Tembloroso Creative Lab

Tembloroso at the Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:55:37 -0600

The Tembloroso Creative Lab team traveled to Albuquerque for the 3rd Annual Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest, which took place on March 23 and 24, 2013. We shared a booth with our friends at Picacho Coffee Roasters from Las Cruces, New Mexico, who just happen to roast our delicious Tembloroso House Blend Coffee. We drove up to Albuquerque with enough bags of Tembloroso coffee to last us both days of the festival. Or so we thought…

The festival opened at 10:00 am on Saturday morning, and the expo center was packed. Like “monster truck show at the Sun Bowl” packed. If you don’t get that reference, trust me, it was PACKED. We started selling our Tembloroso coffee to festival attendees right away, and by 1:30 pm on Saturday, we were sold out of our entire supply of coffee for the entire weekend! Success! It was crazy! Picacho Coffee Roasters brought a few more bags of their coffee than we did, but they were sold out by the end of Saturday too.

We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday telling attendees about Tembloroso Creative Lab, selling other merchandise like posters, stickers, and t-shirts, and giving away promo codes for free shipping on our website. The cool thing was multiple people who had either sampled or bought our coffee came back to our booth just to tell us how much they enjoyed the coffee (and some even said it was the best coffee at the entire festival!) We heard many positive comments about our booth, our logo, our mission, and our merchandise. It made us feel good inside… like a warm cup of Tembloroso House Blend Coffee available for purchase on our website!

Our team is already planning for next year’s festival, and we can’t wait to go back to Albuquerque and sell many more bags of our delicious Tembloroso House Blend coffee. See you next year ABQ!

The Lusitania's new EP

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:49:12 -0700

You know how much I love these boys from El Paso- The Lusitania is a and from my hometown and I couldn’t be prouder that they have chosen to sell their new EP on Tembloroso.com – here is what the EP is all about

“The Lusitania’s For Better Hallway Vision EP was recorded over several months in 2012 at Clap of Thunder studios in El Paso, TX. These songs mark a new chapter, both lyrically and stylistically, in the band’s evolving sound. A sonic departure from 2010’s sprawling acoustically driven release Rain and Rivers, this EP is the first recording to feature, now permanent member, Will Daugherty on lead guitar. The influence of Daugherty’s guitar work and a conscious effort to return to their punk driven roots creates a grittier classic rock n’ roll sound for this collection of songs. The record’s subject matter also takes a more confessional tone, as songwriter Mike Duncan trades narrative tales of weary soldiers and heart worn cowboys, for more personally revealing anthems of wasted teenage dreams and desperate all night drives.”

Buy It!!!

http://shop.tembloroso.com/products/the-lusitania-for-better-hallway-vision-ep

Thanks for the support

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 14:47:19 -0700

Just wanted to thank all of my friends, fans, and patrons for all the support and encouragement as I branched out of music into the bar business. As of today I am no longer an owner of Hope and Anchor. Happy New Year!
Jim Ward

Fruition.

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:06:42 -0700

We are proud to invite you all to the launch party of Tembloroso House Blend Coffee. This has been a fun project to work on with Picacho Coffee Roasters, and we are all very excited to finally have it see the light of day!

Please join us on Wednesday, November 21st at 7 pm at Eloise, 255 Shadow Mountain.

ATTENTION EL PASOANS

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:13:50 -0600

There is a great opportunity to get outside and get some fresh air while helping those less fortunate, and I want to spread the word as fast and far as I can around our community. La Union Maze has graciously donated the remainder of their garden to the Kelly Memorial Food Bank. The hitch is that they need volunteers to pick the produce. So, this Sunday, September 16th, from 2 pm to 5 pm at La Union Maze you can help feed our community. Please, Please, Please pass this on! thanks-

Directions to La Union Maze
http://www.launionmaze.com/mapdirections.html

This is Jerry Hobson and my dad Jeff Ward. They are no spring chickens. Go help them pick produce for the Kelly Memorial Food Bank.

World Leg Numero Dos- The Pacific and the non-Pacific Chicago

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 11:22:47 -0600

I loved this part of the tour!

My time at home is coming to a close. It has taken me almost two weeks to recuperate from all the flying I did. We are off to England next week. Can’t wait to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a long time.

I think everyone knows I love cats. Here is more proof. I bought this cat stacking game at Kiddyland in Japan. Don’t worry I don’t have cat art on the walls and I don’t wear sweatshirts with cats on them… Yet!!!!!

We met chef Graham Elliot. He hooked us up with some insane food in the dressing room. Check that out! Lobster corndogs, steamed buns, mac and cheese, popcorn, grahamwhiches, and salad. I don’t have the proper names for these dishes but it was definitely the best after show food. Thanks Graham.

Before we hit Chicago, I took a few days off on the island Kauai in the great state of Hawaii… it was my first time there and it was pretty mind blowing at times. This is Spouting Horn- it shoots sea water 50 feet in the air

Legend has it that a giant lizard guarded this part of the coast and ate everyone who tried to fish or swim here. One day, a man named Liko entered the water. When the lizard went to attack him, he swam under the lava shelf and escaped through the hole. The lizard became stuck and was never able to get out. The groaning is the cry of hunger and pain from the lizard still trapped under the rocks…

Snorkeling is awesome! It’s basically all I did while I was in Hawaii. I highly recommend checking out Hideaways. It’s a little difficult to get to but the mini hike is well worth the journey. The water is so clear. Not much room to maneuver around the coral though.
Where else can you snorkel and hang out with feral chickens?

The taro fields in a beautiful valley.

A happy rooster!

Shaved ice after a day of snorkeling

This place is called Tunnels. It is easy to get to by car. If you happen to go here any time soon and see a hand written sign for parking do not park here. I mean you can if you want to dish out 10 bucks but if you drive further down the road you’ll come to plenty of free parking, restrooms, and showers.

I think this place was my favorite of the two snorkeling spots I went to because it was deeper and I didn’t have to worry about running into any coral. I would be swimming in 20 feet of water over coral and then it would drop off into an abyss. A little scary.

A word of advice to those who snorkel: Most sunscreens are bad for coral reefs. Snorkel shops recommend wearing rash guards and swim caps instead of sunscreen. If you are going to wear sunscreen wear a natural type without all of those chemicals. For more info please check out National Geographic’s website and search for article Swimmers’ Sunscreen Killing off Coral

If you are looking for healthy food in Japan around Harajuku check out Brown Rice Cafe

I spent an extra day in Japan while the rest of the band flew home. We met up with friends. They took us to the best restaurant called Kaikaya. I don’t know the names of all the dishes or even the ones pictured but it was amazing. They brought us a tasting menu. It took hours to eat and I had the best company ever!

I also went to visit a cat cafe. I missed my cats and it hit the spot. We payed for 30 minutes. There are a few rules when you visit a cat cafe. 1. Take off your shoes and put on slippers 2. Wash your hands with soap, dry, and then sanitize 3. Only pet cats with orange and pink collars on the head 4. Don’t pick up cats 5. Absolutely no flash photography.
Japanese are respectful even when it comes to pets. Some cats played and others slept. Definite must see for cat lovers. I think they have puppy ones and rabbit ones too!

The scenery on the drive to Mt. Fuji

Snack time!

Our translator, Monica, took us to eat sushi our first night in town. Sushi platters for everyone!!!

I don’t remember the name of this place. I can recommend a fast, good place called Stand Up Sushi though.

Shibuya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Splendour in the Grass Festival

Cedric turned our dressing room into backstage toilets. It provided us with endless entertainment as people fell for it and looked hella confused.

Epic view from Chase’s balcony in Byron Bay

Byron Bay is a cool little town. The scenery is not to shabby either. And I’m not quite sure of the story and significance behind teddy bears in tree roots.

Tony and I like to drink scotch at the beginning of a tour and this is what happens. Can you tell which pix from Spain were taken during this new tradition?

I made up my Sydney show. It was great to play with these guys again. The shoes were for charity. Stay tuned for details on that.

I had the pleasure of eating at Icebergs Dining Room for a meeting. The food was terrific and the views out of this world. Would you like mustard with your steak? And cheese for dessert.

My great Australian drummer, Matt, and a beer.

I left the hot summer of El Paso and arrived in Sydney greeted by moody skies. It was a nice change of pace.

World Tour Leg Uno- Espana!

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:53:38 -0600

¡Hola!
So my trip to Spain has come and gone and the time between tours has been jam packed with work stuff. I finally have more down time to make an update. I apologize greatly for the lack of posts.

I have gotten to experience so many beautiful places this year. I am a lucky guy. I played the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim with At the Drive In back in July. The day of the show some friends and I headed to this place.

I am becoming a bigger fan of the ocean these days. I even went in past my waist this time.

Censored photo

Omar and I hanging out (literally)

My friends and I decided to go back to the festival the next night and catch some of Bob Dylan. I don’t think it translated well for a festival crowd, but that is just my opinion. This is what I saw or really didn’t see.

Photos from my time in Spain. Take a look!

It was a trip heavy on friends and food.

Here I am with the Tembloroso crew finalizing the coffee blend we will be selling roasted by my buddy, Chad, at Picacho Roasters

Brandon doesn’t even really drink coffee but he had to partake because this coffee is soooo good

We have been learning about different properties of coffee, smell being one of them

Notes. A decision has been made. Stay tuned.

For my nephews birthday we bbqed and played ladders. I can get super competitive sometimes. I was pretty mellow this time around.

My buddy and partner Jake. He is a ladder afficianado

Check back in a few days for World Tour Leg Dos- The Pacific

On the Road, Off the Road

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 19:42:07 -0600

Howdy-

I have been on the road and off the road and on the road and off the road lately- jumping from At the Drive-In to Sparta and working at home on some new projects in between tours…

Welcome to what will become Hello Day Cafe. We are opening a place with our longtime friends Joey Cazares and Hector Saenz. Coming soon coffee, downtown lunch delivery, and food for our friends Bowie Feathers and Tricky Falls

It seems like we are plagued with the job of taking down mirrors.

This is Joey. He will be doing the cooking… I will be doing the eating. Expect some top notch vegetarian dishes!

You know one of my favorite tour mates is Scott “Ed” Edwards. He is currently on tour with Against Me! (another one of my favorites)- they had a day off in El Paso so Ed and I hit the links… my old/new favorite past time…

The course looked nice… I used to play here in High School when I was the worst player on the second worst High School Golf team in El Paso.

Dapper? Indeed…

I met this character on the back 9- he/she was not into me at all…

ATTACK!!!
I lived through it but it was scary…

We went out to an old family friend’s farm a couple of weeks back and helped pick some squash and learn about what they are doing. The Hobson’s are retired and have turned their Southern New Mexico farm into a benefit garden so to speak- last year every pound of food was donated to an El Paso food bank- 32,000 pounds in all- they cover all the cost which is substantial, so we are working on some plans to help them out

Wagons and wagons full of squash

I thought this was going to be an award winner… not even close. We had a great time and expect to hear more about this project, I am rounding up volunteers!

Meet Chad Morris. He owns and operates Picacho Roasters out of his house in Las Cruces. He and his lovely wife took the time to host a coffee tasting for part of the Tembloroso and Hello Day Cafe crew.

His beautiful coffee roasting machine

Fresh beans

I don’t typically like lattes but this one was delicious.

Check out this clever contraption. Chad says its the best way to make a quick, perfect cup of coffee.

Mmm… Smells good

Chad’s wife Lauren loves to bake. She made AWESOME biscotti (family recipe), cherry pie, lemons bars, and caramels. We were wired on coffee and high on sugar

LA rehearsals with Sparta- Chopper was in charge of the guitars and that makes me feel safe and happy, every time.

Mr. Matt Miller

Mr. Tony Hajjar

Back home and eating some Beet Salad and toasted pine nut quinoa- we are obsessed with Beets lately!

We caught this band at Low Brow Palace in El Paso- they are called Turbo Fruits and they were great…

They were opening for Deer Tick, who has one of the best albums of the year by far- this band is fantastic… I left before the antics of stripping and what not…

Sauerkraut, Avocado, Rye Bread, and mustard grilled is one of the best sandwiches ever!

Cannibal Corpse at Tricky Falls- amazing…

My friends have some fine feathered friends laying some fresh eggs- I am not a fan of birds at all but I am warming to these ladies…

The second weekend of Coachella found our tour mates and family members Zechs Marquise hanging out backstage enjoying the weather, I love when these guys are around.

While I was in LA before the second Coachella I got a chance to hit up Astro Burger and enjoy a veggie burger- I love ’em

I had a day off in LA so I took the opportunity to hit up the LACMA

The Urban Light Installation outside the LACMA

Next door is the La Brea Tar Pit- which surprisingly after 17 years of going to LA I finally visited

What did the bear say to me? Only we will know…

Dan Hadley took us over to his favorite El Salvadorian restaurant- I have never eaten this food before but I enjoyed it and will return

After a day of ATDI rehearsing in Atwater Village I took a few Texas friends to my old haunt in SIlver Lake- the trusty Red Lion, never fails…

It was good to see you old friend…

sparta on the road...

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:31:04 -0600

Hey Gang-
Sparta has been back at work on a new tune and a tour- Alternative Press online magazine is showcasing 3 short tour video journals starting today- check it out!!!

Check out the link for the song “Chemical Feel”
www.spartamusic.com/download

and the first tour journals here
http://www.altpress.com/aptv/video/sparta_return_to_the_stage_in_san_francisco

thanks everyone
j

a hard days night...

Tembloroso Creative Lab — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:45:46 -0600

hello again-
first and foremost thank you to everyone who came out to see at the drive-in play in texas and in coachella, we had a blast-

I took photos along the way and meant to update as i went, but alas… i did not and here we are today- this post maybe a little messy but at least i am getting something accomplished…

Figuring out the keyboards after 11 years away from them became a task unto itself. there was a lot of frustrating hours for me reading manuals and trying to figure out the technology end of things…

it starts like this. a mess of cords and gear trying to figure out how to make it all work…

this is how it ends up… thanks to Brooks for making it look and work awesome…

while i was in la i got to do some extracurricular stuff…

I got a chance to catch the Roller Derby in LA while Iw as there for rehearsals, they got it going on…

i wrote about the cleanse i started a few months back which excluded a ton of things i like to consume, the thing i missed the most i think was coffee- while i was in la for rehearsals, the cleanse ended and i began…

THE CLEANSE IS OVER!!! COFFEE!!! This is from Spring for Coffee in downtown LA- pour over craft cup of coffee, yes!!! YES!!!

then continued on in el paso…

uh oh… the cleanse is over…

i came home to el paso for a few days off before the rehearsals started again here and look who was hanging out at our bar…

Great Dane Rescue of El Paso is doing fund raisers at our bar Hope and Anchor once a month… non stop cuteness…

standing tall…

I want one…

before atdi went to marfa to play i went down with a few friends…

Eleanor Friedburger played a small show in Marfa and I was lucky enough to be off for a few days to go down and catch the show…

My friends in front of the super cool sign outside the venue in Marfa…

Chris Cummings with some post show snackage on our way to the house we rented for the night…

Dr. Paul Ro wearing the appropriate head gear for a Marfa night by the fire…

This is by far my favorite board game in a rental house ever. The directions were INSANELY complicated… I didn’t play…

it was back to work at clap of thunder, our studio in el paso. it was awesome to have the guys around and the crew and everything getting busier and busier. it was buzzing for the two weeks we hid out and practiced.

Back to work… Tony and Cedric in the studio lounge during El Paso rehearsals…

also being home allowed me to enjoy our fine local cuisine…

H&H Coffee shop in El Paso… could the cleanse be over???

THE CLEANSE IS OVER!!! CHILE RELLENOS!!!

once tour started it was great seeing old friends with new tattoos…

This is a tattoo of Justin Bieber as a zombie…

This is Mitch. He is the proud owner of Zombie Bieber…

before the very first show, i went to eat with a few friends at a sushi restaurant in austin called uchi… insane!!! best first meal of tour ever… check it out…

Starter…

First Dish…

Second Dish…

Third Dish…

Fourth Dish…

Fifth Dish… raw scallops and a super hot rock…

you cook it yourself… I am not very good at this…

Sixth Dish…

Seventh Dish…

Eighth Dish…

Ninth Dish…

glass of wine and off to the show… hell of a way to start a tour…

Uchi in Austin- non-stop awesome…

on to dallas…

COFFEE!!! in Dallas…

Tony at soundcheck in Dallas at Tree’s…

my new orange amp with my machete flag…

Omar at soundcheck in Dallas making the most out of having a tree on his side of the stage…

i am sure you already know about these guys but if you don’t, google it…

Zechs Marquis opened all the ATDI Texas shows and they were amazing every night…

back to marfa…

A nice fresh juice in Marfa at breakfast, pretty sure this place is called Squeeze…

home!!!

ATDI at Tricky Falls, it was amazing to have almost all my worlds in one place in one night…

on the road…

To Coachella!!!

Two of my favorites hanging on the bus, Ed (sound) and Dan (lights), make us sound and look good respectively…

Bix by the bus… posing for me…

bus parking and a big coachella sky…

First order of business, fish tacos…

I don’t know that this is an actual ATDI tattoo, but this guy showed it to me and let me take a picture so I think it is…

Second order of business, fIREHOSE!!!

Third order of business, BBQ!!!

BBQ!!!

my two best bros… brooks and jarrett…

the coachella crowd…

Bon Iver pretty much ruled… as did Radiohead and The Shins… it was a good night off for me…

le butcherettes tearing it up Sunday afternoon…

Bobby (drumtech) holding all the drinks after lunch…

and the sun goes down, so I go to work…

and nothing says serious rock band work like your name in glitter…

Gabe Roadie is probably one of my favorite folks ever, and having him there was awesome…

at work… it can be a real good job sometimes…

after a few days off at home, we got back on a plane for LA- here is Brooks being attacked by a snake on a plane…

My friend Jeremy said this was the best veggie burger in LA, he was right…

fried pickles… YES!!!

i am happy to be home and grateful for everything…
i am also a little tired…

see you soon-
sparta dates start in san francisco may 21!!!
check www.spartamusic.com for dates-