old t-hill website: http://www.heresee.com/tarantulalink.htm

photos: http://www.trans-formation.blogspot.com/

UPDATES:

May 00007

Well, it finally happened, we have electricity for real. In all of the rooms, outlet covers and all. Still not done dealing with the company, did not completely pass the final inspection, but who cares, we can actually turn on lights. And for the first time i am writing this update from my very own home (to be uploaded later) which actually feels like a home.
We had a 1 year anniversary party on St. Patricks day which I included photos from on the blog. We had a couple of painting parties to get ready for it (thank you everyone who came!) and managed to get it looking real good for the party. It was totally fun, it was during the day because we didn't yet have lights at that time, so we played games and had a pinata shaped like the house and full of goodies.
Now that we have a kitchen (!) and a REFRIGERATOR we have been going crazy making stuff. Carly had been making kombucha for about a year, but since twig quit coffee (!!) we've had to step up production and branch out into other tonics. We have been making a lot of beet kvass, which is supper easy:just cube up 2-3 beets and mix it with about 2 quarts of pure water, 2 tsp of salt and a ¼ cup of whey (strained from yogurt), let it ferment for 2 days or so and it is a good tasting blood cleansing tonic. Also been getting into making lots of root type beers with yeast and sassafras and what not as well as yogurt and kimchee. Found an electric ice cream maker and made frozen yogurt from homemade yogurt which was delicious and satisfying.
The other thing is that we bought a couch and a tv! Movies at home are great and i must say that watching tv is a lot more fun when you haven't been able to do it for a long time....
Also we have a meditation room where you can't wear your shoes and we have lots of mirrors and no stuff. And twig put a bird feeder right out the window so that there is a lot of little cheepers over the yells of the drug dealers who have been inhabiting our corner every day for the last month or so.
So the status of the house is that the second floor is mostly finished and the third floor needs some work still but is almost there. The first floor is still a big open mess, but adam has been cleaning it up slowly and will be building a room once the inspections are finished. Also we would like to start having people come stay with us for 1-2 months again and hopefully the first person will be handy enough to build their own room. There is still a lot of work to do but our quality of living is so much better that the work doesn't seem so necessary or so stressfull. Our big goal for the summer is to finally get a deck going on the roof. We have the wood but need the manpower and some stuff finished up on the third floor first. In lieu of the deck we built a walled in garden over at caleb's in the back yard, we aren't actually growing anything yet as the dirt hasn't been delivered, but hopefully that will all happen soon.
Mostly we have found that things get better and better every day whether it's because we can organize something and know we won't have to move it again, or that we can relax and read without the “i should be working on the house” thought always lurking so loudly in the background (it's still there... just not quite as urgent.)
Please be sure to check out the photos that I uploaded to the blog, i think you will be surprised at the change in the last 4-5 months.
love,
carly

January 07

Been meaning for an update for so long but kept thinking: i am going to wait until we have electricity or about to get electricity so that i have something to say!! Well, not surprisingly, it took much longer to be able to say that than we thought. Back in september we found out that we will be getting a loan from the city with which to pay contractors with. I worked it out so that I could be the general contractor which would help for the money to stretch much further and also to be able to hire some people whom I already know like our roofer Frank. The main problem was finding an electrician to do the job. Most electrcians either wouldn’t even come out to our place to give an estimate or would not want to do the job once they got here. The biggest hassle though, was that I finally found a place willing to do it but then they wasted about six weeks sending the estimate and trying to figure out how to work with the city. They were finally scheduled to show up and start the work, but then they never showed and would not answer my calls ever again. I figured it would be better to go through the whole process again rather than get stuck with these people who were obviously not up to the job. In the meantime, in October, we actually got windows which was a huge huge improvement overall, as I’m sure you can imagine. So we started the whole estimate—turn it into the city—get it approved thing again and the electricians finally started work right before christmas. Since then we have not been able to stay at home due to the dirt and dust in every room and the need for everything to be piled in the middle and covered up. They finally finished the “rough work” last week, which means there are no actual outlets or switches, just that all the wiring is in place for them to be connected once the drywall is finished. We got all ready to do the drywall job, figuring out it would take at least 62 sheets of drywall for the 2nd floor and 3rd floor alone, not counting whatever we decide to do on the first floor in the future. I thought the drywall would get started last week and decided to take a trip to columbus ohio to escape the dirty and dusty work which i knew i would want to help with but would end up hurting my back again if i did. So I left the same day the electrician’s work was to be inspected, which was rather shortsighted. The inspector found about 7 things the electricians needed to change and the drywall couldn’t start until they did it and and was re-inspected. So i am in columbus where i find it much easier to write about the goings on in baltimore than when i am there! The drywall will probably get started the day i come home, but oh well...I am having a great time here hanging out at skylab and working on projects I started over the summer with these guys.
As I’ve said before it hasn’t been too hard to live without electricity, and in fact, rather enoyable. We recently went to see the movie Black Diamonds about mountain top coal removal and felt quite good about not using electricity. I looked into getting solar panels and realized that we would not be able to afford it with the amount of money it is taking to get the house rewired. Ideally, though, I would like someday to have some panels on the roof hooked up into a back up battery for use separate from the power company. Being off grid in the city is both easy and hard to do at once, since the fire we have definitely been happy that we have a wood stove for heat and that we already had our cooking stove running on propane. Our next plan is to get a rainwater collection system going for use in the toilets as well as drinking water filtered by us (a la the big berkey generously donated by jacob ciocci) rather than chemicalled by the city. We have lots of plans that will hopefully get worked on once we finally have some power and some walls.
As for money we had one great find which has helped us out quite a bit: Twig found 2,167 grateful dead bootleg tapes at the thrift store and had the wherewithal to buy them and cart them over Caleb’s. I managed to sell them after they got yanked by ebay to some dude in a Hummer who drove down from philly and picked every last one up to the tune of 2G. Otherwise I also found some nice flat panel speakers and have been able to get some new releases out on the label in the past few months. Also I’ve been taking photos for the city paper and have a feature story coming out this week. I’m not sure what Twig’s plan is, but I am personally trying to figure out a new way to make money since all of my ebay inventory burned, and have some ideas in the way of juicing and parties.
During the last months we have had some great helpers come and do big jobs with us. Jeff Hartford drove all the way down from western mass to help replace some joists in the front, and christopher jolly chinatowned it from nyc to help with the joists and floor under the kitchen. Miles Huston came by for about 4 days and helped with some other wall knocking out type of stuff. And we have been lucky to receive lots of help still from those around us like David Flores (he built harper’s corner in the kitchen!) and of course Adam and Peter and Carson. Annie McFanny has stopped by regularly too and helped with the gorgeous mosaic on the front as well as some other things. We can’t thank all of these people enough, not only for the travelling and labor they did, but also for the motivation they gave us. It can get overwhelming really quickly in such a big and dirty house day after day. If you are thinking about coming there is still tons of work to do, not only on the upstairs floors, but also we’ve hardly begun to touch the first floor (except for a sweet coat of white paint) and it is full of possiblities. We bought some great wood for a deck this coming spring and just need to figure out how to get it up there and assembled....
Overall our spirits are bright and jolly and thankful for what we have. Every day out of our window we can see people who are much harder off than us and lack the loving and supportive network we are so lucky to have. Thanks for checking in again and keep in touch.
love, carly

8/8

summer has been nice so far with lots of sunshine and the occasional cleansing thunderstorm. we are still without electricity or windows but enjoying the house and don’t feel much need of them. we are both home now and and figuring out the process of what’s it’s like to be in the house with another person. it’s alot harder to organize the amenities (compost, carrying water buckets) when there is more than one person!!

so we haven’t started doing any of the major work as we are still waiting and hoping to be getting money from the city. we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago where they basically said “you’ve got the money” but since then nothing has really happened. we are now in touch with some new guy who is supposed to supervise the payment of the contractor but he wants to inspect the house yet again (the 4th time) before anything can happen. which we are waiting on...... personally i don’t believe anything at this point until i actually see some progress but bureaucracy is to be expected and i am not at the end of my rope yet. the only negative outcome would be if we don’t get any money and have wasted all this time waiting and hoping but i don’t truly think that will happen.

the terms of getting the money is that they will do work on the 2nd & 3rd floor and we will be in charge of fixing the first floor. also we will be paying interest on the loan indefinitely until the house is sold or the world transforms and money is obsolete. so we have been considering what to do with the bottom front in terms of helping to do that. we are considering making it a space to loan out for gallery or music shows for a reasonable fee. if you have any ideas, etc please let us know as we are very open at this point. it is a nice wide open space full of potentional.

so we are getting closer to needing bodies to help again. it is hard to figure it all out, as we will be putting our stuff in storage onto the 1st floor so that they can freely tromp around upstairs if and when they do the upper floor. it is hard to tell what and how much work we will be able to do during that time. obviously electricity in necessary before we can really do any major work. the only project i am currently trying to make happen is to have the deck built sometime around halloween (maybe the weekend before? it falls on a tuesday). this is really important to me as we need outside space so desperately and i have been trying to get this done for years. if you are interested in helping on this project (announcing it early so out of towners can plan ahead) please email me. i think it can get it done within 3 days with 4-5 strong people ready to work on it until finished. also help could come in the form of telling me a good place to get cheap treated wood. my plan is to build a nice turret at the top for long viewing.

so the best news we’ve had lately is that the messiah has been spotted and is actually very sweet. it has come in the shape of a little striped grey kitty and is being accompanied by it’s protege typewriter. i met messiah on the street being rescued by bill sharpie the catman and didn’t expect to be meeting a kitty but knew that she was meant to live in our house. the catman has had her for the last few weeks and is ready to take her and typewriter (originally named stryper) back when the major work is being done on the house. they are very polite and sweet kitties and both are masters of the silent meow. typewriter is a rare hairless cat that grew hair and is blind in one eye. messiah is very sweet and with a relaxed air about her. they have helped along the return of energy to the house and our hearts.
look at the photos on the blog and thanks for coming back to check up on us.
^ ^
= ( )=

6/23

Have been home for almost a month now and am slowly adjusting to our new space. upon arriving home twig was (understandably) totally burnt out and ready to leave immediately, which he did. He should be back around the end of july after heading to the badlands to shoot a western with jenny and chiara. I have been slowly but surely making a difference in the house starting with my sleeping quarters and heading out. You can view photos at http:///www.trans-formation.blogspot.com. I got a window put in on the first floor so now there is more light and a little more secure barrier in the hole in the formstone. Also cleaned out the front of junk and now it is an open, rather pretty space. I worked for three days getting the kitchen into usuable shape, it had already been cleaned once but needed alot more before it was ready for the task of food preparation. I set up a nice bucket dishwashing station and new cutting area and cleaned and unpacked utensils. The first day totally clean I managed to cook dinner for six with no problems and in fact a very nice atmosphere. afterwards we had an awesome show (nora keyes, madame p, larkin & me) over at the bank (caleb's place) and then a slumber party back at my house. totally fun and inspiring. Next plan is to attack the office and figure out the heresee related materials.

As for the money situation it is sort of at a standstill. It had been looking good for getting a deferred loan from the city but I met with 5 of them early last week and they decided that my income was (much) too low for them to consider giving me any kind of loan. So now the person whom we had been working with is supposed to be looking for some other style of funding but I haven't heard from him yet so who knows what will happen. He did say though that they won't cover any work we get done before any funding comes so I am holding off on hiring anyone myself at this point. The other bad news is that the dentist next door claimed much more on his insurance than he originally told us and they have already been sending me letters to "reclaim" that $$$. My attachement to money at this point is such that none of this bothers me too much as i am eating and have a place to sleep and that's about the most i can ask for. It's pretty fun living without electricity or much water and if we got some windows in by winter it is pretty likely that we could live this way indefintely with the woodstove for heat and our propane powered stove for food. sometimes i charge up the awesome laptop that finkbeiner sent us and watch dvd's in my bed. in fact, i'm going to do that tonight! i hope all is well with everyone that is reading this and thank you for caring enough to keep checking back. at this point we don't need alot of help with twig being gone and the money situation so up in the air, but once he is back and the dough gets figured out we will definitely need some bodies starting to appear. i will keep updating as news comes in. love carly

5/13

well here it is time for an update. i (carly) visted baltimore the other day and saw the house for the first time in a month and a half. an enormous amount of work has been done, more than i can even imagine or understand. adam and twig have ripped everything out of the first floor including the heater and ceiling pipes and now there is a big empty still somewhat stinky but not nearly so bad place. there is no electricity nor will there be for awhile but twig installed one sink with water and a drain which is of great help.
the upstairs has also had some walls removed (the kitchen and twig’s room) as well as ceilings ripped down. muffy has been scrubbing like crazy and the bathroom and my room have very little of the black residue which coats the rest of the rooms.
the third floor is strewn with stuff which will some day be checked out and either tossed or cleaned.
there is a new beautiful gate on the front doors courtesy of eric franklin, as well as new doors in the alley which allow us to leave the door open for ventilation but still have a gate in place.

new pictures of changes are at http://www.trans-formation.blogspot.com/

basically the house is returning into a shell state which inspires work. if you imagine a number sprectrum from about –10(fire) to 10(ideal) it is about a –2. i guess zero is the point at which demolition is finished and rebuilding begins.

one reason that i came to baltimore was to visit a city official with twig. i arrived at 2 am the night before and rose at 8 to travel downtown. the meeting went quite well with everyone sizing each other up and liking what they see. there are no decisions or promises yet, but we are going to continue jumping through paperwork hoops in hopes of getting a loan. one big factor is insurance, and luckily we were able to find a company which gave us ‘renovation insurance’ for the next 6 months. right now all we can do is wait for more meetings and hope for the best. whether or not we get this loan will make a huge impact on what happens to the house.

as we have been saying and cannot say enough: thank you to everyone who has helped us as we go along. the thoughts and wishes have been just as helpful as money donated and benefits held. our recent trip to new york for the benefit show was fruitful in many ways. playing with max and twig was otherworldly as usual? you can read about it in the new york times here: http://www.loadrecords.com/downloads/nytimes_5-9.pdf
thanks again to carlos and jeff, lightning bolt, double leopards and kites.
our spirits have remained high as the sense of community reverberates within and without us.

as i am still on the road and twig is about to leave upon my return we are maintaining a ‘living in limbo’ mentality which is quite nice. it should end sometime in july. our communications will be patchy until then though our phone at the house does now work.

4/26

dear world,

hello i am in my travels and thought that it is time for an update.

here is where i have been so far:bloomington, nashville, camping & kansas city.

in bloomington i stayed with miss aurora doreyalice fox in a trailer. The trailer was very cute, a small older single wide with windows on three sides and ceilings i could touch. dorey and i spent alot of time musing upon such topics as miss laura archera huxley, time, music, churches and of course burnt stuff. we went to a sauna and ate lots of free food. our performance together was situated in a bookstore with flourescent lighting and large tables with chairs; very intimate. the crotch council performed through the video screen with drums and images. the performance agreed upon by miss fox and miss ptak was to teach eachother something. miss fox asked miss ptak to teach her how to loosen the the ties to fear amd miss ptak asked miss fox to teach her how to speak in tongues. both feats were successful and highlighted by a deep trance reached in tandem. the two parties parted in a warm glow hopefully to see eachother soon.

nashville was highlighted by food coming fast and furious and along with stories from angela and derek.. there was lots to do including:
*eating papusa’s and checking out J & R International foods which is immense and has a different aisle for each country.
*hanging with the ladies on a nashville tour where we visited “love circle” the highest make-out hill in town and the imperial hotel which features an all jade bathroom and chandeliers.
*we also attended an awesome show where the old seadog bartender cut a live light fixture down with pliers during the middle of a performance. I also had the honor of photographing the impractical cockpit’s practical cockpit.
angela and carly decided upon a performance of frenzied making. carly practiced silence while angela practiced talking and both worked hard to sew about 20 oven mitt’s and distribute them to the audience. the audience then decorated each of their mitt’s with plastic goodies and paint. a coin was flipped for each mitt and one pile was burned.
the trip ended with a visit to an adoption center where i adopted porkchop, a small red half boston terrier half fox dog.

porkchop and i went on a camping trip for a week in the missouri wilds. there are many huge state and national parks in southeast missouri where you can’t hear cars at all. first we went to wapaponga lake where porkchop and i got to know eachother. i gave him a bath and let him off the leash on walks and he stayed right by me. after that we went to silver mines national park where we were the only campers in a sixty camp park. we went on a long hike and ended up picknicking with a country family on a fishing excursion. there was a vietnam vet who showed me how to make hobo coffee. during the time i was sitting with them he went off fishing and came back with a 5 foot black snake on the end of his knife. it had bitten him so he killed it. he washed out the bite with soapy water and went back to fishing. we also visited a river where we went swimming and got swept away by the current and landed on a bank full of pottery grade clay. on the ride to Kansas city we visited almosta ranch which was full of decrepit buildings and every farm animal imaginable.

Kansas city was a journey into the unnameable world of j. Ashley miller. Upon arrival we dined with his family whom he also lives with. The next morning, easter Sunday, I was greeted by a beaver who had a bag for me filled with a slice of cheese, a dead 9 volt battery, and other useless sundries. Later on there was a real easter basket filled with candy and honey that’s ashley’s mother made. Throughout the day I enjoyed the company of his 11 year old sister Madison and we introduced the dogs to eachother. by this time i had decided that i couldn’t keep porkchop and both madison and i were hoping he would stay, but it was not to be. later on in the week i gave him to a sweet family with another dog for him to play with. the highlight of my week in kansas city was a sweatlodge which was held in my honor. it was presided over by chief standing cloud of the sioux spider clan and was carried out in the traditional native manner. it is difficult to put into words what happened, but suffice it to say it definitely cleared much collected energy out of me and i have felt better ever since.
ashley and carly had a different plan all week, but decided on the last day that instead they would reinvent the new tradition of the duel. it was extremely successful. the duel between ashely and carly consisted of alot of words on carly’s part and yellow items and gestures on ashley’s side. secret weapons abound. each surprised themselves with the intensity of the match. ashely was declared the winner by the audience, but he pointed out that a ball crossed the line so that carly was the winner. the first duel was a tie. The rules are included below, please feel free to have your own and/or email us with any questions. there will be the first tournament in columbus this saturday.

**. A circle will be drawn on the ground and a line to divide it. Once the circle has been entered by the competitors (they may bring items) no physical object may cross the lines whether it is by competitors or audience. If this happens the side who has crossed the line has lost.

**. There must be a referee chosen and approved by both sides before the duel has begun. The referee has three responsibilities:
1. if microphones are being used they must test and set the levels at equal volume before the match is begun.
2. the referee shall call the match if an object or person crosses the line
3. the referee must accurately guage the audience reaction and declare a winner

**. The duel will have a set time limit previously decided by the duelers. If neither competitor has left the circle by the end, the referee will declare the winner in response to audience reaction.

**. The duelers may make up any rules they wish, but they must be posted during the duel to be binding.

**. What happens in the duel stays in the duel.

I am now in columbus and have my own room. aaron and i have big plans including decks of cards, consecrations and processions. i will make a quick stop in cinci, play in nyc on may 7th with twig and max and then head out to the north coast.
if anyone in the boston area would like to contact me to hang out please do carlyptak@hotmail.com. if there is a show already happening in boston around may 10 11 or 12 and would like me to perform that would be great. prefereably i need a seated audience ready to focus. after that i will be in western mass collaborating with byron coley and the show will featuring the (premier?) of addy coley & coco moore’s band.
i look forward to the future , am throroughly enjoying the now and do not regret the past. i know i have a hand in all things that happen to me. thank you to everyone who has been sending energy my way.
love carly
ps. i am trying to keep my photos updated on my blog www.carlyptak.blogspot.com

short update 3/31

photos are posted here http://trans-formation.blogspot.com/

there will be more soon

thank you to everyone who has donated help and money to us in the last week. a great amount of cleaning and demolishing has been accomplished in a short time. the money from paypal has been a great help to pay for dumpsters ($450 a pop) and to buy tools for demolition. hopefully the planned benefits will roll in as we continue to plan and buy materials for rebuilding. we have been working on trying to get some help from the city-- it is unknown if it will happen and further in the future but keep your fingers crossed. we've also been looking at installing some solar panels and/or turbines-- if anyone knows about this or how to get cheap parts please get in touch. power needs to be installed asap (along with makeshift windows) so planning this now would be optimal.

OUR BUILDING HAS BURNED, WE HAVE LITTLE computer access to organize what needs to be done, Our phone is back working, call 410-945-7825! Right now we are demolishing the burnt bottom floor all weekend (today is 3-23-06) filling up dumpster to arrive tommorrow. After we clear out the mess we will be rebuiling.... Current damage assement: Most all electronics and recording equpiment are destroyed, some might be salavged but since alot has been drenched in water/muck the stuff that seems saveable needs to be cleaned asap. Our screen print/poster collection is soaked and smoke damaged but should dry out wrinkly.... All of Ptaks fiber/print/plastic art studio is destroyed. 2nd and 3rd floor busted out windows need to be covered, we have tons of plastic that can attached to busted frames. Hole in front of building needs to be repaired brick/glass blocks/bottle windows (???)..... Upstairs inches of soot and water damge need to be cleaned, 2nd floor busted drywall needs to be cleared out. Luckly the structure of our buling is still solid, but the waterlines and all electric are dead. If you are coming down to help we have 7 very good resperators to use, bring work boots/gloves/hard hats and dirty clothes, right now on the westside housing is slim but can work out a space for you to stay if you want to come from out of town, Tarantulla Hilll not only housed C+T but was a handful of peoples only acces to a kitchen and bathroom, thankfully Peter B has been hosting us at his place. If you want to help with wo/manpower we should have enough tools but no electricty at this moment, so human powered tools are the best, hopefully our generator will dry out and work soon also. The overwhelming love and support from people around the world has warmed our hearts and made this tramatic circumstance seem less tramatic. We feel truely blessed and promise WE WILL NOT STOP. If you have any visionary ideas to contribute please let us know. Off-Grid / Green acritechture desings are incouraged: dehydrating toilets, rainwater collection systems, passive solar.... If you have any talent or adivice please get in toucvh at the bottom of this page we have a list of needed supplies. We will be putting up photos.

WE LOVE YOU.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-03/23.shtml#nauticalalmanac

http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=11613

also some benift shows/releases are being planned.... more on that later.

Our label: Heresee is down http://www.heresee.com/heresee.htm

Our duplication services are down: http://www.heresee.com/cdrduplication.htm

Our band is current unable to play shows: http://www.heresee.com/nauticallink.htm (but Carly, Twig and Max are still performing solo if you want us to perform. Carly is still going on her tour starting next week)

Our performance/living space is obviously destroyed http://www.heresee.com/tarantulalink.htm

email access is limited, but twig@heresee is the best way if you dont want to use the phone but I cannot guiarenttee that I will answer.

3/17/06

HELLO ALL
As some of you may know tarantula hill caught on fire this past st.
patrick' s day.  Fortunately caleb was there and able to keep things
under control as best he could.  The fire started on the first floor
in the front room: a bag of packing peanuts caught on fire (mostly
likely from a faulty flourescent light and curious cat) and it quickly
spread to the ceiling and walls.  After trying to fight the fire Caleb
was forced to leave and the firefighters arrived thereafter.  They
knocked a hole in the front formstone, smashed out the windows above
and were able to get the fire out before it spread to the second floor
or back of the house. They extiguished the fire without cutting a hole
in the roof which we thank them for.  Doing their jobs they went
through the house and ripped all of the electrical lines out of the
walls and removed dangerous appliances like space heaters and tv's.
After the firemen left peter was able to turn off the water main and
stopped the burst pipes from flooding any further.  All kitties
succumbed to the smoke which filled the entire house.  And even though
it was a tragic event for us we are truly blessed that we were not in
the house sleeping and that caleb was there to do something right away
and able to escape relatively unscathed.

During the time of the fire we were in New York City for the No Fun
fest.  The fire happened on friday but we were assured by max that the
best thing to do was stay with our friends and wait a couple of days
to come home.  We passed the time in the best way we could- with our
friends and loved ones surrounding us and offering their support
(thank you to everyone who was there).  Twig was able to perform music
to express himself and carly cooked and rabbleroused as is her nature.
Each had mind expanding events unfold throughout the entire time.  All
of this was done with tumultuous emotions ranging from thankfulness
for all that we have and unknowing questions about the future near and
far.  During these days Caleb, Max, and Peter organized an extensive
clean up crew of fellow baltimore friends (thank you everyone who came
and helped) and did an amazing amount of work putting the house in
order the best they could. They knew as well as us that we would not
stay if we saw the house in the condition the fire and water left it
in. All of this happened without coverage by an insurance company who
would not possibly have covered  the damages anyway (we have a
woodstove and mostly uninsurable items) but with the insurance of our
friends and family who have already demonstrated that they will be
there for us when we need them.

We arrived home yesterday and are still assessing the damages.  They
are high. All `ebay' items in the front room are gone as well as the
office, electronics workshop and carly's studio.  Water poured on top
of the equipment storage room and leaked into the basement.  The
second and third floors are mainly windowless and covered in black
soot as well as knocked out walls and strewn items.  At the end of
this email you will find a more detailed list of what's gone and what
we need.  Needless to say it is a bleak landscape filled with ruined
tools and cherished items.  The building is in an as bad or worse
condition than when we moved in and the material elements of five and
more years work is undone.

It is a difficult decision that we are facing in every way. We know
what we have inside of us and that we can take that anywhere but also
that there is no place where we would rather go than to the inspiring
space that we have shared with our friends and over the years called
tarantula hill.  We know that we stand for something to many people
but also that we don't want other people's perceptions of us to direct
our lives.  We know that we cannot do the rebuilding alone under any
circumstances but also that we have  experienced an outpouring of love
and willingness to help from every direction.  With these thoughts in
mind we leave the space open to you.  Our hopes is to have a building
with an open space on the first floor ready to receive all of the
people and ideas who will come to it as well as a home above in which
to store our hearts.  With the ripping out of the walls and the
ceiling we imagine a clean space in which to store tools to be more
easily be used by all including the locals who have also expressed
their love and concern.  The main thing that we need to do this is
manpower and vision.  It will be a long process which was begun which
a short burst of flame but must flow with the longevity of a small
winding creek to sustain itself.

So then, what now?  All agree that carly should go on her two month
tour starting this weekend as planned.  She not only needs the time
and space in which to make her own personal decisions, but also is not
physically up to the immediate task with her recent back problems.
Twig will also be leaving for a long needed break in the month of june
as previously planned.  Together they will organize the best they can
without a phone, electricity or nearby computer access. We feel your
support inside our hearts and thank you.  And we apologize in advance
that we will not be able to respond to most of your calls or emails
other than those regarding immediate planning.  If you want to come
down to help let us know when because too many people and not enough
tools equals very little work done.

Below you will find a list of items needed and items lost; if you have
extras to donate or those we can borrow send them along.  If you would
like to lend financial support our paypal adress is hello@...
and we will be recieving mail to 2118 w. pratt, baltimore md 21223. We
may get a cell phone but  do not currently have a number we can be
reached at though you can try caleb's at 410-947-2805.  We welcome and
encourage ideas on how to build off the grid.

TARANTULA HILL IS DEAD
LONG LIVE CIDITION HOUSE
WE ARE NOT FIGHTING ANYTHING OTHER THAN OUR FEAR

carly and twig




R.I.P.   We Loved You
___________________
chuncho
sherman
owl
plants
all DAT tapes
video masters & films
artwork
computers and hard drives
`theguardian' master reel
collections

Items Needed to Rebuild
_______________________
(sooner)
dumpster(s)
certified electrician
electrical items (conduit, 12 g wire, boxes, etc)
hand tools (hammers, handsaws, crobars, screws, scrapers, etc)
respirators
root canal
plastic sealable tubs
drinking water dispenser & jugs
tall ladders
scaffolding
washtubs, scrubbers & soaps
record sleeves & printing for dogjaw (thank you united for warping the
records)
brooms
fire extinguishers

(soon)
powertools
drywall
plywood & boards
tile
tablesaw
windows
glass blocks
plants
welder (person)
dsl modem & router

Things we lost & could use again someday
__________________________________________
suzy's fancy camera (8 x 10?)
fancy desktop w/ big video harddrive & dvd burner
laser & color printer
scully 16 track
digital video cameras (2, sorry max)
nikon 8400 digital camera
sx-70's, pxl, super8's and other camera's
copy machine
alesis hr-16 (rip)
brother pattern knitting machine & yarn
dat machines
studio electronics (please dry & work)
instruments (too numerous to name)
carly's printed & matted collages
various furniture
minidisc recorder
tv vcr dvd recorder
art supplies
space heaters
metal printing blocks
ebay stuff (we know you are gone and apologize to future and previous
owners and attachments)
art supplies and collections

Things We Still Have and are Thankful For (but are dirty and smoky)
_____________________________________________________________________
record cutter
personal photos & papers
dvd/cd copier
phonebook
digital photo back-up discs (you better work)
most merchandise (cover the earth lps & various cd's)
propane powered kitchen stove
woodstove
record collection
books
cdr and zine collection
savings bonds
sauna
screenprintng equipment
poster collection (hope your box worked please dry out okay)



p.s. sorry if you are receiving more than one copy of this we are
sending it to all of our email adress books, lists, etc. also sorry if
we missed you. feel free to pass this on. and if you don't know why
your getting this sorry you are in our adress book.