I applied for a new job position at work and got it! Is this good or bad? Good, ultimately. I've come to the decision that it is easier to have a full time job to support my (and my family's) ass(es) and have insurance benefits than not. All I know is, I love going to school, working fullish time, playing in a band, doing sound and spending time with my family, but it's really hard to do all that and fit in an appropriate amount of sleep during the course of the week. I have made this life-change in the name of sleep-aquisition.
It's funny that I've been scratching out a lot more song and lyric ideas at work and school lately - filling my book full of inane little ditties and sordid lamentations while I hum along with a pallet jack or, if I'm in class, while I listen to some of my fellow students warble away in my group vocal class. That class in particular gets me to writing; I don't know why - maybe because it's stimulating to hear all these people that seem so different than myself singing songs, sometimes their own, that mirror so closely the experiences I have had in life. We are all just like John Peel's description of the Fall; always different, always the same.

Crazy fun show on Friday night. Dan Jones and Squids/Underlings/Femurs. Same old comrades rockin' in new decades. Sometimes, change happens slowly and is imperceptible, except one moment you notice...things are different. The Squids have turned into the Who! I've seen them so many times that I haven't noticed until now that something new has happened to them. High kicks, rock stances, sweat and broken guitar strings. Mangle-jangle, abrupt, spontaneous. Joy happens. Can't contain the exploding rage of being trapped in a person and wanting to...SCREAM!!!!!!

Still sluggin' my way through the school term. I'm keeping up in my classes, although I often have paranoid confidence lapses regarding grades and late assignments. I think I'll still be able to pull off some good grades this term; keeping my fingers crossed, tho'.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the illustrious Mrs. Random for a class assignment the other day. It seems like every term, in some class or other, I have to perform and "informational interview" with somebody working in a field that I am considering going into. So, as I am taking IT classes, I interviewed someone I knew in the IT profession. I think the whole think went smashingly and I gained some great information for my project. Thank you, Mrs. Random! A true professional if I've ever met one.

Aside from school, I've been working my butt off at the vegetable factory, putting in as many hours as I can between classes. The sad thing is...I think I'm going to cut my classload down to one next term so I can go back to work full-time. I love school and I'm having the time of my life expanding my brain, but I have too many bills to pay to be living like a low-budget student, at least at the present time. I'll more than likely have a higher amount of financial aid in the fall, since I actually applied on time this year, so school will have to wait for now.

Plus, uh...Tina and I are having a baby in July, so having a job right now would make sense. By the way ,we went in for Tina's first sonogram yesterday and found out that we're having a little baby...BOY!! Due date is July 13th. We'll keep you posted. Boy, it was great to see the little bugger squirming all around on the video screen - a very active little fetoid creature, aged 20 weeks so far. As far as the doctor could tell, it's a healthy little guy in there. We are very excited! Can't wait til he pops out. Check the images! We have a 99% sure name picked out, but we're keeping that under wraps for now.

I have been really enjoying my group vocal class that I am taking this term. It seems as if the other students have taken this class one or more times before. Many of my fellow students are apparently from the drama department and many are amazing singers.
In addition to singing in Italian from a vocal workbook, we each have to sing 5 times solo in front of the class during the term. Today was my first time singing under the scrutiny of my peers. I sung 'Long Black Veil', Johnny Cash-style. I felt I did okay, but it's funny how nervous one becomes when singing in front of a class of people paying rapt attention to your technique. Nervy, but really fun. I can't wait for my next turn up.

We had a really good time at our wetlands show on saturday. The Underlings' set went by in a flash, but it felt really good. Everyone stayed on track and played with guts. The fun was large.
Yoyodyne from portland were a good guy/girl power trio with an edgy, pop sound. Good songs and good arrangements. Worth checking out if they are playing in town.
The Squids and Dan kicked out their slippery jams in a Squid-like fashion. Dave's baritone guitar work laid a low-rumble oomph to their sound. They seemed really fluid and pushin' and the rock was felt.
Back to school, back to reality. Goodbye, bar dreams.

I have been experiencing anticipation and excitement for the debut of my newest Underlings. Tomorrow night feels like it could be an explosive and unique event. The energy level is high. My fingers ae sore from playing large amounts of guitar.
Today, I had my one-and-only guitar student over for a lesson. The hour before he arrived, I realized that I had better come up with something cool to teach him. I looked up "Travis Picking" on google and learned some cool pattern-picking stuff wit me fingers. Now, my right-hand finger-tips feel like they are about to bleed. I guess I got hooked on those new finger-picking patterns and I overdid it during the course of my day's guitar playing. Let this be a warning to all instrument operators out there: practice often and practice well, but don't overdo it or your fingers might regret it.
Also swam some laps at the pool today and went to work. Life is enjoyable in it's plain-ness. Every day is like unflavored yogurt; waiting for some fruit and nuts; waiting to be consumed by a desirous omnivore.

What a hoot!

Things keep happening. The repetition of events in my life is unnerving. Good and bad things happening again and again. Are all the players real, or just a re-creation of kids I knew in grade school? Is it all just some big maze I've been placed in by some cosmic being, and am I just a rat in someone else's experiment? What hoops do I need to start jumping through so that I might make it to the next level of somethingness? For the time being, I am prepared to carry on.

Snow Day! Snow Day! I get the day off from school and work. The little birds flit about the backyard. Dribbles of snow-plobs drabble off of the tree branches. Eugene is a much more pleasant place when it is covered with a blanket of white snow. The streets look pure and un-molested by leaves and debris. Small children are running around pelting each other's heads with snow balls. Today, I am grateful for nature's own slacker holiday.

A new year, a fresh start. It'd be hard to run down all of the events of the past two or three weeks, but I'll try to hit on some key points.
Our household has been enjoying our kick-ass new HP computer that Tina's mom and dad got us for Christmas. We are spoiled shits, I know. It's very nice to be able to finally troll the internet at high-speed instead of hi-speed. Hopefully I'll have more time to dedicate to using this computerized power in a creative fashion, rather than rotting on myspace, defending myself from the forceful, digitized requests of other "people"; entities in "bodies" that look out from "eyes" into some device called a "monitor" and, using punch-keys, try to input themselves upon my life via the internet. God bless this digitized representation of existence.
The Underlings have changed again. I have two new members in my musical army - Bryant Grace on drums and Dave Peterson on bass. Mike Z and Dylan did admirably as the Underlings rhythm section and their service to duty is duly noted, but I have parted ways with them. Bryant is a friend of mine from work and Dave is from the punk rock boonies of Dexter. They're both about my age and we all tend to dig the same kinds of music. Oh, and they're both killer players, too. Practice has been happening more and more often and I am feeling really good about the resulting sounds. I can't wait to share them with you.
School starts today at 2 for me, so I had better get my ass in gear and figure out what the hell I'm doing.
C-Ya,
Ed

Thanks to everyone for their kind words about Lulu.

Dori and Sydney brought some flowers over in memory of our dear departed dog. Mrs. Random blogged about it, Raenie emailed condolences, Dan phoned and many others were saddened when they learned the news that one of the pillars of Eugene dog lore had passed on to the Grey Havens. I'm sure she's there now, where a pure, green landscape folds out, illuminated beneath a swift sunrise, along with Frodo, Gandalf and my old cat, Minerva. Thanks all, for your caring and support.

Friday was the blow-out Fast Computers Christmas Show at Sam Bonds. We were among the featured singers that occured during the course of the evening, with Tom Heinl and Peter Dean hosting. I like the way that it feels like an old-style Christmas pagent that would be on tv 40 years ago. Tina and I sang 'the Sleigh Song'; I felt that I could have done better if I'd had a few drinkls in me, but I was caught in the midst of a bout of sobriety. We had fun still and it was nice to be dressed up for a pagent. Marietta, Mike Roderick, Pete Wilde & Annie, Brian P, Dan J, Dori, Lelulaserlight, Joe P, Patrick Hayden and several others sang Christmas-oriented songs; Jake Pavlak played 'Here Comes Santa Claus' on Telecaster and Jen Fox rendered 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer' on glockenspiel very nicely. Wish you were there. Maybe you can make it next year - or maybe not, since it was so packed that I felt as if I could barely move throughout the night.

Anyways, later days

Ed

I feel horrible, I feel sad; my sweet dog Lulu is dead. I had her put to sleep this morning. She had been vomiting blood and became more and more dehydrated over the past 5 days. She had been struggling with an internal disorder for the better part of month. The vet said she could have diagnosed her ailment, but it would have been beyond our means to afford any real hospitalization, operation or serious treatment plan. The estimates went up from $1,000 ... I feel like a cruel sonovabitch, but Lulu had had so many severe skin, ear and infection problems ever since she was a young pup, I felt like the least cruel thing I could do would be to put her down. P
lease don't send me hate mail - I really loved my sweet dog. The picture above is from a month ago; she and her best friend, Frita snuggled together for warmth. Rest in peace, Lulu. You will be missed.

Ed Cole celebrates his personal decade with Birdie Jo.


How many times have I laughed myself pissing while watching Birdie Jo? I don't really know, but when I saw them play again on Saturday night, I was definitely laughing with all the glee of a 26 year-old, self-pissing geezer instead of a 36 year-old one. Long live Birdie Jo! I have been seeing this band for ten fucking years now and I am still awed and inspired every time I see them play. Pedro, Michael and ScottK and Amy - I idolize you all. I don't know what it is you do, but you must do it good because I keep coming back.
The first time I saw Birdie Jo was the first time I had ever been inside Sam Bond's Garage in early 1996; the experience was good. I was introduced to two of my favorite things in Eugene in one night. Birdie Jo were just a three-piece band then and they sounded nothing like I thought they would. I had already met ScottK at the health food store he used to work at. I thought he was the kind of guy who would have a raging punk band. Birdie Jo was not that kind of a band. They were punk in attitude, but they played a weird brand of clanky, working-class folk-punk.
Quietly, the band rumbled along with a dis-jointed yet compelling sound. The lyrics were great - they sounded like they could have been written by either Charles Manson or Woodie Guthrie or possibly by both. And then there was Pedro; the matinee idol of the Eugene underworld.
Pedro was playing sitting down that night and had also lost his voice. He kept yelling, "I'm a twelve-year-old boy! I'm a twelve-year-old boy!", and it sounded like he meant it. He was strumming spastically at a bass with both of his hands and fingers covered with duct tape - why, I'll never know(or care) but it was funny as hell to see him strum and yell. Pedro was a spaz, but he played and sang with all of his heart and somehow that heart-felt feeling came through in his forceful, spasmoditic performances. It was often both hilarious and moving to watch at times.

Over time, many of my own bands ended up playing shows with Birdie Jo. One night in the Fall of 1996, Birdie Jo and a band I had called "Seat" or something played a show at the old John Henry's along with a bunch of other local bands for a KWVA birthday show or something. ScottK, Amy and Michael were playing, sitting down, without Pedro - just drums, guitar and cello, no bass - and this huge frat guy was very drunk and aggressive with the band. He showed his dislike of the music by standing menacingly on the stage, staring down at the band and trying to challenge ScottK to a fight.
Scott turned him down and this guy ended up being drunk, violent and belligerent
all night long, much to everyone's dismay. But I always admired ScottK's ability to send the guy on his way without provocation or hard words. He was under the power of Birdie Jo.

The other night was their annual Thanksgiving reunion show. Seeing Pedro walk in with his mohawk cracked me up. I just about pissed myself.

If you ever come and see them, wear adult undergarments.

Birdie Jo rocks! They are unique freaks of nature and prime examples of all the goodness that humanity has to offer.

Give thanks, the bird is dead...

Man, Thanksgiving was pretty mellow this year, but mellow is good. I feel well-rested and well-fed and I am thankful for that. Tina made a medium-sized turkey bird with all the trimmings. Quite delicious! I am the beneficiary of some fine-ass cooking. Zook came over and ate and commenced hanging out for a couple of hours while we watched a really crappy English movie called Love, Actually. Sucks, Actually is what I was thinking the whole time. No gunfights and no car chases; it didn't feel at all like a thnksgiving movie. Oh well, better luck next year.
Now, I am oh-so-happy to be back at work the day after, lifting the produce boxing and slinging the B.S. with my workmates. Later, I work the soundboard at Sam Bond's Garage for reggae singer Norma Fraser. Should be a good show.Tomorrow, I work the Birdie Jo reunion show, same venue. If you see me at either show, come over and say "hi".

Over and oot,

Ed

Saturday was a most amazing day/night.

I've been going pretty hard-core lately, what with school and work and band and all the other things that go into being a human resident of planet Eugene. I often think of my many friends who seem to also be pushing themselves into an exhaustive, cathartic state of art-worship and party culture that kind of defines the state of our intersecting music and social scene - Mr Random, Shawn Mediaclast, my girl Tina and many other bands and persons. Why do we do it? Work at our jobs to survive, spend precious few moments with our families some weekends, go out and play in our bands or dj gigs or performance stuff or whatever, only to return to school/work on Monday, frazzeledand burnt-out, only to do the same thing all over again the next weekend. That being said, I must tell you of my Saturday experience.
Saturday evening started out pretty well. After a pleasant family dinner of stir-fry and rice - we often enjoy a nice, healthy meal before going off to our various rock and roll events. I dropped Cosmo off at the McDonald Theatre, where the Cherry Poppin' Daddies were playing and then I was off to KWVA, where the Underlings were slated to play live, on-the-air.
Mike Z, Dylan and I played pretty damn well on the Baker's Ball show. It was totally fun; the fun was total. I think we sounded pretty good, also.
Later, I loaded some gear for Tina's gig at the Downtown Lounge and then made my way to John Henry's for my gig. Mikey and I hung at SNAFU club for a drink and then to D-Lo to hang with the Ov's a bit, finally making it back to our show, ready to play at 1 am or so.
When we hit the stage, it was like a sack of wet corn-meal splatting on a sidewalk. We played what was possibly the worst show ever - well, at least the worst show I've played since the Garden Weasel show at the Jambalaya club in Arcata circa October 1991. It was...terrible! We fucking bombed, worse than I can remember having ever bombed before. I couldn't even tell that drums were being played. Dylan broke a bass string. I forgot my lyrics and felt like I was in a vaccuum of suck-ness. What was to blame? The patron saint of unconcious drummers worldwide, alcohol? Or was it just that the stars mis-aligned and pulled is into the vomitrous nebula of anti-music? I gave up and lay down onstage and just let chaos reign. We couldn't even finish a song all the way through. It was either hilarious or disaserous or both. But at least it will make a good story for the grand kids.

Shawn and Prudence the wonder-pug dropped in to listen at Sam Bond's on Friday. How is it that I know so many cool mammals?

I like school, but I have some bad habits left over from my care-free days in highschool that have got to go. The classes I like I charge into pretty full-steam. The classes I don't like, however, I have a hard time keeping up with.
I took my career guidance class mainly to fulfill a requirement. It is terrible - the teacher is nice, but the rest of the kids in my class are half my age. Also, I am forced to examine myself - my likes, dislikes, personality qualities, etc...- so that I might land in a future job environment better suited to my skills. EEEEWWWWWWGGGHHH!!! I hate examining myself - I'd rather be an unknown quanity. Also - I hate all jobs equally! I don't want to work - I just want to be holed up in a creepy mental institution with coffee and pills and a cassette recorder and a ukelele or something. Still, I think I will hang in there in the world of school and work for awhile longer yet.

I went to see No Means No last Thursday for only the ninth time since 1989. They seemed well, although both bassist Rob Wright and guitarist Tom Holliston seemed tired. Still, they always play their own brand of complicated jazz-punk as if their lives depended on it - i.e. the only way to play.
My hero-worship of No Means No is akin to what I feel about Mike Watt or DOA - those are some of the only bands out there that have lasted and still participate in the get-in-the-van punk ethos. They'll never be rich or famous, but they are doing what they do out of love and commitment to their music. That's always what I've wanted to do when I grow up.
My Underlings played at Sam Bonds on Friday and it was good. Many work friends were there + of course Monsieur Random and Tina. That night, Dylan and Mikey became a "crack" rhythm section. They truly filled in the cracks and also played like they were on crack. All I had to do was just slop down some music and they would spread it and flatten it out like they were laying a highway or somethin'.

If you don't know (or don't remember) who Stew is, you should familiarize yourself. An artist's artist, that's who he is.

School is starting to kick my ass. Actually, that's not true; LIFE is kicking my ass, in a good way and school is just one part of that. I am working as hard as I can to keep on top of my classes but I still feel dis-organized and un-focused. I'm glad to have a chance to break out of the old routine, 'cause working the natural foods circuit has become more and more like prostitution to me. Don't wanna do it.

Come see the Underlings play with Brooklyn songwriter Eef Barzelay at Sam Bond's Garage on Friday. I think we play at 9:30.

I've actually been writing a whole lot lately; just not on my blog.

I am really enjoying my writing 121 class at Lane. All the required reading and writing is working the brain muscles that have long sat, un-used in my cranium. Exploring topics such as Tupac Shakur's educated thugster-ism and former alcoholic/writer/living person Caroline Knapp's cautionary tales of boozin'-gone-bad, I have a hunch that my teacher is forcing my class and I to examine ourselves and our own motivations and perspectives, whether through writing about Thug Life or addiction. Yikes! Some of this shit is hitting too close to home for comfort. I would highly reccomend author Caroline Knapp's Drinking: A love story to any of my interested literary friends. (Dan Jones? Mrs. Random?Are you out there?)

In addition to all my school-orientation - by the way, I FUCKING LOVE SCHOOL! - I have been rehearsing as much as possible with the Underlings. Which, actually, isn't very much since all of us are going to school and/or working all the time. We are coming along, however, continuing to fuse soul and pop songs and Ramones-y garage rock and I home some people come out to Sam Bonds on November 3d to see us open for Brooklyn songwriter Eef Barzelay .

Here are some quotes copied out of my dad's WW2-era journal:

"If one complains to you for any cause, it is more a Godsend than a calamity, for he could do more harm by complaining to others about you.

A person who has had a grievance satisfied is a better booster than one who has had no grievance at all.

Right or wrong, the complainant has some merit on his side.

First maneuver is to give ground rapidly as, "I'm terribly sorry this has happened." This is known as rolling with the punch. Allow the complainant to get the beef out of his system without you fighting back. Amongst friends and family, familiarity wipes out restraints and we are more apt to rely on vocal force and bull-headedness.

A heated assertion draws a heated retort, and when heated, a mind is hermetically sealed to reason.

It is well to avoid vituperation, personal affronts, sarcasm, glittering wise cracks and half-baked opinions."

I reckon my father was around forty years old when he wrote that. I wish he had written a book.

The Underlings' show at Sam Bonds Garage went well. The people were there to be rocked and we rocked 'em. This was our second performance and I felt it went well - it's starting to feel like a band.

I Can Lick any Son of a Bitch in the House played after us and kicked some dust up with their hairy, American-roots /punk/bar-band music. People love sincere, shit-kicking bands at Sam Bonds and the place was packed to prove it.

Third band Hillstomp I had seen years ago at the Ash street Saloon in Portland. They are a blues two-piece band consisting of two guys, one on slide guitar and singing, the other on percussive buckets, metal things, washboard and also vocals. With good chemistry and sound, they had the minmal dancefloor at Sam Bonds PACKED with sweaty, drinking dancing humans. Disgusting! Yet, spirited revelry also, it was. I was impressed.

Tina had a show over at the Wetlands (although she caught the Underlings set and took that picture) so I hitched a ride over there and watched the last two songs of the Ovulators' set. They sounded good, and the room sound at Wetlands was suprisingly full and good. It seemed like a fun scene.

Then, packed up, went home, and slept zzzzz

My school has been going good, although I should be writing a paper right now instead of blogging. Until next time...

Mission of Burma, September 17th, 2006


My heart was slain by Mission of Burma last night. The band from the past coming back with a blast. Now I see where so many noisy/artsy/melodic/destructo-bands got their ideas from. I can remember feeling so turned on when I first discovered MOB when I was 18 - I bought a copy of Reflex magazine with a copy of 'This is not a photograph' included as a flexi-disc. I dropped the needle, and my brain was changed. MOB were chemical to me in the best way.
Last night was like that all over again. I went into the show with no expectations and my mind was blown with the first chord. I could wax eloquently about how surreal it was to hear 'That's when I reach for my revolver' in such a powerful, emotional way by three guys that could have been has-beens, but turned out to be the real shit instead-but I won't. My mind has been blown again, and it's just what I needed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

An era has ended. Not just for you, not just for me, but for all of Eugene and Lane county.

I have dispensed with my long-time associate, the red-and-white Chevy van, that has served me so well since June of 2001. I know it's been said, many times, many ways, but a man ain't a man without his van. I feel a gaping hole in my heart, where my van used to be; a hole that will take a long time in healing before it is ready to allow another van in. But someday, I will have another van. MARK MY WORDS.

For months now, the red Chevy van was in a steep decline. When we took it up highway 58 about a month ago, past Oakridge & up 3,000 ft, the van, it was overheating and finally the fan belt broke. We made it back home the next day, trying to coast whenever possible to keep the van-ship from overheating. During our recent move, the old Chicken Ship of Love was sputtering and clanking - the drive line was developing problems and the engine was running but prone to overheating.



Finally, the red Van just bit it. It started to leak water out of the freeze plugs on the side of the engine. I drove it out past the airport on highway 99 yesterday and sold it to Pick-a-part salvage yard for a mere $75. It barely made it & it was overheating horribly, spraying water, clanking etcetera, but still, my faithful red one made it.
I rode my bike back into town and that was that,




Thanks, Red Van! May you rest in pieces and hopefully be recycled into many other vehicles. Long Live the Red and White Van!

Wow!@ I can't believe I haven't posted since 8/22. It seems like things keep happening in my life.

Tina, Cos and I moved over onto Churchill st, waaaay over in west Eugene. Kind of suburban-feeling; I think I just saw the Brady Bunch getting out of their mini-van down the street - but we love our pad- plenty of room for all of us + a wonderful back yard with nice, big trees. I can't wait to crank up the Marshalls and see how the neighbors react - I have a feeling they will all grow to love the rock.

Tina is off, on her way to fly to California and then Rhode Island, escorting her grandmother back home. I hope she has a safe and wonderful trip. That girl knows how to travel, though - let me tell ya.

The Underlings will debut this Saturday, September the 9th at 9pm at Luckeys Club Cigar (located by Broadway - or 9th ave) opening for the avante-new wave of TOUCHFORCE. If you are reading this, I hope you choose to attend, because I am particularly proud of how this new band is developing. These guys - Dylan Esmonde and Mike Z - are playing the sh*t out of the material, and it's really sounding fresh and full of potential. Garage-y yet pop and smashingly energetic; we'll knock your socks off and make you eat them.

PEACE!

Yay! I've been working all the time! Yay! I've been doing sound at both Sam Bonds Garage and Luckeys. Yay! I was deathly sick with a viral barfing affliction on Saturday and missed the Lane County Fair. Yay! Now I'm at work. Yay!

Music has been rocking and fresh. Sunday night I played music with my friends Brian and Don, jamming pretty hard on the Wipers tune Tragedy + some other song. Good licks, high kicks.

LAST night I went to Black Forest Karaoke for the first time on Tina's urging. Totally fun! I sucked, but tried hard to perform "Sunday Morning Coming Down" or "Sunday Morning Sidewalk" or whatever it was called. It is crazy to see how many people are into their own personal karaoke performances. Some were great, some were terrible, most were in between. I can't wait to go again.

Yippe!

E

Howdy kids.

Mr. Random, you are one open-minded mofo. It is always warming to see people going through their own musical metamorphisis. I can remember when I was 15 and 16, listening to shitty radio bands and then first becoming aware of Husker Du, Black Flag and the Meat Puppets and Minutemen - it was a mind blowing time that had a lasting effect on my musical directions since then. After the past 20 (!) years of musical exposure I sometimes feel burnt-out, as if the radiation emitted from all that potent, electric music has kind of melted my edges off and left me more than slightly jaded to many of the new bands and styles of music being created. Perhaps I need to steep myself in a new musical tea of influences; something new to destroy the old, like Black Flag forever destroyed Journey to me when I was 15. Only this time, what the hell is going to destroy Black Flag?

My forays into playing with new people has been pretty fruitful. I've met and rocked out with a number of drummers and bassists. I think I have my new line-up for my new band ALMOST set. Regardless of who is in it, the Underlings will debut on September 9th at Luckeys, opening for techno-trash rockers Touchforce. See you there.

R U Sk8 ing?
peace

Ed

I hate myself for not writing more often! I have a lot of stuff to get off of my chest, so let's just have at it:

#1: I've been auditioning several different drummers and bassists for my new band, which you will all hear about soon!
#2: I quit my stinky salsa-slave job and it feels really good. I am currently working at OGC again, handling the vegetables oh-so-carefully.
#3: I am going back to school - gotta get out of this werk-related rut I've been in - school seems like one of the only legitimate ways to survive WITHOUT A STUPID JOB!!!! I HATE JOBS!!! RAAAAAARRRR!!!!
#4: My new band has a name, and that name is the UNDERLINGS!!!!! Choke on that, suckers!!!!! Our first gig will be at Luckeys, September 9th, opening up for TOUCHFORCE, suckaaaaz!!!!!!!
#5: We're moving again, and we don't know exactly where yet, but we have about two weeks to figure things out.

Everything else is completely normal. Trust me.

Buon Serra from Italy!

This is our fourth day here. I am typing to you from an internet cafe in Vernazza, and I am very thrown off by the Italian keyboard layout/language preferences, so forgive me if this reads somewhat funkily.
We arrived in Milan early wednesday morning and immediately crammed ourselves on a bus to the city center train station, built by facist Mussolini in 1931. Milan is fast paced, dirty, expensive, dirty and also very pro-fashion and has tiny cars and zooming scooters everywhere. Did I mention how drty it was? It is a very dirty city, but also very exciting. After hopping the metro and landing in the center of old town, we registered at our hotel and then head for the Duomo, an amazing cathedral that took over 400 years to build - please google "Il Duomo" and see for yourself. We only took the self-led tour of the roof and outside, where you can view all of sprawling Milan in all of its oldness and glory. (oh yeah - no apostrophe on this keyboard - get used to it) A cabbie took us on a short tour of very-old, pre-Christian buildings and monuments - magnifico! We also did very much walking, enjoying beer and appetizers at a local bar and taking in the insane street scene on a warm summer night, with the fabulously-dressed Milanese sauntering about the streets. Outside the Duomo at night, we had coffee and gelato and viewed the absolute best people-watching I have ever experienced. Fashion in Milan is over the top, with even the poor street kids looking very chic and up-to-date. Unnecessary zippers, ripped jeans, t-shirts with sometimes vulgar slogans printed on them, hotties in skin-tight outfits that might make an American stripper gasp - everyone was wearing something completely different, yet they all looked distinctly Italian. Even the business men in their suits came in a huge variety - sometimes pin-stripes, sometimes bright colors, sometimes mafioso black and white, always impeccably fitted and usually travelling at high-speed on a scooter or in a tiny car.

Ok, I must run but I shall write more soon.

Ciao!

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,