http://chrisandnic.tumblr.com/

Puppers in the snow.

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:45:33 -0400

Another cloudy, rainy day in Cinci. Already miss the blazing heat of Austin.

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:54:15 -0400

Another cloudy, rainy day in Cinci. Already miss the blazing heat of Austin.

Anathallo - “Bruised Reed” for friends who need to...

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:36:00 -0500

Anathallo - “Bruised Reed” for friends who need to know who Anathallo is.

Kicking it with Kevin and Alex..

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:59:00 -0500

So, I haven’t updated this guy in a bit, and I really want to make a habit of it. We’re gonna give it another shot. Now, how to begin? Well, Nic and I just got back from a shotgun adventure to St. Louis.

It all began a few weeks ago when the hosts of Diggnation, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, announced a live show to be taped in St. Louis on Feb. 20th. Immediately, I shot their publicist an email. I’ve been wanting to do a feature on new media for some time now, and hadn’t really figured out how to go about it. Kevin and Alex were just what I needed. The publicist said he’d see if they could fit it into their schedule. “Awesome,” I replied. Then, I didn’t hear anything else.

It’s common for interviews to just not happen, so when I didn’t hear from their publicist again I figured that was the end of it. But then, on Feb. 19th, the day before the shoot, he sends me an email saying that the interview was on. Here I was, with about 24 hours to put together an interview with Kevin and Alex, in St. Louis nonetheless! Well, of course, all of my photographers were busy, and none of my geeky friends could get off work to keep me company, so it was looking like this was going to be quite the lonely trip. Thankfully, I still had one person that just might want to go with me. My beautiful, geeky wife….

Only my soulmate would look at trip that was being planned about an hour before one had to leave and say “hell yeah, I’ll go!” This girl amazes me sometimes. She is also a fan of diggnation, so that may have had something to do with it.

After finding a hotel, a dogsitter, and beer for the dogsitter, we hopped in the car for the 6 hour drive to St. Louis. The drive wasn’t terrible, mostly due to the fact that Nic drove the whole way there (she knew I would be driving the whole way home.) We made it to our hotel without a hitch, arriving at around midnight. I hopped in the shower, and then we crashed, excited and a bit nervous about the next day.

The next morning, Nic and I awoke, wrinkley faced, and took a quick trip to the lobby for breakfast. While eating, Hillary Clinton was giving a speech and Nic mentioned how much her speeches sound like Dr. Suess wrote them. I couldn’t agree more. After breakfast, we headed back to our room to shower, get dressed and pack up. A few hours later we were checking out.

More tomorrow!

-C

So, I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to write about my exploits as Editor In Chief of...

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:40:00 -0500

So, I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to write about my exploits as Editor In Chief of PAUSE Magazine. I haven’t really come to a conclusion yet, but I thought it would be fun to at least try it out. That said, this past Tuesday, Roman and I ventured out to Indianapolis to shoot and interview Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s.

We arrived at their studio a bit early and decided to wait it out in the car, doodling around on our computers while we waited. Andy from Margot gave us a call and told us they were stopping to get coffee, and wanted to know if we wanted any. This is probably the best treatment we’ve ever received as press. Of course we said yes, and they said they’ll be up shortly. A few minutes later, Tyler pulled up with a whole different band in his car. Apparently, he’s producing an album for this yet-to-be-named band from Baltimore. They were younger guys, and we got along with them really well. I, of course, was able to name drop MICA and that my wife went there, and we also talked about J Roddy.

Soon, after we began scouting for spots to shoot in their studio, the rest of Margot joined us upstairs. After a bit more scouting, and then setting up the lights, we were ready to shoot. Per usual, this period of shooting tends to be a bit awkward. They have yet to figure out who we are really, as people, and we tend to go easy when it comes to direction. Roman is really good at making people feel comfortable, and soon we were all kicking around jokes.

In between shots, I was able to get all 8 of them to sit down for an interview. Margot is notorious for shying away from honesty in interviews, so I’m happy to report that we were able to dig down and find real things to talk about. Richard, who had been pretty quiet up until this point, seemed to come alive when we started discussing the RIAA. I’m excited for people to see the issue when it comes out (not until the end of March unfortunately.)

After all business had been taken care of, Tyler asked us if we wanted to stick around and listen to the new album, as well as some of the stuff from the yet-to-be-named band. We obliged, and happily listened to a good chunk of the new Margot record. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and began the trek back to Cinci.

All in all, I’m really happy with the way the day turned out. I’ve been blessed, thus far, to only have had one interview where I didn’t feel super comfortable, and most of the time, the musicians are quite fun to talk to.

In other news, Nic and I are off to catch a screening of Cloverfield tonight. I’m quite giddy.

Till next time.

-C

So, last night, Nic and I went to the opening night of Wicked. Nic’s Grandma gave us tickets for...

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:39:00 -0500

So, last night, Nic and I went to the opening night of Wicked. Nic’s Grandma gave us tickets for our anniversary. These tickets also happened to be in the very first row. First row like there’s no rows in front of us. Just the orchestra and the stage. Needless to say, it was quite the experience.

The night began directly after work, which, for us, is about 3:30. I tend to work sporadically throughout the day, sometimes late into the night, but, for the most part, when Nic gets off work, I at least take a break. Anyway, as I was leaving a meeting with a web client, Nic gave me a call. “So, we have no clothes to wear for this. I guess I’m gonna go to Northgate and see if I can find anything.” And shop she did. I met her there, we exchanged bags and the credit card, and then I took a turn at it. Nic headed home to start getting ready. The show started at 8, and it was already 5:30. We still had to shower, get dressed, and go to dinner. Also of note: it takes Nic at least an hour to do her hair. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, this is an average time for women.

So, by the time we made it out the door, it was 6:30. This put us downtown at 7:00, with essentially only a half hour to order and eat dinner. It took 5 restaurants for us to find a place to sit down and eat without having to wait an hour, Margarita’s being that place. By this time it was 7:15, so Nic and I settle for drinks with chips and salsa. The one waitress in the whole place was nice enough to keep an eye on us and could tell by the way we were dressed that we were in a rush; even though the place was crowded and she had at least 12 tables to keep track of.

We made it to the theatre just as the last call for seating was taking place. Now, our beautiful aunt Sharon had told us we were going to be in the front row, but we didn’t really think she meant the front row! So, at first, it was a little intimidating knowing you could see the actors’ nose hairs.

The show was amazing. Neither Nic or myself really knew anything about it, other than the basic premise. We had a blast watching it though, especially the adventures of Glenda the Good Witch. Afterwards, we wanted to finally grab food and ended up on at the skyline in Clifton, one of the only places open.

All in all, we had a great night and I would totally recommend Wicked to everyone.

-C

Chris and Nic

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:31:00 -0500

Chris and Nic Bergman are two art dorks who married on January 27th, 2007. They obviously like sevens. They also started a music/art/culture magazine called PAUSE. Chris runs the mag and Nic does a pretty good job of making sure the bills get paid. They also both freelance in design, art, and photography. Chris drops a rap on occasion. Nic drops a silly dance on occasion. Together, they make a pretty goofy looking couple, but they like it that way, and wouldn’t want to have it any different. They have a dog named Rook and two cats named Tiek and Kaya. They like the letter K when it involves animals.