Open Your Eyes Small Bear

What a weird name for a band, right? The name is too long, yes? Nobody will ever remember it, yeah? It doesn’t make sense, eh? Yes. I’m really bad at finding things. Around the house, you can frequently hear me shouting at the top of my lungs to my wife things like: “WHERE’S THE GRAPE JELLY?!” “WHERE IS THE ALLERGY MEDICINE?!” “WHERE IS MY PAYCHECK?!” My wife, on the other hand, is really good at finding things. Mostly because she puts things in places where they belong. Usually she can tell me exactly where anything I’m looking for is at any given time. However, I’m not sure why, but when I shout at her from one end of the house to the other asking here where my beard comb is when it’s right in front of my face, she doesn’t respond with a direct answer, even though she has the spiritual gift of knowing where everything is at all given times. Her response? “Open your eyes small bear”. Apparently, this is a phrase that my mom-in-law would respond with when my wife would ask similar questions as a little girl. Rumor has it that it’s from an old Berenstain Bears book that Kimmy and her mom used to read together. Imagine little Kimmy running around the house asking where the My Little Pony band-aids are, and her mom responding with “open your eyes small bear”. It’s right in front of you, even though you can’t see it… When my band, grafted, i am. was searching for a name, we did a lot of brainstorming. I came up with a few ideas, but one of my favorites was “Open Your Eyes Small Bear”. I tossed it around with the guys, but we decided that it didn’t fit our music very well, which I agree with in retrospect. However, the name stuck with me, and I decided that I wanted to use it for an upcoming recording project that I had in mind. I tried to talk myself out of it a number of times for various reasons, but I couldn’t shake it. To me, there’s a lot of spiritual significance behind the name. “Small bear” feels very humble to me. Have you ever watched baby bears for any period of time? They are like creatures that are out to discover the world with fresh eyes and curious hearts. Many of us seek the truth; seek answers; search for meaning; for comfort; for significance; for a purpose. We get frustrated if we don’t find answers right away. The answers are usually staring us right in the face, hiding in plane sight; inside the dusty bible on your book case; inside the minds of our mentors; inside the eyes of our better halves; inside our own hearts where the Savior dwells. Open Your Eyes Small Bear. Experimental Indie Rock noises from the brain of Ryan Alsheimer