Feather And A Half About

[[Feather And A Half is a Collective Record Label Operating In And Out of Portland, OR|TOC]] Some links may be broken, missing, or incomplete. Some data may change or move as time passes. Some text may lead to additional passages if clicked on.

(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[Feather And A Half is a Collective Record Label Operating In And Out of Portland, OR Roster: [[R.U.U.N.E.]] [[Bentabia Beacon Bezalel]] [[Gregory James McKillop]] ] [[more about feather and a half]]

R.U.U.N.E. is an acronym which stands for "Ritual Utilizing Underused Nightmare Energy". There are no pronouns which refer to this entity, so all pronouns suffice. ''Ritual'' - a series of actions or behaviors combined with tools within a time or place to achieve a state of mind different from the status quo. ''Utilizing'' - the transformation of emotional intput and output into a vehicle for transference. ''Underused'' - forgotten about, left behind, outside the realm of the intentional action. ''Nightmare'' - a scene which exists on the boundary between the sleeping consciousness and a realm outside oneself where imagery urges us to escape but does not let us. ''Energy'' - e=mc2 R.U.U.N.E. was invoked in Western Massachusetts in 2016 as a way to combine sorcery and software into a single performance that could bring a space into the multiverse like a floating island in the sun. in 2018 a move to Portland OR found R.U.U.N.E. taking on more responsibility within -a body- while [[one|Gregory James McKillop]] soul slept and [[another|Bentabia Beacon Bezalel]] started to form. During this time, R.U.U.N.E. lived on the earthly realm as ruune and played a supporting role as a drummer and mentor to many acoustic acts in the community. While the Pandemic began, and after -a body- succumbed to the intense energy build up after years of ritual and touring, ruune spent much of their time playing lead guitar for a queer pop punk band called New Here. She left New Here in December of 2024 and has retaken sorcerous shape in other realms to recharge in it's original form of R.U.U.N.E. You can find R.U.U.N.E. in these albums: The Hex Collection Neptune In Babylon

The name Bentabia Beacon Bezalel (she/they) first appears in a sorcery journal on [[''25 Adar 5781''|march32021]], and is a mix of portuguese and hebrew names which translates roughly to "Blessed Journey Through The Shadow". However, Bentabia appears in songs long before. [[Fetch Quest]], thought to be a selection of songs released by ruune, was actually written and sung in Bentabia's voice. She also is the driving force behind [[Grey Closet Mystery School]], which was originally thought to be a Gregory James McKillop release, and then renamed as ruune in later days. More on the renaming of projects can be found [[HERE|Names Mean History]]. BBB prefers smaller shows with attentive crowds in quiet atmospheres. They will sometimes use a tarot deck to guide their setlist while performing, and use a tascam to record each set ~~during the end of 2024~~ during 2025.

Gregory James McKillop (he/they) is a folk singer and punk musician who's musical dream was born in Worcester, Massachusetts between 2006 and 2010. He toured much of the country as park of the american folk punk tradition and lived and performed in many actions during the Occupy Movement. They were the founder, songwriter, and organizer for Speaker For The Dead, a now defunct 140 person brass punk clusterfolk ensemble. Gregory was also heavily involved with local and national slam poetry at this time, acting as Music Director for [[The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show]] and Co-Head Coach for the slam team within [[Rhythmic Cypher]] (in Worcester, MA and Portland, ME respectively). Gregory has coached poets while they competed in the National Poetry Slam, Women's World Poetry Slam, and The Individual National Poetry Slam, as well as lead writing and performance workshops all over the country. Gregory toured for ten years before settling down in Maine and disappearing after releasing Little Demon On The Back Seat in 2015. They have started to appear randomly here and there in 2025: singing at picket lines and volunteer events. You can find the spirit of Gregory McKillop within these albums: The End of Nothing Parts [[One|EON1]] and [[Two|EON2]] [[The Ballad Of The Undercrust]] (SFTD) [[Little Demon On The Back Seat]]

March 3rd 2021

]

(set: $typewriterText to "Hello, world! I don't think this is going to work")  {  (set: $typewriterPos to 1)  |typewriterOutput>[]  (live: 40ms)[  (append: ?typewriterOutput)[(print: $typewriterText's $typewriterPos)]  (set: $typewriterPos to it + 1)  (if: $typewriterPos is $typewriterText's length + 1)[ (stop:) ] ] }

{ (set: $typewriterText to "Feather & a Half is a spirit collective Feather & a Half is a record label Feather & a Half is a body of work Feather & a Half is a roster of artists Feather & a Half is a ritual workshop Feather & a Half is a container Feather & a Half is a series of worlds Feather & a Half is a publisher Feather & a Half is an indie game company Feather & a Half is a scroll of time sorcery Feather & a Half is an artist manager Feather & a Half is an adventure Feather & a Half is a ttrpg Feather & a Half is a booking group Feather & a Half is a pile of stones Feather & a Half is a series of tapes Feather & a Half is a little free library Feather & a Half is a bell that is about to be rung ")}  {  (set: $typewriterPos to 1)  |typewriterOutput>[]  (live: 40ms)[  (append: ?typewriterOutput)[(print: $typewriterText's $typewriterPos)]  (set: $typewriterPos to it + 1)  (if: $typewriterPos is $typewriterText's length + 1)[ (stop:) ] ] } [[ what does this mean ]]

not yet

The Lore Behind Feather & a Half: Feather & a Half is currently a Spirit Collective Record Label operating inside and out of Portland, OR featuring at least these three artists, in no particular order: 1 --- [[R.U.U.N.E.]] - Sorcery Code Glitch Pop (no/all pronouns) 2 --- [[Bentabia Beacon Bezalel]] - Ceremonial Ritual Folk Music (she/they pronouns) 3 --- [[Gregory James McKillop]] - Folk Punk Volunteer Ballads (he/they pronouns) This is a music collective in the way that sometimes a music collective is three musicians who all go on tour together and rotate who is the lead singer. Any one of these spirits can perform a song by any other spirit and a number of the albums released through Feather & a Half were collaboratively written, recorded, and performed by 2 or more spirits simultaneously. To clear up some confusion: when it comes to a single person, no one of these names has any more priority than any other. None of these names are “the correct” one, and none of them are incorrect. You can not refer to anyone of them with an incorrect name by using one of the three, but that does not mean you are always correct in your naming of someone you are talking to. No single set of pronouns works perfectly. No, this is not a gender thing (even though, yes it also is). This is how art and music works in my body, and I originally thought that working under a different name, or changing my name altogether was the answer due to current trends in identity dynamics: but I am made up of several different lifetimes and in order to live full as myself I need to make sure none of those cycles ends up in the garbage and is given their due and artistic credit. For the past year I have been digging through my albums and speaking to them, to find out who *really* wrote them, and it has opened some doors for me in wonderful ways. TL:DR the best thing to do is to switch it up. Confusion is a part of life and I wish to ask it what it wants, every day. Please do not welcome anyone to the table, they have all been here for quite awhile, thank you very much <3

A Queer centered Poetry Slam and open mic which took place in Tea Shops in Portland, ME from roughly 2012-2015.

A monday night poetry show taking place in Worcester, MA as Ralphs Diner, this weekly event has a house band which backs all poets on the mic, several contests, snack time, and featured artists. It has been going on for 20+ years. (link: "click here to leave the maze and visit The Dirty Gerund")[(goto-url: 'https://dirtygerund.org/')]

Ballad of The Undercrust was a collection of songs written over a 6 year period and recorded by 20+ musicians all over the country in bathrooms, barns, bedrooms, and warehouses. (link: "click here to leave the maze and find this album")[(goto-url: 'https://speakerforthedead.bandcamp.com/album/the-ballad-of-the-undercrust')]

End of Nothing Parts 1 +2 were written in Collaboration between [[Gregory James McKillop]] and [[R.U.U.N.E.]] while they were disguised as "ruune". Part 1 was released as a series of comic zines and included a read along CD release. (link: "click here to leave the maze and find this EP")[(goto-url: 'https://featherandahalf.itch.io/the-end-of-nothing')]

End of Nothing Parts 1 +2 were written in Collaboration between [[Gregory James McKillop]] and [[R.U.U.N.E.]] while they were disguised as "ruune". Part 2 was released to flush out some remaining songs in order to work on newer material. Some older songs, such as I am On The Radio and Songs So Sad were reworked to represent a new, more mature singing voice. (link: "click here to leave the maze and find this EP")[(goto-url: 'https://featherandahalf.itch.io/end-of-nothing-part-two')]

Little Demon on The Back Seat was released in 2016 after being written in Western Massachusetts and recorded in Boston with Taylor Goodman who now performs as Jordon Wiley. This work acts as a co-album with [[Grey Closet Mystery School]], with a third and final act waiting somewhere in the distant future. LDOTBS is a concept album which deals with depression, gender anxiety, swimming through conflict in community, sorcery, and the afterlife through the lense of tarot cards and oracles. It was renamed as a [[R.U.U.N.E.]] release but has now returned to its proper name.

Grey Closet Mystery School is a co-album sister to [[Little Demon On The Back Seat]], which takes place in a queer magical school which exists on a worldmap which is featured on the album cover. There was also a short lived web comic which is now lost to time, but a portion of it's lore can be found on the Feather & a Half website. A third album is in the works to complete this trilogy and let it's characters find peace. It was recorded in the woods of western massachusetts by (link: "Alyssa Kai")[(goto-url: 'https://lyskoi.bandcamp.com/album/contingency')] *(external link, will leave maze)* (link: "click here to leave the maze and find the album")[(goto-url: 'https://featherandahalf.itch.io/the-grey-closet-mystery-school')] (link: "click here to leave the maze and find the adjacent comic")[(goto-url: 'https://featherandahalf.itch.io/in-the-beginning-there-was-dragon')]

Fetch Quest is a short EP of folk songs to accompany a now lost table top rpg about escaping as a community from floating island to floating island in an astral terrain. It was recorded by (link: "Fluff and Gravy Records")[(goto-url: 'https://fluffandgravy.com/')] in Portland, OR. *(external link, will leave the maze)* (link: "click here to leave the maze and find this EP")[(goto-url: 'https://featherandahalf.itch.io/fetch-quest-ep')]