how to explain it other than: It is where I am ME the most. The real Cory. I love my home and I love being home but there is something about being away playing music for people who have never heard of me before. I could go on and on about the show I played and the radio station program, the amazing vibe that came from both and how I hope our fans treat The Kirkpatrick boys as amazingly as their crew treated myself... but ill stop here and only give one description that may best illustrate how it is that i am me one the road:

Denver Airport returning home: There I am a good 2.5 hours before my flight departs waiting at the gate. I gots a book, an ipod, people watching and a guitar for "keep me busy" options. Im really stoking on the guitar idea which really isnt like me to pick up my guitar and play in the middle of a public place, but alas im jonesin' to play. So I go off into the corner quite a ways away from everyone and pull out my guitar...playing, then singing. People start gravitating towards the musical pull... next thing I know I've got people surrounding me and little children dancing. I'm laughing, playing, playing and laughing. Music its not just for me its for us. All of us... A lesson learned. Happiness had.

I love my life.

Cory

Pre-Album Release Updates and Frustration

So I bummed. Im excited for the album to release and am most definitely excited for the possibilities that lie ahead but man... releasing an album correctly is alot of work (not too mention cost). We are officially less than one month from the release date:

December 5th Velour Live Music Gallery 8pm Yall. Joining us will be our good friends from Denver, The Kirkpatrick Project (www.thekirkpatrickproject.com) and Jeff Stone will be playing an early opening set that begins at 8. Typically doors open at 8 and music starts at 830 but we're going to try something different and have Jeff playing as soon as the doors open to get all the ears into listening mode from the begining...

I really wonder if I have what it will take to release this sucker properly...
We've had some key help from some good friends along the way. I would like to thank Chad, Matt, Clarke, Jeff, Joe, Angie and Jim in particular.

Album status:
Recording and Mixing -- Done
Mastering -- Nearly Done w/ a quick fix still pending
Design -- In the works

So we are on schedule to release the album on December 5th but its gonna be close which is funny because originally we were thinking if we rushed we could get it done late Oct early Nov...good thing we were conservative and made plans to release in December.

If any of yous peoples want to help with show promotion etc let me know we can definitely use the help. You can email me at corymonmusic@gmail.com

loves and tickles
cory

Goodnight

Hi, I'm Chad Weis. I own The Devil's Workshop Sound Studio in Minneapolis. I've been hanging out with Cory Mon and The Starlight Gospel for the past week. I'm using the term hanging out loosely. We've been working on a new record and locked ourselves in the studio with the expectation that we would not leave until we had a brand new full length cd in hand. After 3 Pizza'a, 2 cases of Dr. Pepper, two loaves of bread, a few cases of water and various other sundries I'm glad to say we have met our goal. It's been a blast hanging out with Cory, Eric, Devin, and Jacob. They are very talented and driven musicians. Not to mention all around nice guys. Tomorrow we load them out of the studio and they will begin their trek homeward. I'll miss these guys, but I'm sure we'll all cross paths again. I do hope they are able to round up all the barking spiders that they brought with them. Happy trails fella's!

Chad Weis

Team Lefty vs. Team Righty

Ok so Team Lefty is slaughtering the team that shall not here be named when it comes to blog posting. In fact team lefty slaughters "they who must not be named" readily. Maybe its because the one team spends most of their time watching DVD's and binding their lives up with other forms of useless media like video games and IPhones. Yes team lefty seems to have a considerable edge when it comes to most things. It is actually for this reason that the teams were named Lefty and "the other" (righty). It all began in Telluride:

So one morning in Telluride Eric, Devin and Jacob are in the condo that we were staying at while I was out taking a stroll down the river. Eric says something to Jacob like, "Hey man are you uncomfortable here with us without Cory?" Jacob responds, "No, why do you ask?" "Well it just seems that you two do everything together and leave Devin and I to one another. Like how you always sit shotgun and Cory drives. Or how you and Cory passed out fliers together while Devin and I paired up to do the same." (obviously Eric and Devin are feeling a bit of the jealous bug) Jacob resonds, "No I feel fine around you guys". And then immediately looks out the window and spots me walking up the road toward the condo. He hastily opens the window and yells with much vigor, "Cory, hurry up I feel really weird being around these guys without you!". Later on that day we decide to play 2 on 2 football. Naturally we decide Jacob and Cory vs. Eric and Devin. Jacob and I are oh so aware that this will be of no contest at all thus we decide that we will play the whole game only passing with our left hands (we are both right handed but I should mention that we have done our share of lefty practicing since moving into our new place in April).

Oh the results of the game you ask? Well team lefty has a hefty (rhyme unintentional) advantage at 3 scores to 1 before the cockiness sets in and the left arms began to weaken. The end result: Tie at 3 thanks to an immaculate interception converted to a touchdown run by Devin. It was a beautiful play Devin and I must humbly tip my hat to such stark and ravening beauty in the form of superior athleticism.

Oh yeah Day 6 is moving along. 7 of the 10 tracks are mixed. Just 3 more to go. Looks like this could be a long night. Chad has been amazing this whole time either he likes us and is really enjoying this project or he is stealthily suppressing the feeling of "I want to punch them in the faces right now" to the point that we think he really does likes us. Serious though we owe this guy big time and we would jump at any opportunity to work with him again. I see why he has been so successful in the music biz. He's genuine, hardworking, a good soul and a fun guy to be around. He would be a perfect road companion. And to tell you the truth that is the biggest compliment that I can offer. We've all heard it said: when you are on the road, whether it be for music or for vacation etc. even your best of friends will drive you nuts. This has been a great test for us as a band as well. The band gets along perfect (well almost, there always has to be a bit of competition with me. I mean come on I come from a family of 6 highly competitive boys) and we get along with Chad perfectly. He's a good man.

Cory Out

Here are the photos as promised!

Jacob is refreshed!/Down time deeds.

I took a long nap this afternoon and now I’m just chillin feeling pretty somber and relaxed. It was a good nap. The studio here has some nice couches in both the lounge and in the studio. As a band we are having a good amount of down time while Chad is hard at work mixing our recorded stuff. We stick around because every once in awhile we love to hear what his magic hands, ears and brain are doing. I spend lots of time on facebook and playing my drums. Chad is also a drummer so he has a number of cool vintage drum kits here and fun drum stuff that I can toy around with. He also has some cool Hammond Organs and pianos, a sweet Rickenbocker bass and some other sweet guitars and vintage things, so we all have a good time messing around with his stuff at the studio. Devin and Eric just went and got season 2 of Heroes, which I guess just came out yesterday. We stay busy while doing nothing if that makes sense. We eat pizza and burritos a lot also, and Devin has stayed busy growing and grooming the worlds raddest beard. Photos of which will be posted very soon. Men prepare to be jealous and women prepare to swoon. Peace!

Day 5

So the rest of the band has left and just Chad and I are currently in studio. It is amazing the attention to detail Chad hears. The tracks are sounding amazing. There is a definite dirty sound to this album and it thrills me. It's really rootsy and organic. We all took a drive through the city of Minneapolis in my brother Mike's car (thanks Mike) last night and listened the the tracks Chad has mixed thus far. Ah the goodness in the mix...
Chad also mentioned that we should pursue an opportunity to tour with Brett Dennen (brettdennen.com for those of you who are unaware of him check him out his music is currently one of my fav's) and that he thinks we would be a great fit with him. I would love to tour with Brett. His music is happy music and it sounds like he is a bit of a screw-off just like the Gospel. Ill have to harass Chad into passing on some contact info that that we can properly harass our way into touring with Brett. Ill have the other dudes update you later on tonight. Also Chad mentioned that he would like to write on the blog as well so that's something worth looking forward to.

off to listen to another possible final mix...

Jacob explains the edit.

Yeah, I did make some minor edits to the blog. To summarize what I edited out I will just tell you that Eric accused Devin of being gay because he likes river dance. Woop there it is!

Hey Kids Cory here,

So uh, yeah, hmmm.... So much to say. Chad has been working like a machine. We are into day 4 and Chad is currently mixing "40 Days". Its kind of a dark and creepy song (which is good, mind you). Im not gonna make fun of anyone. Im not gonna say much at the moment for I am currently not in a gabby mood. I love music. I love this band. I love, I love, I love. Im gonna post some pics. Theme song for the trip has been Jacobs version of Mason Jennnings classic song, Be Here Now (but Jacob sings it in an annoying Arnold Schwarzeneggadoger accent). What made me think of this you ask? Jacob just walked by singing it... again.

Oh and Jacob posted one of our new tracks on our myspace page www.myspace.com/corymon. Jacob entitled the new song Black Doggy. Jacob sings on this one so when you listen to the track you will hear the first reason why we are now considering having Jacob front the band. If you have ever had the chance of hearing me play my unorthodox drum style, you will then know reason number 2.

Pics:
Matt is a busy dude here in Minneapolis so we haven't been able to spend as much time with him as we would have liked but we did have the blessed opportunity of staying with him and his family. It was really great to spend some time with Matt, Xia, Mia and Max. You have a truly beautiful family Matt. Playing music is such a blessing and has enabled us to meet many amazing people. I can honestly say it has led me to many of my bestest friends. Im extremely grateful for Matt and his family. So last night Matt swung by the studio. We decided to jam out a mellow little tune the youth are calling 'You Don't Know Me'. Chad grabbed a mix of vintage mics and set them up... good times. Good song. So we were able to get Matt on the album as I had hoped. Cory Mon & the Starlight Gospel featuring MATT JENNINGS is the tag line that we are currently contemplating. Photos captured the moment yall. Also viewable are photos of the telephone and vintage pre-amp that I sang through for a Tom Waitsy effect on 40 Days.

Love you guys
Cory






ps last post was from Eric, yes I know big surprise Eric wrote on the blog. Problem is Jacob felt he had to edit a portion of the blog so that his parents didnt think he was hanging with the wrong crowd... or just possibly to spare the whole lot of you from hearing and experiencing the dirt that at times runs through our minds and escapes out of our mouths. Its good to have a good example like Jacob in the band. Dirty old dudes like Eric and I are in need of such clean and saintly influence.

On the subject of river dancing, Devin Devore so passionately stated, that if he could do anything, he wished he could be like those guys and said, I quote, "Have you seen Michael Flatley? That guy has some talent!".

Jacob again! Eric and Devin are in the lounge watching Heroes on DVD. They love that show and have been watching a lot of it on this trip. Meanwhile team Lefty (Cory and myself) is working hard. Cory is singing through a telephone. Wow! We are now in a 4 star hotel and we like it much better than the Hotel 6. I used a clarifying shampoo this morning and I really hope that it doesn’t make my hair clear because I think that would look really weird. I prefer brown over transparent. We were up recording until 4am last night and needless to say we were all super exhausted. We got a bit lost on our way back to the Hotel and all our different tired people personalities really emerged as we tried to team navigate our way through downtown Minneapolis. Here they are: Cory becomes extremely brutal and relentless with his teasing and joking; Eric becomes super quiet and reserved, possibly due to extreme amounts of very justified irritation; Devin becomes a total slurry mumbly drunk and tries to communicate with not much success at all; and I am just flat out loud and annoying. We all got through it really well and we have now concluded as a band that, if we can endure something like that at 4am after a super long day of recording and playing together we can endure anything. Good to know. These guys really are my best friends and I’m thankful for them and there patience. As a band we are also extremely thankful for Chad. He is such a mega, super hard worker and is moving things along the way we need and want them to move. We are now calling him coach. He is dedicated to our team and our success on this album. He really doesn’t have to stay up with us until 4am, or hook us up with a way nicer hotel for less money, or do a lot of things that he does for that matter. Thank you Chad! I dub you Champion of the Universe!

Jacob here! Bloggy blog blog. My hands are sore from playing the congas! Ouch! We are having tons of fun and trying our best to make these songs as great and organic as possible. We have recorded most of the basic tracks live and we are working on doing some overdubby stuff. My hands are sore! It hurts to type. Ouch! Cory keeps calling me a sissy but everyone knows that he is the real sissy of the group. He is not nearly man enough to play such intense conga parts for an entire 8 minute long song. I might use his face to play the congas on the next song. That will sound rad! I think I might put some shaker on the song 'Clocklight'. I feel like it might help the feel a bit. Any thoughts anyone? Shake shake shake...shake shake shake...shake your shaker! shake your shaker! and BOOTY!