Hello, Peeps.

I'm getting married in five days. There is going to be a huge party. Cosmo, Dave Snider and I will be rocking out later, as will the Ovulators and djs Sleeve and the Audio Schizophrenic. I hope that you, if you are reading this, are indeed going to attend. If not, you'll be missing a swell party. Oh yeah, it's in Yachats on Saturday, 3pm.

Otherwise, I am looking forward to a very nice vacation to Italy, starting next week. I've never travelled abroad. Keep abreast, and I will let you know how it works out.

ps I can't wait to get away from my stressful job for two weeks. I can't wait to feel normal. Normal normal normal.

-Ed

O.k. - so, we've had faster internet for about a month now. I think I've finally worked the kinks out, got my computer tuned up and all that jazz. I am very stoked to now have a connection that lets me listen to KWVA while I surf. (Right now it's Nick Drake, as dj'd by Sleeven) That and also faster downloads for audio rulez. Hellow, twentieth century!

I'm getting the pressure to be more of a man at work. I'm counting the days until my head explodes - may you all be splattered with my remnants. I can't wait until a money bag falls out of the sky, knocks me off of my bike and solves all my problems.

17 days until the knot is tied and then...Italy. Hope to sees somes of yous there.

peace,

e

Awwwright. I've added two new ed cole songs to my myspace praofile (which would be myspace.com/edcolerocks )

I hope you humans are wrapping up a relatively relaxing weekend, as I am doing. Tina was at a bachelorette party/rainy campout last night - she came back looking like a forest-covered, smoke-flavored bachelorette - which, I suppose, she is. p.s. we're getting married in two weeks and then going on a magical journey, so stay tuned!!!!

peace out,

E

Hey - I hope you go to myspace.com/thepinkies and listen to the latest mp3, "Abandoned". We've recorded a couple versions; this one is particularly raw, so enjoy.

I've still got a few more rants in me before death overcomes us all. Lessee, here...

I witnessed Chanteuse last night at Sam Bond's Garage along with a very-pleased crowd of on-lookers and on-listeners. Their best show yet - they were real rock stars! Sleeve's distorted ukelele playing sounded like a face-shredding peel-out of sparks and loose gravel. Tina's drumming and singing was great - she kind of leads the band from behind the kit, the kit becoming like a throne room of sorts. And Chaia was wonderful - singing, bassing and tambourining all came into play. Bravo, Chanteuse!

wOrk has let up some and is not all-consuming. It is now just almost-all-consuming. Salsa slavery must end now! I call for a mutiny of all salsa-oriented workers and their friends and girlfriends. Now!! People, rise up from your couches, throw don't your remotes, turn off the internet and GO SMASH ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY RELATED TO SALSA!!!!!!!!!!


Otherwise, things are fine.

Another day...

Long - ass

Style


A day

in

the style of

a day

I would rather not be at my tomato-puree - covered job.

Another day in the life. I feel like werk is taking a toll on any and all artistic pursuits, but for the time being, I'm liking the added stability of a reliable paycheck.

Ovulators are practicing and screaming and laughing in the basement. The weather has been sunny and conducive to wine and rock and roll.

I haven't worked on my latest batch of recorded material this week, but I have been checking out cool tascam reeel to reel recorders on ebay for fun and fantasy. You can get such great, albeit "outdated" analog equipment for a steal these days. What used to cost $2000 now cost $200. All these chumps are buying the newest fab digital computer gear for recording and are leaving piles of classy analog tape machines unused in closets and storage. I figure it's like old cars or garbage - it already exists, it's never going away, so why not use and utilize? I have a fantasy album brewing in my head and may you all fall victim to it.

Things are the same - I feel as though I am looking out of some "eyes" that are part of a "body" that the essence that is me is inhabiting. Apparently, I am still here in the "world" doing some "things". Eating, drinking, shitting, pissing, working, ingesting substances, talking to other inhabited "bodies". It's been alright.

I'm operating off of an ancient 1998 graphics card at the moment. My windows xp computer is rejecting it, so I've got only limited CRT viewing capabilities until payday. If I were to tell you what else I have been up to, I would say:

Went to see Dinosaur Jr on Tuesday night at the WOW hall. $23 each.(!) I felt like a shmuck, pony'ing up that much cash for a band that I only marginally like, BUT, I really did it to see my friends in Dan Jones & the Squids open up the show and to hang out with many other meat-people-with-brains-and-souls. Dino Jr were good - the original line up is most tolerable. Lou Barlow really makes the band see much more friendly and open. In the past, I've thumbed my nose at J.Mascis' aloofness and guitar wankery. This night, they sounded awesome, and I was inspired to stay for at least four songs.

Then we almost got mugged outside by some trashy-lookin' thugs, but we escaped and made it home.

the end.

-E

Feeling kinda greasy, and looking kinda queasy

Not too much to report. I have been working, drinking coffee, playing music at home and riding my bike, and also twiddling with the big red van, trying to get to the heart of it's emotional issues. The 4-track has been calling me more and more lately, so I've been laying down tracks, mostly for already-written tunes like Victim and Plastic Coated Fairy + a few new songs. Whether I'll release these as Pinkies or Ed Cole is yet to be dete4rmined. Bjorg taking over B4rain. Go4t To Go4. 4 3 122 1 000 110011110101000010000010001010100011111001010100010111010100110110011101011010

Crazy stuff, this past week. It turned out that my mom suffered a heart-attack during/after the house fire that gutted my childhood home. I visited her in the hospital in Medford last week and then had her and Ron over for a couple of days so they could recuperate in a comfy home environment. Mom seems better now and is in the process of setting up a temporary home while they get their old homestead rebuilt. Phew! Family stuff is exhausting. Glad that things are not worse.

Work stress kills me. I ended up firing someone at the job yesterday - it really sucked, because I actually liked the guy, but there were enough reasons to fire him. I hate being a hired dick sometimes.

Otherwise, things are going great. Chanteuse is playing in the basement right now, sounding mysterious and medieval. DJ Sleeve brought me over a stack of really cool records - Led Zeppelin III, a couple Eno albums, Pink Floyd Obscured by Clouds, Miles Davis In a silent way and Creedence Clearwater Revival, the one with down on the corner on it. Pretty damn cool. I love albums.

Okay, now I'm gone for coffee.

lates,

I got the call on Friday from my sister. My mom's house in Gasquet, California, went up in flames at 3 am on Thrusday, burning 1/2 the house. My mom and her boyfriend made it out okay but lost several pets - 7 cats, 2 dogs. Mom also spent three days in the hospital from smoke inhalation + possibly a minor heart attack. This is the latest in a long line of home-related dramas that my mom has been going through - too many and too personal to list here. I'm just glad she made it out alive. At least the place was insured, so she can rebuild, but in the meantime I think she and Ron are living in a motel with their remaining dogs. I plan to go down next weekend and see what help I can offer.

The house I grew up in. the "Gasquet House" as we call it in my family, was a unique place. Built sometime in the early 1900's, it was originally the schoolhouse in Gasquet until the 1960's, when Mountain School was built. (Gasquet, btw, is a tiny town in the redwoods of very-northern California, population 400 or so, and Mountain School is the school I attended sporadically from K-8th grades). Our house was huge, one of the biggest in town. The Cole family moved into the old schoolhouse in late 1975, shortly after my dad died, and I have many fond memories of the years that my family lived there - my older brothers fighting and knocking holes in each other's doors; brother Monty banging out Scott Joplin songs on the piano in his room; a dixieland jazz band performing in our living room in 1976; sister Neva and I almost burning the house down with an oil lamp when she was 10 and I was 5; and of course, many, many parties hosted by brother Mike and his derelict high school buddies. One of the coolest features of the Gasquet House was a recreation room built around a huge fir tree - I don't know how tall, but probably 6 feet in diameter. Apparently, the tree held up this back room during the fire, while the other back rooms were gutted and nearly collapsed.

I wish I had some digitized pictures of the old house to post, but I don't.

Alas, all things must pass.

Sup, fiddy cent. Holla!

It's been awhile 'tween posts, but that's how it goes. As reported by Sleeve and others, the record convention at the Eugene Hilton was a total blast on Sunday. I went with Cosmo and saw many, many friends from all areas of my work and music life, all amassed together and buying and/or selling records. My personal list of LPs reads like this:

1. Kraftwerk "Autobahn" - the record I've wanted since I first heard it when I was 17 or so.
2. Steve Miller "Book of Dreams" - yes, I know - the absolute best Steve Miller album ever with the best 70's - style pegasus on the cover.
3. Elvis Costello "My aim is True" a good copy. very pleased to finally own this one.
4. Brian Eno "Another Green World" the missing link between Eno's Roxy-Pop records and his later 70's ambient albums - another link in my personal Eno chain.
5. X "More fun in the New World" one of my all time faves and, truly, the last good X album ever.
6.Cure "Head on the Door" - I got this for Tina, but it's one of my HS era favorites.
7. The Kinks "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" on Pye records - My Kinks collection is lacking - in fact, this is the start of it. Early hits - "Well Respected Man", "Tired of Waiting", etc...
8 + 9. The Doors - "Waiting for the Sun" and "The Soft Parade" - Some people will hate me for saying this, But, I LIKE THE DOORS, so go f*ck yrself.
10. Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" Another HS fave, I think this is the only Aerosmith album I have ever liked.
11. Tom Waits "Blue Valentine" I had a mint copy of this when I was 18. I always regretted selling it at some later date. A sweet album in the old TW style, before he became Beefheart pt 2.

And...

11. Kiss "Love Gun" - I bought this for Zookie, cuz he said it was the first record he ever bought. Happy Valentines day, Patty!

Cosmo scored on some cool vinyl, too - Van Halen 1, a choice copy of Rubber Soul for $2, a Green Day Bootleg dvd from sept. 2005 in the UK, and a few others. Proud of my boy and his good taste in tunes.

I'm going down to Luckeys later to see the Ovulators and Touchforce. See you there.

-Ed

Hey Hey, We're the LAME-WADS


I had the idea of naming a band the Lame-wads. I figured if most music fans are listening to too much lame-wad music, and many of those fans would also unintentionally fall into the lame-wad category, so why not a band for these people? Why not a band for all the lame-wads in the world? Hunh? How about it?

Boy, am I glad that it is January the third. Holidays - over! Time to relax. I did score some really cool things for X-mas -Tina got me a delay pedal, and a hat, and Cosmo gave me a cd of Van Halen 1 , so I came away stoked. Very grateful.
New Year's was restful this year - no major partying at all. Cosmo had a ripped tongue (!), due to maybe coughing so much from his chest-cold, so we was just hanging out, recuperating from life and the various wounds it brings.
I'm working at getting the Pinkies back on track for some gigs here real soon - so stay tuned.

cheerio,

Ed

Werk has been dominating my life lately - I feel the need to scale it back a bit. I would really love to spend the remainder of Fall and Winter in a cozy room with a blanket over my knees, sipping strong coffee, dictating into my dictaphone and watching PBS...but no. I am a slave to werk, dominated by my capitalist credo.
Otherwise, life has been good. I am happy to be going into Mo from Touchforce's studio on Saturday. It's going to be Cosmo on drums, Dave Snider on bass and me on guitar, doing a six-minute rock opera about a boy named Norbert.

Come out to Tiny Tavern on friday - if you do, you will see Eric Jensen aka Tractor Operator along with solo performances by Dan Jones and myself.

Happy Holler-Days!

No new news. Been listening to Bowie's "Hunky Dory" lately - damn fine album; my favorite Bowie of all, I think. Werk hurts my ears - too much machine-noise, coupled with loud music blasting = I'm becoming even more deaf than I used to be. My ears literally never stop ringing - I'll probably end up like that guy from Mission of Burma, performing in a plexiglass shell with ear-muffs.

Long time, no post; so post, I shall:

Had a good show at Luckey's the other night. We, the Pinkies were sloppy and at least one of us was 1 or 2 drinks over the line, but I still totally dug in and enjoyed playing. I think it went over well, but I have to say, that was the drunkest Womenspace benefit I have ever played. Quite fun.

Work has been stressing me - I feel like I volunteered for a lot when I became "assistant team leader" a few weeks back. Shit! Everyone knows that I'm trying to be a musician, not a manager - the two professions are completely opposed. Still, I am trying and putting in muchos energy into the salsa slave factory. That and teaching guitar on Monday nights - which I did earlier, of course. Oh yeah...it's also Halloween. Yippee! Tina just headed out the door to her gig at the Rocky Horror Show cast party. I was too pooped to go - have to werk early, of course. She looked really cute as a black cat.

I've been feeling stressed lately. Events beyond my control are getting me down. Still, putting one foot in front of the other, slowly trudging forward to death...but happy to be alive, for the time being. Time-Being.

Book of Maps 10/07/2005 

Life cruising along merrily. I got a promotion at work and now will making slightly more$$$. I am happy. Did some sound at Luckey's last weekend - Chris Tsefalas band and Book of Maps, both from Portland. BOM were too fucking loud for the room, but they were good - kind of mathy freak-out rock. CTB were good. 3 guitars, bass drums and occasional keys. Tuneful songs - not unlike Frank Black or the Stones.

All other things in life are busy and good. Very on track for the future.

Wrapping up another weekend here at the Cole/Sarno ranch. Did some organizing in the basement, ate some food, watched the Ring 2 - it sucks; don't bother considering it - and spent time with my peeps.

At Lucky's last night, it was Heroes and Villains, from Portland (I can't find a matching website for them; sorry) along with solo artist Greg from Seattle and solo artist Andrea from Seattle and solo Artist Brian from Salem. H & V were notable for the fact that they all sang rather well but also quite loudly at times. I had some definite difficulty in dialing them in, with their stage and front mixes working out only somewhat. Still, they came off well - very circus-like, still kind of indie rock with some show-tunes quality to their music as well, what with everyone singing and all. After the solo artist attack, I was happy to go home and slumber.

Now, it's Sunday once again. Tomorrow, I start going into work at 7am, versus 9 am. I'm happy about - I like change.

FUCK THE GOVERNMENT!

there, had to get that out.

g'night, ya'll,

Ed

Short Blog - quick blog -

Michael McKinnon posts some nice pictures of the harvest Moon, as seen from my home town of Crescent City.

Went to Guitar Center with Cosmo yesterday and picked up some much-needed drum heads (on sale no less). We'll get not much use out of them today though, since we agreed to not sonically intrude on our upstairs neighbor on Saturdays. Are not we nice? I thought we were, anyway.

Had a root canal on a molar on Thursday. Started the appointment thinking to myself about the old Bill Cosby routine about the dentist ...also thinking of those who have died from dental procedures gone awry. I hate going to the dentist, but at this stage of my mouth's life, it is unavoidable that I will be come very close with my dentist's office over the next 6 months.

No gigs at all for the Pinkies - we haven't even practiced since our last show in early September. It's hard to get my band mojo up and running these days ... it's not that I mind playing late-night shows in half-empty bars for little or no pay; I just can't seem to muster the energy to care as much as I used to about putting the whole shebang together. Maybe all these little and not-so-little glimpses of Human tragedy in New Orleans and on the gulf coast are wearing me down, making clear the futility of existence. Then again, maybe I'll pull out of my R 'n' R slump and get back rocking soon.

Yay! It's Saturday!

In response to Mr Random's calling out of bloggers who don't blog frequently enough for his taste...I, too, am often bummed when I click on a friend's blog only to get the same entry for days or weeks at a time, but that's life. I probably would be on the keyboard a little more often if I wasn't A) working all the time or B) doing so much other stuff outside of the house when I'm not at work. One of these days I'll be back on a regular "computer-time" schedule, but too many other things are going on at the moment.

Sunday was a sad day/happy celebration of life party for our recently departed friend Anthony Vanderford. Anthony's earthly body threw in the towel after a year-long battle with liver cancer. We'd known Anthony through his son Isaiah, a classmate of Cosmo's from kindergarten through third grades. Isaiah is a radical kid and has been over for many a sleepover and likewise, Cosmo used to spend a lot of nights over at Anthony, Audrey and Isaiah's on nights that I had gigs. In other words, we were close to the Vanderfords and totally blown away by the news, first of his cancer, later of his early death.
At his memorial, Cos and I played "Ring of Fire" and "Beat on the Brat" as per Anthony's request. Set up at the banks of the McKenzie river at Armitage park, we ran a 100 ft extension cord to the half stack, set up the drums and PA and kicked out one last jam for Anthony. Despite the mourning and sadness, the memorial also had a party feel to it, and we ate up food and admired the art and memories of our friend.

Rock on, Anthony! See you in the next dimension.

-Ed

Lots to report, no time to waste, so I'll get to it:

First and most recent, my mind was blown last night at Luckey's when I witnessed the new-to-me band Six Eye Columbia from San Francisco. A typical Friday night, I was doing sound for locals Armored Frog and Sexton Blake and everything was going wrong. During the first song of Armored Frog, I was wondering why things were sounding strange when I realized that one of the front powered speakers was turned off. Of course, after I turned it on the whole system erupted - and I mean erupted- into deafening feedback. Yeah, you know - one of those moments that causes everyone to cover their ears and say, " WHAT THE F*CK!!!???". Nerve racking, to say the least. (later, Armored Frog said they liked the feedback...?) Sexton Blake I liked, but I wish I could hear what the soft-voiced singer was singing. Kept tryin' to get that vocal up there, loud enough to be heard.
By the time S.E.C. were up, I was frazzled and wanting the night to be over with. The band looked like a motley bunch of S.F. musicians - randomly shitty looking equipment with noise-making electronics, lap steel, vocal effect boxes and a bass amp that was held together by masking tape, effect pedals everywhere, etc... the usual sound-guy's nightmare. "Can you find another direct input for my sampler?" "could I get more sampler in the monitor...the level isn't changing...is the sampler coming through? more, please..." Oh God, another shrieking noise band of urban bohemians, right? Wrong! From chord one, this Millenium Falcon of bands hit hard with a heart-wrenchingly beautiful and well-sung pop song that pushed all of my buttons at once. Accurate beats, jangly, oddly tuned guitar riffs, even more odd low-note wrangling from the bizzarre 8-string Hagstrom bass and of course the atmospheric pedal steal, harmonica, singing and percussion from the weird-lookin' dude on stage left. The centerpiece of the whole band was this guy - mid thirties, Tom Waits hair with mutton chop sideburns, wild-eyed and impassioned - Josh Pollack (any relation to Jackson?). A left-handed guitarist with a loose, informal dimeanor, straight out of a carnival ring, singing these beautifully written songs that were high-caliber, well written mini-symphonies for this band of freaks. And they cohered! The whole band could go from noisy and wanking to utterly soft; very nice dynamics. The drummer was dead-on, yet totally loose and very versatile. Comparisons fail, but I could definitely hear the similarity to the Flaming Lips and Guided by Voices and Big Star - pop, yeah, but of the most atmospheric and disheveled kind. Shit! I feel like a geek for going on and on, but I was truly moved by a band that was a total surprise to me, and it's nice to get your mind blown once in awhile. I never could tell if the sampler was coming through.

Of other matters of importance, Tina, Cosmo and I did finally move into our West-Eugene farmhouse and it's great! More space than the last house for much cheaper. The basement is mostly sound-proofed and ready to rock. Yeah! I love change! Now, I can feel the encroaching fall and know that we have a great, solid, artsy house for us and our dog. We'll let you know when the house-warming party is. IF you're lucky.

Oh, and I've been doing sound two nights a week at Luckey's Club Cigar - duh! I've been doing that for a couple of weeks.

I saw my friend Toby Van Fleet on Friday last week, when the Pinkies played at Downtown Lounge (a great show, with Dan Jones and Touchforce; you should've been there) and then on Sunday last week she came over for breakfast with Zookie in tow. (French toast & homefries - yes, really good, actually. Thanks, Tina!) Okay must wrap this up. I just had to give Toby's new literary blog a plug.

Okay, see you around,

Ed

looking West from near North Sister, 8.2.05 

Dan blogs a summary(Sumnery?) of the late Ryan Sumner.

Lots to report. It's been a busy week full of social events and performance galore. I sometimes think myself foolish for spending so much time chasing music around in circles in this town - that perhaps I should be spending more time at home, perhaps reading a book or reviewing my bank files, like normal folk. H*ck that - too many cool sounds to not miss.
Friday was the end-of-week performance for Cosmo's rock and roll band camp at the Shedd center. This was the third session he had been through and Cos knew many of the musicians already, so this was a pretty killer performance. "The Benchwarmers" stormed through Zep's Immigrant Song, the Who's "Baba O'", Queen's "Under Pressure" and also Beastie Boys "Fight for your Right" and a James Brown-style funk jam (which showcased his band's control of dynamics - yow!). These kids were good! The singer girl had a strong voice and really belted out the Queen song, hitting real notes and stuff. Cos' drum solo absolutely slaughtered the audience. Very fun. Zak from Dead Americans was their leader and directed song parts at times, only in the most enthusiastic and encouraging way. That guy is good with kids & a good musician.
Phew! Enough on that!
David Lee Roth was well-documented in yesterday's Register Guard article. I myself had a great time - went down there with Cos, once again. He met up with a friend and had a great time sneaking into the seated section of the show - durn kids! DLR and band sounded great - his guitarist was amazing, but a little stiff. The drummer was beyond good and of the very-flashy, LA metal style of drumming. The guy burned thru "Hot for teacher" so good that it almost sounded better than Alex Van Halen himself. Just burnin'! DL's vocals were sounding worn and torn with age, but he somehow pulls it off everytime. No more high-notes or whiskey-coated screams - just more of an old mannish, bluesier version of his earlier self. Good back up vocals for the band, too - those cats were good.
Last night, I did sound at Lucky's for Dead Americans, Touchforce and some band who's name I forget (May Flowers? Spring Tsunami?), apparently a new band, just moved to town from Reno. Nice guys, kind of sounded like Mission Of Burma with a baritone guitar instead of bass. Interesting.
Now, I am here. Chilling with Cosmo, waiting for the floor show...

David Lee Roth and band at Lane County Fair Eugene, Oregon 8.19.05  

I was totally blown away by the news that Ryan Sumner died suddenly on Saturday, apparently from a bloodclot in his leg that had dislodged and made it's way to his heart. Ryan, a popular guy to say the least, was a friend and past bandmate and a really cool dude.
I first met Ryan in May of 2000, when Dan Jones invited me to play a gig with he and Ryan at Tiny Tavern, sight unseen, no rehearsal. What ensued was a great sloppy, noisy set that included both "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil Young and "Expressway to your Skull" by Sonic Youth. Totally fun, we later formed Activator, Ryan, John Laney and I, first playing as a trio and then later Dan rejoined at Ryan's request. During our trio days, I recall fondly a Vet's Club gig where we were on fire, playing much better than usual. I jumped up on the small, fence-like wall in front of the stage and ripped out a solo to whatever song we were doing. I looked back and Ryan was just grinning, really digging in and rocking hard. Shucks. I wish I had been more in touch with Sumner lately; I miss his sarcasm, humor and brilliant observations on music and life in general.
Rock on, Ryan! We'll see you on the next go 'round.

-Ed

Lots happening on the home front. We are moving into a new house that has a basement! Very exciting - I have always wanted a jam room in a basement and now the dream has drawn closer than ever. Once it has been realized, I shall be a satisfied man.

I've been checking out Richard Loyd's homepage. In addition to the usual music new etc... he also has a HUGE q & a page and tons of online guitar lesson archives. Totally f*ckin cool. The only drawback is that I personally don't like to read a whole bunch of text online 'cuz my eyes get tired. IF he ever writes a guitar instruction book....I am so there. A very articulate writer and music philosopher, Richard Loyd played guitar in the band Television, in case you didn't know.

The Launchpad/Chanteuse show at Black Forest was totally amazing. Chanteuse came off with a slightly shambly, ukelele-strummy, three-way sing-fest with a little drummy/tambourine action on the side. I liked Chaia's singing and stage presence, and the song in 3/4 time really showcased Tina's knowledge of triplets.

Launchpad... what can I say? I assumed that my friends would be quite a bit noisier than they actually were. It is apparent that the three aliens involved have been honing their collective tones and actually creating the most interesting disco/noise/space jam group. Ken's guitar sounded otherworldly; David's flute/dj/electronic noise-jumble produced dance-able bloops and blurps. Lelu's guitar lines and vocal come-ons made me feel like maybe, just for that evening, we actually were in a little bit of outer space. Sun Ra and Chuck D would have both been proud.

Too much club-going has left me weary. I don't expect to go out for some time now. Tired...(yawn) ...need coffee.

The Ol' Howl and Smash at Sam Bond's, 8/8/05. Cranky, primitive garage punk with three-way howling. They sound just like their name. 

Eugene's answer to D. Boon, Dan Jones 

Ed, John, Mike and Dan blurring out at Dan Jones cd release for GetSounds Now 

The end of another ceaseless party weekend. Friday was the Ovulators and Deke Falcon and the Waltz Invention at Luckey's. The first two you probably know; Waltz Invention ,a girl-trio from Olympia, were really good. Odd time signatures, chimy riffs and solid bass lines - very original and kooky, too - very much an Olympia-style band. Totally enjoyed them, and the members were nice. Sorry, no pix - maybe Mr Random has some somewhere, cuz he was there.
Last night was Dan Jones' Cd release at Sam Bond's Garage. I've been really digging his latest musical baby - it really comes off as very...uh, well, REAL - warts and polish together in the same package, Get Sounds Now is one of those albums that is like an easy-fitting shoe - totally comfortable, listening to it feels like hanging with your best buddy, drinking a beer on an August night. Anyhoo, the show was really good - againyou can probably read more at Random's, cuz he also wrote about it.

Currently, I have a hugely swollen foot from a bee sting on Friday - I'm trying to keep off of it today; yestrday was too busy to do so. We're moving into a new house at the end of the month and I think we're going to really like our next place - we have a house in mind, but it's not finalized yet. Crossing fingers...YEs, of course it has a basement, dummy! And bees in bee house in the backyard.

The ubiquitous Cosmo, captured in his native environs. 

I'm pretty stoked to be be rockin' Highway to Hell thru the computer speakers at the moment - Cosmo's B-day gift to me, thanks very much. And my birthday? Totally rad. Tina, Cos and I hiked up the Pacific Crest Trail from hwy 242 and spent the night next to South Matthieu Lake, near the North Sister. We swam in the lake, hiked around, ate food and just hung around, drinking coffee and beer. Tina made a birthday cake out of two Hostess Cupcakes and some twinkies with candles on top. I felt like I was at John Waters' campout or something, ready for a trailer pulled by a station wagon to come rolling over us at any moment. But no, it was good. Nighttime was the best - an amazingly clear night revealed more stars than I think I had ever seen in my life. The Milky Way looked like milky clouds in the illuminated night sky. Many shooting stars later, we turned in after a few beers and scary stories by Cosmo. The next day, we hiked a slightly different route and hit North Matthieu lake mid-morning, went for a swim, and then hoofed it back to our car and drove home. Phew! Exhausting, but totally fun. Can't wait to go on another hike soon.

Okay, laters skaters,

Ed

Can't forget to mention this - the Pinkies 2nd show is at Sam Bond's Garage, Saturday, July 30th at 9:30pm (and we MEAN 9:30pm!!) opening up for a pop band from Salem called Easterly and another band called the Glorious Bride. Sounds like a pop show, so bring your pop-plugs.

O.K., must drink cold beer on this very hot day.


E

essential summer listening comes in piles. 

Monday night, thank God the weekend is over - so little to do, so much time to do it in...wait, scratch that; reverse it. Had a totally killer weekend. Saturday I just pretty much kicked it with Cosmo; in the a.m. he had a baseball game down in Cottage Grove. Coz hit a homer, which was rad . My boy is turning into a great hitter right before me eyes ... Sunday, Cos, Tina. Lulu and I headed out to Brice Creek trail for a great hike and swim. Very pastoral and beautiful. Lots of other hikers and swimmers, jumping off rocks and walking their dogs, just like us. Last night's Pinkies pratice was best so far. although we were all a bit haggard from too much partying/everyday living etc... Of yeah, a dude named Levi is our new drummer; don't know his last name yet, but he is kickin' and likes to practice, so we are 3/4 the way there...the other 1/4 being a second guitarist, who already is out there somewhere but just hasn't been fully co-opted yet. Work at the guitar slavery factory went well tonight - my fingers are pretty much healed and my summertime students are starting to shred, so that is good. Alright, back to my non-digital life.

Laters,


Ed

The Pinkies, L to R: John L, Ed C and Levi 

Italian girl-punk duo Motorama with adoring fan Luckeys 7/14/05 

Father Don recording some punk rock bass demos of Busholini songs 7/13/05 

The aftermath of the metal can lid attack 7/11/05 

WELL, SHIT!

I cut my damn fingers at work yesterday, right before I was to leave to my Lessons Factory guitar teaching job, too. I dropped a giant metal drum lid and it sliced the tips off of my middle and pinky fingers on my left hand. 6 stitches overall. Very annoying to not be able to play guitar for a few weeks, but oh well - there's always time to learn some one-finger keyboard licks.

I'm pretty sure the Pinkies have found a drummer, but I want to have all the details before I share the news with everyone. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, July 666th, 2005

I went ahead and set up a myspace page for the Pinkies - http://www.myspace.com/thepinkies . There are download-able songs on the site and a few basic facts. If you do myspace, invite Pinkies to be yer friend, pleese. Thanks.

Everything else is abnormal as per usual. Was very sick for a week - some kind of viral throat infection/cold thing. Hated it + missed more work than I could afford. The 4th of July was fun - Tina and I had Zookie over for some BBQ and BBBEERS and then we later, just the two of us, biked down to the river bike path to view the fireworks. A nice, if slightly wobbly, evening.

I now have a digital camera - thank you, brother Darrow! I'm so far behind, I know, but it will finally be nice to upload more imagery to my various internetty pages etc...

O.K., back to real life!

Recovering from Success War

The weekend was good. The debut show for the Pinkies went well - people seemed to like our song...ba da-da-da-da and it came off well overall. Jivan kicked ass as our debut drummer-he really nailed the changes and his groove set well with our songs. John's bassing totally supported and snaked nicely through the tunage. Fun was had. Andrew Poisoner is now a one-man band, which seems appropriately crazy enough. Stomping on a kick drum and playing guitar, he mixed some Slow Poisoners songs and a few songs who's origin I did not know. I admit, it was kind of hazy for me, looking back...But I do know that the Ovulators played a great-sounding set. Their new drummer is really solid and plays good fills.

Mr Random raves about above band and also links to the Register Guard article that mentions both of our blogs and quotes mine. Very funny! You never know who's reading your blurg and then all of a sudden it feels very public and exposed. But hey, that's what the internet is for, right ? The quick, almost viral, spread of information. I wish I had one of them site-tracker number thingies - I bet there was probably a slight surge in my readership since Friday - so, for that, thanks RG article-writer.

Now, back to my blurry Sunday - father's day also, how quaint. I received a nice gift from Cosmo and Tina of a pair of black, low-top Converse all-stars. I am totally stoked and grateful. Worked for 6 hours at the salsa slave-ship factory, enduring only fifteen lashes since I was working on a holiday dedicated to procreating males - like me! Now, just awake after late-afternoon coffee + just saw Tina off on her way to Portland for an Ov's gig. Life is just one knotted, sewn-together string of events. Next knot...

I'm getting used to adulthood. For several years now, there's been a slow trickle of friends from high school emailing me or otherwise contacting and making their presence known. I don't know how many years I spent trying very hard NOT to think about high school at all - probably 10 or so, until I decided to become too self absorbed with my own problems to notice that I was thinking quite often of the derelicts that I used to hang with.

Case in point, my buddy Ashcraft was an often homeless musician chum of mine. Kept running away from different foster homes in the town we lived in. Also was a pretty damn good guitarist and bassist - showed me how to play Stairway to Heaven + the Rush song "Limelight" when we were 15 or so. Later, we play Kiss and Judas Priest covers in an un-named band that I always called the Dogs but I think it may have been called Generation Landslide. We practiced regularly on Saturdays at 1 for the better part of 1985/86. Never had a singer though, and none of us could cut the vocal duties with our crappy puberty voices. Also in the band was guitarist L. Wallbanger and a kid drummer who - I kid you not- was a dead-ringer for the actor who played Spinal Tap's manager in the first Spinal Tap movie. (Everytime I see that movie I get the chills...) A formative time, to be sure. Guess you had to be there - probably were. I also guess that the point I was getting at is that I talked to Ashcraft on the phone after a 17-year hiatus in our friendship. You know what? People don't change. Still the same funny, cynical dude I remember from the 80's, only now programming the world for destruction by working at some multi-death corporate job in some secret state. Sounds like he's doing good, staying off the sauce and the eye-injected lsd but now addicted to the internet - you tell me which is worse.
Yawn... okay, off to my happy job - wheeeeeeeeee!!

Back in the saddle again. Very cool to get an email from high school friend Danny Harrison - I should be used to old aquaintances popping their digi-heads back into my life by now, but every time someone does, I'm totally stoked to make another connection with my past life in Crescent City. I could really give a shit about ever going to a High School reunion in a town that never seemed to care for me, but I'd go to a picnic at needle beach with any of these old chums that I used to churn with - Justin D, Matt A, Matt B, Danny H, Loren W, and any others from the old horde. Those were the days.

In other, more current news - White Hot Odyssey had a pretty good show at McDonald Theatre a few nights ago, opening for the venerable Hell's Belles. Fuckin' packed, nearly, and a lot of underage kids. I almost felt guilty, belting out the back-up vocals to "Sex With The Devil" but then again kids are pretty used to lurid concepts these days. Also played a spontaneous show with Dan Jones at Sam Bond's the other Wednesday. It felt good to get out in the music world after months of not having any gigs. Which brings me to my next point...

The Pinkies first show is at Sam Bond's Garage on June 17th, with the Ovulators and Andrew Poisoner. The Pinkies are: Ed Cole, John Laney and Jivan Valpey. The Pinkies are looking for a more-permanent drummer. The Pinkies sound like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mixed with AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! and also a little bit like the Ramones and Lou Reed. Come check us out!

No other new-news for this grown-up kid. Oh Yeah, Sleeve left a cool bootleg Bowie dvd at our house of him live on tv 1973 with the classic Spiders-from Mars band - fucking excellent!! Mick Ronson is one of my all-time favorite guitarists. I wish I could share it with all of you.

Til wee meet again,

Eed

I've been having fun reading this blog by my friend Michael - Crescent City Sucks. I grew up in Crescent City and remember it sucking very hard when I was in High School. I wanted to be anywhere but there - total deadsville, very little culture or music, but still a quaint little seaside town with a giant penitentiary.

Ah, yes, growing up in sucksville made me the man I am today.

Sheesh! I've been working too much. I'm ready for a vacation. 6 days a week at the salsa slave factory and 1 night a week at the guitar lesson place. I don't mind being busy, but I want to be LAZY! Right now! Ain't gonna happen.

White Hot Odyssey resuming practice this week. Hopefully we'll have a few local gigs by early summer. Pinkies are looming. Watch out for the Pinkies!

ed

Hey People! It's Sunday, my sole day off this week, and I am very glad about it. Must maximize time and blog quickly. Improper grammer to follow: Worked a lot at the salsa slave plant this week. Happy to be earning $$$ but Christ, there has to be a better way than being soaking wet and covered with salty salsa all day. No band practices lately - W.H.O. seem to be stalled and need a collective shot-in-the-arm to get revved up and rolling again (Brolling?As in Criten's?) Pinkies will play tonight, sans drummer; must work harder at making music happen...kinda slacked off there and look what happens whole scene shot to hell. You're welcome for the break, but here I come right back at ya! Coffee's been pretty good over all lately. Cosmo turning into teenager before my eyes, currently on a mall excursion with same-age friends. Glad my kid is happy been rocking at baseball too - very proud. Tina has been working tons too - nice to be pulling out of the debt ridden slow lane and into the passing lane of life. Been having fun with that girl also. Sounds like the Ov's will have their pick of some excellent new potential drummers that they've been auditioning. Fun news. Watch out for Pinkies! We're going to slay this towen with one finger ag ag ag!!

over & out

Ed

Blog blog blog. I've slipped a bit in my interest in being online - nothing dramatic; just enjoying real life instead of virtuality. Lots of stuff going on, though. Tonight, Chanteuse are recording a Led Zepplin tune in the living room with the Cole mobil set-up - a couple of mics and an Adat. Sounding very ethereal and tripped-out. May add jaw harp later.

Had the pleasure this weekend of hanging out with my oldest brother, Darrow Hamilton Cole. We drove down to Gasquet, California, taking down a truckload of mom's stuff. Mom is moving back into the house that we were often growing up in during the 70's and 80's. Darrow is a real intellectual, so we had many a rousing conversation on the way down and back, loading stoves and refridgeerators and tons of other crap. I took a few pictures on my ancient Argus C-3 camera - would post if I had them scanned. Sorry, gotta wait for now.

I've been liking taking a break from gigging with any and all of my bands, but I'm slowly feeling readier to climb back up onstage sometime in the near future. Perhaps soon...very soon.

til then,

Toodles


Ed

Greetings, people!

I haven't been online much lately, due to actually having a real life to focus on. Here's the Ed Cole low-down for April 3, 2005:


I've been writing and completing a nice new batch of tunes for my as-yet-still-imaginary new band. Kinda in the upbeat/poppy/pervy/lovesong/the-world's-coming-to-an-end/Ramones/Dickies/drum-machine & guitar territory at the present. It's nice to actually be finishing some tunes after having had a creative sabbatical of sorts while sorting out selling my house and some other things.

Cosmo had his first Babe Ruth baseball game yesterday. He plays on the Pleasant Hill Billies. Ha ha at least those folks out in the sticks have a sense of humor. A fine game, they won over Springfield and play Shelbyville next week.
Last Night was also Ovulators and Velvet Trap at Sam's Place, the newest lesbian bar in Eugene. The show had the chaotic feel of a venue putting on a show for the first time - confusion about guest lists, late, late, LATE start times, bad PA system, lack of organization. Still, a pretty fun scene with many friends and regulars in attendence. I had a great time talking to my friend Sebastiane, whom I hadn't seen for some time. Her wife, Ana played drums in VElvet Trap, who kicked ass with their 4 song set. Maybe they'd consent to letting me record them? Dunno, but way hard rockin' in the L7/Bikinikill/7 year Bitch style; very raw yet tight and pummeling bass lines with throaty vocals. Good shit, maynard.
Ov's had a good set; they dressed as boys and played as 'The Ejaculators' for April Fools day. Again, loud, soothing and good.
Friday night at the Daddies/Yeltsin show, Cos and I wandered in for a bit of sound and people-meeting. HE mainly hung out with his friend, Josie. I met habitual Daddies fan Beth-from-Wisconsin, who I knew from exchanges of email regarding White Hot Odyssey and Daddies factoids. Much nicer to meet folks in person than via computer screen. Beth, thanks for the Killdozer video - nice to have a record of one of my favorite bands at an 80's bar show. Funny how things haven't changed much for bands playing in bars since then.
For anyone who doesn't know, Tina and I are engaged and gonna marry the hell out of each other in about 14 months, so stay tuned for events as they unfold!

Must go rock now.

Van and Ed 

Hey!

Thanks, Ken, for posting some keen pictures online of the night of January 7th, 2005, all taken at Luckey's. Such memories...


Existance is pretty much hand-to-mouth, day-to-day, second-by-second. I feel the impending doom of death everywhere I look and am thus motivated to stay positive and have some fun. I've been liking teaching at the Lessons Factory more than I thought I would; so far, I like all my students and I'm having a lot of fun trying to stay up on furthering my musical knowledge and abilities. Phew! It's tough staying ahead of 11-year-olds who know more Ozzy licks than you do - I feel more and more like a crusty old man with a stiff brain that does not want to learn any new tricks. But, I am trying.


I can't wait to hear the tunes that the Ov's did at Dogwood studio this week. It sounds to me like they worked very hard, had fun and were pretty satisfied with the basic tracks they had laid down. I love hearing new recordings done at studios that I haven't been to yet. I'm sure it will rock me hard. And all others that hear it as well.

Okay, time for more coffee. Check back soon,


Eds

Hey! It's Friday, and I'm ready to continue existing. And that's final!

Work was very intense this week at the Salsa Slave Ship factory. A human that I did not like very much was fired, which made everyone I work with slightly more happy. Of course, the other result is that we all have to stay a lot longer at work and work harder. I suppose it's a trade off, but I'd rather work longer hours around nicer people rather than shorter hours around spiteful control freaks. 'nuff said...

Be sure to check out my friend Toby Van Fleet's travel blog about her travels in and around Bangkok, Thailand.

Excited about making a cup of coffee.

I scored some cool records at the annual Eugene record convention. Let's see what I got...

Ace Frehley's solo Kiss album/Jimi HEndrix "Smash Hits"/999's singles collection/Warren Zevon "Excitable Boy" / Ozzy Osbourne "Bark at the Moon"/ Dokken "Under Lock and Key"/Charles Mingus "Candid" (a weird album that is part lecture)/Cocteau Twins "Treasure"/The Swan's "Burning World"/ and Led Zepplin "Song remains the same" soundtrack. Phew! I think I'm going more 70's rock in my old age Very fun to check out the various record collector geeks - there were some waxy sights to be seen on that day.

Okay, coffee time

Dream this morning

We're in the woods - it looks like either Garberville or Willits, CA. There are lots of parked cars and trucks - did we just watch fireworks? Many people from my family walk through at different points in the dream - my brother Monty and also Cosmo, Tina, others. Now we're in a school in nearby futuristic/nihilistic Eureka, CA. It's got a beautiful layout - strange passages lead to nicely carpet-covered auditoriums and sublime little stairways and nooks. It seems like we should be getting ready to leave, but for some reason I'm still wandering. I start seeing other familiar faces in the school - the crazy dancing man with the gray beard who digs through the recycling all over town - is he still alive? Others also.

end of dream

Hey, Humanoids - it's been some time since I've transmitted from this site. My old webpage may be ressurrected soon, but for now, I'm back in classic Atari 2600 mode. Forward...to death!!!

I'm afraid all my recent posts at edcolerocks.com have been swallowed up and dumped down the digital sewer - alas, I don't think I wrote anything of importance last year anyway - it's too constricting to write as one's self all the time. I only pray that the people who care can find me in my new state.

Today was interesting in that someone who had been annoying the hell out of me at work was fired, which was of no small relief to everyone who works at the salsa-slave factory. I have another job interview tomorrow, but it's purely exploratory.

AS for any futuregigs with any conceivable musical acts - I have none. I feel like the tortoise, crawling into a friendly cave and dissappearing for a long spell, to emerge with some new sheet music in hand some other day.

Toodles for now,

PSYCHE! Okay, today I'm back at this blog since my website/blog/email is down for the time being. Today, I woke up earlier than I wanted to (4am), served my time in the workforce, slept and then went for an astrology reading with my neighborhood psychic/tarot person. It turns out I'm Leo sun (duh) with moon in Leo and SCORPIO RISING ??? What the heck? I always thought I was untouched by the scorpion's sting; not the case. "Here I am - Rock me like a hurricayane!!"

TONIGHT, I will see you all down at the Lovemakers/Ovulators show down at John Henry's.

Right now, I have a craving for fish and chips, so I'll see you at Neuman's house of fins.

Ciao!

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.