I don't know if I'll make it home tonight...

This guitar does not even belong to me. It doesn't make the most superb sound. It's mentioned here mainly because I was able to take it with me to Tahiti. I was able to to do that because it was small enough to fit in a modified guitar case which I have. Island hoping planes are not exactly safe for luggage, so the fact that I had no emotional investment in this guitar helped some to. It's the sort of guitar you can take a bath with.
The guitar belongs to an old friend of Amy's, named Nicki. Amy borrowed it when she started our fair band, and she has since gone missing from her life. She resurfaced once, to see the first show where I first played my below blogged about Telecaster, Nodter. All things guitar seem to be connected, do they not? Nicki has children, and Amy misses her. I would love it if she'd again resurface so that her children might one day write songs on this guitar. And they could wonder about it's strange new adornment, which happens to be the Hinano (good Tahitian beer) logo.
There is an actual four track recording of this guitar made in Tahiti, yes, I took a four track to Tahiti... It has since fried, so it will be sometime before we ever hear what it sounds like. If I recall nothing earth shattering was recorded there. I think the best part about taking this guitar to Tahiti, other than having something to play in beautiful settings, was the reaction of the locals. The Tahitian people can be summed up nicely in one odd repeated action that one would never encounter here. Any Tahitian man that worked for a hotel or airline that came near the guitar in it's case would immediately open it to have a look. Many would open it take it out and play it, all without asking, and weather I was there or not. I loved that. It's seems to me that they don't feel the same way about owning musical instruments. We should all feel that way. Let's take the locks off the instruments and instead teach respect and love for people and music. This guitar now means that to me. That's why I want Nicki to come take this guitar back to her kids where it belongs.

Complications.... or Not

I'm a bit stressed. I need to move money from my account to cover the rent in Amy's account, but my ATM card and ID are still at the bar we played at last Friday! UG! Why do people do such things?

It's raining, it wouldn't be a blog entry if I didn't mention this fact. It's also cold. This is a shot of us winning the first round of the Battle of the Bands at Girl Bar. That makes me at least happy yet stressed. It was such a fun time. In all honesty we won simply from an amazing out pouring of support from really great people who all showed up in full force. I took a simple head count before going on stage and felt fairly confident that we had a near lock on it. Having loyal wonderful people in your life can feel delicious.

I'm crossing my fingers and thinking positive that this momentum can continue. To that end Devin and I have been spending time revamping an email list system for the band. For years it's been just an annoying pain in the ass to run the list from AOL. We've now switched to a new website called Reverbnation, it seems to make much more sense.

Yesterday Amy, Marc and Von traveled to Malibu where Amy cut vocals with an exhausted sleep deprived Hoagie. The report from both Von and Marc was that it went reall very fabulous. I'm super excited to hear that!

This post started out about complications and just sort of got happy. I will drink to that.

Rondalin

This Fender mandolin means a great deal to me. It was a gift from my Uncle Ronnie, who's importance in my life I couldn't begin to put in words. I can put it in music though, and I think he'd prefer that anyway. I've named it Rondalin, which I think is perfect because it's obviously named after Ronnie, but my mothers name, being Rhonda is implied in the spoken name. It I don't recall exactly when Ronnie purchased it but I'm almost certain I was living in Kansas City and working on S no S at the time.
I was completely impressed with how quickly he seemed to grasp it. It seemed like he already knew what he was doing with it the first time I saw it. It was about the time that I was working on the last S no S record "May April", and that album had become a lot about real instruments and other people playing on it. It made perfect sense that Ronnie would play on the record, and since it was already a little folkie it made sense to have him play mandolin on it as well. This very mandolin is on the songs: "Timiner", "Lushing" and "A Vague Return". My favorite moment of the whole album is the part at the very end of "A Vague Return", you hear Ronnie talking, he says: "I gotta get that note to..." then you hear him play the riff with emphasis on the note in question. I love that part. We recorded that part when it was very late at night, we were both probably a little to drunk to be recording, Ronnie was leaning against what used to be the north wall of his basement studio, a wall he has since taken out. We were both on the verge of passing out but somehow I got a microphone plugged in and turned on a preamp, I stuck a pair of headphones on him and let him go. For a guy that was barely keeping his eyes open the minute before he let out the last 8 bars of that song like he was making magic, it felt like he was performing open heart surgery on me, in a beautiful way. That song is the last song on the album, and we'd basically made that album together, working together or just bouncing ideas back forth over the internet and that was the last song recorded. Ronnie knew all that material, or had been exposed to all of it during that time, but in listening to what he played I felt completely certain that he had understood that song, that album and what I was saying. It was the first moment that I ever really felt like I'd been able to communicate something like that to another person. Making my own music and telling my own story became instantly worth while in that moment. Knowing that possibility can become reality is essential.

Ronnie gave me this mandolin last year when I traveled back to Kansas to attend my sister's graduation from law school. Once again we were back in his basement, and there had been a bit of drinking. I was wondering around his now expanded and improved studio, taking it all in. Going from instrument to instrument that had been hung on the walls, most of which were old familiar friends. When I got to the Mandolin I pulled it from the wall and plucked on it a bit, Ronnie was watching me and smiling. He asked me then if I wanted it, and of course I said yes! I was already in love with it from the above mentioned session. Then he said what I think is a perfect ending line.

"I've been waiting to give that to you for along time"

Do ya Get Da Jitters?

I'm listening to a rough mix of a song on our new album called "The Collection" I am in love with this song. This past tuesday while filling up with gas on my way to Malibu, I looked up from the pump and saw this Sign.
How odd?

Tonight is a battle of the bands show. I hate the idea. God do I hate it. It's actually a battle of attendance.

More instruments to come next week.

The Singe Guitar (the guitar that started it all)

In the beginning there were no guitars. There were band names that my best friend Jason and I had made up. There were lyrics in notebooks. There were even odd sounds made on a tape recorder and later my parents computer. But there were no guitars.
One day my brother Devin changed that, he walked into my parents house on Country Lane in Hays, Kansas with a low end Ibanez Electric guitar in his hands. He told me that I was going to learn to play it and that we were going to be in a band together. That single moment changed my life. It's been a long journey, Almost 15 years. Half of my life to this point. It's never been easy, but it's been more fun than at that time I realized life would be. I would have never bought myself a guitar. I am not that kind of person, that type of motion is not in my DNA.In relaying this story I'm struck by how profound the significance each choice that is made or not made is. They won't necessarily all be life changing, but they can be. Every day is a chance to be what you want, or to help someone else be something better. Come home with a guitar every once in a while.
Devin bought the Singe guitar from a want ad in the paper, before the convenience of craigslist or ebay. He looked in the paper, found a phone number, called it, traveled to a strangers house, paid $125 of his own earned money for a guitar and $50 for an amp. The guy had a daughter, she told Devin it was her father's baby. I like to think that she missed the point, that she was really his baby, and that she was the reason he was selling something dear to him.
When Devin left that day he left his new guitar with me, I guess to familiarize myself with it. I took it up to my room. I knew nothing. In some ways it's been that way ever since! I recall my first thought was that I should know what every note sounded like. I made a plan that everyday I would play every note on that guitar at least 10 times. I didn't stick to that notion very long.
Devin eventually took the guitar to his trailer house in Meadow Acres (blog about that place Devin) but I had my own key and I was more than welcome to go there and play it. I would go there some afternoons. I remember what that guitar sounded like in that trailer house through that amp very well. At that point I was printing out tablature and learning the intros to songs I knew, cause I could never play the whole song. I was horrid at playing chords and most single note action was beyond me. Devin helped where he could, and then Joe came along and helped a great deal.

I played this guitar in Singe exclusively. After Singe broke up I got a new guitar for Plaything. The Singe guitar stayed in the Singe era, it was brought out of retirement for this S no S promo photo above, but I don't recall it being playable by then. The electronics are screwy, and the action is jacked and it now rests in a storage shed in Kansas City. No matter, my life's course has been significantly altered already. I might even be the type of person now who would take the initiative to buy himself something that could potentially change his life. I might even one day pass the favor on to someone else.

No Name, Just Slogan

This is the first guitar I bought with... someone else's money. Visa to be exact. Let me be clear about this for the young folks, never buy a guitar you can't afford on credit, unless you've played it and you feel justified in later selling your body to pay for it, preferably later that night so you can minimize the absurd amount of interest accruing on your credit card. But enough with the bitterness.
Visa bought me this guitar in the fall of 1998. I ordered it from musicians friend for something in the neighborhood of $550. If I had bought a Standard Telecaster at the time instead I would probably be a much better guitar player and have better credit. Alas I did not. I don't regret that I didn't make this choice, because I'm not the kind of guy who goes around believing that it's wise to second guess the space time continuum.
This guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. Epiphone does not sell nice guitars, the like a lot of low end guitar builders make guitars that can be made nice. In the beginning this guitar had god awful plastic tuning pegs, which couldn't hold a guitar in tune to save my sold for credit soul. One of them would eventually break, forcing me to tune the guitar with a pair of vice grips for a while. Ronnie finally saved my bacon and replaced the broken peg for me. Ronnie is handy!
Being a teenager and waiting for your new guitar to come by parcel delivery is very difficult. I waited as best I could the 2 weeks it took this guitar to arrive. Finally the day came when the tracking number stated my package would be delivered. I waited all day and as the afternoon faded my evening shift at Dillons Grocery store Loomed present. I had to work 6 to midnight, and by 5:30 I was crushed, knowing I had to face yet another dreadful shift placing cans, bags and boxes on shelves. To assure getting to work on time across the bussling metropolis that is Hays, Kansas, I had to leave my parents house by 5:45. By 5:50 I bit the bullet and left. As I drove crestfallen down 41st street, I kept glancing back in my review mirror. Just as I Neared the old Tupperware building I saw the big brown UPS truck turn the corner onto Country Lane. Dillons be damned I turned around and sped towards my house. As I rounded the corner I saw the UPS truck leaving my driveway! I pulled in just after he left and ran into the house. There was the box! There was my new guitar! I opened the box and plucked the guitar from it's case. It looked beautiful. I would have it for years before the short comings of the hardware really hit me.
I played this guitar with my first 2 bands Singe and Plaything. It was my go to electric guitar during that time. As the years went by the tuners just got worse and the electronics started to short out. Eventually it would fall into very little use as I started to favor the acoustic guitar after plaything broke up. It was resurrected as best as possible with out a complete overhaul and became the only electric guitar used on any S no S record, except for of course Ronnie's bitchin' lead on "Mind Unusual".
When I moved to North Hollywood and slowly fell into SG I intended to make use of the guitar then, by that time the tuning pegs were wobbly and the screws that held most hardware in place were stripped. Then Nodter came along and this guitar went back in it's case and sat for a long while. Finally one day it occurred to me that I shouldn't just let it sit. I had gone into serious Credit Card Death for this guitar, my parent bailed me out. I should fix it. Fix it I did. I rewired the switch and a volume pot, making the most of my awful solder skills. I purchased Grover Locking tuners and learned from the internet how to bore the holes in the head stock safely bigger to install them. All of that said and done I ended up with a guitar that finally feels like it's worth what I paid for it, as long as you don't factor in the interest and the stress of an unpaid credit card.
As of now this guitar still has no name. It does sport the Findadeath.com death hag sticker proudly. I even went so far as to play it during a gig filmed for LOGO, on the off hand chance that the sticker would be on TV. I'm like that.

Nodter... Number 1

This is my special guitar. For the past four years this one has been my number one go to guy guitar. Its been everywhere I've been and played at all but 2 shows and is prominently featured on every recording. I love this guitar. I'm sorry to be such a dork like that. I admit it. I'm the kind of guy who goes around loving the inanimate.
I don't know the exact day that I purchased this guitar but I do have a small range of days. The first gig I played with Shitting Glitter happened on this date at this place:

2/15/03 Westchester B&G - Serial Mom Presents - Los Angeles, CA
I did not have the guitar then, at that time I had an acoustic guitar in my possession and an electric that wouldn't stay in tune to save it's life. I ended up playing that horrid gig with a borrowed acoustic/electric through an amp. It was after that gig that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would need a new guitar. This is the first gig where I used my new Telecaster:
4/8/03 The Derby - FemMuse - Los Angeles, CA w/ Abigail’s Attic

This guitar is the first and only guitar I've actually purchased as a thinking adult. I had made mistakes as a young dude in the guitars I went for before, never really seeing the forest for the laminate particle board trees. Of course my uncle Ronnie was handy during this decision time as well, I think it was he who initially steered me towards a fender. Ronnie also gave me another crucial piece of advice which essentially made the decision of which Telecaster to get for me. He told me to play them unplugged and listen for a good acoustic sound, if it sounds good acoustic, it will sound good plugged in.
With Ronnie's advice in mind I set out one day from my apartment in North Hollywood to find my new guitar. I walked a few blocks to the subway, caught a train into Hollywood and walked from Hollywood Blvd. to Sunset. I stopped in every guitar shop on Sunset Blvd between Highland and Beverly Hills, playing every Mexican made Telecaster I could get my hands on. Most were well made and had decent acoustic sound, but through the first five or so stores I felt no magic in any particular guitar. The last store I planned to stop at was a Sam Ash at Crescent Heights and Sunset, in the complex that has now lost the Virgin Mega Store. The Sam Ash haslong since moved down Sunset where they took over Manny's, which used to be my favorite guitar store. My guitar was literally the last Telecaster I played that day, number 40 of approximately 40 if you will. I immediately loved the color. I have still not ever seen another guitar that color. The color helped but it was the first G major Chord I strummed on it that really set it apart.
I didn't at the time have the $350 dollars they wanted for the guitar, I had made a deal with our singer Amy, she would put it on credit and allow me to pay her back. It's amazing what risks singers of bands will take for their musicians. I had planned to call Amy and have her come meet me if I found a guitar I liked that night, but for some reason I didn't call her. I took one more look at the guitar and walked out the door back onto Sunset Blvd. I walked another mile or so over to Amy's house considering the guitars I had played. For some reason the last guitar hadn't completely stuck out in my mind as "the guitar".
I eventually completed my walk to Amy's apartment, I told her a bit about my guitar adventure and then we just fell head long into the Weho night. We went out that night in the neighborhood jumping from bar to bar and drinking and talking. We must have decided to stop into the motherlode for a drink at some point because we were walking back from Pavilions Grocery store where we had gone to get cash when suddenly I was struck by the oddest thought. Like a bullet a name popped into my head, a ridiculous name. A name that could only be true and from something else, because it doesn't occur naturally in my brain. The name was Nodter, and in the moment I knew the name I knew that it was the name for that last guitar I had played. I felt a rush of panic knowing that I had left Nodter in the store and that he could be bought out from under me. I was nervous for the rest of the evening thinking that I may have let my guitar slip through my hands. I was so distraught I could barely party the rest of the night away.
I don't know if I slept that night, I think I laid down for an hour or two before the guitar store opened but I know it wasn't productive. I ended up leaving while Amy was asleep and heading back to the store. Nodter was still there on the wall. I played it again and confirmed my previous feelings. I needed this guitar. I had the sales guy hold it for me while I went back to get Amy and her magic credit card. I think Devin even went along to pick it up with us, as he needed something new as well.

Over the years many stickers have found a home on Nodter, most though are just temporary. The one above has been stuck below the bridge for a long time. It actually came from a gay Marriage ralley we played at in Silver lake. I stuck it on that day and it's been there ever since. This was the date of the show:

5/15/04 Sunset Junction - Marriage Equality Rally - Silver lake, CA

This sticker, which is worse for the wear since it's on the back of the guitar is a bit of psychic healing. It's a sticker of a piece drawn by Von, who used to be the guitar player in SG. It's a drawing of Devin and Amy and above it Amy wrote the words, "The end deserves happy endings, Fresh Draw"
A tradition I've been taking part in now for 4 years is sticking my voting stickers on this guitar, though I think I missed a local one here and there. The top one pictured here is from 2006, when the dems fought back control of both houses of congress. Below it is my 2008 Presidential Primary sticker. I won't mention who I voted for as it's just too timely.

I hate this sticker. This is 2004 general election. EW. We all feel the same about that. It pains me to see this sticker sometimes, that's why I placed it here, where you can't see it and where I sweat on it with my thumb during "The Apple Falls"

Here is a shot of the strap in a little detail, it's a planetary theme. You can also see my lucky lady bug sticker and the remainder of an ACLU sticker which used to say "I refuse to surrender my freedoms" now it just says "I refuse", which I like a bit better even.
This last shot is of Nodter and I in Iceland. Rather than name all the recordings nodter appears on I felt it would be easier to name some of the places Nodter and I have been.

All over southern California goes without saying, Many times we've played in San Francisco. We've also played north of there in Portland and Seattle. We've played in Albuquerque, NM two or three times, as well as Flagstaff, AZ. We also made a trek to New York to play. We had the best time together in Iceland though, even If I was bit worried about him on the flight over.

Ellella

I try not to be a regular guitar player musician dude, but I occasionally have my weaknesses. Today I will be indulging one of them. There exists within modern musicians, particularly guitar players a need to share pictures of their various pieces of musical equipment and give biographical information about them... So over the next year or so I'll be indulging that part of me, and passing them on to you.

This is Ellella. My first acoustic guitar. My second guitar ever, and the oldest one currently in my immediate possession (my very first and oldest guitar is in a storage facility in Kansas City). This guitar came to me around my senior year of high school, 1997. I remember my parents hade recently purchased a new flute for my sister to use in the school band. I knew also in the past that they had done the same for my brother for at least one other instrument. This struck my teenage brain as somehow unfair. I took my case to my parents, that just because I didn't play an instrument that they allowed in the school band shouldn't mean that they should not buy me an instrument same as my siblings. The blow was softened due to the object of my desire being an acoustic guitar. My parents being supportive level headed people heard my case and decided amongst themselves that I did have a valid point, and that when it was financially possible they would be willing to help me out.

One Saturday soon after our conversation my parents and I headed to Midwest Music on Main Street in Hays, Kansas. I was nervous. I've always hated playing guitars in guitar stores. I hate the fellow customers and employees. I know they are judging everything you play an do... I know this because I do it to, and never very nicely. The store had a good assortment of instruments to choose from, and many in my price range. I narrowed it down to a natural wood fender and the black laqoured Ibanez you see pictured here. I have often times wished I had gone for the natural wood, which I so much prefer. I was however young and quite possibly very stupid. The black one reminded me also of my ex-uncle Gene.

Over the years I've have come to appreciate the thick black finish because the guitar is now about 15 years old and it's spent a lot of time in the back seat of vehicles and carried around to beaches and parks. It's the only guitar that has lived in every place that I've lived since I started playing guitar. The first time I really Bonded with the guitar was when I moved to California in 2000 and lived with my brother in the West San Fernando Valley. Having packed up our cars for the move there was very little room for equipment. I could only bring one guitar and I chose the acoustic since I couldn't bring an amp anyway. During this time the guitar and I made many trips out to a small park, I think Chatsworth Oak park off Topanga Canyon. We would climb to the top of a large rock and play for an hour or so in the evenings. During this time I slowly began to understand the guitar better.
When I moved from California to Kansas City I didn't have the guitar for a few months. I am not even certain how I finally got it back, but I do know that the second and third S no S records made at this time do not contain this guitar. The Forth S no S Record, Restless features this guitar here and there, though it is mainly an Electric guitar record. The Final S no S record was almost exclusively written on this guitar. With the exception of Ronnie's Martin Copy it's on every track on that album as well. It was during this year and a hlaf that I lived in Kansas City that the guitar became the object that I know and love. It wasn't until this time that the name Ellella came to me, for reasons so forgotten. It was also the guitar that I took with me to work everyday at the Nursing home. I sang to many an old lady with that Ellella in hand. The stamp featured in teh photo above was stolen from the nursing home. It's an F.Scott Fitzgerald 23 cent stamp. It makes sense that I would stick it to the back of my guitar.

When I moved to Los Angeles the guitar cam with me on the flight. It was on Ellella that I participated in writing my first Shitting Glitter Song "High and Tight".

The list of SG songs that it's been recorded on are as follows:

From Post no Bills:
Makes sense, Ariana, Chicken, Mustache Rides

From the Iw6 single:
The incomparable White Six Acoustic Version

From the Ladyslipper Single:
Ladyslipper, Luscious Mag

From FAS:
High and Tight, Grady, The Amnesty Party

Ellella also once made a trip to Colorado where she and I provided the wedding music for a two friends Kevin and Marny. Kevin is no longer with us. I know don't really know what to do with the piece of music I wrote for their wedding.

Welcome Mat

Today felt like home. I woke up early, something ridiculous like 9:30 am. I wondered into the living room where a pink mouth met me stretched wide in an I'm hungry "Meow". I shuffled sock footed behind the tail raised in anticipation into the kitchen. I opened a cabinet with my opposable thumb and plucked a packed of gravy from perch. The pink mouth watched in amazement, If he could do this himself he wouldn't even need me, at least until the gravy perch was empty of packets. The mouth I wondered into the living. The sun beamed in through the half opened window. I picked up a piece of cornbread wrapped in cellophane and unwrapped it. I plucked off a corner and enjoyed it. It was good. I had another bite. I then walked back to the kitchen and found a fruit juice beverage in the fridge. The top made a satisfying pop when twisted off. I had a very large drink. I took a few steps to my right and opened my email. Hoagie had written sometime earlier that morning to say that he'd been cranking away on "Socially Activist" all night and was just now getting to bed. He said we should come at around 3 O'clock. I wandered back into the living room and had another bite of cornbread. I snuggly wrapped the cornbread back into it's airless existence and set it back on the table. I walked back to the bedroom and climbed in the bed.

My real day began Saturday just after 1 Pm. I woke up feeling fresh and excited. Phone calls were made things were eaten and the normal human cleaning transpired. By 2:15 Devin, Amy and I were all in the car en route to Malibu, home of the fantastic Sea monster Sounds.

Our first order of business was an eyes shut preview of "Socially Activist". There had been some misunderstandings along the way on what the song would be and in what directions the song had been heading. The past two weeks had been spent getting everyone on the same page and moving forward to the completion of the song. I think it was beyond clear to the three of us sitting there with out eyes closed staring at the screen that it had all been worth it. It had been one of my least favorite songs in the past, and now I can't hear it enough. Devin told me ha can't imagine it not being a hit. There are certain moments when I'm overwhelmingly proud to be in the band I'm in, making the records we are making, this moment was one of the big ones.

Next order of business was tracking some passes at final vocals. First up was Legalese. I helped set up and listened to the first take, then I decided I should let the magic happen. I went for a nice meandering walk through the hills above the studio. Listening to the sounds of the surf. It felt great to be out of the city, knowing something was being accomplished.

Returning to the studio I listened at the door for brief moment. Amy was somewhere in the middle of the 30 vocal takes she would do on "Legalese" through out the day.

I watched the sunset from the back porch with my guitar and glass of wine. Across the canyon from me I could see three deer grazing. If I abruptly changed the part I was playing their heads would perk up and point in my direction.

After the sunset food was prepared. Amy and Hoagie emerged from the studio for a brief break and then returned to cut vocals for "Idiot Light". They emerged again several hours later and we all socialized and lounged around.

If days get better than this I don't want any part of them.

Now I'm Really Living

Hello. It's a fine time to be writing a blog. It's almost 4 O'clock on friday. Put that in your mouth, it delicious. This weekend is all about being in a band. Tomorrow morning the entire note producing portion of our marry band is heading out to Malibu to check in on our baby. It's so very exciting to me at this time. Amy hasn't been out there in a while, and in her absence there has been a lot of good happening. One tune, "The Collection" has really become a stand out track since she last heard it.
As little pieces of the album fall together I find myself impressed by it's scope. In my mind I try and recall the picture of what we started the process with, and where it looked like it was headed, I barely can, but I can get enough of a picture to recognize the growth that has happened even in the studio. We are shooting now for thirteen tracks. I hope they all make because I have special feelings for them all.

Sunday we rehearse for the Battle of the Bands. Our drummer Alexa will be playing with us this show, which always makes playing more fun. We are going to be a force to be reckoned with that day. I hate when bands battle. I can't believe we even doing it. Sheesh!

L8tes.

The Stained Glass Ceiling

This is the ceiling of the pool table room at satellite studios where we enjoy rehearsing. We've been going there since they opened and have always enjoyed it. Yesterday was no exception, however I did feel a bit of frustration with myself for not remembering many of the new guitar parts I've come up with four the third album. Luckily they are recorded, nothing like listening to your own record to figure out what the hell you are supposed to play. It's still very exciting, we are working on a lot of great new material, but it's becoming clear to me that it will take an effort similar to that which I had to put in when I first joined the band, this time at a higher level. I've been noticing signs though that I'm better at playing now, and up to the challenge. I like to work on what I love.

So the collaboration which I spoke about has been ratified by the other party, Houston Bernard. I'm very much looking forward to working with him. In turn we will be remixing his new single, "I feel Gorgeous". All of this is very promising. Makes me excited, which in turn helps me work.

The show Friday was really fun. I enjoyed the playing the crowd and all 3 other bands. Moscow was a young band of girls and they were actually really fun to watch. They had some very good tunes and their guitar player was pretty grand as well. Our friends Crush have made some leaps forward and their new stuff is pretty rad! Always happy to perform with them.