part of an email from a friend

So, I have just pulled up to the store to get some dinner, and I happen to have Levator cranked up to the hilt on my bitchen' stereo! Yeah, I can't listen to music loud at home so I get my sonic fill, on the road. Anyhoo, with the windows rolled up, this guy turns around and gives me a smile and a nod. As i am going in the store yet compliments me on my musical taste, and he thought it was...get this .......Diana Ross and The Supremes!!!! I was laughing so hard I forgot to ask which song he thought it was!!!! So, classic! He couldn't believe when I told him the music was by a good friend of mine! He Loved it! Me too! It was #3 on c.d.

Some Tour Excerpts

12/9/10 - Redding CA:

The Squire Room, it's my new favorite bar. The entrance is in the alley, which automatically adds an air of mystery. The decor is awesome, it's comfortable and red. Frank, the bartender is wearing a suit jacket, wears glasses and has an accent. I'm not sure where he is from but he calls Rando out on his last name and places where half his family is from. We like Frank a lot. And he likes us. He even buys us a round.

There's a guy sitting to Nick's left. I notice that every woman on the television has no eyebrows, even the female children have very thin eye brows. It kind of freaks me out a little bit. I comment on how important they are in the process of keeping the rain and sweat out of your eye balls. The guy to Nick's left obviously feels even stronger about the subject. He starts going off. ...

Oh yeah, if I see a chick and she doesn't have eyebrows and even worse has drawn on ones. That's a big no. I mean, you ever spent the night with that? You wake up, it's all over your face, all over your hands, all over your pillow, all over your pants...

At the pants part I start cracking up!!!! I mean, come on--- that is hilarious!!!

And then it gets even better. We were there for a few rounds. Frank kept turning down the lights, and we kept putting back the hornitos and oj's.

Rando was like, well, maybe we should get going so we have plenty of time to set up and get ready. And I was like, oh no, we are all having another round!

And Nick goes to his new friend.. Well, she's the band leader she can do whatever she wants. And tatoo neck guy goes, .....

Yeah, you need a girl with fire! You know like you don't always want a girl that goes along with whatever you want. Like sometimes you want a girl that goes, No, I don't want Wendy's tonight. I want Taco Bell. And yeah, sometimes you are tired of Wendy's.

AH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

And Nick just told me... there was a cockroach moving in on my drink when I was in the lady's room. He said he scared it away.

Oh man, awesome! I can't wait to go back there.

December Tour Day one!!

Made it. 3 hours early.

Astro Van 1, Shirley 0.

Last time we were here we were invited to stay three extra days over the holiday weekend. Actually Shirley invited herself and we couldn't leave her.

So, got an extra early start "just in case".. guess I'm a little gun shy cause we broke down so many times the last couple tours. But, the van is running great! Thanks to my trusty mechanic Pat!

packing...

gear... check
toothbrush... check
sleeping bag... check
organic apples... check
present for huck... check

Getting ready

It's almost mini-tour time.... yesssss.
Having avoided the van for months on end, it's time to hug and kiss my motorcycle goodbye for a week. Hmmm, no speeding, no wheelies, no racing planes... I have mixed emotions about this. But, I can't wait to get to California and hug my sister so tight it straightens her hair out!!!!! hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

Recording Day 5

Just woke up and made some coffee. Last night was so beautiful... it was raining and windy but the fire was blazing.
We set up in the "old middle" room. It's the room that Dave Kennedy used for one of his photographs titled 'Insurgency'. It's #3 in the Photographic Translations - Dopplegangers.

New Album Day Uno y Dos

We left Seattle in the hour of rush. People rushing home from work, rushing to work. Rushing who knows where but they were definitely going South on I-5. Even though the drive to my father's place was 2 hours longer than it should have been in torrential rains with the back of my hand wiping the windshield as a method of defrost... we were still excited.

We arrived at my Dad's and loaded in. Nate and I had a couple of refreshments and got to work. We listened to all the stuff we had recorded before tour and decided that the only thing worth saving was a version of Disease. A song originally off of the 2004 release Midnight that I had recorded as a solo endeavor. We started recording Tornado Run. It was about 2am before I started to not see clearly and we decided to chill out and watch a movie. I can't remember the name but it was about Russian Mafia dudes. We totally fell asleep waiting for Matt to arrive.

Matt called about 3:30am I think.. he was lost. We hopped in the van and went downtown and found him. Once we were all back at the house we hung out for a while. It's strange how staying up until 5/6am still seems natural after tour. Even now.. it's 9:30pm and I'm just starting to wake up.

I woke up early... like at 8:30am. I built a fire, took a shower, made some coffee and started roasting red peppers and squash for soup. Nate came strolling down stairs around 10 and hit the coffee. Then I started recording. Badger woke up and then it was his turn.

Today we recorded Tornado Run and Black Night Coyote.

Right now... I think we are going to start Dream.

But earlier... the strangest sounds came out of my amplifier after I stopped playing a certain song. I hit record and got it all. I think it was a ghost singing.....