An Unexpected Late Season Visitor

While preparing to powerwash the deck this morning, I noticed a recently bloomed Purple Coneflower in the butterfly garden. It's unusual to have new coneflower blooms this late in the year but there it was along with other new buds.

A butterfly that looks to me as a variety of skipper (I could be wrong) landed and began feeding while I inspected the plant. I was somewhat surprised to see it considering Kansas City reached the freezing mark for the first time yesterday but this little guy was working away. The skipper fed long enough to allow me to run into the house and grab my Droid X for a few photos.

While watching the butterfly feed, a second skipper came to the coneflower. It did not stay quite as long.

I decided to test the macro feature of the Droid X. I was pleased to be able to zoom in so far with a phone, and pleasantly surprised to be able to see individual hairs on the skipper upon magnification. This far surpassed my expectations of what a smartphone could do.

Not to be outdone, a bumblebee of some variety visited the coneflower and fed for a few seconds. Both the butterfly and bee left soon after I snapped this, but each helped me appreciate being outside on a sunny, cool morning.

(All photos taken with the Vignette for Android application using custom settings.)

Posted via email from The Subpopstar Project

Autumn Leaves In The Yard

See the full gallery on posterous

I was outside doing a bit of yard work today and took a break to take a few photos with my new Motorola Droid X. I like the eight megapixel camera a lot so far, especially since I discovered the Vignette for Android application. While there were a few mistakes, a couple were impressionistic enough I kept them.

Posted via email from The Subpopstar Project

SOTD: Jason Kent - 'Slowly Dive in Love' from Jason Kent (2008)

Teen Mom did it to me. The guilty pleasure MTV reality show following the lives and trials of four young mothers infected me with an ear worm that wouldn't go away until it was satisfied. Last week's episode ended with a song by a little-known Canadian, Jason Kent, who must have good friends at the network. It's really too bad it's so hard to find Kent's music as the payoff is definitely worth the effort.

Despite the fact Kent's self-titled debut album was released in 2008, the Teen Mom exposure is probably the first time many people have been exposed to his brand of singer/songwriter tunes. While he occasionally sounds similar to Harvest-era Neil Young, Kent has an understated, simple way of singing that appealed to me quickly. Hearing the piano chords of "Slowly Dive in Love" I immediately perked up as this was far different than the usual MTV show soundtrack. It's a haunting track that seems to beg to be played at the end of a long night. Other tracks are more upbeat and remind one of early Wilco, never a bad thing.

  
Download now or listen on posterous

07_Slowly_Dive_in_Love.mp3 (7014 KB)

According to maplemusic.com, Kent has has opened for Rufus Wainwright, Neko Case, Arctic Monkeys, April Wine, Melissa Auf der Maur, The Stars, The Dears, The Unicorns, and The Autumn Defense (members of Wilco) among others. Unfortunately, the album is not available on iTunes in the U.S. or Amazon.com. There aren't even any cheap CDs on eBay currently. The only places I found to get the album are through Toronto-based zunior.com (mp3/FLAC) or maplemusic.com (CD). Perhaps with the increased exposure more avenues for obtaining Jason Kent's work will become available.

Don't believe me that Jason Kent can channel Neil Young? Check out this video of Kent performing 'Great Divide' on a Rhodes piano:

'Country Lane' is also found on the 2008 self-titled album.

'America' is another personal favorite from Jason Kent.

  
Download now or listen on posterous

05_America.mp3 (5276 KB)

Posted via email from The Subpopstar Project