There were a bunch great albums that came out this year so we sure are proud to be picked as one of the best of by The Pop-Rock Candy Mountain! Thankya’ll http://poprockcandymountain.com/

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Tags: Best of 2008, countryrock, Desert Rock, New Music, Rancho de la Luna

Oh happy reunion! Missi and I had gathered some steam over the last few months “sans” the rock and roll. Pent up and restless we plugged in and let it all go. THERAPY. CHEAP. But, so are we. The s&p slips were happy to be taken out of the closet and set loose for 45 minutes of debauchery. And, hey, “It’s OK to be Happy!”

Now listen; I know ya’ll haven’t heard from Missi in a while. Let me set the record straight right here and now. I saw Missi in her play “Boeing Boeing.” This is an “over the top” revival and Missi’s part is the MOST “over the top” character in the “over the top” play. She does this eight times a week. I don’t know how she does anything but drool in between. I’m not kidding. So I would like to especially thank her for shuffling out of the institution, wiping the drool off her chin, changing her diaper, stepping out of her robe and into her slip, foregoing the nightly bingo game with her fellow lunatics, and givin’ her all to the s&p cause. We didn’t worry about the tourette’s; it was a rock show. She’s a trooper of some other kind of mutant trooper species. And I love her. We have a date to play our first “solo” (JUST Missi and me!) show at the bowling alley when she gets done with Broadway. This means i have to learn the guitar and Missi has to practice her guitar a lot to confidently cover my mistakes.

P.S. I bought my first electric guitar in nyc at “The Guitar Man” in The Bowery! 

P.P.S. I’m gonna get our online store up this week so ya’ll can buy cds, tee shirts, bandanas, and love online!!

I also had a bit of a “highly dysfunctional family reunion” with the SAW fans, too! I have to say, these folks are hard core dedicated. It was a very relaxed affair, so we had a lot of “time to tinker” as my daddy says. I had the opportunity to hear a bit about your lives, introduce one to another, hear you sing, play guitar, take photos, and even sing and rap on cd in my suv back in LA. That’s right, I said SUV! I ain’t goin’ green! Anyway, I was blown away by your spirit of camaraderie, talent, beauty and handsomeness. I hurt my knee running the Brooklyn Bridge and an ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON came through my line!! I got  serenaded AND a free doctor’s visit! What a family. This is the whole concept behind “URBAN PRAIRIE.” What people can be to each other.

Calling down a blessing on us all. Especially Missi!

Shawnee Smith

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Tags: bingo, boeing boeing, Brooklyn Bridge, drool, dysfunctional, family reunion, lunatics, orthopedic surgeon, reunion, s&p, slips

The two are unrelated; except for the fact that I will, hopefully, get a Thai massage before I get on the plane for N.Y.C.

Listen, this ain’t very country or very American; but, this was an unexpected hour of what I’d imagine suckin’ on an opium pipe while floating through space might feel like. My friend Alison took me the other day for a Thai massage. I figured Thai, Swedish, Hawaiian, Hindu, Fondu, if someone was going to lay their hands on my body with any amount of pressure, I was going to oblige. We arrive and I’m immediately greeted by the sweet, pungent smell of some kind of burning foliage; sage. I’m informed this is what the Indians (yes, country lovers, AMERICAN Indians) used to “clear the air” of all bad energy, vibes, hoodoo voodoo, and the like. I’m offered fresh water with orange and escorted to the back room where I change into some funky, “MC Hammer” type pants with a dangling string. I didn’t know whether to put them on my head, put all of me through on leg, which way was forward or backwards, tie the string around my neck, my thigh, waist; but, I figured this would not be the “naked” kind of massage. Hmm… “just what kind of massage IS this going to be?”  I wondered. A young, beautiful Thai woman came to me, offered a slight bow and beckoned me to follow her with a quiet whisper, “Come. This way.” Now I REALLY wondered what kind of massage this would be! There were long wooden platforms, divided by curtains (which she would use to stabilize herself as she break danced on my back,) and a simple mat on the floor, where the whole show would go down. Drums began a slow, menacing, tribal beat, and just as I submitted myself to possibly being sacrificed, my body burned on a bed of sage leaves, some sultry voice began swimming up a Middle Eastern scale like a snake up the Nile and I realized this was just a cd meant to assist the transportation of me into space. It helped. So did this lithe woman who commenced to push, pull, stretch my ankles to my ears, tap dance and climb all over me; we literally performed a circus act without the exciting costumes. She’d whisper, “Hold my wrist,” and I’d go flying up, down, left, right, and end up, somehow balanced on top of her dainty feet on my back in the air. It was an out of body, transcendental, entirely un-American experience. I sure hope ya’ll can find some of these highly talented Thai Folk in your town; you don’t need the opium or the space ship!

I’ll be going to N.Y.C. on November 14th-16th for “SAWMANIA!”  But, really, this trip is my mecca back to the motherland or motherf***er, I like to call Missi Pyle. We haven’t been apart from one another this long since… well… our whole lives before we met just over a year ago. I’m like E.T. shriveling up, standing in the airport security line moaning, “Go home… Go home…,” pointing my lighted finger tip toward the sky. That’s actually where Missi and I met; in Space. And where we like to buy our tequila.

When we first conceived this band, our friend John Ingrassia as our witness, we swore no one would ever hear our music. He offered us a big, fancy, record deal and Missi replied, “We don’t want your f***ing record deal. We play for ourselves. We don’t play for ‘the Man.’ No one’s ever going to HEAR our music. We’ll show up the day before a show, play for ourselves, and be gone before any one tears a ticket!” Well, as you can see, we’ve completely sold out. We have a record for sale on itunes called, “It’s Okay to be Happy” and now we’re going to play a show in N.Y.C. at THE DELANCEY on Mon. November 17th (the day after Missi’s birthday!) See attached flyer.

Don’t forget to vote for us tomorrow!! We love… what?? “AMERICA!!” and… who?? “AMERICANNNNNNS!!”

and if you make the mecca to N.Y.C. see Missi in her play!! “BOEING-BOEING”

Calling Down a Blessing on us all… Even the Thai people, and their country, too!

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Tags: boeing-boeing broadway play, hawaiian, hindu, itunes, massage, native american indians, new york city, sage, Saw, Sawmania, swedish, thai, the delancey

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I bet ya’ll thought we weren’t serious about this “prairie stuff.” Well, seeing is a believein’!! Folks… wait for it… Missi Pyle of “Smith&Pyle” is married, hitched, and probably gettin’ knocked up as I write. As you’ll see from the photos, it wasn’t your usual weddin’. We all took ridiculously small planes out to some tiny lodge in the middle of nowhere, Montana. It was a comedy show watching Christine, Missi’s “Lady of Honor”, try and squeeze the wedding dress into the overhead compartment; I mean SMALL planes!! Brutus the Bear was Casey’s Best Man and I caught the boquet. Ya’ll can take it from there.

Missi opened her play “Boeing- Boeing” on motha fu**in’ BROADWAY this week so send her all your good psychodoolie voodoo and pray she doesn’t, “Ruin the Show!!” See ya’ll out on the Urban Prairie!

Callin’ down a blessing on us all…

Oh yeah… Here’s a song I wrote for their wedding. Don’t worry, Missi didn’t walk down the aisle to it.

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Tags: best lady, broadway, brutus, prairie weddin', psychodoolie voodoo, ruin the show, weddin', wedding day

Check out Missi and Shawnee poolside - talking to fans about the beginnings of Smith & Pyle, a behind-the-scenes of the making of “It’s Okay to be Happy“, live footage of the girls and the band, and more! Just visit the videos page here… and if you like it, share it with your friends using the share links below this post!

Heather St. Marie
Smith & Pyle webmaster

4 Comments | Permalink

Tags: bikinis, performance footage, poolside, smith and pyle, veterans, video

Well… What a week!!! We released our first record, designed a website, made a movie, played our biggest show, yet, and added a few more empty bottles to Hutch’s tequila tree. As usual, our rehearsal and show at Universal Citywalk was a family affair. The tribe keeps growing. New friends we made at the last show came with their friends! Folks came all the way from Redlands to Arizona just to be with us last night, and, well, that just makes getting up in the morning feel worth it! This is the philosophy behind “Urban Prairie.” This is the spirit our record was born of, and what we hope will keep building with you whether in person or “on the net.” We’re so excited to have this site up and running and have to thank our dear friend and web designer, Heather St. Marie, for working to the point of delirium on her laptop in the Hydrovibe tour van to get it up for the big show!! That’s right, that’s how hard us musicians will work to be able to deliver you the rock. Go team go!

So now it’s up to us to see just how far we can take this little experiment. Let’s build our own town out on the new urban prairie (aka the net). Be good, useful, and uplifting to one another. It’s what we’re here for.

This is it… Our first land claim! Our first homestead out on the URBAN PRAIRIE! Nice to meet you neighbor. Sure we’ll see ya’ll around at the general store.

And lest we forget to “Call down a blessing” on us all.

Yours Truly,

Shawnee

6 Comments | Permalink

Tags: Homestead, Tequila Tree, Universal Citywalk, Urban Prairie

It’s been a busy time for the team at Urban Prairie Records! After many months and many meetings of the minds, we have released the debut Smith & Pyle album “It’s OK to be Happy” which is available now at iTunes and Amazon.com.

We are also debuting the brand new Smith & Pyle website. We urge you to register and post comments… We want you to be a part of the Urban Prairie community!

In the next few weeks, you’ll see more posts from Shawnee, Missi, and the rest of the team. We’re also going to be debuting our online store where you can purchase your very own Smith & Pyle gear. PLUS we have an amazing video we want to share with you soon, so keep checking back!

whew! We sure have been busy!!!

See you on the Prairie soon…

Heather St. Marie
Smith & Pyle webmaster

12 Comments | Permalink

Tags: Album release, Missi Pyle, online store, Shawnee Smith, Urban Prairie, video

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