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.

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.