:: Music As Social Agitation Records::

:: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 ::

news from the 1985 Camp:

upcoming 1985 releases:
1) Floppy Disk Single b/w a written work... (New Year)
2) Split Cassette with Blair Harris (January)
3) EP (February)

Look for a month-long national greyhound tour starting early February! This will be my fifth greyhound tour and I am really looking forward to it!

(0) comments
:: brs 6:11 AM [+] ::
...

so 1985 and MINI-LiFE are home from tour. i will try to transcribe the tour journal here in the next couple of days. look for a complete redesign of the masa site in the coming weeks and keep up with news and developments with the bands via their homepages and the masa records message board. it is gonna be an awesome, busy autumn for us all! hope you are excited for the coming months of autumn weather!

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:: brs 10:40 AM [+] ::
...

alright... so i just got done catchign up on some internet communications stylies and am still sitting in a hidden house off of Geary Street in cool, moist San Francisco. Carlos has been out this afternoon trying to hock some posessions in order to afford more necessary things like, well, food. hopefully tonights show will be a lot of fun at the amnesia bar with petracovich. i liked the stuff i heard of hers and it will be nice (sad to say) a bar designed for live music.... things are fine and fun, though my own finances (all 16 of them) have been dwindling down. thanks be to a familar greyhound steward behind the counter in seattle who gave me the student discount with no questions asked probably cause he recognized me as a long-time listeners, first-time caller... good guy, that dude. without his glance in the other direction, i would be sitting with about 40 negative finances and a growling stomach and a sour-sauced mood... last night was our unexpected extra SF night (since the beach-fire belly boat show got cancelled). we made the most of it mostly due to a kind, cheerful and gracious host, LX. Carlos knows LX through some computer techie connections and he is a really awesome dude. we are actually in the neighborhood he grew up in, that he recently decided to settle back into. he has the ideal home set up, it is a studio shack with a quaint alley yard, behind a larger, three-story apartment complex. this neighborhood is pretty dang cool and it is nice to be so close to a city center and not see those horrific, brown-toned new-millinial gentro-fied apartment complexes that seem to be choking so many other cities right now (see seattle, and portland especially). the sort of mammoths that like to nest on top of pit park in downtown bellingham... anyways, LX got off early and met us at the Javacat coffeeshop that me and carlos walked to after getting dropped off a few blocks down by Adam. turns out LX lives pretty much kitty corner from it... we decided we were gonna try to scheme to get onto some bill or possibly play an open mic and after coming back to LX's (and through the long tunnel that leads to the backyard where his house is), we dropped off our shit and and went to check out this coffeeshop two blocks off. I am not sure what type of music LX does, or any names of his projects but he has a lot of noise/experimental equipment and recording gear (a couple theramins for example) and two nice computers set up (he has worked for several computer companies, mostly in the game design realm, i believe, like atari and such and is now working for an arcade company -the one that put out the "golden tee" golf arcade game that is all on-line and such)... he has to drive to san jose to work, which seems to suck, but he is also a bike enthusiast and rides in the SF critical mass apparently....

anyways, the coffeshop open mic was thursday, so we grabbed the local rags and checked them out for options on our walk back. i kept finding blue nitrous tanks (which i mistook for those small CO2 tanks) and LX corrected me and made known there "purpose." we got back to the house and decided to go play an open mic later that night at a coffeeshop near Golden Gate Park called The Canvas Cafe (the place was a combination cafe, art gallery, bar sort of thing) but first we set out to go check out the ameoba records on haight street. it was a nice, short and scenic drive through the park and we spent a good hour at ameoba. i scored a couple classic NW albums (an early some velvet sidewalk record and an early mike johnson radio-promo album) and also came across some local bands in the bargain bins was searching. i found used copies of the pale pacifics new EP and also of korby lenkers "bellingham" album (which i had carlos take a picture of me holding, since i was wearing my bellingham jill brazil show... which gets me thinking, i hope john tosch comes out tonight to the show.... that'd be radical... anyways, we left ameobo and on the way back carlos pissed in the park in plain view of a roadway (like the good transient he is right now). we pretty much grabbed our guitars and we're out the door again in LX's bright read racing BMW (the vehicle lacked a back seat and the seat belts were a jungle to latch on). we got to the wide, spacious cafe around sign-up time (7pm) to find 24 people already signed up... shit. we threw our names on there and carlos acted the salesmen of our valor for the rest of the evening as we tried to vie for a better slot... after a couple hours, a few beers (courtesy of LX and his friend Michael Coyote who showed up to hang out some) and some rather disheartening performers and environs, we decide to head out for some food and come back after to see if we were still up to play. carlos talked again to Mike the Bob Marley-shrouded host of the evening and told him we had to get some food and would be back soon... our efforts to find the sushi that michael was craving and offering to buy us were soon thwarted (as every place, be it dining or excercising or dying) closed at 10pm. we eventually found a pizza place... got some young, trying-to-be-a-writer-in-a-suit-snob kicked out of our good booth (he proceeded to pout about it via body language for the next hour) and ate some very good pizza and talked about movies, music, books and the horrible songs coming through the stereo system. it was all these 80's hits, but done by crappy studio musicians. i felt gross, after sitting through some undesirable at the open mic, that it took us so long to figure out that NONE of the songs were the original artists. all i ask for is sincerity, is that too much? we walked back by the open mic to a much younger, looser crowd that would have been fun to play to, only to find out our names had already been called... we could probably have tried to "go next" but we were all pretty beat from the scene... a short ride home, a bit of discussion about technology and the fast-pace of the future and then some quiet, calm sleep.

it has been mild and mildly foggy here. the evenings are crisp and cool. not really flip-flop weather... the leaves are falling and tonight i just might wear shoes to the show. i miss getting to know people closely. i don't do that enough lately, really EVER lately, and the quickly changing faces and places of touring are certainly no help... autumn is when you start to dig into the soil, to entrench yourself with allies against the cold and i look forward to days like that again. i miss the romance of it.

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:: brs 3:45 PM [+] ::
...

so, it turns out that masa records has been deleted, which is pretty upsetting. the space is there but all the files and such have been deleted. i have uploaded those that i had backed on my computer and hopefully things will be semi-functional soon. sorry to all you masa artists out there with pages deleted (for me, it really sucked as i am trying to book a tour right now but don't have a place to direct people to now, and also i had just redesigned several pages and created several new ones). hopefully we will be up and running soon. again, sorry... though, it actually might have been good timing, as things are gonna start picking up around here and with a new spirit very soon...

for now, if you want to keep up with masa artists, i would suggest looking towards the masa myspace.

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:: brs 2:03 PM [+] ::
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so, the masarecords.com site is down right now... has been for a few days, not that any of y'all might have noticed, since it hadn't been updated in a long while... good things are coming though. autumn is a time of settling and putting things in order for the winter... a lot of new stuff coming soon... i swear it.

for now, y'all should check out me (matt/1985) and eli moore (palisades) new project... listen here.

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:: brs 12:04 PM [+] ::
...

here we catch two masa artists, 1985 (disguised as wetness protection program*) and Blair Harris, in the middle of an online IM conversation courtesy of the IM function at myspace.com. the topic is "practising and polishing ones art VS. capturing it as soon as possible after its (con/in)ception." we have already missed the meat of the insightful dialogue, and enter the storyline post-climax...

wetness protection program: exactly.
wetness protection program: takes the heart away
from it.
wetness protection program: perhaps...
wetness protection program: but looking back
now.... i listen to some of my
older (a sandcastle still and such) recordings and
feel crappy that i didn't try and give the song the credit
it deserved.
wetness protection program: and now it feels too
late to approach them anymore, you know?
wetness protection program: but i just wish i had
good sounding (quality of recording, quality of
performance) captures of them.
Blair Harris: yeah I do know waht you mean...I was
thinking of this song on My Name is Blah..and there's
this riff in it that I just love almost more than anything
I've made..but the song just doesn't really go...
Blair Harris: the way I want it to and I dont relal yliek
the song
wetness protection program: and i am tending to
lean mroe towards the fence side where it is better to
polish it up first, as some people (though it sucks
bad) are gonna have a harder time understanding it
if it is roguh....
wetness protection program: yeah.
wetness protection program: if it is rough, some
people might have a hard time picking up ont he
sentiment, the emotion, heart behind it, you know?
wetness protection program: (i think it is ironic, as
well, that we are having this conversation when i am
logged into the WPP account) -editor: the irony being
that the WPP is an low-fi, improv tape series-
Blair Harris: yeah..I'm open minded to all of it...I
mean sure it's fun to make the rough cuts but I dont
think there's antyhing wrong with having a good-
quality recorded song at all
wetness protection program: yeah....
wetness protection program: i think it is good to
mix it up...
wetness protection program: or maybe have both
you know?
Blair Harris: hahah
Blair Harris: yeah
wetness protection program: and i got SOOO
much of my stuff captured in that infant roughness, i
just kind of want to do this next recording all nice
like....
Blair Harris: I mean the song is still the song, as
long as you're getting your message across and
mean it, then who cares how it's done
wetness protection program: and bring back some
of the songs i think weren't given a fair shot at it...
wetness protection program: exactly.
wetness protection program: and each song has
like its own personality...
wetness protection program: some songs fit more
naturally in the rough others not./..
Blair Harris: yeah maybe you should make like an
EP of just redone songs, rerecorded and maybe
throw in parts you'd have liked better ors oemthing
Blair Harris: like a "revisited ep"
wetness protection program: nice, nice.
wetness protection program: good idea...
wetness protection program: i do know that this
next album i want to do is gonna be sort of a greatest
hits in that fashion... bring back the old songs i like a
lot and match them up with some new ones i love...
Blair Harris: that would be awesome, that sounds
like a really good idea
wetness protection program: and even there, i
want to have a blueprints sort of precursor, with
rough sketches of it and a few months later, and with
a few firends playing on it, record it all super nice...
Blair Harris: that way newer listeners can a better
chance to hear some of the older ones
wetness protection program: yeah....
wetness protection program: though they might be
a little disappointed to go back and listen to that stuff!
Blair Harris: haha no way
wetness protection program: yes way!
wetness protection program: hey, so what should
we call this wpp we did?
Blair Harris: yeah that's a good way to go about it
though..scratch the revisited EP..just rerecord those
old songs on your new album with new songs..that's
a really good idea
wetness protection program: it has to relate some
how to things that keep you protected from wetness...
wetness protection program: but, yeah...
Blair Harris: haha hmm
wetness protection program: there will be a low-fi
tape precusor blueprint thing (for the low-fi fans) of
all the songs (also to be given to the people i want to
play ont he album so they can get used to the
songs)....
wetness protection program: and then a few
months later...
wetness protection program: so name?
wetness protection program: does the arkansas
have any getties?
wetness protection program: how about, volume four: the
floodgates.
wetness protection program: i like that...
wetness protection program:
wetness protection program: some examples? step two: the tent.
Blair Harris: that sounds good
wetness protection program: procedure three:
watergate
Blair Harris: oooh ok I see
wetness protection program: i like floodgates alot
though...
wetness protection program: you know, cause we
are all like on "on the verge" of busting out into full
creative bloom...
Blair Harris: how about.. four: the dam music
Blair Harris: haha uh
wetness protection program: nice.
wetness protection program: nice.
Blair Harris: hahah sorry
wetness protection program: no, that was funny as
fuck....
Blair Harris: yeah floodgates will work
wetness protection program: you think? or?
Blair Harris: yeah it sounds like we are all about cry
and pouring ourselves through the strigns
Blair Harris: Im pretty sure I can identify my guitar in
that recording on there..and man I am not good at
playing with peple
wetness protection program: nice.
wetness protection program: no way! i play totally
happy music!
Blair Harris: I soudned ok on some parts, but
horrible most the time..and then I got too
overpowering
wetness protection program: my heart is golden
orange!
wetness protection program: yeah, it is pretty rough
ALL around....
wetness protection program: oh well, we can do a
better one next time.
wetness protection program: yeah...
wetness protection program: you should starting USING the
masa blog!
wetness protection program: i am trying to kick all
the masa folks in the butt about that one, but so far...
wetness protection program: not so much, you
know?
Blair Harris: yeah I've pretty much lost tocuh with that
after my first entry..that's me for ya when it comes to
blogs
wetness protection program: yeah.
Blair Harris: yeah I will amke another entry though
Blair Harris: I have to fiind the address again
wetness protection program: now, if it was an LJ,
you'd be all over it
wetness protection program: blogger.com
wetness protection program: right?
wetness protection program: or:
masarecords.blogspot.com?
Blair Harris: haha
Blair Harris: yeah I'll find it
wetness protection program: it sucks cause the
only person who has really been using it, brandon
(jimes)... makes the text all super big and super
white (so people can see it he says) than i change it
back and i think he is sick
wetness protection program: of that tug of war
now...
wetness protection program: is it really that hard to
read, or?

(0) comments
:: brs 4:10 AM [+] ::
...

i wound up staying bellingham much longer than i expected. which was good, because out of those experiences, this was created. it is me and eli's semi-project called "crystal pastures." let us know what you think!

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:: brs 1:33 AM [+] ::
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i am still in bellingham, hanging out until the local music radio show tonight and i am excited to finally get back home to kent. i was lucky enough to catch my brother and sister at home when i got into seattle from spokane and went home for a few hours before heading to port townsend... the bellingham shows were fun, especially the jason webley show, it was a nice way to finish the tour off. i have really come around to webley and his music over the last year or so, especially when he made such a nice gesture to the gaf church his last time here. the show went well, there was like 150 people there and i was able to unload 30 1985 cd's and 40 of the local compilation (dead air, um, dead air) and people signed the mailing list as well. i was mostly giving the cd's away but told people that if they wanted to donate money to me for the intended charities on the cd', that they could, and 10 bucks came in that way... it was a lot of fun being in bellingham for some live music on friday and saturday night and now i have mostly been holed up at jamie/kristen/eli's house and me and eli have been recording. apparently we are gonna try and finish an ep today, so we will see how that goes... fun, new songs of both his and mine and they are sounding awesome... look for an attempt at filling in the blank spots of the tour journal action and also look fr major overhauls of the masa site int he next couple of days...

the moist, cool spring weather here has been fucking beautiful the last few nights, especially at night when the near full moon has been coming out to play...

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:: brs 11:15 AM [+] ::
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so i am sitting at one of the horseshoe cafe computers. fucking hilarious.

it is oddly warm outside and oddly warm in my belly, as i just consumed my first liquid charge in months. it is odd everywhere. oddingham.

the children of solvency will probably be performing a song with me tonight. these are the lyrics:

"the mermaids won the battle
the mermaids won the battle
now we are all merfolk
now we are all merfolk
the mermaid king and queen
smile so lovingly
the mermaids saved us all"

the ocean is violence to most. yet some thrive there and fear the open air.
this is the most natural refutation of balance. of dark light, in and out.

i am in bellingham and, though i made 100 bucks in missoula five days ago, i am so familiarly worrry about my ability to afford being here for the next five days. nice, nice.

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:: brs 5:46 PM [+] ::
...

oh, missoula in spring! how i love thee! if only my family were pocket-size and i could take them wherever i go... alas.

like, i kind of don't want to leave... someday, i would like to spend some significant time here.

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:: brs 2:12 PM [+] ::
...

i am in missoula, chilling at peters house while he puts posters on his wall. he has lived here since october. today was overcast and warm here in western montana. i have been pretty moody. i am glad it took this long to hit me (maybe my tolerance is going up), but i am definately getting that weird ansy, unsatisfied gotta keep moving to misery missing things feeling. it is weird and hard to describe, like a breaking down jalopy. i tried pretty hard to get onto a show tonight at this girl niki's house but even though there is only three bands playing and i pleaded with the whole "i don't need to play a big set and i can play early and between bands and don't need any money and just want to play a few songs to make something of the day" spee-ul, she "didn't have room for me." eh. she hosts the local show here at the college radio station, me and tony played on her show last time we were in town... so yeah, i should be happy about last nights show. there were tons of people and they were pretty receptive and nice to me during my set and i got to hear no-fi on their old stomping grounds and the robot ate me and the conversation. the oblio joes were my favorite, though. so much fun. i have been so drawn to traveling songs on this tour, like tom and chaz's project "the transcendentalists." four fast chords a harmonica and a bellowing plea. s'all i need... the bus ride to missoula from salt lake city (following a nice 6am sunny walk with tom from his place to ther depot) was miserable and ansy, especially the last two hours from butte montana to missoula. and then we rushed right to the show at the boys and girls club. i think tyson was super happy about the show, though. tons of kids came and i think all the bands got paid pretty well (i recieved the most money i have recieved of any show on tour yet, 100 bucks)... it was a fun show. so yeah, we just went to the movie theater tyson works at to see if we could see a movie for free and it was a no go. and then jenn had to run off to watch survivor (a family tradition or something) and now me and peter are contemplating going to the show at niki's house, which i am less than excited about, though i would love to see some liver music tonight... oh, and i wrote a new song this morning (after watching the against me documentarya nd some of the half japanese one) and we tried to record it with me on guitar and tyson on keys and peter on harmonica. it didn't work but later in the day me and peter and tyson recorded a new wetness protection program installement. tyson had to leave to work half way through, but me and peter continued to record. look for a new masa myspace account for the WPP, with music up from the blair-joshua-matt session in little rock and this one today... plus some old stuffs... anyways... i need to go ride a bike or something... cheer up spend myself... tomorrow night is day three in missoula and some songs at tyson and jenns potluck housewarming party. their place is nice... oh, and the thing i like the most about "the pacific science center" (which is probably what hawaii will morph into) is the pacify. hope you are well...

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:: brs 7:03 PM [+] ::
...

okay. we are chilling in salt lake city at tom's house. we got in at ten am this morning, after one of the through the night rides that you dread for days after. the trips where you get maybe half a set and have to hold on cause the driver doesn't know how to steer smoothly and she keeps trying to toss you into the aisle. oh yeah. so we got in at ten and walked back to tom's place to eat some breakfast (they had some stolen mini pizzas and i had made some mac and cheese with fake hotdog and corn mixed in). tasty. then we walked to the temple square and did the whole mormon tourist thing. checking out what we could as non-mormons, including getting a tour of the new convention chamber thing they got. it is the largest indoor religious structure in the world or something. an auditorium that sat 21,000 a roof top with six acres of plants, a giant choir and religious leaders puplit made from the wood of a single cherry tree from pennsylvania, cheesy paitings from the 70's worth millions, drained river fountains, phonebooths everywhere amidst the class and luxury, 50-100 couples getting married a day outside thew temple. then we walked to the musuem cause i wanted to check out the transcriptions joe smith made of the golden plates. we were able to find a single page displayed. after that we walked to another holy site, a new mostly outdoor mall near the old train station. i sat near this fountain while joshua and tom walked through the virgin megastore and barnes and nobles handing out last minute fliers for the show. this fountain was the sister fountain of the olympia one that gave me the inspiration for my next rock band, to be dubbed either "soggy lazer fountain" or "pacific science center." hopefully with members of b-18, sears catalog and [mute]. it is all about creating something that is easily passed off by cool kids and other ignorantes but that appeals to the child, the pure, the innocent with moisture, symmtery, violence, rythym... anyways, there is a lot more to it, it is another unifying theory, etc... now we are back at toms house after watching the kids get pounded by a five minute rendetion from this fountain of "god bless america." (the kid seemed to enjoy the fountain more when it wasn't trying to sing and be so patriotic). tom just ate a mushroom. we are gonna go visit a utah liquor store soon and then grab some food before the show. should be a fun one tonight at kilby court. drew danburry might stop by after his show tonight...

yesterday we were in denver. got into to town at like 5pm. had to call lisa at breakdown books to get directions via city bus to the bookstore/collective. it was a smooth one transfer trip, hardly any layover. got there in 20 minutes. had to take a free bus through the 16th street mall, a hip urban shopping area like westlake that spread along the street for a couple miles. got to the book store relatively early, especially comapred to everyone else. chris, aka bad weather california, showed up about 9pm. the show started at 7pm supposedly. i played first to like six people, since joshua was beinng diffcult and considering not playing at all. so i went first. then joshua went, to about 10 people. chris played to finish the night and right before he started about 12 more people showed up. despite the late crowd, it was a fun show. i loved playing through the amp they had there. wish i could have brougbh that torquois demon with me. it sounded sweet. i can't wait to get a bio-diesel vehicle and be able to actually tour with such things in tow again.... the collective was rad, had all the typical anarcho-bookstore/collective things. they are doing a bike-in outdoor movie series this summer and i want to try and come play before a movie night, the "journey of natty gan" movie night to be exact. such a good movie. one more awesome relic from 1985. the jar got passed around and me and joshua had 26 bucks to split after the show, which was one highlight, i guess. i was just a little frustrated about the whole no one shows up on time thing (which happens everywhere) and about having to go first because joshua was being difficult.... but here we are today, thorwing waterballons out the windows at people... after the show last night we went with chris and his friend to a diner. got some pie, and fries and grilled cheeses. good times. really nice people, despite their tardiness... okay, i gots to go toss some ballons...

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:: brs 3:08 PM [+] ::
...

so last night was our show in forth worth at 1919 hemphill. rick turned out to be a lot nicer and more animated than in our mishappened email contacting. the collective place was pretty big and relatively cheap for them to rent... and big... (more soon)...

the night ended well. tony gave us a ride to the bus station, but before that we stopped by a neighborhood bar near the bus station. it was pretty classy looking and a sign at the door said they only take texas id's. tony scopped the juklebox though and they had plenty of quality cuts including mazzy star, modest mouse, and plenty of newer indie hits. we sat at the bar and meet a really nice bartender who used to own a music club in town. he had picked the jukebox albums. we each got a lonestar. joshua asked if they sold food there and they didn't but, hey the dude had five deluxe sandwiches from starbucks that some dude dropped off and also some strawberries. a nice fucking meal. free. we chatted with the 40 year old bartender at molone's bar for a bit finished our beers and hit the station.

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:: brs 10:19 AM [+] ::
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alright. it is 10am, about 24 hours after we pulled into austin from little rock, and i am rocking austin style hanging out at tony presley's listening to my favorite cut from the seattle band anybody human, "one night stand." so good. in a couple hours we will drive north to forth worthand me and joshua will be that much closer to home... last night weplayed a house show at this kid michaels. really nice, really nice kid. we traded tom robbins books (skinny legs and all for still life with woodpecker). he is into a lot of the indie, west coast songwriter k stuff and had some mass rare records. and a lot of smiles. nice guy. anyways, the show started like two hours late, an every growing tendency, with michaels roommate stewart playing a few songs off the cuff. good voice and pop songs. would have liked to seen more of him the rest of the night, but he seemed to stay out back of the house with his girlfriend. then dan solomon performed, and it was really nice to hang out with him and see him throw some words down. his performance was a lot more solid than the last time i had seen him and got me kind of amped up. joshua went next and had a good set. the pa was sounding good for his style and guitar and such. than fine:fifteen (whom had arrived late on the scene due to work) asked if they could go next and tony gave them the go ahead. i guess one of them had some studying to do, though they both (very nicely and professionally) did wind up sticking around for the whole night. it was a two woman duo with accordian and guitar. good songs, interesting vocal style. poppy stuff, with some old school stylings. i went next, and it was a fun set. i think i was a little more engaging and funny than awkward for once in a blue moon. of course, everytime i feel like i just had a good set, i tend to get the least response from people. and when i think a show is gonna go crappy, it usually turns out real good. anyways, played the political songs and the tony presley/blair harris/bill clinton hit. after me, tony played a too short set of new songs and it was awesome. really, really dig the new goods. and the acoustic vibe. we ended the night with the two of us doing a cover of sunflowers by low, which was fun and rough. there were about 14 people that came to the show and tony passed around a milkjug a few times and me and josh made ten bucks each. then, michael said he would buy all our albums for 20 bucks, which was way to fucking nice of him, especially since he already bought some community beer for us all. nice kid, i tell you. he is in this band called "a bear," check it out. after the show, tony had promised to show us the austin night scene. we wound up going to two bars that were pretty near (the "hole in the wall," which reminded me of the brotherhood in olympia, and another bar that felt a lot like the 3b tavern). it was late, so we didn't have much time to explore or drive around... maybe this morning... i am drinking a lonestar beer right now. it is ten am.

(1) comments
:: brs 10:27 AM [+] ::
...

i don't know if i should post this, but it (however truly real/significant it is) is starting to bug me a lot. i will try and clarifiy it better soon, but here is what i rambled to a friend via email to central america today:

"today we play at belvedere park on the banks of the arkansas river, which is a lot bigger here than it is colorado where it almost killed me a few years ago. i wonder how long it took that water there in colorado that we were near when the accident happened to travel all the way here. perhaps, there is a stick or something tumbling in the current that just arrived in little rock, after traveling the last 3 years down stream and we will remeet it today... i am having an artistic crisis. it would seem that there is some famous band that started in bellingham who has a lead singer that i am trying to copy and sound exactly like. this KILLLLLSS me. i hate it so much, helen. so much. for the record, if i am any sort of rip off artist, i am a built to spill (theres nothing wrong with love era) ripp off. it was driving home from the hospital where my step father had just passed away at four am with the windows down singing llong to that album that i "found" my voice. which is simply to say that after ten years of singing horribly along to nearly every song i heard, especially while crying myself to sleep to the 92.5 KLSY easy soft favorites, that the singing part start to well, work? i guess... regardless i have been singing nearly like this since then. argh. and now people pass off my music and don't give the songwriting a chance becuase i am OBVIOUSLY trying to ride the gibbard coat tail into stardom. this is an assumption, but after six years of touring as an musician from bellingham, washington and noticing certain patterns in certain reactions to my music, i know this to be true at least some of the time. and it fucking kills me. if any of it is ben gibbard related, it is that we listened to the same artists and loved the same music while growing into our own songwriting (something i have talked to him about)... what to do, helen? despite my strong, strong allegiance to artistic sincerity and love for art that is the most unfiltered, unaltered, unperverted coming from wherever through the human artist channel and out into the world, i am seriously considering concertedly singing different, altering things in order to not sound like some dude who is famous. perverting it on purpose, sacrificing the sincerity of it in order that the song, thing to be communicated, is more approachable for a certain cohort of people hearing it. hmmm..."

(2) comments
:: brs 12:18 PM [+] ::
...

me, joshua and brendon are hanging out at the brand new, lush UofK library here in kentucky. it is finals week, i guess. last night was a fun park show put on by anthony and randi with some lcoal punk kids playing and listening. there was FNB dinner right when we got there which was awesome, even though we got pretty loaded up on food at the free kitchen in bloomington before we left. the show went into the nighttime darkness, and it got a bit chilly but most the kids stuck around to hear everyone played. we play with locals amanda muse and also sarah coleman. sarah has an awesome voice and a GOOD knack for punk/pop melodies. this really awesome duo from west virginia also played, pretty straight-forward punk songs with all the topical themes us liberals and them radicals have come to know. i forgot there name right now, but... anyways, brendon is driving us again today, which will be awesome since we are traveling through the hills of west virginia appalachia... this morning was beautiful, as was the drive yesterday. it seems that spring has finally arrived just in time for our shwos in the deeper, wetter, hotter south. nice, nice.... at least we have a couple more east coats dates and hopefully a visit with "the man who is jimes" tonight in baltimore... anyways, see you guys soon. oh! and i put together the tour itinerary finally. here are most of the details for where we have been and where we still have left to go. come say hi if you can!

april 15th @ Underground Coffeehouse (Viking Union at WWU, Bellingham, WA) 8pm
with tony presley, purrbot

april 16th @ D Street (1801 D St, Bellingham, WA) 5pm
with moster dudes, pussgut, glamorous transparent pat, tony presley, purrbot

april 17th @ Le Voyeur (4th Ave, Olympia, WA) 10pm
with tony presley, purrbot

april 22nd @ Club Live (2118 Atlantic Ave, Virginia Beach, VA) 7pm with centreline, sayonara tiger, the hint, action toolbelt

april 23rd @ Monarchs Tavern (39th and Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA) 6pm with autumns disaster, more...

april 24th @ Ragtimes (19 W Market St, Arlington, VA) 9pm
open mic night

april 25th @ 1619 House (Williamstown, NJ) 7pm
little light, needles

april 26th @ DAY OFF

april 27th @ Devons House (329 paper mill road, Newark, DE) 8pm
with the metrosexuals

april 28th @ Charm City Art Space (1729 Maryland Ave, Baltimore, MD) 7pm with drew danburry, rhythmandfall

april 29th @ The Iron Saddle Saloon (137 E South St, Akron, OH)
with 4star radar, barium

april 30th @ Totally Awesome House (724 N. Main, Ann Arbor, MI) 7pm Totally Awesome Fest Day 3 with viking moses, grey lights, actual birds, hot meat for young lovers, more...

may 01st @ Ugly Mug Café (317 W. Cross St, Ypsilanti, MI) 7pm
with danjer danjer and viking moses

may 02th @ The Junk Shop (3659 S Hoyne, Chicago, IL) 10pm
with viking moses, shelley short, john bellows

may 03rd @ Relaxation Center (804 S Roger St, Bloomington, IN) 7pm with the impossible shapes, viking moses, odawas

may 04th @ Woodland Park (Lexington, KY) 5pm
with sarah Coleman, amanda muse, viking moses

may 05th @ Mojo Room and Lounge (4825 Belair Rd, Baltimore, MD) 9pm with Viking Moses, more...

may 06th @ Club Live (2118 Atlantic Ave, Virginia Beach, VA) 8pm
with tenwatch shindig, silent film, waking state

may 07th @ Devons House (Atlanta, GA)
with dustin and the furniture, skyland point, oxygen booth

may 08th @ TBA (Arkansas)

may 09th @ Belvedere Park (Rivermarket & Clinton) 5pm
with blair harris, the things that always explode, the american princes

may 10th @ Michaels House (406 west 37th street, Austin, TX) 8pm
with dan solomon, tony presley, fine: fifteen!

may 11 th @ 1919 Hemphill (1919 Hemphill, Fort Worth, TX) 6pm
with dan solomon, tony presley and ten tin feet

may 12th @ Breakdown Collective/Books (1409 Ogden St., Denver, CO) 7pm
with bad weather california (formally the love letter band)

may 13th @ Kilby Court (733 S 330 W, Salt Lake City, UT) 8pm
with the transcendentalists, sons of guns

may 14th @ Union Hall (208 E Main, Missoula, MT) 6pm
with no-fi soul rebellion, the robot ate me, 1985,
old shoes, oblio joes, the conversation, aheartlesssolution

may 15th @ Tyson and Jenn's House (313 S 4th W, Missoula, MT) 6pm
with old shoes, annie j and the radiant murmur, purrbot

may 16th @ TBA (Boise, ID)

may 17th @ Rock Coffee (920 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA) 8pm
with vindikat

may 18th @ Jarrod & Emilys House (823 Hood Street, Port Townsend, WA) 8pm
with the solvents, more…

may 19th @ Bay Street Coffeehouse (1302 Bay Street, Bellingham, WA) 8pm
with the solvents, matt hopper

may 20th Causland Memorial Park (8th St & N Ave, Anacortes, WA) 6pm
with the solvents and hopefully the gift machine, murder mtn, more

may 21st @ Fairhaven Courtyard (WWU, Bellingham, WA) 7pm
with Jason Webley

(1) comments
:: brs 6:40 AM [+] ::
...

i know the second i start typing this brendon and joshua are gonna show up (i am currently at the library waiting for them to pick me up so we can drive to lexington). anyways, last night we played an awesome and super fun show at the relaxation center here in bloomington. the people of the house were really nice and hospitable and a lot of kids came out to the show and came down to the basement to watch the music inbetweening partying upstairs. joshua started the show off, and then me, brendon, the impossible shapes (the main dude solo, though) and odawas concluded the evening. everyone played really well and i enjoyed the local bands music. it was news to both me and joshua that secretly canadian and the impossible shapes and odawas were all from bloomington. joshua is a big fan of secretly canadian and the impossible shapes as well. everyone seemed to be drinking miller high life. bloomington reminds me a lot of what pullman would be like if the city of bellingham's 70,000 people sat next to WSU there, instead of the 15,000 locals there are there now. it is like bellingham alot, but with a big university and environs that are really similar to the oasis in the desert that pullman/moscow are. i am excited to come back again and visit. today we head to a park show in lexington, kentucky with food not bombs and kickball and skateboarding... hopefully we will ge there in time for some dinner foods...

(0) comments
:: brs 9:39 AM [+] ::
...

alright. well, we are what, nearly two weeks into this tour? and no update from our fairy godslands. tour has been well. a little on the poor side at times, a little on the vacant side some times, but well... we are in bloomington, indiana today and chilling at the library right now. it is a nice city, seemingly. it will be awesome to meet some local kids and see what keeps them busy. this is day four with viking moses. brendon rented a car, so it is almost like we aren't really touring together.... i mean, we are playing shows, but so much of the touring together thing is driving from show to show experiencing the in betweens and such...

we were in chicago last night. may 2nd. this nice kid alex put together a show for us at his house, where he has shows often, which was basically a cornerstore turned into a residence. with a huge living space and a huge basement show space. despite the fact that there had just been a big several day annual festival in town, and another all-ages show earlier in the evening AND it was a monday night show starting at 10pm. the first two local acts had a nice crowd (shelley short from portland originally and this kid joshua bellows), as did joshua and brendon... alas, the 1985 performance to the remaining for kids got shortened by pissy neighbors. i was a little disappointed by it but, oh well... those things happen... chicago was nice and spring-chilled, the buildings as big as ever...

oh, alexes house/space rented for 700 bucks total. wow.
more later, i hope...

(0) comments
:: brs 2:53 PM [+] ::
...

so may 1st was a night at the ugly mug in ypsilanti, mi which is really close to ann arbor. it was nice to finally be able to hang out here for awhile, since it has always seemed like an awesome college town and some people likened it as such to bellingham. of course, the university here dwarves WWU both in size and olden grandeur. we crashed at the totally awesome house, which though they were supposed to be all moved out, was still pretty trashed from the festival and a years worth or tornado creative enterprise. those kids are rad and i really hope they get there deposit back and that people get there things moved out and cleaned up before the landlords come a knocking. ..late sunday night (we crashed there two nights) joshua was playing some chessy riff on a guitar and we came up with a tribute song for the house... i think the lyrics were like:

"totally awesome is totally
out of debt and finally
free to float amoungst the clouds
free to finally sing aloud:
totally awesome. totally."

patrick did a verse and we tried to get jason to as well, but to no avail. that song will be recorded. it was a fun one.... the show sunday night was at the ugly mug cafe in ypsilanti with danjer (formally danjer danjer, and still a play on the first anmes of the two dudes in the band: DAN and JERmey). the coffeshop was pretty cool, seemingly located in the a building that used to be a cornerstore/gas station. me, joshua and brendon went first and everyone played good sets through dans portable yet awesomeable pa system. the show was supposed to go from 7-9pm and we thought that they were gonna let it run late, but by the time brendon got done it was almost 9pm and the owner was wanting us to get out. danjer decided to do some songs out in the parking lot (cold parking lot, mind you, as all of the east has been late winter cold while our home in the NW has been a nice mild 70 degrees. it even snowed on our way to chicago the next day). the danjer songs kept those remaining warm on the street for a good time and it was awesome that patrick and jason and some other kdis from the night before showed up to support the show and hang out. we went and chilled at a friendly house afterwards, chatting and eating macaroni with beans and peanut butter before the four of us (pat, jason, joshua and i) crammed into a pickup and drove back to ann arbor. (stopping for doughnuts and coffee along the way). jason and patrick had a lot of work to do at the house still. i would up passing out for a nap that turned into a full nights sleep and was unable to help them much with there quest.

oh, and during the day me, joshua and brendon walked around ann arbor, looking for records, books, burritos and computer access. the mission was a success. and we made it (via scenic side routes in brendons rental) to ypsilanti just in time for a drink and then the show... more soon...

(0) comments
:: brs 10:05 AM [+] ::
...

back to the future, again i guess... some recollections...

ann arbor on the 30th was a lot of fun. it was the third day of the totally awesome fest. the final night of music, celebrating the kids and shows that have happened there over the last year and some. it was good to see patrick elkins again, he is one of my favorite peoples. and jasons voss to, though i have this sneaky suspicion that he hates me or something. but not really, i just like to imagine that he hates me... sometimes i equate silence with distaste. its an insecurity... anyways, the night was awesome, as to be expected, and there was a lot of kids, though i guess mot as much as the first two nights (people were tiring out). we played with a handful of locals (including melting moments, actual birds and hot meat for young lovers) and it was our first show with brendon aka viking moses. luckily the hot meat set, which concluded the night, did't end with patrick jumping off the roof to his doom. he was already pretty banged up from other physical activities. the mic stand accident months ago in bellingham at the jimes show is starting to make sense these days... btw, that live jimes set (in all its naked glory) will be seeing a co-release on masa records and we're twins records. we are all way excited about that...

(0) comments
:: brs 10:01 AM [+] ::
...

hearing:
modest mouse ~ the world at large

argh. so i am kind of bumming right now. TOTALLY broke. had a fun time, but shitty performance at the DOS last weekend. wasn't able to head to bellingham this morning for a show i booked and was scheduled to play with six amazing other acts. would have been a fun bellingham time, too. am getting over a bad case of feverish delirium. time to make 500 bucks in the next two weeks before tour. really want to play some rock music right now. hawaii may exist, but it still needs to be found.

(0) comments
:: brs 4:56 PM [+] ::
...

hearing:
a new 1985 song just recorded on his four-track

i would just like to take this opportunity to say that masa records would probably not exist without dan shafer. he was very instrumental and supportive in the early days and his influence is still felt from across the miles. oh, and many masa recordings (including most of the 1985 stuff and the new aheartlesssolution album) were recorded on his four-track that he donated to me, so there is that to be grateful for as well. thanks, dan shafer! everyone shouold check out his webpages and art|work.

(1) comments
:: brs 6:31 PM [+] ::
...

hearing:
aheartlesssolution ~ thumbing and fingerprinting

working on some more masa pages. just wanted to say this new aheartlesssolution song is pretty amazing. i am happy to be hitting the road for a month with joshua. 1985 also just made a big decision to go from the four -string acoustic bit to six-string electric (still in a similar alt-tuning). i was just feeling trapped with the four strings and i am excited to play electric again. for tour, i am working out this set up that uses my four track (meaning i will have backing tracks) and large computer speakers for an amp. anyways, check back for tour dates as it comes together, i know we both hope to see you out there...

oh, and brandon, is it gonna make you made if i keep changing the font back? i hope you won't quit with the updates over it... i say we thumbwrestle!

(0) comments
:: brs 9:13 PM [+] ::
...

hearing:
b-18 ~ distraction
blair harris ~ beneath the surface

so i spent a little time creating webpages for b-18 and blair. b-18 also has a myspace account now. check that shit! ...it's warm out.

(0) comments
:: brs 4:32 PM [+] ::
...

hearing (in my head):
secret stars|genealogies

so it has been a hella busy weekend visiting with a lot of masa folks and also trying to get the website and 1985/aheartlesssolution tour into gear. friday night me and mutebox matthew hitched a ride with our bellingham friends goldstar down to olympia for a show at the voyeur with bret philips (the man who recorded the hopefully-soon-to-be-mixed sears catalog record) and palisades. the show was a lot of fun and it was good to see oly friends so quickly after being there before. in the morning i drove elijah from palisades car back up to kent and hung out at home for awhile before busying into seattle to try and hang out with joshua (AHS) and go to the final jimes show of the NW tour. busses were late, missed josh, but caught the awesome jimes show (brandon's hair-do was actually pretty awesome, too bad he has to cut it so he can get a job). after that i bussed to capital hill and hung out with b-18 for awhile before bussing back to kent. sunday found me at home trying to get a bunch of webstuffs done and trying to figure out if i was going to bellingham sunday or monday morning. i was also abel to chat with blair, via the myspace IM'er which allows you to slap/kiss the person you are talking to, about coming out to record and a webpage and such. during that time i also fielded calls from matthew, joshua and eli. busy. i think me and my aunt described it best, it's like all my balls are up in the air... and they all happen to be invisible as well. wish me luck that nothing gets broken.

(0) comments
:: brs 11:47 AM [+] ::
...

hung out with matthew (of mutebox fame) today in downtown kent. goodtimes. he got pho on meeker and i got a side of rice. then we went to his victim impact panel which was an experience. he also okay'ed a MASA release of the mutebox cd. awesome. so look forward to that soon... 1985 has a show in olympia tomorrow. it will be good to see those friends... hope you are well! website should be updated in a day or so...

(0) comments
:: brs 2:18 AM [+] ::
...

hey, so i will try to fill in the gaps from the tour diary (both DC and RNC) soon. also, i would like to welcome joshua (a heartless solution) and blair harris to the masa family, both of them just released albums on masa and you can check them out for free on line... more details soon. masa just released six new albums on valentines day. awesome!

(3) comments
:: brs 3:49 PM [+] ::
...

so our bus ride wasn’t too bad today and we got into Pasco around 2pm. Oliver was there to pick us up and we headed out in his pick-up truck. the drive to Walla Walla was about 45 minutes and me and Tony were grateful both for both the rides Oliver gave us to and from. we hit up a taco stand before our trip to Walla Walla and Oliver had some tongue/.it was an amazingly warm day for eastern Washington in January, probably the warmest and sunniest day we had seen all tour. the entire day and evening, in all our travels around town, that familiar eastern Washington romantic pull was hitting me hard. I need to move over here sometime and write a book or record an album or something (I am not going count the stars and mountains ASS album). we stopped by the Gillians Island halfway house and dropped our shit off. the house was super awesome and I guess somewhat legendary around town (though they hadn’t done any shows there in awhile). the old tier of roommates that had started the shows and the house had all moved out and later in the evening, right before the show, we were able to meet all the new roommates as they were finishing up a house dinner. I think the best use for main, wood-floored downstairs would be to have a roller-derby rink. the kitchen, living rooms and four-staired hallway all made a nice, pretty wide circle that would be awesome to race around (especially the up-then-down stairs). we then headed over to Olivers apartment and met his roommates and dropped some things off there. it was the upper floor of a larger house and a nice apartment at that. I guess the rent is really cheap. we then decided to walk to campus and try to take advantage of some wi-fi action outside the library/dorms. the walk was beautiful, as was the campus, and it felt a lot like a warm late fall day. I was having a hard time not falling in love with the place and kept trying to remind myself that the weather was a fluke, as probably was any other glamour. we hung out up there for a bit on the big lawn near most the campus buildings. Oliver kept bumping into people he knew and eventually Kate, whom we were to share the bill with that night, walked by. we met here and walked around campus some more, checking out the new science building and the theatre arts building. the theatre stage was immense, and took up more space than all the seating in the theatre, the backstage was even bigger and quite the labyrinth. this was Olivers home turf. after that we walked to the student building, which was either new or newly renovated, and checked out the campus coffeehouse and the radio station and such. then it was time to head to the show. Oliver was gonna have to come back up to campus for an hour for rehearsal right in the middle of the show, and he wound up missing both me and tony’s sets. the roommates took off right as we showed up, a few others remaining behind, yet hidden upstairs for the whole evening. Kevin was supposed to do a set of his music, but apparently he was very sick. that seemed fitting to tony. kate was there though and she played a four songs. not before this nice kid, who came with two friends, jammed for a bit before the show and we rocked some sing-alongs. by the time I played there were six people there outside of me, tony and Kate. it was a funtime, though, and me and tony made the best of it (tony had a little harder time since this was the second time he had a poor show in Walla Walla). the kids there were nice and I gave away a few cd’s and we made 1.50 in donations. rock. Oliver showed up after tony was done and, apparently, the elusive Kevin had shown up during the end of tony’s set, though he didn’t feel like introducing himself and took off before we had a chance to met. we decided to go back to Oliver’s house and make some food, rather Oliver make us some food. his roommates had just rented Garden State which we watched while Oliver made some dinner. I was happy to see that their household was way into the Mate (they had two gourds), as one of the roommates was from Argentina. Garden State I found a little disappointing, though I need to see it again. I didn’t think the editing was smooth enough and at times the movies seem to pluck its aesthetic appeal (with shot angles, silences, facial expressions and vocal patterns and tones) from other mainstream indie hits of the last five years. I was unable to pay attention to the ending, which I heard kind of sucked anyway. there was a few subtle things I really liked, most among them the fact that the bathing suit Sam is wearing when she is swimming is two piece with a pink bottom and a burgundy top. later in the movie, when the three of them are on their mission towards the abyss, Sam is wearing a pink hoodie and main-dude is wearing a burgundy one. the dinner was much better and shortly afterwards we hit the sack.

I woke up early again, like every morning, and was able to get a couple hours of computer time in on Olivers laptop before the house woke up. we milled around a bit and then packed up and hit the road (though the bus didn’t leave until two, Oliver had to be back by one for classes). the drive was filled with debates about windmills and chagrining about spoonerisms. then we said our goodbyes and massive amounts of thank yous and Oliver was gone. me and tony had a few hours so we decided to walk into the downtown area near the bus station, a charmingly latino-dominated few blocks that reminded tony of texas. we had a beer and some lunch at a Mexican joint and then went back to the station. the pasco station is a nice and new affair. right now we are in The Dalles as I type this, our voyage along the Columbia taking a bit longer as the driver will not go over 50 MPH cause his front windshield is breaking and tons of air and pressure are compromising the structural integrity. sorry. I had to say it...

(0) comments
:: brs 1:58 PM [+] ::
...

hey everybody... so we are back in washington state and here for a few final shows together before tony takes off south again for more shows (he is a touring maniac). um, so yeah come out and hang out:

01.30 Gilligan's Island Halfway House, Walla Walla, WA (6:30pm)
01.31 Dunes (1905 NE MLK) Portland, OR (9pm, with The Solvents... Folk The Police Night)
02.01 The Boiler Room in Port Townsend, WA (8pm, The Solvents)
02.02 ABC House (105 Sherman NW) Oly, WA (7pm, donations, with Palisades, The Solvents)
02.03 Stuart's Coffeehouse (1302 Bay St) Bellingham, WA (with A Heartless Solution, The Solvents)

tour journal: www.masarecords.blogspot.com
tony: www.tonypresley.com www.myspace.com/tonypresleyreallivetigers
1985: www.masarecords.com/mr_1985.html www.myspace.com/1985

(0) comments
:: brs 5:22 PM [+] ::
...

I think this is only the second tour entry I have typed that is happening on schedule, right after the shows. We have been in Montana now for two days and have had two of our best shows in Helena and in Missoula. We were on the greyhound for 24 straight hours to get here from St Paul, though the trip was not so bad and the overnight bus not to full. for the first time I took the very back, three seat by the bathroom and we were on a private line carrier, so the bus was a lot nicer. that allowed me to sleep most of the night away, which helped out. after a few layovers and transfers we arrived in Butte, MT around 4:45. the schedule said we got in at 5:45 and it turns out that we had a 45 minute layover at some casino literally two blocks away from the main greyhound station in Butte. It would have been nice to have figured this out earlier, since Tyson (Old Shoes) and Jen (Annie J & The Radiant Murmur), who set these Montana shows up, were going out of their way to come to Butthole Montana to pick us up, and we were gonna be running behind as is. Me & Tony decided just to walk to the Greyhound Station and wait out the hour there. there was not much we could do to get a hold of Tyson and Jen to get them there sooner. I decided to play some guitar and ruminate on Tony (and some dude behind us on the bus) assertion that Butte was an awesome city. I guess it reminded tony of west texas. I didn’t see the lure at all. I decided to try and re-figure out the Racetrack cover I have done in the past and in the process, came up with a nice progression. I can sing “the way things are here� to the progression, but it is in a different key and pretty different, so I think this is going to be a 1985 song, perhaps incorporating the lyrical theme of the racetrack song. anyways, after an hour, and a bit of watching that shitty movie “Open Waters� (or whatever that new ocean/shark movie was), Tyson and Jen showed up. it was really good to see them, and Emma (Jens road weary car) looked as dismal as ever. It took us a few minutes to find the interstate we needed to take north to Helena, and in those few minutes a pretty fast/witty/sharp/biting/sarcastic tone was set for the trip (I think we overwhelmed our hosts a bit this time). once we got to Helena, it took a few minutes to find The Pattern House. when we pulled up, a few minutes late, we could hear someone playing and it appeared that the show was started without us. The Pattern House is a two-story café/coffeeshop nicely furnished and decorated, with all its glossy wood exposed frames and milk white walls. there was a lot of kids, mostly high school, who showed up for the show which was amazingly awesome. the music was upstairs, in this giant room that ran the length of the building and this guy Matt was playing to pass the time before we arrived. he played a lot of good covers and possible a couple originals and his voice reminded me of Travis Morrison, in good ways. we met Reagan, who had set the show up and whose band (Rusty Guns) was playing. Tyson had known Reagan and Ryan (lead guitarist) for a few years. We set up the merch stuff alongside the crafty display that OS/AJatRM have and after Matt played Old Shoes took the stage. It was a great, loud distorted set for Tyson and the kids appreciated his native banter and charm. the room sounded awesome and it was one of my favorite OS sets all-time. after Tyson, Jen did her Annie J thing and it her voice filled the room nicely. She has the kind of voice that you want reading you stories as you go to bed. good shit. It was my turn to go first (me and tony have been alternating) so I set up and was a bit nervous for such a large, young crowd. I quickly destroyed any inkling they might have towards me with some comment about my age, which I thought came out offensively and rude. I was looking forward to having a good set and most of the songs felt alright (I liked the way the PA handled my voice) and people seemed receptive enough. I ended with A Framing, which I had only played twice on tour, and afterwards tony set up his goodnesses. he had a little difficulty tuning for the first song, the instrumental rock out, but his banter was good and people were patient. his guitar sounded pretty dope in the room and it was a good real live tigers set. he wound up cajole-ing one of the rusty guns (ryan) up to play drums on the last two songs, the final song being the instrumental which tony rocked the fuck out of the way he does. I was feeling pretty dumb and self-conscious, like I had bungled up another of our bigger shows, but rusty guns came to the rescue with their alt-country tinged pop songs. twas good shit and all their friends, who had waited patiently in the hot room through all of us, seemed to enjoy it. afterwards, tony sold a couple cd’s and I half-sold a couple and it was decided that we would go get some food before heading back to Missoula. we were trying to get back before the japanther show ended at area 5, so we could pass out some hand bills, but that was looking less and less likely. after driving around for about a half hour trying to find our state highway and kind of looking for food, we were on the road again, highway 12 our route. 12 is a mountainous, two lane highway and I was pretty much rudely freaking out the whole time and eventually just put my head down and tried to sleep (the dark, foggy road reminded me too much of that canyon where me and jonny spilled our shit). anyways, we got back to Missoula and stopped at a diner. I decided just to continue sleeping in the car cause I was pretty tired and I am not sure how long those kids were in the diner caffeine-ing up. we went back to the dorm that tyson and Jen live in and made a game plan for the the morning. me and tony took tysons room, tyson and jen took jens room….

I woke up early so I could try to get some work done on the computer (the last couple times I had had internet access I used it to try and fill in some show dates for us and was neglecting my responsibilities for work and such). I wanted to try and get a little more filled in on the stuarts closure, though the mess about it on the CP board was a little outrageous. I was finally able to cut my inbox in half, and answered like 80 emails, which is a good thing. tony woke up soon after and at noon we called to wake tyson and jen. after some planning and meeting, tony took off for downtown, I took off for a computer lab in the library and tyson and jen hung out. we were to meet back up at 5pm, in case our radio interview came through, and then we were to meet nathan (aka Purrbot) at the burrito joint at 6pm. turns out the radio thing was a go, and we all reconvened in good time. headed to the station, to the local show. it was good to be back at KGBA or KBGA or whatever the hell the call letters are. I believe Nicki was the DJ's name and she was nice enough to let us hang out for an hour and play some cd tracks and i even did a live performance of olive to close our interview out. she was a little sick/hungover from the night before (the talk of the town this day was the japanther show the night before at area 5). we left the station a little late and traveled down to "taco del sol" or whatever it was called. tyson and jen swore by this place and said it mopped up all over banditos in bham (oddly enough, the two of them had still not gone to casa). it was really good and releatively cheap. the place was packed the whole time we were there. nathan was there and had already gotten his goods. we had a nice meal and it was good to meet nathan and such. afterwards, we headed to area 5 and began to set things up and get ready for the show. nathan and tyson had done a great job promoting the show, so we were optimistic that it would go well, despite there being 3 other all-ages shows that night. well, at 8:30 pm we started and there were only a handful of people there. but i took a turn as the doorperson and during tysons set, people started to fill the place. eventually there was like 35 people or so and it was a great crowd in a great venue with great music and great friends. tyson and jen both did amazingly well and they charmed the audience in the end with a duet sing-along to "total eclipse of the heart." tony went next and he had one of his best sets as well. his music does well in the bigger, hard-sounding rooms, echoing nicely. i was a little nervous when i went on next, not because of the crowd, but because i had just seen three of my friends play possibly the best sets i had seen them ever have.... okay. so tyson always bugs me to play whatcom falls, which thankfully i "can't" do with the whole four-string 1985 set-up, but i realized that i had never played the song at all for him and that i should so i started my set off with the song, using tysons guitar, having not even played it in over a year and a half at least. ironically, i was able to remember the lyrics better than i usually do (usually i forget the fuck out them even though this was the first song i ever wrote). good times. in the set, i also decided to try the racetrack-esque cover of "way things are here" which felt really good to play. i really like the progression and have decided to use it (a wholey different meoldy and progression than racetracks version) couple with a somewhat like-sounding vocal melody and some of the track lyrics to make the song about the inaugeration. "whats it worth, these half-filled streets, where we push our way(s), our own beliefs, while they lead that downfall, on the districts(/DC) green mall." hopefully the track wont get mad. it sounds a lot different.... anyways, the set was fun and better than the night before, but still not feeling wholly there the way sets should after 20 days of touring and 8 years of show playing... i dunno, good times. sold a couple cds. gave a couple away... oh wait, yeha, and purrbot played after me and nathans music was shit. such good pop tunes. he accompanied his awesome vocal melodies in turn with a keyboard, a gutar and a backpack guitar. he was a nice dude to boot, which is always a bonus. i need to get this cat to come to bellingham. after the show, we kind of had to bust out of there early cause tyson had nightwatch duty at one of the dorms. i was really tired so i decided to go with tyson and jenn and jenns friend rather than rock it out with tony and nathan and crew. we headed back tot he dorms and milled around a bit by the front desk tyson was anchored, too. i had been pretty exhausted since during nathans set (i wish i could put him on my nightstand like a wind-up and have him sing me to sleep everynight) so i said my goodbyes to tyson and jen and jens friend and peter (whom it was good to see and i was glad he came to our show after his bands -my pal ghosty- set at one of the other all-ages shows). so i went to bed at tysons dorm room and woke to the presley phone call int he morning. him and nathan came by to pick me and all our shit up and then we headed to the greyhound station. the guys had stayed up all-night hanging out with friends and scheming their upcoming tour (don't ask me what one of the names they came up with was)... nathan dropped us off we said our goodbyes and then waited for our relatively short ride to pasco to come...

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:: brs 8:35 AM [+] ::
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I don’t know what it is about northern Ohio, but fuck it all if we don’t always miss our connecting busses. We came in form DC today through a pretty heavy snowstorm and with a driver who was worrying about his breaks freezing up, to arrive in Pittsburgh an hour later than our connecting bus left. Now we are stranded for four more hours and won’t make it to Akron till 9pm. The show we have in Kent (seven miles away) is a house party/show and it is Saturday night so hopefully that won’t be an issue. We will see… this is only the second journal entry that I am writing on time, so anything you read older than this I have likely wrote today, here, sitting in the oranges and reds of the wood-walled greyhound restaurant…

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:: brs 2:19 PM [+] ::
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Friday Jan 21st (DC & Sterling, VA)

So last night was supposed to be our show with Herbie in Philadelphia, but it turns out (I guess from what Tony says) that Herbie arrived back from tour to find that his housemates didn’t want to do the show. We found this early on the night of the 20th. So, I arrived back from my adventures out at the inauguration to Brandons house and soon began trying to find a show we could get on somewhere within bussing distance of DC. Instead of trying to email bands and find shows at thousands of venues, I got the idea to do a myspace show search for the 21st for shows within 100 miles of DC. about 200 shows were listed and I begin messaging the bands with shows listed. by the end of the night, about 3-4am, I had messaged about 120 bands or so. and by the end of the night we had already gotten 4 phone calls (all after one am) of people willing to help us. that was amazing. I would like to thank all those bands, if any of them are reading this. so by morning time, we had to decide between 5-7 shows that we were all 95% confirmed to be able to play. some shows were in Philly, others in PA. we decided that a show in Sterling, VA would be a good bet because it was close enough that Brandon could go to it and we were gonna try and do an impromptu Jimes set. both the bands whom we chatted with on myspace (one of which called us), Off Transmission and The Manual Hand, were very interesting, moody, often ambient rock bands and they were very nice enough to offer us an opening slot on the bill. So after eating dinner with Brandon and Katherine at a deli/convenient store in the heart of glorious Silver Springs (with all its new tall buildings and bright white lights), the three of us (sans Katherine) headed out to VA. The drive was quicker than we thought it would be and tony proved his title as the trip navigator by maneuvering us through mis-listed streets on our yahoo map directions into the strip mall that the Barefoot Pelican Grill and Pub was at. The place was a typical strip mall bar, with the prerequisite pool tables and sloppy joes and dozen or so TV screens. turns out that there was a third band on the bill, Pelesara, which we were told was a “bar band� and a “cover band.� we decided I should play first since it seemed that tonys guitar style fit better with the two bands we had heard and plus I was acoustic. after about a half hour of the bands loading in and setting up, I took the small stage and played a short set (eulogy, the leash, olive, november, blue-purple failure). some of the band members paid attention nicely and perhaps a few others out there were trying to listen. though the pa was big, there were no monitors and I could barely hear myself over the crowd. rarely has it happened, but even when I was belting at the top of my lungs (and off the mic a bit) on olive, I was drowned out and it felt like nothing was coming from my mouth. what a weird feeling. anyways, the guitarist for Off Transmission, who was a nice guy and who went on to play some amazing guitar during their set, complimented me about my tunes and asked me if I had heard much granddaddy. I told him I was a fan of software slump and we talked about some indie bands that we both liked. he gave me one of there cd’s and then later I forgot to give him one of ours and didn’t see him the rest of the night. and yeah, Off Transmission really impressed me overall. the rhythm section was really tight and stood out and the guitar leads were ambient and chaotic and driving all at once. the one thing thart stuck out was the lead singers voice, which bellowed a lot and was a bit off key, but for some reason it worked fairly well with the music. the leader singer/guitarist also happened to be the back-up vocalist and bassist for The Manual Hand and the band seemed to share the same gear. I didn’t like The Manual Hand as much, but they were still very interesting often mixing some DC punk vocal styles with some hot retro rock riffs and that cool indie keyboard sound that everyone seems to be going for these days. me and tony had a few drinks before realizing that there was no discount or deal for bands on drinks, which was perfectly okay, but tony was a little upset at the end of the night that he had spent 20 bucks on whiskey sours. we continued to butt heads at the show, and I was trying to postpone discussing any issues we had until we were both sober. Our head butting was not the main attraction, though, as two ladies got in a shoving match during The Manual Hand. one of the ladies was kicked out but returned ten minutes later to muscle herself around the nicely dressed bouncer and pursue her opponent, tackling like 6 people in the course of a minute and breaking at least 5 or six glasses. all of this happened in front of the owner, an older nicely dressed dude who was sitting with a similar couple, who was there for the show that night. turns out that pretty much everyone in the bar, whether muscle jock playing pool, overweight hesher wearing flannel, or indie rock kid with black-rimmed glasses, pretty much went to high school together. the average age seemed about 27. the owner, right before we left while our waitress was sitting for a second chatting with tony while he signed his bill, decided to ream her right in front of us for sitting down which pissed all three of us off. I hate that shit. that is the single most disrespectful thing a manager can do, to discipline an employee in front of their customers. douche. anyways, we decided, after I was convinced to leave my punk principles behind, to leave a song into to the last band, as it was getting late and we had to be to the bus station at 5am. I tried to say goodbye to as much of the band dudes as possible, and my last goodbye was to the really nice bassist of OT. he, obviously, was surprised we were leaving and said that the bands hadn’t gotten paid yet (we weren’t expecting to get any money) and then he tried successfully to give me 30 bucks out of his own pocket. I felt like such a fucking asshole. I decided to share the conversation I had had with him with a drunk tony and brandon as we were walking out the door and that became a heated discussion between me and tony halfway home, until he passed out in the backseat. oh, I forgot. when leaving the house earlier in the day we discovered what appeared to be a bag of mary jane sitting on the stone ledge outside the apartment complex main entrance. we discussed picking it up and bringing it to Patrick Elkins, who was dealing with a bad back injury, several times as we passed it through out the day. but it wasn’t until that night, as it STILL sat there in plain view, that we, well Brandon, decided to snag it. it came to the show with us and back to brandons house. and there we left her this morning as we ran out the door, late again. enjoy the reef, Brandon, but watch out for the sharp corrals, man…

oh, and before i forget, i would like to give a shout out to Wheeling, VA. which, on the morning we bussed into DC as the sun was rising bright int he misty fogs and on the snowy madness, looked absolutely stunning and classic and beautiful with its big river and its bridges and its older stone highrises... wow.

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:: brs 9:24 AM [+] ::
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we arrived in little rock Are-Kansas around 6pm. it was cold and brisk and the air is wet. we planned on walking the mile or so to the venue and quickly set out. we had about an hour to get there and our firast hurdle was crossing the Arkansas river. this was notable to me since this river, over a thousand miles upstream was the same river me and jonny were traveling along through the Colorado canyon when we hit the rockslide a few years back. the river here, though, is probably twice as wide as even the canyon we were following there. it is a nice bride and little rock I found to be pretty nice looking and seemed to have some money in it. I make the case that it seems to have some liberal character to it, which is a point of contention for most everyone the whole evening. after a struggled walk (it is fucking cold and some of our goods don’t sit well for walking), we make it to Blank Generation, a rather big whole in the wall of a record store and punk mecca in the heart of white-lighted downtown little rock. Sean and Shoni are the owners of the venue and they live in the back and upstairs with their two kids, who were adorable and rather sharp for a couple of half pints. national lampoons Christmas vacation is playing when we arrive but it is soon replaced with pacman. I look through the records, many pretty independent, including a mt gigantic album I almost pick up for five bucks. it is a monday night so there is not much hope for an exceptional crowd and after a while Blair Harris, who is performing that night, shows up with her friend Steven. me and tony order some hot slices, well a whole round pie of them, and about a half hour (prior to pizza arrival) tony sets up and begins the night. the place is rather huge and it seems well-worn with past punk shows and a banged up PA. there is a leak in the 24 foot ceiling that drips throughout the night about ten feet from where we all stood. a handful and some of blairs friends show up before and as tony begins his set. it sounds good in the room after tony’s set Blair sets up with her electric guitar. she has a nice, mellow stage presence which fits her songs which soon pretty much floor me. good stuff in the line of a early cat power or S and other somber songstresses. I quickly conclude that I would love it if she released something on MASA. after Blair plays I set up and try and play a short set. me and tony sell/give away a few cd’s, and people stick around for a bit to chat. our bus was set to leave a few hours later and tony convince Blair and Steven to hang out for a bit. we trek all the way across town just to hang out at an IHOP in their neck of the woods. good times were had, strawberry syrup was consumed, not enough coffee was consumed, coffeepots were destroyed and stories were shared. and then we made our way back to the busstop, having learned that we just spent what could be considered an “exciting little rock experience� with the kids. I really loved the blank generation and Anthony and Randi and talk to them a bit about having MASA goods there in the future. I really want to find the coolest of cool record stores in various towns and only work with one store per city. blank generation would be perfect. um… then we left town for Lexington, Kt. another long bus ride overnight...

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:: brs 11:32 PM [+] ::
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I realized now, as I try to remember what happened just a short week ago on this tour, that it is the bus rides that blend together the most. most our rides have been pretty tame, so I suppose you might not be missing much by me leaving such details out, but there were some sights and some cities that I hope I am able to recall as this diary thing progresses… so we headed south and east from Denver and things surprisingly never got much warming. in fact, denton was in the late 20’s most of the time we were there. the greyhound station in denton was a small cubicle-like office of an operation and was embedded in TA travel station. we would come to know this station well. we called Joshua when we got into to town and tony had somewhat of a time trying to tell where exactly in denton we were, but about 20 minutesa later Joshua’s arrived and we made our way back into the townier part of town. this was my first time in texas. it pretty much looked the same as everywhere, america in the night with all the corporate neon lights filling the intersections and nameless streets cross-stiching the suffocated and buried earth beneath the concrete. this is a troubling thing to me, that it is true that denton looks like little rock looks like federal way looks like corvalis looks like Spokane. it is especially true in these flat cities, where there are no outstanding hills to mark the horizon with natural features and attributes. we went to Joshua’s house quickly and met his mom and hung out for ten minutes. they both were very nice and we were offered a place to stay, but sadly tonight was another night were our bus left too early after midnight to warrant trying to spend a few hours sleeping at someones house. we said goodbye to Joshua’s mom and then made our way to mable peabody’s beauty parlor and chainsaw repair. the club, dentons only queer-run music venue, was hidden at the dark end of a small, older strip mall behind a chevron and surrounded by broken down cars. the brown and brittle earth siding was complimented by various adornments of the rainbow on the outside and a big sign which announced the false identity of the place. though a lot of beauty, there was no parlor, and though a few fake cardboard cut-out chainsaws, there was no repairperson. there was the owner, whom though I never officially met, seemed nice and had a good report with her clientele. the bands were both there, tough we wouldn’t really meet them till after the show, and we wondered if people would come out for a sunday night show. I decided to go get some food at the chevron and came back with one of those pickles in a sack (first time ever) and some of those dorrito’s brand jalapeno crackers. love the crackers. don’t love the pickle. we still had some time before show time and though we smiled a lot at what appeared to be band members, still no go on the chatting it up. which was weird. I decided to work on some merch and finally put together the dozen or so “dawn treading� covers I had frantically printed out in the few minutes before leaving home. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the 30 copies of “from penrose to montrose� I had brought, though I had enough soft-sleeves and boxing tape to do something. by this time the place was actually filling up nicely with people, aka friends of the bands. me and tony were schedule to go between the first and last band. the night was funny as both me and tony use band names, though we are solo, and the first band sounded like a solo project (sara reddington) and the last band, a solo project, sounded (a child-like fear) like some Christian emo band. anyways, sara reddington, a four piece with drums, bass, keys/vox and lead by guit/vox, began their set and I immediately thought of Dame Dulce. this band would go perfect with Dame Dulce if they ever came to Bellingham, though they had less back-up vocals and were a little more constrained than my favorite bham slop-pop band. after sara reddington, I took the stage. Joshua, the self-proclaimed “promo-homo� was achored as the doorman and occasionally the bartender, so we really didn’t talk with him at all till 2am. after sara reddington played first (a condition they gave Joshua to play the show, as some member lived kind of far away for a sunday night show) the 15 or so of their family and friends left pretty hastily, so by the time I started my first song (as tony manned the PA –DIY or die!-) there were about 7 people outside of the 12 or so regulars. ouch. but I don’t mind such things and I played a set of tunes (for the most part the sets have been some combination of Eulogy, Pier 57, November, Olive, Blue-Purple Failure, The Leash, Bow Interrupted and occasionally All Is Sun). then tony took the stage and had a lady or two dancing to the jewish hymn. sara reddington was loading out a bit in front of tony and we were both kind of surprised/frustrated that 2/3 of the people in the bar had just left in the course of a minute or two. luckily, and kindly, almost all the members of sara reddington stuck around for the rest of the show and they were pretty nice dudes to talk to. I went to the bathroom right after tony’s set and when I came back out, a child like fear had taken control over a table and was sitting on top of it with his acoustic guitar. he was doing “that whole thing� and followed the formula by asking people to come sit closer. so there we were, all 6-8 of us sitting around trying to hear ACLF over the noise of the increasingly intoxicated regulars, a few of which had to walk right in front of our parade in order to get to the cheering pool tables. ACLF was awesome, sounding a lot like what you would expect from a modern day kid asking people to scoot in and going sans PA. after his set we chatted it up and thankfully he was not of that annoying socially-awkward sect of such performers who always inevitably wind-up sounding stuck on themselves. the dude was nice, me and tony got some t-shirt action (though I wish that he had had a recording moreso)… then the drama began….

we had Joshua take us to the bus station and we were gonna sit in the diner for a couple hours putting together some more cd’s and and merch stuffs and then catch our 6am bus to little rock. so we sit there. and then tony went to sit and hang out elsewhere and I continued making covers for “from penrose to Montrose� (which I decided would just be various portions of the maps from the atlas I had in my bag that was falling apart, laminated with boxing tape (initially it was supposed to be just the map of Colorado with penrose and montrose and the death highway joining them). so I got amped up on coffee for a couple more hours and then went and joined tony. and then our bus pulls up at 6am, me and tony go out to line up. it is cold. we are the only two people boarding. we show the dude our ameripasses and he gives us the no go. turns out this was a private line (Jefferson) and with private lines you need to have an actual ticket printed out, which I knew. whole thing is, though, that the greyhound office there didn’t open up for another two hours. we pleaded with the guy (since this was our only bus that would get us to little rock on time) but no go. we are pissed and frantic. we start scheming and try figuring out if there are any city buses (no) or trains (no) that could get us to dallas before our connecting bus left at 10:30am. we contemplate hitching with one of the dozens of trucks parked outside and tony briefly tries to convince a few drivers near the gas pumps. we realize that one of our only chances might be to call Joshua and beg him for a ride to dallas (40 minutes away). we were not looking forward to that notion. our other option was to convince the officeperson (once they got there) to comp us some taxi rides and we craft a story about how we and our passes have been unjustly treated. nothing at the station said the bus was a private line and we called the 800 number as well and nothing said it then. so I assume control of the spokesperson and we get riled up to try our diplomacy. the office lady comes in, we let her settle in for ten minutes and then I make the case. she gives us the dallas number (she doesn’t have the authority) and discovers that the morning bus was supposed to be a greyhound bus not a private bus. I call the dallas station with our info and the new, convincing info about it not supposed to be a private line and I get a lady who is pretty nice. she puts me on a hold a couple of times (seeming like she might be able to help us) and after five more minutes of holding (and tying up the phone line for the office lady) I realize I have been transered to a national representative, who happens to quickly make herself known as a bitch. she questions whether the bus was really a private line (since they had a greyhound one scheduled) and nearly calls me a liar and treats me like shit from her corporate office somewhere in anywhere, America and then puts me on hold. after 7 or so minutes of hold, I do what she obviously wanted me to do and give in and hang up. at this time, Joshua, whom we had called earlier to see if him and his mom could be our backup plan, shows up. we have a ride and only 45 minutes to make the 40 minute drive. me and tony are exceptionally thankful and grateful as we head out. it is MLK day and the traffic is relatively bad. we try to make small talks, both feeling like assholes for having these nice people get up early and spend 2 hours driving us to where we need to go. we get to the station on time, thank them again, I toss them a 20 dollar bill on top of the ten we gave them and tell them to please go get a nice lunch. a few minutes at the Dallas depot and we are off, set to arrive at little rock at 6pm…

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:: brs 1:34 AM [+] ::
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we got up with Stephanie at 5 something in the morning and quickly made our way to the downtown greyhound terminal. we said good bye to Stephanie and prepared for our first, long bus ride together. we were to get into to Denver at 6pm or so, which was good timing for us to make it (via a ride from Alicia, whose house it was) to the house for the house show. Alicia picked us up with her mustached friend david and we were on our way. their house was in a cool/nice part of nearly downtown and I was surprised that rent wasn’t more expensive. the main room (dining plus living) was long and wood-floored, which seemed perfect. we hung out for about an hour and a half and there was a liquor run and a few drinks were had. finally, we decided that though there was only five of us hanging out, we would start the music and that Alicia’s roommate, Dustin, would start the night of and then finish the night off (that way his girlfriend, who was out trying to hook up with their coke dealer, could see some of his stuff). tony encouraged him to do ryan adams covers, which he handled well, though I wish he would have played a few more originals. finally, a few people started trickling in. tony took the stage and his set sounded good on the narrow, hardwood floor. I was in the other room with internet access and a glas of wine for the first two songs. there was now about ten people. tony finished up his set, one of what would come to be characteristically short sets, by my standards, though that is the way that tony likes to work it. I tuned up and such and then played like five or so songs, by this point there were probably 12 people. Alicia had been expecting more, especially since it was a party. Dustin who was watching the mic levels (which were going through an amp of his) sat to stage right and actually did several lines of coke during both mine and tony’s set, which was fucking hilarious. coke and sparks, man, coke and sparks. though there wasn’t that many people we had a greta time hanging out and chatting it up and then playing a few songs. the thing that sucked the most was that our fucking bus out of town left at 11pm. so basically we were in Denver with some cool folk for about 4 hours. I felt like an ass because of it. Alicia and one of her friends, whom were all over each other dancing and hugging and sometimes kissing (oh, the tone of sexual exploration!), made a last ditch effort to try and get tony to decide to stay the night. I, unfairly and dishonestly, said that I would love to but that tony had set up our show the next day and it was up to him if he wanted to skip it. the ladies pulled tony aside and used some intoxicating tactics to try and convince the presley, but the presley was not convinced. david, the only somber one of the bunch, than drove us with Alicia back down to the greyhound station. and that was our four hour trip/layover in Denver. we got back on the bus with a lot of the same people who were trekking from SLC and began our 20 hour busride to Denton texas, home of the legendary Grant Cross and, well, some other shit.

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:: brs 11:36 PM [+] ::
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hearing:
tony presley's traditional jewish song

we are in denver, in a predominately jewish household of drunken coke-fiends. honestly though, they are great. really nice folks. i wish we could stay past 11. we got here at 6. fuck. not much time to type.... talk more soon? tomorrow, the home of grant cross.

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:: brs 8:25 PM [+] ::
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Jan 14th (Salt Lake City, UT)

the family took me to the seattle greyhound station around 7pm last night after a sleepless and hectic couple of days of trying to tie things up on the work and home front and trying to get things ready for the tour. I wound up not being successful enough at all that and will have some home-work to do from the road. as far as merch things. I did not get stickers made. I was able to burn about 25 copies of Dawn Treading and I brought about 30 copies of the A Sandcastle Still album “From Penrose To Montrose,� which I had just been sitting on. Neither of the album cases/design were done for the records, minus like 10 Dawn Treading albums. gonna have to do that from the road as well. got to the bus station, said goodbye to the fam and got in line for a 21 hour bus ride to Salt Lake City. I was set to arrive at 6pm. the ride was long, obviously, and I wound up sitting to this interesting lady from Arkansas named Jacqueline. we didn’t really get to talking until the morning time, and see was a chatter mouth the whole way out. we first talked about her health, as she was a 50 year old lady who had 2 to 3 brain aneurisms and whom the doctors, after riskily poking and prodding at her brain for a few year, had told that she could die at any time. she had the type of aneurisms that are almost always fatal. she also had two boys who were a little less than my age and we were soon talking at length about her feisty upbringing and her family and husbands and such. she was still a smoker. she had her shoulders reconstructed. and many more details. I was not much in the talking mood most of the time, but we wound up being friends and as we approached Utah she began to slide in religion to the mix. though not tide down to one church, she belongs to the “end of times� crowd and considers herself a devout student of the bible. she is against abortion and against gay marriage, though one of her sons is gay. as we stumbled through our held beliefs and passions, I discovered that she was pretty open mind about things and adhered to the “god is the only judge� slash “it is not for me to say� crowd. she was surprised, due to how silent I had been I guess, at how much I myself was a student of the bible, though in a different school, and about my political and religious beliefs in general. Jacqueline wants to be cremated and, though she’s a bush supporter, wishes me luck in DC. she gave me her address and said to contact her if I get stuck in jail. she would not be the only one to be bringing up the end of times. it seems to be on the minds of a good many greyhounding folk these days, in part due to the recent tsunami. I myself, realized (and was surprised I hadn’t come across it in my religious studies, since it is not a new idea) that it seems fitting that if one is to admit a symbolic chronology to the creation narratives (ie, seven days is not seven days, etc) than one would have to admit that the the end of times narratives most likely had symbolic chronologies as well. perhaps the apocalypse started a few thousand years ago…

tony was there to meet my late bus and it was good to see him. we were on our way. he had already stopped by Kilby Court. we got in his car, which apparently needed a break job due to the screeching breaks, that was okay though, it was a good backdrop to my introduction to Joanna Newsom whom Tony had become obsessed with. I could see why. she was very refreshing. fucking brilliant. I knew that she would be the soundtrack to our tour. Kilby is not that far from the temple and the bus station, and we parked on the main street outside the Kilby alley. what an amazing alley it is too, tucked away in a small industrial part of SLC. who would think that a bunch of quaint little houses with small yards and lazy old dogs and old wooden garages with orange light glowing out would be down the road. it felt good there, especially as we approached Kilby court. I had no idea what to expect, really, and it is probably in my top two all-ages venues I have ever known aesthetically. with its courtyard and fire pit and nice, rustic fencing. the only thing I knew to expect was the green-lit backdrop on the stage, which turned out to be that wavy green fiberglass stuff that people use for make-shift roofing, lit behind with fluorescent office lights. the night was set to be busy, as there were four acts outside of us. drew danburry, one of the nicest dudes out there, had set the show up and built the bill and did an excellent job overseeing the whole affair. he played first with his charisma and his breathy alto croon. good songs, good man. next up was The Glendale Rabashaw, which was actually just one dude whose name happened to not be glen or Glendale. his songs were really good, breathy alt-country singed folkpop. he was a nice chap to boot. the next band was The Annuals, who were a five piece with drums, bas, guitar, keyboards and slide guitar. It was hard to pinn down exactly what they sounded like, as each new verse or choruses seemed to remind me of another indie act I liked and respected. in the end, that lead to them basically just sounding like themselves and they were really good at the indie pop with a country tinge and prog-chicago style and on and on. I went on next and bust through four or five songs horribly. simply horribly. later I said it was my worst show in a couple months, but it was probably my worst show in a year. which sucked cause there were lots of kids there and some of my older Utah friends and I wanted to have a good set for drew.

I guess I should mention here, that my rib has been fucked up. I fucked it up while loading my shit into Tyson and Jenn’s car after our show together the week before at Stuarts. basically, I slipped hard on the snow and my left ribs landed right on the corner of my suitcase. it took my breathe away for a minute and worried me pretty quickly. the next couple of days I took small doses of some leftover pain killers and it seemed to be getting better, though it hurt to breathe in deeply, to sneeze/cough, to laugh hard and to stretch. turns out though, that when I decided to not take the painkillers for a day that the pain came back even worse. I decided I would bring some painkillers with me. so I have been taking them a bit, but it is hard to belt it out and to sing loudly, at the Kilby show I was running out of breathe towards the end of such lines.

anyways, my set sucked, but the show and the kids and the bands were rad. drew was able to give us 120 bucks, which was a great start financially to the tour, and my share doubled all the money I had (to my name). afterwards we went to this pizza place with the kids in the annuals and ate some pizza had a few beers. me and tony had been really worried where we were gonna stay that night cause our bus left at 6am in the morning and karl in provo was the only one to offer a house up, but that was too far away to get to the station in the morning. we asked around a bit before the show and then asked drew and he quickly asked his friend Stephanie and she agreed, without knowing us or having heard us, to let us crash and to get up butt-fucking early to drive us to the station AND to left tony park his car outside her house for three weeks (tony is coming back through town at the end of the tour). nice lady, that Stephanie. so, yeah. we crashed for a couple hours in her basement with a dog she was sitting and washed up and at 6am we were on the road again. these four hours were to be the only time till DC that we crashed at someones house. the greyhound was our home now…

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:: brs 5:38 AM [+] ::
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