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11, 12 Oct: Knoxville, Atlanta

11 Oct – Pilot Light (Knoxville, TN)
w/ Apelife
12 Oct – Candler Park Festival (Atlanta, GA)
w/ lots of other Daemon bands, most of whom I missed because I was still asleep

I count IPO as a sort of strange aberration, so in truth this was the first time I have gone on the road with a band.

I think it went well.

We drove up in two vehicles, Lee, Lyle and I in a van and Chris and Robyn in his car with the drums. We couldn’t fit everything into the mini-van we were using. The drive was mainly gossip about local bands. Lee and Lyle know each other but I don’t think they’ve ever spent an extended amount of time together, and in general none of us really have. We rehearsed a couple of times in the week leading up to the show but there’s not a whole lot of messing around while we’re all still in the “let’s get this song nailed” stage. So we name dropped and told embarrassing band stories for most of the drive. I also ate a sandwich from a rest stop vending machine (I didn’t eat lunch beforehand. Lesson learned).

We loaded in and the club seemed sort of indifferent to us. Not that I can really blame them, they didn’t know who the hell we were when you get right down to it, and they do this every day anyway. So we loaded in, met the other band (Apelife) who were friendly. That’s always a plus. We soundchecked and I realized something has gone horribly wrong with Pinky. That’s the telecaster. I’m hoping it’s just in need of a setup, but it’s out of tune and staying that way. I tried to find a happy medium but it just wasn’t working, so in the end I used Lee’s backup (which happened to be a Telecaster).

Then we had about two hours to kill before the show started. We roamed around. We sat. During this time the whole of Knoxville that was laid out for us to see was dead. D-E-D dead. By 10:15 there were about 8 or 9 people in the club. Standing outside I could see people walk by occasionally, and they would stop and look inside (the door was propped open) and they all had the same look on their face that said, gee, I’ve never noticed this place before… I wasn’t feeling terribly good about the prospects.

Somehow, between then and 10:45, the town suddenly sprang into life, the club began to fill up, and I was forced to decide that yes, there now ARE enough people for me to wear the suit for the show (this is an important decision). By the time we went on the room was fairly well full, and even one of the press people Daemon had asked me to comp showed up. We played and they cheered. For my true out of town debut it went just about as well as it could have. We did “Pulling Mussels” for the cover. The band was on and the performance was a step above the rehearsals leading up to it. It felt good and left me feeling hopeful about the future of this setup.

Someone squealed after every song. I hugged her after the show. You have to show gratitude for something like that. A lot of people came up and said they really enjoyed it. We only sold one CD, unfortunately, but overall it was something, and hopefully enough to manage to get in again. Apelife started and I could tell they were a familiar band in town. They reminded me of the Swimming Pool Q’s in a lot of ways (all of them good).

We drove back to Atlanta after the show, through intermittent and unbelievably thick fog, and got in about 5am. Unloaded and everyone left. I crashed. Woke up and got my stuff ready and then loaded out for the 3:30 show at Candler Park. This show was with the Million Box, though Lyle was filling in for David. The crowd was average (good but not amazing) compared to what I’ve experienced there in the past. But the set went well, especially since we never managed to get a rehearsal in for it. Did “September Gurls” as the cover. It was hot and I was damn tired but it was still good. Amy as there and was very nice as always, she jokingly picked on me about being so pop. It was very good. Danielle Howle went on after us (and last) and I’d never seen her live before, she’s very impressive. After loading up I went to go tell her I loved her set but she pre-empted me by saying so about me and telling me she’s still trying to get us a show together up in Columbia where she’s from. So I mumbled something (I’m sure, I mean, I had no idea she even knew who the hell I was) and stumbled back to the car. Went to get some food and then home. By the time I went to bed I felt a bit like all I had done was play a show, come home, sleep, get up, play another show, come home and sleep.

Which, basically, is what I did. I better get used to it. Hopefully, I’ll have to.

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want to see a power struggle?

Watch your government at work currently. This is about the strangest thing I have ever seen in my short life…

CIA Says Iraq Drawing a Line on Attacking U.S.

The CIA is saying that attacking Iraq is a mistake. This is less important for that particular stance than the fact that it exposes another side in what apparently is becoming quite an internecine struggle in the US government.

VERY VERY strange.

Want more? The latest issue of Harper’s has a really good article that will make a lot of what is going on currently much clearer.
“A plan for the United States to rule the world” is what David Armstrong, an investigative reporter for the National Security News Service, finds in three editions of the Defense Planning Guidance, a document masterminded by Dick Cheney when he was defense secretary under George Bush Sr., and now seen as the answer to the realities of the post-September 11 world. “The overt theme is unilateralism, but [the document] is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion of friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful.”

I highly recommend it.

Anyway, while I’m here talking politics as I never do, I may as well clear it all out of my system and add that every time Bush uses the alleged fact that high level officials in Iraq had contact with high level members of al Qaeda as one in a list of reasons to invade, all I can think is whether that means we’ll be invading ourselves next. We’ve had contact with both groups, hell, they wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t supported them to begin with.

Yeah, I’m done, don’t worry. Except to cast my strong vote that we refer to the upcoming inevitable attack on Iraq as Gulf War 2: Electric Boogaloo.

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odds and sods

October 02, 2002
odds and sods

I will be in Florida with the Indigo Girls on the following dates:
11/3 – Gainesville, FL – Philips Performing Arts Center
11/4 – Jacksonville, FL – Florida Theatre
11/6 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock
11/8 – Pompano Beach, FL – Pompano Beach Amphitheatre
11/9 – Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
11/10 – Pensacola, FL – Saenger Theatre
and while I’m at it, here are the other out of town shows that have nothing to do with the above tour:
10/11 – Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light
10/18 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle

I went out over the last weekend to price a good backup guitar so that I never have to suffer what happened in Nashville again. I went to a couple of stores and figured out some prices, nothing was really grabbing me but it’s just a backup after all, I guess. But at one store I stumbled across a 1965 Gibson tenor guitar. I’d only found out such a thing existed a month or so ago. Sarah seemed just as excited about it and kept following me around the store holding it up as I tried to look at regular acoustics, completely ignoring my pleas that I was there to fill a NEED and couldn’t afford to spend that kind of money on another guitar, no matter how cool. I was resolute and defiant as I always am when I have a goal. Nothing could dissuade me.

So, anyway, yeah, it’s here and it sounds great. She’s evil, though.

The people I have been doing freelance for (who also designed the CD cover) have put me on retainer through the end of the year, so I have a guaranteed income for a bit, and hopefully continuing past that. They’re also still doing a lot of design stuff for me for free. I have to go out tomorrow and pick up a display from them. So, if you live in my town you’ll be able to see a huge display for the CD for the next two months at Wax n’ Facts in L5P (Atlanta).

Also, I may as well mention that WRAS is playing the CD about twice a day from what I can tell. I heard “Fine” a couple of days ago and it was a strange experience. I was listening to the station specifically to see if they played me, but even so, when it came on my first reactions was, “this sounds familiar…” It took me about five seconds to register that it was me.

The new Ether Family Presents stuff is amazing. But it’ll be a little while before I go into detail. I have to let it all sink in.