I had a great time last night at the Meat Puppets show at WOW hall. I have to admit, I was not expecting the show to be the interstellar return to form that it ended up being. The last real Meat Puppet shows I saw were in 1988 and this show blew those away. Having the Kirkwood brothers in the same room playing music is like tripping on peyote while riding a dirt bike - totally freaked-out, unpredictaBLE FUN. I was happy to see so many old and new friends at this show. Thank you, Rulers of the Universe for allowing this event to happen.
Here are some vids from the middle of their set:

Geez, I can't believe I haven't checked over at the Dave Shack for awhile now. He's written some nice entries, logging our shows and pics and various what-nots. Check it out, ya'll - but try not to get any bbq sauce on your lapel.

Otherwise, life is grand. I took the night off from work so we can go down to the McDonald Theater and see Gogol Bordello, who we also saw when we sat down to dinner at Poppi's earlier this evening. I am psyched to go and see a good band! It's been too long since I've been to a concert, other than the club shows I usually see and play. I'll post the whole low-down on the show some other time.

Cheers,

Ed

Life keeps moving forward in mysterious ways. THe Underlings CD project, which has consumed so much time and thought, has finally come to fruition. After the cds came back in five big boxes on my porch and I hurriedly ripped open a box, sliced open a cd and reviewed the contents, all I could think was, "well, that wasn't so hard after all." It only took one garage band two years of gig money + some personal contributions from our blessed credit cards to make enough dough to cause the recording, artwork and duplication to happen; maybe next time, we'll just rob a bank - that is, if it happens to be a FDIC insured bank. We could always resort to collecting cans with our hobo bike trailers after we lose our mansions to foreclosure.
I hope lots of people come to our 2 shows at Sam Bonds on Saturday, October 4th - one free, all-ages show at 5:30 with Chanteuse opening up and the later, 21+ show at 9:30 with Dan Jones and the Squids opening. See you there!

Somehow, on Sunday evening while I was at work, Louis broke his little baby leg. Tina called me around 8 or so and said he was acting "in pain" after she retrieved him from being baby-sat by a friend. The babysitter didn't have a clue over what might have happened, which was, to say the least, utterly frustrating. According to the doctor at urgent care, Louis has a fracture in his lower fibula and he needs a cast for at least a few weeks. The little guy is bummed out, but he seems to be taking it in stride. Rats! He was having so much fun walking. Tomorrow, he goes to his regular doctor's office to get checked out and we'll see what they prescribe.

Here are a few pics from the last couple of days:

















Extended Underlings band during the Joe Strummer tribute show we played on Saturday. L-R: Alex Fletcher, Dave, Bryant on drums, Reed Gilchrist, myself and Stephen Mathys on the mandolin and bg vocals. Totally, big hella fun
















Cosmo, Louis, myself and Tina at Jed Smith state park in Nor Cal, on my favorite river, the Smith.
















Louis, me and my highschool friend Matt, one of the few people from high school that I still keep in touch with. He and his wife had us over for dinner and beers a plenty.

O.K., that's it for now

-Ed

So much has been leading up to this moment. My band has been preparing for thi sJoe Strummer tribute since March and now, we ar eon the verge of the whole damn thing. Tomorrow night, August 16th at WOW hall, we play our set at 8:50. CAN'T FUCKING WAIT!

love ,
Ed

Here's a bit of video I took during part of Yeltsin's set last night

Yeltsin at Sam Bond's Garage 7/25/2008 from Ed Cole on Vimeo.

I went to see the Melvins play at John Henry's last night, along with my friends Slayer Carl and Gobbles. I arrived late, so I missed the majority of the Melvins' set, but what I did see was delightful - about 3 sludge-y songs plus a guttural version of the Star-Spamgled Banner. Here is an excerpt of that song:

Melvins/Star-Spangled Banner excerpt from Ed Cole on Vimeo.
The crowd was an interesting mix of rock fans from Eugene/Springfield area. I love seeing different people that I've nver seen at show before, and wondering what brought them there. It's always a social scene melting pot of hipsters, un-hipsters, grimy people with appearance attributes that would lend one to believe that they might use heavy drugs, clean cut wussies that squeeze right into the fray and get an up-close looksy. All types, I tell ya.

Life is still good, ya. We've been listening to the newer Gogol Bordello cd around the house and I like that quite a bit. Later, we go to one of Cosmo's last baseball games this season and then, later still I go down to Sam Bond's Garage to play a show around 10. Busy, normal, happy, typingcoffeelaundry oops! Now it's time for second lunch.

-Ed

I've added a sidebar link to the Underlings mp3 practice blog - mainly for hosting mp3's for my bandmates to listen to, but feel free to check 'em out at your own risk:
edhead101.wordpress.com
Occasional, I guess I'll probably post live tracks or whatnot, and probably make it look nicer or something.
Last night, we had a semi-full rehearsal for the Joe Strummer Foundation benefit show that we're doing in late August. It was rad to have the awesome lead guitar of Alex, formerly of Chance Became Fate and currently of the Traitor Hearts, as well as the mandolin playing of Stephen Mathyss, a long time friend of the band.

write to you later,

Ed

We've had a busy stretch of family visitations over the last two weeks. First, Tina's parent's came over for Louis' birthday celebration. Then, we were graced with the presence of my older bro, Darrow and his wife, Cynthia and their two kids, age 6months and 4 years, which was totally awesome, since Louis had never met his young cousins before. Here's some video footage of Louis and his cuz, Nathan, eating some blueberries:

Nathan + Louis pt 1 from Ed Cole on Vimeo.

Also, my younger bro, Walter, was in town for a stretch, on leave from the Army. He is deployed in Afghanistan with his platoon and hopefully will not get his ass blown off. Even though I don't in any way support war, I support my brother in the military. He really seems to have more of a sense of maturity and direction in his life that wasn't there before. Discipline, training and learning to get along with others is a good thing. Blowing people up just because someone tells you to...that's another thing entirely. There will always be a contingent of people in this country that think fighting in the armed forces for America is a worthy calling; I have a different opinion, especially when oil companies and big business are the ones running our government and it seems to suit their collective profit desires to start another war.
Enough said. I'm sure I'm not the only dissenter who has a close relative in the military. I just hope they quit enforcing the U.S.'s will on the rest of the word.

Peace and Love !

Ed

(Louis and Louis)

So many things to report - let's see if I can hit a few of the more important happenings:

Louis had his first birthday yesterday. He stayed pretty well entertained the whole time, thanks in part to Tina's parents, Big Louis and Cathie, who came up from Cali to observe the event. We had BBQ steak and cake and then went to go see Cosmo play some baseball, out the old Elmira way. His team won and Cosmo's keen hitting was part of the reason. Fun, fun, fun.

Mr Random came ove today to record the Underlings' practice for his radioNOT blog. I think he said he'll have it posted in a day or two. The segment will be part interview, part music and all sweat, since it wsa 96 degrees Fahrenheit outside and about 110 degrees inside the garage. Phew! I think our playing was better on some songs than on others, but overall we rocked it good and can't wait to hear the results. Be sure to check out his other fine podcasts as well - get hip to listening to radio in a pod-style. Time to plug in and pod-out, geekoids of the internet!

I've really been liking our fine, hot weather here in Eugene. The first half of June was bleak - cold, rainy, miserable - not at all like June should be. Now. it feels like summer is finally on and I'm glad.

My biggest bro comes tonight with his family - that would be Darrow - and my youngest bro - Walter - is here tomorrow. Plus, Softball tomorrow and of course, work tomorrow night. I think I keep busy, but I still feel lazy at heart.

Peace out!

-E

The Underlings live at Luckey's 6-6-08 from Ed Cole on Vimeo.
Video taken by Mr. Random

Holy Shit!!!! This vid re-charged my batteries and now I am ready to take on the day:
Meat Puppets live, probably from 1986/87/88

When I was a kid, I stayed over at my friend Bar's house a lot. Bar had a big family with lots of older and younger siblings, so it was a real zoo - people always stealing each others socks and constantly walking in on each other while in the bathroom. I was basically an only child, since most of my sibings head left the house by the time I was ten, and I loved the chaos that happened at my surrogate family's house.
One thing I remember about staying over at Bar's was the breakfast cereal. Food was at a premium for his brood, and if you ever had anything good to eat, you had better eat it before anyone else got to it. Breakfast cereal was at the top of the food chain, and on top of all cereals was Ohs!, the crunchy sugary prince of cereals. Bar used to hide his box of Ohs! from the rest of his family, but if I was lucky, he would share them with me, subsequently stashing the box from the prying eyes and fingers of the less fortunate members of clan McKinnon.
So, you must understand how I felt when Tina came home with a box of Ohs! a few weeks ago. I felt like pouring myself a huge bowl and locking myself in the closet, where passers by would wonder what the hell all the crunching was about.

Things are good. Tina is still painting the house and it is looking great in here. Hues of dusty yellow, olive green, light-ish blue and spring green are all around. It is very nice to live inside a color-aquarium.














(Yeltsin rocking Pee-town)
We went up to Portland over the weekend, where Tina was working with her Ovulators on their upcoming CD. The bit I heard was sounding great to my ears; can't wait to hear how it sounds when it becomes a finished product. I spent most of my PDX time hanging out with baby Louis, walking around the neighborhoods of Southeast portland, sipping coffee and taking in the sights sound , smells and SUNLIGHT that happened to touch down upon Oregon that fine two days.
Friday night, I went down to Kelly's Olympian to catch Yeltsin's CD release party. I saw many Eugene and Portland friends. I arrived too late to catch the Tractor Operator set, but people said it went over well. Excellence contains former Eugene Hot For Chocolate bassist Geof Unger and they had a cool, PDX-pop sound with baritone guitar, keys and drums rounding out their lineup.
I really enjoyed Yeltsin's set - really loose and rocking. Jivan was good on the mic, really working the PDX crowd. And a good crowd it was - plenty of Portland folks are hip to our hometown band.

Okay! Off to be useful!

Tina is painting the house this week, so shit's all askew. Furniture here, piles of books there - it reminds me of the way I used to live when I was a single man. I much prefer our more common state of ABSOLUTE ORDER around the house. True peace of mind can only enter when all things are in the absolute right place; no stray pins or discarded eyebrow hairs. ORDER! Soon, I will be tranquil again; for now, I am in flux.
The band is still working towards our gaol of finishing our cd by oblique forms of non-action. As the clock of humanity 'clicks' around, all the deeds leading up to our cd release will somehow take care of themselves. Money will appear from somewhere and tasks will be completed. Are we humans really the ones making these actions, or are we only the tools of a giant galactic force that we do not understand? Or, is the desire to create a CD just another step in humanity's compulsory mating ritual ? I guess a hundred years or more ago, a musician would compose a big piece of music instead of making a CD, and thereby be deemed a worthy mate. These days, technology has influenced our behavior to a high degree.
Must...make...coffee...check cell phone...blog...maneuver car without hitting anyone...and go to work. Now.

I have not been 'feeling it' lately. Too much real life stuff going on to feel like rotting my brain in front of www radiation. I think that several others in my blogosphere are in the same state of mind. Myspace is the ultimate time-waster, yet I still login for band stuff and friend communication. I like reading Dan' s and Justin's blogs and I always check out Ken's various pages; that and email are pretty much the extent of my online caring right now.
I was quite saddened this morning to learn that a friend of Tina's, Jessie, a woman we met in our childbirth class, recently suffered the loss of both her baby and her father in a car accident in Idaho. Jessie's baby, Sage. was the same age as Louie and they were friends from baby play dates. Kind of sobering, as it always is when someone you know dies in an untimely way. My heart goes out to Jessie and her husband; no one should have to endure such a harsh loss.

I went with my bros Zookie and Carl down to John Henry's to see the most recent incarnation of Agent Orange on Tuesday night. It was also Slayer Carl's birthday, so drinks were had and spilled, fun was splooshing in the night. Agent Orange were not bad, although I always have mixed feelings about older punk groups re-forming for glory and money (haha not a lot of $$$). Mike Palm's guitar playing sounded keen, and I liked the newer, surf-style instrumental that they opened with. I was, as usual, dismayed with the middle-aged mosh-pit, but apparently people were having fun. I couldn't take the entire set, but it was fun to hear some classics - "Everything Turns Grey", "Too Young To Die" and a few others that I forget now. Another show, another few brain cells down the drain, splooshing, splooshing...

Keep waking up into"life"like un-dream. Eyes open.Time=running. Clock tick-tick-ticking, into the future. Leap day and I haven't yet.
I can't wait for 3:66pm today - I'll be at Museum of Unfine Art, hoping to trade time for space.

NEWS FLASH: Local Space Money May Not Be The First Space Money!

An unfortunate Google search revealed that some nefarious forces of finance in the U.K. have already been pioneering the combination of Space Money with old-fashioned, corrupt, Planet Earth Time-Money!

You can read about the bogus concept of money for the super-rich space-tourists of the future here.

This year's Eugene Record Convention was a blast. Cosmo and I rolled out of bed at the un-Godly hour of 9am and picked up Mr. Zook and dragged our greasy asses down to mingle with the great unwashed masses of collector nerds from our local music community. I saw too many friends to mention and made some good scores on albums that I'd never had. Among my faves this year were an original press of Television's Adventure, on red vinyl no less and also albums by Tom Verlaine, Thin Lizzy, The Clash, 86 (the first band of Jesus Lizard drummer Mac MacNeily) and Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet. I spent more than I expected but it was worth it. A good time was had by all and then we went for coffee.
Friday night, the Underlings played with our good friends Valiant Arms and Long Tall and Ugly at Luckey's Club Cigar. I'll post some pics at my long-neglected flickr and then I'll throw the link up when I get a chance(*later: here's that link). The funniest moment of the night was when this fucked-up drunk guy jumped up onstage with V.A. and started singing some screaming nonsense to one of their songs. At first, it sounded like some manic, Cleveland nightmare music, like Rocket From the Tombs or something - the drunk was really on to something approaching art. I captured a few seconds of video before they threw the guy out, which I'll post when I get a chance. Another fun night of rock and roll.

I was putting up flyers, as per usual, and doing my route around town, to various establishments and bulletin boards, when I walked into the Museum of Unfine Art and learned from Shawn about Prudence the Pug's passing. I am deeply saddened that a much-loved pug has left our community of artists, musicians, weirdos and general Good-nics.
Prudence was a friend of mine; she often licked my hand and snurfed me from time to time. In '98 and '99, I was going over to Shawn's house quite often to jam with our various noisy noise-nerd friends such as Guy Tyler, Mark Stern and occasional others. Prudence was always there, a real fixture in Shawn's art-house. I knew her when she was fairly spry; I remember the last few times I saw her, she was showing the tired indifference of age. But she still gave me a good snurf.

Prudence the Pug, Citizen of Eugene and Springfield, fondly remembered, sorely missed, R.I.P.

Man, I had a great time going out to see the Circle Jerks last night. I have to admit, they've never been my favorite band, but I've always appreciated their humor, energy and old-school punk credentials. It was cute to see all the punk kids, with their freshly-shaved mohawks, going at it like animals. The mosh pit was big but relatively friendly. I saw a few people really hit the dust, and one big guy in particular took a faceplant right in front of Zookie and I. Ouch! It felt like chaos swept through the room; the people wanted a chance to go crazy and they got it. The Band was tight and energetic; Keith Morris was funny on the mic; the bass player looked like Jerry Garcia. I had fun hanging with my friends and having a beer. Good times, great oldies...

Life is a blast. I like to have a good time, all the time.

Last weekend, we had Mr. and Mrs. Random and Dawn Baby and Zookie over for a lovely dinner on Saturday night. I had to leave early for my gig down at Luckey's, which was a fun evening of rock. We played with the thick-sounding Filthiest People Alive (pop songs with a hard, dual-guitar attack, keys and technical drums), and a side-project band of theirs called Hand Held, which was just keys, bass and drums. Sorely missed was Chance Became Fate, a band I've wanted to share a bill with for quite some months now, who had to cancel due to a family death. Please accept my condolences on the loss. Hopefully, we'll get to share a bill in the near future.
Other than reading friend's blogs and spending what time I do have on working, hanging out with loved ones, practicing with the Underlings and untangling Christmas lights, I really haven't been doing much. Next time you see me, poke me and then tell me to work harder, shut up and quit complaining.

It's raining outside. It is raining like the clouds really mean it. And the wind, it is a'blowin. I love the onset of winter, with its intensity, coldness and menace. Weather like this makes me appreciate staying indoors, cranking up the heat and having some coffee while listening to punk 45's through a one-speaker stereo. I also got some cleaning done.

My friend, Justin Hrabe, singer from my old band Garden Weasel, has started a blog that features good punk rock mp3's from days gone by. Please check it out - it features songs from a KHSU radio broadcast done in February 1991. I'm contributing quite a few tracks to it that should be posted soon.

I'm preparing new mp3's of many of my old songs. I'll have several ready for consumption by anyone interested.

Peace & Rock,

The baby is asleep; time to blog!

I am stoked to be going into the studio with my boys on Saturday and Sunday. We've been practicing hard, working out the loose ends of our tune-age. I think the coolest thing about being in a band is just working with other people. Creating music is a collaborative art-form. The music is really just a by-product of the personality mesh of the membership of the band. Think of any band that has had a membership change. Did the music not dramatically change, at least in some way? Joy Division to New Order. Sex Pistols to PIL. Beatles to post-Beatles. Miles Davis to ...Miles Davis. The personalities and the co-workmanship, that's the cool shit.

Okay, enough metaphysical B.S. I had a friend at work tell me that he bought a working 1948 Fender Deluxe amp at a garage sale for $20, which he promptly turned around and sold on ebay for some obscene sum of money. I'm still not sure I even believe the story, but if it's true...makes me think, "Why not me?" Just once, it would be cool to find that rare piece of gear at a garage sale and just KEEP IT and make music with it. Oh well, better luck next weekend.

I've been blowing my brain out, listening to Husker Du mp3's on Seeqpod. The Huskers' music has really been hitting me in a good way, lately.

I noticed this blog as a result. I love the way mp3 blogs are making once hard-to-locate music available to listeners. I love the way the music industry is shaking under the duress of the changing nature of commercial music consumption.

It's a virt-virt-virtual world.

Sometimes, you need a little Eugene Chadbourne to help you make sense of it all:

Uz Jsme Doma at WOW Hall 11/01/2007 from Ed Cole on Vimeo.

I had a great time at Uz Jsme Doma a few nights back at the WOW Hall. I am a total geek for my favorite Czech band. It was sad to me that there were only about 25 other folks in attendance, but I always come away from an UJD show feeling inspired and re-charged. Next time, don't be a rock slacker - turn off the television, smash your iphone and go and see them when they pass through your town.
















(Capillary Action in action)

I also enjoyed the experimental jazz splatter-rock of CapillaryAction, from Philadelphia, PA. Great arrangements and playing on guitar, drums, keys and voice. They reminded me very much of Mr. Bungle musically; they generally sounded like neo-rockers that perhaps had collided with a busload of avant-guard classicists and then fell off of a cliff and violently landed on a station-wagon full of stoned be-boppers. Not too shabby in my seldom-to-be-humble opinion-especially for a mere three-piece.

Yay for music!

-Ed

Thank Dog for Halloween! My favorite (mostly) non-denominational holiday. I rushed home from work, bags of candy in tow and then proceeded to assist the wild assortment of trick-or-treaters that came by our place. Totally corny, but absolutely fun.
Tonight, I'm going to see one of my favorite bands, Uz Jsme Doma, who hail from Prague. I can't recommend them highly enough - like NoMeansNo mixed with Zappa-esque horns and very-technical arrangements. Their sound is a triumph of the human spirit over the dominant forces of evil! I hope any and all Eugene rock fans come down to the WOW hall to Czech it out.

Another valid day of employment has ended. Workers, grimy, bitter and slightly smelly, are amassing to decide which watering hole to souse their brains at after a hard day in the dirt factory. Strains of butt-rock echo in the dark emptiness of the loading dock. The lights go off. Nobody's left to fill your order, so don't call.

Every day is the same but different. I wake up with people I know and love, drink coffee, go to work with people I like, drive my car on a road with people I hate, drink with people I hardly know. Check into my virtual world to see if any other people I don't know are doing things that are interesting or are trying to contact me. Hmmm...

Slow-motion fall is taking over - or is it fast-motion? Everything is a blur of warmth and goodness lately. My band had a great show last week at Luckey's with Hot For Chocolate and Swallows from PDX, probably our most solid and inspired appearance to date. The other bands were great and made for an evening of coolness.
Baby Louis is a real bag of baby-fun. I love chillin' with the little guy, reading him passages out of the Hobbit and changing his clothes. Babies rule because, as a rule, babies are temporary. After awhile, they learn how to walk, talk, change their own clothes and feed themselves. You learn to appreciate the little suckers for just being wonderful blobs of humanity; little creatures that are the exact opposite of evil. Babies are our only hope! We must focus on raising our future world-saviors to take good care of us in our old age. Unite For the Defense of Babies (as an institution)(or, "UFDB", as I like to say.)
Cosmo is almost 15, what a trip! The kid is going to be driving and then going to college before I know it. It's strange to think about my children-units growing up and moving away; kind of like a "changing of the guard", as one grows up, the other is going out into the world. Very exciting to see my little humanoids in their little spheres, doing their things.
In the meantime, Tina and I are also "doing our things", playing gigs with our respective bands and trying not to forget to have a good time together before we die. Yay! Everything is groovy! Work for peace! Be your own Yoko Ono! Life is beautiful, so why not eat health food?

Things exist and so do I. The Underlings played a fun and furious show on Saturday at Luckey's. The crowd was digging and so were we. Swallows from PDX and Hot For Chocolate both turned out great sets. Another classic and fun Eugene show.
Work has been fun. I love working in the produce warehouse when the weather starts to change to fall. I get to bust into my collection of classic hats and color-coordinate my Wranglers with my work jacket and boots. It's like getting into my work role and role playin' it. Life exists and so do I.

I've been re-reading Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, the expanded edition. It's a trip to go back in time and think about my teen-aged self reading the same book some twenty years ago. I used to meditate at my bro's pad's LA swimming pool and pretend I was deep, ha ha ! Not much changes - or everything does. As a teen, you have a bunch of grandiose ideas and fuzzy certainties about how life is going to be. On the adult end, my needs have compressed some - less room for philosophy and idealism, more space for coffee. As a young man, I knew I was going to break out of the rigid traditions and mores that defined the folk in my town. As my new, panicking, on-the-verge-of-middle-age dude, I appreciate how the people in my home town kept their doors shut and had their parties over with by 10pm. What a conundrum! How can I further grok this?
Must...stop...grokking. Go...to...work...punch...clock. Obey...boss...cash...paycheck...never...sleep.

mORE GROKKING, mORE ROCKING, LESS TIME-CLOCKING

Blogging is an interesting place to be. I haven't really taken the time to disperse my thoughts online for awhile, so here goes:

THE END IS NEAR - REPENT!

Throw all your worldly rags in a big bag and light them on fire!Break loose from your self-imposed chains! Shake your ass to a new groove and bust a move! Wrap your boss in plastic and UPS' him to Chicago! End only yellow-colored foods, read only historical non-fiction, exercise three times a week, for the end is near!

There. That feels better.

It's been awhile, but we're back in style. Material existence consumes my thoughts. All I can think of are "things" to "posess". New instruments of destruction in my war on customer service. Music is a service industry with a warped sense of economics.
We bought a new car last week - 1997 Subaru wagon. It feels so yuppy to have a car that's only 10 years old that has working electronics, a stereo and lots of flashing dashboard lights. Very Buck Rogers-esque.
In other news, it's been a blast hanging out with lil' Louis, the wonder baby. He does more than most toaster ovens and warms more hearts in the long run. He also digs bass frequencies, so get to Ohmin' if you come over.
The Rock and Roll life has been treating me as well as I have treated it lately. Band practice is a manly place to be, with foul odors accompanying the new songs and somewhat sweeter smells enveloping the older material. Go figure on that one. Our next performance will be at Luckey's on October 6th. Come down and check us! We've been working very hard at our hard-rocking-ness. We will not dissapoint.*

(*exceptions will be made for the chronically dissapointed)

yours in yo-ness,

EH 101

YELTSIN pt 2 Slam Bondage from Ed Cole and Vimeo.

Damn! I haven't had much time to write lately. Having a one-month-old baby sure can put a dent in one's blogging, but then again, so can a kitten, a rainbow, a unicorn or season 5 of the Sopranos.
Little baby Louis has been really kickin' ass, doing the things a baby does - mainly sleep, eat, cry and poop. Oh, and also he's really good at being cute.
We had the Randoms over for a Sunday brunch yesterday, which was lovely. I'm still snacking on the leftover scones - muchos gracias to Robin for bringing them.
Friday, we went camping up on the McKenzie pass with the little guy and also did a couple of hikes with him packed in like a little papoose. Linton Lake was beautiful and rather large. I am always amazed at the beautiful Cascade lakes in our area that are just out there, waiting to be discovered.
Here's a video of Yeltsin at the Sam Bond's Garage 12th anniversary show on July 28th. Dig the new tune! I can't wait until their new cd comes out later this year. Party on, Garth!


Yeltsin at Sam Bond's Garage, Eugene, Oregon, 7/28/07 from Ed Cole and Vimeo.

King Louis had his first bath today. The kid has been hanging in there for a multitude of new experiences. Yesterday, I held him in the sprinkler for a moment in the peak heat of the day. He didn't like that as much as he did his nice, gentle bath. So it goes...life ain't a bowl of roses, Louis!
I'm pretty excited to hav a day off. This was a brutal work week. I wish I'd had a few more days (or weeks) of vacation leave so I could stay at home longer after the birth of the kidd, but that wasn't in my lucky stars. Although my world is exciting and exploding with hot, summertime action, I am looking forward to the quiet, winter months ahead, when I'll have more time to sit around, write songs and bounce my little one on my beer belly more often.

The baby is now a week old. Things are going great. Little Louis has been nursing, peeing, pooping and crying; all the things a little baby should do. I am constantly reminded of that one Talking Heads song about the baby, ya know, the one that was a hit in 1985?
Here's a secret video of Kelani's new song:



KelaniSong1 from Ed Cole and Vimeo.

Whoa! We were taken off guard when Tina went into labor yesterday at 2am. We were expecting to be ready closer to the due date (July 13th) and didn't have our bags packed or anything. It turns out we didn't need too much - just an outfit for the baby and some snacks.
We went into the birth center at 8am and Louis was born at 10:50am, a bouncing baby who came out screaming. Here's the non-explicit photo-link.
We are very pleased to announce...Louis Edward Cole, born June 27th, 2007, 10:50am, 7lbs/2oz

I went to the John Doe show at Sam Bond's Garage the other night. A night like many others, it blended into many other similar moments from the past of Sam Bondage. How many times to you get to see one of your favorite rock heroes play an intimate show - in a half-filled room, no less - and it just blows you away in a wonderful way? I liked all of his material, but "White Girl" and "New World" drew the loudest applause. Check out this clip of 'white girl':





John Doe at Sam Bond's Garage 6/14/07 from Ed Cole on Vimeo
Just another wonderful night at the Bond's.

I had a great time at Dan Jones the Squids CD release show at Sam Bonds on Friday. All the bands were great. Chance Became Fate were new to me and I liked them very much - they had sonic elements that put them in the Sugar/Husker Du/Hard, Pop mode.
I enjoyed playing a short set of favorites with the Squids - Now I Wanna Be Your Dog was awesome & some old Activator-related tunes came out energized as well.

Here are some clips I took of Touchforce and Chance Became fate:







Touchforce 6-1-07 from Ed Cole on Vimeo






Chance Became Fate / Sam Bond's Garage 6-1-07 from Ed Cole on Vimeo

Valiant Arms debut at Slabtown.(R-L: Diane Rios, Eric Jensen, Rob Jones)















U-lings darkly rocking





















Dan McClure and myself.

Some things never change. Like spending nights in a club with your friends and your friends' bands, rocking out in an art-filled room filled with (thankfully ventilated) smoking people, sipping beers and scarfing fries.
We (the Underlings)had great fun driving up to Portland to play with our friends,The Valiant Arms and seminal PDX art/noise/bassline rockers Wow and Flutter. The night was only slightly marred by the fact that the sound wa sso bad that no vocals came through at all for the first two bands (VA & us). Worst sound experience ever. Go back to your day job, you lame-wad sound geek! Valiant Arms music sounded like a mix of the three musicians' bands - Oswald 5-0 meets Pellet Gun anxiety-rock + artsy/indie Beltline guitar. It would have been cool to have heard the words at all, but it was hopeless - I could barely make out Diane and Rob's singing. Oh well - better luck next time. The sound may have been awful, but the mood was high - it was great to see so many of our Portland and Eugene friends out to support and hang out. I'll spare you, dear reader, the name dropping, but I saw some friends I hadn't seen in years and it made me say..."hmmm...I'll probably be doing the same thing for the rest of my life." Hanging out in bars and other venues, playing music with my friends, just like Willie Nelson or Kurt Cobain or Marilyn Manson or Pete Seeger- just having great times with other old geezers just like me.
P.S. Wow and Flutter were great and had great distorted basslines and angular rhythms. Hadn't seen them in awhile and I was happy to check 'em.

I'm excited to go to Portland and play a show at Slabtown tomorrow night with the Valiant Arms and Wow and Flutter. I haven't had a band road trip to Portland in, like, two years or so. It is nice when working at meaningless slave-jobs to have a vision in one's mind of getting away from the routine things in one's life - like work - and playing riffs loudly in a cool room with the ears of others filling with your frequencies. It's the best way to be savage in an urban setting. Savagery through multi-frequency rock and roll!!
Tina has been laid-up with a kidney stone. She has been in pain for 2 or 3 days. At one point, she was in so much pain that we went down to the hospital for a couple of hours, where her midwife, Michelle and her nurse, Judy took care of her until they figured out what was wrong. I hate to see my girl in so much pain, but I think she's on an upswing now.
Our child is due on July 13th. We are almost completely prepared for the expansion of our domestic tribe. We just have to finish painting one room in our teepee and then we also need to get a gunny sack to carry the little bugger around in when we're out scavenging for remnants of civilization with which we would then burn for warmth and for cooking the charred bones of our enemies... uh, I mean, we're generally ready. Gotta get a car seat for the tractor and then we'll be good.

I often think of how hokey this whole modern rock-promotion shtick has become. Everyone is entitled to have their own band page on myspace and promote themselves - I do it; you do it - but what is this all about, really? 10+ years ago, when you did a gig out of town, you called all your friends in that town, sent your press kit to the local paper and hoped like anything that your song would get played on the college radio station in Bumfucksville so that some people would come down to Scrawny Ronnies Peephole and Sub Shop to see your half-hour set. Now, potentially thousands of folks can see your promo online, but do any more people actually come out? I know I hardly do, even though I'm bombarded with e-promo. Maybe we're just all a little de-sensitized by this whole digital age thing.
I still like rock and roll.

Pat and I watched We Jam Econo tonight. I highly recommend. I know I'm sounding old-mannish here, but what the fuck has happened to all the kids these days? Why aren't they totally pissed about the generic music that is making i's way onto their ipods and computers? It's a different world than it was in the 70's and 80's , when groups like the Minutemen and Husker Du and Mission of Burma and Wire were really pushing some boundaries, reacting to the glut of over-produced hair-metal and stadium cock-rock. Punk rock still exists, but it's become a category, not a state of mind. The walls young musicians face these days are in their own minds, not in the oppressive quantity and low soul-quality of commercial rock. The internet has made our current world an instant place, where true nobodies can become popular overnight from their youtube video, but the soul content is what is lacking. WHERE THE FUCK IS WOODY GUTHRIE WHEN YOU NEED HIM???

I might complain about my job, but I actually enjoy working all the time - at least in the sense that I'm contributing my time and energy to a working-class cause (Organics) that I actually care about, with people that are cool. I've always identified strongly with working class ethics and people, more so than white-collar, business-types, as necessary as they are for the structural integrity of our society (let's hear it for lawyers - hip, hip, hooray!)
Last night, at band practice, we started working on a cover of the Minutemen's "This ain't no picnic" (go and search it on Youtube for their funny and profound video from 1984). The lyrics to that song really hit home with me, the same way Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan would for some folks:

Working on the edge
losing my self-respect
for a man who presides over me
the principles of his creed
punch in punch out
8 hours 5 days a week
sweat pain and agony
on Friday I'll get paid

THIS AIN'T NO PICNIC

Hey mister don't look down on me
(for what I believe in-
I got my bills and the rent)
I should go pitch a tent
but our land is not free
so I'll work my youth away
in the place of a machine

THIS AIN'T NO PICNIC

Our show went smashingly well last Friday night. I often hate being a self-promoter, but you do what you gotta do to get people down to the clubs. After numerous emails and myspacey postey things, we actually had a good amount of people down to see us. The Crosswalks from Portland were excellent - really good dynamics and three-way vocals. I highly recommend them if you get the chance.
Other than werk and music, I've been enjoying going to Cosmo's baseball games. His team, the Pleasant Hill Billies, have been kicking butt the last several weeks. Watching pro games on tv seldom interests me, but seeing a bunch of 13 and 14 year-old boys playing their hearts out is a blast. Plus, you get to see some of the finer sports fields of greater Lane County.

We only have this show and one other scheduled May 19 at Luckey's Club Cigar for the time being. Please come on down to the Tiny Tavern and support your local Underlings. Let us assist you to.ROCK!!

Werk has been all-consuming lately. I know it is oh-so-common to say so, but at this stage of my life, I've been hurling myself into my job, few complaints necessary, in order to earn the almighty paycheck. Someday - mark my words - I will not be the typical, broke-as-a-motherfucker Eugene musician that I am at the present. All told, though,I realize that I actually like my job and love all of my comrades at the vegetable warehouse. There ain't a bunch of guys and gals I'd rather spend my time with while lifting box after box of spuds, bananas, broccoli or whatever while I nearly get run down by a forklift. It's always helpful to have somebody around to call 911 for vegetable-related injuries.
Years ago, during my first stint at OGC, one of my first Eugene bands, Tulip, actually practiced in the warehouse late at night when all operations had ceased. We'd crank up the amps by a stack of pallets and bash away into the night, occasionally shocking a delivering farmer or two. Now, with my current band having it's practice space converted into a baby room, I may be back to jamming amongst the vegetables again. Perhaps the frequencies will help the bananas and avocados ripen properly...C# diminished, please...Krrraaaannnnngggggg!!!!!

Alright, not to be a copycat or anything, but following Mr Random's lead I set up my own Ed Cole Vimeo page right here. My first post is a nicely exploded-sounding clip from Mission of Burma at WOW Hall last September that still sends shivers down my spine. I hope you enjoy.





Mission of Burma 9/17/06 on Vimeo

I realize it's annoying to rant about myspace like I did last week - I just think I've been exhibiting signs of a useless myspace addiction, so therefore I rant. I have actually been excited to be receiving contacts from friends I've lost touch with over the past twenty years or so. It's funny that we tend to hold onto memories of friends we used to have when we were young, even if they are fairly inaccurate or embellished by time and glossed-over fantasy. If anyone I was friends with twenty or so years ago and lost touch with were to die or join a religious cult or the military or became a cop, would I have even known or cared, were it not for the internet? It makes me think that my friends really exist in my head, first and foremost. If I lived in any other part of the world, perhaps I would find the exact same friends, only in different bodies, with different faces. We may only be as real as our friends and co-conspirators perceive us to be.

I think this way about religion and faith, too. When a group of people believe so strongly in something, a philosophy or religion or a particular version of historical events, it almost certainly becomes real to them by virtue of their faith. When a person truly believes, there is no arguing with that belief; facts can't counter belief. Skepticism and science can't be used as arguing tools against someones absolute conviction of what is real to them.

Which, I suppose, holds true for beliefs that fall outside of the jurisdiction of faith and religion. If someone is terminally ill, for instance, and believes very strongly that they can be cured by drinking carrot juice and nettle tea, perhaps that belief can become a truth strictly out of the sick person's conviction. Or, perhaps not. Or death. If one believes very strongly in life-after-death, there is no science to contradict that. Maybe for that Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or New-Age Hippie, maybe that does become a truth simply out of the fact that it is a belief.

That being said, I believe the Easter Bunny dropped a generous load of money and candy-filled eggs for my teen aged child early this morning. All hail the miraculous Easter Bunny, back from Valhalla, back from the land of the un-dead!

Happy Easter!

AAARRRRGGGHH!!!!

I hate myspace! It has sucked my brain dry. Why do I ever check that stupid stuff??

I guess being in a band and all, I figure it's good to keep up on networking, etc... but this stupid myspace thing has gotten out of hand. I swear, it's just another instrument of The Man to anesthetize and distract us all while the underlings of The Man go raping our civil rights and burning all of our money in big piles, stacking it in with all the dead bodies and machines that they sold us and then threw away. I tell you, it makes it hard to get up in the morning and check my myspace to see if I have any new friend requests or comments of false adoration.

FUCK MYSPACE

My Space is and always has been in my HEAD!!!!!

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.