So, now that most folks think I have a new blog, I have the good fortune of being able to write my more atrocious thoughts here and not have as many of my friends commenting back to me about it.

Today, I barely left the house, except to go to Kinko's to make some CD covers and then to House of Records and Museum of Unfine art to drop off some completed CD's for $$$$. I like the idea of being able to actually sell home made CDs vs selling blood for that much-needed, post-holiday, "I broke as a dirty rat" cash. Oh, and I left the house for coffee. But that was it; really.

I spoke with a buddy from high school last night for the first time in 11 years. Matt Bier and I were part of the same dysfunctional peer group for most of high school - dubbed the "Jun Hoard" by some wise-ass or another. Actually, I wasn't quite D & D enough to be considered a part of the Hoard, but they were my closest buddies anyway. Matt, myself, Shannon "Slug" Sapp, Matt Ashcraft, Wayne "Moose", Clay Pierce, Jimmy D. Chastain, Danny _____, the brothers Tuan Do and My Do and, our indisputable ringleader, Justin DePew. This was the kind of group where blood was often drawn, any and all drugs and/or alcohol consumed ('cept for me - the token straight edge kid), windows broken, deadly dares of suicidal proportions were embarked upon. We're talking the Stand By Me movie populated by a bunch of masturbating, self-immolating, self-loathing losers who used each other as punching bags and were in turn spit upon by the jocks and elite kids at our high school. Scarred for life. That's what the Jun Hoard did to me. I still haven't recovered.
Anyway, it was great to talk to Matt and get the lowdown on where these guys are at now. Turns out pretty much everyone is alive, at least (actually, I'm not sure about Moose - forgot to ask). Matt was one of t6he good guys; not only a good and honorable friend, but funny as hell in a deadpan, Monty Python kind-of way. An extra-hard worker, he finished out of high school a year early and enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday and also married his girlfriend at the time , Nancy, and had a daughter by the time he was 19. I visited him in Kansas once.
Up until this week, I hadn't heard from him since he'd gone to Iraq for the first gulf war. I'd known he had also gone to Kosovo in the mid 90's. I'm glad he didn't get his ass blown off.
Someday, I'll write about the time we drove to Arcata with Justin to go see the Meat Puppets and Justin got lost and wasted and we somehow picked him up on the highway 30 miles north of where we had last seen him...Aw, shit; that's a WHOLE different story.

END TRANS bzzzzzxt

Wellll... I don't know if I can lose this blog just yet. As inefficient as it seems to have two blogs, I just feel a bit more at ease on this one - it's not so connected to my "Product" self, so I can just write and not really care as much whether or not it's in the "context" of "Ed Cole".

I actually got word that Justin DePew, one of my best friends in high school, read the menacing Halloween story in which I cast him as an evil, evil mean person... eep! I always forget about people finding this blog via searching their names. HEY, SORRY JUSTIN - you were a great friend and a total inspiration in your rebelliousness. And only slightly evil. Also one of the smartest people I ever met, so there. Boo-ya.

Check back from time to time as I'll keep posting here, albeit a bit randomly.

Have a peaceful season

ALRIGHT, PEOPLE!!!!

edcolerocks.com is up and running! I have a new blog over there and will eventually get rid of ol' edhead101.blogspot.com . My life has been hectic lately - I really need to get back to work, but I'm having too much fun geeking out on my site.
The rest of the radio show was fun yesterday...Tony Figoli emailed me & said that KRVM was playing one of my cuts, also...major stokage!! Good promo never hurts. I hope to see EVERYBODY at some of the shows I have coming up ...

PS my girlfriend ROCKS! I love three course breakfasts!

YEEEEEAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!

I'm blogging from KWVA right now...up here with Dana from Yeltsin and Kelani from the Ovulators, plugging our John Henry's show on 12/20 (and also goofing off on KWVA's Mac...) Very fun and goofy to be here...more later...

Awwwright!!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 12/17/03, I'm playing a little acoustic-y songwriter thing at Cafe Paradiso with Dan Jones and John Shipe. It should be fun, so please come on down and lose your frown and smother those holiday blues with a triple-shot mocha and a glass of beer or something like that. It's cheap, too!! $2!! You can't beat that for wednesday night entertainment PLUS the prospect of socializing with other Eugene denizens. We'd really enjoy your company, so come down. 8pm. See you then!

Man, the Carnival of Chaos at the Indigo District was...chaos! I was all set to do sound and dropped some extra mics and gear down there earlier in the evening. It looked like things were set, PA-wise , so I went back home to resume clearing stuff out of my garage etc... When I returned, there were no less than four different people trying to plug things into the PA board; cables were hap-hazardly running in every direction; power strip was plugged into power strip was plugged into power strip...for an anal retentive guy like me, it looked like an electrical nightmare! Of course, the PA speakers didn't have proper cables and I ended up doing some surgery on some speaker wire with a borrowed knife to get the damn system fired up. After some re-routing of EVERYTHING, we were set.
DJ Margarine (I can't believe it's not butter!) aka Shawn DiFiore and I were set up in close proximity and it was very fun to be working next to one of my favorite dj's of all time. We joked and adjusted sounds and levels all night long while the Carnival acts came and went. Dancers, shadow puppetry, electronic beat-box/goth-dance music all came and went. Static Chromatic was a noisy, beat-driven group that featured Dj Lucious on beats/guitar/bass, Melissa from High on Peeps vocalizing and reknowned hair-stylist David Wilson on keys/effects/finger-twirling/glitter. Noisy, noisy, NOISY!!! and charming, too.
My favorite act of the night was the group Dum Dum, which features the songs of Scott _____ from the Necro Sluts. Dum Dum was a very 80's sounding goth/metal/slow-Misfits/Christian Death styled group that sounded great - very heavy and sludgey in a good way. Scott is a bonafide screamer, but also can tone it down and sing with an interesting wispy/raspy voice. The music seemed to have a natural consonance to it with long, building songs and flowing dynamics. Bravo! One of the only groups in town to really catch my ear recently. I highly reccomend them.
At the end of the night, I was too sober (as per usual) and gave Tina a ride home in her mom's Jag (nice car!) and then walked back to retrieve my van.

uuuuuuhhhhhhhh...now it's Monday again. Time to recover.

LATE BREAKING NEWS

It's been raining like crazy the past 24 hours or so in Eugene and MY GARAGE STUDIO HAS FLOODED!! Luckily, since most of my gear was in my van after my show last night, the damage was minimal. My yard done flooded and rose up over the level of my garage foundation...man, there has to be 3 inches of water in there! All my recording stuff was up high enough to avoid moisture, so I moved all the cords off the floor, brought the drums in the house and unplugged anything remotely electrical. All the carpets are soaked, but that's okay - I've been gearing up for a major renovation in there anyway. Cosmo and I were laughing at the absurdity of it all as we moved stuff inside.
I called Billy Barnett up at Gung Ho! studio to see if his place had flooded also - it has a history of doing so in the past - but I wasn't able to get through to him on the phone. That would be a drag! I like the rain, but...
See you tonight at the Indigo District - I'll be the one wearing galooshes.

And...

The show at Foolscap last night was good. We played. The Dead Americans played, Fun was had. I laughed, I cried. A well-rounded night of fun and insanity.

Tonight: the Carnival of Chaos and then I'M SLEEPING FOR FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT because I am exhausted.

s'long

WEEELLLLLLLLLL....

I wrote a post yesterday and then my computer froze...I hate that! Not too much to say, other than...

Went over to Tina's to hang out with her and her mom, Kathy (Cathy?) and eat some awesome manicoti that Tina made. I haven't spent too much time with Tina's family, so I was somewhat uptight until the wine kicked in. DJ Sleeve popped over for a bit and we chatted enthusiastically about the Dwarves and Turbonegro as well as the recent death of his friend, Thundercraig.
Scrabble ensued in a wine-fueled death-match. I came within a point of being victorious, but in the end I was beaten.

OK - that's my post

POST-script: I've set up an "Underwear Release" art/cassette/cd release for Feb 20th at the Museum of Unfine Art. Stay tuned for the debut of the Underwear Gods, in all their unholy glory!

POST-POST-script: Come to Foolscap 837 Blair TONIGHT for POST-post-indy-classic-punk-crooner rock by Moi and the Dead Americans! (And also go see High on Peeps at the Vet's club; but come see us first!)

Hey kids -

I've been slacking on my posts due to the fact that I am, once again, on the job hunt. Not something I want to think about right before the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Solstice/pagan blood-drinking season. My main plan of action has been to set up more soundman/music gigs to make some scratch change for the time being. Time to get creative on the $$$ front.
I'll keep you "posted".

I implore all of you to come enjoy the Dead Americans (alt-power-pop) and Ed Cole + C.G.of T.B. at Foolscap books (8th and Blair) this friday. All ages/byob 9pm
Also, I'm doing sound at the Carnival of Chaos at the Indigo district on Saturday the 13th of Dec. ( High on Peeps + Scott from Necro Sluts, Takimoto and others) Please come!

Soooo...

The show last night at Sam's place was not crowded, but much fun anyway. Sam's is a clean little bar over on the West-side of Eugene - kind of a working class joint that gets overlooked due to it's obscure location on Wilson street. They have a decent stage and sound-system and the room itself doesn't sound harsh like some small venues in town. I strummed out a hastily-prepared acoustic set in front of the small crowd and tried my best to provide some entertainment for the patrons to chit-chat along to. Billy Barnett walked in to check out the scene and ended up playing drums on about four tunes-much fun.
The Kandy Shazz played next and they sounded good. I'd heard most of their set before, being that they used to practice in my garage over the summertime. Their sound is a mix of Deep Purple/Nirvana/Sonic Youth/credence Clearwater Revival. I really dig main man Evan St Cyr's guitar and vocal style- a very unique sound emanates from his de-tuned Hagstrom and he sings with a voice not unlike the late Mr Cobain's. I look forward to seeing them again.
Afterward, I mosied over to Kelani's b-day party over on 11th. Much fun and barely-clad chaos ensued. I mainly chatted with Tina's friend from Tahoe, Jeremy and Zookie and drank sierra nevada's while taking in the chaotic going-ons. Then home. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

When will I ever feel awake enough to clean my friggin' house? Now's the time!

Shows still to come this month:

Friday, December 12th: FOOL's CAP BOOKS on Blair at 8th with the DEAD AMERICANS (price undetermined)

Wednesday, December 17th: Cafe Paradiso / Ed Cole solo with Dan Jones and John Shipe. (cheap!)

Saturday, December 20th: JOHN HENRY'S with YELTSIN, the OVULATORS and the HIGH VIOLETS (price= priceless)

PLease come and bless us with your presence!!!

Yours in Rock,

Ed

Burnt...tired...burnt-tired. I'm still recovering from my weekend get-away + thanksgiving gluttony. By the way, I'm thankful. Thanks.

I came upon a box full of unwanted used cassette tapes in the alley behind CD/Game exchange today and had the great idea of using them as media for my next 4-track release. Maybe packaged in some crazy way - you know, like in a dirty sock or in a zip-lock bag with some kind of cracker-jack prize (like underwear) inside. I really hate CDR's, as neat and cheap as they are. I have so many cool cassette-only releases from the 80's and 90's - Snakepit, MR Bungle, Soda Jerk, 9th Life, Billy Jack + so many of my own. I really miss the true guerilla-release satisfaction that only a tape can provide.

OK - gotta go create now.

DAMN YOU, DESERT FATHERS, FOR MAKING AN ALBUM THAT I ACTUALLY LIKE!!!! I wanted so very badly to hate your guts, but I end up being sympathetic. Attention local noise geeks - you would probably like the aformentioned band if you like the following: Big Black, Scratch Acid, Butthole Surfers, Sounds of Crashing Metal etc.. etc... etc... Loud, noisy, warp-y, wierdo-rock. Their record sounds very much like some of the Mr Bungle off-shoots on the Ipecac label. Not something I could listen to very much, however - I'm much more stuck in the homo-bubblegum pop hair-metal genre as of late.

I went down to House of Records today and grabbed my special-ordered Cometbus Omnibus today. In particular, I was looking for the issue contained within where Aaron Cometbus stayed at our Eugene apartment back in '92 and washed his foul-smelling socks in our bathtub, thereby ruining our chances of collecting our rent deposit. I haven't found it yet but I'll keep you posted.
I am reminded, however, that all this computer-blogging hoo-hoo is for the birds and generally places me in front of my glowing CRT for too many hours of my week. I've got to work my way back to writing off-screen, as hard as that is - I think I like the instant gratification of knowing people are reading in on my little world. I won't bail out yet, but the time is growing nearer.
One more thing to report: my adorable neighbors from Florida have ONCE AGAIN turned their front yard into the world's most bizarre Christmas tree lot, which means I'm going to have to endure the world's most bizarre Christmas tree-buying customers parking in my narrow driveway and blocking me in with their over-sized pickup trucks. Will this madness never cease? Hold me back from the gas can and matches...

Very sad to hear about Mr & Mrs Random's cat. My condolences go out to the Random family.

The trip down to Takilma for the Ovulators/Yeltsin/Metal Detector show was fun but exhausting. The Takilma Community Center was a very cool building with a nice wood dance floor + a great stage set-up and a nearly-adequate PA system. You definitely got the feeling that it was a rural hippy counter-culture alternative school scene - I think someone said the building functioned also as a kindergarden/primary school during the week. Ironic that the beer garden was set up in the kids library section.
Cosmo and I played a short Metal Detector set to open the show - we did a couple of Sabbath and Ramones songs + one of our own. Cos kicked it on Jivan's set and sounded very solid.
The Ov's had people dancing from the get-go. People were showing up in droves - mostly the local p*t grower contingent, to be sure, but also regular jock-kids and a lone rural punk rocker who was stoked on some bands from big-city Eugene coming down to play in the boondocks. Tina's song about the drag bar was the highlight of the night for me - one of those magical moments in a set where everything comes into focus + the arrangement had some quiter moments that really allowed the vocals to shine. Jivan's playing was very complimentary to the Ov's style and sounded great.
Yeltsin were a total hit last night, partly since Takilma is Jake's old stomping ground. Holy shit! There had to be around 200 people there over the course of the night and the all dug the segmented genius pop/rock of Yeltsin - well, when they weren't outside smoking the devil's own reefer they were, anyway.
After the show, the jams started. I stayed in for a few random tunes and Cosmo played as well, but by 1 am ...we were fucking tired. Since there were still a ton of people cavorting inside the community center, we high-tailed it to Cave Junction and Tina simultaneously got us a room AND got the Ovulator's a gig at the Junction Inn lounge...??? At 2 in the morning ??? We laughed on that one and then snored hard....
Now, back home, feeling crusty just like last sunday. Coffee, anyone?

Regarding Cosmo's original B-day:

Man, I laugh everytime I see pictures from the day Cos was born - I was 22 at the time, wearing a Jesus Lizard t-shirt and I looked SCARED AS HELL. Spirit looked pretty damn scared, too. I can recall watching "EEK the cat" on tv that morning - I wish that cartoon was still running. I don't think Spirit would appreciate a play-by-play description of the whole event, but at least I'll say this: I think she just about broke my fingers as she squeezed my hand during labor...crrrrruuuunnnnchh!!! Cos popped out at about 6 pm, all squirmy, slimy and cry-ey. 8 lbs 10oz of pure meconium-spewing, pee-squirting fun. He peed all over me in the hospital the first time I tried to change his diaper. I have no doubt that kids are put on this earth by the powers that be in order to humble us and remind us as parent/humans that we have absolutely no control over anything; the best we can do is wipe off the piss and continue to survive.
Now, my kid is slamming out beats (well, has been for 8 years) and knows more music theory than I do. How time flies...
Tomorrow, we're going down to the Ovulators/Yeltsin sleepover in Takilma, right over the hill from where I grew up. Cos and me may get to play a few tunes to open the show. Contact the Ov's for directions and come down!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!


A killer day, to be sure. It started at the Tiny Tavern last night (read about that part here.) I woke up with a nice headache and felt very spaced out for most of the morning.
Cosmo and I kicked it over at Tina's and all ended up partaking in the food preparation and creation. Cos and I also wandered over to Michael and Leah's giant party for awhile before dinner and saw some of the regulars- Howard, Scottk, Pedro, Ruthie, Michael & Leah + others. We ate some turkey-flavored donuts from the deep-fryer----uber good.
Then, back to Tina's for major grazing and stomach -filling uuuuuggggghhhh ... yum . Cosmo played a killer snare roll in the backyard to compliment 11-year-old Osana's fire-twirling act - only in Eugene, folks, will parents let their kids practice fire-twirling. Damn! The kid was good, too.
Tomorrow is Cosmo's 11th b-day. I guess I should be feeling old now,
but instead, I feel like more of a kid. Rock and Rollllllllll!!!

Another dark, quiet and miserable-looking day outside. No matter how much sleep one gets, it's never enough when the weather is like this.

VAGIANT UK are going to attempt to crash the Dirty Little Pedro / YELTSIN show down at the Tiny Tavern tonight. Come down to what promises to be the only show in town tonight and celebrate the pre-holiday in style with all those people that only seem to be in town once a year - well, namely Pedro.

of interest: NYC blog.

Rad! It's raining like crazy in Eugene today. I love it when it gets like this. Makes me want to stay indoors and drink coffee.

Dan Jones' latest tour adventures include a run in with a troupe of LATEX-CLAD, S&M SANTAS and SPANDEX EASTER BUNNIES(!!) in Oakland. Sounds like he is having some hedonistic fun. Go Dan!

A nearly wasted Sunday. After lounging around, watching DVD re-runs of The Young Ones, I tried to bust ass and clean the house; no can do. Cos is back at his mom's and I'm 3 beers toward being somewaht happier on this slow-motion Sunday night.

I've added a few more blog links to my un-organized blog roster - Mark Brown is some kinda L.A. insider who seems to provide tech assistance to the stars as well as post pics of them; plus, he seems to have an occasional taste for low life rock and roll like the rest of us. Beck is some famous singer who seems write in his online journal from time to time.

Hoo boy. Time for another tall one and a little Killdozer to put me in that "Back-to-work" mood.

Scottk chastised me for deleting my wicked Desert Sons rant from 4 weeks ago - look, dude, I took it down because I couldn't back up my critique with facts, since much of it was hearsay anyway and that was a looong time ago. My panties were just in a bunch that night and I needed to vent. BUT, I promise, no more blog-editing. I'll stick to my guns and leave all cranky spiels un-deleted, hence-forth.

Tina and I went out to the amazing and wonderful Billy Barnett's 50th birthday bash out at the Gung-Ho studio residence tonight. I ate chicken, further distancing myself from the strictly-vegetarian lifestyle that I've been living since I was 18. It was very fleshy, yet tasty too. Many fine friends were in full effect - Raenie & Patrick, Scott & Annabelle, Steve P, Chantel, Tyrone, Anna, Eric Sprado etc... It was cool to see all the pictures of Billy as a young man with all the various bands he's been in. A hero to most; I feel lucky to call him my friend.
Poked around Gung Ho with Tina - she had never been & needed to see the hallowed halls where good tunes come to life.
Afterward, zipped Tina home so she could prepare for her show tonight with the Ov's at Luckey's; now, I'm hanging with the terror kids, Cos and Isaiah, playing video games and wondering where all my beer went...

Quick blog: I heard back from the Desert Fathers regarding my rant about them at the beginning of this month...suprisingly, singer/guitarist Acqua didn't want to rip me a new asshole; instead, he wanted MORE punishment (or at least he wanted to read the meanest parts of my deleted rant.) Sorry, Acqua-dude - maybe someone else can recall the specifics of my evil spewage, but my mind is like a sieve. ALTHOUGH, it would be fun to have a cross-continental band war - are you big-haired, east coast foo-foo boys up for it? Grrrrrrrr...

Blog getting out of hand...eating my brain....must take break...back someday soon.

I've finally put all of the chapters from Garden Weasel Diaries into the right order. I still intend to write an epilogue to the early 90's Humboldt punk scene and a "where are they now?" chapter sometime in the near future. Otherwise....PROJECT COMPLETE!! and I'm glad.

Check out MiniKiss !

(ScottK, this one's for you!)

Fun/exhausting Monday night out. First, went to Paradiso to go catch friends Brian and Jennifer, doing their acoustic thing. Lots of familiar faces from my last job were in attendence - Spodens, Livelies, Zooks, Swansons + a few others. Mostly Spodens, though. Brian and Jennifer strummed and sang and harmonized sweetly.

Later, the free show at John Hank's ended up going pretty well. Nero were too jam-rock for me, but they were very considerate about not playing too late. Heavenly Oceans whupped the donkey's ass with only a six-stringer and a drum kit. We went on third and kept our set down to about 8 songs, considering it was already close to midnite. Billy started his birthday around our second song - happy birthday, Billy - and it was good.
Bourbon Renewal were total troopers for going on as late as they did. They looked damn tired but still played a kickin' set of trad blues. Very punk rock.
Now, saying that I'm burnt is an understatement. No more late night Monday gigs for me for awhile.

WORD UP!!

Hey, Eugene Folks -

Please come down to the free show at John Henry's 77 w Broadway on Monday, November 17th at 9pm

The bands are gonna be: Heavenly Oceans/Nero/Ed Cole + College Girls of Tora Bora/Bourbon Renewal

Lately, I've been receiving some flack for being weak at promotion; help me prove these assumptions false by COMING DOWN TO THIS SHORT NOTICE SHOW AND HAVE YOUR ASS ROCKED OFF FOR FREE!!

Mention my blog and I'll buy you a PBR (limited to the first five requests, got it? I'm not made of money!)

***!!!ALL POINTS BULLETIN!!!****

You've got to check this out!!

Apparently, it's a new kids TV show made with major musical contributions by folks like IAN MACKAYE, BOB MOULD, BRENDAN CANTY, VIC CHESTNUT AND KATHY (bikini kill) WILCOX!!!

I wish I were a kid again.

'twas very amusing that Tina came over for dinner (actually, she made us dinner - thanks very much) and Cosmo created a website for her in , like, 15 minutes. Check it out!

Glad to see Kelani is online now.

Drove up to Portland with Tina last night to catch Robyn Hitchcock at the Aladdin as well as Firewater across town at Lola's Room.
Arriving at the Aladdin, we ran into Toby and Derek. They had saved some seats for us close to the front, which was cool. The theatre itself was shabby but nice, with old seats that were too small and uncomfortable, even for a mid-sized bloke like me.
Scott McCaughy stumbled onstage looking disheveled and disorganized. He confessed right away that he was absolutely unprepared for his set - this struck me as somewhat insulting, considering any time you have a good opening slot for a $20 show, you should F#&CKING PREPARE your set list in advance, out of respect for the audience.
McCaughy's set was okay, mainly consisting of lack-luster songs about drinking + no less than two Wilco songs and a Replacements song. He had a quiet drummer and bassist join him mid-set and finally, Robyn himself came out and played harmonica on a couple of tunes. I will say that McCaughy was inspiring in the sense of, "I could do that..." End grade: C+

When Robyn came out a few minutes later, it was amazing just to note his presence and command of the audience, Granted, Robyn has a large cult following that will always hang on his every word, but he is amazingly clever at delivering stage banter. He could literally just stand there and talk for an hour and not even play a song and still have the audience enthralled.
I'm not the best at keeping track of set lists at shows - I generally like to enjoy a show as in-the-moment as possible - but he started off with "I'm only you" and finished with "Queen of eyes", with McCaughy and boys backing him up. In between, he touched on all eras of his catalog- "Kingdom of love", "Glass hotel", "Uncorrected personality traits", "Balloon man", "Sleeping with your devil mask", "1974", "Speed of things", "Don't remember Guilford", "Queen Elvis" + several others. Very inspirational. Damn! I wish I was half as clever as he is.

From there, it was off across town to get a bite to eat at the McMenamins underneath the Crystal Ballroom. I had fish and chips for the second time in the past 14 years (perhaps bison will be next! screw my vegetarian ways - I'm over it) It was great hanging with Toby and D.Tro and Tina.

When we went upstairs to the Firewater show, the door guy said that the box office was closed...at 11 pm? Derek and Toby already had paid and went upstairs. Momentarily, the nice doorman let us in for free. Thanks, doorman!

We arrive upstairs only moments before Firewater make their entrance, parade-style, with the horns in the front, Todd A in the middle, banging a tamborine, and the other members following with accordian and percussion. A very effective entrance, it feels like we're in a decadent circus of drunks and our ringleader has just entered.
Aside from some feedback at the beginning, the sound is really good (although too loud for this small room) and people are packed around the stage and dancing and covorting like a bunch of modern-day Gomorrah-ites. The band is right-on, despite the appearance of being twisted drunk; Todd A on bass & singing + guitar, accordian/keys, drums and a remarkably good duo of horns - the trombone player is out-of-sight good (and also about 4'11", adding to the "carnival of the strange" feeling of the show)
I really can't recall too many of the songs from their set, but I do note the classics - "Bourbon and Division", "Man with the blurry face", "Drunken Jew" - are somewhat re-worked, and the arrangements are very effective. I love hearing bands re-arrange their works from time to time, and Firewater do this very well.
Near the end, one of the burlesque dancers from the Seattle troupe Gun Street Girls comes up and does an extremely sexy dance/tease thing that is very titillating without showing any skin at all. Decadent!
After talking some with my PDX friend Casey, Tina and split back to Eugene and snoooozzzzzzzzeeedd zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Garden Weasel Diaries is now called "Garden Weasel Diaries" I think I am writing a book and don't know it yet.

I thoroughly enjoyed going up to KWVA to help Mr Random mix Better Angels during their on-air performance - although "Mix" is kind of an over-statement, since all I did was aim 2 microphones and try to elevate Diane's vocals. Nonetheless, hearing the former Oswald 5-0 singer's voice and songs was inspiring and gave me a renewed faith in being able to write and perform fresh-sounding punk rock after the age of 30.

Latest Garden Weasel post details how to stay drunk while living in poverty + some growing pains in the early 90's Humboldt punk scene.

Went to the amazing Wetlands with Tina last night. We ended up seeing several friends there - Zookie, Brian & Jennifer, Mark & Richard. M + R I almost never see out on the town and we had a great time catching up on recent events and gabbing it up. Sheesh, though - 1:30 is too late to be staying out on a Monday night.

Latest Garden Weasel post features Punk rock in a seafood restaraunt, ala' Hedwig, so grab yer fish and chips and have a read.

Here's a link to a blog that features some photos and text from the ATP festival that I couldn't afford to make it to over the weekend. It looks like it would have been fun; then again, I hate festivals because they are exhausting and you have to wait in line for everything.

Fight! Fight! Fight! on the Garden Weasel site!

I'm posting this Sunday night so I'm not tempted to waste time at work blogging tomorrow.
My weekend ran like this: I watched a couple of horror movies with Cosmo - "the Ring "(very scary) and "Pet Cemetary" (extremely cheesy). Also saw the much-reccomended Led Zepplin dvd (I generally am weary of Zep, but...it was AWESOME, dude!)

Mr Random's been busy with his blarg updates. Way to go! I like it when my favorite blargers update often. Myself...I'm starting to worry that I need to get more of a life. (aside from being a non-married, rock-and-roll dad with a job, three bands, a dog, cat and a bleog)
I can't wait to go see Robyn Hitchcock and Firewater in Portland this week. I know you'll all be there, but please don't talk to me about my blehg- it's getting to be a shameful thing.

New Garden Weasel post. This one details the summer of 1991 and all it's ups, downs and some killer show reviews of Nirvana, Jesus Lizard and the Replacements. A must read!

Hey everybody-

Went to go hear Chuck Palahniuk speak last night at WOW hall + there was the later show featuring Mood Area 52, the Desert Fathers (or Dessert Feathers?) and YELTSIN.

I don't know why I thought it wouldn't be completely packed down at WOW hall for a free speaking engagement by a famous author. There were people packed all the way to the entrance of the hall when I showed up at 7:15. I couldn't hear a thing, so I headed downstairs to the bar to have a beer and listen throught the system down there. I chatted with Mike Roderick and Barb and then Chuck was doing his intro, so we all listened in.
After a short intro spiel about his recent TV appearance on Conan O'Brien, he read his short story, "Guts".

I will say this: I had heard the warnings about how this show should not be attended if you are at all squeamish. Having read Palahniuk's books, I thought, "pshaw - I can handle it. No problem." I am not a squeamish person.

I squeamed.

"Guts" turned out to be three masturbation stories gone terribly wrong. That's really all I can say. If you like squirming, you should read the short story. I think hearing it once was good enough for me.

Later, I came back with Tina and Betheny and Randy for the music part of the program. Chuck was still there signing books while Mood Area 52 were playing. He seemed like a nice guy, but I had no inclination to get in line to talk to him.

The Desert Fathers were a loud trio from NYC who sounded like a cross between the Melvins, early Soundgarden and Sonic Youth. Unfortunately, they had a really shitty attitude about playing in a near-empty hall and made the situation worse by insulting Eugene, insulting Chuck Palahniuk, and basically acting like TOTAL F#@KING PRIMADONNAS! Their music might have even sounded good under different circumstances, but they flat-out alienated everyone there. I just laughed. HEY DESERT FATHERS SINGER: (insert really mean, expletive-laden sentence slamming Desert Fathers here)

Yeltsin came on after that and somehow, the hall suddenly had 50 people in it. They played a great set to friends and others and Jake pulled out some amazing hammer-on action that sounded great. Jivan verbally jabbed the Dessert Feathers the whole time, but they were outside, talking on their cell phones by now, so they missed a potentially fun/antagonistic situation.

If you haven't already been there, Ed Cole Rocks is my ongoing chronicle of my old band, Garden Weasel. in my most recent installment, you can read about the most amazing chicken coop/practice pad that I think ever existed.

Alright.

I mentioned in my last post that November the third is my personal day of the dead. Here's the lowdown:

My dad, Edward H Cole, was quite a dude. Born on May 15th, 1903 in Telluride, Colorado, his life reads like a Steinbeck novel. His father was the son of an Irish immigrant from Texas. His mother - all I know of her was that her name was Neva (like my sister) and that her family was originally from Wales.
His pop was a railroad foreman in Colorado, and for the first several years of my dad's life, they lived in a converted boxcar near the worksite where my grandfather headed up a multi-racial crew of black, Hispanic and Chinese railway workers. (I've heard stories that he had the respect of his entire crew, despite the immense amount of tensions between the railroad and the dis-enfranchised workers, but that's a whole different story.)
Among the historical events that my dad lived through: 1) The first man-powered flight at Kittyhawk; 2) World War I; 3) The Great Depression 4) World War II (he fought in France and was dissapointed when his superiors found out he was a mechanic - they took him off of the front lines and had him working on tanks and trucks all day.); 5) the advent of radio, movies, television and the computer.... I could go on. He played violin in pub bands during the depression, was a comic strip artist for several local daily papers, wrote poetry and drank copious amounts of Old Crow whiskey.
He married my mom in 1959; he was 35 years her senior.(It might sound like cradle robbing, but I know for a fact that my mom relentlessly pursued him...love works in mysterious ways) I was born August 2nd, 1970 , the last of five kids from that marriage. We lived in Ramona, California until 1975, when we moved to Smith River in Northern California. My dad's Liver was failing due to all the Old Crow.
November 3d, 1975, Edward H Cole died in Crescent City, California at Seaside hospital.

Hence, this will always be my personal Day of the Dead.

HAPPY DAY OF THE DEAD...although I usually celebrate it on November 3d. I'll explain in a future post.
This year, Halloween...was just too frantic. I swear, I must be getting old. I did the job thing for 1/2 a day, dropped Cosmo at a friend's house, got my costume together, played the Metal Detector gig down at 5th St (thanks, Autumn), which was, as usual, a good way to let mah kid get his drum ya-yas out and also a good time for various friends and relatives to check out our little "family band"... also a hell of a lot of work, although it might not seem like it.
From there, I drop Cos once again at a different friend's while I go down for Vagiant UK soundcheck...it goes well. After various other drop-off, pick-up activit, I'm tired and spaced out and onstage with an 18th century powdered-wig fancy-boy prancing around in front of me + 'Garth' from Wayne's World and a space-age cowboy/gigilo flanking me...oh yeah; I did my best to dress up as Dave Vanian from the Damned-it came out pretty well, but I felt as dead as I looked. NONETHELESS, I think the giant vagina band went over as well as could be expected and I had fun trying to make the bass do what I wanted it to do. It was way fun to be using Dan Shmid's Ampeg SVT - what a monster-truck of an amp!! I don't think I've ever played through a decent bass amp until last night.
Set over. Phew. Very tired. Now, I'm just hangin' with Cos, watching the Daddies. They put on a decent show to a less-than-packed house, Still, a lot of people are there-I guess several hundred. Steve seems a bit more low-key than usual - perhaps from having to sing with two bands in one night? I will say this: Just seeing the colorful cast of characters that is the Daddies, I'm reminded why they are so popular in the first place. Their set list was better than the one they've been doing for the last 2 or so years - many songs from the first three albums that I haven't heard live in a long time + several swing tunes that I suppose they feel obligated to play. I still wish they would play "Kids on the Street", "Millionaire" or "Skyline Drive" I'll keep waiting.
Okay, that was my Halloween. As I post this, I realize that I've been spending way too much time on the computer lately. I'm gonna take a break from this for a few days and just be human again (as opposed to cyborg).
Later

P.S. - Pleeze politely ignore my shitty grammar/spelling - I lack the motivation to go back and edit today.

Alright.

Happy Halloween everybody. I can't wait to celebrate death and gore tonight - if you know me, you know that this is all I ever talk about.
This sudden cold snap and the witchy-poo feeling in the air reminds me of some significant Halloweens' past from my mis-spent youth.
I remember a particularly gruesome Halloween from the year 1984. I was fourteen and experiencing a rather awkward transition from nerdy-kid to nerdy-kid-in-high-school-with-pimples-and-tacky-clothes. It was the last hurrah for dressing up - well, at least for awhile. My friends Bar (Bear) and Chris and I all wore commando-style clothes and gruesome, ghoul-ish face paint. Up in the tree, next to their house on Gainard street, I smoked my first clove cigarette with Chris before we went out to terrorize the smaller kids in our neighborhood. Eggs, toilet paper and general scare tactics were our weapons.
After pelting several kids/cars/houses, we disbanded while running from the local fuzz - without getting caught, of course. This never happened.
I ended up with the worst of my bad-seed friends - the lamentable Justin DePew. This kid was evil; I swear, he was like Jim Morrison trapped in a kid's body with a mean streak a mile wide. I only hung out with Justin as a last resort, when I was feeling most masochistic.
So, we get the bright idea of climbing up onto the abandoned, five story building in our town - the Surf Hotel - and dropping stolen pumpkins off of the roof onto the street below. We can't believe the pure genius of our plan - surely no one has done this before in our town.
On the way, we run into our friend, My Do (Mee Doh). He decides to join us on our treck of devastation.
As we walk, Justin drinks a 40 of Colt 45 that he procured from an adult friend. *smash!* It goes through a nearby storefront window. We run.
We finally get some pumpkins - only two - and make our way down to the glorious abandoned building. Now, the only way to get into the Surf Hotel is through a broken-out second story window that features shards of glass still sticking out of it. We scuffle up the side as far as we can, toss in the pumpkins we stole, and then hastily scramble up into the broken-down carcass of a building from our little town's heyday. I go in last and while pulling myself through, I cut my hand on the broken glass. Blood is dripping everywhere. Justin and My cruelly laugh at me. I just wrap my sleeve around it and keep going.
The inside of the Surf Hotel is awesome - this will not be the last time we walk the crumbling, abandoned halls and stairways of this hallowed, creepy structure. Five stories high, this was once the most beautiful building in town, until the tidal wave of 1964 came and wiped out half of downtown Crescent City, leaving a high-water mark above the second story of the Surf. After that, it kind of went to shit and closed a few years later.
Anyway, we start making our way to the upper levels, determined to make our Halloween drop onto the clean, nearly abandoned streets below.
Suddenly - *crash!* - we hear some scrambling noises from the floor above us. "Holy shit!", Justin whispers loudly, " there's a fucking bum in here!"
We can hear him muttering as he ambles along above us, getting closer to the staircase a few feet in front of us. My Do drops his flashlight. I drop the pumpkin I was carrying. We all scurry into the nearest doorway we can find - unfortunately, it's on the third floor and a streetlight is literally right outside the window, streaming bright light on us. We picked the brightest room in the whole building to hide in.
Justin and My pick the closet, leaving me to scramble into the bathroom. Just my luck, the old bathroom is full of broken tile and rubbish, so with every step I take, I make a loud, crunching sound.
The bum is growing closer now-we can hear him making his way down the hallway, just outside of where we are.
"damn kids...what do you think this is-some kinda party...*grunt*", the bum is drunkenly muttering obscenities and coughing as he ambles on down the hallway.
I'm clutching a cheap pocket knife, blood dripping off of my hand, trying not to make any noise as he passes. Finally, we hear him back up on the floor above our heads.
Quick as three little klepto kids stealing a Playboy from a 7-eleven, we scramble back out of the well-lit room, back down to the second floor and literally bail out the second story window and run our juvenile asses back home, not to return to the Surf for at least a couple of months.

Happy Halloween!

Holy shit! I tend to procrastinate on things until they can't be put off any longer and then demand my utmost frantic attention. So, today, I have to a.) Finish all my end-of-month accounts at work b.)Practice with the almighty Metal Detector one last time before we kick some major ass tomorrow at 5th st Public Market (at 4pm, no less) and c.) Get a damn costume together for myself at the last possible moment, facing the herd of other procrastinators. Why don't I just save myself the stress and get things done on time? That just wouldn't be me, I suppose.

At least the coffee rules this morning. I do make a good cup, if I do say so myself.

Look - I know 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' is old news, but I just can't hold back my praise of this piece of work. I watched it again last night and today and had to choke back the tears while I jammed along with my guitar. Among the most inspiring movies that have come out in recent years.
THEN, on my way back to work, I hear Sleater Kinney's version of "Angry Inch" from the 'Wig in a Box' comp on the radio - coincindence? Yeah, of course it was; like I say: it's old news, but Hedwig fuckin' rules.

Dream last night :

Cosmo and I are taking care of my friend Billy's undertaking business while he is out of town. There is only one corpse for us to take care of and we can't blow it. We're driving the recently deceased to the funeral parlor in a kind of hearse/van vehicle. It seems like we're in Seattle or Lake Oswego or somewhere. We pull up to the parlor. There is a special door for loading the coffin in - it's a giant, two-piece cast metal door with an intricate design and a strange locking mechanism. It looks like the vault door on the Price is Right, during the combination game. We slide the clear, glass coffin into the door, latch it and then walk around to the inside through a different door. Once inside, Cosmo and I have a hard time lifting the coffin onto the high platform that it is to be displayed upon. We drop the dead guy a couple of times; at least he doesn't roll out. He looks like a likeness of Lenin, but with red hair and beard. Finally, we get him up on the platform. It seems like the parlor smells kind of musty and death-like. Now, Billy and Raenie are there. They're back from wherever. We're all rather non-plussed, talking about music and recordings and caring for dead people. Now, it's time for the funeral. End of dream.

Tuesday - the eternal limbo between Monday and the rest of the week.
It's always fun to run into Scottk at Albertson's. His ankle still seems pretty tweaked.
Halloween is virtually here and I haven't even got my costume together yet. I have got some work to do.

I love all the freaks that come out of the woodwork during the pre-Halloween season. I saw the local warlock-dude who is usually dressed like a leather-clad witch all the year round last night, walking through the gas station where I was filling up. He looked totally appropriate. And the freaky alcoholic/junkie with a heavy bag of God-knows-what, stumbling across Lincoln street - he, too, somehow seemed to not be out of place. I imagined him with a load of freshly robbed body parts for some heinous recipe. Yum!

Please come down to the 5th street Public Market at 4pm on Halloween to see Metal Detector perform a half hour of punk rock hits by the Ramones, Cramps and the Misfits. Later on, it's Vagiant UK at the McDonald Theatre.

ALRIGHT...

A very good weekend it was. Friday's show at the TONIC lounge in Portland was great. I drove up with Eric Jensen and Cosmo + a load of amps (we had to be prepared to be extra loud). Cos was dropped at his cousin's house in NE for the weekend. Off to the Tonic...
And, upon loading in, the sound guy, Neil, was very uptight yet helpful. We squared away the order of bands, etc...
Billy and Raenie showed up and we had time for a quick soundcheck before they ate some food. The Tonic Lounge is shaped like a slice of pizza, and, having such an irregular shape, sounds fucking awesome. Neil dials up some great stage sound and we're stoked to play to the PDX hipsters that seem pretty damn young compared to us... I'm nervous, as per usual, but fuck it - we came to play.
First chords of Molecule - holy shit! I'm borrowing Eric's 4 x 12 cab for my amp and it sounds fucking amazing! This cab is beat to shit and used to belong to me and now, I'm regretting giving it away. Our set goes really, really well. I'm always hesitant to play the acoustic numbers, but they go over great. I love it when people who have never seen you before are really digging it. We keep it to the point and get the hell off the stage. Time to talk to friends we haven't seen in awhile, etc... D.TRO, Toby, Rob Jones are all there + several other PDX friends...anyway, you get the picture.

Dorian Crush are next and are really good- alt pop with a boy singer that can actually sing. They kind of remind me of the Smiths, although they have a more American-Indie sound. Altogether good but they play a loooong set. I am a fan of 30 minute sets. Long sets+4 bands=a very long night.
The next band was kind of an indie-prog rock band with guit/bass/drums/sax and go over like an aluminum balloon. I can't remember their name.
PELLET GUN played a fantastic set. The dynamics were sounding great throught the sound system. The crowd stuck around for their whole set and were digging in. They definitely have a style that goes over well in P-town and I'm sure they won some new fans that night. Plus, Eric did the splits onstage and didn't miss a beat.
THE REST OF THE WEEKEND... I snuck off to the coast with TIna and it was very nice.

Another day do doo da doo

I can't even remember what day it is or what I am doing...oh yeah; it's Friday, I'm going to Portland tonight & dropping Cosmo off at his cousin's for the weekend while I go and play down at the Tonic lounge. Please come, Portland people, if you're not grieving too hard about Elliot Smith.

For some reason, I feel pretty good about the (nearly) straight-edge lifestyle I've fallen into lately, regardless of how fun it sounds to be fucked-up and depressed and on drugs and drink all the time.

Okay, alright; I'll toss my hat into the ring of misery along with everyone else.
Sad to hear of Elliot Smith taking his own life. Spirit called me at work this morning to break the news.

I'll relate my one Elliot Smith moment.

It was the Fall of '96. I was stoked that Elliot was playing at Sam Bonds on an off night. At the time, his hair was long and greasy (big surprise) and he had a baseball cap on. He seemed like he didn't want to be approached, so I left him alone.
Out back, I was smoking with a friend when Elliot came up and asked for a light. I lit his smoke and struck up a short conversation with him:

me: "So...I try to play along with your records...I can't. What the hell do you tune your guitar to? It's unbelievably low."
him: " I don't know. I never know. I just kind of tune it up. Or down. I don't really remember. I was going through a break up at the time and it was my girlfriend's guitar and she never kept it in tune. I'm not sure I could ever tune a guitar that way again if I wanted to."

I wonder if he heard me mutter "sheesh...what's up with him?" as he walked away.

Later, when he was playing, I noticed that he tuned his guitar very accurately to a low "C" for "Clementine". It sounded just like it did on the record.

No new tale to tell...other than that I've been enjoying the wonderful perversity of re-watching old South Park episodes lately. Sometimes, when I'm laughing my ass off so hard that tears are streaming down my face and I can't breathe, I realize that I don't laugh nearly enough. Long live Cartman!

In related news, the ladies in my office were wondering why any and all random homeless guys in the neighborhood always choose to piss on the exact same spot on the church across the parking lot from our office - always in full view. I thought about their question, but I really didn't have an answer for them as to why. Perhaps, possessing an enhanced sense of smell due to the fact that they are indeed feral humans living in the wilds of Eugene, they are marking their territory after all.

Well...

The NW mini-tour with Pellet Gun and Ed Cole has gone from four shows to three shows to two shows...to ONE AMAZING SHOW! This Friday, at the Tonic lounge in Portland, we will rock you hard. Many thanks to Eric Jensen and Dave Clark for offering to back me up...now, I'm back to my core band of Raenie on drums and Billy on bass. Practice was great last night.
Other stuff...has been going really well. More new songs are in the works; more whacky sets are coming up for Halloween. I'm considering taking most of November off from music-too much of a drain to try to do it all. Rock and Roll is over-rated sometimes.
As Mr Random points out, it is unseasonably warm for being October in the NorthWest. It is absolutely beautiful today, with the clear, bright light filtering through the just-now-turning-yellow trees. I feel like burying myself with leaves.

Another Awesome Weekend of RO...

I guess I didn't really post anything about the Perverts or the plastic-coated fairy band's sets on Friday. VAGIANT UK's set was fun but somehow alienating at the same time. Kind of like working the counter at a porno store - everyone keeps their distance and no one wants to make eye contact. The PERVERTS sounded really good - the best set I've heard from them so far and people were up close and digging them. Very nice guys, too. The Courtesy Clerks...yadda yadda yadda ...totally awesome. I think I already expressed my love for them on my 10/18 post. Glad they'll be continuing- But who will their new bassist be? Can't wait to find out.

...And on to Tom Heinl's CD release on Saturday. WHAT IS UP WITH TOM??? How can one little guy be so charismatic and lovable and hilariously, piss-your-pants funny in a time-capsule, 1970's country karaoke kind-of way? Tom rules. Cosmo and I went to the early, kids-for-free show. A perfect little nugget of a show, Tom and Dustin's " Captain and Neal" act was short and hilarious. Tom's official karaoke set was performed with dance moves and props and he never lost the attention of the entire room...Tom Heinl belongs in a Las Vegas Hee-Haw revival. During his closing number, "I Love...", he had all the kids in the house(+ Scottk and Ty Connor) up onstage, sitting on hay bales while he extolled the virtues of "Drunk driving in the day...(don�t do that, kids!)", " Ass" and "you too" I really wish I could quote some more of his witticisms etc...sorry - mind failing.

BACK TO MY MONDAY

AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME...they could've put us on the map.

I cannot accept that the Courtesy Clerks are no more. It has to be a put on. What I saw last night was a band at it's peak with the entire crowd at John Henry's on their side. Those guys ripped shit up! The talented and hunky Mike B might be going to Florida, but he'll be back. I hope. We hope. DAMN! I am so jealous yet appreciative of how good those guys are.

HOLY FUCK, BATMAN!!! I JUST CAN'T GET EXCITED ABOUT WORK TODAY!!!!!!

It is so dark and rainy today - beautiful. I love this last ominous week before daylight savings time switches back an hour - it feels like a semi-permanent twilight.

Was glad to run into Sleeve last night when I popped in to Sam Bond's for a beer. We had a fun chat about Tiny Tavern, sleazy internet sites and he gave me the full recap from the John Henry's fetish night thingy, which actually sounded pretty fun. I should have scammed my way in there but oh well.
Coming up this weekend (aside from the aforementioned Fireballs of Freedom/Courtesy Clerks/Vagiant UK show on Friday) is the Tom Heinl cd release (2 shows; 6 and 9) at Sam Bond's as well as the Ovulators/Shudders/Toad in the Hole at Lucky's, both on Saturday. I'll try to make it to all, but...it's only Wednesday and I already need a nap.

Better get back to the grind...

UUUUUHHHHHHHHHNNNNGGGGGHHHHH...

No, not much to report. Life is swell; the sun is shining after a few days of rain; it's definitely feeling like fall.
I skulked into John Henry's yesterday to track down Eric for some practice scheduling...he'll be the interim drummer for a couple of NW shows. It's kind of fun switching bandmates around at the last minute-it could lead to some surprises for everyone. Eric also had some cool artwork for my next "interim" CD release. A cool turntable-thing + some stamp art also.
A beer or two later, I was hiking up Skinner Butte with Tina and experienced near-vertigo when I realized that we were at the top edge of the rocky cliff part with a nice 100-or-so foot drop right at our feet. Yikes! Be careful hiking with beer, kids!
UUUHHHHHH....Vagiant Uk this Friday at John Henry's with Courtesy Clerks and Fireballs of Freedom...should be a killer show.
Ok, Ok - back to work.

Not too much to update about. The weekend was nice - went out to the pumpkin patch w/ Tina and Cos...not very punk rock but totally fun + good coffee and lots of mud. I didn't make as much headway on the studio set up as I'd hoped but it's still at the top of my list. Tony Figoli has been helping me with a website and it's looking awesome - stay tuned for the grand opening. I'll be playing with the plastic-coated fairy band (Vagiant UK) at John Henry's on friday and after that I'm off to Seattle w/ Pellet Gun next week. Also, putting my hands together and chanting pagan prayers for a new job that does not include the telephone. Otherwise...life is good.

http://cul-de-sac.oops.jp/pv/ Total system failure - a blog by a depressed Japanese guy (teenager?) who loves Syd Barret and Pet Sounds... cute but depressing.

I don't know about anything rad or rockin' going on this weekend. I do believe my PDX friends Tracker are playing at Sam Bond's tonight; I might sneak down for a short while to soak in some suds and tunes.

Nothing else groundbreaking, save the anxiety of having to scrape together a rhythm section at the last moment before heading to Seattle and Portland next week.

Working on putting the home studio together this weekend. I now have enough mics and cables. All I need is a decent mixing board and a coat of paint...voila! I've already got a few bands lined up to record, so it looks like it could be a fruitful winter. Anyone out there with a 16 channel (or better) mixer they want to get rid of?

edhead101@hotmail.com

later

Dream last night...

A surreal, wild-west version of 5th street at Willamette. The street is dusty. It's as if a tornado has just blown through - no, it is blowing through. Holding on for dear life. Shit is blowing everywhere. Things calm down. I walk over to the train station - it looks like a post-apocolyptic heap of trash, but it's nicely overgrown with vegetation. Inside the train station, a group of kids and adults are hanging out. The kids are playing video games on an ancient TV set. Everyone seems resigned, yet content.

Dan sent me this cool link on The Stooges recent gigs in Europe, written by Mike Watt. I love Watt's writing style and aspire to live similarly someday. Sounds fab - i hope I make it down to LA for the November 9th show.

Stay tuned for edcolerocks.com in the near future

A great weekend, but I'm glad it's over.

Ultra-recap: Friday's Cosmo art show was a blast - thanks, people, for checking it out. Saturday's John Zorn show was outa sight, even though the bastard New Yorker was wearing camo pants and an ugly pea-green t-shirt onstage at the Hult-great display of juvenile attitude for a middle aged man, I suppose. Truly, my favorite part of the show was the fact that Shawn Mediaclast could not hold in his whoops of enthusiasm during hot parts of the program and really got other people in the audience loosened up. By the end, everyone was very vocal in their appreciation for drum fills, bass thumps, alto skronks and trumpet blasts. Probably the most unruly audience I've ever seen at the Hult, actually. At different points, the drummer was actually playing with his fingertips, transitioning to brushes, sticks, mallets etc...without skipping a beat. I could go on...I'm still pretty stunned, actually. My friend Billy said Cobra was equally enlightening & very fun to watch also. Too much.
So...last night I played a low-key gig at Sam Bond's with pop songwriter Jim Basnight and Phamous Phaces...didn't stick around for the whole show but Jim I'd seen before and he was very polished with his songwriting and performing and a decent guy to boot...very much in the vein of modern 70's jangle pop along with 80's/90's guitar crunch pop...maybe too pop, actually, but like I said, very good. We (Billy, Raenie and I) played one of our best sets ever (I always say that whenever we play decently) even though (or maybe because) not many people were there. No new tunes or anything; sometimes, you just really, really want to play for playing's sake and it turns out to be very fun without a whole lot of pre-meditation...well, that is what I speak of.
Now, I'm glad to be back to work.

Awesome show last night - John Zorn's Masada at the Hult center performing insane klezmer jazz. Zorn's cramped posture and extreme alto playing were out of sight and drummer Joey Baron was among the best drummers of any genre that I'd ever seen. Some people might view Zorn's punk jazz as all squeaks and skronks, but I view him and his various ensembles as musicians who can squeeze every possible sound out of their instruments to a musical effect. Bird chirps, breathy blatts, muted skronks + amazing jazz runs, all delivered with virtuosity on all the players parts. An expensive ticket but well worth it.

Hey, thanks to all who came by Cosmo's art show. He even sold three paintings, which rocks! I regret not getting out and checking out some of the galleries along the art walk last night, but I was highly agitated and annoyed with all the normal people herding themselves along to the Jerry Seinfeld show at the Hult, so it's just as well that I didn't venture out into the mean streets of Eugene.
There are more events I want to see than I haver money or time for. Today, of course, is John Zorn in two performances - one Cobra and the other his klezmer-jazz outfit Masada. I pick Masada, as much as I want to see some local friends like Jake play at the Cobra performance.
Now, it's supposed to be a laid-back Saturday Morning but instead, we're gearing up for a 10:30 Metal Detector practice and then...geez, I can't even think. More Coffee!

Alright! Another Friday and this one is going to rock. I like to sneeze my thanks to Mr Random and Eric for helping spread the word on my kid Cosmo's impending art show tonight at Feinstein's Museum of Unfine Art. A SMALL TIME CORRECTION: The opening is actually at 6:38 pm tonight; not 7:11 pm as was previously reported. Art, spasmodic improv music, food, drink and lots of interesting people to look at. For all those out there that aren't familiar with Eugene, Oregon - this town rocks! We have the greatest core underground art and music community that really crosses all boundaries - punks, hippies, musicians, photographers, artists, alienated weirdos, gorgeous people, total oddballs - we've got it all and we make the effort to support our own without staying in our own little niches.

OK, OK - enough on that spiel. I just got lost in a conversation with a co-worker about the large homeless 'family' group that sleeps in the adjacent church parking lot - we're talking 15 + kids and adults in sleeping bags every morning. As far as homeless folks go, these are decent people who clean up after breaking camp every morning and then head off to do whatever it is they do during the day. There's definitely a heirarchy - a young blonde hippy is the ringleader who seems to direct things and it trickles down from there. Another layer of the American caste (-off) system. Makes me evaluate whether I truly need to go across the street for that luxurious cup of coffee every day.

Ok - back to work

Sick as a dog / nothing to do but blog...

Glad to almost be feeling better. Nothing much to report. I hope that some of you can make it down to Cosmo's art opening on friday at 7pm at the Museum of Unfine art in Eugene/5th & Willamette. His pieces all look great and are affordable also.

Otherwise, come check out Ed C + College Girls of Tora Bora Sunday night at Sam Bond's Garage, opening for Jim Basnight (a songwriter that once played bass with Johnny Thunders)

Back to work...

Ungh! Home sick today. Apparently, something's going around. I feel highly spaced-out w/ scruntchy throat...very appealing , I know.

I still might drag myself down to the acoustic Ovulators tonight at Cafe Paradiso. I haven't set foot in there since their first gig a year and a half ago ( back when they were 'Super Duper')

Otherwise, band practice tonight and little else. Oh, except for the excellent feature/documentary series on the Blues on PBS this whole week. At 9pm, people - check it out. I was highly moved watching it last night. At some point, Beck and Nick Cave are featured along with many amazing trad blues guys from the past.

Enough rambling. C-ya

Another dream; this one bordering on bizarre:

I'm in Gasquet, the rural Northern California town I grew up in. I'm working in the vacant lot in front of my mom's old house with my mom and brother Mike. In the building adjacent to the lot, there's a display window. In the window there is a corpse-like body in tighty-whitey underwear. Upon closer inspection, I realize that it's me as a teenager. I look dead, yet well-preserved. I have bruises on my face and body; apparently, I had an accident and I had to have a new body constructed at some point and this body is what's been left over for all these years, unbeknownst to me. I'm feeling a mixture of horror and curiosity as I get closer to this corpse of myself. I go into the building and examine myself. Now, I look even younger - maybe nine or ten - and I'm coming back to life. I'm very excited at this second chance to see myself grow up. The interior of the building is done in a bright yellow tile and is very clean and warm. I take my young self outside, talking all the way, telling young me about all the wonderful things that he has to look forward to. we decide not to go upstairs to the scummy apartments and opt to walk to my mom's house in the back. I can hardly contain my excitement.
At the front of my mom's house, about three of my brother's mexican friends are laughing and letting off fireworks; they seem drunk and are beckoning my brother to come out and either fight or party with them. I muscle past these guys with mini-me and go inside for dinner. When my brother goes to the door to answer these guys, they start talking loudly about all the new flavors of ravioli that are about to come out. I shout out to them that they should shut the f**k up and that I should know a thing or two about ravioli since I work for (insert name of the company I work for here).
I go back to myself, still sadly excited. Suddenly, we seem to be back at the original building and the small version of me is packaged, like a life-like doll. No; packaged like a frozen entree. I peel back the plastic, dip a finger in and taste myself. It's as if I've turned into some kind of hummus or tofu pate. I was delicious.

End of dream.

Just back from the show at EMU featuring Gossip and Rock 'n Roll Soldiers. There are too many shows happening lately; at least that makes up somewhat for those long spells where any and all hip bands seem to avoid Eugene for months on end.

I remember when RnR Soldiers were a bunch of squeaky voiced kids some years back when they recorded their first demos in my garage. They're looking like young men now and yowza! They're a hot item for the 70's rocker kids these days. They still pull from the Stooges/Stones vein of music, with a greater emphasis on performance than on actual sound. I would suggest that they slow things down and concentrate on writing some killer songs to go along with their great image, but no one asked me what I think. Still, I'm on their side and have a great affection for them.
Gossip. I don't know why I was expecting something a bit scarier or more intense from this 3-some of Olympia-ites. I've been listening to them on record for maybe 3 years and I have to say I was shocked by how young they looked - in fact, I'm quite certain the entire night was designed to make me feel old. All the young college kids looked more like 15 than 18 to me and the whole scene reminded me oh-so-much of my own mis-spent rock and roll youth. Anyway, I digress. The Gossip were great. Despite having a novice soundman who had NO IDEA HOW TO SET MICROPHONES UP FOR A DRUMSET AND ELECTRIC GUITAR, (I mean, the mics weren't even close or even aiming at what they were supposed to be picking up...) Gossip still rocked with a swagger and nerdy confidence that you could dance to. 4 string guitar and a shitty drum kit providing a perfect bed for the punk gospel wailings of Beth Ditto. Really, she has a great voice and stage presence and boy, can she dance. I can see her really going on to more interesting projects in the next decade or so. I'm not wildly into the whole Olympia kooky/cool scene, but I think it's a great thing for the younger kids looking for something non-mainstream that is self-affirming and fun (and sexy...) I still came away inspired that really, you can do ANY music project on your own terms and make it fun and interesting. Boo Ya!

Now, I'm tired and it's not even 11:30...time to put my kid to bed and then fall asleep watching Saturday Night Live.

The show at Tiny Tavern with Yeltsin was a success. I was afraid no one would show due to the neighborhood Anarchists' boycott of the club due to some dumb actions on the part of the owner. I did notice a letter of apology posted near the door for whatever it was he did to piss off the local political contingent. Guess what people? Humans make glaring mistakes all the time, whether they're proprietors of Tiny's or anarchists throwing rocks at cops and receiving heavy-handed sentences. I don't believe in an utopian potential for humanity - I believe we're flawed and beautiful and prone to dysfunction. (ed. note: enough on the rant, already!)

All aside, people showed up, so yay. I felt kind of spaced-out, but musically I think we were pretty on - especially for the band that never rehearses. I especially liked "Can't Move her" this time around, as it had some musical twists that none of us were expecting and still came out well.

Yeltsin definitely rocked it in their sad, post new-wave guitar-pop style. They were loud, so the vocals were hard to hear through the shitty PA but that's life. Highlights were the schoolyard bully song that Jake sings + ex Officio + By Myself. If you haven't heard these tunes yet, go check out their link and download their mp3's.

It seemed like a sad element prevailed in the mood the whole night, yet people seemed to be having fun at the same time. I pat myself on the back for avoiding all opportunities for bumming smokes off of friends; the downside was that I was a nervous freak all night long. Today, I'm feeling much, much better.

Got the rough mixes back yesterday for Vagiant Uk ...it sounds pretty good, in a Ratt/New York Dolls/ Billy Squire kind-of way. We have a Halloween show opening for the Cherry Poppin Daddies at McDonald Theatre. I don't think I've ever played in a venue that big before. I'm sure it will feel slightly weird, but it's only Eugene. I can remember opening for the Daddies 8-9 years ago at some theatre in Salem and being absolutely petrified to go on in front of a sizable audience. I think I have a bit more confidence about the matter now. We'll soon see.

More later

Gnnngghghhhhhh AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been struggling with quitting cigs all year long and I CAN"T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I'm highly irritable and ready to bite the head off of anyone who comes near me, so STAY BACK! Don't smoke around me and if I beg you for a cig, TELL ME NO! My co-workers think it's a bit odd that I'm squirming and writhing around on the floor of the office biting myself, but they already have an idea that I'm a little sideways of normal, so they're politely ignoring me.

Tonight, at the Tiny Tavern, Yeltsin and Ed Cole will rock you. BYOB and stay outside if you're intent on maintaining the boycott on the venue - just come within earshot and enjoy the music at least. I'm sketchy on the details of what went down there last week (something about missing teeth and a flying beer glass); I'm just happy to play on a bill with one of my favorite local bands at the moment.

No other news to report. I'm just amazed I could sit still long enough to write this entry. GNNNNGAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Alright! On time for work today despite the late night out. Went down to John Henry's to check out Consonant with Evan Dando. I felt lucky that Keith let me "work the back door" in lieu of the steep admission price. Thanks to Abba, too.
Consonant...were awesome to hear and see, but something just didn't hit right about them. I most enjoyed just hearing the wispy rasp of Connely's voice along with the Burma-esque chord progressions. There is something about the Boston bands I've seen - they all sound great on record, but sometimes they're so fucking loud that it's hard to distinguish the subtleties of their songs. Call me old. Still, I could hear the roots of Sonic Youth, Husker Du and many others coming out of the geezer's voice and amp.
Evan Dando just about made me puke. I hate to be abjectly negative, but WHAT A WHINING WEENIE! I hate people that cut their first song short because their stage mix isn't right, especially when the (misguided) fans of his music were completely pulled in and attentive. I just got the feeling that Dando wasn't giving his all since it wasn't a packed show and he came off as being condescending towards Eugene for not coming out in droves to lick up his whining drivel. Compare that with artists of much higher stature (John Doe, Elliot Smith, Uz jsme Doma, the Jesus Lizard) who I've seen play to 20 people in this town and they still gave their all...waaaahh, Evan. Go back to Boston.
Afterward, T and I split and cruised by WOW hall to listen to Dick Dale from outside...the door guy was nice and popped open the window so we could look in for a few tunes - Dick was awesome! A totally packed house was digging his every move and his guitar heroics were dead-on. What a cocky bastard! An ace player with great stage presence; I was glad to catch a bit of his set.
A very rock and roll Tuesday.

I just read that

John Grisham

of TSOL is running for Governator of California. IF the recall still happens.

Hey, I hope anyone reading this gets a chance to tune in their radios/computers to

KWVA 88.1

at 5pm pst today to hear

YELTSIN

live on MR Random's show. If I get lucky, Mr Random will play a few cuts off my new CD as well. I would go up there and do a spiel if I had time today, but seeing how I need to make up a little time at work, I don't think that's going to happen.

My boss at work is tossing around the idea of using one of my tunes for a 15 second tv spot...I would be stoked if that happens. Eat Ravioli. It's your duty.

Check out this Killdozer fansite

I'm hoping and praying that I can make it to this

A very non rockin' afternoon...I felt like a weirdo, taking notes on what passers by were wearing as I sipped coffee outside of Full City today. (I can't help it-I'm a very curious person)

I was happy to chat with Honey today. Stoked about seeing Clint Connely's band Consonant tomorrow at John Hank's

So long suckas - nice baggy jeans, hoody sweatshirt, sunglasses and Addidas.

The weekend seems like a blur. Cos and I caught only a few bands down at the celebration. The best was Calexico. We almost didn't go down for them but decided to at the last minute.
I'd heard Calexico recordings before and knew they had a cool, spacious vibe with interesting instrumentation, but I was unprepared for how good they were live. Vibes, nylon string + electric guitars, upright bass, drums, accordian, lap steel and trumpets + killer mariachi-influenced alt-rock is the only description I can come up with offhand. All the players were ace; the drummer and accordian/trumpet/guitar player stood out as being exceptional and the guitarist/vocalist had great stage presence. Very inspiring and the large local audience was really digging it, although only a few were dancing. Highlights were a cover of Love's "Alone again or" and a drawn out mariachi/space jam (sounds wrong but it wasn't) called "Crystal Frontier" I'm always happy when some truly good bands come through Eugene and actually have a good audience. I can't even count the amazing bands that have only played here once or twice to empty halls and never return to the hippy-college town that's too stoned to break away from the TV to go receive some live music stimulation.

All aside, I feel drained on a Monday but happy to be more-or-less back on track with my various projects and other aspects of my life.

You can check out Dan's site for his perceptions on the show we played yesterday. I had fun and it was great to see Casey from PDX + all our regular friends from about town.

The Eugene celebration parade was fun yesterday morning - virtually a duplicate of last year. Spent the morning behind the Kiva with Mark & Richard, Scottk & Laura + Jill Freemanguy and the Crusher + Jill Catino and of course me and Cosmo. The floats seemed to be not as good this year; my least favorite was the giant picture of Eugene's new classic rock 'morning guys' on KZEL. I don't even remember their names - Jake and Jerk or something - but it just seems so lame that they're just a couple of syndicated jocks from LA - so why put a 7-foot picture of them on a trailer and pull them around Eugene? (Plus, it was a bummer that Scottk can't yell "F**k Cyd and Mark" anymore!) For the record, I HATE CUMULUS BROADCASTING and I hope the recent FCC ruling that was overturned in DC will force them to give up their maximum share of our area's TV and Radio stations.

more later

Went yesterday with Cosmo to get him a clarinet for his first year of band. I know that might sound mundane, but he was totally stoked to get his hands on a new instrument and his enthusiasm was contagious. After the rent-to-own runaround, we got him a decent student model for the highly indecent price of $735 !!! Highway fucking robbery!! Next time, I'm doing my research and finding a used one. So now, it's all honks and squeaks around our house. He hasn't quite worked out 'Paranoid' but his C major scale is coming along.
I've been practicing with Dan J for his upcoming Eugene Celebration set tomorrow at 4pm 10th and Olive. With me on bass and Brian Gardiner on drums, Dan's set is starting to sound like a frantic mid-west Meat Puppets/Minutemen/(slightly)Wilco thing. I like the slower numbers better 'cause they don't put a cramp in my wrist. Come; see; hear.
Otherwise, life is unpredictable but slightly less horrible than usual.

I was stoked to find a nearly-new computer monitor at VOS for only $70 yesterday. My old monitor was really biting the dust. Now I can view the outside world 17" x 17" ...apparently, it's beautiful outside.
Zookie and I caught Bourbon Renewal at Mac's last night and marvelled at how long it took to get a drink in a half-full bar. Good to see Tony and Humper. Whoever their guitarist is, he rips it up on that trad-blues stuff.
Still helping Cosmo put together his art show at Feinstein's Museum of Unfine Art. It opens October 1st and I believe there's going to be a party on October 3d sometime in the evening with wine, cheese and Jolt cola (do they still make that stuff?) I really hope some people come down to show their support for juvenile creativity.
I'm mega-looking forward to the show I have coming up with Yeltsin at the Tiny Tavern on Saturday the 26th of September. Their website looks great thanks to Mary's web skills.
No conclusive dreams last night - I think I slept too well thanks to Black Butte Porter.

More later

Awake once again, life takes on the surreal quality of a dream. Is life indeed just a series of random, dissconnected events that we try to make some kind of sense of, or is it exactly what it seems?

Here's my latest dream:

8th and Blair, Eugene. I'm hungry; all I want is a burrito. Where Sweet Life should be , there is a row of run down restaurants. I walk in - it's absolutely filthy inside. The clientele are a surly bunch of homeless kids and mall rats. I think better of getting food there and walk out. Outside, I meet up with Chris Ross and he lets me ride his new invention - a bicycle that looks like a modified skateboard with two wheels on ski poles. It is exteremely hard to balance and I fall off. I walk across the street to meet Spirit. She's hanging out with Gordon Smith and his charming family. Spirit tells me that Senator Smith is going to be the new bass player for our band. It turns out he's really into Sabbath. I consider the possibility that my ex wife has turned Republican. Still hungry, I attempt to cross 6th Avenue; there's a train track on a bridge that runs over the street. It's very hard to climb over, with huge gaps directly over the racing traffic. I drop 1/2 an orange that I was eating onto the traffic below. Gordon Smith's charming wife shows me an easier way to get across using a ladder. I'm across and suddenly, I'm in my van, approaching an unknown mexican restaurant near an overgrown river bank. As if by telepathy, the woman inside the restaurant starts talking to me while I'm still approaching in my van. "You don't even have to get out.", she says, "You don't even have to order. We will serve you directly. If you would like us to, we will talk to you as if you were a woman. We will call you 'bitch'. We know what you like. " I get out of my van anyway. I am very hungry and just want to eat something. The restaurant is a diner-style burrito joint. The lady in the restaurant brings me an order even though I haven't asked for anything. It's a double burrito smothered in ravioli. She tells me it's $15.99 . I tell her this not what I wanted - I just want a burrito. Annoyed, the woman dumps half the plate into the garbage, fashions a very small burrito out of what is left and serves it to me. It's not what I want, but I eat it anyway. End of dream.

Don't forget to check out Cosmo's Blog! Cosmo Cole's World Of Horror

Yippee!! Another day!! I can hardly contain my enthusiasm!! At least I can count on a.)Coffee always being good and b.) If I stay busy enough with assorted projects outside of work, I can usually stay zoned out enough to complete my necessary daily tasks without thinking too much.

ScottK did give me a great report from the sold-out "Black Flag" show he and Reed went to in L.A. He put it like this: (used w/o permission - sorry, Scott!)

"Opening band Mike V. and the rats (with Mike Valleley) sucked playing stupid new style tough guy punk. Then Greg Ginn came out and an unknown drummer to play the MY WAR album,
along side a pre recorded BASS LINE! Mike V returned to the stage to play like Henry Rollins
and down hill it all went. I can barely continue. after 5 or 6 songs the booing from 4000 ex fans
of Black Flag cut the My War set short. 20 minutes later DEZ Cadena, Robo and Greg Ginn hit the stage again, and for a second I thought this might turn around. but no ...........
Stopping and starting songs along with the PRE RECORDED bass they pissed through all
the favorites, so half heartedly, trash cans, shoes and trash rained from the sky above,
the boos getting louder than the shitty AND I MEAN SHITTY sound system, they scooted off stage with no good bye. people  were in shock. 'Fuck Greg Ginn!' was the chant that echoed through the doors and out onto the street."

Geez! This makes me feel like I need to step things up if I REALLY want to start disappointing people.

More later

Love, Ed

Too many dreams to keep track of these days…

Yesterday was a fantastic futuristic/nihilistic dream straight out of an Ursula K LeGuin novel. In the not-too-distant future, a city of skyscrapers was overgrown with vegetation. Vines, trees and shrubbery poured over high buildings, which seemed abandoned save for the forest inhabitants that lived there. The buildings seemed very close together and jumping from one to another seemed to be easy.
At the start of this dream, I was in the undergrowth of a forest alongside a gravel road. The military police patrolled regularly for renegades (why? I don’t know.) Along with a friend, I snuck up on a military helicopter and stowed away on the outside of the chopper and rode into the overgrown city.
The downtown looked similar to Crescent City. I seem to remember the Bank of America. I made my way through a faux trail up to the top of the wooded skyscrapers and found a secret penthouse apartment that was dusky and old. Once there, I turned on the lantern and hid, thinking subversive thoughts in my little hide- a-way while the helicopters patrolled outside. I felt cozy and warm.
This dream made little sense to me, but the feeling was great – that good old "alone against the world police-state" feeling. Society was crumbling. Nature was taking over the territory that humans had assumed was their own. Plus, the vision of a nature trail that wound up and over the tall buildings was amazing – like seeing pictures of lost Mayan and Inca cities covered so completely that you can’t tell building from natural terrain.

This is what I daydream about while at my job.

Awwright!! Another Monday! Don't ask me why, but I'm actually in a good mood today - it must be the fact that I actually caught some sleep last night. I have to take my doggie in for ear surgery (and wallet surgery for me) in a couple of hours, which will mean more missed work (Gods of commerce, don't fire me yet!) but I've got to take care of my critter since she takes care of me.
I'm anxiously awaiting the report from Scottk about how the Black Flag reunion show was-did it measure up? Was there blood and missing teeth? Did people get called "Posers" for being middle-aged, ex-punks who were trying to be the badasses they were "Back in the day"? Only two or three people in this town will have the perspective to answer these questions, so stay tuned.

Cosmo has his own blog now!! it's kind of weird to think of your own kid getting out there in the potentially creepy world-wide web, but if you're not a pervo, then go check out www.cosmocole.blogspot.com . IF ANYONE GETS CREEPY WITH MY KID (i.e. gross emails, e-stalking etc...) I WILL MAKE YOU PAY. Back off, creeps! peace and love, Ed

Just another crusty Sunday... The debut of Giant Robot Head was kind of shaky. Too much spiked punch from the prom, I'm afraid; plus, the club was almost empty since everybody in Eugene seemed to be at one of the many insane parties going on. Still, it was fun to be making some new sounds and I've got a hunch GRA will raise it's ugly, digital head again.
The aforementioned "Prom" at T and K's house was amazing. The decor was out of sight - gold stars hanging from the ceiling and walls; cheesy 80's new wave hits being spun by DJ Sleeve and tons of beautiful people dressed to kill. I don't think I've ever actually seen so many people dressed up in Eugene ever. It was nice seeing many friends, especially Mr and Mrs Random, various band members and many other acquaintances. A gala event, to be sure.
Now, it's another recovery Sunday. My poor dog has a hemotoma in her ear, which is inflated and painful looking - hello, veterinarian + bills. I can't wait until I can put my pet on my work insurance plan. (Cold day in hell)

Talk to you all later

John Ritter was a man. John Ritter was a good man. John Ritter was, hands down, my favorite sit-com actor to ever portray a single gay man living with two Malibu bimbos. He will be sorely missed.

I suppose we all saw the imminent death of Johnny Cash coming, so I can't say I'm surprised to hear about it today. I'm just grateful the man ever existed in the first place and survived as far as he did into his life, staying creative and vital up until he died. Now, just as with so many other popular icons, we'll have an assault of tributes to Johnny in our various small and large media and interest in his amazing body of work will soar sky-high for awhile. With some icons, that might seem like cheap fanfare. But Johnny Cash . . . he really was on a higher level of humanity than so many other fallen rock stars. More sincere than those British Invasion rockers. More relevant than the entire history of punk rock. More populist than most world leaders ever will be. Johnny Cash's presence in this world felt like love.

Addendum: I will be playing at Sam Bond's on Saturday, appearing as Ed's Giant Robot Head , a somewhat Hello Lobster - inspired set. Makin love to soda machines the mechanical way.

Hello brain...how ya doin' / it's been a long time / nice to know ya / back before you were fried...


Suffering from brain rot this morning. I actually had fun doing a product demo at a store with (co-worker)Geri yesterday. Not as mortifying as I thought it would be. We just stood around feeding people and kvetching about work and life when things got slow. At least T dropped by and said 'hello'.
My house is getting appraised for a re-fi tomorrow - everybody cross their fingers for me. I can't wait to get my home remodeled into the ultimate rock and roll party house from hell. Boo-ya! Gotta get a new car, too - the Big Red van has been trying to commit vehicular suicide for some time now.
I may be playing a solo set at Sam Bond's on Saturday, opening for Binary Band (from somewhere? I don't know) 'cause Hello Lobster cancelled.
Still having withdrawals from giving up on glue but I'll be damned if I have to go back to Betty Ford one more time.

Back to work. Today, I'm doing my first "Product Demonstration". I suppose that forcing yourself to do new things and expanding your job skills is ultimately a good thing, even if it seems moderately humiliating at times. All hail the Product!
I'm very much enjoying the dark entrance of fall into our fair little town. I'm ready for some darkness and rain. Summer is like optimism and fulfillment; Fall and Winter are more like a yearly death and rebirth.

Tuesdays are the new Mondays. I think I made it to work on time today. Last night, T and I went out to catch NY songwriter Jesse Harris + another dude named Jonathan Hickelman or something. I’d seen Jesse some years back with a hot combo of musicians playing what I thought of at the time as being "Coffee-House-Songwriter-Rock" . this time around, it was just Harris + an upright bass player. Really good, Paul Simon-esque, literate tunes, but also BORING AS HELL so after awhile we left and walked through the rainy night home.

So, Wilco at the McDonald theatre was great last night. I was having a hard time standing in the crowd - an amazing turnout, actually; damn near sold out. (I remember friends telling me they barely had ANYONE at their last WOW hall show 3 years ago) The band tore it up with it's post-country, noise-infused rock. Some of the numbers were straight-up renditions from earlier albums. For me, the sweeter songs really hit the spot much more than the gargantuan noise-burger country stuff. I was heartily reminded of Dan Jones' while watching Jeff Tweedy do his thing - there are some undeniable simularities between their styles. DAN - GO FORTH AND GET BIG TIME LIKE THESE DORKS SO I CAN RIDE YOUR COAT TAILS!
Carla Bozulich's opening set was great, although I was hoping that Nels Cline would be playing with her (he wasn't). She (as far as I could tell) stuck to Willie Nelson songs, accompanied only by her electric guitar and some nice electronic drone sounds. 'Red Headed Stranger', her opening number, got a great response from a nearly full house. Alright Eugene! Way to finally show your support for some artists who deserve it. I hope you all spend your money on some of the amazing smaller-time artists and songwriters who come through town instead of saving it up for that next String Cheese Incindent show at Herbalife Amphitheatre.
Now, I'm extremely late for work and not at all feeling like going, considering I stayed up til the wee-wee hours of the morning. Beer, coffee and cigarettes. I hope they invent some new food groups soon.

So, things are rolling along; not so much rocking. All bands that I play in seem to be at a standstill at a time when I could really use the distraction of having something extra-curricular to prepare for. Gigs are elusive at present. I feel like I've crossed the threshold from Punk Rock to Adult Contemporary. Scary thought.Time to get back to the drawing board and start writing until something comes up. I'm presently finishing up "Forgotten Hits" , which should come out in November if all goes well. Still working up a tour with Pellet Gun for late October - I think we have 2 NW dates so far.

I'm mainly filling up space, as my brain is full and might start leaking if I don't turn on the spigot. See you all at Wilco + Carla Bozulich tonight.

The weekend is over. Back to work. The Hot August Ty Connor show was fine-what I remember of it. I'm just glad Mars was high enough in the sky to guide me on my crooked walk home.
Last night, Billy and Chantel hosted a Labor Day party, which I attended in a semi-vegetative state. After croquet and some food + drink I was feeling better. Mostly, I just hung out with Raenie & Patrick + Scott & Annabelle + Steve & Molly.
After viewing Mars through a nice telescope, it was time to go back home, this time feeling slightly less crooked.

Thank Jeebus it's Friday. I'm tired of selling selling selling product product product. Time to kick it with beer, music and video games with the kids. Cosmo and his cuz Steel spent the whole day goofing around in the garage studio, cutting homemade hip-hop tracks and scratching records. Some of the stuff they came up with is pretty hilarious. It is my opinion that all kids should be turned loose with noise making devices and recording gear. Footballs and frisbees should be banned, as should hot dogs and apple pie.
Tomorrow night is the Hot Summer Nightmare show at Sam Bond's Garage - several Eugene band members playing in one-off, made-up bands, one time only. I think I'm playing drums in the Unbathed and I'm pretty sure it includes Ty, Scottk and Waylon Spoden. Should be a strange and wondrous night. I hope to see you there.

Watched an awesome video on Charles Mingus last night - my co-worker Marta loaned it to me. Mingus was an amazing personality and an amazing talent. Very inspiring to see footage of him I'd never seen before + the footage of Eric Dolphy was quite cool. These guys played music like their lives depended on it - and in Dolpy's case, he lost his life for pursuit of bringing his music to an audience that wanted to hear it . (He was killed by racist thugs in Germany while on tour; he'd been threatened there on previous tours)
Seeing the amount of work these characters put into their music for little or no material gain brought to light the fact that, in this age of extreme commercial radio conglomorates gobbling up the airwaves in order to push their crap "Product" on a sea of anesthetized zombies, people seem to care more about shopping for clothes at Old Navy than they do about true expression and artistic genius... aww, who am I kidding. I'm listening to Beyonce' on the mp3 player that's in the pocket of my Dockers right now. See you at TCBY after I get my hair cut at Super Cuts. Ciao, baby!