Besides his visual creativity, he has written some really amazing songs. I have been bugging him for years to record them because they are really good and I know people would love to hear them.

Well, along with his engagement to the extremely talented Marie, they are going to record a CD and are giving you an opportunity to get involved. You can donate just to help out a cool, young couple or you can donate because the incentives are really great. Check out this video and their website. At the very least, you are going to want to hear the final product (for only $5).

Marie & Cory – Make Music Happen from Cory Heimann.

We have five performances scheduled for the weekend of NCYC 2011 . . . perhaps we will have some more renegade performances as well. See you there?

If you haven’t heard “Beautiful Things,” you should watch/listen to this also:

You asked the questions. Here are our answers.

“Which is harder…making Popple successful or qualifying for the 3200 meters in high school track state finals?” -Josh
Kyle: It is all timing. I could never have done Popple then and could never qualify for state today.
Dan: Oddly enough, Popple is only successful because of Kyle’s qualifying for the 3200 meters in highschool back in the late 90s. I know it doesn’t seem like the two have anything to do with one another, but, like nutter butter cookies and houseflies, the two are actually correlated.

“Can I have a hug?” -Erica
Dan: Generally I try not to deny people hugs if they really want them, but in your case, no.
Kyle: I say, “Yes. From your neighbor. Go ahead.”

“And how do you guys know about these obscure holidays like “National Donut Day”???” -Erica
Kyle: We remember the things that bring us joy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Doughnut_Day

“Is professional wrestling fixed?” -Danny
Kyle: No, you are thinking of the NBA

“How often do you guys eat Peanut butter sandwiches?” -Facebook (Emily, Maxqell, Jacob, Rachel, Michael, Josh, Anna, Charles, Emily, Joey, Bianca, AnnaMarie, Lizzy, Daniel, Lincoln)
Kyle: Not nearly enough. I had one on Tuesday though.
Dan: I go through seasons of Peanut Butter sandwiches, Fall and Summer are my primary peanut butter sandwich seasons – when PB sandwiches are in season, I tend to cruise through about a loaf of bread a week. good question.

“What exactly is said at the end of P-O-P-P-L-E?” -Facebook (Brian, Lizzy, Marisa, Rachel, Alison, Emmanuel)
Kyle: “And our website is popple.us”

“What other music do you guys listen to?” -Facebook (Josh, Emily, Bianca, George, Charles, Logan)
Kyle: Depends on the day. Lately, David Crowder* Band, Derek Webb, The Avett Brothers, The Black Keys, Flobots and Jack Johnson (to name a few).
Dan: I’ve always loved the music my parent’s introduced me to – Richie Havens, Kenny Rankin, Paul Simon, Warren Zevon. For the past few years I’ve been a huge fan of Sara Groves, Matt Maher, Audrey Assad, and Tenth Avenue North on the Christian music side of things, and a big fan of Irish and Americana acoustic music in general: Slide, Bohola, Nickel Creek, and The Civil Wars.

“How did you come up with the name Popple?” -Facebook (Emily, Charles, Christian, Tom)
Kyle: I was eating some Alpha-Bits cereal and those were the last 6 letters in my bowl.
Dan: I was on a disasterous camping expedition in college – a group of my friends and I went out to a campsite called “Popple” on South Manitou island in the middle of Lake Michigan, there were leaches, biblical quantities of stable flies and crazy amounts of poison ivy on the trip… we ended up making fun of the name Popple quite a bit and ultimately it became our band name.

“How many concerts have had vuvuzelas?” -Facebook  (Chris, Alex)
Kyle: As far as I know, one.

“What’s your favorite song to hum on the kazoo?” -Facebook (Maxwell, Charles)
Kyle: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass – Spanish Flea (AKA the theme to  Love Connection)
Dan: I love playing the Office theme song and I’m a big fan of Kyle playing the bridge of Wondering Where the Lions are on the kazoo.

“If Henry the Ninja took on the Lonely Pirate, who would win?” -Facebook (Likable Art)
Kyle: They are actually very non-violent so they would probably get together for a friendly game of chess.
Dan: Pip Pip. Tea and crumpets.

“Do your socks match?” -Facebook (John)
Kyle: Sometimes.
Dan: I generally only wear sandals.

“Have you ever considered writing a song in foreign language?” -Facebook (Andy)
Kyle: Nein
Dan: I’ve written songs in french before, but they were my own made up french.

“What is your favorite childhood memory?” -Facebook (Amber)
Kyle: Going swimming and coming home for a lunch break that consisted of PB&J sandwich, watermelon and perhaps an ice cream sandwich. I feel like that was every day.
Dan: Christmas with my two siblings and 14 cousins at my Grandparent’s house. All the kids just went nuts for about three days every year.

“What do you think is the weirdest song you have?” -Facebook (Christian)
Kyle: I wrote a song about Greg Willits’ belly button lint, per his request.
Dan: I wrote a song called “Milk, Eggs and Bread” that includes the line: “I sell pumpkins by the sea shore.”  The lyrics were…experimental.

“Why do people ‘dress’ their trees in Florida?” -Facebook (Dan)
Kyle: Late Halloween decorations?
Dan: I don’t even know what that means. Florida can be a weird place… a wonderful place, but a wierd one.
Kyle: He is talking about when it gets cold and they put sheets over their bushes and they look like ghosts.

You will need:

• a fire
• roasting stick
• 3 marshmallows
• 2 graham cracker halves
• 1 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (this is the key)

Here is what you do:

1. Build a small fire.
2. Let it die down so there isn’t much flame but still some really hot coals.
3. Put three marshmallows on your roasting stick.
4. Roast the marshmallows. Hold it far enough away from the hot coals so it doesn’t burn but close enough to get it toasted.  This is the art form and may take practice.
5. Remove the marshmallows when they are evenly roasted, brown on the outside and starting to slide around or droop because the inside is melted.
6. Put one marshmallow on the first graham cracker half.
7. Put a room temperature Peanut Butter Cup on top of the marshmallow.
8. Put the other two marshmallows on top of the peanut butter cup.
9. Then the other half of the graham cracker goes on top.

Why this is so amazing:

• Reese’s Cup
  • It is softer than a Hershey’s bar.
  • It is chocolate and peanut butter!
• 3 Marshmallows
  • Three is better than two.
  • Putting them on both sides of the peanut butter cup melts the Reese’s perfectly.
• Roasting
  • Golden brown and crispy on the outside and soft, gooey and hot on the inside.
  • The perfect fire is critical for the perfect smores.

Go out there and try it. It is amazing!!!!

Celebrate with me!

Do you have a question for Dan? How about one for Kyle? Perhaps your question is just to the whole Popple unit. Well, submit them in the form of a comment to this post, an email to questions@popple.us or on our Facebook page.

I was drinking my coffee this morning while wearing the “Word Made Flesh” shirt. Special thanks to PAL Campaign and their cool shirts. Be sure to check them out if you find your closet short of cool shirts.