Friday, April 30, 2004

Exhaustion is setting in. We're in Ottawa tonight-- Canada's Capitol... the government buildings look like ginormous, ancient castles! Last night's Toronto experience was too much (in a good way). We ended up playing four mini-shows... the final one in front of Neko Case and the Sadies at a 4 a.m. house party. Toronto is the greatest city I think I've ever experienced, but I hear that Montreal will be even better.

Saturday, April 24, 2004

I'm in Madison, Wisconsin! Ivan and I have played two shows together so far and both have been good. After leaving my folks' place on Thursday morning (with a full belly of french toast and eggs), I drove fourteen hours to Winona, Minnesota. The drive was grueling and I was shaky as I took the stage at the Green Lantern. Ivan was just finishing his set so I didn't have much time to rest or prepare, but my delirium fit the mood of the venue and due to the enthusiastic crowd response I ended up playing two sets, and afterwards sold lots of merch. We crashed at Samuel's pad and the next morning I transferred all my things into Ivan's parents' black Taurus stationwagon. I bade somber farewell to "Joe" and left the key with Alex so he could park it in his parent's garage for the next seven weeks.

Last night we journeyed to Milwaukee where I'd never been and rocked a college coffee-house with Charlemagne. We didn't make too much money there, but someone now owns a "Sandman" pillow-case that didn't before and another person has a CD.

By the way, I haven't been wearing my cowboy hat at these shows. It just doesn't feel right for some reason...

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Oofda... greetings from the west side of North Dakota. At 2 a.m. yesterday morning I was still in Olympia... basically drove all night to Livingston, Montana (except for a three-hour stop in Ellensburg, WA, to rest and have breakfast with my good pal Aaron). Then I drove to Spokane and had lunch with Melissa who treated me to a gourmet lunch at the Elk. By day's end I was at Earl and Susan's outside of Livingston. They had bought some land and built a house since the last time I saw them, so now they have to keep busy with their horseshoeing business. Their land is intense, with views of three jagged mountain ranges: the Crazies, the Bridgers, and the Absarokas. I arrived while they were asleep and woke up early to join them for a breakfast of biscuits and eggs. Earl filled a clawfoot tub out in the field with hot water and I soaked and listened to the morning meadowlarks before heading to Killdeer, ND, which is where I am now, at my parents' house. They just bought it for only $32,000 from the bank. It's old and big and nice. We cooked a venison dinner and invited Grandma and Grandpa Sand over, and then we had some ice-cream. I'd better get to sleep. I've been burning the candle a little too hot this last week.

Friday, April 16, 2004

I am in the bottleneck of tour-preparation... soon I will be released. It's a good thing I got that $1000 loan, 'cause I've already spent it on tour-necessities. My house-mates are a little ticked at me for not paying my back-rent, which is the original reason I got the loan. The thing is, I need to go on tour to be able to keep paying my future rent... so I guess they can't argue with me there. Although, they could decide to just kick my ass out and save themselves a lot of trouble.

Monday, April 12, 2004

Now it's Monday. Yesterday was Easter. Check out this funny e-card that my friend sent me: bunnies.

But I have an even greater link for you to peruse that relates to my pseudo record-label: Loner, or L-one-R Records. My friends in the bands Log Hog and Jesus Chords put out a spit-release 7" record and asked me if they could slap "Loner" on it for fun. I, of course, said 'Yes' because not only are both bands awesome and my friends, but one of them is country (Jesus Chords) and the other is hip hop (Log Hog) and that particular union of styles is my steeze, my special talent, my quirky trademark. These two great American genres have been unjustly separated and regularly ridiculed by bourgeois society for classist, racist and wholly outrageous reasons! Unto these philistines I say, "Listen to this 7-inch as a primer for cultural revolution so you may be prepared for the coming upheavals in rhythm and sound!" And to you, sweet reader, please scan this loving record-review of It's the Music which appears on the front page of this month's Splendid. Long live Jesus Chords and Log Hog!

Saturday, April 10, 2004

Today has been a very good day. I layed in the sun and stretched. I played frisbee at the park with Giles. I drank a smoothie and cooked a healthy meal for lunch. The air smells delicious yet the pollen is not too thick. The flies are buzzing but not yet in their bothersome swarms. Even the tour feels under control! My shack is clean. My old emails have been organized and/or deleted. I shaved. My clothes are all clean. My athlete's foot is under control. My dandruff has disappeared. 319-JOE has new tires and a fresh oil-change. I have lots of girlfriends. The lawn got mowed. Richard Clarke is exposing the ineptitude of the Bush administration. My poker skills are improving...

Happy Easter Saturday everyone!

Friday, April 09, 2004

I've lost my mind. In spite of that smiling picture to your left, I have lost my friggin' mind!! My brain has completely melted and all I can do is stare blankly at this screen. I have so many emails now with little chunks of information and so many files saved on various floppy disks with various addresses and phone numbers and mailing lists that I literally have become a zombie. Ivan is much better at this than I am. I would like to cry now and go home.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

I think Ashley Judd has a crush on me.

CrimeThinc. is doing a good job promoting me-- looky here.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Happy Passover!!! A good little holiday if ever there was one.

It's late and I am pulling my hair out trying to find all the information I want concerning each show-- the radio stations, their music director's email and phone #, the weeklies, their journalists emails and addresses, yada yada yada. Eff that!! I'm going to bed. I have a damn phone-interview to give in seven hours, and I have to drive home from this creepy college which takes twenty-minutes each time. Back and forth all week. My butt hurts. These boxers are too small or something. They creep and crawl.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Booking a tour is super time-consuming. I've been bug-eyed for weeks! If I get paid a dollar for every hour I'm putting into this I'd have all my debts paid off.

Saturday, April 03, 2004

This website is up my alley: H2H. I'm going to another barbecue now; it's 72 degrees out!
Everybody, check out Ivan's new webthing: www.ivanokay.com. He's officially changed his stage name to Ivan Okay. Listen to his new hit single-- "Time is a Trap". It's off the chain!!!

p.s. Ivan will be my tour partner for the next couple months for those who do not know...

Friday, April 02, 2004

Scroll down to March 29th to see the rewritten bio. Thanks to Mom and Melissa for your help!

Now I'm off to a barbecue.

Thursday, April 01, 2004

I just bought a leather visor and belt at a yard sale on the Evergreen campus. The visor says "Montana: Big Sky Country". I miss you Miss Montana. The belt is old and thin and about to tear, but looks good for now. I also bought some athlete's foot spray.

Today is sunny. The show in Seattle went well last night; I sold four cds and made $15. Better news, though, is that I've joined a low-income credit union and they approved my loan-request for $1000! Now I can pay the last month of rent and most of next month's. I can front Andras some money for the booking work he's been doing for me. And I can send the $375 that's due in five days to the Minneapolis Fringe Fest. In related news, Shawn and Jonah (from Log Hog) have agreed to join me for the five performances of A Year in the Life of Slippery Goodstuff in Minneapolis and pay for half the costs. Shawn (aka "Zardoz" or "Nerviz") produced the tracks for it and will act as "hype-man" for me, i.e. back me up while I rap-- and hype the crowd. Jonah (aka "Blandow") will dee jay: a true hip hopera in the heartland. I'm thrilled!!!

Now if I can get Cindy and Sarah and Susan and Anna and Jen and Khaela involved it will be ON. Full effect. No doubt. Raptacular. Hot... and soooooooooo Slippery.